Finished!

This 33 x 39" wall hanging lived two years as an UFO. It was so much fun to finish it this weekend! It is machine pieced and machine quilted. The border piecing was inspired by the book, Collaborative Quilting. Now to find an empty wall to hang it on!

Yo Yo Spider

My teenagers surprised me by requesting that we continue the tradition of placing these treat bags on their bedroom doors this year. I wasn't going to bother but I can understand because who doesn't like to be surprised by a treat now and then...despite their age?! The treat bags came to be when I had leftover fabric and yo yo's from another quilting project. Quilters never throw things away do they? May there be a fun trick or treat in your near future-Happy Halloweekend!

Improvement

Because I can't quilt all day everyday it can take me a long time to complete a project. A year ago I was stumped with this project. Many of you were kind enough to chime in with good ideas. Quilters are so generous-thanks! I think I've made so progress by adding the stars, door and pumpkins as seen below. What do you think?

I've got the itch to keep on stitching this one, so maybe I'll be able to post that the project is complete next week! First, a few days to ponder how to quilt it while it occupies the design wall. Hmmmm......

Table Runner

The fall schedule has gifted me with a little extra sewing time. So replacing the boring, commercial table runner on the table that our family gathers at to celebrate meals and time together became a reality. I knew I wanted rich fall colors and that it should be fun and not stuffy. My other criteria...no pattern and no purchases of new fabric should be made! In the mood for squares I started with the central patches that are a bit whimsical the way that they are set. I chose a more structured border in order to ground the center. The machine quilting is tight in quarter inch, all over, vertical and horizontal stripes. Sharing a meal with family and friends is important to me--I take great pleasure in preparing the food, love eating food, but more importantly always look forward to the conversation! So now this happy quilted piece will be joining in at the table.

Paper Pieced Compass

When cleaning out the studio this summer I found a paper pieced compass square leftover from my brother and sister in law's wedding quilt (was that 13 years ago?) Because paper piecing is not one of my favorite techniques and this pattern was work for me I just couldn't throw it out. Therefore a new wall hanging emerged! It's created out of scraps that were in the studio and I was just playing with blocks and color and not being too concerned with exactness. I am pleased with the results partly because I really enjoyed the process. It is machine quilted in a variety of horizontal and vertical lines using several different thread colors. Below is the original wall hanging that was gifted at the wedding many years ago...I probably should work on something new for their 20th anniversary because thankfully my quilting has improved!

Old Favorites

August found me meeting the goal of scanning all my loose photos (those not in scrapbooks) into the computer. This boring, simple task left me feeling greatly accomplished! ...and I found photos of a few of the quilts I've made over the years that I forgot about.

Here's the pillow I made for the young lady I mentored while she was going through confirmation. She's now preparing for life beyond high school. I can't wait to see what God has in store for her!

This is a snippet of the quilt I made for my sister's first born. The building block pattern was chosen because we spent many hours as children building and creating with wooden blocks. My sister went on to study and become a professional architectural engineer.

It was espcially fun to find this photo of my first quilt. It was a wedding gift for friends we'd dated with in high school. The Eleanor Burns method of strip piecing this log cabin pattern had me instantly hooked on quilting!

Colordao Get-Away

I've just returned from a delightful week in Colorado. In Denver a trip to the Great American Quilt Factory filled my quilting itch. I picked up some fat quarters, a jacket pattern and "paper weave" background (stay tuned on this one!)

Hiking in Vail turned up these wonderful textues and line variations on rocks. I'm guessing they'll be inspirational for a project somewhere down the road. I've always been drawn to lines (no pun intended!)

Lastly a small joy was being able to work on some hand work on the plane. Instead of scissors I carried this yarn cutter. It worked great and I had no issues with getting through security.