Quilting With Friends

Where do you go to meet old friends?  The distance apart is about 500 miles so you try to find a place half way.  And when you are a veteran quilter teaching a new quilter that equals Missouri Star Quilt Company! 

Renting an airbnb is a great idea and going to shop bargains aka the daily deal each day adds to the fun! 

Barn blocks were involved! 

A Gift Underground Railroad

I love giving quilts as gifts and this one is special.  I spent many hours at the quilt machine after I spent many hours making the quilt.  But it has found a forever home. 

Clean, Organize, Purge

I decided to rework my sewing rooms.  I have made many quilts and it was becoming a mess.  It started with removing drywall to expose an underused shelf.  

About 3 days into this project, I still have a lot of work but my donation fabrics are together and so much more!

Happy Halloween

A new quilting friend loves Halloween. She joined my 1st Friday quilt group a few times and together, we made this recliner size quilt.  

I did some custom quilting on it so the houses pop with clam shell shingles. 

I really like how it turned out. Zoom in on the houses for detail. 

More donations finished

Each year collections happen during the Christmas season.  I my little community, quilters donate throws and quilts to be used with new pillows and cases.  My church collect these items and I have been busy quilting tops made by my friends. 

Two more done! 

Baby Quilts Abound

It seems that everyone I know needs a baby quilt!  Relatives, friends and even for my church baptisms!  

I love to make baby quilts because they are quick and easy, unless you hit a creative block.  Lucky for me, I have a number of baby quilt books that I can draw inspiration from.  

Most recently, I created this charmer!  The book is called "Charming Baby Quilts" and as the title might tell you, it is made with a stack of 5" squares, typically referred to as a charm pack. 

Forward Progress

The borders are on the newest Halloween creation!  The photo does not show the true colors which are much nicer but this year, we'll have new quilts for the holiday seasons.  

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!