SNOWBALL QUILT IS LOOKING GOOD

The snowball quilt is coming along really well so far....I got it laid out Friday night...I had to take a lot of breaks because of my back...but I got to sit down to pin it which was a plus but toward the end the muscle spasms really kicked in but I kept at it....after they settled down I quilted for about 4 hours....Saturday and Sunday I quilted all day...so that was a total of 20 hours...Today I have quilted for 4 more hours ...taking a break for awhile....I took this picture a little bit ago.....

 

After spreading the quilt out I see I am about 2/3 the way finished with the center...you cant really see but there is an outline of a heart quilted in red in each of the white spaces...

 

I was going to use a leaf on the white border quilted in red but have decided it needed a heart something instead....so I am playing around with making a heart connected with ribbon along the  border all the way around....more on that later....

 

I think my daughter will be surprised at this quilt....this should fit into her 'primitive' décor that she likes....

 

My other daughter likes the other snowball quilt that I started last year and have 2 more rows vertically and horizontally to add....

 

she wants it and says she likes her sisters quilt but she wants navy blue on hers lol...I forgot just how big it is at the moment so I don't know yet if there will be a big border...this quilt doesn't have the reds the other one does and is showing greens and blues, softer colors....it makes each of the quilts quite different from each other....more about this one later.....

 

Today has to be laundry day...running out of clothes being I have been sewing so much....work beckons ugh!....more later...

SNOWBALL QUILT READY FOR BORDERS

Today my thoughts are back on the snowball quilt I am working on....the center is done and now deciding on borders, how many and what width....so far it looks like there will be a 2 inch inner red border and then finish off with the wider 4 inch outer ivory border like the snowballs....

I was trying to figure out what kind of design I was going use on the outer border which would have decided the width and gave up drawing one but while thumbing through old quilt mags I found a leaf that is just perfect....

I can quilt it end to end and with a little jump make it continuous which will be a big help and its a 1 needle one...not only that but it is the width of the block so no big problems spacing....still have to decide on the corner though....maybe a leaf diagonally placed....

I have pretty much decided on quilting in red this time....the back will be just a shade darker than the snowballs (couldn't get the same color for the back)....I guess you would have to say I will be doing red work quilting instead of embroidery lol.....it will show up on the back well too....there will be a red quilted heart in each of the snowballs too...and diagonal quilting on both sides where the corners met the snowballs...it will show up like an on point box around the hearts....

Earlier I thought about using 4 patches for one of the borders but most of the ones I have made are not all 4 different...

they are mostly co ordinated or done with white etc and just not right I don't think so back in the bag they will go for another quilt.....

I have finally made I think all the decisions for this quilt unless something goes wrong and I think it will make a great gift....I am liking it already and it might be hard to give it up when the time comes.....more later.....

UFO GETTING ATTENTION TODAY

Today while drinking my coffee still trying to wake up I decided to look at the back pictures in my camera file to see if I missed anything....sometimes I take a lot of pics to use with posts here and I miss one now and then....well I am not sure but I think I found one lol....

This a UFO I started couple years ago...all it is lacking is the rust border maybe about 5 inches or so then it will be ready for quilting....I started it because I wanted a different layout for the string blocks...I call it southwest stars....it reminds me of the colors you would find there....the background looks white but it is a very light gray...these colors you wouldn't normally find together but they somehow work just like the sunsets in the southwest....it will be bed size when finished....this is on the agenda to finish before the year is up....

I seem to have a fascination with star blocks....

I keep going back to a challenge that I participated in while back and made this topper....I like the colors and the design of the topper ....I wonder if a large quilt would look good with them.....or something similar ....maybe more later on this one...

Update on the snowball quilt....I did get it to the narrow border stage after getting the rows done but didn't take a picture yet....I have been trying to decide on just how big to make the borders or how many....that will be the story for later this week lol.....

One of the first things I have to do today is do up the dishes and straighten up the kitchen....when I work on a project in sewing the kitchen always suffers ...I just eat and pile dishes and go back to sewing....so now it judgment time lol plus I gotta cook something today so I can do both at the same time lol....geez its a new week again....time is flying....and so am I lol....more later....

MAKING SNOWBALLS BUT THERE IS NO SNOW

Yes I am making snowballs today but its raining not snowing lol....as I mentioned in previous posts I am making a snowball quilt as a Christmas present and will hand quilt it so its get down to business and get the top done so I can get on with the quilting....

 

The 9 patches have been done and I started on the snowballs earlier in the week and between last night and today I have them ready for putting together....in the picture is the quilt so far in various stages....I used 1075 -2 inch squares in this quilt so far....I just might use up all my little squares lol....I could even possibly have enough 4 patches to use as a border....more on this later....

 

When I leave my blog I will go back to the sewing machine and start putting this quilt in rows and maybe be ready for a border later today or tomorrow....

 

I put a few together to see what it is beginning to look like....the ivory 'snowballs' will be ok I think as she does not like things to look 'too new'...I worry about the squares looking a little too bright but will have to see after it is put together....

 

I made her this small quilt for display in her old cabinet while back and the colors were bright but the background was dull and she thought it was ok....

 

I got the batt out today to relax on the couch, no pun intended lol but I don't have anywhere else to stretch one out...I thought about  fixing some mounting  things in a double doorway but the batt might get ripped as people would move it to go through the doorway....so will let things be the way they are..that is all the info I have about this quilt so far but more to come later....

 

The prism quilt???? its on the sidelines till I get the snowball top done and in the quilting frame then I can work on it when I get tired of  snowballs lol....

 

So I need to find some lunch now and then get back to sewing...more later...

NEW TECHNOLOGY AND OLD SEWING MACHINES

I am all bummed out today....I wanted to start doing a lot of straight line machine quilting but I don't have a even feed foot for either machine...so I went looking for them....and I found that I cant get one for either of my sewing machines...now I did have doubts I would find one for this machine....its a Neechi...

I bought it in 1960 so it is ancient by todays standards lol...but my Husqvarna I bought in 1995 I thought would still be ok to find parts but I am finding not so....is it a fossil too??....I know technology has advanced with leaps and bounds the past 10 years I guess I haven't  lol.....but oh to start deciding which is the best machine to buy now is a challenge with all that they do....my Husqvarna does some lettering and fancy stitches but no embroidery....

I guess I will be looking for a new machine sometime in the future very soon.... but for now I have a snowball quilt I have to get done by Christmas so that comes first....then the winter months I will be working steadily on the girls grandmothers flower garden quilts hand quilting them...so it might be spring before it get around to looking seriously for a new machine...but I am keeping an open mind about all of them while I investigate.....

ok off to the machine....and quilt for the week end....more later....

FISH QUILT AND DESCRIPTION READY FOR CHRISTMAS

Here are pictures of my sons Fish Quilt I made for him this past 2 months and is hand quilted throughout....

I had gotten the fabric about 3 years ago...I found it on sale in one of the fabric catalogs...at the time I didn't know how I was going to make the quilt but at least I had the fabric...I particularly liked the collage fabric but I didn't have enough to do much else with it...in fact I just had enough to use as a border after I matched it...the ends had to be seamed to work.

 

I drew a fish to use as a stencil for the brown border and quilted it in navy blue...I put them in a line to look like a fish swimming....the ones at the top seem upside down but this is a directional quilt so if the quilt is upside down to my son when using it he can see the fish right side up....lol...I freehanded the cattails in the corners of the quilt....I think they should have been bigger now after looking at the quilt....

 

The back is still some of  the fabric I bought to go with the quilt at the same time....its an all over fish print...

 

I was going to use on the front somewhere but it seemed right for the back....the binding gave me some trouble...on the last side it kept twisting and causing ripples along the edge of the quilt so finally had to hand baste as I went along to get it to lay right........its the color of the narrow border around the panel in the center to tie it all together...the  batt seemed a little thick though it didn't say it was extra thick , it did turn out fine....I am glad this one is done and now 1 more to get done before Christmas....

 

I hope to keep up with the pictures lol....I just don't take the time to get the camera going....I could bombard you all with pictures if I took of all the  things I did in a day lol...but you would get tired of seeing them I am sure lol....but I will try to do better than I have.....more later