Feb 25, 2020

Farmhouse Lane quilt is quilted!

I finished my Farmhouse Lane quilt, by Lori Holt!
I have been wanting to make this quilt since 
Lori's book "Vintage Farmgirl" came out.
I'm pretty excited about how my machine quilting turned out.


I machine quilted swirls with petals.



I used the same fabric for my binding 
as I did for the little pink border.
I used a crosshatch machine quilting pattern for the border.
Unfortunately, I was trying to sew one direction
and then tug at the quilt and pull it so that 
I could go the opposite direction.
I didn't realize it, but by tugging at the quilt, I bent something on the needle shaft and had to take it in for a $150 repair!!!
It usually costs $120 for a Bernina update, oil and clean, etc,
but this one cost more.
On the bright side,
 it was repaired in two days instead of two weeks!
When I was sewing the crosshatch design on the border,
on my newly oiled, cleaned and repaired machine,
I just went one direction, cut the threads and
moved it over 1 1/2" to sew the next line.


I bought this fabric about 3 or 4 years ago, and it's very pink, 
not the corral that it shows in the photo.


My next quilt to work on at Farm Girl Chicks,
is the Scrappy Haystack Sampler quilt.
I've got all the Haystack blocks sewn, just
need to sew 13 12 l/2" blocks from the book
Farm Girl Vintage.



Thanks for following :)

Feb 17, 2020

Quilt Top Finishes

Here is my Stellar Star quilt.
I love all the jewel toned colors.
The blocks and the flying geese are all paper pieced.
Each of the large (12") blocks had about 24 pages of instructions.
Needless to say, this is an advanced level pattern.
I used fabric from my stash which makes me really happy!


Since I've been going to Farm Girl Chicks, 
about a year and a half, 
I've been working on this Farmhouse Lane quilt.
I finally finished it, yay!


I tried something new, I taped the back fabric to the floor.
It was so much easier the straighten the batting 
and then gently lay the quilt on top.
I safety pinned all three layers together.
I dont think ther are any creases in the quilt back.


 I've been spending my free time machine quilting my
Farmhouse Lane quilt.
I'm excited to see the quilt finished!


Thanks for following along :)

Feb 10, 2020

Jelly Roll Race

First, I'm sorry I don't have a photo of my finished Stellar Stars quilt top to show you today.
I'll share it with you next week :)
I participated in a jelly roll race this weekend.
A jelly roll is a 2 l/2" wide piece of fabric, from selvage to selvage.
A jelly roll contains every design of fabric from an entire line.


You sew each strip of fabric until all 40 0f them are sewn together, end to end.
Then you start sewing the strips together, 
until you have the desired width.
If you're really interested, you can google "jelly roll race".


After all the strips were sewn together, we added borders so that our quilt top would fit a twin bed.
There were 8 of us in the race, we each finished a quilt top.
The quilts will be quilted and donated to an organization 
that helps refugees.


I can't think of a better way to spend my Saturday :)

Feb 3, 2020

Stellar Stars

I belong to the Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild,
and last year I joined their block of the month quilt,
Stellar Stars.
(I don't know why it says 2018!!!)


This quilt pattern is not for the faint of heart...
This block wasn't too bad, I used the Lori Holt applique method.
(of course!)


This block was paper pieced, not too bad...


This block was also paper pieced, a little more difficult.


This block was paper pieced, I really enjoyed making this one.


This block was paper pieced, it was super difficult!
I actually made it twice!!!


This block was pieced, but....
luckily my friend Nedra gave me the measurements 
or I couldn't have made it.
The directions could have been in Greek!!!
I have no idea how it happened, 
but the block measures an inch bigger than it should be!!!
I just can't remake it!


I laid all my blocks out, they really are beautiful.
There are a million flying gray geese, all paper pieced.
I really enjoyed making them.


  The quilt top needs to be finished by this Saturday,
for our meeting.
I think there were only about 5 of us that made this quilt,
and I really want to show it off,
it was an advanced pattern.
 Nedra and I got together monthly to work on our blocks together.  
She was a great help to me, but I got behind quite a few months 
due to extenuating circumstances. 
 The blocks I showed you are ones that I had to make on my own.
Here's a photo of Nedra and I, maybe as far back as July!


Next week I'll have a photo of my finished quilt top.
Have a great week!





Jan 27, 2020

Another Tooth Fairy Envelope

Another grandchild had a lose tooth!
I knew I had to act fast, because her tooth was really wiggly!
Isabel drew her version of the tooth fairy 
and I got out my lightbox and traced her cute drawing 
onto some white fabric.


I sewed straight stitches for her hair, 
french knots for her bodice and lazy daisies for her skirt.
Then I chose some 1 1/2" scraps that matched the colors 
and framed the embroidery.


I went through my 2 l/2" stack of squares and found this print.
Since I don't use a pattern, the flap didn't fit in the tooth pocket.
I added a circle of velcro to keep it closed.
Word of warning.....I had a pack of little circle velcros 
that had glue on the back.
I knew the glue wasn't strong enough the hold the flap together, 
so I sewed them down on my sewing machine.
The glue ruined my sewing machine needle and part of the shaft.
Be careful about sewing things down that already have glue on them!
Bonus, I found this fairy button in my button bottle.


Isabel's tooth fell out the day after I gave her her tooth fairy pillow.
She's only 4 years old, I think she may be our youngest grandchild to lose a tooth so far!
She has another tooth that is ready to come out too!


Jan 20, 2020

Vintage Block Along, top finished

I added the border to my Vintage Block Along quilt, and it's huge!
It measures 90 l/2" X 108 1/2".
I'm going to get my friend to machine quilt it.
Even though my Bernina 750 QE has a wide throat, it would be very difficult to quilt.
Just getting the back to stretch and remain unwrinkled 
would be a huge feat!
Even with two tall people holding the quilt, 
it sags in the middle, lol!



I copied Lori and chose Granny Chic Embroidery blue 108" wide back for the back of the quilt.
I think this print is so precious, and was looking for an excuse
 to use it.
This clip just shows a shot of the fabric, there are so many cute embroidery motifs on it.


I'm going to bind my quilt with this farm girl vintage bandana.
I think it will look really nice from the back and the front.


This is the border fabric, Farm Girl Vintage Flower Cloud.


I'm so excited to get this quilt finished 
and on the bed in my guest bedroom!
Thanks for following me :)

Jan 13, 2020

Vintage Block Along

This is my Vintage Block Along quilt.
Lori Holt posted a block a week during 2019.
I've posted many of my blocks, but not all of them :)
It's always so much fun doing one of Lori's quilt alongs, 
especially when you don't know what the quilt will look like 
when it's finished.
Each block was named after a memory 
that Lori had of her grandmother.
I didn't always have the same print that Lori used from her Farm Girl Vintage fabric line, so I used a similiar print in the same tone.
I have so much of Lori's fabric, it wasn't difficult to do :)
I'll add the border this week and take a photo to show you.
It's a huge quilt, queen size.
I'm going to put it on my guest bed.


Thanks so much for following me :)