Chesapeake Bay Wedding Quilt

After returning from a trip to the east coast I felt inspired to make a quilt using plaids which is something I haven't done in a very long time.  I looked at several more traditional patterns and just couldn't get excited about anything that I saw.  I did, however, like the look of Geta Grama's modern dresden plate pattern that was popular about a year ago.  I also got a lot of inspiration and information from Cindy Lammon at Hyacinth Quilt Designs.  I gathered all my plaid scraps and a large box of plaids that I was gifted from my Aunt Beryl.  I didn't have a store bought ruler so I made my own out of cardboard. 

In the beginning

And the stack grows

Circles squared off .  Trying out different ideas for the area between the circles.

Getting ready to baste.  I had just enough room.  At 112" x 100" it is huge.

Sunny Steps Quilt

Introducing my new quilt design Sunny Steps.  I designed this quilt after I received this "Sunnyside" fat quarter bundle from the Fat Quarter Shop (www.fatquartershop.com).  I really like this line and everything else designed by Kate Spain for that matter.  I just love the 3D stacked boxes effect that was achieved.

 Free pattern can be found here

Sunnyside Fat Quarter Bundle

Sunny Steps

Sunny Steps with my sweet dog Airlie

My New OLD Standard Rotary Treadle Sewing Machine

I was gifted this old coffin top Standard rotary treadle sewing machine by a fellow quilt guild member. She has a pretty early 6 digit serial number so I'm guessing she is from the 1890's - 1900ish.  It was in  an uncleaned and somewhat neglected, but fair condition.  I knew nothing about vintage treadle sewing machines and was very excited to get my hands dirty and learn all about it.  I started to clean her up right away.  I first removed the machine from the cabinet.  It was evident right away that the decal was long gone so all there was to do was to clean off the years and years of oil and crud that covered the whole thing.  It took a lot of elbow grease and there is still more that can be done.  What I'm most excited about is how much better the cabinet looks after a cleaning with Murphy's Oil soap, touch up with some Old English and an application of Howard's Restor-A-Finish.  We figured out how to cut and fit the belt with a little help from YouTube.  I was able to figure out how to thread it and within minutes I was sewing.  She works like a dream.

Here is a FREE pdf of the original Standard Rotary Manual

Before she came home to me.

Catalog  Image

Coffin top before

Machine before

Dirty bobbin case with a little Liquid Wrench 

Distressed top before

After

Here she is in action with her ruffler foot attachment.

Pug Dog Silhouette Quilt

I was asked by a friend to make a pug silhouette quilt with three pugs, two black and a fawn to represent their family of pugs.  First I needed to figure out how to make a pug big enough for a quilt.  I found a few images online and read a few ideas and came up with this method.  I printed out an image of a pug onto regular printer paper then traced that onto a clear plastic sheet protector pocket thingy.  I then taped that to something that would suspend it... in this case a music stand.  I set up a light behind the plastic sheet to project the image onto the wall.  I  traced the pug onto a piece of butcher paper that I had taped there.  Once traced onto the butcher paper, I cut it out and pinned it to a piece of fabric and cut out the image.  I appliqued the dogs to the fabrics, added colorful appliqued collars and then quilted it.  Fun project!

San Marcos, Texas

Beautiful September morning in San Marcos, Texas  I happened to catch this shot on my phone camera while walking the dogs this morning.  No photoshop, just an iphone camera... Just had to share!

Boxed Chain Memorial Quilt

This is the third of three memorial quilts that I did for my partner's family.  This one is made using several of granny's black and white blouses and a couple of jelly roll pieces from my stash.  I wish the blacks had turned out looking blacker.   It needs a little more contrast to really build the box illusion.    Oh well, it is what it is and I think it does give the illusion just not as strong as I would have liked.  Overall, I'm very pleased, I love this red color!

In the shade

In the sun...

Lawn Chair Memorial Quilt

This is a quilt that I made using a couple of striped blouses that belonged to my partner's granny Jackie.  She would re-strap her lawn chairs when the straps started to fray so this is an endearing way to remember her.  I used Happy Zombie's free pattern I found here.