An Unexpected Find

A few weeks ago we were trying to make some room in one of the cabinets at my quilt group.  I pulled out what looked like a green suitcase and asked what it was.  "An old sewing machine," was the reply.  I opened it up and there was a Bernina 730 Record.  My eyes got big, and since no one uses it, suggested that we could sell it and have the church put the money in our group's budget.  

I brought it home to see what condition it was in.  It was missing all the accessories except the basic straight stitch/zigzag foot that was on it.  The machine was in good shape and ran well, but the foot control would hesitate and then go too fast, making it hard to control the sewing speed.  I seriously considered buying it myself, but after doing some research online, saw that it would be difficult and expensive to replace the foot control.  

Still, Grandma Bernie, as I dubbed her, is a really neat machine and I will be sorry to let her go.  They just don't make machines like that anymore, sadly.

Tip-toe Through the Tulips

Lately my quilt group has done several group projects where each contributes a block for a top.  Having a continual supply of tops to be quilted, I don't usual make a block, but I have done the quilting on several.  Here is one we recently finished. 

Quilt Group Happenings

I love my quilt group.  They are an awesome bunch of ladies, and it has been really a pleasure for me to see their growth as quilters.  Several tentatively waded into free-motion quilting and are starting to get more adventurous.  Makes me so happy!  And the resulting quilts have been wonderful.  So, for current and former members along with others who might enjoy seeing what we have been up to, I am going to try doing a quarterly post showing some of the quilts we have been working on.  Here we go….

Hurray, ladies!

Bye, Bye, Baby

About a year or so ago, since I was getting requests for my quilting, I applied for a business license and started doing commissioned quilts.  Since I wasn't really interested in building a business, I had opportunity to see how I liked doing commissioned quilts, and to determine if I would also have time to do personal projects.  While I did enjoy the commissioned work, personal projects languished.  Having to choose between the two, I decided to no longer take on commissioned work. Besides my sister-in-law's queen-size quilt, which I am still working on, here is the last of the my commissioned quilts.  It is called Baby Steps.

It was a good experience, and many thanks to those who asked me to work on their quilts.  

A Simple Style Continued...

It is always the little odds and ends that take the most time to complete.  My dear hubby's schedule doesn't allow him much time to do the extra stuff, but he took some time during his last vacation to take care of some small to-do's around the house.  Several of the dowels that we use to hang my quilts needed painting, and there was one last quilt that needed to be hung above the fireplace.  Now that it is up, that space in the house is finished.  And again, I am loving this simple style.

Playtime

Everything has been rather hit or miss these past few months:  blogging, letter writing, quilting, knitting….Thankfully, the weeks ahead look to be settling back into a normal rhythm.

Earlier this year one of my dear quilt group ladies passed away.  Her family donated her sewing materials to our group and we took time to sift and sort through it all.  One of the things we found were several blocks that had been embroidered.  L. took them and set them in a quilt to give her great-granddaughter.  She commissioned me to do the quilting, and I named it Playtime.

 Since the theme of all the fabrics was polka dots, I did a stipple with circles across the rows of blocks. 

 Butterflies in the sashing.

And hearts in the border.

 Here it is, almost finished.

Bound and ready for snuggling.  Adorable!

Music to Quilt by

Music.  It uplifts, calms, energizes.  It sets toes to tapping, feet to dancing.  It soothes the soul and makes the spirit laugh.  I don't know of anyone who doesn't have music he loves.

For me that is instrumental--jazz, bluegrass, Latin, Celtic and a new one for me--classical crossover. I have wondered if my preference for instrumental is tied to my being an introvert.  Song lyrics don't particularly interest me, but I love rhythm.  Singing, even someone with a lovely voice, clutters up the music--please, just give me the notes.  

My favorite times to listen to music are either when I clean or when I quilt.  Nothing like a good beat to get Mr. J and I dancing together.  

Enter Pandora.  I create a station with a favorite piece and from there I find songs I like.  I write down the artist and song, and off I head to iTunes to create my own playlists.  Once I sync those playlist on my iPod/iPhone, I set it to shuffle and off I go. 

Here are some my favorite songs I used to create my Pandora stations:

Latin:  Cafe Mocha by Jesse Cook

Bluegrass: Dawg's Breath by Ricky Scaggs

Celtic/bluegrass:  Crossing the Briney by Ricky Scaggs

Celtic:  Dawn Dance by Alasdair Fraser

Jazz:  The Wave by Kirk Whalum

Soft electronic:  Summer Groove by Jesus Tamames

Classical crossover: Rolling in the Deep by The Piano Guys

Very rarely do I buy whole albums, preferring to create my own mixes, but one artist stood out to me as I listened to my classical crossover station on Pandora:  Lindsey Stirling.  Much of the music on that station tends to be on the quieter side, but she creates a wonderful blend of dance/electronic with classical violin. I bought her first album (the second was a little too heavy on the electronic for me). Her music puts a smile on my face and makes me want to dance. :-)

Here's to good listening!

Dreams

"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10

With social justice being so much a part of the conversation of ministry these days, I have wrestled with the feeling that all or most ministry should serve the disadvantaged.  I have come to see, though, that there are other issues of concern that people deal with--illness, injury, grief. Here is where my gift of quilting can be of service, and it is what I am passionate about doing.  

Beyond receiving a thank you note, my quilt group doesn't often hear about the impact our quilts make.  Every once in a while, though, we do, and that is what encourages me in this ministry.  With our quilts we can offer warmth, color, and prayers.  

As I have been doing the commissioned quilts, I have given this idea some thought and realized that there are three areas I would like to focus on in quilting.  First, our Tuesday quilts.  I love working with this group of ladies, and that says a lot, being the introvert that I am.  Secondly, I would love to be able to make quilts for something like the Linus project locally.  And thirdly, I would like to create wall art that we would display in our home for a while and then donate as fundraisers.  

Right now, once I finish some current obligations, I could manage two of the three, which would be the Tuesday quilts and the wall art.  Perhaps I can work in a few kid quilts along the way as well. 

What does this mean for doing commissioned quilts?  I am not yet sure.  While I enjoy quilting for people, I do know that I don't want this to be my focus.  And I have learned that dreams are not just for the young.  

Garden Party

Every quilt has a personality: bold, quiet, happy, soothing.  Often times quilts can also invoke a sense of place or event.  This quilt makes me think of a garden party--streamers floating in the breeze, cupcakes arrange on pretty platters, children playing on the lawn in the sunshine.  Definitely a happy quilt, this one.  

 The top was made by D (on the right).

A party in a garden is sure to include flowers, so that was the theme of the quilting.  Garden Party will go to a young woman recently diagnosed with cancer that D and her mom know.  May its warmth give her comfort as she goes through her treatments and may its happy colors and pattern cheer her heart.  

Too Cute!

Baby quilts: they are small, happy, and great fun to quilt.  One of my quilt ladies (D) is expecting a granddaughter in September and she asked if I would quilt a top she made for her.  The feature fabric has owls on it, so I named it Whoo, Whoo!  

 Pink sweetness

 Wavy crosshatch is so fun to do, and the I couldn't resist a little ivy in the edging.

 Isn't this fabric just adorable? I did a meander with circles to compliment the polka dotted fabric.

And a baby girl's quilt just has to have some hearts.

May this quilt get lots of lovin'.  

Springtime Frolic

Some quilts are just happy quilts, and this is one of them.  The top was made by one of my Tuesday ladies (L) as a graduation present.  I had the pleasure of doing the quilting--a fitting project for the spring season.    

What Do You Think, Siri?

Continuing to catch up on past projects, this quilt was a struggle for the maker (P).  The top started out as a Disappearing Nine Patch, but the plaid proved to be quite a cantankerous fabric to work with.  P was ready to throw up her hands, but rather than just toss the whole thing, she took what she had and put it together.  The result was a nine patch made up of five nine patch blocks and four disappearing nine patch blocks.  After the top was done, she handed it off to me with the instructions, "Now make this pretty."  

Not long after this I ran across the Microsoft/Siri ad-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoEqbf6S4dc--which gave me a good laugh.  Now I like and use Apple products, but I thought this was a good comeback from the Apple ads comparing Mac and Microsoft.  So with that in mind, I named this quilt Siri.

Since this will be a guy quilt, I tried to keep the quilting from being too feminine.  In the nine patches, I did a large motif.

Back view (fabric is actually a dark teal color, but the camera on my phone just doesn't do blues and greens well)

In the disappearing nine patches, I echoed the first motif and then did leaves in the blue sections.

The inner border echoes the motifs and the outer border the leaves.  I think P was pleased with the result, so all is well.  

  

A Return to Sanity

Well, we made it through the flooring work.  It was quite a week.  The first day after the demo, I stopped by the house about noon, walked in the door, and thought, "Oh, my!"  There was broken tile and dust everywhere it seemed.  Yet, by the end of the day, they had the floor remarkably clean.  

Despite covering the cabinets and closet shelves, still enough dust seeped through to require my cleaning everything out.  I had put off deep cleaning for some time, so like it or not, I had to do it now.  The house is mostly back to order, so I can start thinking about creative activities again and a regular schedule.  

To catch up, I was able to finish my granddaughter's quilt before Christmas.  I have wanted to make a quilt with house blocks for ages and I thought this would be a fun quilt for her.  Here are some pics:

Churning Day

Continuing with a nostalgic theme, here is another quilt made from some older blocks donated by the neighbor of L, one of my quilt ladies.  The name of the block is Churn Dash. W set the blocks with blue and yellow gingham and then quilted in the ditch around the block pattern and sashing.  

Since the background for the blocks was a plain muslin, I did some fill work to add some texture.

We used muslin for the backings as well, so this quilt has a sense of real old-fashioned comfort.  

Family Ties: Connections to the Past and Present

The old always has a certain fascination about it--a certain patina and romance.  My latest commissioned project gave me opportunity to tie together the past and present.  A woman in my church had some friendship blocks that had belonged to her mother and she wanted them put into a quilt.  I overheard her say to someone that everyone named in the blocks was family.  So I bring you Family Ties:

Using some fabric from my stash, I pieced together the blocks.  

 Here is the finished quilt.

In the blocks I did a simple outline around the names and then a heart and leaf motif in the corners

 Heart stippling in the sashing.

A simple leaf design in the first border,

Flower and leaf design for the outer border.

Back details.

 I had two extra blocks, so I hemmed them to the back.