Olivia's Holiday

I am entering this Olivia quilt in my chapter of Project Linus's 3rd Book Blanket Challenge next weekend. We select a child's book, and make a book to compliment it. My book is Olivia and The Missing Toy. In retrospect, I guess I should have selected the Olivia Christmas book, but the fabrics came after I had the book, and I got the four panels for nearly a steal - I could hardly refuse them. They are stocking panels which I cut up into rectangles.
It's insanely simple in design, just some framed rectangles. For that reason, I decided to do the appliqued center pig silhouette - to give it all some pizazz. The pig is from black metallic Fairy Frost that was too shimmery for the intended project. Seems I often mistake the metallic for non-metallic when ordering that stuff.

I added the green bows on Olivia's ears at the end - she often has bows in the books. The red, white and black fabrics are very busy and were really hard to quilt. I could not see my threads at all. Good and bad I guess.

Not sure how well it shows in the picture, but I added the green row of Candlelight Yarn on the 4 panel blocks. It's a YLI product that I saw used several times at MQX (and in a much better way than I did it here!) - you sew it from the back side, using this stuff in the bobbin. I just did this on my singer, but good longarmers do it there too.

I think that the quilt turned out pretty cute, and the quilting is decent for a very quick job. It's a bit over-the-top for this quilt show, which usually generates simpler quilts, and often tied quilts. But, then!

Here's a peek at the quilt I did 3 years ago (and here for closeups), and the one from 2 years ago (and again) (no show last year)...I won both of those. You could say I going for number 3.

New Things

Today marks the first day of school. The boys just left on the bus, one a little apprehensive, the other quite excited. He's going on to a different school this year. Miss S is starting preschool again today too, and I am off to see my probably less-than-eager Sophomore Thermo students. Isn't life grand??! At least I will have afternoons to sew...

We had one last hoorah yesterday. It was a totally hot and gorgeous day - high 80's, sunny, etc. We spent 3 hours at the beach, and then went to what is becomming an annual summer tradition for us (as well as a ton of other Mainers) -an afternoon lunch at The Lobster Shack. It's an absolute must for any tourist, but it's fun for the locals too. Sophie is finally old enough that she can mostly climb the rocks safely. It epitomizes the Maine coastline to perfection. I always try to take some pictures of the kids for holiday cards. Some years they are less cooperative (if you get my drift!). This one is pretty good but I goofed and took it on "horribly low resolution" so it likely won't print well.

And later this week, more quilty things like three runners just completed...
And, my adventures at a local guild quilt show and the Olivia quilt I made for Project Linus that I showed there... (just a teaser peek today)

And a picture of this beast, which is now on my longarm. It's amazingly enormous. Seriously, who has a bed THIS large?? Have a good week, and come back in a couple days!

When the Cat is Away...

In my house, the mice don't exactly play, but they don't cook either! My husband was in Boston for a couple days this week, and it was fine dining for the kids and I.
I have been working hard this week, with my boys off at camp some days. I get an uninterrupted nap period from my daughter to sew. Plus I sewed in the evening Monday since I was home alone. This is a quilt for a breast cancer patient that a client brought me last month. It's soft and delicate. The quilting, though not intrinsically complicated in the pink squares, is intentionally more detailed where I thought it'd show more (the white areas).

Here's a few closer up shots...some swirly feathers. I find this type feather is a better choice when there are differing shades of color or heavier prints. They don't show the less exact backtracking over the feather, which is harder to do on prints.

The center medallion is pretty. It has a sweet scalloped blanket stitch around the applique. I just wanted to set it off a bit with the quilting.

And here is definite progress on my Olivia Project Linus quilt. She's now a flimsy. The back is pieced too. This quilt is next in the que to be quilted, after a custom I am doing is finished. I think (provided it gets done) I will also show this at a guild quilt show next weekend (yes, the 28th...yikes). Better get hopping!

Two Lines, 2 Seconds of Fame and a LONG Rant!

Today I went to a Project Linus Blanket event. It was the first our chapter has held in over 2 years. There was a lot of hype leading up to it. We really needed to get the word out again after the 18 month hiatus without a coordinator. We are severely in need of having blankets made by volunteers to supply to the various hospitals. Many (MANY) people devoted this day and many others leading up to today to getting ready for it. I made 2 quilts for them, one which will be raffled in May and one to be raffled at a later date. I also scurried in the last few weeks to finish 4 other donation quilts. If ever there was a charity deserving a good word, this is it.

And if my quilting business got a small ounce of promotion from the events, well, that's just icing on the cake.

Last Wednesday, a person from the local newspaper called and did a phone interview. We talked for 10-15 minutes. I was told she received a picture of the May raffle quilt, which I assembled and quilted. She asked about it, and other more poignant things. But, a mere mention that Project Linus HAS a quilt to be raffled off was one of the goals of the article. Afterall, we want and need to get money to buy fabrics and to host events. Well... the article came out a couple days ago. And here's my 2 lines of fame (within the article). Whoo-hoo...I let this go up about to my big toe (no worries about it being so good so as to go to my head!). No picture of the raffle quilt. No mention of much, really. Fluff, I tell you, fluff. And not too much fluff at that. That won't sell raffle tickets; that is for sure.

So today is the Show. You come in the door. There is a Meet & Great table, and a sign about a raffle. Inside, there are a couple of "real" vendors - quilt shops, and a pseudo vendor (aka "ME" - passing out business cards and showing pictures of 12-18 of my quilts, in addition to the 3 I brought). And there are 50 small quilts on display in the chapel. These are nice because this is very representative of what is donated. What are most people doing?...rummaging the "flea market" of nearly free used quilt books, patterns and scraps of fabric! Where is this alleged raffle quilt that they want to sell tickets for...that she just had to have???? On the backside of the "yard sale", being managed by someone's non-sales oriented husband. Yup, a man. Just perfect. I don't think he realized he was actually supposed to SELL the tickets. I am more than insulted that I have donated this quilt and it may go to someone and Linus will only net $50 for it! Hell, I'd charge $125 just to quilt it if Joe Blow came to me off the street!

In the early afternoon, I realized a local news station was there. He was talking to the coordinator, and someone else from an area hospital. She introduced me to him and he interviewed me about what I do, my involvement, why I sew for Linus, etc...maybe 2-3 minutes. Afterall, I have made over 100 quilts in the last 3 years. This interview had the raffle quilt as the background. He later took some still shots from my "booth". I recorded the news because we went out to dinner. This drivel is what I came home to see. Unbelievable. The"reporting" person was NOT the person doing the interview. She (Caroline Cornish) obviously cut 95% of the material he taped to suit her wishes. She was not even present at the event. So when you look at this 39 second news clip, the credit I deserve are for the 2 still shots of quilts, which can be seen here and here clearly. And they are in no way indicative of anything that Project Linus gets as donations! Ironic!

http://www.wcsh6.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=74211841001#/Local/Project%20Linus%20volunteers%20show%20off%20works/49383985001/49452227001/74211841001

Sigh......I warned you it was a rant!

Have a good Sunday :-)

Tid-Bits of another week

These weekly bits are rather discombobulated and partially unrelated, but that's my life!

I made these blocks (2 on left) for Pat as part of flickr's Quilt Block Round Robin . There;s also a link on my sidebar of progress of this monthly block swap. Pat made the two blocks on the right, I made the two on the left, and then I mailed them off to someone who will continue this progress. She requested floral posey pinwheels to this pattern.
I did a couple of quilts last week for local clients. This one gave me a bit of a scare. It's all done in lovely batiks. Just after I loaded the quilt, I had a minor needle incident, and then when I started quilting, I was having stitches skipping. I was frantic. Turns out after giving HQ a call, it was most likely tension related and a result of the batik fabric. Who would have known! After a couple basic adjustments, it sewed just fine. PHEW! The owner was very pleased and liked my all-over ferns.

Another client sent me a couple of lap quilts. She wanted some kind of cameo in the yellow blocks, either flowers or hearts. I chose to do a variety of different flowers, and then I did curve cross-hatching in the squares. I try to do something other than just an ugly stippling when people only want a basic type of quilting. It really doesn't take that much longer, honestly, if a pattern can be done without stopping and starting.

Here is her 2nd quilt. It was a tad more challenging because of the many seams, and inherrent bulk. I didn't want to stipple the entire quilt, even though the owner suggested it as a possibility.

I used a wedgewood blue thread and did a simple feathering in the stars (which who knows...it didn't really show much at all) and a very basic leaf in the yellow part of the pinwheels. The quilting shows best in dim light.

So, that's about it for the week's quilting. OK, so that was really last week's quilting. I was waiting for a quilt to arrive and some thread so I didn't do much this week there.

These wonky log cabin blocks have been arriving. These are part of the Fresh Comfort Two quilting Bee. February is my month, and they started rolling in early (yay!). Later in the month, when I have most of them I will show a picture of the entire projected quilt. It's a bit avant-gard for me.

And...a little of my own handiwork. I started this last fall with the gorgeous hand-dyes my husband got me for my birthday. It's all hand appliqued, with plenty of bias strip work. I have decided I will put forth a stron effort this month to work on the border (the 4 triangles) to see if it may be possible to finish it in time for the Maine Quilt Show this summer. Why worry now??...just figured if I got it far enough along I could decide if I wanted it "just in the show" or as a judged quilt. It'll be about 40" square when it is done. That corner (or half of it) took me about 2-3 hours to hand applique this week.

And lastly...tomorrow is my first Project Linus Blanket event in nearly 2 years. Our chapter has been lacking $$ and a coordinator, sadly. Now we have the coordinator and hopefully after the raffling of this quilt which I made, they will have a little bit of $$ too. I have also made this quilt for them to raffle (when I thought I didn't really want the other one to go away), but in last week's flurry, I was notified by the editor of Machine Quilting Unlimmited that they'd like to have it in the magazine. It has since been shipped to Colorado to be photographed! Pretty exciting for my humble little ladybug :-) So... to get ready for tomorrow's blanket day, I've been combing through mountains of scraps. And I do mean mountains. I made 18 12-1/2" string blocks and have NOT made a dent. I have a box of 5-600 squares to make up into flimsies tomorrow and other odds and ends.

STRING BLOCK MAKERS... I have a LOT of strings of various lengths and widths (1-3") and would be willing to send you these if you want them (postage at your expense). Just leave a message here and I will contact you.

Have a great weekend!

Whimsical and Fun (and Happily Done)

This quilt is destined for my friendly Project Linus coordinator. Once bound, she is using it as a raffle quilt to hopefully generate revenue for our starving chapter. It took me (off & on) about a week to get it put together, amidst other quilting challenges and requirements. I had put together the orange & pink sampler shown a week or so ago, but I don't want to give that one on to her until summer/fall, as I plan to bring it by several quilt shops first.
So, youthful and whimsical was my goal. The inspiration of the appliques is the fabric used in the solid blocks and the corners. It's so sweet, with words like "sing", "dance" and "imagine" imprinted amongst the swirls, butterflies and ladybugs. Those were supposed to look more like butterflies in the outer border (hourglass units), but they did not truly live up to my expectation. Here's the back...

This was my first for using 2 layers of batting. I had only ever read about this technique. It gives the details of the quilting more definition, and makes this one whopping warm quilt too! I used a layer of Hobbs 80/20 of good weight and another cotton that was a bit thinner (and pieced from about 10 scrap pieces I had - testimonial of how thrifty I can be). I love how the feathering came out. I used three different colors of thread on the top - soft blue, white and lavendar. And yet a 4th (soft pink) on the back. Too many changes...Just too many. But it does enhance the look of the quilting to have them coordinating with the fabrics.

...and here is this corner from the back, just with a simple and puffy flower. It's really pretty with the rows of feathering and swirling sashing.

The center medallion has this kind of whimsical, kind of wonky ladybug. It's modeled after the ones in the other fabric, sitting on a big swirl, and a 4-leaf clover and a heart nearby. Sweet. Very sweet. The green for the leaves is all a fairy frost, as are the pinks and purples of the "butterflies", the solid material that the appliques are on, and a pale pink used in the HST borders. The quilt has a great shimmer to it! I gotta admit, I really don't like machine applique one bit. These are fused and satin-stitch zig-zagged down, but mostly because I didn't have time to do it the "real" way (aka needle-turn).

Ahh...the awesome texture and great colors. If I were a young girl, I'd be buying a ton of raffle tickets!

I fussy-cut this flower from a dahlia fabric I had. It was just made for it!

The purple sashing design is one that Carla Barrett showed us in her Quilt Whisperer class which I have been taking (although I secretly pirated it from her a week before she showed us!). LOVE it!

This flower applique accidentally got fused in the wrong place (another reason why I hate fusible applique) SO I had to place a butterfly to balance the design. Looks like it belonged there all along.

And a few fussy-cut circles to make the perfect flower petals. This was a fun paroject, and very creative. And since I don't do nearly as much piecing nowadays, it was nice from that perspective. The back is just lovely with texture.

The last thing I have not showed you (as thouigh you haven't seen enough, I know, with 12 photos in this post...) are the 4 plain blocks. I always hesitate using plain blocks, especially when they are large as these are (9"). I really needed simplified piecing, that is why the only piecing detail is in the butterflies and the HST's. But these plain blocks have a great fabric, and I wanted a nice quilting to compliment it. I chose a feathered heart. They came out great with the double layer of batting. Nice & puffy.

...and the back of the hearts. So sweet. I kinda hope I win this back.

I have 10 days to get it bound. Not sure what fabric I am using, but maybe a scrappy collection of pinks. Hope you liked seeing this! Maybe you have a quilt top you'd like me to quilt for you...just email if so.

Have a good rest of the week.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Greetings Quilters!

First off, thanks for stopping by my humble blog. There are tons of fantastic quilts being showcased on the Blogger's Quilt Festival, hosted so wonderfully by Amy at http://www.parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/. This is a fun event and I am excited to be a part of it yet again. I have a great post to share with you, and at the end of some fun pictures, there is a giveaway, so don't miss it. So without further adu, let the show begin!


Over the last year or so, I have made a lot of quilts. I have been active in many swaps, both those that make mini quilts and those that make just blocks. I usually make quilts for baby gifts or Christmas presents. Most of the quilts I have made are linked on the sidebar to the right. The quilts, however, that I am most proud of are the ones I am showing you here today.


Over the course of the last 3 years, I have made over 100 lap-sized ~45"x65" quilts to donate to the local chapter of Project Linus. In January of 2007, this started as an effort to trim my scrap stash, which at that time was really not very large. It gave me something to sew without needing to buy fabric too! That quickly became addictive. I told my friends and family what I was doing, and within a few weeks I had a dining room full of more donated scraps! And that is how the cycle began. Last Fall, at a Linus function entitled the Book-Blanket Challenge I showed this quilt (which incidentally was my entry for the Blogger's Festival in April too!). Our local chapter was closing because the rep was stepping down and a replacement had not been found. She had been trying hard to get me to take over the position, but my life was too busy for that then. She had two large boxes of fabric which had to contain 60+ yards of top quality material which she gave me. I told her I would use that to make quilts to give back to Project Linus. And I did.
Last month, I broght 53 quilts to donate. These were made between January and September of 2009. The day before I brought them, I layed them all out on my yard for a little "quilt show". One blogger commented that it looked like a "Sea of Love". I think she was right.

Many are scrap quilts. Many are quilts I designed. Some were done to let me "test" a pattern or an idea. Some let me practice certain machine quilting techniques. Some were made from blocks acquired in various swaps.

All will be loved and cherished by the children that receive them.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. If what was done here for the children is of any similarity to that, I'd be remiss for not mentioning a few of the wonderful people that helped make this 53 quilt donation become possible. The quilt above had the indiginous Australian fabrics donated to me by Bernadette in a swap. The one below was made from swap blocks from the Broken Heart pattern by ladies of Kate's Birthday Block swap. I hosted the Spring Fling Round Robin earlier this year and received blocks to make 5 quilts from these talented ladies. The aforementioned Kate sent me 24 Jacob's Ladder blocks and another 24 Bento blocks to make another 4 quilts. Such overwhelming generousity. And I have never even met any of these people either.
It's true, I did spend a ton of time assembling, sewing, quilting and binding these. It's a labor of love, and if this is the only time in my life that I am able to make such a grand donation, I am still satisfied.

And so would you.

And yet another quilt below made from more donated fabrics from Anna Y.
The quilts here represent on the order of 275 yards of fabric & batting!
I spent much of my quilting time this last year on the quilts I showed you here, but the time has come for change -- a change in my quilting focus and a change in my personal/professional life. I am a trained and experienced mechanical engineer. Since having three kids, however, I have realized that going back to work full time is unpractical and just daunting. I want to be here at 3:30pm when they arrive home. So after much soul-searching and planning, I have opted to take a plunge off the deep end so to speak. For those of you that read this blog, you know this. But for the sake of the newcomers, I will mention that I just purchased a long arm quilting machine. And I am in the process of trying to establish a business making and machine quilting quilts (that is after my husband helps put the frame together this weekend!). I encourage you to bookmark my new business website http://www.mainelyquiltsoflove.com/. Visit often! At present, all I have shown there are a few small items and a number of quilt tops that I will quilt in the coming weeks. I will, however, be adding to this soon. Once I am taking orders, I will very likely do an internet quilting special for a while, with an extraordinary price!

As a giveaway in support of the Online Blogger's Festival, I will offer to machine quilt one person's quilt. It may be up to a large lap-size. You'll have to provide the batting and the postage, but I will quilt an all-over pattern which compliments the top. I will offer to do this anytime after January 1, 2010. I will randomly select someone at the end of the Blogger's festival. To be included, please do the following...(1) leave a comment here, and (2) blog something to your personal blog that promotes my blog and new Mainely Quilts of Love Quilting business. Thanks and have a great time spying all of the fantastic quilts.

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One last thing...I am hosting a block swap on flickr. If you are interested in a swap that will yield enough high quality blocks to make a queen sized quilt, with a monthly committment of only 2 blocks, check it out!

Pure Woven Joy

But before I get to that, a glimpse at what 53 quilts (and 5 flannel layette blankets) looks like. It took two shoppig carts piled taller than myself to get these into the store! As expected, the Project Linus event was quite the event - meeting many very appreciative and surprised coordinators. Honestly, I really don't know how I managed to meet my 52 blanket goal myself. I have agreed to help our new coordinator machine quilt a few of her tops free of charge. I figure that it will be good practice for learning the nuances of my new LA. Now, if that silly state tax ID number would ever get here so that they can ship it!?!
As mentioned previously, Mardens (the store hosting the PL Event), gives 3/4 yard for every quilt brought in. It used to be 3 fat quarters, but then when patrons started bringing in big numbers, that got impractical. I left the store with 50 yards of material, 39.75 of which was FREE (and the rest was a mere $3 per yard!)! Earlier this week they got in a wonderful shipment of Carla Miller and Freespirit Anabella. My heart nearly skipped three beats when I saw all of the bolts.

This pile hardly looks like 50 yards, but it is. Most are 1-2 yard pieces, but I did get 3 yards of at least 6 prints for using as backs. And (though not photographed, I got a few yards of wide Kona in white) - not so interesting to show.

...a lovely assortment in the green, aqua & brown colorway.

...And some very luscious kiwi and shades of red. These are SO gorgeous in person.

...And I have a couple of these, but a gal can (should) always have more.

Unfortunately, they only had one of the Kaffe Fasset Foxgloves, which I really like. I'd have loved to have found the blue one. But nonetheless, it goes nicely with some of the Carla Miller prints. I also have a few other Carla Miller ones recently purchased that will coordinate with the new ones. Oh, my creative design juices are moving a mile a minute right now!.....

...and a few yards of rogue prints that did not coordinate much with others i got, but I still liked them.

So, there ya have it - enough fancy, modern & new fabric for at least 6-7 quilts. Enough damage for one day. Image that - 50 yards of top quality (typically $8-9 per yard) for a mere $30! I couldn't be more delighted :-)

Big Week

First off, with bated (sp??) breath, I can happily announce that I have made a decision. The rambling thoughts of "which long arm should I get" are thoughts of the past. I spent one last week, contemplating and investigating one last possibility. The rep from APQS was waiting anxiously to hear from me. She'd even gotten me a base extender (a $100 deal) added for free. Still I was not certain. That machine was over $15000 with the incentives of the Road Show, and to me that was a heck of a lot of money. OK, a helluva lot of money! The one thing I kept coming back to was a desire to have a rep closer than 2 hours away, should I need assistance, purchase parts, etc. On Tuesday I spent time on the HQ Fusion, which for some reason I never really considered all that seriously. It was more pricey, and that was probably the main reason. But after trying the Millinium and the HQ16 both, I knew that the Fusion was it. This machine is a big step up over the HQ16, and it sews like a warm knife through butter. Circles are round (as we'd want!), and this machine has 20" of space to sew. I absolutely loved it. It's a little more than I thought I'd spend, but over $3K less than the Millinium, which I had yet to really enjoy using. This afternoon, I officially ordered the Fusion!!

My other accomplishment is finishing my last and 52nd quilt for my Project Linus donated quilts. I am taking all 52 tomorrow to a local event, where 3/4 yard of fabric is given for every quilt donated! Count them...39 yards of free and wonderful fabric!!! The event is a total ZOO, but I love it. I learned that my region now has a new coordinator, so we should be having events again. The blocks for this quilt came from the flickr Quilt Block Exchange. I was going to machine quilt this on someone's Millinium three days ago, but after testing the Fusion, I knew I didn't need to. Instead, I used my home machine and finished it up yesterday. I love the modern look of the pink & orange. Way cool & sweet! There are seven quilts in my donation that have come from blocks donated by swappers that did my Spring Fling Round Robin. These quilts all came out so fantastic. I have two quilts which Kate sent blocks for. She has one heck of a block stash from her various swaps and Block Lotto winnings. It was tremendously generous, and children in my area will definitely benefit. So, if you find that you have blocks in your stash that you don't know if you'll use or when, I'd love to offer to give them a good home. I love scrappy quilts, and love to make scrappy quilts!
On Wednesday afternoon, I had a "photo shoot" on the back lawn. Despite the work of refolding them, I pulled all 53 (one is from my mom) of my Linus quilts, and layed them on the back lawn. Here's what 700 square feet (or so) of quilted love look like! I'm sure my neighbors thought I was cookoo! Actually, that is only about half of the quilts :0)

Here's a few more pictures in a flickr slideshow.

What next...Finish cleaning my basement out. I started that today, but it's got a ways to go. The LA should arrive in 1-2 weeks. Other things...finish off row for row robin, add on to a round robin, and continue with my business-y. Oh, and the absolute worst thing...I must start on Halloween costumes - my all time least favorite thing to sew!

Happy quilting