Mother's Day

My lovely Mum, and me.

I have a collection of the cards given to me by our sons. This one Matthew sent me , maybe ten years ago.

Our Matthew is gone now from this world, and I am so very thankful that I have these reminders of him. I bring them out on special occasions and this is one of my favorites. A man of few words my Matthew but they were all the words that counted.

Finished For Friday, Andee's BOM Quilt

It's Finished For Friday and if you visit Litanlaundry's blog you'll see other crafty blogger's Friday finishes.

This quilt had to endure some delays because of the misbehavior of Miss Ellie, my longarm quilting machine but now it is done and off the machine and a QOV takes its place! This is another of Andee's Quilts, who made it in conjunction with a class at Zoe's Trunk, a wonderful quilt shop in Chandler, AZ.

By virtue of their design-no two blocks the same- these quilts take much more time to quilt because I just can't bring myself to quilt an all-over pattern when every block tells a different story.
Some are easy to quilt and the ideas come quickly while others require some time to mature, ideas rejected until the right thing comes to me!

These two have leafy wreaths........

I used an off white thread in order to avoid distraction from the block design,

that makes the quilting almost disappear on some blocks.

A feathered wreath in the center then some "Line Dancing"............

More feathers..........

feathers that are really hard to see!

I am usually thinking about the next block as I quilt and occasionally I skip over one waiting until I can come up with an acceptable option.

"Garden branching" here.

This goes back to Andee tomorrow for binding.

This seems to be the season for sampler quilts, I have had a few to quilt recently and there is another due to arrive from Colorado any day.

Vintage Thingies Thursday

Whew, well I finally got that BOM quilt off the machine [more on that tomorrow] after fussing around with it for days, and just in time because today is hooray, VTT and Colorado Lady is our hostess with the mostest!

So if vintage and antique interest you please visit Suzanne's blog to see the list of all the other VTT bloggers.

A couple of weeks ago while I was at the San Juan guild quilter's retreat one of the members gave me a very special gift- twenty five dainty vintage 30's Dresden Plate quilt blocks!

These are the smallest I have seen measuring only a scant ten inches across.

I was stunned to say the least but Claudia said that seeing that I had completed three other vintage quilts I was the only person she knew who would do the right thing with these blocks.

They were made by her grandmother back in the 1930's. Peggy Anna Kinney was born in New Jersey in 1898 and died in 1965 and I am very pleased to have this provenance so that I can put it on the label when I get the quilt done.

The blocks are neatly hand sewn as you can see from this photo of the back and they came with a stack of muslin blocks that are a bit small so I think I will have to buy some similar muslin to applique the blocks.

I was really moved that Claudia would give me such treasures but she said she has kept some to make into memory blocks for family and she knows she will never make a quilt with these herself. Her GM must have been a prolific piecer to have left so many blocks.

So these delightful pieces of history will go on my projects list, probably a good thing for me to do in the summer in CO. while I am away from my longarm machine.

Happy VTT to all!

Machine Troubles!

Occasionally these big quilting machines get out of sync-after all we are sewing at very high speeds, moving the machine around in all directions over multiple layers of fabric, batting etc, and this can tend to put them out. Sometimes there seems no obvious reason-mostly for me there is no one thing I can point to that may have caused the revolt and such has been the case the past few days.

I finished a quilt, took a day or so break then came back and loaded another one and lo and behold Miss Ellie was in a snit!

Many long arm quilters name their machines, we spend a lot of time with them and many quilters depend on their machines for a living so the machine may become like a trusted friend. I did not bother to name my first long arm but I decided to name the second, and rather unimaginatively I named it Ellie, simply because it is an A-1 Elite!

I have been tinkering around with the machine for three days, trying all the usual tricks of the trade from bobbin and thread changes to re-timing and calibration.

Thankfully I seem to have resolved most of the issue and was confident enough to begin another quilt this evening, however I would still like to fine tune a little more so tomorrow I will check in with the very knowledgeable and helpful tech at the A-1 factory.

For now at least we are operational and Ellie and I are friends again, a huge relief and with any luck I will have another finish to post with pics tomorrow.

Our little Button dog has been a bit under the weather and we made a visit to the vet Saturday, not her favorite place she always seems to get stuck and screams like a little banshee but no stick this time only some meds. to treat her colitis. She seems to be feeling better but not as quickly as I would like, so we may check in with the vet again tomorrow, don't we hate to see our furry friends ill? Meantime she is enjoying poached chicken and rice instead of her usual Evo diet and she is very partial to chicken!

Finished For Friday-Angela's Schnibbles Quilt #4

LitandLaundry hosts "Finished For Friday" where you can follow other crafters weekly accomplshments.

The latest Schnibbles from this obsession, and my favorite so far.

Quilted with grey/blue thread and an all over freehand folk-art floral design.

A very pleasing combination of fabric color and design.

My "Loaner Car"!

My ML is in son Andrew's shop for brake pads and rotors so he loaned me his Coupe, recently "wrapped" !

Pretty cool! I am driving cautiously, that spoiler is really close to the ground!

Gale's Got A Blog!

Please go say "hi" to my friend Gale if you want to see some awesome custom heirloom quilting. I just set up a blog for her today and posted a few pics on a slide show. Gale probably won't post very frequently, between her outside job, the ranch and her quilting, she is a very busy lady, but I hope to keep after her to at least show off her latest projects- as you will see she is a true artist.
http://www.galesmithquilting.blogspot.com/

Spring Quilt Retreat

This weekend marked the annual Spring Retreat for my Montrose Quilt Guild, a wonderful fun and funny weekend at Piecemakers Ranch in Ouray Colorado.

It's a beautiful setting, snow capped mountains all around. Lots of fellowship, feasting and also some sewing!

Here are some of the highlights of the weekend and a few of the projects the members of our San Juan Quilter's group were working on.

Roena's quilt for her friend.............

Wendy's stars.......

Gathering for meals........

Sharon's BOM block.....

Norma's BOM block

Nancie's table runner........

and admiring the stunning quilting and trapunto Gale has done on this quilt for a client.

Ready for the Saturday night Italian feast.....

complete with Italian music........

we bless God for the food............

Manicotta.........

and Tiramisu..........

as well as spaghetti and all the fixings!

More to come, so check back tomorrow for the second retreat installment and more project pics!

Spring Quilt Retreat Part 2

Several of our members have embroidery capable machines and they undertook to make these

very cute and clever dish towels for the retreaters!

Here is Leatha working on a Bonnie Hunter style quilt from recycled plaid shorts.

A sample of Leatha's miniature blocks! Yep, that's a quarter beside them! We all hand off our tiny triangle discards to this quilter!

Elma and her quilt, it needs a final border........

me and my flimsie...........

Lori's quilt that is to go in an antique wooden frame.

An Easter table runner from Lynn, who also made a baby quilt......

a quilt made from recylced jeans from Christie, this is a big quilt........

the wonderful "Professional Tote" by Kaye, a true labor of love for her sister, it has lots of handy pockets and zippers.......

Norma's lovely completed top..........

and good progress by Jean on her Bonnie Hunter design.

Here's Leatha again with co-conspirator Ruthe-they called themselves the "underachievers" for completing just one block apiece-but they did much more that you don't see, and Ruthe is the chief Barrista who makes wonderful lattes!

Here is Nancy and her BOM's........

and sweet Claudia with her quilt top. More about Claudia in a future post!