Possible Free Motion Quilting Design

I never know when I'll see something that inspires me. We stayed at a hotel in Puyallup, WA last week for a show. We arrived on Tuesday and checked out this morning. Apparently I was so caught up in the work aspect that I didn't really notice my surroundings until this morning.

As I was packing my cosmetic bag I happened to notice the wallpaper in the bathroom. For some reason it caught my eye this morning. I had to take a picture because I think it would make a great free motion quilting design. I might have to make some revisions to it, but I think it would be a great filler stitch. What do you think?

It just goes to show that you never know where you'll be inspired. 

Happy Quilting,

Carol

Sew Batik Challenge at NQA

We traveled to the Midwest and East this summer for some quilt shows. One of the shows we did was NQA (National Quilting Association) in Columbus, OH.Our good friends Bruce and Diane from Sew Batik sponsored a challenge at this show. The show had a patriotic theme so that was the theme for the challenge quilts. I have been to a lot of shows with a lot of challenge quilts. These were among the best quilts I have ever seen at a challenge. I want to share them with you here.

Look at all of those star points in the quilt on the top right. 

The quilting on the award winning quilt is amazing. You can see the texture of the extremely close lines of quilting. All of the parts of the fighter jet really stand out because of the way it is quilted.

I like the braided border in the Statue of Liberty quilt. The wine glass has an organza overlay to make it more realistic.

Two of the quilts in this grouping won ribbons. The flag has charms in the center of all of those tiny red squares and there are a total of 50 stars in the blue squares. Here's a close up of that quilt.

Stars and Sunbonnet Sue - What could be more Americana than that?

I love, love, love this mini Storm at Sea. What a great way to take a traditional block and change it up.

Here are a couple very non-traditional entries. The one with the faces probably has the most of the red challenge fabric that isn't a solid piece of any other quilt in the exhibit.

The top right hand quilt is a fun way to celebrate America and stitching, sewing and quilting. There's a pair of scissors, a pincushion and a quilt block in the design.

Quilts of Valor is such a worthwhile cause. It is great to see it represented in the Challenge Quilts.

This quilt incorporated crochet which I thought was very interesting so I wanted to share that detail here.

Isn't that Route 66 quilt fun? We drove along part of that road in our travels this summer. We had some free time one day and drove along a stretch of it in Albuquerque.

This is getting to be a very long post and this is only half of the quilts. I will do a second one with the rest of them soon.

Happy Quilting,

Carol

The Outfit Was a Hit

Tristyn was so excited when she saw her Elmo Birthday Party Outfit. The party was at the My Gym that she has been going to for the past year or so. It was her last trip there are a regular student. She will be going to gymnastics next.

I didn't hear all of the comments but my daughter told me that many people were very impressed with the outfit. They thought she bought it on Etsy.

The trampoline is one of Tristyn's favorite activities. She even has a little one at home. One of her favorite things to do is "jump." Here she is jumping on the trampoline at her party.

She had cupcakes with hot pink icing for dessert. She blew out her "2" candle all by herself. Here she is surveying her cupcake tower.

I'm pleased with how the outfit turned out, even without the lace trim around the neck it looks very cute. It was definitely a labor of love.

Happy Sewing,

Carol

If you like this post you might like the one showing how I made this adorable outfit.  

New Design

I woke up on Sunday inspired to create. I started an applique tea towel pattern several months ago and had some ideas about how to finish it. Here's the inspiration for one of the new designs.

Photo and a drawing from EQ7

The basket was a little tricky to do. Here's what I ended up with. 

There's some adjusting to be done in the value of the apples. The yellow one disappears into the background. At 3:00 this morning I thought of an easier way to do the basket too. I'll give it a try and see if that idea works.

Happy Quilting,

Carol

Pillowcases for My Granddaughter

When we were at a show last spring I saw a fleece panel with a dog on it. It is a little bigger than crib size. Since my granddaughter, Tristyn loves dogs, I bought it and gave it to her for Easter. Since that night, it has been the "sheet" in her crib. Her mom and dad have to make sure that they wash and dry it around nap and bedtime because she won't sleep without her dog.

She turns 2 years old today. It is time for her big girl bed. My daughter asked me if I'd make her a pillowcase. Since the dog is made out of fleece, my daughter thinks that if her pillowcase is made of fleece it will be like her dog, soft against her face.

I found several options when I was in Hobby Lobby recently. I asked my daughter what to get. There was Elmo who is Tristyn's favorite (see my post about the Elmo outfit I made for her birthday party), pretty colors and Disney Princesses. Trystyn picked the princesses. Her favorite is Sleeping Beauty and the fleece I found had her as one of the princesses, but she was featured at the fold and close to the selvages. In order to get the most Sleeping Beauty I had to fussy cut the panel. I did that and realized that I would only get one pillowcase from a yard of fabric. Of course when I went back to get more, they were sold out. That meant I had to come up with another plan. I bought some purple fabric and figured if I had to, I'd make it two sided -princesses on one side and solid purple on the other.

I went to another store to try and find the same fabric. But all I could find was a similar one in pink. So I bought 2 yards of that (learning from the first one that I would have to fussy cut this fabric too). I ended up making two pillowcases. One is all pink princess fabric. Again making the most of the Sleeping Beauty parts of the fabric. Then I did the double sided princess and purple pillowcase. The hope is that she will like both of them and will want to use both. That would definitely make things easier for her mom and dad because they will be able to wash one and put the other on the pillow. We'll see what happens when she starts sleeping in her big girl bed. The dog will still be there. He is going to be her top blanket. Here are her finished pillowcases.

Back of the Purple Princess Pillowcase

These are just simple rectangles of fabric sewn around three sides and hemmed at the opening. That's all my daughter wanted. They are nothing fancy but I think Tristyn will like them.

Happy Sewing,

Carol