Comfort Quilt Progress

It's a top!

And a shot of it from the backside:

This view always makes me think of stained glass windows!

Now to find a backing (yes, it will most likely be a minty back!)

Hoping to have it quilted by Sunday night and get it delivered first thing Monday.

I'll keep you posted!

On A Mission...

Some unexpected bad news has sent me to the quilt room in search of fabric.
Lucky for me I found some…another Guildcrafters kit stashed away, almost forgotten about until today when I went on a search…...

I'll get back with you with progress!

Scrapped, Scraps, and a Lack of Creativity….

I've been working hard on Talkin' Turkey from Bonnie Hunter's book String Fling.
I had given up on it for awhile.  The fabrics weren't interesting to me anymore (shirting scraps) and I just wasn't enjoying working on it.
I decided to get a few new fabrics to add to it the last few times I was at some of the local quilt shops, and I was really starting to like it again.
I had hundreds of pieces cut and sewn, and decided it was time to put some blocks together and see if I wanted to continue.

Thats when I realized that I hadn't measured any of the units as I went along to make sure that they were the proper size and would fit together into blocks.
As luck (and lack of skill would have it) They didn't fit.  Some were too large.  Ones that I had trimmed to size were now to small to use.  (If I had not trimmed anything up they might have worked).
And so…..the whole mess got tossed into a bin until I could stop crying long enough to make an intelligent decision about what to do with all that fabric/work.

I did decide to keep the string pieced blocks that had not yet been cut in half….so today when I was unable to decide what I could work on I decided to just sew some more of those string blocks and maybe, one day, put them together into a quilt.

I played around with them for a few minutes…which was actually pointless because I just picked them up and flung them back into their bin……….

Since my own creativity has decided to pack up and leave town,

I'll share someone else's talents…..

The picture below is actually a photo taken by Claudette!  Isn't it gorgeous?  It looks like a painting to me.

Quick Craft Satisfaction

A quick trip to Ikea a couple weeks ago …wait.  There's no such thing as a quick trip to Ikea.
I was in there for HOURS!
I don't really remember what all I bought, but THIS was my big get:

Just a simple cabinet door front.  From that clearance/reject section.
It was priced at $1.00.
At that price there was no way I wasn't taking it home.  I knew I could think of something I would do with it.  A perfect blank canvas that would require no prep work, depending on what I would find to do with it.
When I got it home I realized I had this:

I had purchased this rub- on decal last year thinking I would put it on my front door…and I never did.  

(That whole procrastination thing strikes again!)

The project took me all of 10 minutes…….

And now I can wonder / ponder/ agonize about where I will hang it.

A Finishing Frenzy!

Yes, it sure does seem like I'm getting a lot done.

 This was finished a year and a day after I pieced it on a trip to The Harbor Star last year with Nancy.

Yet another Minky back…..it shows the quilting so well and has such a yummy feel!

My willing assistant Nichole peeks over the top!

Totally random quilting….my first time using the ruler on the long arm.

I'm sure if I go looking around my work area I can find another WIP that has been tucked away and needs to be quilted…….So maybe I should go take a look and get busy!

What's Up….

On the nightstand:

 On the needles:

Off the Longarm….

A Quilt for Ani Grace

My sons friend Adam and his wife Irina just had their first baby, Ani Grace.
I have yet to see a picture of her, but with a name like Ani Grace I assume that she is breathtakingly beautiful….pink and plump, with precious bow shaped lips.
I hope I'm right.

 Minky backing, again.  Because it is Delicious!
Super simple loopy quilting...

I hope they like it!

****A quick note:  I just discovered that I first blogged about this in 2011 when I finished the top.  I waited years to quilt it?  Now that is what I call procrastination!  ****

First of Many….

I bought a kit for this quilt at The Greater AnnArbor Quilt Guild show this past summer.  It's made with the same idea as a Jelly Roll Race except that the fabric was not a jellyroll….I had to cut the strips myself.

I used Minky fabric for the back after the quilter at Christinas Quilt Shop in Rochester, Michigan, assured me that I would have no problems, even though this was the very first quilt I quilted on the long arm machine that I purchased at the AQS show in Grand Rapids in August.

I used the Zydeco pantograph pattern that I received as a birthday gift from my friend Claudette (Thanks Again!)…

I'm pleased with the way it turned out…it was lots of fun to work on.  The sewing of the quilt was ridiculously simple and the panto pattern for the quilting is also very simple. 

So there you have it.  The first quilt that I did, start to finish, with the help of the long arm.

The first of what I tape is many, many more!
(p.s……Thanks to Nik for assisting me with my photos!)

Wordless Monday... Progress