Sunday Summary

After attending a quilting Retreat in Omaha, I brought home 13 quilt tops to quilt and bind.  Oh my!  I had to quickly finish up a few bindings that I had left from quilting the same groups' lotto tops and fill a box for Quilts Beyond Borders.  Just one more to bind and that box will be on its way and I can load up those Omaha tops.

Here's the recent finishes in the box.  These were assembled by Tammy S from blocks sent to her by members of the Sunshine On-line Quilt Group:

Panto is called Cotton Candy

Panto is called Cotton Candy

Panto is called Cotton Candy

This was  panel sent to me a while back from Ann D, a Regional Coordinator of Quilts Beyond Borders.  It's just too cute!  And it's in the box, ready to go out:

Panto is called Cotton Candy

And this is the preview of the one that still needs binding.  The crumb blocks were sent to me by another member of the group, Lois.  Hope to show the finished quilt tomorrow and get that box in the mail ...

Panto is called Delight

QBB FQ Challenge

Quilts Beyond Borders has a booth at the Houston Quilt Show each year and gives fat quarters to quilters as a Challenge to add their own fabrics and return a finished quilt as a donation to the group.  Those that return their quilts are eligible to enter a drawing to win prizes!

This is my finished FQ Challenge quilt and detail of the quilting:

The fern-like fabric was the original FQ fabric and I added the various green and blue frames and the alternating squares with the froggie fabric.  Since I quilted it with my new panto called Route 66 that is wavy, I call it Ripples in the Frog Pond.

It would have been mailed out today, but I was able to stop myself from going to the Post Office on Tax Return day.  I have a penchant for going to the P.O. when normal people are trying to get their tax returns postmarked at the last minute ... not this year!  I'll go tomorrow...

On the Frame Friday

I have been quilting a little this week. But not much.  I hurt my back at the gym and have been resting on a heating pad a lot.   You know they say that fresh air and exercise will kill you - lol - but I'm doing much better now.  The Quilts Beyond Borders Fat Quarter Challenge quilt is what’s on the frame today:

 

I have a new panto called Route 66 that appears to be very versatile – It can resemble chicken wire, ocean waves, sound waves, lace, etc.  I might just take my time and play with this one a little just for practice on how to do mirror imaging and reverse paths on my computerized system.

On my way to the dreaded dentist, I saw a plane skywriting – haven’t seen that for a while, since I never go to the beach where they often are.  This guy wasn’t very good since I never could read what he was writing!

Our friendly neighborhood cormorant was drying his wings as my dog and I walked by today.  The dog is walking much better and her limp is almost gone.  We go back to the vet for her re-check on Monday.

 

And some more backing fabric came in this past week:

Still stocking up for the deluge of tops expected after our Quilt Retreat in June!

Tuesday Ramblings

Started out this morning doing a load of laundry then dusted furniture all over the house.  Thought about vacuuming but went to sit down until that silly thought passed!  Decided to go upstairs and finish binding this little cutie for Quilts Beyond Borders:

I wanted to try some custom quilting, but have been holding on to this for far too long and decided to go with the meandering just to get it finished and into the hands of a child that needs some comfort.  Done!

Then opened the box of tops from Tammy in TX and paired them up with some potential backings:

These are now wrapped up together and in a stack to be quilted and the brown/gold one on the left is on the frame.  Progress!

Sunday Summary

An on-line friend and I had an email discussion about borders of quilt tops - especially borders that are wavy and ripple and really don't fit properly on the quilt and cause untold angst when trying to longarm quilt that top!

I pulled out a v-e-r-y old quilt top that I had made and laid aside for many years.  And lo and behold, there was an improperly applied border.  I must have learned a lot since the 1990s - lol.  But did I unstitch the border and apply it correctly?  No, I did not.  I receive quite a few quilt tops to quilt for donations to various groups and I decided to practice on my very own *mistake* in case I encounter another in the near future.

So, this is a part of the rippled border - see that waviness?

I just decided to quilt the entire top with a denser pattern than I usually use and expected that to flatten down the border.  This is the result - it worked pretty well:

I think the feathers (Feather Elegance by Christy Dillon) look pretty good on this relatively plain quilt:

Lyn Durbin's YouTube video was the first one I had ever seen where it showed how to quilt and work in excessive fullness and waviness of borders - this is almost magic!  Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPHsBYa36W0

So, this Bars and Strips quilt is on the pile that need bindings (only two left now!).  It will go in the box to Wrap-a-Smile.

And I finished quilting a little Duckie panel, but I didn't get a full photo of it yet.  It will have to wait for its binding until the other box goes out the door - this one is destined for Quilts Beyond Borders.  Here's a sneak preview:

Where Have I Been?

Well, goofing off on the computer rates right up there as a big time-waster, but the truth is that I have been quilting as much as I could squeeze in.  I have now received 35 quilts to quilt for others and I still have my Quilts of Valor and Project Linus local commitments (1 and 2 a month, respectively).

So here are some of the results that I have posted on Facebook or in Yahoo groups but not here on my blog:

Project Linus

panto is Stars and Clouds

panto is Van Gogh

panto is Cotton Candy

Quilts of Valor

panto is Surf

panto is Stars and Clouds

Another QOV is on the frame now so I can turn it in at the Monday meeting and have someone else do the hand-binding.

Quilts Beyond Borders

panto is Geometric

panto is Stars and Clouds (must be a favorite of mine!)

panto is PS I Love You

didn't get a detail picture yet, but the panto is Celtic Spiral

That’s it for now.  There will be lots more to come!

Frame Friday

Just took Angry Birds off of the frame - quilted with Stars and Clouds:

 Then I printed some labels:

The plan is to get two quilts bound, a bunch of quilts labeled and a box off to Quilts Beyond Borders next week.  It can be done!