Buggy Barn

This was brought in by my client "Joy". It is a Buggy Barn pattern. I am not brave enough to try one of them yet, maybe someday, but she did a FABULOUS job!
I did flowers, with softer petals, in the flower blocks (stitching in the ditch around the appliqued flower centers). In the half-square triangle blocks I did feathers.

Close up of the flower blocks.

Close up of the feather blocks.

I did a large squiggle in the inner border, and a large vine with leaves in the outer border.

I used Old Rose, a pink colored thread.

This is the back of the quilt. I love how well the pattern shows up, and I LOVE the pieced strip in the middle of the quilt back!

Seasons

This cute quilt was brought to me by a client. She wanted something cute done with it. I had so much fun quilting this, because I got to do a lot of different designs.
In the flag I outlined the star, did an echo meander in the blue background, and did wavy lines in the stripes on the flag.

I added some details to the pumpkin and the leaf, and left the background plain.

I echo stitched around the heart.

I outlined the sunflower, and did an echo meander in the background.

In the center I did a tight meander.

(photo of the bottom half of the quilt - it was HUGE!)

I stitched around the appliques, and did a loop with stars. Around the snowman I did loops with a few snowflakes.

I outlined the star, and did a ribbon around it in the background.

I stitched around the bunny, added clouds in the background, and grass in the green piece beneath it. I didn't do anything around the flowers on each side.

I outlined the tree and added some branch details. I quilted bark lines onto the tree trunk.

I tiled the house roof, and added window panes to the windows, and siding to the house. I used a ribbon to fill in the background behind the roof.

As you can see from the photos above, I also did a vine with leaves in the sashing around the blocks and the center section of the quilt. I used a whole wheat colored thread.

Another Rag Quilt

This one is for one of the ladies at Gracie Lou's. She wanted it quilted like the shop sample, but I made a few changes.
I changed the center flower from a many, many petaled flower to a 5-petaled flower, to match the fabric.

This is what the back looks like. So cute! I used a light purple/lavendar thread.

Black and White

This quilt is for one of the ladies up at Gracie Lou's.
She saw a pattern that she liked that was a swirl with a flower around it, and some leaves thrown in. This was my interpretation:

She wanted the hi-loft poly batting, so I did looser quilting to let the batting fluff everything up.

I used eggshell colored thread. The back was black minkee, so it didn't matter what color I used (because the thread sinks into the minkee back), but I though black would be too harsh for this cute, mostly black, quilt.

A photo of the back of the quilt. The minkee had the paisley pattern in it, so the quilting actually doesn't stand out as much as it would if it were a solid or dotted minkee.

Baby Crib Set

A client brought me this cute quilt. She used minkee on the backing, and she used it in the piecing on the front.
She wanted me to take the floral idea from the blue fabric and do the quilting around that idea with leaves and swirls. It turned out really cute.

I used a dark aqua/teal color (can't remember the exact name off the top of my head) that matched the dark aqua/teal color in the fabrics.

I just love the way the pattern stands out on the minkee back. So cute!

She also brought me this bumper pad. She had written down measurements of where I was to stitch for me, so I didn't have to figure it out. I made 2 short sections, and 2 longer sections. The short sections were cut into 2 - 9" sections, while the longer sections were cut into 3 - 11 1/3" sections. I used the same dark aqua/teal colored thread on this.

January closures

I will not be in the shop on Monday, January 19th, due to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Also, I can't promise to get a whole lot of work done on Tuesday the 20th, due to the inauguration of soon-to-be-President Obama. If you have any questions, I will still be available to answer them though. Feel free to contact me via phone or email on those days. Thank you!

Not your normal boy quilt

I love this quilt. It is for a baby boy. I love it because it isn't the normal all pastel blues with white and "welcome baby" written all over it. My client wanted a hi-loft batting. I used a poly batting with a loft between 1/2-3/4 inch.
She wanted a tan colored thread. The thread that I used was a whole wheat (a medium tan) color. I did a larger meander due to the batting used.

Simple Flowers

This quilt was for a lady who works at Gracie Lou's, and is also a family friend.
I used the eggshell colored thread. I echoed the rick-rack, and stitched two flowers with leaves in the pieced blocks. In the big floral blocks I stitched a flower on top of the image.

It turned out so dang cute! I love the way the back looks!

In the Ditch

Isn't this the sweetest little baby quilt? I love the colors! And, the name of the baby and the birthdate are embroidered in the corner.
I used a mauve pink colored thread and stitched in the ditch, edge to edge (except where the embroidery was).

The thread matched the back perfectly. My client is going to sew lace around the edge before binding it. How cute?

Another Sports Quilt

Last month I did a couple of these for a client, and she brought me this one to do last week.
I did a large meander in a light blue thread.

Floral Baby Quilt

This quilt was for a client who has brought me several before. It is a baby quilt made out of really bright fabrics with butterflies and flowers.
I used the Old Rose pink colored thread and quilted loops with flowers all over. You have to look kind of hard in the picture because the quilting blends into the fabric so well.

Rag Quilt

This rag quilt of a client's was all sandwiched together when I got it. She had layered the top, batting and backing and sewed the squares through all the layers and then cut it off even around all 4 edges. This made it really fast to put on because all I had to do was to cut some strips of muslin and baste it to the top and bottom of the quilt. Not too much pinning required! :)
I used a pink thread (Old Rose) and quilted flowers in the smallest square of the layers, and then did flowers and squiggles in the borders.

Seasonal Wall Hangings

The ladies at Gracie Lou's did these the other day. They are so fun!
I used the eggshell colored thread throughout the entire Valentine's wall hanging. I did an "echo stipple" (a technique I learned in my Mystery Quilt class) in the background behind the heart. I outlined the heart, and then quilted flowers in the border.

I love the rickrack on this one!

I used the eggshell colored thread to outline the egg and do the "echo stipple" behind it, and then used a baby pink to do loops in the border.

This super cute quilt belongs to a client. It is her very first quilt. She did an amazing job! Let me tell you, my first quilt was not square at all. This quilt couldn't have been more square. I also love the fabrics she chose (I'm really into greens, teals, and browns right now. Love them! Love them! Love them!)
She didn't want the quilting to distract from the quilt, or be too busy for the fun fabrics she used. I did a meander in a variegated thread that went from a dark teal to white and back. In the bobbin I used a solid teal, which had a really cool effect on the white portions of the top thread.

I had to take a picture of her backing because I *heart* this fabric!!

Who said gym bags had to be ugly?

Now that it's a new year, I've made some personal resolutions. One is to work out more frequently. Now, while I don't have a gym membership, there is a walking track down the street from where I work. I've been thinking that on high stress days it would be nice to get out and take a quick run to de-stress and calm down. My problem? I didn't have a gym bag.

Sure, I could have gone and bought one, but why are all the gym bags for sale so UGLY?! Just because you're going to the gym doesn't mean you can't have a beautiful bag. I used fabrics from my stash to make this bag: Busty's Bag ver. 1.0.

My husband thought it might be a good idea to have some sort of attachment on the bag, in case I wanted to take my yoga mat with me.

The bag is measures approximately 12x8x18, so there is plenty of room. For this photo I put my gym shoes, my stretchy pants, sports bras, and running jacket in the bag, and I still had OODLES of room!

The top flap even velcroes shut! I know, it would look a lot better if it were stiffer, but I ran out of Peltex, so I will have to include that in Busty's Bag ver. 1.1 or a later version. We'll see. Not bad for a first attempt though, huh?