Finished Dream Big on Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I have the candy all ready and I'm waiting for the trick or treaters! I'm trying so hard not to eat that candy! Hurry up, kids!!

It's done! There were many times that I thought it was just coming out awful. I actually thought that maybe I should just toss it. However, I kept going and I actually like how it came out!

I tried all different types of motifs. Some of them worked and some didn't. 

I started to think of it a big practice panel as opposed to a real finished piece.

I'll have to admit that I did enjoy it as I was finishing up.

I think the pressure was off and I could finally enjoy it. I'm going to bind it and hang it on the wall behind the long arm. Phew!!!

Connections Quilt Festival 2018

My friend, Marlene, and I went to the Connections Quilt Festival in Westford, MA. This is the third year for this festival. We  had a great time visiting the vendors and looking at all the great quilts. We both loved this wall hanging. I love Kaffe Fassett fabrics anyways but this pattern is so innovative!

The name of this wall hanging is Garden Party. It is made by Linda Pearl and measures 28" X 22". Linda is one of the founding members for this quilt show. She does a great job!

 

This is Random Rosegarden by Karen Eckmeier. She was teaching some classes at the quilt show.

This is Villages For All Seasons by Karen Eckmeier also. I really love her work. There were no measurements for either one of her quilts. 

We also had a great time shopping. I bought some thread for my long arm from Superior Threads. I also bought more hexagon papers and a book with scrap quilt patterns. (For that pesky quilt stash!) All in all, it was a fun day!

More FMQ Dream Big Panel

I'm trudging through the Dream Big panel. The only leaves left are rather large. I have been looking over some of the finished panels on Instagram and Pinterest. I feel that there are too many decisions to make as I finish each leaf! I made a fern in this leaf. Ferns are easy, fast and forgiving! My type of quilting!

I used a ruler to make lines in this leaf. Then, I went back and made back and forth lines in every other channel.

I made curved channels and quilted pebbles in every other one. 

I'm almost done. Every time I plan on quilting, something tends to come up. We had work done in our house today. I planned on quilting when he left but he was here all day! Then it's time for dinner. I'm hoping I make some progress tomorrow! I'm hoping things quiet down around here. I need my quilting time!

More Carolina Chain Blocks

I made 2 more blocks to add to the Carolina Chain pile of blocks. These two seemed to take me forever! I've been busy and only doing a little sewing when I've got a few minutes.

I cut the pieces out one day. A few days later, I got to piece them together. 

Once they're blocks, it was easy to sew them together.

It took awhile, but 2 more blocks are done! Only 50 to go!! I'm so glad I decided to make this a long term project! 

Beginnings and Endings

My Block of the Month is all done for this month. I made 4 versions of the Star Blocks, one for each corner. The only other block this month was Flying Geese. I only made one of those. I've already made 5 blocks out of a total of 16. Each block measures 12.5 inches square.  I feel like I'm doing good with this project.

I made a label for the Double Wedding Ring. I bought a new sewing machine over the summer so I'm still trying to figure out how to use everything. The label only took me one try. Not bad!!

Here's my table topper that I finished a little while ago. It looks perfect in my formal dining room. The blue in the topper picks up the blue walls, I like how it looks in this room. So glad I made it!

New Quilt Guild BOM

The guild offered a new Block of the Month this year and I joined in! Here are my 2 first blocks. I'm using a fat quarter pack of floral fabrics. I think they're the state flower fabrics. The quilt consists of 12 blocks which will be set up as 4 rows of 3 blocks. I decided I wanted to make mine 16 blocks so I could make 4 rows of 4 blocks. I like symmetry and 16 blocks would work better for me. I decided to make 4 of the Star Block which is the first block we're making. I'll place a Star Block in each of the 4 corners. I have 2 finished blocks which you can see in this picture. 

This whole quilt is made of  Half Square Triangles. I used the old tried and true method of drawing a diagonal line and sewing 1/4 inch from each side and then cutting on the line.

Here are my blocks before they're sewn together. I trimmed each square. I love making them a little bigger and then trimming them down to size. I feel it's so much more accurate this way.

Here's a sneak peek at my next 2 Star Blocks. These squares still have to be trimmed. I was too tired to trim them. Maybe tomorrow after work!

Feathers on Dream Big

I was off this past weekend which is a rarity for me. I thought I would get so much done! I did a little free motion quilting on the Dream Big panel. This picture shows one of the leaves quilted with feathers and pebbles surrounding them. 

This is a much smaller leaf. I just did a little wishbone in it.

This was a much larger leaf. I made a feather with pebbles in the spine.

This was just a portion of a leaf poking through. I decided to just make swirls.

This was also a smaller leaf. I tried to make hook feathers. One seemed to have become squished in the process! 

That's all I did! I think I'll like it when it's done but it's a little frustrating to me. The leaves can be good sized or small. I feel as though I just get comfortable quilting in that space and it's already time to move on! I'm using this panel as a teaching tool. It's fun to be able to use the many different feathers I've seen over the years. I just wish I was more comfortable with all of them!

Dreaming Big!

I've had the Dream Big panel for awhile but finally got around to quilting it. I'm finally getting my energy back from that awful cold. I loaded this quilt today and started to quilt it. I started in the middle. 

Before I loaded it, I tried to outline a flower in the middle. I quilted pebbles in the round center. I outlined the flower petals and just echoed inside each petal. 

Just a quick overhead look while I was loading it. It's not too large so it was quick to load! I'll be working on the larger petals next. It should get interesting!