Gonna do the "Friday Night Sew In"?

It's that time again!

I know that I will be sitting in front of my sewing machine tomorrow night.  I am in the mood to do something fun but have not decided what that will be.  I have some charm squares and yardage that may turn into a quilt tomorrow night!

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"Summer" quilt

Months ago, I started a quilt for my mother.  She wanted something to throw over her in the living room if she got a little chilly from the air conditioning.  (My first suggestion was to turn off the a/c but you should have seen the look I got!)  I have had the quilt top done for months but just never got around to quilting it.  It was on my list of projects that I wanted to finish before the big bag push.  I attached the binding yesterday afternoon and spent the evening hand stitching.

Because I wanted this on and off the long arm pretty quickly, I did a huge meander.  This is the first quilt that I have used flannel as the batting material.

The quilt is heavier than I thought it would be but certainly not as heavy as it would be had I used Warm and Natural (my batting of choice).  Originally it was going to be bound in the small purple print that I used for the inside border.  Unfortunately, I was about 10" short (can you just imagine how annoyed I was?!) which I discovered as I made the last turn attaching the binding.  Finding there was not any additional fabric left at Burkholder's, I asked my sister to pick up something so she brought me more of the outside border fabric.  I am just happy there was enough to make binding for the ENTIRE quilt!

Would I use flannel again for batting?  Absolutely!  I did not pre-wash any of the fabric (I am crazy that way) and it washed and dried beautifully.  The drape is very soft and the quilt is warm.  The flannel I used is the basic quilter's flannel at Joann's and I used a coupon so I think it was roughly $3 a yard.  I think flannel would be good choice for batting especially in baby quilts.  The downside is having to piece the flannel.  I ran the batting seam opposite the backing seam and did not have any difficulty quilting it.

Lots of quilting!

My sister has been out of town quite a bit over the past month or so.  While she was gone I had access to her long arm so I took the opportunity to finish several quilts.

The first is the black and white Delectable Mountains quilt (I posted photos a long time ago!)that I am going to gift as a Christmas present to my brother and his girlfriend.  Because the outer border is mostly red, I thought the quilt would look sharp if I quilted in red.  The quilt pattern is very linear so I quilted with a large looping meander to contrast.

Several years ago, I made a braid quilt from a pattern found on Moda’s Bake Shop blog.  Once again I went to the “well” of my 3 Sisters scraps and all the fabrics I used were from several collections.  I quilted this one pretty heavily.  I did a large loop in the outer border, smaller loop in the inside border, feathered down the center of each braid and then stippled between the feather rows.  It took me about 5 hours to quilt and I went through nearly 3 pre-wound bobbins.  I am very happy with the quilting and doing this one really helped build my confidence.

I have one more to quilt to bind and then I think I am going to work mostly on bags and totes for Hazelnut Deux.  I am afraid the holidays will be here long before I am ready!

Or is it just me?

This post has absolutely nothing to do with quilting.  It concerns Facebook.  Does anyone else think it is a really bad idea to complain about your job, write negative posts about members of your family or argue with someone on Facebook?  The only reason I am on Facebook is to know what is going on in the lives of family and friends but some of the negativity I see makes me cringe.  Call me crazy but if I need to vent about something of a true personal nature, the last place I am going to do that is on Facebook.  Airing dirty laundry for all my friends and family to see would be, at the very least, an incredible embarrassment.

Maybe I am too sensitive.  Is it just me?

Sweet baby quilt

I just finished this quilt for a co-worker.  It is a gift for a family that recently adopted a little girl.  My friend choose the sweet paisley from my stash and then I went shopping for coordinating fabrics.  (I showed them to you a few weeks ago.)  I used my trusty copy of "Four on the Floor" for the pattern.

I used pale pink So Fine thread for the top and the bobbin.  I quilted the body with a large, very loopy meander and then stippled the block around Gracie's name.  I washed and dried the quilt (as I always do) and threw in 3 Color Catchers as a preventative measure.  I was nervous about the dark pinks but

none of the colors ran - thank goodness!

My friend is thrilled with the quilt and I am happy to have another finish for October!

Another one bound!

I have quilted 5 quilts over the past few weeks.  This one is a lap throw made completely from scraps of about four different lines of 3 Sisters for Moda fabric.

I was playing around a bit on the long arm and covered the quilt in loops and "wonky" feathers.

I used King Tut in a varigated sage green on the top and Bottom Line thread in the bobbin. 

I have never met a Moda red that I didn't like so I bound in a left over piece of Luna Notte. 

I think it is delicious and I am so happy to have another one completed! 

Guess who I met today?

A lot of quilters come to our area of Pennsylvania to shop for fabric.  Today I met someone whose blog I have been reading for years.  I met Irene and her friends, Margaret and Dianne.  They were here from Ontario on a fabric hunting adventure and we met at the Hayloft in Morgantown.  Irene has the proof on her iPhone.  I completely forgot to take my camera with me!  Irene is just as sweet and genuine in person as she is in her blog.

Since I drove all the way to Hayloft I had to buy something.  I really like "Grace" which is the 3 Sister's holiday collection from Moda this year.

I picked up two charm packs and a half yard cut from each of two coordinating fabrics.  I am not exactly sure what I am going to make but I am going to find a pattern in my copy of Schnibbles Times Two from by Carrie Nelson.  I can't believe I still haven't schnibbled!