Etsy Projects

Here's what I have completed over the past week or so for my Etsy shop.

Wall hanging made from a moda charm pack (40 squares from the same fabric line all 5 inches for those non quilters). I think it could also be used as a baby quilt.

Some ducks flying over a pond. This mini quilt is attached to an 11 x 14 art canvas.

Last but not least, some pretty butterflies around an 8 x 10 canvas.

I have a few other projects ready to be quilted and hopefully posted to the shop later this week. Oh, and I'd like to get some holiday gifts completed before we go on vacation next month. Guess the kids will have to entertain themselves or watch a lot of videos.
I picked up the next 3 books in the Elm Creek series while at the library this morning. I am already 80 pages into "Round Robin".

I got sucked in

No pictures, just a small book review. I have seen the Elm Creek Quilt novels but never thought I would read any of them. However, last week at the library I decided I would take a look at what they had. They had the first book in the series so I checked it out. I started reading it Friday night and just over 24 hours later, I finished it. It wasn't a great novel like "Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood but it was a nice summer read that I really enjoyed. Taking it back tomorrow and am picking up the second one.
Oh, it was called, "The Quilter's Apprentice". I won't go into details but I enjoyed the storytelling of the older quilter's life than I did the quilty parts of the novel where she was teaching her apprentice how to quilt. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys quilting, or anyone who wants an easy read.

Tablerunners and Hummingbirds

Have completed a few little projects so far this month, all for me (a couple for Etsy too that I will post later).

This is a tablerunner I started one day when I was just fooling around with some fabric. The fans are cheater fabric and were already cut up into individual fan squares when I purchased them at a yard sale. I had enough squares to make the 3 circles; I played with them a lot before I decided on this option. The border fabric is from the Calliope fabric line.

Close up of the circles. I outlined quilted each piece of the fans, stippled in the middle and in the border between the circles.

Another close-up.

Picture of the back.

This little runner has a very long story to it that I will save for another day. Right now it is adorable little runner that is heavily quilted.


Close up of the leaves with red veins.

Picture of the back.

Close-up of the back. As you can see my machine does not like rayon thread, it just rips it and eats it up. Unfortunately, I only had 1 red thread at the time and was forced to continue quilting with it.

Here is a cute little hummingbird quilt. It is a dish towel but I cut the hummingbirds out and the rest of it up for rags.

Close-up of the hummingbirds. They are outlined and then stipple quilting between the birds. A vine of flowers is quilted in the first border.

And the whole reason I bought the towel - a Calliope hummingbird!

Picture of the back and more hummingbirds.

Arabella's Quilt

On Sunday, my youngest niece turns 1. I have made all my nieces and nephews a birth "sampler", all cross-stitched. They are very time consuming, so I decided to do Arabella's as a quilt and free-motion the words on. It is my own pattern and I just cut the flowers and leaves out of the fabric before machine appliqueing them down.
Finished quilt hanging in the window.

Close-up (no longer hanging).

Close-up of one of the flowers.

Her name. I didn't write it on the fabric before I did it. I "wrote" it once on scrap fabric and then just did it.

The date.

The back. I really enjoy looking at the back of quilts because you can see all the stitches and how much work went into it; although the white thread doesn't show very well in this picture.

Michelle, I know Athena still needs her sampler. It's up to you if you want it cross-stitched or I can do a quilted one for her too.
In good news, I sold something on Etsy last week. One of my vintage baby quilts has moved to Florida.

Tuesday Treasures

Bought some fabric today. Enjoy.

The 2 on the right are fat quarters, the 2 on the left are flannel remnants that are also 1/4 yard.

These are also remnant pieces. The pale yellow flower fabric on the left is a full yard (for $1.99) and the other is 3/4 yard. I love the one on the right and had to get it.

Some other remnant pieces around 1/2 yard.

Books and some Quilts

June has been a busy month with end of the school year picnics and field days; add on both kids getting sick in the first full week of summer vacation and there has been very little time for quilting and blogging about it. The other thing distracting me is reading. I've been craving novels and have read 4 in 2 weeks. I started with "A Jest of God" and "Fire-Dwellers" by Margaret Laurence, both of which I have read before. Great books but I know Laurence's style of writing isn't for everyone. Then I read "Tent" by Margaret Atwood which was a nice quick read. Lastly, I read "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant and was surprised by how much I loved this book. I've had several people tell me that I need to read it and I finally got around to it. It dominated my dreams and thoughts and it even made me cry. Highly recommend reading it.

I have managed to get some quilting done and below are some of things I have completed.

A baby quilt made with a vintage quilt top.

Some quilted houses ready to join any neighborhood.

Cranes and a waterfall wall hanging.

A few more funky houses ready to find a new home.

Now, who are the lucky people to get these projects? I don't know yet, maybe you or maybe somebody else who checks out my Etsy shop.
Hopefully I will get better about posting now that I have a store to fill.

Calliope's Quilt

Finished the dress quilt for Calliope just after midnight on May 30th, 32 hours before she opened it. It was nice to have it done so "early". She loved it. Now what to do with the rest of the Calliope fabric?

Decided to just use white thread to do free motion stippling around the dresses and not add any detail to the dresses. I picked the pattern to let the fabric be the main attraction and not the quilting. Think if I do this quilt again, I will add more detail to the dresses. I'd like to do it in paler, pastel colours. Maybe for a niece.

Close up of my favourite dress.

Hanging above her bed. A little longer than I expected but the border print was a large one so I decided to have the quilt be a little bigger than lose some of the fabric.