Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hi everyone,

I worked all this weekend. 

But after work I managed to do some slow stitching. Tonight I finished stitching the top block of my quilt "A Blackbird Gathering ". 

Now I only have to sew the border on. So excited about it. 

Last week I made a little bowl filler pillow with an embroidered block that I stitched in 2009. It was nice to get this block made up into something nice. 

This is a free embroidery pattern on this website. 

http://zuill.us/andreablog/2007/11/30/december-embroidery-pattern-reindeer/

I hope you like it! 
 

 

Making progress...

Hi everyone, 

I've been trying to move some of my projects forward. You all know I have many on the go.  

The first one is my Buttermilk Basin Mystery 2016 quilt. I finally prepped the "W" block and the large snowman block. I sewed all these blocks together. I still need to hand stitch these two blocks. But at least they are ready. 

 

The second quilt is A Blackbird Gathering by Cheri Payne. I prepped the top block, bordered it and sewed it to the main body of the quilt. I still need to hand stitch the appliqué. I also need to sew on the borders. I did start stitching this one though. 

The third quilt I made progress on is my Scrappy Medallion Quilt. I started making blocks for the next border. This border is made up of maple leaf blocks on a light background. These blocks are 6 inch finished and are made the same way as the centre maple leaf blocks. I'll update you more as I get further along. 

That's what I've been working on. I've been super busy lately so I just get a bit done here and there when I can.  

Hope you like my progress!
 
 

 

A table topper finish

Hi everyone, 

It's been such a busy time around here. I did get a chance for a little bit of sewing today. I made a diamond star table topper. 

It's a cute little table topper made using the sidekick ruler by Jaybird Quilts. 

I bought this ruler on Friday of last week at my LQS. 

I really like this ruler and I think I will use it a lot. This table topper was made as a gift for my Mother-in-law's friend. My MIL had been sick since the beginning of the summer. And had been off work all this time. She didn't have much money for gifts to give, and asked me if I could make a few table toppers for her to give a few special friends who helped her while she was ill. 

This is the first of the table topper I've made for her. I may make a few matching mug rugs to go with it. 

Another thing I used on this table topper is a Westalee ruler foot and ruler. I purchased this several months ago but never tried it until now. I thought it would be hard to get used to, but it was really easy. 

I only used the foot when I used the ruler and switched to my regular free motion foot to fill in with quilting. I did the quilting on my old Kenmore machine. 

This machine actually belongs to my MIL. She lets me use it for quilting. None of my other machines handle free motion quilting well. But this one is a workhorse.  

Hope she likes it. 

 

My sun down quilt is back from the quilter

Hi everyone, 

First I would like to mention again that my blog URL has changed. I cancelled my domain and have gone back to blogspot.

If you follow me make sure you change the link your following to

http://arianequilts.blogspot.ca

Back to quilting. 

I got my Sun Down quilt back from Tammy Spencer my long arm quilter. 

This is the first time I use a professional long arm quilting service. 

I was so nervous. But I'm so thrilled with the results. 

I asked for an all over design of swirls. 

It's perfect for this quilt. 

This quilt is 84 inches square. I want to release this pattern for sale and wanted my quilt to look great, and it truly does. 

I just have to trim it and bind it. 

I will definitely use her service again. 

Thanks Tammy! I love it!!


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Puppy quilt for Zeus

Hi everyone, 

We are getting a new puppy on Dec. 9th. 

He's a golden doodle. 

My husband really wanted a new dog. A male dog that could be his dog. 

We had to put down his last dog Ozzy because he had cancer. My husband really missed having another dog. 

We do still have a female labradoodle named Zoey. She is 10 years old. She's my dog. 

So, we found a little male puppy for him. He asked me to make a quilt for him. I told him we should wait until he's grown out of the chewing stage and we have him trained. But he was insisting. 

So, I made a simple quilt out of fabrics that I've had in my stash for many many years. These are not great quality. But there perfect for a little dog. 

I even put his name on it. 

I free motion quilted it. I had fun with this and used up thread from a bunch of spools that were really low on thread. I love emptying a spool of thread. 

Here's a picture of me with our little puppy. Zeus is only three weeks old in this photo. We go see him again tomorrow for a visit. I'll bring him his quilt. He will get a chance to try it out. 

 

 

Back to a blogspot account

Hi everyone,

I had my own domain arianequilts.com through GO Daddy.

But, I got my renewal email and they wanted me to pay $5.00/month for my account.

Honestly, I don't make any money on my blog and I wasn't ready to pay that.

So, I changed it back to a regular blogspot account

It's now arianequilts.blogspot.com

So, I just thought I would let you know. 

If you are following me, make sure you adjust the web site or you will miss out on new post!

The family cottage quilt

Hi everyone, 

I finished a quilt today. 

Many years ago my Mom embroidered some cottage blocks for a quilt. 

Each block has the name of one of my brothers or sisters and their spouse. Plus she named each cottage with something to represent the couple. 

You may notice that there are twelve blocks. Well I have 10 brothers and sisters. Eleven children are in my family. The twelfth block is my parents. 

 

It's not a very big quilt. 

But I think it's great!

I sashed the blocks, quilted it and bound it. This will be one of the gifts I give my parents for Christmas. 

Don't worry, they don't read my blog. So it will still be a surprise. 

I'm happy with this finish. 

Hope you like it! 

 

My long list of wips.....

Hi everyone, 

I have so, so many projects on the go right now. I thought I would list them here as a gauge to how I'm doing. 

1- Buttermilk Basin Mystery BOM 2016

I still need to make the last two blocks. 

2- A Blackbird Gathering BOM by Cheri Payne

I am on track with this one. I'm just waiting for the finishing instructions. 

3- Scrappy Medallion Quilt

I've completed round #3. I'm getting my fabric ready for round #4. I do have a sewing day with my guild for this project. But it's moving along well. Love this project. 

4. Idaho Square Dance quilt by Bonnie K. Hunter 

I've been working on blocks for this quilt as leaders and enders. I've made 14 of the Idaho square dance blocks. I don't have a deadline for this.

5. Family Cottage Quilt

This is a project that need to be done for Christmas. The blocks are embroidered blocks that my Mom made years ago. She never did anything with the blocks. She gave them to me a few years back and I decided to finish it for her and give it to her for Christmas this year. I started to assemble it today. No pictures yet. 

6. The last few months, I've picked one UFO to work on. This month I will try to work on my Sisters Quilt. This quilt was being finished quilt-as-you-go. I think there's 2 panels done. I probably won't finish it this month, but I'm hoping to have it done by the end of December. 
 

So, that's my list for now. 

I may make a few little projects along the way. But I'm trying to stick to just these and get them done. 

Sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself and have so many things on the go. But, when I think about it, I work better when I have more than one thing on the go. I get bored with one project, and in order to keep my mojo, I need to have something else to do. So it's worth having more than one project on the go.  

Are you like that?

Do you need more than one project to stay motivated?

 
 

 
 

Round 3 of my scrappy medallion quilt

Hi everyone, 

I'm still working on my scrappy medallion quilt.  I decided to make a simple block for this round. The whirleygig block was made using scraps from my 1.5 inch strips. 

I'm loving how it's coming together.  

So how did I make these blocks? 

First, I pulled scraps from my 1.5 inch strips in the following colours. 

Black, brown, green, blue, yellow, orange, red, purple, and grey. 

I knew I would need more than one of each colour. So I looked for different shades of some of the colours in order to have enough to go around.  

See how I pulled from my 1.5 inch strips a rainbow of colours. 

I made sure these strips were at least 11 inches long. 

I then paired them up with a 1.5 inch strip of background fabric. Then I sewed these pairs together. 

Next I straightened the edge.

I then cut my strips into 2.5 squares.  I cut 4 of these 2.5 inch squares from each paired up fabrics. 

I placed these squares in position to sew. .

I sewed these together. 

Until your block is all done. It should measure 4.5 inches at this point.

You need 32 blocks for this round. 

I made 4 black, 2 brown, 2 dark green, 2 light green, 2 dark blue, 2 medium blue, 2 yellow, 2 orange, 2 pink, 4 red, 2 raspberry, 4 purple, 2 grey 

I hope you like my progress.


Linking with 

http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.ca/2016/11/oh-scrap-charming-plus-quilt-top.html?m=1

http://www.cookingupquilts.com/mcm-46-non-sanctioned-fabric-acquisition/

Round 2 - Scrappy Medallion Quilt along

Hi everyone, 

I worked on round 2 of my scrappy medallion quilt. 

I added a row of 4.5 inch HST's.

What do you think?

Here's how I did it.

1- cut 2, five inch squares.

One neutral and one coloured

2 - draw a diagonal line 1/4 inch from the centre diagonal line of the light square. 

3 - sew on these two diagonal lines

4 - cut in between these sewn lines as shown above. 

5 - iron seam open

6 - trim hst to 4.5 inches

 You should have 2, 4.5 inch hst's. 

You will need 2, 4.5 inch hst's in the following colours.

Black, brown, green, dark blue, medium blue, yellow, orange, pink, red, raspberry, purple

You will also need 2 plain 4.5 inch squares of background colour,

Linking to:
http://needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.ca/2016/11/wip-wednesday-259-tn.html?m=1