Fractured Flowers Quilt

Fractured Flowers

with embroidered border

 I think spring is here and the to do list just tripled

the gardens are calling my name.

In January we had a retreat here in our town, oh such fun.

I was in the need of flowers and my youngest daughter

in need of a quilt.  So I began this for her.

It started with 3 charm packs, now I have never worked with

a charm pack before but these kind of called my name

so I sent for them. 

 I mixed them up (or so I thought) and sewed them together,

and it was ok, adding the border helped 

BUT

I was not really happy with it, just did not have enough spark.

So I decided to cut the rows in half, shift them around 

and resew, below is the result.

Ok, that is better, 

BUT

it still needed somethings....So

 I cut the columns in half, shifted them around

and sewed them back together

(and yes I just cut thru the border, too)

Oh there we go, much better.

 While at retreat, I learned about the 

Wing Clipper

A ruler for helping make flying geese.

I love this tool, it made the process so much easier.

I had considered making flying geese to add to this quilt

but they are such a pain, I scrapped that idea

until I used this.  See the pretty geese and they are perfect.

A great tool!

 A few weeks later I took a class on Craftsy.com

The class is on making sweatshirt jackets.  

The teacher had a technique for an edge treatment that I could use

for this quilt.

These flowers are involved and they are embroidered.

 I decided to also put some of the flowers in the middle of the quilt.

 A finished one

 Next came the outer border, with the flying geese

After adding the flying geese border, I did the quilting

with a floral design

The geese are only on two corners, opposing.

Next came the embroidered flowers 

This took alot of time but I think the results were

worth the effort.

I bound the quilt before putting on the embroidered flower

so that they would cover the binding ends.

With the flowers being on opposing corners, 

I left the area to be worked with them unbound.

The front

 The back, where I used some of the 

fabric from the border on the front.

This design took alot of removing from the machine,

trimming and changing of bobbins so that 

the back matched the front.  

I love the way the border is now trimmed

to the shape of the flowers, alot more 

interesting the a straight border and binding.

2015 Quilting Begins

I took some time off from blogging but not from quilting.

or embroidery.

A lot has happened since the new year, including

the embroidery machine being in the shop.

Finished up on a 35 hoodie job 

and beginning work on some other items.

Spent some time playing on the longarm

doing some thread painting on this 

cute panel that was part of my Shoebox.

The Shoebox is like a secret santa, where we gift

24 fat quarters and whatever else we want that will fit into a shoebox.

This panel is one of the amazing things that 

was in my box.

I still need to add beads, but had alot of fun highlighting the flowers

We had a retreat at the end of January, where I bound the 

sunflower quilt above and this purple and green 

quilt. 

And began a quilt for my daughter, Alyssa

I began with 3 charm packs

BUT 

did not like how it was looking.

Sooooo, I cut each of the rows in half, shifted them around.....

and sewed them back together, with this result.

which is ok but not what I wanted,

so I cut the rows in half again in the other direction 

and sewed them back together again.

Much better!

Next are the flying geese to add in another border

Spent today adding the new border. 

Next element for this quilt involves these embroidery designs

so check back to see how I use these.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015

Happy New Year

2015

I am sitting here waiting for my grilled ham and cheese

sandwich to finish grilling, happy with the

results of a big embroidery project, 

that had some rocky moments.  

It is freezing outside 6 degrees at 1pm

a warm fire is going in the stove.

The Christmas tree is still up and lite, 

it will remain so until the needles begin falling, it 

is the only sign of spring to come,  it 

has slowed down on it's water consumption so I fear

that is not far off.

2014 has been a busy year, and I sit here surrounded

by embroidery hoops, stabilizer and temporary fabric adhesive

my mind wonders back to the events of the last 12 months.

My sewing machine, embroidery machine and longarm have

been very busy.  

If you have been following along you know I was given

the honor of making 4 custom quilts

and two bathrobes for one family.

Have lost track of how many beautiful

personalized embroidered towel set I have done.

I have also been able to quilt a number of quilts for other quilters.

You can see these things here

 http://galynn-bhmc.blogspot.com/

We have made a few trips to Ca., to help with the 

MORE off road races.

In fact, I just finish a jacket with the logo on it.

Doing something new can sure be a challenge, but  more

so a learning process.

Here are some pictures 

(a blog post without pictures is boring, right?)

Sure turned out great, and thanks to

Mark Sweeney's amazing work digitizing of the designs,

(making the artwork so the machine understands

how to stitch it out) we have great success.

I am thankful to have found a good digitizer.

I would like to someday learn how to do this but right now

I am still working on learning how to embroider.

Here is another design Mark helped us with

 I also have some ideas for girls hoodies and will share them

once done.

I am expecting this will be a year of embroidery.

So you will see alot of posts, I have no doubt.

So from a fall and injury in January, trips back and forth 

to Ca.,  lots of sewing projects, gardening,

having two of our grandsons and son-in-law here for hunting, 

and a very cold snowy start to 2014-2015 winter,

it has been a busy, fun and sometimes waring year

but I would not trade it.

We have be so blessed, we have our health,

we will be fed and stay warm.

Happy New Year to you and your family

and May our Father in Heaven

Bless you richly with health, peace and love

Kirk and Gail

End of Year Quilting and Embroidery 2014

End Year Quilting 

2014

Well, here we are at the week between

Christmas and New Years

A lot has been accomplished this year.

4 custom quilts

3 bathrobes

countless sets of towels

hats galore

quilting done for others

Just this last few days I quilted a top for 

my friend Kathy, did manage to get it done by Christmas eve day.

  She did a beautiful job on the design and piecing

I got to add to it with quilting.

Today I finished a small bear quilt for my husband

It is now hanging in its place.

 The new owners of

3 of the quilts I was honored to make this year.

The Pooh quilt, the White Camo quilt and the Taz quilt.

Hope they find lots of comforting

snuggles under these quilts.

Towels for the grandchildren

 

 Robes made for Terry and Billie

I am looking forward to new quilting and

embroidery adventures in 2015

I see many hoodies in my future as 

the embroidery machine stitches along.

My hope is to finish my Ruffled Roses quilt in time for

Cowboy Carnival at the end of May.

So stay tuned, I have

more to share.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Long Arm Work

Long Arm Work

My next project.

Quilting this beautiful quilt for a friend

She did such nice work on this.

Close ups of the quilt, 

loaded on the machine.

Quilting begins tomorrow.

Monogram Towels

Monogram Towels

Christmas Sneak Peek

I feel somewhat safe posting this before Christmas

the kids do not see the page and if

the adults happen to their gifts are not here.  

Towel sets for the grands

 Instead of wrapping paper the towels

are wrapped in cloth bags, with their 

initial embroidered on them.

So just a sneak peek

Have also been working on some hoodies

will share once we have them pulled together.

Christmas Projects

Christmas Projects

I am working on Christmas projects

so I will be giving a few hints but not full

pictures until after.

  

I am working on two items right now, 

in fact only one more step on both

of these.  

 Here are some teasers

That is it for now, just wanted to let you all know I am 

still sewin away and that more pretties are being

made.

Until later......stay warm.