New Project

I am going to embroider this design on the back of a white jacket that I purchased last summer. I have been looking for just the right design and this is it. This is called Mylar Roses Galore from Purely Gates Embroidery. I met Patricia Gates when she had a booth across from O'Brook Quilt Connection's booth in Houston. This pattern uses mylar--the stuff you use to wrap packages or put into fancy gift bags. The mylar gives the sparkle without using metallic threads as it lays under the design. The design is especially digitized so that the sparkly peeks though. I did have to order the design from a sewing shop in Texas called Little Stitches. I'll show you the jacket when I am finished.

Holiday Redwork

The embroidery class that I am leading is making this quilt. It is Holiday Redwork by The Stitch Connection. It is a unique pattern because it is available in machine embroidery and hand embroidery. This is the second quilt that I have completed, except the first one has not been quilted. Each of the designs stitch out in less than ten minutes because they are redwork. Most of the blocks are red but there is a smattering of green that really makes the quilt.

The second picture is of the snowflake stitching that I used on the white borders. I digitized them to look similar to the cornerstones.

Bonnie Hunter (aka Quiltville)

Today I had the most wonderful opportunity to meet Bonnie Hunter from North Carolina. She is the author of two quilt books and the maker of numerous quilts. Bonnie is the queen of scrap-quilting. She does not let one little smidgen of her fabric go to the wastebasket.

Bonnie presented a trunk show this morning at the Kaw Valley Quilter's guild meeting in Lawrence. This afternoon she had a workshop about making the Blue Ridge Beauty which is one of the quilts in Leaders and Enders. Her other book is Scraps and Shirttails which gives directions for using recycled clothing.

Bonnie Hunter is energetic, personable, witty, and extremely funny. She has great descriptors for all of our quilting actions. We had a great time and learned so much from her!

Tribute to my Mother

This is the one and only quilt that was made by my mother. She started it in 1987, soon after my dad died. She pieced with her Singer slant-needle machine and then hand quilted each block. She had wonderful small quilting stitches. In 1999 when I started piecing, I asked her about her quilt and she had two blocks to finish. She said she was not interested in doing them. I finished those blocks and then put the quilt together with sashing and borders. I gave it to back to her and she kept it on a quilt rack made by my son. I now have this quilt hanging in my living room as a tribute to my mother.

Cathedral Window Quilt

Last fall a 95-year-old guild member called to tell me that she would present a program to the guild about Cathedral Window quilts. Well an hour later she called me again and said she did not know what had gotten into her but she couldn't do that. So I asked if I could do the program if she would teach me how to sew a Cathedral Window quilt. So a couple of weeks ago I spend some time with her as she showed me. I also took a photo of her beautiful quilt. Then it was time to develop a program and make a small quilt. So the small quilt is my version of a Cathedral Window quilt. It is entirely completed by machine and 8.5 inches square--unlike the original version that I saw. But I thought you would get a chuckle out of my quilt as compared to the original.

Bibs

Late last year at one of my first Wednesday sewing groups, one of the members showed adult bibs she was making for her local care home. So she graciously sent me a pattern and here are my versions. They are quick to make when the embroidery is completed. I use the serger to sew the layers together, turn, and then sew two sets of stitches around the edge with my regular machine. The closure at the back is velcro. Four done and ready to go!

Busy Sewing

No pictures today but I have been busy with sewing things. This morning I did some research on making a cathedral window quilt. I need it for a program I will give tomorrow evening at the guild meeting. I also worked on finishing four adult bibs that I am going to give to the local care home. I had found some fabric that had a rubberized backing so a spill would not soak through the bib. Well, when I washed the bibs that fabric shrunk. I was totally surprised by that. I thought the terrycloth would be the one to shrink. Then it was on to the Holiday Redwork quilt. I have the middle blocks finished and now just have to complete the borders. One border is made of flying geese, so that is the one that is taking some time. The is the class I am teaching at the quilt shop, so I would like to have it quilted and bound by our next class. I'll add some pictures later. Happy stitching!