Christmas apron

This is Kacie's Christmas apron. She loves pink so I was sure this would tickle her fancy. During my apron making marathon, I used many different patterns but this one was my favorite. I did add ruffles to the bodice and to the skirt. Bernina has a ruffler, so I used it and also the hemming foot. Both saved me lots of time. My most favorite foot is the number 10 that makes me look like a professional when stitching edges. The pattern directions show to hand-stitch the back of the waist. I used Roxanne's glue and ironed the back into place. Then I could use the #10 to stitch around the entire waist area. The pattern is called "Sunday Dinner Apron" by Vanilla House Designs. I did make some major revisions to the pattern.

Great Grand Gift

This is Avery telling me thank you, thank you, thank you. She loved her storybook and storybook quilt. The Little Kitten panel was supposed to be made into a soft book but I used the pages as quilt squares. The panel also had coordinating fabric for the book and the backing. Really a nice youth quilt.

Christmas gift

For several years, everyone in my family has gotten the same gift. This year it was an apron. This is the "chicken" apron for Della. The guys had some fun with this as they tried to figure out what to do with their gift. It was probably good I was in Arizona at the time.

10 Minute Placemats

Yesterday I purchased 3/4 yard of two coordinating Christmas fabrics. Then I cut 11 inches from each of the fabrics and used the directions for the 10 minute table runner to make one runner and two placemats. The placemats are similar to making the table runner except I cut the runner in half before stitching the ends. The directions for the 10 minute table runner can be found by doing a google search. It does take me longer than 10 minutes to complete the project but it is a rather quick gift for a special occasion.

Gold Canyon, Arizona

We arrived at Canyon Vistas in Gold Canyon last Friday. It took us a day or so to get everything set up. Needed a new piece for the sewer connection, a new pop-off valve for the hot water heater, and the trailer was extremely dirty. We did drive in the rain for two and a half days so you can imagine the way the truck and trailer looked.

Our satellite dish has had some problems, so we had to solve that problem. That means we bought a new dish. So that took an afternoon to go the Camping World and then get it set-up correctly plus a call to Dish.

Charlie, our Australian shepherd, was so excited to be here. He loves the big dog pen where he can play with his friends. He allows everyone to pet him which is a rarity at home. He and I walk a couple of miles a day.

I had the Bernina out this afternoon to get some stitching done. Made a couple of gifts and have a couple of more started.

We were planning to return home for Christmas but the storms have put a kink in our plans. So we'll stay here and spend Christmas with friends in the resort. I hope everyone has a great Christmas with their family and friends.

No Photos

I have been extra busy with stitching Christmas gifts that I cannot show you now. So I will post about some other things in my life.

My big adventure continues. I am almost three years out from my breast cancer diagnosis. I have been back to the cancer center every three months for check-ups and a zometa IV (industrial strength boniva). That is all part of a research study to see how bisphosphonates (sp?) help with bone density while taking breast cancer drug treatment. Early this month I had a bone scan and everything was okay. So now I am on a six-month visit schedule.

We are getting ready to go to Arizona for a couple of months. So I have the fifth wheel to clean and stock. I'll post a photo of it later.

Aprons

More gifts for the grands! I attend a Bernina Stitching Group that meets once a month. This is a pattern I received last year. The aprons are made from hand towels. The bottom of the towel is turned up to form pockets. They are really soft and cute.

Quilt Number Four

This is the fourth storybook quilt and for my greatgrand daughter. They are all going to be Christmas gifts along with a book similar to the quilt story. Each quilt has the grand's name embroidered on it. I quilted each of them with my 830, jumbo hoop, and an embroidery group called Classic Line Quilting by OSED (#12345H). I really like it because it has all the elements needed for a quilt--block, sashing, and border. Now I just have to get them wrapped and labeled!

12 Days of Christmas

The Christmas Tree Skirt is for Mea Bernina's Festival of Trees entry. The designs are the 12 Days of Christmas from a set called "Redwork for Children" by Betty Alderman. It is an older set of designs but they are very beautiful. The tree skirt itself is a blank that is available at Mea Bernina. I enlarged the designs and then used decorative stitches around the top ring of fabric. I hope Mona likes it!

Zipper Pillow

This is a pillow sample that I stitched for the Overbrook Quilt Connection. The Zipper Pillow is in a pattern from Atkinson Designs called "Pillow Trio,"

It is an easy pattern to complete. The front is backed with an iron-on stabillizer and the back has two pieces of overlapping fabric. The back of this pillow is a black-background Asian fabric.

Joy Banner

The "Joy" banner is the project for Bernina's Software Sampler this month. The banner is made with Bernartex Christmas fabric. The background is three large log cabin blocks with a wide border. The rest of the banner is machine applique. It was easy and fun to make.

I had to cut the shapes by hand because the 830 plate for the cutwork tool is on back order.

Behind the Scenes

I know it looks like I have not been doing much, but that is far from true. Last week I worked three days at Overbrook Quilt Connection while the rest of the crew were in Houston. Roxane, shop owner, had purchased some quick project sheets. Since she is having a holiday shop hop and then holiday open house, I made some projects with Christmas fabrics. The first one was an apron made from a tea towel. I chose a dark green check and some green Christmas fabric. Well, on Thursday is sewing day at the shop for a group and one of the ladies bought all the red and green check towels. So I had to make another one from a different towel.

I also made some small cocktail napkins. Then they are folded to look like a Christmas tree. Really cute and easy. I made a mitered placemat from Laurel Burch fabric. It is the post before this one. I also made a traditional-looking gathered apron.

I am also quilting the small quilts with my jumbo hoop for Christmas gifts. I have one to finish the borders and one more to piece and quilt. So I have been busy. I hope everyone has a productive week.

Mitered Placemat

Roxane, my local quilt shop owner, has some new project sheets--directions for easy projects. This placemat is one of the projects. I used Christmas Laurel Burch fabric and metallic thread for the quilt lines. Then the oversized-backing is folded to the front. A fast and easy gift.

Baby Quilt

This is a baby quilt I am going to give to an unsuspecting acquaintance. The mother-to-be has shown kindness to me on many occasions. So this will be hers in the near future.

I used fabric that was leftover from a couple of baby quilts I had made in the past. I love this fabric. It is so soft and cuddly. Just right for a baby. The backing is a blue flannel with teddy bears. I hope the quilt will bring her lots of smiles.

The Shy Little Kitten Quilted

I found a CD titled "Classic Line Quilting" from OESD that had exactly the kind of quilting shapes I wanted for quilting with the embroidery module. The CD included squares, long rectangles, and squares for corners and borders. The stand-alone squares were the one I used in the blocks. I used the long rectangles in the sashing. Then I connected the corner and border squares for the last step. I have used quilting collections before but they did not contain all the elements for an entire quilt. This collection contained circles and ovals. There are three other collections on the CD. You may have to enlarge the photo to see the quilting. I used white thread throughout. I really am pleased with the quilting.

The Pokey Little Puppy

The Poky Little Puppy is my third greatgrand pieced top. I made a quick stop for a couple of items at a local store and found the golden book for this quilt. So that is going to be included with this. I will also embroider the recipient's name in the block that says "This book belongs to...". This should be a fun gift.

Fun in Some Bunny's Garden

The book panel is called Fun in Some Bunny's Garden. It was quick to make and is ready for quilting. This is also a greatgrand gift. I hope they like this "drag along" quilts.

Pillow #2

This may be my first pillow with a ruffle. The design is Rose Wreath by Kathleen Ackley. Anna Aldmon has digitized her original applique design into machine applique embroidery. I was asked to test the design with my Bernina 830. It is a two-hooping wreath for a 7" x 12" or 6" x 6" stitch area for ART, VP3, PES, and JEF. I used my jumbo hoop. The directions are the best I have seen and helps with success on the first try. The wreath would also make a wonderful start for a table runner. The Rose Wreath will be available in mid-October.

October Software Sampler Project

This is my project for the October Software Sampler. The lesson is using a technique called photosnap. I have a picture of my dog on the other side but it is kind of hard to photograph so it can be seen clearly. The pillow is from a pattern called "It's a Wrap!...pillow sleeves!" by Vanilla House Designs. The pillow wraps are very easy to make and can be changed quickly.

The Shy Little Kitten

The Shy Little Kitten quilt kit was a "find" in Paducah. I had been looking for this type of panel for several months. The kit only takes three hours or so to stitch together. The kit also includes backing. So now I just have to get it quilted before Christmas.

Top Border

This is the top border of the Chelsea Gardens quilt that I as testing. The birds are beautiful! Anna Aldmon makes machine embroidery with multi-hooping so easy. You would think this was completed all in one sitting but it was five days of work. I did have to plan which color each bird was before I started. I am anxious to receive the rest of the patterns for this quilt.

April Flowers is Completed

My April Flowers quilt is finished. I stitched the binding and label on last evening. This is from a kit called a Snap Sack. I have seen them in several quilt shops lately. The kit contains all the fabrics including the backing. It did not include the batting. I used my embroidery module for the quilting since the blocks are four inches. Then I modified the block design to put in the border and the cornerstones. I really enjoy using my large embroidery hoop. This quilt is 18" x 22". Great colors.

April Flowers

I am in the middle of an applique project, but was having an itch about doing a little stitching. I received this Snap Sack at the Bernina Celebration last month. It is a small 18"x22" project and I love the colors. This is as far as I got last night before my eyes became heavy. I still have the top and bottom borders. This has been a fun, quick project.

Embellished Garment

This is one of my recent projects. It is a sample for the Bernina Software Sampler Class that I host at Mea Bernina. One of the new--to me--techniques is using paintstiks on fabrics. On this garment, I stitched on raw-edge batik flowers and then embroidered a design. Then I used stencils and paintstiks for the rest of the design. Thanks to my stitching friend, Diane for the use of her paintstiks. You may have to enlarge the photo to see the details. This is a shirt I would wear. Then next one is a little more jazzed-up. We'll see how that turns out...

The Tree

The Christmas Tree kit that I found at Keepsake Quilting is finished. I love using piping around a quilt, especially since it is so easy to make with the serger piping foot. After looking at the photo with the kit, I decided they gave me too many medium tones and not enough light tones. Theirs glowed and mine just has too much noise in the immediate background of the tree. Since this is headed for the children at the cancer center, I put lots of decoration on the tree. You can see that better if you make the photo bigger. I would have put on more "stuff" but time became a factor. I know the kids will enjoy this little quilt.

Chelsea Garden Side Border

Anna Aldmon is at it again. She is the digitizer for the Nouveau Fleur quilt that I stitched in greens. Chelsea Garden is a Pat Campbell applique design that will be available for machine embroidery in October. Anna asked me to test the border designs. This is the left side border. The border also runs across the top and has the same design on the opposite corner. The quilt has 25 designs that are eight-inch circles. You can see some of those designs on Anna's website. Anna's directions are the best I have seen. This border has six-hoopings that are well-planned and easy to stitch. I am anxious for this pattern to be completed.

Software Sampler August Project

The Bernina Software Sampler lesson for August is based on a recycled denim slouch bag. The bag is a collage of different techniques. I used fabric etching to make holes in the denim. Bleach was used to distress the fabric. Then I added stenciled designs with fabric paint, embroidery designs, and grommets. It is not a bag that I would use but it is interesting.

September Addition:

Today I was at Mea Bernina where my denim slouchy bag was displayed. Several ladies where there before heading to a retreat and one wanted to know if I would sell the bag. So she wrote me a check on the spot. She wanted to use it to teach a class for her friends.

Umbrella Project

This is one of my latest projects. I was looking at blogs on other sites and came across this one about recovering an umbrella. Well, I just happened to have an old umbrella that I wasn't going to use again and this is the result of my efforts. Amazingly covering an umbrella is a two to three hour project. It is fun and my friends are in awe...

Christmas in July

This is my latest project. It is a kit I found at Keepsake Quilting. This little quilt should look great on the wall of a children's room at the Cancer Center. The background is made with blended squares on a fusible grid and then stitched. The gold trim is glittery gold piping. The rest of the tree is raw edge applique. I still have to quilt the top and add the finishing touches--bows, crystals, etc. Angels will grace the tree. It is going to be a fun wall quilt because it has very interesting items found in the dark squares.

New Project

I am working on a small Christmas wall hanging. It is a kit that I purchased from Keepsake Quilting. The background of the quilt uses a blended technique with a decorated Christmas tree in the middle. I have the background finished and am working on the Christmas tree. You'll see a photo in a day or two.

Last evening we planted two Knockout roses that my DIL found on a 70% off sale. They were in a gallon tub, so they are very large with plenty of blooms. They are looking great after a brief shower this morning.

We are heading for Colorado later in the month, so yesterday I smoked four chickens and have them frozen. Today I smoked a pork and a beef roast. It came out of the smoker a while ago and we had a delicious sandwich.

I am headed back to my "studio" to work some stitching magic!

Home Again

Thursday morning almost before the sun was shining, I left with Roxane and Helen to go to the Omaha Quilt Show. We had the booth set up by 3pm or so and headed out for a little lunch. The show opened at 5 pm. I demonstrated the Bohin chalk pencil, three-pocket bag, and cell phone bag make with s quiltsmart panel. We sold all of our stock of pencils and three-pocket bags. It is such fun to talk with quilters and learn what they are doing. Friday was especially long as the show opened at 9 am and closed at 8 pm. The quilts they had hanging at the show were very nice. They said the attendance was better than last year. Our booth had lots of quilters in it most of the time. We got back home about 10 last night.

We saw houses surrounded by the high water in places. Highway 75 was the only one open into Omaha from our direction. It was a fun three days.

Nouveau Fleur Quilt

This is my embroidered quilt from Vicky Lawrence's book Garden Nouveau Quilts. Anna Aldmon from Texas digitized the original hand applique pattern. I was fortunate to test the digitizing for the Art format and stitched this quilt on my 830 machine. Vicky works at the Overbrook Quilt Connection, my local quilt shop, so the shop has kits with the fabrics similar to the ones used in the book. I used the original green fabrics and then used batiks for the flowers. The top was quilted by Kathy Smith from Burlingame and she did a great job with it. It is a beautiful quilt and I am quite proud of it!

Quilted Bowl

This fabric bowl is the project for June's Bernina Software Sampler. The design is printed from the software on a piece of fabric with the printer. Then you can design the stitching to go with the flower with the embroidery software. Then it is just a matter of stitching out the design on the printed fabric to enhance the flower. It was a fun project. Now I will have to see if I can design a flower bowl with my own photo.

New Embroidery CD

This is a small table runner that I have stitched to try out the designs on "Hop to It" by Laundry Basket Quilts. The designer is Edyta Sitar. The designs come in most formats and are 5.5" to 8" square. I have chosen the largest size. This is going to be a birthday gift.

Graduation 2011

On Sunday two of my granddaughters graduated from the local high school. My daughter-in-law graduated from the University of Mary with a Masters in Nursing and a Masters in Business Administration on Friday. So we have been attending ceremonies, luncheons, dinners, and parties for everyone this week. It has been a joyous time for family get-togethers.

Mousepad

This is my version of the mousepad for the May Software Sampler. The lesson is about making a crazy quilt-type of block. I love the Floralicious fabric by Bernartex and have made a couple of small items from it. This block was completely stitched in the jumbo hoop. The block can also be make in the large hoop but the corner motifs must be hooped a second time. I could not find the mousepad kit so I just used iron-on vinyl for the top covering.

Graduation Wall Quilt

One of my granddaughters brought her chenille high school letter to me last year to put into a quilt. She graduated yesterday and this was one of her gifts. (Thanks for the idea from my quilting friend Diane.) It is a wall quilt of about 21" x 21". I used a pattern by Double Diamond called Diamond Wine. The diamonds are made with a special double diamond ruler. The area has a second piece of fabric fused to the back and so the diamonds show that color when tucked back and stitched. She did love her little wall quilt. It was a grand graduation day for two of my granddaughters!

Red and White Quilts

This is the most amazing exhibit of quilts that I have seen. I just wish I could have been there in person. Take a look at the quilts and the format of this amazing exhibition.

More photos from The Selvage Blog.

Paducah Quilt Show

We got home about 5 last evening from the Paducah Quilt Show. I went with Roxane, owner of Overbrook Quilt Connection, and Dee, a quilting friend. Dee and I helped Roxane with her booth. This was the 25th anniversary of the show and it was eventful. On Sunday they received word that the main exhibition hall had to be abandoned because they were shutting the flood gates in the flood wall. Because of all the rain the Ohio River was near flood stage and could possibly flood the city. So many of the vendors were moved to other buildings in the city. We were very lucky to be in the Finkel Building which was in the downtown area. So we got to town last Monday and set up the booth.

We opened the booth on Tuesday morning. Dee demonstrated the 3-pocket purse, the Bohin chalk pencil, Clearly Perfect Angle, cell phone bag, and the Quilter's boot for binding. We had many customers on Tuesday but our best days were Thursday and Friday. We met quilters from all across the United States, Australia, and Canada. I had great fun and love going to Paducah.

New Billfold

This is the billfold or checkbook holder that I made with the Texture Magic fabric. I used temtex for the stiffener and that was just not perfect. It makes the wallet too thick in the area of the credit card holders. The pattern designer suggested a product called decor bond 809 that I will use for the next one. If you look carefully, you can see a place for your checkbook on the bottom half and a place for money on the top half. There is plenty of space for credit cards and even a pen holder. This is fairly easy to make and goes together quickly. The Overbrook Quilt Connection is going to have a class for this--watch for the class schedule.

Saturday I was a co-hostess on the Crusin' Kansas bus trip that went to four great quilt shops. Thirty-two of us had breakfast, loaded the bus at 8:30, and headed out to Needle in a Haystack at Severy. We shopped for an hour in this great shop that had lots of help and lovely fabrics. Then we picked up our lunch and headed to Charlotte's Sew Natural in Newton. Charlotte has a great variety of batiks and new florals. Then it was on the Prairie Pieces in Emporia. Another hour of shopping with lots of variety and fun. On to Quilting Bits & Pieces in Eudora for supper with homemade pie and more shopping. Back to Overbrook Quilt Connection by 8:15 for our last chance at buying fabric. Dee and I shared some fun techniques with the bus along the way. The textured billfold or checkbook holder was a hit. All the Texture Magic along the route was purchased. Everyone had a great time making new stitching friends and finding treasures along the way.

New Project

This is the first step of my project. The first photo is the fabric with Texture Magic on the back and I have stitched a grid on the fabric. I used my embroidery machine to stitch the grid and could have completed the task much faster by using a decorative stitch on the machine. But that did include digitizing the grid which I now have. The I thoroughly steamed the texture magic to complete the shinking process. The fabric shirks approximately 30% in all direction. If you make the photos larger, you can see the details much better. I used a metallic teal thread in the bobbin to give the glitz. I am going to make a lovely wallet from this beginning. I hope to get it finished tomorrow.

April Software Sampler Project

This is the small project for the April Software Sampler. The lesson is about using the same design and changing the fills to change the design. It is a fun lesson and also is a fun project. The small quilt is completed in the hoop and just sewn together after the blocks are stitched. It is a unique technique to complete a quilt but very easy. I will take the quilt to the shop next week when we have sewing group on Wednesday.

Small Cosmetic Bag

This is a small cosmetic bag that I made for Della. It really is the cutest one that I have made. I made tabs for the ends of the zipper and I am much happier with that look. The other unique feature is "iron-on vinyl" that I used on the lining fabric. The cording is couched onto the purse using the embroidery module. Really a neat technique. I have enjoyed this project from March Software Sampler.

Cosmetic Bags

These are samples of the cosmetic bags that will be part of Software Sampler this month at Bernina dealers. The small ones are about 3.5" x 4" and the larger one is 4.5" x 5". They are relatively easy to make except I am not an expert with zippers. I really need a lesson on how to make them look great instead of just okay. The software lesson is about digitizing different types of patterns. Mona, the new Bob's owner, has many new Benartex fabrics--so I get to use them to make samples.

What Do You See?

This little quilt is from a Keepsake kit. It is called What Do You See. The entire quilt is a panel and I just did a little quilting along the black triangles. I just had to provide the binding fabric. It makes a nice, quick quilt for a child. I took the quilt to the Cancer Center in Topeka during my routine visit yesterday. I had three nurses and the children's doctor come into my room and thank me for the quilt. They were very appreciative. I wish I could have told them I put a lot of work into it, but it was one of those easy peasy quilts.

Muslin Quilt

My newest project is a muslin quilt. This week I have my third lesson for this quilt taught by Doris Davidson, who has won grand champion ribbons for her quilts. The book(s) for this quilt are by Jennie Rayment from England. She uses different folding techniques to make many block designs. The technique takes advantage of bias and embellishments in many of the blocks. She also uses lots of tucks to create texture. I took the lessons several years ago but never got to the finished quilt. So I am trying again and have several blocks ready for the top. The most fun in the class is seeing what others do to embellish their blocks. It is the first time I have used pintucking, bias bars, and ruching. I enjoy learning the new techniques.

Garden Nouveau Quilt

My friends are not tall enough to hold this quilt but you get the idea. I just have to put the back together and it is ready to take to the quilter. I am extremely happy to have this quilt completed. It was a unique challenge and my new 830 was up to the task. In all of the satin stitching I may have seen two thread loops and they may have been my fault for not changing the needle sooner. The quilt took a lot of stabilizer because each block required two to six hoopings. The side borders had seven hoopings and the top and bottom had five hoopings. Now I just have to decide who receives this quilt...My thanks to Vicky Lawrence for designing and Anna Aldmon for digitizing this beautiful treasure.

Working on Garden Nouveau

I thought maybe I would have this quilt finished in early January, that did not happen. Each of the side borders took 14 hours of stitching and the other two borders took 12 hours each. Then there were four corner blocks to embroider. All of that is complete and the embroidered borders are on the quilt. Now I just have two more borders to finish this task. I am getting a little tired of this quilt and will be glad to have it finished. My machine quilter is about ready to tackle the task of making it look beautiful. I'll have a picture before long.

Happy Stitching!

My First Cross Stitch

This is my first attempt at cross stitch with my embroidery machine. I digitized the pattern in Designer Plus V6 software and then stitched it on muslin. The cross stitch itself is only about 2.5 inches square. The design is pretty amazing as I watched it stitch. The crosses are so small and perfect. I would never attempt something like this by hand. The design has some areas that need work, but I really do like it.

Heirloom Heart

This was a project at last week's Machine Embroidery group at Bob's Bernina. The project was really an heirloom pincushion stitched in white on white with a white ribbon. The design uses a wing needle and gives that heirloom look. It was really striking. As usual, I modified the design a bit by using red thread on a muslin background. On the back piece I stitched a large buttonhole using my embroidery module, layered the two pieces and now I have a candy holder for Valentine's Day.

Computer Bags

These are laptop bags that I embroidered for Christmas gifts. Most had initials but some adults got their name if it was short. The monogram section of the Bernina V6 Designer Plus made it easy to design a special monogram for each person. This side is black and the other side has a wide color strip around the bag. I made one for 20 of the family including myself. Almost everyone had them packed as they left for their homes.

Design Wall

This is the quilt that I have been working on. It is Vicky Lawrence's Garden Nouveau quilt that is in her AQS book. Anna Aldmon from Texas is digitizing the original quilt. I have to stitch on the inner borders and then I will be ready to work on the applique borders. This quilt is going to be beautiful.