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Border suggestions needed

I have been working on my embroidery blocks.  I digitized each month and added color  around them. I set them in a maze type setting with flying geese in matching colors. Now I am trying to figure out what other border to add to the quilt before I quilt it. Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks

Flea market quilt and FMQ

I finished up the quilt that I found at the flea market for $5. Since I am trying to learn to fmq I decided this would be a project to practice on. So I turned on Craftsy and listen to Leah Day, Angela Walters and Ann Pederson to see if I could do this on my home machine. It is only a small twin size and it was already pinned and ready to quilt. I found I made a lot of mistakes by looking at the back of it. I had what they called eyelashes every where. I slowed down and that didn't help. I finally changed the upper tension and they disappeared.

After quilting it I found that the back of the quilt should have been a little larger. O well what do I expect from the flea market. Also the quilt was very bumpy in the seams and especially where the pinwheels came together. I am happy with it as my first big project on my home machine.  I have another one just like that that was not pinned to a back. I guess I will make a back for it , add some borders and do some more practicing. The other one is identical to this one and when I get it done I can see if I am improving in my attempts at FMQ. I am going to practice on paper tonight some more designs. Having fun with this. Have a nice day.

Busy as a bee

As you noticed I haven't posted lately. I keep saying that I am going to but then something happens that I don't do what I should. Ever feel that way? Well here is what I have been doing. First up I finished my orders.

A pink pinwheel quilt with satin border and flannel back. I quilted small hearts all over it. I used the satin because I know how babies and children love to feel  it.  I offset each of the four blocks of pinwheels to give it some movement.  Next up I had to make a quilt for a friend and her son has the theme cars in his room.

I made  two piano strips and encased the light color of Cars then added the other fabrics.  I made the back red and black. His room is red, black and grey. I think he will like this.  Next I finished up the sawblade quilt in turquoise and pinks I think it turned out sweet. I put turquoise polka dot fabric on the background.

I told you I have been busy. I caught up with my silo barn blocks with Bee in My Bonnett. I love her projects.

Next I have been busy practicing my free motion quilting. I found a pinwheel top at the flea market. It was pinned together so that someone could quilt it. Everything was there. I decided to practice my quilting on it since it only cost me $5. Quite a bargain don't you think. I will show you photos of it tomorrow.

Have you been following the twisting with the sixties blog hop. They are doing a terrific job of using colorful batiks and the projects are really groovy.  I just put up the link on the sidebar for the hop Madame Samm is doing a terrific job of promoting it as usual. She has a new logo and it is really neat. Go check it out!!!!Thats it for today. Have a fun day.

Giveaway at The Everything blue blog hop

Hey there is a great giveaway at http://feelincrafty.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/everything-blue-blog-hop-a-tutorial-and-a-giveaway/#comment-5607 Make sure you go over there and leave a comment. There is some really cute blocks made with the blues and a little red.   Look at this cute block I am loving it;  Hope she doesn't mind me borrowing  this photo of her block.

New quilts

Well I have been busy. I was working on the chainsaw quilt and making the half square triangles out of the left over pieces.

 I can' wait to quilt this one. Next I saw a tutorial on Missouri Star Quilting where Jenny Doan did a quilt called flying geese everywhere. I decided to do the baby quilt that way.

I love it. It was really easy. Now off to quilt both of these.

Hexie pillow

Wow 2  blog posts in one day. I have been following the Hexie blog hop and today I won a pillow  made by
http://modernhandcraft.com/2013/08/

Isn't it gorgeous.  I have not done any hexies yet but after this blog hop is over I have a  list of projects that I want to do. Until I start them I am going to drool over my pillow.

A busy day piecing

I have been so busy working on a quilt for an order. She asked for a queen quilt in turqoise and pink. I decided to use Kimberly Einmo"s technique for the chainsaw and the sawtooth border. I have the center done now am working on the border.

Sorry for the bad photo but these Iphones really don't do it justice.   I did take some photos of my quilting machine. It is really old but it works great.

I will upload some more tomorrow. Thanks for looking.

Please Vote

Today I spent the day with my husband.  He wanted to weed out some of the flower gardens. I think it was around 90degrees outside.  I was going to get in the pool but I decided just to help him out.  He picked a red rose and put it on the kitchen table to surprise me when I was not looking. Gotta love that guy.  While he was napping I went up and cleaned up my studio where I quilt. Tomorrow I will take some photos of it. He started fixing up the attic of the garage when he was stronger and it is not finished yet  but I still work up there.  I love that he tried to get it done before his health started failing. I am always excited when he feels like getting up  and going outside.  As you who have read my blog know my husband has terminal cancer. I am trying to win a cruise to the Bahamas  while he is still able to go.  I have posted the link and tomorrow is the last day to vote. Please help us to win this cruise. I need all the votes that I can get today and tomorrow. Here is the link. http://cruise.caregiverstress.com/entries/margaret-s/
 I want to thank each and every one that votes for us.   Thanks for listening. Tomorrow I will post some photos of my studio.

Sunshine quilt;

Today I finished an all yellow and gold quilt which I called Sunshine. I quilted it with clouds all over it. It is made up of all my yellow and gold scraps leftover from other quilts that I have made and sold. I really love the way it turned out. This photo is not too good so tomorrow I will try for a better photo,Now I have to get busy and make some quilts that are ordered.

More quilts!!!

Are you ready to see more quilts that I have been working on.  I have been quilting away. I am just learning FMQ but most of my quilts are quilted with panto-grams. My quilting machine is one of the very first that Gammil made. They took the industrial Singer machine and modified it so that it would sit on a  13foot table with rollers. I love quilting on it but am limited as to what I can quilt. I did try to FMQ with it but it was very hard,  I think tommorrow I will take a photo of it and post it so that everyone can see it.

This quilt I quilted with swirls because of all the circles. It has a home already. My granddaughter  loves Peace signs and we found this fabric at Marshalls Dry Goods. It is peace sign batiks.  She got it for her birthday.  Now she wants shams to match so on my list to do is go fabric shopping. 

My version of Sunbonnet Sue and Sam. I appliqued the kids but embroidered the flowers. I digitized all the kids and flowers. Since  I have a Brother embroidery machine  I digitize all my designs. I cant really draw so I do buy the clipart .  I guess that is all today.  I still have a few more quilts to show that I quilted in the last  2 months.  Since my husband  was diagnosed with this horrible cancer I stay by his side most of the time. When I want to get away my grandson is here with us. 
I f you want to help us win the caregivers cruise here is the link again to vote. I only have 3 more days left and need more votes. Thanks to all of you that have voted and have shared my story with other quilters.  The quilting, craft and sewing community is a great place. http://cruise.caregiverstress.com/entries/margaret-s/

Wow it has been some time since I posted.  I have been so busy this summer that I just have not found time to post . Let me show you what I have been doing.

I did this quilt using Happy go Lucky in a Craftsy class with Camille Rosskelly in precut piecing made easy. It is a good class to take.  I love the way it turned out.

Here is my first attempt at free motion quilting. The blocks are from Craftsy BOM 2012 and I did each block separately with Leah Days method. I loved how it turned out.   Well are you bored yet.

Okay this one I fussy cut all the fabric to make pinwheels. Learned that from Debby Kratovil site. and just loved it  One done for Christmas. 
Now I am updating you on my husbands condition. He is terminally ill with stage 3 oral cancer . He is not strong enough to tolerate the surgery that they usually do on this. His stomach cancer that he fought for  has not returned but since he has no immune system he has no alternatives.  We are going to Houstan in Sept to the Cancer center to see if they can help.  I am trying to win a caregivers cruise and need all the votes that I can get. I am really close to winning. I hope I win so that I can give him one of the wishes that he has stated to me  while he is still able to go.  I am including the link if anyone is interested in voting for us. I hope that he wins. this. http://cruise.caregiverstress.com/entries/margaret-s/  Please help me by voting. All my friends at the hospital that I did work at are voting Now I am asking the quilting community to help me. Thanks  Have a beautiful day.

Wow its been a while since I posted. Summer is my favorite time to relax. I love laying in the pool floating around looking at the gardens.  I am so far behind on my quilting.  I did quilt the argyle quilt using Honey Honey.

 Here is a close of the quilting. I use pantograms to quilt by and this one is called floral.

Here is the carnival quilt I did with Craftsy class with Nancy Smith  in Strip your Stash. I love Craftsy classes. You can go back and do all the projects  you want to do.

 Here is my lastest barn block from Bee in My Bonnett with her quilt along .

Here is a quilt that I just finished for my granddaughter. Just have to bind it now.She loves Mickey Mouse.

Here is what I am working on now. I have to get a quilt done in all blues. Its called Sailors Delight. It is paper pieced from Peggy Martins class Quick Strip Paper piecing.  This is the first block. I have done this quilt in bright colors but my lady wants all blues.

Next I just wanted to say that Pat Sloan has some great guests on her radio show. Check it out. Well thats all today.  I made up for not posting;
 http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/radio/index.html

Row along with Lori Holt

I have not posted in awhile. Been very busy taking care of my husband. We went to Little Rock to the cancer center and they wanted to do major surgery on him. We decided not to go through with it. We are seeking a second opinion right now. Ok thats all of my personal history  Now for what I am working on.
I finished my top for the Bee in my Bonnett with Lori Holt. I got so hooked on doing it that I used all my spare time to work on it. Now I have to quilt it.
       

New Paper pieced quilt along

http://www.whimsandfancies.com/category/spring-fling/

Do you like paper piecing? I do. I just found this quilt along and am going to try to do it when I get back from the hospital. We will be at Little Rock for the next week and half. Ron is going to have major surgery. I am getting some hexies ready to take with me so that I will have something to do while he is recovering.  As soon as I get back I plan on doing this  because the patterns are so cute. 

Bee in my bonnett

I have not posted for several days. I got started on a QAL at http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/ and I have worked on this quilt all week. I am loving it. I had to stop today to get ready to take my husband to Little Rock  Cancer center. He was just diagnosed with oral cancer a month ago and tomorrow they are going to tell us what the treatment plan is. We are hopeful that he can beat this cancer as he is a cancer survivor from esophageal cancer 6 years ago.   Here is the quilt I am working on. I will post my progress next week when we get back.

Mystery quilt

Ok today I got to sew after cleaning for the last few days. I belong to Carol Doaks yahoo group and yesterday she gave us the layout for the blocks we have been working on. I finished mine up today and now it is ready to quilt. I can't wait until the weather gets warm enough for me to go out to my attic sewing room where my quilting machine is. I have a lot to quilt on it and a lot  to do with some FMQ that I am learning. Well here is my quilt. Have a quilty day !!!!

 I have been very busy the last 3 days. I finished up one quilt so that I could quilt it but then began looking at my sewing area and it was a mess. Check this out

I decided to redo the whole room. Below are the photos of my now reorganized sewing room. Now I am ready to sew. Yea. Today I have been watching the free videos from www.the quilt show. I have learned a lot of new tips and techniques.

Don't you think this is much better.  Have a nice quilty day!!!!

A couple of weeks ago http://blog.1choice4quilting.com and  1http://blog.1choice4quilting.com/2013/02/honey-honey-argyled-quilt-along-and.html  had a giveaway of Honey Honey by Kate Spain. It was the kit to make a quilt that resembled argyle. I WON.  Today the second set of instructions were given so I am now ready to quilt it.  Honey Honey is a beautiful fabric and I almost didn't want to cut it up but I am glad I did. Here is the top so far now to go quilt it.

Skilbuilder blocks

These are my blocks from Alyssa Skill builder block of the month. The link is in the side panel for her site. And best of all it is FREE.  I haven't quilted them yet as I am practicing my FMQ on my sample pieces yet. If you haven't joined in yet these blocks are very fun to make and she teaches you how to FMQ them as you go.  I plan on some practice before I start on these.

Dreamweaver

                                                                                                                                              
This is the quilt I just finished . All blues with black background. a very special friend ordered it this way. I am taking paper piecing with Peggy Martin at Craftsy.com and love it.

Ok I am not very good at blogging. I am going to try to get better at now. I just finished going to all the blogs on the blog hop to beat the winter blues. I had so much fun looking around. Now I am going back to each one and really read their blogs.I am going to upload some of the quilts I am working on. I have not quilted them yet so its only the tops. Some of them I plan on trying FMQ on and some will be done on my quilting machine.