Hello 2021!

 Its been a long time coming this new year of 2021.   We wondered if it would ever arrive and now that it has, there is sew much to share.   I hope your beginning of this 2021 is full of creating and making!   Let me show you some of my first finishes for the year.

I began this year by adding some hanging towels to my etsy shop  like this one

Then, my Granddaughter asked me if she could learn to sew some key fobs so we made some of these.

My first quilt finish for the year is this commissioned T Shirt quilt for a dear friend.  These are some up close shots of the quilting as it was being done.   I have fallen in love with this quilting design.

This is a shot of the back of the quilt - love the labyrinth quilting design.

And a shot of the front of the quilt. 

Now here is some eye candy for you.   This is a feathered clamshell design and the back of this quilt is minky fabric so the quilting shows up sew beautifully!

This is the front of this beautiful quilt a good friend made for her boss who has started Chemo treatments.   The blocks are signed and/or embroidered to let her feel their love and prayers for her quick and complete recovery.

Here is a close up of one of the blocks.    A quilt of this type contains sew much love.  It was an honor to quilt it for her.

There is sew much good in this world.   Let's all be a part of making this a better place to live.

Happy Birthday Dennis!

Today is my hubby's earthly birthday.   He would have been 72 today.   I miss him so but his place in Heaven was a gift and I know he is surrounded in love.  Keep watching over us honey.

Quilting is Finished

This is such a beautiful quilt.   Other than having to work in so much extra fabric, I think it turned out great.

The color of the green is truer to the top picture on the longarm frame.   Here it is trimmed.

My customer has asked that I add the binding and she is bringing me more of the green fabric.  Hopefully I can complete it this weekend. 

Quilting an Antique Hand Pieced quilt

I LOVE old quilts!   Just love them.   A friend brought me one to quilt for her.   It is a beautiful Churn Dash block quilt.  Like most hand pieced quilts, the maker is able to fit pretty much any size block together to make a quilt top.   The reason for making the quilt top is not to match the seams but to finish the top.   Quilts like this pose problems for longarmers.   This one is no different.

I got the quilt loaded on the machine and immediately knew the pieces used in the quilt block are not uniform.   I pulled out my handy spray starch and gave it a quick, heavy shot across the first row and let it dry.   There were still some places where there was more fabric than space but I'm hoping to be able to work them in.   Here is a picture of the piece with too much fabric.

You can see on the right side how much extra fabric there is but on the left side, it quilted out smooth. 
I'm going to work on it some more today and I'll most more pictures tomorrow.

Hope you are all enjoying your quarantine and making lots of fun projects!  I've made more than 500 masks - most I've given away but I have sold about 25 on Etsy.

Hands2Help2020

Once again I am participating in this wonderful drive to make quilts for charity.  My first quilt that I finished and am mailing out tomorrow is for MercyQuilts.  These quilts go to Mercy Hospital in California for their cancer center - end of life arena.   All the people who are there are at the end of their battle with cancer.   The quilts are given to the patient for warmth and comfort while at Mercy Hospital and after they are gone, the family gets to keep the quilt.   I am honored to participatie with this quilt drive.  @hands2help2020  #hands2help2020

This is the finished quilt.
Here some pictures of the in progress quilting.   I love the baptist fan design.

This quilt is also my finished entry in the Scrappy Quilt Challenge that is a year long by the month challenge at Persimon Dreams .  The  9 patch is the January pattern that I made into a disappearing 9 patch block/quilt.

Gail's Quilt

Just before I found out about Jennifer and her cancer, I began a quilt for her oldest sister, Gail Ann.  Gail was diagnosed a few years ago with MS.   The disease has progressed quickly forcing Gail to retire and change her and her husbands life.   Kevin, her husband, retired at the end of last year.   They have been avid travelers, mostly by truck and camper and then truck and camper/trailer.  Gail's inability to safely walk has not slowed down their travels one bit.   She and Kevin continue to travel extensively.

They live in such a warm (not) climate, Gunnison CO, that I thought it might be a nice gift to make a quilt Gail could wrap around her in the wheelchair or when she sits on the couch.   When I found the fabrics (all from my stash!) they just seemed to call out her name.  Her is the quilt I made for her.

On the back I used a fleece blanket for added warmth.  The quilting, which was called water lilies, shows up very well in the next pics.

I had a couple extra blocks left over and so I made her a zipper bag to keep special things close to her.

I know that she is enjoying using these items!  Love you bunches Gail Ann!

Jennifer's Quilt

When I found out my SIL, Jennifer, was diagnosed with multiple types of cancer, I immediately began making a quilt for her.   I had this gorgeous floral fabric I hated to cut and I love to do the braid technique so this is what I came up with. 

 She begins her chemo today.   I hope this quilt will keep her warm and wrapped in love.