Amazing

As I got up  to a very crisp, cold and slick wintery morning---I am amazed with the beauty Our Lord has given us....the sun was rising on the bright white shining snow and it looked like diamonds bouncing across the ground....Absolute peace and beauty!!   Many time I have to confess, I go on with my day, routines, life and STUFF not giving thanks for the eyes God has given me to see the beauty, the ears to hear the peace of birds, crackling of snow, quiet.  My day is full of quilting and I have come to the realization that I am so gifted with a talent, as so many of you are, but many times forget to thank my Maker for this gift......Just a challenge to all to give thanks for the blessings He is given us!!
I have been busy working on a quilt for a customer, but took a little break to make a couple quilt blocks for a customer.  She is a member of her local church and they are doing a quilt for their 100 year anniversary....wow, 100 years of service to the Lord....I was honored when she asked for my help...

the fabric was cut at 6 1/2".....and I left about an inch around the design for sewing together without loosing any of the design....I enjoyed being a part of this part in history!!!

I have been working on machine embroidery a bit more lately....goes in streaks....after these, I probably won't have any for a while...
I worked on a pillow for my nephew....he is needing a tooth fairy pillow...it turned out really sweet!!

This is the pocket on the back of the pillow......for his tooth and money exchange....
I used a ribbon so the pillow can be hung on a bedpost or door knob....

A little poem on the front......














Sometimes we have to change it up a bit....there are no cobwebs around my machines....I don't like to dust, so I keep all my machines going....
Enjoy Your Blessings!!!!!!

Fast top

This is amazing....I started this morning at about 8:00a.m. finding the 3 fabrics I wanted to put in this quilt....cut and sewn together and have the top ready to be pieced in about 2 1/2 hours.  This is a quick and easy pattern, but it is so pretty!!!

This is about all you need to get started....ONLY 3 fabrics, pen for marking angels and a 10" square up ruler and a 24" ruler to mark angels.....how simple.  I did choose a cream background that is directional....so I had to be careful, but believe it or not....NO MISTAKES!!  The blocks are  9 1/2" raw.

This is the end product....without boarders, yet.  It went together pretty quickly and is finishing nicely.  This part will finish around 72X72.  The name of the pattern is "Carpenter's Star".

Patriotic

I was asked to design a quilt for a dedicated military man.  I was honored to do this job....not only has this man served his country, but his dad and grandfather had also....The area I am working with was 24"X 30" and below this space is a cabinet that displays the flags of the generations before him....What a beautiful sight!  I wanted something special to display above the memories they see when they look at that area of the home.  There are antiques all around and a warmth, love as well as memories displayed, so I was looking to add to this without taking anything away....I wanted it to look like it had been around for a while and not "newly added".  I used graph paper to design several wall hangings and this is the design I decided to go with:

I had envisioned a "flag like" wall hanging to represent the patriotism this family has had for generations....I wanted it to look as if it was flying in honor of the past, present and future!
The family name was something that was needed, so I decided to use strong full letters and ran them at an angel down the quilt to give the illusion of the words flying across the stripes, but it needed to have a few stars flying thru it....so I added those to the bottom of the pieced stripes.

I just could not stand to leave it squared off, it just didn't look like it was waving, so I decided to cut my masterpiece--(after getting a second opinion) I started cutting and gave the bottom and right side some curves to get the "flag waving in the wind" illusion.

Not bad, but it still looked too new, so I laid it in the bathtub and gave it a soaking in strong coffee.....wow, how that makes it look old and like it had been around for a while....maybe stored in someone's attic or a box.....

Almost finished with the binding...down to the last 12" to get sewn down....then add tabs to the top in the blue fabric to hang it from a shelf....   I quilted stars on the 9 patches and squiggly lines thru the stripes.