Winter Snow Friends

Merry Christmas!

I am happy to say that my last "must be done for Christmas" quilt went out the door last week - I definitely breathed a sigh of relief! However, since then, my husband and I have had a visit from that nasty flu virus that is being passed around - would have preferred he did not share this one with me! Oh well, we are on the mend, and are thankful that our bodies are so wonderfully made that they have the ability to fight such awful stuff!

I have a number of quilts that need to get put on this blog, but for now, I will settle on this cute little winter appliqued wall hanging called "Winter Snow Friends".

The many 1/2 sq. triangles were quilted with continuous curve and holly leaves. The appliqued portions were mainly stitched around, but a few of the figures required additional stitching to make them lay flat.

I used a variety of backgrounds -  feathers, swirls, snowflakes, loops, and stipple - to add interest and to flow with the pattern. This is just a happy quilt, and it brings a smile to my face!

That's it for today - I just wanted to make sure you had a Christmas quilt to check out. (If  you want to check out another Christmas applique, Dec. 2013 has AJ's stunning Merry Christmas quilt.) I will be adding more quilts very shortly, but company is coming - I must get some baking done!

May each of you enjoy a very blessed Christmas, and may you enjoy, blessed, and be challenged by all He has in store for you in the coming year!

Cathy

Verse for the day: "Your adornment must not be merely external - braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:3-4)

Red, White and Black Bandanna Quilt

Left This Out!

What can I say - I was in such a hurry with my last post that I left this out - now you know how feeble my mind is!

This one was quilted with a feather panto using red thread - sounds a bit bold, but the end look of it is fabulous. Sometimes dramatic is the way to go!

Until next time, Happy Quilting!
Cathy

Blackford's Beauty & a Red/ Black Bandana Quilt

Crunch Time!

With the Christmas holiday quickly approaching, I am becoming more and more aware of the many quilts there are still hanging in my closet awaiting their completion!

Some quilts just seem to take me a lot longer than I anticipate once I get going on them, and that certainly did apply to this quilt, called Blackford's Beauty in Plaids, but I love the way it came out.

This was one of those with a lot of white space, so I had to use the "divide and conquer" method, quilting a diamond pattern to separate different quilting spaces. Since feathers were used in the  border, the plaid stars, and the pinwheels, they were also put into the diamond area for continuity. A flame fill pattern was used in the center, and a more dense clam-shell fill used in the remainder of the space.

That's it for now - have to get back to quilting! Hope you all enjoyed a very blessed Thanksgiving - we have so much to be thankful for.

Until next time, Happy Quilting!

Cathy

Verse for the day: "Daniel said, "Let the Name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to h\Him." (Daniel 2:20)

Bears, Santas, and a Sampler

The Holiday Rush is Here!

At this time of year, I always have a hard time keeping up, but so much more so with only one useful hand! I am doing much better - got my pink hard cast off last week, and am now in a splint - but I did have to slow down a bit. I have more wrist exercises to do than I can keep up with - 3 times/day at that! The swelling has gone down considerably, and I can now handle my bobbin without fumbling it!


I am a bit behind on both my quilting and my blog posts, so I thought I would try to catch up with a quick summary.

 I don't see embroidered quilts very often, but recently had 2 to quilt. The first one is an Alphabet ABC Bear cross stitch quilt that will someday go to a great grandchild. This is a really cute little quilt, and it was joyful to work on.

Because I don't think it a good idea to go over most hand stitching,  I echoed around the bears, words, and letters out to the edge. The sashings and inner border have loops with stars in the cornerstones. Teddy bears were quilted into the border.























The second quilt is all about Christmas. The treatment is similar, with echoing around the embroidered Santa blocks, but snowflakes in the borders and sashings.

The quilt I had on the machine when I broke my wrist was this beautiful sampler. I was about half way through it, and when I came home and looked at it I couldn't help but wonder if I was going to be able to finish it! Well, as you can see, I did, and I think it came out wonderful despite my handicap.
  

This quilt had beautiful shades of teal, purple, blue, and beige in it, and I just loved these fabrics. The outer border was done in feathers with matching feather triangles.


 

For the chain blocks, I played around a bit until I came up with a fill that I thought would work. I decided on a variety of fleur de lis patterns for the sampler blocks which seemed to compliment the fabric.

Since it is hard to see the quilting with the busy patterns, I have included a photo of the back of the quilt.

Well, that's about all I can fit in for today. Hope you all have been enjoying this wonderful fall weather we have had - winter is on its way!

Until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy

Verse for the day: "The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; thou hast made summer and winter." (Psalm 74:16-17)

Enjoying Fall

A Train Ride in New Mexico

The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR line, going
 from Antonio to Chama, NM.

We have a son who is quite a train fanatic, and planned a little vacation in NM with a train ride from Antonio to Chama - the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. We had taken the Durango to Silverton route a year ago and really enjoyed it, but John (our son) told us this was even better. I had to agree - we did enjoy this more, but I think it was because the scenery was so beautiful! The fall colors were really coming out in those mountains, and the many scenic vistas were spectacular.

John and Patricia in the open air
car, and getting a little rained on.

John, Patricia, Cathy, and Dale
enjoying our ride.

We did, however, run into a small problem during the trip down - I fell and broke my wrist! We ended up spending 5 hours in the emergency room is Alamosa, CO. We were supposed to meet John and Patricia for dinner, but did not make it to Chama until after 9 pm. We missed dinner with them, but were to meet them at 7am for breakfast the next day. I decided I needed to get up at 5 am, since I did not have any idea how long it would take me to get dressed when I very awkwardly only had the use of 1 hand, was still in a bit of pain, and could not get my cast wet. (A wise decision - I needed every minute of that time!) After breakfast, we rode the bus from Chama to Antonio, boarded the train there, and enjoyed a wonderful and leisurely ride back to Chama. I was very thankful that I could just sit and relax that day!

Cathy and Dale overlooking the Rio Grande -
what a view!

A Huey displayed at the Vietnam
Memorial - my brother flew one
of these, so this was a very
tearful moment for me.

The home we were able to tour
at the Earthship community.

After our ride, we enjoyed  dinner with John and Patricia, then headed on down to Taos. The ride there was also very scenic, and we were able to enjoy fall immensely - don't you just love the wonderful colors this season offers?. In Taos, we were unable to do all that we intended, with me being handicapped, but we were able to enjoy our stay. Taos is a very friendly and nice town, with a lot of interesting (and bloody) history. For probably the very first time, we did most, possibly all, of the touristy stuff - enjoyed the town market (lots of history there!), drove the Enchanted Circle (hiked a little bit and visited a Vietnam Veteran's Memorial), toured the Kit Carson home and cemetery, visited several of the local historic churches, checked out the Rio Grande gorge, and finished with a tour of  the Earthship community - a self sustaining group of homes that are built into a hill using spare tires, bottles, cans, and other interesting items. They look unusual, but the Eco-friendly concept was very fascinating and quite different from the typical home.

I have since had surgery on my wrist - they put in a metal plate to hold everything together - and am trying to get along with the use of 1+ hands (I have gained the use of my fingers again), but, amazingly, am still able to quilt! (The Lord blessed me greatly by leaning me to the left when I fell, instead of the right!!) I am able to hold the quilt with my left hand, while I move my machine with my right, but I do have a little problem trying to handle that bobbin.

Well, that's my vacation report. Life brings us many challenges, but we are still always blessed in so many ways! Until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy

Verse for the day: "For as many are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us." (2 Corinthians 1:13)

Woodland Christmas Applique

outer border

Fall Greetings!

It is hard to believe that summer is over and our busiest season about to approach, but yes, it is coming quickly! Already, my schedule is quickly filling with holiday requests, and I love seeing them - it sets my anticipation for all the season has to offer.



Regretfully, I somehow did not manage to take a picture of the whole quilt for you -  I am so sorry, for it really was a wonderful detailed applique and you will miss the full appreciation for the work that went into it. The woodland creatures included bears, foxes, raccoon, hedgehogs, bunnies, and birds among a mix of houses, trees, and stars, which allowed opportunity for a variety of fills and detail work. It has a winter-y looking swirled outer border, leafy corner blocks,  and a holly leaf  pattern for the inner.

One of the house blocks - hmm,
 bears protecting the town hall?

corner detail

Bunnies, fox, and bear admiring
the tree decorations.

All the woodland animals
pitching in to help.

Santa has a new helper!

Hedgehogs preparing for the celebration.

Somehow, these raccoons look
a bit mischievous.

And Merry Christmas to all!

As you can see, this is just a fun quilt and I really enjoyed working on it - thank you, Barb! If you were able to attend Quilt-a-Fair in Longmont, you may have seen it hanging at the Laughing Ladies booth. We have been in New Mexico, so were unable to attend, but hope you were able to enjoy all the variety offered there!

Until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy
Verse for the day: "Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." (Psalm 30:4)

Soft Applique

Another Applique Technique

"Soft Applique" was a term I was unfamiliar with until recently. From this quilt, my understanding is that it implies taking a pattern from the printed fabric and turning it into an applique on the quilt.

The fussy cut area is appliqued onto the
background, then pieced into the blocks.

In this case, instead of piecing the print into the quilt, a pattern was chosen, fussy cut leaving about 1/8 to 1/4" around, and then carefully turned under and basted around. There is no freezer paper or glue used, so the applique is "soft." The applique pieces are then sewn onto the background. This is a Jinny Beyer pattern and technique, for any of you Jinny fans out there.

A more extended view to allow you to see how
 the quilting in each block compliments
the center block.

My challenge for this quilt was what to do with that background area that would enhance the pattern and not take away from it. This is one of those where I had to get out my sketch pad and play with all kinds of ideas, and it wasn't until I started looping from the compass points that I came up with something that satisfied me. To make the appliqued areas stand out, a micro stipple was used around them.









Simple continuous curve was used in the small red blocks, and the larger red blocks had a star points quilted into them.

Border detail

The borders were a very busy pattern, so quilting was simply done using the patterns. The inner red border was given a simple pattern that complimented the theme of the quilt. Between those busy patterns, a simple pattern is best so the eye has a place to rest!


This quilt was a great challenge for me - I learned a lot in the process.

That's it for now - until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy

Verse for the day: "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)

Floral Applique

An Indoor Garden Wall Hanging.

There are various methods for applique, and this quilt demonstrates the traditional applique technique. The pattern is called "Jan and Jenny's Garden". For those of us without a green thumb, this would make a cheerful indoor garden with no weeds to pull!

Quilted vine on border blocks.

To help keep the garden theme, the colorful squares around the appliqued flowers was quilted with a vine, and a couple of butterflies were quilted into the background "sky".

Some of the flower and bird detail
 with a butterfly and stipple area
 quilted in the background.

The flowers, leaves, stems, and birds were given a little more detail to enhance them as well as put some quilting into the large spaces. Some appliquers so not like stitched done on there work, but for larger pieces, this may be necessary. I always ask before I stitch!

Pinwheel, leaf, and stem details with McTavishing
in the background.

On the background area, I did a loose stipple to resemble clouds in the upper area, and some McTavishing in the lower area to appear as a hill that the flowers are blooming on.

Just a note: The birds will have beads added for the eyes. This is done AFTER the quilting - make sure to NOT do any embellishing prior to quilting - your quilter will not be happy with you!












Perhaps this will inspire you to create your own indoor garden quilt!

Until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy

Verse for the day: "But grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen."   (2 Peter 3:18)

Some Early Christmas Joy

Holidays are coming!

As quilters, we have usually already started thinking about Christmas by now. Our projects do take a while to complete, no matter how simple they are. This cute little quilt is not simple, for the embroidery itself took some time to complete, and I just love the joy of the season it represents: joy; peace, merry, love, delight, magic, believe, noel, and cheer are embroidered in the blocks.

Quilted crosshatch inner border. 

The outer border is a busy fabric, so a simple feather pattern was quilted there. The inner border has a crosshatch with a Christmas variegated thread. The small black border was small enough to let it stand alone.




The embroider blocks were highlighted with and outline and echo around the wording, and then a small swirl pattern around the circles. The border around the blocks was a ribbon-like swirl pattern to give the look of a wrapped package, and the small blocks were given a holly leaf pattern.

Quilting detail of embroidered blocks

Holly motifs in small surrounding blocks

I always like it when I receive a Christmas quilt long before the season hits - I can relax, and enjoy the quilting process without the pressure!








That's all for now! Until next time, happy quilting - and help your quilter out by getting those holiday projects to her early!

Cathy

Verse for the day: "Your Word I have treasured in my heart, that I might not sin against You." (Psalm 119:11)