Happy Easter

Slow Stitching

Well, the ground hog sure had the prediction of spring wrong this year. It is cold and blustery here today.  So, why not take advantage of being couped up and get some enjoyable hand quilting done on these two miniatures.  My miniature wall still has a lot of room for some colorful minis and I really enjoy making them.  They are great ways to try different blocks and not be committed to making a large quilt. I machine basted them and have completed hand quilting the stars on the bottom quilt.  I can't wait to get them added to the wall.

Coasting till my next project!

Well, another Sunday has arrived.  Slow stitching with Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday's has become a habit. It seemed like forever, that I was posting the hand quilting progress on my Amish  Ice Cream Social.  It is now complete and if you missed the post you can see it here.

So today, I am working on some coasters for my mother in law.  I loved the way that Kathie over at Inspired by Antique Quilts made her log cabin blocks, and this project would be a great way to try her method.  I have them all stitched and  machine quilted.  Today I plan on finishing sewing on the bindings and hand stitching the binding down.  They are so cute I made a few extras  for myself.

National Quilt Day!

                                                                 Happy Quilting!

Change

Change its all around us.  Google Reader will no longer be.  So I have transferred the blogs I am following to BloglovinFollow">http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5230469/?claim=badbucvy7dx">Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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Ta-Da Moment!

 

 

Well, Amish Ice Cream Social is complete!  Overall measurement is 78" X 78".  This quilt was totally made from fabrics in my stash.  The picture below shows that I went thru 3-200 meter spools equaling 600 meters of quilting thread.  The batting is cream rose cotton batting by Mountain Mist.  It was a dream to quilt and washed up nicely, and gives you that crinkled antique look with a lovely drape.  I used a cable/feather twist around the border and four feathered wreaths with stars in the middle where the blocks intersect, all connected with one inch crosshatching. Whew! Glad it is  finished before things warm up too much around here.

Final stitches!

Another week  has come and gone, and the signs of spring are really showing up. The daffodils are blooming and some of the trees are showing the beginnings of buds.  Since I love to garden just as much as I love to quilt, sometimes I am torn in which direction to go.  Yesterday, was definitely a garden day, our first 70 degree day, I just had to go outside. 

Today is quite different, very cloudy and a few sprinkles that will probably turn into thunderstorms later today.  So, I guess I will join Kathy and others linked to her blog and do some hand quilting. I will continue and hopefully put in the final stitches on  border four of Amish Ice Cream Social. 


I also did a little bit of hand piecing this last week.   I haven't gotten very far, but hopefully with Amish Ice Cream Social coming to completion I can focus on  getting this one done.  The stars are quite small, and I still consider myself new to hand piecing.  The center of my stars are ok, but I think I will view some you tube videos to maybe get some tips on how to deal with all those seams coming together.  

Goals

I set a goal of finishing the third border this week. I think I will make it, considering I started on Monday. I only have about 36 inches of crosshatching to do on outside edge of the cable/feather motif.  Yeah!
All of this means that I can start the home stretch, the fourth border, later today.  I know I am looking forward to blogging about a new project, but I am also happy that I will have a big finish behind me.  Every quilt is a journey for me, I always learn something new.  On this quilt I learned that the sleeve I made to help support the edge has made quilting the border enjoyable. Using the hera marker to mark the crosshatching is wonderful and quilting with a obvious thread color can make such a statement.

We had one of the coldest nights of the winter last night, down to 25.  So after I enjoy my hot cup of coffee I am looking forward to joining the other slow stitchers today over at Kathy's Quilts.