Retreat finishes-OMG-stipple tutorial

On Tuesday a blogger friend from an hour north of me came to visit and stay with me for a few days so we could immerse ourselves in quilting and chatter.  We both were successful with that, especially the chatter part,  LOL.   Oh you are wondering who that blogger friend is are you, hehe.   It's Wendy who blogs at Pieceful Thoughts.  She is now safely tucked away at her own home now, but it was a blast, and hope she will want to do it again some day!

When I met Wendy for the first time a couple months ago she gave me this pack of Alice in Wonderland fabric. So I  added the pastel solid pink, and the blue in the 9 patches and whipped up this baby quilt with it, got it quilted and then I bound it while she was here. I plan to donate this to our local neonatal unit.  

I tried out a swirl design that has a rounded corner in the center rather that sharp points. It was fun to try something different.   I had just enough Alice fabric to do a scrappy binding to complete it.

I felt like a binding maniac for a couple of the days Wendy was here, I had lots of runners and 3 quilts to bind. I got lots of them done, but there are still a few more for another day or maybe week, I am rather sick of binding right now.  I did piece a round wedge topper to change it up a bit!

 This quilt is getting sent to a friend in Ohio to give to a kids' camp called Flying Horse Farms, a place for kids to go and forget they are sick for a while.  My friend in Ohio did something nice for me and I am paying it back by donating this to a camp she is passionate about.

The design is from a Missiouri Star tutorial for disappearing pinwheel in a churndash.   I chose to do a simple allover stipple in a variegated green,blue and dash of yellow Signature thread.  This quilt is also my May One Monthly Goal(OMG) quilt which I made all with scraps.  So I will be linking up at Elm Street Quilts at the end of the month. 

After posting my little tutorial for Squiggle and Wiggle quilting design, Bonnie asked for a drawing of how I stipple.  White board to the rescue again:)   I try to use a dog bone shape when I stipple, however, sometimes I like to vary it up a bit.  Some people say they tend to start off with one size stipple and end up with a different  size.  If you purposely do a variety of sizes it tends to blend in better when done.  Each loop of the dog bone does not need to be the same size and shape as you will see in my drawing.  Hope this helps Bonnie!

I have to say that I was a horrible quilter using my sewing machine, I had just learned to stipple a teensy tinsy bit(like 2 table toppers worth) and didn't enjoy it one bit. I never liked sit down quilting.  Then I bought my first frame set up and wow, that was what I felt comfortable with.  And that is still true to this day, 13 years later!  Where has the time gone, it's crazy thinking I have been doing frame quilting that long.  Each and every one of us enjoys doing things differently and that is okay in my book, do what works for you!

Stay tuned for the next week or so to see other retreat finishes.

Linking with the linky parties in the latter part of the week- you will find them listed on my left side bar.