Sapphire Star is now complete! I decided that waiting another six months to finish just wasn’t going to work for me. I wanted it done! But, last night we had movie night at our church. What’s a girl to do? I quickly trimmed the quilt, cut some binding, and sewed it on by machine. All that was left was the hand sewing. I grabbed my gear and we were off for movie night. I sat in the back row and pulled out my handy-dandy Verilux Natural Spectrum Book & Travel Light.
This [ ... ]
Archive for the Category »traditional quilts «
Jan 28
2012
Sapphire Star is now complete! I decided that waiting another six months to finish just wasn’t going to work for me. I wanted it done! But, last night we had movie night at our church. What’s a girl to do? I quickly trimmed the quilt, cut some binding, and sewed it on by machine. All that was left was the hand sewing. I grabbed my gear and we were off for movie night. I sat in the back row and pulled out my handy-dandy Verilux Natural Spectrum Book & Travel Light.
This [ ... ]
Category: blue things, completed!, Sapphire Star, traditional quilts
2 Comments
Jan 27
2012
Exile. How sweet the word! Sweet hubby and I decided to exile ourselves this week. Away we flew in Dad’s RV, away to a nearby, not-to-be-disclosed location, away from phones, away from email, away from the rest of the world. We got to our destination, plugged in, and hunkered down. Yes, there was snow on the ground, but we were warm and toasty inside. We watched movies and read and ate ice cream and pretty much just sat around until our rear ends were sore. Then we laid down and watched more movies. We only left the RV to treat [ ... ]
Jan 14
2012
Today was Craft Day at our little church. It’s a really nice time where the ladies can all gather together for food and fellowship. We each bring whatever craft we like and sit and work and chat. Ahhh…relax!
I grabbed the Sapphire Star quilt I’ve been hand quilting. It’s been sitting for several months and I really need to start working on it more regularly.
Anyway, I got to church with the quilt, my needles and thread, and my thimble and peacefully began quilting. I’m just doing a simple running stitch 1/4″ away from the [ ... ]
Category: blue things, Sapphire Star, tools
2 Comments
Dec 04
2011
Last week was one of those “life happens” week. It would be untrue to say that I quilt full-time. No, there are many other responsibilities that crowd in and take precedence. Those things may very well be enjoyable to me, and I certainly wouldn’t want to eliminate them, but they still keep me out of the studio.
I spent a couple of days with a photo shoot. It was time to get some decent pictures of some of my quilts. Even though I continually encourage people to document their quilts, there were a few that I had not [ ... ]
Category: blue things, family, Millennium Quilts, traditional quilts
7 Comments
Oct 20
2011
I just picked up my quilt, “Glorious Gold,” from the lovely lady in my quilt guild who orgainzed the “glorious” quilt challenge. If you were reading my blog at the beginning of September, you may remember my adventure in paper piecing, bleeding fabrics, and fusible rhinestones. I was unable to be at the meeting where everyone displayed the quilts that were made for the challenge, so Sue took care of my quilt for me. My quilt won second place in the vote! As part of the prize package, I received a beautiful, handmade fabric wallet, a [ ... ]
Category: awards, Glorious Gold, traditional quilts
4 Comments
Oct 05
2011
I thought I’d show you some of I what I did while I was visiting my dad last week. I started hand quilting the Cosmic Jewels quilt. “Cosmic Jewels” is the name of the Debbie Maddy pattern I used, but I need to think of a good name for my own quilt. I’m thinking I’ll call it “Sapphire Star.”
In any case, I had filled my suitcase with my pin-basted Cosmic Jewels quilt, a rectangular hoop, needles, thread, and my Roxanne thimble. I splurged on that thimble back in 2000. I remember the [ ... ]
Sep 20
2011
Looking at our calendar, I realized that we’ll be traveling more than usual between now and the end of the year. I like having a small project to carry around with me to keep my hands busy. Since my sewing machine is getting its yearly checkup anyway, I thought it might be a good idea to hand quilt my Cosmic Jewels quilt. (Its new name is “Shapphire Star.”) Just some simple quilting, nothing fancy, no marking.
I dug through my stash and found a large piece of blue and white fabric for the backing. Then I dug [ ... ]
Category: Sapphire Star, traditional quilts
One Comment
Sep 15
2011
On Tuesday I was diligently finishing up my “Glorious” challenge quilt. Tuesday was kind of a crazy day for me, so I never got around to giving you a progress report.
We had to turn in our challenge quilts on Tuesday night. (They will all be shown at the next quilt guild meeting.) Not wanting to get done too quickly (wink!) I started trimming my quilt about 6:30 Tuesday morning.
We did our morning walk and other routines. By lunch I had the binding and label on. I decided to sew [ ... ]
Category: giveaways, Glorious Gold, traditional quilts
Comments off
Sep 09
2011
I’m still working on the “glorious” quilt challenge. I pulled out the fusible batting scraps and had a piece big enough for this little quilt, so that’s what I used. It’s quick and easy. The directions say to press it for 3 seconds on the wool setting. For my iron, at least, that didn’t even effect the fusible stuff, so I cranked up the heat a bit and pressed it with steam for two to three times longer than directed. That seemed to work better.
So far I have all the major seams outlined. Now I need to [ ... ]
Category: Glorious Gold, traditional quilts, work in progress
9 Comments
Sep 07
2011
There’s a continual debate between quilters on whether fabric should be prewashed or not. Do you prewash? I do. Always. It’s probably a hold-over from when I was a garment seamstress and I wanted the fabric to shrink as much as possible before I make a closely-fitted garment. I also like the softened feel of washed fabric, wrinkles and all. Plus, I prefer to remove any scents, smells, and any chemicals that might be in the fabric when I bring it home from the store.
Despite my best efforts, occassionally there’s a fabric that still bleeds even after prewashing. Guess what? [ ... ]
Category: Glorious Gold, traditional quilts, work in progress
14 Comments
