January Free Motion Quilting Challenge - Leaves

I took the free motion quilting challenge, which for January was "leaves".  I used variagated thread and put them in the place I thought they would be most appropriate on my AAQI quilt - the treetop.  8)

Frances Moore's leaf tutorial was excellent.  I played a bit with a practise quilt sandwich, then let loose on the real thing.  This is going to be an apple tree; I've already bought the red beads.  I enjoyed taking one of the dots on the tree trunk and turning it into a knot.  My free-motion quilting is never perfect, but I'm pleased with these results.  Now I just have to finish the rest of the quilt.

Alzheimer's Priority Quilt

The Blanketeer's have committed to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative for 2012.  These quilts are only 9"x12". My goal is to make one per month.  Here's my first attempt:

The quilt isn't finished yet, this is just the unembellished background.  It's going to be a clothesline quilt.

Chris knit three tiny afghans for me that will swing from the clothesline.  If it turns out cute I may use the clothesline theme again.

Country Chain and Cross Quilt Complete

It's done, it's done, it's FINALLY done!  Only took three years.  Three years of the Flynn Frame, falling out of the closet every time I opened the door.

I like how it has turned out very much.  Considering it was initially called the "Ugly Brown Quilt"; it turned out great!

The prints in this quilt came from the donated fabric that went through the Great American Smoke-Out.  Remember "fabric lasagna"?  Thank heavens for Febreze and a sunny day.

This quilt is absolute proof that there is no such thing as ugly fabric, only fabric that hasn't been cut into small enough pieces.

80 small scraps and 160 tiny bits of fabric were used in this quilt.  Most of them were unattractive and any number of them were butt-ugly, and yet the quilt is pretty nice.  It's a wonderment!

Cabin Friends

I finished Cabin Friends over the holidays.  I'm very pleased with it, though working with so many browns and greys made me long to do a nice bright project.

It was supposed to have snowflakes in the corners, but I wanted Christmas trees.  They were really fun to embellish, though I should have waited to bead until after quilting.  Live and learn!

I used beads as accents instead of French knots on the eyes to give it more shine.

I added some bling to Frosty's hatband as well.

And each log cabin block got a center bead. This wall-hanging is almost crusty with beads. This wall-hanging is almost crusty with beads. 8)

                       
I made a rod pocket in the back with three button-holes for the hooks.

My stitch-in-the-ditch turned out pretty well this time. I set my machine as slow as it would go, then ran it full out; it took forever, but I got much better results than normal.

The 80's will never die

I visited my Mom at her new house over Thanksgiving.  I had the choice of either helping cook the big feast or re-purposing the old master bedroom drapes in the new guest room.  I chose the drapes.  I spent several hours shoehorning big valences into much smaller windows.  It was the most rigged-up piece of work I've done in years, but Mom really liked the final result.  She really wanted to reuse those old curtains!  I took home a leftover valence and spent a few more hours on some accent pillows.  Turquoise, peach and mauve.  The 80's will never die.

Now I just have to get them to Green Bay.  The box squirrel that is my husband has made several valiant, though failed, attempts to get the mailing box size right.  I just need to be patient.  Oh yeah, Mom, don't look, these are for you and they're supposed to be a surprise.  8)

I'm back and I've been BUSY!

In the past 2 months since I last blogged I've completed 5 tiny cross-stitched Christmas stockings, 1 cross-stitched Easter egg, 1 handanger ornament, 1 big quilt, 1 small Christmas wall-hanging and 2 pillows.  I don't have pictures of everything yet, in fact, I gave away 5 of the stockings and both ornaments and forgot to take ANY pictures. 8(  Here's one stocking I did manage to photograph:  (Note:  all the stockings and ornaments are part of my personal Craft Book Challenge.)

Real life seriously kicked my butt since Grandma Vivian's party.  Work was very hectic. Plus, we spent a week in Green Bay at Thanksgiving, I hosted the Christmas Bee party, two of my Blanketeers retired with two separate parties, and we presented the Quilt of Valor to a very deserving Green Beret.  CRAZY!  Fortunately, after Christmas in Shreveport, I had two LOVELY weeks off to stitch.  Heaven!


More posts are coming as I gather the pictures.  I've missed you guys, but I'm back now!  8)