Scrapping Into Fall

I have been doing the Sew Scraps Along with Pleasant Home. I finished a quilt using the first method of scrapping that Jodi demonstrated. For my quilt I used only green, brown, purple and orange scraps. I used the orange for the centers. Just the perfect colors for Fall.

Everyone loves a rolled up quilt.

My daughter is modelling the quilt.

Very simple quilting is all that was needed.

Out of all of my scraps this is all of the purple that is left. Great way to use up those scraps!

My Samples Are Ready

In January I am going to be teaching a class on circles. There are four different techniques the participants will be learning. 

1. Dale Fleming's 6 minutes set in circle
2. Edge turned (hand applique by machine)
3. Fused
4. Raw edge

I got the tops done for the samples yesterday. I don't know when I will quilt them. The participants can choose to make a 9 block wall hanging/table throw or an 8 block table runner.

It is good to be back home again!

I just got home from Las Vegas last night. My husband had to go for business and took me along. We stayed at Treasure Island. Our last night there we tried the slot machines. I am not a gambler and I really do not see the attraction. I would much rather spend my money on fabric! 

It was my first time in that part of the country. The city was pretty fabulous but it did not compare to the geography. When we first arrived I was pretty amazed with how brown it was. I had never seen brown mountains before. Wednesday we did some sight seeing. First we went to the Hoover Dam. I find it incredible that this was built in the early 30s.

Next we stopped to view Lake Meade.

Driving back toward Las Vegas we could not believe from how far away we could see the city.

Finally, the best part of the trip was Red Rock Canyon.

Of course the pictures do not do it any justice.

See, I really was there.

I think this picture looks like it could be inspiration for a quilt.

I have to tell you what happened in the airport as I was leaving. When going through security I have to go through the x-ray machine because of my hip replacement. The lady security guard asked me if I was a quilter. She saw the quilt pattern on my socks. Turns out she is also a quilter. So, we had a great conversation while we were waiting for me to get my okay to go ahead. After my husband and I were back together I told him about this. He asked me if I told her about my blog. Can you believe I never thought to tell her about this?

Arcadia Stars

I finally put the binding on this small one. It is made with 2 charm packs called Arcadia and the stars are Kona Snow. I pieced it at retreat early March and quilted it 2 weekends ago. On October 18 I posted a picture of it and asked about the binding. I had 2 to choose from.

Everyone who commented,  including me liked this one better. It does not match exactly, but it does look really good. It is still waiting for a label.

Fall Decorating with Quilts

I was just sitting here using my laptop  this morning when I thought," Boy, I have a few fall quilts. Why not take some pictures to put on my blog." The first one is a Thimbleberries pattern. 

I think I made it 2 years ago.

The center of this quilt in my kitchen is from the book Baltimore Country Cousins by Susan McKelvey.  Susan is in one of my guilds. There is a picture of a quilt I made (not this one) in that book. I think I made this top about 2007 and quilted it in 2009.

Fall is my favorite time of year and typically I have always loved fall colors. 

Although, now I am liking brighter stuff.

I made this quilt on the table last year. It is made with a cake stand I purchased at a local quilt show in the summer of 2009. I was fortunate to find fabric in the same line on the Internet. The great part was that it was on sale since it was the previous year's fabric. I put the entire top together on one Friday night. I knew when I was making it that it needed something between the center and the orange border but I did not have other fabric with me and I wanted to finish that night.

I was not happy with it so I added the rick-rack. I sewed the rick-rack down as I was quilting. That was just what it needed and I love it. Who doesn't live rick-rack?

The other thing I did not like at first were the solids in the cake stand. But, once again, now I love them because the quilting really shows in them.

I always have a quilt hanging beside the fireplace to snuggle under if someone gets a bit chilly. This is one of the first quilts I quilted on the longarm. It was done in 2004.

Customer's Quilt

Today I finished up this quilt. It belongs to Peggy. 

Do you remember this quilt from the beginning of the month? Jean brought it back to me because I missed something. I missed one side on the black inner most border. It is difficult to see black thread on black fabric. It only took about 12 minutes to pin the quilt on and finish it up. I was so embarrassed. I hate that she had to return it to me.

Earlier this week I worked on some of my stuff. On Tuesday I had a bee called Retreat Bee. At this bee we take our sewing machines and sew all day from 9:30 to 3 or 3:30. I got a lot done but I did not take pictures. Maybe I will take some tomorrow.

Starting a New One

I have decided that for Christmas I am going to make my husband a quilt. One time earlier this year he made a comment that I never made him a quilt. Actually I did make him a wall hanging that is on his office wall at work, but I have never made one especially for him to cover up with. So, I want to make him one that is special for him. Since my thing is the longarm quilting the quilt will have plain blocks and a large border to highlight the quilting. 

I have spent quite a bit of time contemplating this quilt. I ordered quilting patterns for the blocks in the spring. He is a hunter so the quilting patterns are deer, elk, moose, etc. I bought the fabric in June on a trip to Lancaster. So, I have had months to consider what this quilt will look like.

I have decided to keep the piecing simple. I want the quilting to be the main event. The quilt is going to be a 9-patch with alternating plain blocks with sashing and cornerstones. It is just going to be a throw so the center is fairly small because the border we be about 10 inches to accommodate the quilting. 

In the pictures is all of my sketching and figuring out the quilt top and the fabric cutting. I usually do this on graph paper but when I decided to work on this quilt this is the paper I had with me.

Here are some blocks I was initially considering ,but I decided to go with the 9-patch.