Quilt #25 - St. Louis 16 Patch

Tonight, I finally got back to the basement to finish quilting. I had my trusty quilting buddy with me and I was ready to get busy!

I finished quilting Gillian's St Louis 16 Patch. I quilted orange peel with a cream So Fine in the top and the trusty Silver Bottom Line in the bobbin.



The quilting shows up nicely in this lighter block. I love the Fly fabric!



I just have a couple of places to bury some threads and it will be ready to return!

Loaded on the frame...

Last night, I loaded the next quilt on the frame. This one is a St Louis sixteen patch that Gillian made. I'm going to quilt it with an orange peel design.





After I got that loaded, I pieced a couple more of the Easy Street blocks. Well, not pieced all the way. Just webbed up. :)

Quilt #21 - Nautical Swoon

Be sure to check out the 2,000th post giveaway! Free quilting!! There's still time to enter!

Last weekend, I quilted this Nautical Swoon quilt for Gillian. She made it for her grandpa. I quilted a gentle wave with an off white Glide and silver Bottom Line in the bobbin.

I love these blocks!

Gillian did a little embroidery in the center of the quilt.

And the backing is pretty awesome, too!

Quilt #15 off the frame

Friday night, I finished quilting quilt #15 which is for Gillian.



I used a white So Fine and silver Bottom Line in the bobbin and the Daisy Duo panto.



I also ordered the Magic Genie Washers for the bobbin and had one in for the last two rows and didn't have any issues with nesting or extra thread. I'm anxious to try it out on another quilt to be sure it has helped resolve the issues!

A pinwheel finish

Quilt #14 on the Avante is quilted! This one is probably the biggest quilt that I have ever quilted. It's for Jen and it's a pinwheel sampler quilt. The fabrics are gorgeous!



I quilted this was Daisy Duo pantograph and white Glide in the top and silver Bottom Line in the bobbin. I added a bit of batting to the first thread guide, but that didn't help with my thread issues and I have quite a few spots where I had to rip out the stitching due to nesting on the bottom. But the extra thread in the top part of the stitch didn't happen which is a good thing.

Here is a picture of the quilting. No flash so that the quilting shows up better.



I'm not sure that I will be able to get a picture of the full quilt. I will see how it goes when I bury the threads. :)

Design Wall Monday - 6/10

So much accomplished this weekend!

Friday night, I quilted the 13th quilt - one of my own, just in case! It is Moon Pie and Sunday I got it trimmed and the binding attached.



Sunday, I worked on the pieced border for Sweet Treat. Just the sides left to do and then 2 more borders that should be very easy.



Sunday night, I finished the hand stitching on the SIS quilt that I quilted in May. This is an old UFO, but I can't remember when it was started.



I have also been quilting a pinwheel quilt. I'm hoping that one more pass will out me to the halfway mark and get the quilt top off the floor. :)  It is looking pretty great so far!



And finally, I repaired a bagful of dog toys that had been ripped open. Maxie and Lula were thrilled about that!

Friday Night Sew In - 6/7

Last night, I quilted quilt #13 on the frame. I got Moon Pie finished. I used white Glide on the top and my go to silver Bottom Line in the bobbin.



I did have some issues with the upper thread looping on the top. I haven't had this issue with any thread other than the Glide, but I had a few spots like this. I try my best to regulate my speed, but it seems to happen when I do free motion and not when I use a panto.



Once I got that done, I loaded the next quilt on the frame and then did a bit of cutting.

I cut out the pieces for the pieced border for the Sweet Treats quilt. I'm ready to get this quilt top finished and ready for quilting!



And then, I pulled out the Easy Street to see where I was with the steps. I had stopped when I got to a lot of cutting - 169 3.5" green squares and then white strips for more strip piecing and more cutting.

I'm ready to get a few UFOs finished to start a couple of new quilts!

Quilt #12 - Quilt of Valor

I LOVE the Square Spiral panto!! It quilted up so nicely on this Quilt of Valor quilt! Some service person or veteran is going to LOVE this quilt!

Square Spiral Panto, So Fine in a light tan and silver Bottom Line for the bobbin.











And I have decided to start Judy L's newest Quilt Along quilt, but I need fabric for it. I am planning a trip to Fabric Shack! I am also making a list of quilts that I need in the next year for weddings, college quilts, etc so that I can possibly shop for those, too. I am getting excited about starting another new quilt.

Some goodies and a quilt

In the past few weeks, I have placed a couple of orders to replace and add to my thread collection. I was trying to move away from Connecting Threads Essentials for the frame, but with the spool attachment I can use the Essentials thread so it will be here if I need it. I would just rather not need it.

I ordered a few cones of Glide. This works well for pantographs, but I have to watch my speed when quilting a free hand design. I only wanted to order about 4 colors, but there was a minimum amount so I chose a couple more colors. The cones are 5000m and around $7 a cone.



I got an assortment of variegated King Tut colors from Sew Thankful.



And some So Fine and another cone of the silver Bottom Line that I have been using.





Here is how the cones of So Fine and Glide compare in size.



And this morning, I had a bit of extra time so I loaded the first Quilt of Valor on the frame. I'm going to use Square Spiral to quilt it.

Monthly Accomplishments - May 2012

Maybe this will give me a little motivation today... :)

1. Finished getting frame set up and tested it at the very beginning of the month
2. Quilted quilt #1 - charity quilt for the Guild - also finished the binding
3. Quilted quilt #2 - charity quilt for the Guild
4. Quilt #3 - another charity quilt for the Guild
5. Quilt #4 - a quilt for Lynn
6. Got some tools for the Avante - still loving the white tray that sits on the rails!
7. Quilt #5 - for Lynn
8. Quilt #6 - baby quilt for Emily
9. Quilt #7 - wall hanging for Jen
10. Attached the binding to quilts #2 and #3
11. Quilted #8 and #9 - For Regina's 4Patches4Hope
12. Assembled Moon Pie and started working on the borders
13. Quilt #10 - a table runner for Jen
14. Quilt #11 - finally one for me!
15. Went to New York to see Regina and her family and enjoyed a bit of soggy scenery and shopping at JoAnn's!
16. Cut out and pieced Sweet Treats
17. Made great progress on my second sock!

I also got a lot read this month!

1. Endangered Species by Nevada Barr
2. Spinning Forward by Terri DuLong
3. Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler
4. Starting Now by Debbie Macomber
5. Family Pictures by Jane Green
6. The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier
7. Touch & Go by Lisa Gardner
8. Last to Die by Tess Gerritsen
9. Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman
10. The Thorn by Beverly Lewis

This is a little motivating! I got a lot of quilting done last month!

And my favorite picture of the month... The pups!

Quilts #10 and #11 quilted!!

Last night, I knew that I wanted to get something else quilted, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to spend a lot of time in the basement. I have some other things around the house that I need to get done, but I really didn't want to start on something else.

I ended up pressing and prepping Jen's table runner and then thinking about how I wanted to quilt it. There is a flange on both ends and that kept me from trying out a new panto. I ended up quilting it with big circles. I used the same soft white So Fine in the top and a light gray Bottom Line in the bobbin.





I am in a challenge group to finish UFOs and my name is almost at the top of the list so I had to throw one of my quilts in so that I can have a finish relatively soon. I quilted the 2010 SIS quilt. I changed out the top thread to a light tan So Fine and used the same light gray Bottom Line in the bobbin.



And I just did a simple stipple. I was going to quilt just until I ran out of bobbin thread, but I never ran out of bobbin thread and there were no thread breaks so I got the quilt finished!



I really like this backing fabric!



About the time that I finished the SIS quilt, Max visited to tell me that was enough quilting and it was time for bed.

Quilt #7 quilted

Last night, after I finished the baby quilt, I went to dinner with Tim and then loaded the seventh quilt on the frame. When the dogs woke me way too early for a Saturday, I made them sit in the basement with me while I quilted.



This is a heart wall hanging for Jen and I used the Hubby Love panto on it. I used a softer white So Fine in the top and the light gray Bottom Line in the bobbin.



Max is feeling better this week since his teeth cleaning and they pups are all enjoying the nicer weather.

Friday Night Sew In - 5/17

Last night, I loaded a baby quilt and got it quilted. It is for Emily who is in my modern quilt guild.

I used the white Glide in the top and a light gray Bottom Line in the bobbin. I quilted stars and loops in the color sections and ribbons in the white sashing.





I did end up ripping out one section of the sashing that I didn't like and re-quilted it and I think it turned out just darling!

This is quilt #6 on the new frame.

Blogger Quilt Festival - Spring 2013

It's time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival! It didn't take me long to figure out which quilt to show.

This quilt is Spinnerei and it is an original design of mine. I made the quilt for the Cincinnati Modern Quilt Guild and our Modern Dresden Plate exhibit at the IQF show in Cincinnati in April 2013.



I had an idea of how I wanted to piece my blocks together and still make them look like Dresden Plates, but I had a few issues with the first few blocks. Once I got my rhythm going, it was a piece of cake to get all the blocks made.



I had a great time quilting this quilt as well! Instead of black as the accent, I used a dark shade of gray and it sets off the colors very well.

To quilt it, I did a tighter stipple on the white and a fish design on the plate blades. Really, I wasn't going for the fish design, but it just sort of ended up looking like that. I used a double batt while quilting and I really like how it turned out. The quilting is very defined!



While I was making the quilt, I took a lot of pictures of the process. This picture was an operator error, but I love how it turned out.



It was really fantastic to see the quilt in the show!



Quilt Info...

Size - 61" by 61"
Pattern - Original design by me
Special Techniques - raw edge applique - the center circles
Quilted by - me (Darling Jill Quilts)

I am entering this quilt into the ROY G BIV category and you can see the other quilts in this category here.