Emily

A difficult but necessary decision was made last night.  Emily was 20 years old and very sick.  She was always a quiet, gentle girl and a dearly loved member of our family.

We will miss you forever. Goodbye Em.

Wordless Wednesday

New Project

This is the start of my second project for the new year.  From the current McCall's Quilting magazine America Loves Scrap Quilts I am making a quilt called Paper Chain by Deanne Eisenman.  Construction of the blocks is super simple - just squares and rectangles, and I will be able to use up lots of scraps along with a few new fat quarters!

Finished quilts and a new one started

I gave my son and daughter each new quilts for Christmas this year.  It was a bit of a panic to get them done on time.  I was putting on the binding the Saturday before Christmas but was done with two days to spare!  These quilts were my final two finishes for 2012.

My first quilt project of 2013 is this scrappy little quilt I finished piecing today.  I am off work the rest of the week so plan to have this one quilted before I go back next Monday.  I love being able to spend so many uninterrupted days in a row in my sewing room.

I hope you too are having a very quilty start to the new year.

Merry Christmas

The Christmas trees are up, the house is decorated, the new Christmas quilt is hung on the wall in the dining room, and this afternoon I am wrapping gifts. We are really looking forward to dinner with family tomorrow evening and celebrating Christmas Eve.

I hope you will be enjoying time with your family and friends, and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Quilt

This Christmas quilt is from a pattern called Berry Wreath published in the the Nov/Dec 2011 issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting. I changed the design of the leaves on the wreaths to make my version slightly different from the original.  The quilt top was finished before Christmas last year but I never did find the time to quilt it. 

This year I am ready to get the quilting done and hang it on the wall in the dinning room for the holiday season.

To make pin basting easy I put large sheet of cardboard over the dining room table and secured the quilt backing and batting to the cardboard with big binder clips.  Then, with the quilt on top of that, I can pin right through the layers without worrying about damaging the table top underneath.

To quilt this I am using embroidery motifs from an OESD design pack called Continuous Line Christmas.

The designs are stitching out really nice. I am using King Tut 40wt quilting thread with a matching color Aurifil 50wt in the bobbin and after figuring out that a slight tension adjustment was needed I am not having any more thread breaks.

Granny Square Blocks

I am making progress on these blocks.  Just a few more to finish and I will add the sashing (yellow fabric) and border (green fabric).

More Granny Squares

I've completed a few more granny squares.  This is small progress because another 25 blocks are needed to  make the quilt I have in mind.  Its a good thing this is a long weekend so I will have lots of time for sewing...

and some time to crochet.  I bought this pretty white and pink cotton yarn and made a quick little dish cloth last night.  My family will all be getting crocheted dish cloths for Christmas this year ;-)

No sewing today

Instead, a wonderful afternoon at a friend's cottage.....thanks Nancy!