Bella's quilt finished!

I promised Bella I would get it done, and I did!  I found a piece of backing fabric just the right size from my "I am never going to use that in a quilt" pile.  I loaded it all on Priscilla, and quilted away.  Then I trimmed it and got out the minkee, with great anxiety.  I have heard stories of just how difficult this can be to work with in a larger piece.  I spread the quilted piece and the minkee on the dining room table.

I took my time and carefully pinned it all around the edges.  I am sure I used more pins than I needed, but I really wanted this to work.  I pinned right sides together - quilt top to minkee.  Then, I took this very heavy piece to Betty Bernina.  Together, we sewed and pulled, pulled and sewed until we only had on opening at the bottom to turn it.  I back sewed at each corner to give them extra strength.  After I clipped the corners, I turned the quilt, sewed the opening closed, and put in eight small ties to keep the minkee where it needed to be.  Then I took it over to Bella's house.

She couldn't wait to get it on her bed with all her stuffed friends and her baby dolls.  I fit just right, and she was a very happy girl.  Hard to get a good photo with her bouncing with joy.  I am not fooling myself at all about her liking the fabric or pattern, even though she picked them out.  It was the minkee she fell in love with, 100%.

After I got home, I worked more on my October/November challenge at Modern 8 Create.

Currently, it is 40" x 18".  It makes a very nice wall hanging.  I will leave it up for a couple of days before I decide if it is finished or not.  Sure wish you could see the dark rich purple that is not black.

Tomorrow, I have more projects to work on.  What are you doing this weekend?

Joyful quilting, everyone.



Bella's quilt progress

I have all the blocks for Bella's quilt pieced together.  I think I need to move some of them around before I sew all the blocks together.  I don't think I am going to quilt it with the minkee.  I will use some very ugly fabric I found to quilt the top, then sew the minkee on pillow case style and tie it in a few strategic places.  I am doing this for a couple of reasons.  I don't want to interfere with the total softness of the minkee with all over quilting, and I have heard that quilting with minkee is a bear.  I think it will work very well the way I am going to do it.

Here is today's Jacob's Ladder block.

I also pulled some fabric for a project I am doing over at Modern 8 Create.



So far, I am really liking the color combinations.

Right now, I am going to go put my feet up and relax for a while.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Oh Goodie! New fabric!

Isn't she absolutely adorable?  I fussy cut 15 little fairies from a piece I had of Timeless Treasures for Bella's quilt.  I thought I had enough polka dots to go with to make a nine patch quilt for her big girl bed, but I didn't so I had to go to the LQS this morning.  She has another beautiful one that her Grandma Edwards made, but I just had to make something with these little fairies.  These are all the goodies I have to make this quilt now, including a bright pink Minke backing.

Pinks and purples.  Purples and pinks.  Polka dots galore.  This is going to be fun.

I also had a wonderful time shopping in my friend's incredible stash for the rest of the florals I need for the Jacob's Ladder Quiltalong.  I am pretty excited about finding  such a wonderful group of these old fashioned style florals for this project.  

I have no idea how big this quilt will be when I sew all these into blocks.  I suspect it will be the biggest quilt I have made.  I just have to make sure it doesn't get too big for Priscilla.  She doesn't like anything over 80 inches wide.  She can be so picky.  (For those of you who are new to the blog, Priscilla is my Juki and frame.)  Anyway, tomorrow, I will make another two blocks for the JL.

Until then, have a great evening, everyone.

Joyful quilting.

Back finished and a fun quiltalong

I finished the back for the wedding quilt.  I think it looks very modern.  As I was sewing on it, and the black was picking up every piece of stray thread around, I thought I was very silly for making a black back for a couple who have two long haired kitties.  It is a good thing it is washable, in the machine.  These are the colors they are decorating with, and I hope they like the quilt.  The wedding is only three weeks away, so I need to go get thread today and start quilting.
I also pulled some fabrics for a quilt for Bella.  A girl can never have too many quilts.  This one will be very simple.  Her Grandma Diane is the spectacular quilter who creates beautiful works of art in a traditional style, and Bella is lucky to have three of them.  I will stick to a plain nine patch to add to the mix.

Bella loves pink and purple and polka dots.  She picked out the fairy fabric.  It will be the center square in each block.
I have also decided to join a Jacob's Ladder quiltalong at Adventures of the Empress of the Universe.  She is using a pattern by Bonnie Hunter that I fell in love with, except for the yellow.  I decided to use older style florals and pulled these beauties from my stash.

I will have to find more for the entire quilt, but these are enough to get me started.  Now, I have to decided on a solid for the ladder part.  I think I will check out some kona colors and see what strikes my fancy.  This will be added to my stack of ongoing long term projects to be squeezed in between quilts to make for others.  I do love to have many projects going at once.  I have read others call this quilter's ADD.  This, added to my quilter's dyslexia, keeps quilting interesting and challenging.
Joyful quilting, everyone.