John Deere Heart Block

I wanted to share this heart block I made last month.  The pattern is from Cluck Cluck Sew.  I tried to do some fussy cutting and was disappointed when I cut off half of the big tractor when I made the heart, but then I saw I somehow matched up the middle tractor(on the seam) without realizing it!  I made this block for Colette who lost her husband in a tragic accident last month.  You can see the finished quilt here.  Kris from Kris Loves Fabric made her a quilt with donated blocks from other bloggers.  She received the quilt this week.

Drunkard's Path Quilt

 We took a road trip to San Antonio last week for a work conference my husband had to attend.
Before we left, I sewed the binding to the front of my quilt.

In the car, I hand stitched the binding to the back of the quilt.  This was my first time to do it by hand.

I had to take pictures of my quilt on the river walk!

 People probably thought I was crazy laying a quilt on the ground and standing on a chair to take a picture with all of those people walking by!   Hey, I'm a determined blogger and it's washable!  Which I did wash it today and hang it in my living room for now.  The binding was not quite done before we left San Antonio, but I finished it in the car that evening after we left.

Dora from Dora Quilts also quilted feathers on this quilt for me.  That is why I had not quilted it yet, I wanted feathers but my feathers are terrible!
You can see better pictures of the quilting on her blog here:   http://doraquilts.blogspot.com/2015/07/missys-drunkards-path-whole-quilt.html
Be sure to check out the great job she did!

I used a vintage sheet for the backing, I love to do that because it adds character and is cheaper then buying yardage!  The binding was not done in this picture as you can tell by all of the clips!

I got the blocks from a fellow treadle quilter, that story is here.  I finished piecing the top together (with borders) at a quilt retreat in TX right before I moved a couple of years ago.  I am so glad it is finished!  This was my second quilt to get bound this month!

I have a lot more pictures to show you from trip!  Stay tuned for some great vintage quilts!
Missy

Quilting Gloves

 Everybody has their own way of doing free motion quilting.  I like using my quilting gloves.  I won a set of these pads to also quilt with.

 I found it is easier to use the gloves and one of the pads,  I use the pad on the hand that is moving the quilt, so the hand using it depends on the direction I'm moving the quilt, whether it is to the right or to the left.

 If you notice in the pictures sometimes the pad is closer to the needle and sometimes farther away.

 My husband likes to take a lot of pictures and there were a whole lot more then I shared!

 I saw on someone else's blog that she cut the tips off of the gloves, so I tried it.  I really like having the flexibility of being able to grab thread, etc. without pulling off the gloves each time.

 Here is the pad I use.  They are called grip and stitch, you can find out more about them here:  

 I use the smaller one.

 For those of you who are not familier with quilting gloves, they have little nubs on the bottom to grip the quilt.

 I am just doing simple circles, they are not very consistent.

 Oreo says "please don't take my picture again!"

What is your preferred method of Free motion quilting?

Missy

Quilt design question

We went back to the antique mall from Sunday.  I saw this quilt there and I have never seen this design before.  Have you ever seen it?  I would love to make one in these colors, this one was out of my price range.  It is a perfect chain link design.  I found a similar one made like a double wedding ring here.  I would love to find a pattern for this one though.

 Here are some more quilts I saw today, there were so many I could not pull them all out.

 Do you see that pretty pink one to the right?

If anyone can help me out with that pattern I would appreciate it!

Thanks
Missy!

Quilting Suggestions

After finishing my Drunkard's Path last September I finally have time to quilt it!  The problem is that I am not sure exactly how to quilt it.  I was thinking feathers?  I've never done feathers before - what do you think?

 I was thinking in these spots a butterfly with feathers as the wings or maybe just feathers coming out from the center.

 And theses spots a feather wreath that will have extra feathers extending into the arms, what would you do?

The lump under the top is a cat, he was asleep and did not want to move!  LOL

I know the quilting will really show up on the white so I am open to suggestions!

Thank you!
Missy

Antique Quilt

I won an old quilt top at a raffle.  I am very excited about it and one day plan on finishing it.

 For right now it is hanging in my quilting room.

 I love looking at all of the old fabrics in it. I have no idea how old this quilt is.

 You can tell she just used whatever she had and did not pay any attention to what "matched"

 I'm pretty sure there a feed sacks and material from the 50's maybe?

 I was thinking the red and blue below was 50's or 60's

 But is that blue on the left 30's?  and the white looks like feed sacks?

My husband does not like scrappy quilts like this, but I told him it was a part of history!

Any clues about my quilt you want to share?

Missy

First Snowman Block/Row

I made my first snowman block/row for the BOM!  I loved this block and it was very easy to put together!  My noses are a little wonky though, but that's okay!  I had problems with my stitching too, I sewed the blocks on my hnadcrank but had to do the applique stitches on my electric Janome and after testing several stitches on scrap fabric, I found one I really liked.  The only thing is, as I was sewing them, they kept skipping stitches and since it is an electric machine I have no idea how to fix it!

The Block of the Month is from Quilt Doodle Doodles and you can find the post about this block here.  The patterns are free for that month, for example:  January's block is free for the month of January, but then you will have to pay to be able to purchase it.  This way if you don't start at the beginning, you can catch up later.

I am very happy with all I accomplished this month!
I finished my sailboat quilt!  Here is a picture of my nephew, Jaxon, with his quilt.  He is 6 months old, that's not too bad for finishing his baby quilt!  LOL  It's so big, he can use it on his toddler bed!

I finished my string quilt, which you can see here.

I also finished my pin cushion for my pin cushion swap.

And last, but not least, I made two Jacob's Ladder blocks for the Sew Sweet Bee from Donna's Lavender Nest.

Were you able to meet all of your goals for this month?  I can't believe I did!

Missy

2014 Goals

Should I call them goals, or list of stuff I want to do? Some of it I guess would be a goal to finish, and some of it is just stuff I want do, so I guess it is both! The first thing I want to do this year is buy my first home! My husband and I have been married for 18 years and this is the first time I have had a desire to buy, I have always been content to just rent. I would love an old Victorian home, but they usually cost so much in renovations that we cannot afford them. That's okay, the Lord will give me the house of my dreams.
 I have a few quilty things via the internet I am participating in this year also. I am a member of an internet group from treadleon.net and it is all about people powered machines. They are having several block exchanges this year and two of them are blocks I have been wanting to make! A cat block and a jar block exchange. I've never participated in a block exchange before, so this will be fun! I am also participating in a pincushions swap, all of these have to be made on either a hand crank or treadle.
 I will also be participating in my first BOM (block of the month). It will be a winter themed quilt from Quilt Doodle Doodles .  You really need to check it out, it is the cutest snowmen this month!
I am also participating in my first virtual quilting bee with 12 other bloggers, Donna from Donna's Lavender Nest is our great coordinator for this.

I have three tops that need to be quilted this year.

The border needs to be added.

This is ready to go, just needs a pieced back.

I want to do some fancy FMQ on this, so I'll need to practice on some small projects first.

I have four projects that I started piecing in 2013 and I plan to finish all but one this year.

String quilt, the penguin fleece blanket I got for Christmas will be my backing.  I have 24 blocks made and I'm thinking of making 35 blocks, 5 across and 7 length wise?  Or should I make it 6 across?  I'll probably put a border on the back and front to make it bigger.

44 more blocks to finish sewing!

Scrappy Trip along quilt for my king size bed.  I did not have enough room to lay them all out, but I have 38 made.  I'll decide on a border after I sew them together.

Bowties I started in April.  Could not find my blocks for a picture..

These are the ones I have made after my move.  This is an ongoing project that might or might not get finished this year.

 And of course I still have the rail fence prayer quilt that needs to be finished quickly!
I guess that makes six quilts I want to finish this year!

We'll see how 2014 lets me finish all of these projects, I'm sure the BOM and block exchanges won't be finished until next year though.  I need to get busy!

Missy