Basting Away - 5 Quilts Ready for Quilting

Over the weekend I basted one of the quilts that I am quilting for one of my guild mates. It is a biggy, a full size King and then some.  I had to move all the couches out of the way to get it all pinned.  

Since I still had all the furniture moved out of the way this morning, I decided to take advantage of the space and baste a few more quilt tops. 

This is another top I am quilting for a guild mate. It measures 70 x 70

This next one is the one I was working on at the end of February.
It is on the list of quilts to get quilted by the end of the month.  It is going to a good friend in TN.

This is my Le Petite project for February.  

And this zig zag quilt is the one I started in Nov of 2009.  Wow, I didn't realize over a year has gone by since I started this one.  If I didn't have photos and time stamped proof on my blog, I would have sworn it was only a couple months ago when I cut out the blocks.  Either way, it will feel good to get this pink zig zag quilt finished and off the UFO pile.

That is 5 quilts ready to go.  Phew, I am so glad that part is over. I am sighing a huge sigh of relief to have these quilts basted. The basting part is always where the hold up is when it comes to completing my tops.  I really don't enjoy this part of the quilting process.  But once they are basted, it doesn't take too long to get them quilted.  Mainly because I am worried if I leave the pins in too long they will leave rust marks on my quilt. So I make a point of getting them done as soon as possible.   

Quilt Guild Projects

This year my quilt guild is doing community service projects for Citizen Sam as well as the local hospitals in our area.  To help get us inspired for these projects, one of our guild members offered her orphan blocks and UFOs to others.  She said if someone would put the tops together she would quilt them.  So I took her 12 white/pink nine patch blocks plus the leftover scraps and told her I would come up with something.  She told us we could do what ever we wanted and that we would probably have to add our own fabrics to get a completed top.  I ended up adding a muted yellow star fabric that matched the flowers in one of the pink fabrics and made the blocks bigger. Then I used her pink leftovers to make a scrappy border.  Here is what I ended up with.  It has already been given back and I can't wait to see how she quilts it.

I am excited to help out for these projects and by sharing the work, my guild will be able to get many quilts made for our community this year.

A Few Postcards

I made a few postcards this past month.

I made three Iris Folded heart cards to send to friends
and for my Quilt Guild's February postcard Swap.

This green one was made for the Fabricards "Cover Girl Swap"

This circle themed one was made for PostCardMailArt
I also made a similar one for my Quilt Guild's March postcard swap.

This bathroom themed card was made awhile ago,

but I never blogged about it so I thought I would show it now.

Now it is time to break out the safety pins... I am off to baste some quilts that need quilting.

Le Petite Quilt Top Done For February

I  turned this pile of squares and triangles into...

My February Le Petite challenge Quilt top,  "Sweet Spot"

The top photo was taken outside in the shade

The bottom photo was taken inside.

Time to start thinking of how to quilt this little cutie.

Pokemon Quilt

This Pokemon quilt was made by my guild mate Alice.  She drew all the Pokemon characters with regular crayons.  They turned out great!.  I quilted it for her by quilting in the ditch around each square.  Then I quilted the border using a pattern she had previously marked for me.  I really love this quilt.  If my boys were still into Pokemon, I'd be tempted to make one myself.

All But The Border

I finished my other 18 blocks to go along with my pinwheels blocks and have sewn them all together.

 

I'm not sure what the name of this pattern is. I saw a photo of it on the internet a while ago and decided I would try to replicated it.  All I have left to do is add the borders, but that will have to wait till later on in the week because tomorrow I have to start quilting a different quilt for one of my guild mates.

Sewing up late...

I stayed up late tonight sewing pinwheels together.
Now I just need to sew 288 2.5 inch squares together to make the other 18 blocks to finish this top.

Cutting Fabric

I have two different quilts that I want to get pieced together by the end of the month. 

To me, the most time consuming part of any project is cutting out the fabric.
Once that part is done the rest of the process seems to go pretty fast.
I spent my time today cutting all the fabric I will need for my two projects.

These pieces will turn into a lap quilt for one of my friends.
Not sure of the name of the pattern for this one.
I saw a picture of a spiffy quilt on the internet and thought I would try to replicate it.

These pieces will turn into "Sweet Spot",  the quilt for the February Le Petite monthly challenge.

Hopefully I will have some spare time tomorrow to chain piece all these together.

It Has Arrived

My friend's bag has arrived and she LOVED it! And now that she has it, I won't spoil any surprises by showing it off here.  I used the the Profession Tote pattern from The Creative Thimble. I am so excited about it. I really had a good time making this bag.  The shark fabric was really fun to work with.   I even have a little shark fabric leftover so I will have to find some cute little patterns to help use it up.

I added some small embroidery designs to the inside pockets.
I saw these cute shark designs at Embroidery Library and thought they would go perfect in the bag.

This bag is loaded with pockets, inside and out.  It fits everything.  I love it.

Happy Birthday Ilox!!!

(^^^)

So many pins...

It's times like these when I really wish I had a long arm quilting machine.

I am quilting this quilt for another guild mate of mine.  Should be done by the end of the weekend.

Sneak Peak

I've been busy working on a new project for a good friend of mine.
She keeps up with my blog, so I don't want to post any recognizable photos of it yet.

But it is difficult to contain my excitement, so I will show a sneak peak for now.....

Fabrics cut, ironed, and ready to be put together.

(^^^)

/wave

Mon Ami Bound and Finished

 I finished the rest of the quilting and the binding for my Mon Ami quilt on Wednesday night, but it has been raining for 3 days straight so I wasn't able to go outside to take a photo of it till this afternoon.

I added a light blue fabric as the binding to help frame out the yellow border.

~~~~~~  =^..^=  ~~~~~~

Newest Drawing

I finished my beach scene drawing two Sundays ago, and finished adding the color the other night.
Time to start a fresh new page of doodles, just not sure what scene to do next.
I guess I shall see where my pen takes me.

Quilting Done

I finished quilting this top yesterday afternoon while watching Biographies on Hulu.com.

Well, I really did more listening than watching, but I still learned some interesting facts.

I sure am more productive when I have something to listen to while I work.

I'll give this quilt back to my guild mate this Thursday at our next meeting.

Day of Quilting

Yesterday I spent most of the day quilting my guild mates quilt.  It is a queen size and I got more than half of it done.  But around 5 o'clock, after spending my whole day quilting this quilt, I found myself getting irritable.  For what reason I don't really know.  It could have been too many hours in the chair, or me rolling over the corner of the quilt with my chair ripping the batting close to the edge, or the fact that I see too many "wiggles" in my quilting lines than I am comfortable with.  Or it could have been all of those mixed together.   I found myself extremely grumpy so I decided to go do something else.  I went to the kitchen to check on my daughter who was preparing dinner and I brought my Mon Ami quilt to the table to baste it while I chatted with her and helped her out a little.  --    My daughter and I have deal:  She was $8 short of buying some clothes she wanted.  So I told her I would pay the $8 if she would cook 8 meals for us.  She agreed, I was excited.  :)

After dinner I started the quilting on my Mon Ami and my mood was was vastly improved.  Not sure if it was the cheery yellow or the fact that I was working on a project of my own that I get to keep, but either way, working on this project helped me get back to a calm relaxed state.

I didn't get to finish the quilting last night, but this is what I have so far.  I stitched in the ditch around each block, but I want to add some more quilting inside each block.  Not sure what type yet, perhaps some swirly type quilting  inside each star.  I shall ponder over it for a bit and post the finished photo later this week.