Beat the Blues Day 5

Last evening and this morning I quilted this wall hanging that Elaine made. I guess I worked on it for several hours, yet the actual stitching time was only 25 minutes.

I like to use So Fine thread when I'm stitching in the ditch .

I also quilted almost all of this QOV today.

It's been a long, long time!

My last post was in August 2015, YIKES!

I post a photo of nearly every customer quilt I have the pleasure of quilting on my Facebook page and haven't been taking the time to make a bog post. Let's see if I can do a better job.. How many times have I said that? Several at least!!

Today was National Quilt of Valor Sewing Day, so, as Charity Chairperson for the Common Threads Quilt Guild I organized a local sewing day. What a wonderful time we had. 12 sewers and 3 members that came to visit made for a terrific day of friendship, laughter, good food and lots of fabric under our needles for such a great cause.

Just in case you don't know about Quilts of Valor, you can find out more here.

Quilt of Valor

Diana Richards, the Indiana Quilts of Valor coordinator will be our guest at guild this week. I wanted to get this one finished to give to her. It's a Disappearing 9-Patch that I started a year and a half ago to use as a demo for the other guild.

I really like this setting for Disappearing 9-Patch quilts. I chose to use a light fabric in the center square, red fabrics in the corners and blue in the center top, bottom and sides. After cutting they are all arranged with the same orientation, rather than mixing them up.

Star and Crescent is the panto by Keryn Emmerson and I used Old Gold PermaCore thread.

And the back:

 

I will finish the binding and label and make a pillowcase tonight to go with it.

Maureen's Quilt of Valor

Maureen from Michigan made this cute quilt of valor. This is her second QOV top and only her third quilt ever made. It's a beautiful quilt !

I chose Stars and loops panto, white PermaCore thread and Hobbs 80/20 bleached batting.

Carol's Quilt of Valor

I signed up again to quilt one quilt a month for Quilts of Valor. I did that for several years, but took last year off. I decided it was time to get started again. Carol from Ohio sent me this quilt and it is a great pattern. I'm not sure of the name of it but I like it. Her piecing is perfect and it was a pleasure to quilt.



She didn't have a quilting preference, so I chose Stars and Loops panto, Permacore white thread and Hobbs 80/20 batting.



I hope this lovely quilt brings comfort to one of America's finest soldiers.

A Couple More Quilted

The first one finished today belongs to Jan and I believe that it is the first quilt I've seen quilted using our nickels from our guild nickel swap.

Warm & Natural batting, Canary PermaCore thread and Lime Tree Panto by Keryn Emmerson.



And the back, which is flannel:



This next one was pieced by Betty and she intended it to be a QOV, but her husband really liked it. So, she said even though he was never in the military, he had always been her "knight in shining armour" so she is planning to give it to him. I really like the fabrics she used.



Warm & Natural batting, some new Signature poly thread, and Stars & Loops panto by LEQ.



And the back:

The 2nd Big One is Done!

I loaded Stephanie's 116" square quilt last night and I thought it would be days before it was done, but I just kept quilting and ta-da, it's finished. I've never done this type of quilting, called cinnamon bun, but that's what she wanted. She brought some books by Kim Diehl with photos of this quilting design.







My first practice was a 30's panel, which I will bind for a NICU quilt. I thought there was too much space between the swirls.



So, I loaded this Quilt of Valor of Kathy's and tried again. This one is flannel, so the swirls are a bit larger, but I thought I had practiced enough to load Stephanie's quilt.





I think that's enough cinnamon bun quilting for me for a while!

Done, and done!

I quilted this QOV on Sunday and applied the binding last night after I quilted Shelley's baby quilt. The binding was done Sharon Schamber's way with fabric glue and then stitch in the ditch on the front. The center of this quilt was made by Linda and she donated it for a QOV. I added the borders, the freedom and flag at the top.



The panto is Stars and Loops, which I haven't used in forever. I think I can almost do this one with my eyes closed. The thread is PermaCore chambray and the batting is Hobbs 80/20. I had a bit of an issue with skipped stitches and think it was because the backing was permapress muslin from Joanns and it has quite a tight weave, and the blue mottled seems like it has a lot of sizing on it and it wasn't prewashed. I changed to a smaller needle and then it worked like a dream.



And the back:




I loaded and quilted this cute, cute baby quilt for Shelley, using the Square Spiral panto by Keryn Emmerson, Lave blue thread and Hobbs 80/20 batting.




And the back:

Feather Me

This quilt was made by Gracie and is a Quilt of Valor. I just love how all the colors go together, although looking at the fabrics up close, I would never have thought to put some of them together. I used the Feather Me pantograph, Mother Goose PermaCore thread and a poly batting that she brought.

QOV

I quilted this QOV on Saturday afternoon for Kathy F. The top is homespuns and brushed cotton. This one will be a really cozy quilt for it's recipient. The panto is called Erin from Golden Threads and I used PermaCore Mother Nature thread and Hobbs 80/20 batting. It's the first time I have used this one and it quilted up nicely.

QOV

Last night I was stuck on laying out the photo blocks, so I turned out the light in the sewing room and loaded a QOV quilt on the longarm. Sometimes you just need to walk away from something and focus on something else.

This is a really pretty quilt made by Martha. I used Warm & Natural batting, Double Rose Vine pantograph and lilac Permacore thread. What a quick easy panto with great results! I just love this simple panto for floral quilts.

Stash Busting Report

I can't believe how well I am doing this year, so far, with finishing UFOs and using stash. I haven't bought any fabric this year.

Stash Used: 22.5 yards

I used Judy L's idea of creating a spreadsheet and so far it is working well. Thanks Judy!

UFO Finished

This one is changing locations on the sidebar, as it is finished, label and all.