Friday This-n-Thats

Lots of little things here...

I received the 3 FQ I won in a recent giveaway. Since I love these sea creatures SO much, I was very much delighted to hear I had won. Now, what to do with them??... I have an idea, perhaps. It has to do with this next bit of rambling.

As many of you know there are a number of online quilting bees being started right now. I am in one set to start in January, and have joined another provided another 5-6 people join too (this is where you, the reader can help!). This is a swap in which you make 1-2 blocks per month, and on your month you will receive the loot of blocks. If you are interested, visit here!

A post without pictures would just be boring so let's rectify that. This is a twin sized quilt that I got around to finishing the binding on recently. It is made from Tina Given's fabrics from the Cloe's Imagination line. I just drool for these! They are so fun and whimsical. I love them so much that I bought a spread of them in the blue-purple colorway too for when I have time to make another large quilt. I found that they are hard to photograph well, so here is a closeup of the fabrics...
...and another closeup of just the quilting. It's a feathered leaf-n-swirls pantograph I have used on a few recent quilts. I really like it, and it's not totally mindless as real "pantos" are.

This will go to my Etsy store, as most of the others I made have. To m y pleasure, I have been able to sell three quilts in the last month. I just hope that this trend continues. I hurried to get the binding on so that I could list this in hopes of downloading it prior to Christmas. Fingers crossed.

The orange-ish bees are totally my favorite!

My backlog of customer quilts in in that preChristmas lull, but I expected it honestly. I have one on the machine currently, and have another 7-8 expected to arrive in a week or so. If you happen to have a quilt you'd love to get quilted, I can give you a heck of a deal if you contact me!

Have a great weekend (and hopefully a warmer one than I will be having)!

The Time has come to do something...

...and by "do something", I mean more quilty related than just talking about the ultimate purchase of my quilty life.

So here are a few peeks a two holiday table runners I have made recently. I am making several large quilt tops as well, but I wanted to get a few smaller items made up that I could actually quilt right now. I made one like this for myself last year. The quilting is a bit different, but basically the same concept. It is fairly retro red & green prints in a bold block-log cabin pattern.
The quilting is stippled, except inside of the center squares, where I did a modern-ish looking Christmas tree. This runner is 14"x38".

The second table runner is more complicated, in that it has more detailed (though not really very hard) piecing, some hand, needle-turned applique and more custom quilting. It is about 16"x38" or so.

There are three little presents on the runner, hand appliqued. The fabric I selected is absolutely perfect for simulating a foil present wrap in that is shimmers. It is a 100% cotton though. The quilting on this runner is similar to one I made earlier in the spring for my son's teacher. I did feathered hearts and a feathered inner border in a beige thread so it subtly showed against the white Kona cotton. Really lovely, I think.

The back has a beige print, so the thread blends in. When held in the light, here's a peek at the quilting. I am slowly getting organized, getting an Etsy shop establishd, and preparing for when that LA arrives in October. Look for these two table runners there, and more!

addendum...Someone please tell me how to get the ETSY badge onto my blog!!> thanks