WIP Wednesday - November 26

This is what is on my design wall this week:

Four memory quilts made from the shirts of a customer's father. There's a mix of dress shirts, casual shirts and T-shirts in these quilts. I still need to add some borders to make them to the size wanted and the backs are going to be super soft Minky. I love Minky on the backs, just not the extra work required to ensure the quilt doesn't pucker and stretch while it's being quilted.

Memory Quilt 1/4 

Memory Quilt 2/4

Memory Quilt 3/4

Memory Quilt 4/4

 And a custom quilt made from Paris themed fabrics with disappearing 9-patch blocks randomly placed. This one will go to Marie from Blueberry Hill Quilts for quilting after it's pieced together.

What's on your design wall this week? 

--Ann

WIP Wednesday - August 6 - Christmas Inspiration!

Working on the Christmas quilts for my customer inspired me to pull out my Christmas fabrics to see what I could quickly put together. I recently received these great fabrics from The Buggy Barn for Henry Glass fabrics and pulled together a few table runners:

A little gold accent strip

Starry Christmas Table Runner - FOR SALE

Pieced Star Christmas Table Runner - FOR SALE

 I love working on Christmas items and will have a few more to show over the next few weeks.

--Ann

WIP Wednesday - July 10

What a productive week! I have 3 baby quilts almost ready to ship and spent a lovely day sewing with my quilt guild making quilt tops for donation to the victims of the flooding here in southern Alberta last month. Here's the 3 baby quilts ready for binding:

Baby Quilts ready for binding

Pin basting on the dining room table!

Free-motion Quilting

Swirly hearts quilting

But the sun is out and the weeds are taking over the garden, so the binding will have to wait until later!

--Ann

Please check out these links for more WIP from some fabulous quilters!


Quiltsy WIP and Whatnots
The Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday #98
Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday - June 5

Spring has sprung and the flowers are blooming! At least the lilacs are finally coming out! I love the colours found in nature and this colour combo of lilac, green and blue is going to show up soon in a quilt!

Last quilt guild meeting, I got my next tins to work on. It is supposed to work out that we each get one tin per month, but with a few guild meetings cancelled due to weather and quilters being away for one reason or another, I have 3 more to work on! This tin had a strip of red print fabric and a pattern for these beautiful hearts! This one below is my block - there were some leftover pieces left that I used for the bottom of my heart, I used the fabric provided for the top left and my own fabric for the top right and the little triangles at the top. Fast and easy!

Red Heart Quilt Block - Tinner's challenge!

All 6 blocks so far!

 The next tin had a piece of wild green, orange and blue stripe and a theme of jungle! No patterns included this time! I have some zebra fabric I've had for quite some time and I fussy cut it so there was one zebra face in the center, added a couple borders and finished this block.

My jungle theme quilt block

Jungle theme blocks so far.

Sampler in lime green

 And the last thing I've been working on this week is a set of blocks that were donated to the guild at one time. I've added a lime green batik for sashing and borders and it's now ready for quilting. I'm still not sure if I will be leaving the log cabin blocks in the middle (on the left and right) as they are or if I'll add an applique or something on them. They just seem a bit too pale when everything is all put together. I'm thinking a heart or flower would just add a bit of colour there. This quilt will eventually be part of our charity quilts when it is finished.

--Ann

Today I'm linking up to
Quiltsy WIP's and Whatnots
The Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday #93

WIP Wednesday - May 29

Today was rainy and wet! And we still haven't dried out from the rain we had last week! Oh, well, that means my sewing machine will get used and my garden will have to wait! I planted some of my seeds yesterday morning - before the afternoon showers started. I had some help from my grandsons - the 3 year old was very good at placing the pea seeds into the row and keeping some space between them. The 2 year old was quite funny - he would grab some seeds and then throw them into the garden, not caring where they went! I'm sure there will be pea plants everywhere!!

But back in the sewing room today, I had my friends here for our weekly sewing day. And I had a little show 'n' tell as I received a quilt in the mail from a swap on Flickr. The theme for this mini-quilt swap was flowers or birds and the quilt I received had such a lush bouquet of blooms! I loved every bit of this quilt and will be finding a place for it where I can look at it every day!

And I'm not very good with deadlines, as my quilt for this swap should have been in the mail days ago! I'm still stitching!!! But I can't show you the whole thing yet as it needs to be a surprise for my partner. So, you're going to get this little sneak peek! Don't you just love the colours?

As you can see, I'm doing a little hand-applique! At one time, everything I made was hand-quilted and I loved the relaxing rhythm of the stitching. But now, everything I make is machine quilted, either by myself or by my long-arm quilting friend, and I find I miss the hand-work.

--Ann

Linking up with
Quiltsy WIP and Whatnots
Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday #92
Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday

Dresden Star Sunflower finished!

I finished my sunflower! And I didn't go to the fabric store, but used the piece of brown I had in my fabric stash!

Dresden Star Sunflower - FOR SALE

I quilted the brown centre with a pebble pattern in brown thread to resemble the seeds in the sunflower head. Then I changed to a yellow variegated thread and quilted the yellow petals, leaving the orange pieces to pop up off the quilted surface.

Swirling leaves in green thread finish the piece off and I quilted it more densely than I usually quilt, just to keep the amount of quilting fairly uniform throughout!

This was a fun little project to make - I will likely make it in a few more colorways in the future! What colors do you think I should try?

--Ann

Linking up here:
Quiltsy WIP and Whatnots
Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday #88

WIP Wednesday - April 17

I have this Dresden Star pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts along with the templates that go along with it and I've made the block once before here:

Dresden Star Mini Quilt

And when I first showed it, my cousin said something about it looking like a sunflower and so I thought I would try making it in some bright yellow, sunflowery colors!

Bright yellow and orange

I have a few more yellows and oranges in my fabric stash than I had a few short years ago. The bright colors are growing on me and I'm making more from them all the time.

Adding the star points

The star points are just a folded triangle, set into the seams of the more traditional Dresden plate.

Machine applique with decorative stitching

 The first time I made this pattern, I hand-stitched the Dresden plate onto the background. This time, I turned to my sewing machine, chose a decorative stitch, and stitched it on by machine.

So colorful!

 I love this muted green background - it really makes the yellow and orange pop!

Auditioning brown fabric for the center

I still don't have many browns in my stash of fabric, this was one I had that I like the best, but I think I may need to make a visit to a fabric store to find the exact piece I have in my mind.

If you're looking for the pattern & templates, you can find them here at Laundry Basket Quilts.

Piecefully yours,
--Ann

Linking up with:
Quiltsy WIP and Whatnots
The Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday #86

WIP Wednesday - March 27

Just popping in to show you what was happening in my sewing room today! I get together every week with a couple of good friends and they have been taking a class on Bali bowls at Along Came Quilting here in Calgary.

And their second class is tonight, so they were busy doing some prep work. Strips of fabric were pieced end to end and pressed and cording inserted. 

pressing fabric strips

Inserting the cording

 While my quilting friends were busy with their bowls, I finished this one up with borders and cut a piece of super soft Minky for the back so it's ready for quilting.

Pretty in pink!

And I have a Dr. Seuss themed project on the go that needs to be shipped tomorrow!

Dr. Seuss play mat.

So, even though it's felt like I haven't been in the sewing room much this week, I did have a few things that I made progress on!

Thanks to all who stop by every week via the link-up parties - I don't always have time to respond to every comment, but I read every single one and appreciate you coming by to visit!

--Ann

Linking up with:
Quiltsy WIPs and Whatnots
The Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday #83

WIP Wednesday - March 20

This is what I've been working on this week -

Solids

 I've cut some 7" squares from some solids - black, white, gray and yellow! I have a plan, but I might add some turquoise yet before I get started! Or not! You'll just have to wait and see.

Mini Quilts ready for quilting

A set of mini quilts layered and ready for quilting. These were fabrics and blocks left over from a quilt I made last year and I'm determined to use up every last bit! I'm starting with hand-quilting, but if I get impatient, I may finish them by machine. It's just sew relaxing to sit and watch TV with a needle in hand!

Granny Square Mini Quilt - FOR SALE HERE

And the first one is done while I watched a Harry Potter movie last night.

--Ann

Linking up with
Quiltsy Team WIPs and Whatnots
The Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday #82

WIP Wednesday - February 13

Busy week for me this week. I have a custom order for 8 placemats - almost done, just need to pop into my local quilt shop for fabric for binding. The placemats are made from a fun fat quarter pack called "Cinnamon Spice" by Blackbird Designs from Moda fabrics. I have lots of fabric left, so watch for more items made from this fabric line in the near future!

Cinnamon Spice Placemats

Quilting Cinnamon Spice Placemats

I also finished the friendship star border on my blue & white quilt and added the final blue print border, bringing it up to a nice lap/twin size quilt top. Just need to look for a backing and this one is ready to go out for quilting!

Blue and White Sampler Quilt

And finally, I had 5 friendship stars left over after I pieced the border for the bigger blue and white quilt and put them together into a table runner that's now listed for sale in my shop here!

Blue and White Table Runner - FOR SALE HERE

So, that's what's happening in my sewing room this week! How was your week?

--Ann

Linking up with:
The Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday #77
Quiltsy Team WIP Wednesday
Freshly Pieced WIP

WIP Wednesday - February 6

Here's what's been happening in my sewing room this week:

 I've started basting some little 1.5" hexies from my scraps - not sure what they'll be when they grow up, but I've got plenty of time to decide! (Actually, this is NOT my sewing room - I was watching TV in my PJ's and was quite comfy on the sofa!)

 

And last week I started quilting this baby quilt on my machine, but for some reason, still unknown, when the bobbin thread ran out, my machine needle hit the plastic on the free-motion foot and broke the needle. The main shaft on the free-motion foot is slightly bent and my landscaper son did a quick fix by filing a bit off the plastic so I could finish. I have made this pattern a few times and I think I need to up the challenge by quilting something other than an all-over meander or loopy stitch. Any ideas?

 And today, I sewed at my friend's house and this is what she's been working on - a paper-pieced Harry Potter quilt. The pattern is a block of the month from Sewhooked and if you're a Harry Potter fan, this is an awesome project!

--Ann

Linking up with
Quiltsy WIP Wednesday
Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday #76

WIP Wednesday - January 23

My first WIP post for 2013! Woohoo!

Here's what I've got on my sewing table today:

Red, White, Turquoise Table Runner 12"x48"

Just finished this quilted table runner for Faye in the UK - she saw something she liked in my Etsy shop and requested a different size to fit her table. This will be one of the last items I make in this colour scheme as I am almost out of the red & white fabrics.

Pillow top in progress

Pillows finished!

And I've been making pillows! For my living room and for my daughter-in-law. These were fun to make up and made me realize that a few coordinating accessories really make a difference in how a room looks!

How about you? What have you been working on this week?

--Ann

Linking up with:
Quiltsy WIP Wednesday #46
The Needle and Thread Network #74
and Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday