Another "Dressed to the Nines"

Truly this is a favorite pattern for baby girl quilts.  I like to add ribbons and lace.  It is always lovely. 

Thimbleberries Village Quilt

Lynette Jensen, a quilt designer, published a book of her block of the month patterns.  This quilt is called "Villages" and my sew group, the 1st Friday Quilters, will be working on this quilt together.  Everyone brings their own fabric and ideas to make it their own.  

The blocks will be completed at a pace slightly faster than 1 block per month so that we can display them at Christmas on the Prairie, a holiday community event, in Wahoo Nebraska in 2023.  A friend, Alice Miller, made this quilt and I had admired it so she gave me hers!  But to facilitate the group, I needed to make my own version.  This is the 1st of 3 of these quilts.  The second one will be done in batiks and the 3rd one is a Kaffe Fassett fabric selection.  

Lynette's quilts are often more traditional in style but my goal is to get my quilting friends to think beyond what the picture of the quilt looks like and make older patterns look new and fresh. 

I love this one! 

I used a variety of fat quarters that were in my "stash" and added 4 1-yard cuts of creams and whites.  This quilt is not finished and needs a couple of borders.  I'll add it to the stack of the quilts requiring quilting time on the long arm machine.  

Long Arm Quilting Machine

 She's a Beauty!

My long arm quilting machine was purchased from a friend who decided to upgrade to a bigger and better machine.  I'm actually on my 3rd long arm machine.  The 1st machine I purchased and used was Pfaff Hobby Grand Quilter on an Inspira Frame.  It had a 9" throat.  I bought a floor model and got a great buy.  I quilted many quilts on it but realized as my skills improved that the throat space was not big enough to suit me.  

Next up is a Handi Quilter Sweet 16 with a computer for designs.  This is another awesome machine that I bought used but things happen and opportunity knocked for me to upgrade again to the Avanti 18" machine  The machine is so big, it consumes my dining room.  It is on a frame and provides little walking space around it but I love my long arm machine!  

Halloween Quilt - Pattern "Honor Quilt" by Villa Rosa

Three Yard Quilt by designer Donna Robertson  

Christmas Scrap Quilt - My own design 

I love the long arm machine.  It is big bulky and gets the job done! 

Block of the Month - Stitcher's Garden II

This quilt was claimed!  I had worked to make it for myself, a nice twin size to go on a daybed in my quilting room.  The plan was set.  I finished the quilt top, managed to quilt it myself and just as I was enjoying the beauty of my work, one of my granddaughters claimed it!  

How can I say no to a beautiful, grateful, charming granddaughter?  

I miss this quilt but that is not the end of the story.  I have a new one in progress and eventually I will finish that quilt and maybe, just maybe, hide it from Facebook so I can keep it for myself.  LOL  

This is a Block of the Month called "Stitcher's Garden II".  I just love it.  The pattern called for fancy stitches, but I don't have a fancy machine so instead, I used my mom's collection of various ribbons and lace.  Every time I think about that quilt, I think of my mom!  I think she would love it as well.  Vibrant and colorful and filled with joy, that is how I describe this quilt.  

Hungry ... baby quilt

A Christmas Quilt

Christmas quilts come in many colors.  This quilt was creates using a lot of red and green strips.  While my plan was to keep it for myself, I donated the quilt and it is now in the home of my good friend, Jackie.  

Roe's Quilt

Roe is the granddaughter of my step sister.  Her mother is married to one of my "step nephews" and she lived in Asia where the climate did not require warm quilts.  

However, when her dad's job took him to Alaska, I thought it time the Roe took a quilt with her on her journey. 

Long Arm Quilting

Not everyone has my enthusiasm for quilting.  I own several traditional sewing machines and use them regularly.  

There is the Janome who is about 20 years old.  She is getting cranky in her old age. The light bulb mechanism no longer works and needs replacement and I suspect the plastic belt has loosened up a bit because thick seams are a problem to sew over.  But my Janome is a like a good friend and is a workhorse. 

Next up is Bernie, the Bernina.  By all accounts, Bernina makes a quality and expensive machine.  Bernie came from a church friend whose mother-in-law owned and cherished.  Bernie has a number of attachments and I plan to take it with me on a future 1st Saturday open sew day at one of my favorite quilt shops to learn how to use the walking foot attachment on her. 

A newer member of the family is my Babylock.  Baby is used only for embroidery work.  She has a 4 x 4 frame meaning she can only do smaller designs.  I bought her to make great labels.  I bought Baby on a small shop Saturday sale day from a local shop.  

Pfaff is another quality machine and I have 2 of them.  One is my Hobby Grand Quilter that was my first voyage into the long arm quilting world.  I have had this machine for about 15 years and I'm ready to find her a new home.  She works great and has a frame but I don't need 3 long arm machines.  

The other Pfaff in my life is a smaller traditional machine that I bought gently used from Nebraska Quilt Company.  She is full of confidence and is much like the Janome.  My granddaughter really likes this machine more than the others to sew on. 

There are more machines in my life but the biggest one is the Avanti, made by Handi Quilter.  It consumes my entire dining room and that is where the magic happens when I turn a quilt top into a quilt!  

Toastmasters and Quilts

Back in 2014, I was a on the Board of Directors for Toastmasters International (toastmasters.org).  It was customary for the outgoing members of the board to roast the outgoing International President.  

John Lau was that person.  We had a lot of fun with a skit roasting John and then presented him with a quilt that represented things that had occurred during his tenure on the executive board. 

Each block represented something or someone that he had served with.  There was even a golf cart block and a duck. 

Why?  Because while golfing with the CEO, there was an accident where a duck got hit with a golf ball.  To add insult to injury, the battery went dead on the cart and apparently John had to push it it back to the club house. 

After our presentation, John roasted the fellow members until he got to me, the quilt maker.  I suspect the quilt caught him off guard. 

This photo is a great testament to the fellowship of the organization.  

Patriotic Panel Quilt

I fell in love with this panel and the pattern that was make for it. It has a homey, warm, patriotic feel about it.  The fact is, I liked it so much, I bought 2 panels.  I believe the designer was Sandi Gervis for Moda.  I completed and gave a friend the original quilt and have a second quilt in my UFo pile aka unfinished objects.  It is very close to completion, and I plan to have it done before the end of the year.  

Wonky Squares and Leaves

Several years ago, I took a couple of classes at a local quilt shop with friends.  These quilts are the result of those classes.  The pattern and colorways are far from my usual selections.  I believe both quilts ended up in Florida with grandkids. 

Peacock Panel - twin size

Being a Toastmaster, I have been able to travel to many places and here many great speeches.  But when traveling with my friend, Sheila, we always visit the local quilt shops.  Why? I reason is simple; each has its own personality and what I find in one shop is often so much different than another shop.  I found this kit in Colorado, I believe.  There was a small room with sale items, and I cannot pass up a bargain.  It turned out the panel was not what I expected but much prettier.  I love it. 

Cosmic Cow

One of my very favorite shops is called the Cosmic Cow in Lincoln, Nebraska.  This fabric line sold out pretty quickly and I think it was called Fire and Ice.  It is bright and colorful. This quilt remains with me.  

Jason's Quilt

My nephew Jason loves blue.  On a visit we worked on this quilt together.  I love the shades of blue.  Blue and white make for a great combination.  The blocks are very basic, 9 patch and half square triangles.  

Mike Peterson's Quilt

Several years ago, my long time friend brought me a quilt that he had purchased at an auction.  The original quilt was tattered.  I took it apart to repair and realized the blocks were stretched out of shape.  The black fabric had turned to threads so I recreated the quilt.  Mike was impressed.  Each block has 49 pieces and there were 25 blocks. 

Fast forward and Mike passed of cancer.  I helped his sister clear out some things but in the end, the quilt could not be found. 

Things about this quilt that I like are the colors and patterns of the fabric.  It looked old and that was Mike's style.