Poinsettia's

Since my sunflower table runners have been a hit I wanted to turn them into a poinsettia. 

A few months ago armed with several red batik fabrics I got busy cutting out my wedges.  After sewing them together I wasn't sure they would resemble a poinsettia enough.  So there they sat and sat and every once in a while I gave them another look and discovered I just wasn't ready to work with them.  So on the back burner they stayed.  Until this week;)   After quilting one of the sunflower runners I layed the red flowers over the sunflower to get a better idea of what it would look like.  I cut out holly leaves and yellow centers. That is what tipped me over the fence to get it made.  

So what do you think, does it make you think poinsettia when you see it?  I listed it in my Etsy shop so we'll see what happens. 

Linking with Tish as this was a UFO for several months;)

And now for a finish of my Crossed Canoe quilt

Ahhhhh, yes I finally have my September Island Batik Ambassador quilt all done!  I wrote a post for it the last day of September when I had the top pieced but not quilted.  You can find that post HERE.

This was made using the Accuquilt BOB Crossed Canoe die that I was given from Accuquilt as they partnered with Island Batik this year.  The fabrics are from Island Batik.  And the batting was given to me from Hobbs.  The thread I used for piecing was provided by Aurifil.  Thank you to all those wonderful companies.

I had a little fun quilting it on my Nolting Longarm.  Ruler work in the Crossed Canoe blocks and a freehand meander to represent the swirls in the water that happens when you paddle your canoe;)

And now onto the October project, the theme is Top It Off.  Right up my alley;)

Linking with Sarah , Michelle, Wendy and Alycia

Spooky business

There is something spooky happening on my blog today!  It is all about the Witchy Stitchy blog hop put on by Carol at Just Let me Quilt.  I couldn't help myself, I had to sign up the minute she put out the call for bloggers to participate!  I love decorating for fall and making fall decorations.

At first I didn't know what I would make and then I got to digging looking for other projects to finish up and came across this wool felt stitchery that just needed finishing touches.  So it was a win win for me to use this excuse to get this one done:)  

The black background is craft felt and the bright colors are wool felt which I had blanket stitched around.  The spiderwebs are hand stitched with a straight stitch.  To finish it off to the size I wanted for my wall I used 100% cotton fabrics.  I added the orange/black polka dot border along with the black with tiny gray stripes.  Then the final border in purple with the little candy corn.  I stitched close to the letters and stippled the black background which made the letters poof out just right.

I had several cute Halloween buttons that I added to make it even more fun. And finally for the binding I used the black with gray stripe again.  I might wish I had bought more of it!  The pattern is by Granny's Legacy Patterns, but beware she has lots of cute ones!

Please check out my fellow blog participants and their projects on their day listed below because we have some really great ideas to help you decorate for the fall. 

October 7

Creatin' in the Sticks

Songbird Designs

For The Love Of Geese

Quilted Delights

Kathleen McMusing

Quilts By Joanne

Whims And Fancies

Janie G. – Hosted at Just Let Me Quilt

October 8 

Selina Quilts

Words & Stitches

Vroomans Quilts

Days Filled With Joy

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Life in the Scrapatch

Just Because Quilts

Brenda's Quilt Blog

October 9

Home Sewn By Us

Kathleen - Hosted at Just Let Me Quilt

Quilts Fabric and Thread Tales

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Websterquilt

Seams To Be Sew

Sew Many Yarns

October 10 

Beaquilter

Homespun Hannah's Blog

MooseStashQuilting

Cynthia's Creating Ark

It’s A T-Sweet Day!

Count it *all* JOY!

Bethni L. – Hosted at Just Let Me Quilt

October 11

Just Let Me Quilt

Quilt Fabrication

Melva Loves Scraps
Patchouli Moon Studio

Ms P Designs USA

Karrin’s Crazy World

Patchwork Breeze

Linking with Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss

More...

Last week was just not a very productive work week.  However, I kicked it into gear over the weekend, several projects got their final stage-binding.  You have seen these before so I won't go into much detail.

The two sunflower table runners are for an order from two local gals. I still need to make 2 identical little wall hangings for them also.  They tend to like a lot of the same things.  The Turkey will be for the shows or Etsy. I also found the start of a few more turkeys lurking in my closet so I will be good with those for this year. 

These guys also got their finishing touches and are ready for the craft shows. I also have a few more snowmen to quilt up.  It's getting closer and closer to this season:(  Just heard on the weather channel that snow is heading to South and North Dakota and hopping the border for Minnesota this week!!!!!!!  No, no, no we don't want it yet, it's way to early.  

Today starts the Witchy Stitchy blog hop which is hosted by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt.  It's gonna be spooky fun, I hope you'll join us.  My day is Wednesday.  Here is a list of participants.

October 7 - Today

Creatin' in the Sticks

Songbird Designs

For The Love Of Geese

Quilted Delights

Kathleen McMusing

Quilts By Joanne

Whims And Fancies

Janie G. – Hosted at Just Let Me Quilt

October 8

Selina Quilts

Words & Stitches

Vroomans Quilts

Days Filled With Joy

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Life in the Scrapatch

Just Because Quilts

Brenda's Quilt Blog

October 9

Home Sewn By Us

Kathleen - Hosted at Just Let Me Quilt

Quilts Fabric and Thread Tales

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting (Me)

Websterquilt

Seams To Be Sew

Sew Many Yarns

October 10 

Beaquilter

Homespun Hannah's Blog

MooseStashQuilting

Cynthia's Creating Ark

It’s A T-Sweet Day!

Count it *all* JOY!

Bethni L. – Hosted at Just Let Me Quilt

October 11

Just Let Me Quilt

Quilt Fabrication

Melva Loves Scraps
Patchouli Moon Studio

Ms P Designs USA

Karrin’s Crazy World

Patchwork Breeze

Linking with Monday Making

Child's Play flimsy is done

The September Island Batik project is featuring an Accuquilt die.  The die I received to use for this month's project is the BOB(block on board) Crossed Canoe die.

The theme is Childs Play, so I thought of our grandsons who love to ride in our kayaks which is pretty close to a canoe;)  And they love to play with legos with bright colors.  So of course I chose bright colors from Island Batik along with their solid gray, white and black.

I have never made a crossed canoe block before so I was really happy to receive this from Accuquilt. The Block on Board die consists of all the pieces you need to make a specific block all on one die.  You can see in that this die uses two colors in one block.  By looking at my blocks above you can see I used three colors in one block.  This caused me to do some thinking of how to place and cut the fabric in the right spot on the die.

First I cut rectangles of my background fabrics 5" x 6.5" with my rotary cutter and ruler, then they were sliced from corner to corner. 

 Those were then placed on the die as you see below in layers of 6 and ran through the cutter.

Next I cut wedges of bright Island Batik fabrics to cover the center canoe shape in the die. 

The sewing of these pieces are a breeze because the Accuquilt die has the corners cut so everything lines up perfectly!  Before long I had 8 blocks done.  I used white Auriful thread for all the piecing. 

I managed to get it all pieced into a flimsy this weekend and planned to quilt it today(Monday). However we had an unexpected trip out of town today that took a bit longer than expected and I have run out of time to quilt it.  I am hoping by the end of the week to have it all quilted and bound.   In the four years of being an Island Batik ambassador I don't think I have ever not had a totally done project and I feel really bad.  I promise to show you the finish soon. 

Disclosure: The products used in this quilt were given to me by Island Batik Accuquilt and Aurifil.  Along with the solids from Island Batik I also used brights from their Petting Zoo line. 

Linking with NTT, Midweek Makers

Only one more to go

There is only one more UFO for this quarter for FAL that I have to get done because I just finished number 4 of five, Yippee!

 The pattern for this table runner is Roasted Coffee by Connie at Freemotion By the River.

 It feels so good to be getting these off the shelves/counter in between finishing up loads of other table runners.  It's been a good quilting week, but now there is lots of binding to do.  And some table runners need their appliques finished also.


Linking with Tish's UFO Busting

I will link up with Sarah for Q3FAL.

Hoping you are having a quilty weekend! What is your next project small or big?

Pumpkin wall hanging UFO

Here is number 3 UFO finished for my Q3 FAL goal.  I listed five projects here for my Q3 goals.  The piecing was inspired by a Mountain Peek Creations pattern.  The pumpkin and sunflowers are part of a panel.

Wishbones were the quilting of choice for these orange columns. 

 Of course you knew I had to use my favorite hook swirl for the panel.  That just seems a good choice for all panels. 

Sorry for the poor quality of this photo, but I wanted to show you how I finished the corners.  Lots of ruler work, but I think it was worth it.  Glad to have it finished and will send this out to the first craft show of the season starting Oct. 2nd. 

Will be linking with Tish for UFO Busting and Sarah for FAL

White pumpkins finished

Tuesday I got busy and finished up the white pumpkin table runner I showed Monday.  I just thought he was so cute that he needed doing right away.  I listed it in my Etsy shop and it sold within a few
hours!

A quick stipple in the middle.

Lots of SID(stitch in the ditch) around the orange sashing/borders and pumpkin parts. 

With a wavy spine leaf border to finish off the quilting.

So I made up another on Wednesday!  This time with a different orange;)  I also added the outside orange and black plaid border to this as it wasn't on the pattern. But I just love this pattern from Bloomin' Minds.  But like I said on Monday she has loads of cute ones!  

Linking with: Denise, Kelly and Sarah

More S swirl wedge runners

Yipee, I sold my first S swirl wedge runner a week ago.  Whenever I sell something it spurs me on to making another pretty quickly.  So I grabbed more Christmas fabrics(some are the same as the first one) and got busy cutting and sewing the strip sets for two Christmas ones and a fall one. 

Before long I had them all pieced.   I could put one bigger piece of fabric on the longarm and quilt the Christmas ones at the same time.  One of these landed in my Etsy shop and the other I will have for a local craft show that is in less than a month!!  How did fall arrive so darn early-hmmm I say that every year it seems. 

Last Wednesday I took a nice three hour drive over to Wisconsin to see a friend and go to the quilt show with her.  This show is the one put on by Nancy Zieman and is called Quilt Expo.  Next year the name will change to The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show.  It is always a fun show to attend, lots of vendors and great things to see and buy!  I was pretty proud of myself for not buying tons of fabric:0.  Only 6 fat quarters, and 4 patterns plus a little wool kit came home with me.  

This is one of the new patterns I whipped up yesterday.  It is from Bloomin' Minds.  I added the long outside orange and dark borders to make this table runner a bit wider.  I hope to quilt it today.  But isn't that pumpkin darling?  She has so many adorable patterns and at a great price.  

Linking with Look What I Made Monday

Quilters Meet and Greet

Welcome to the 2019 Online Quilters Meet & Greet!  

Benita asked me to participate last year and I just couldn't find the extra time needed to do it.  So when she asked me again this year I decided it would join in the fun and perhaps I'll meet new quilting blogs to follow.  I mean we all love inspiration right! 

You'll want to visit the MAIN page to find out more about all of the participating bloggers.  And be sure to sign up for the giveway!

A little about me:

I grew up with parents that were crafty.  My mom and her mom were quilters/sewers.  Mom made  lots of clothes for me and my dolls.  She taught me to sew, hand knit, and crochet as a very young child.  I have carried that through to my adult life and enjoyed it very much.  Although, after taking Home Ec in high school I almost stopped sewing.  I went into the class knowing what mom had taught me and then the teacher tells us to do things differently.  I didn't much like that, I wanted to do it my way!  Five years later I started quilting as I needed a quilt for my very first apartment.  It was a simple quilt by appliquing dresden plates onto a sheet-boy have I came a long way!!  

After getting married in 1982 I went to Vo-Tech school to learn to be Medical Clerk Typist.  I never used my newly learned knowledge as the day I graduated we discovered I was pregnant with out first child.  We decided it would be better for me to be a stay at home mom.  I started doing craft shows and sewed Cabbage Patch and Barbie type doll clothes.  Three years later while pregnant with our second child I bought a knitting machine and made and sold children's sweaters and went on to also knit hats, mittens for a few local schools years later.  I still have my knitting machines but don't knit near what I used to.

I added a quilting frame in 2002 and I have been hooked ever since.  I started out small and inexpensive with a Juki on a table top frame called a Superquilter.  I have since moved up to a Nolting Funquilter 17" on their commercial frame which you see me quilting on here-heaven!!!

Quilting is my passion, it would seem I don't get enough of it.  I make many table runners, wall hangings, purses and lap quilts to sell at craft shows(which I have been doing for 30 yrs. now).  I also have an Etsy shop where I sell the same type of items.  Making and selling has been my full time job for years. 

Four years ago I also became an Island Batik Ambassador-Oh the beautiful fabrics I get to work with!  Each month they give us a challenge theme and we make something and blog about it.  This is one of the challenges. It was to use a 'new to us' technique.  I used EQ swath tool to design it and I used appliqued bias tape method to attach the geese units to the backing.  If you want to see more of my Island Batik projects you can do a search in my right side bar using Island Batik as the key words.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to my blog and I hope you come back again.  Now go meet some other quilters and be sure you sign up for the giveaway.  Just click the button below to take you there.