Good things in small packages :)

I made this quilted needle keeper today for a woman who is retiring from my office. It only took about an hour to put together. She only crochets with a few sizes of hooks so I made the keeper small and quilted it with my walking foot. I'm "sew" pleased with the finished product.

Summer Star

Who doesn't love charm squares?  The pre-cuts and AccuquiltGo cutter are such time savers - love them both!    Check out the Moda Juggling Summer charms...

And the preliminary layout of HSTs...

I think I will need to make a few block placement adjustments before sewing the top together.  Since it will only measure 48" square, I will probably add borders to make it a more comfortable lap quilt size.   Not sure yet what that will be but I am feeling some flying geese may be heading this way!

Notice the teal solid in the bottom right corner on the first photo above.    I will likely use that for the border and the left over charm squares although there are only a few (12) left.

I am planning to work on this and possibly Aunt M's quilt this weekend. 

Some embroidery needs to be added and then the backing completed.   I have also promised a large pillow sham made from the leftover fabric so I better get going on it!

Zig Zag Complete!

 

 The Zig Zag quilt is complete!  I finished the quilting on Sunday and after several hours of hand sewing, the binding was finished last night.   I put it in the wash to make it nice and crinkly.
Finished dimensions - approximately 80" x 80".

Here is a shot of the back.

And the label.

Plans now underway for the next projct!

Over the weekend...

I was able to eke out some time to work on the quilting of the zig zag quilt.  I purchased dark gray and light gray spools of Coats and Clark 100% cotton machine quilting thread.  I am using the light gray.  I initially wound about 9 bobbins, used them all and wound 9 more.  Curiously, now I am concerned that there is not enough thread on the spool to finish the top.  How can that be?  I have used this brand of thread several times and have never had an issue with there being enough on a spool to finish at least one quilt.  If I run out, it will mean a trip to Wal-Mart where I purchased the thread and hopefully they will have more of the same color.

The quilting is a curvy pantograph pattern which I think compliments the angles of the piecing.

The back of the quilt is just barely larger than the top so I have been concerned that if the top becomes crooked during the process I will have a problem at the end with the back falling short.  So far, so good.  I check the sides with each roll of the quilt. 

I am more than half way done and should be able to finish up by the end of the week.

Raspberry Lemonade

This quilt is another made almost entirely of batik fabric. The exceptions are the back which is bright magenta flannel and the binding which is satin. This quilt was pieced and machine quilted by Francesca and finished August 2012.

Introducing the Project of Doom

The PoD is a quilt pattern courtesy of sewhooked.com/harry-potter.  This is block 4 out of 30. The quilt is entirely foundation/paper pieced and I have decided to use batik fabric exclusively for mine. Being a Harry Potter fan since the beginning I am very excited about this project. Updates to come :)

Pixie Forest

This quilt was made primarily of batik fabrics by Kimmie, spring 2012. It was given to her granddaughter as a surprise gift along with 2 coordinating pillowcases made by Francesca.

Current work in progress

Learning how to blog seems to be presenting quite a challenge for me.  It took at least half an hour to post that photo!  Welcome to the technology world :)

Ok - I seem to have the hang of it now.  Here is the quilt front.  It is now loaded on my quilting frame ready for quilting.  I really love how the colors look so different from close up to far away.  I have not decided whether to use a light lavender or light grey quitling thread - I think I am leaning towards the light gray which is almost exactly the color of the gray on the quilt top.

Introduction

The purpose of this new blog is to showcase pieces made by myself (Francesca Celeste) and/or my wonderful mother (Kimmie). Please feel free to comment :)