Sweet Sue #2

I got a new car while we were in the mountains last week...a 2017 Subaru Outback to replace my 2004 model.  There was nothing wrong with it, but I wanted the new feature like back-up camera, blind spot indicators, HID headlights, and of course the navigation system and blue-tooth capacity.  I drove it home down our snowy mountain driveway, and it did great.  In fact, I love it!  The color is Crystal Black Silica, and it has little sparkles in the sunshine that look blue or green.

                                

I did get the binding applied to the charity quilt.  It was fun sewing these tropical fabrics while it was snowing outside.  I used the bright turquoise floral print for both backing and binding.  My friend Mary gave me a humongous piece of it while we were making our charity quilt tops in January.  So, this one is ready to turn into the Capital Quilters Guild.  They make charity quilts for premature babies in NICU, and also wheelchair quilts and quilts for families participating in child abuse education programs.

I felt like painting on Sunday, and looked through some Pinterest inspiration pieces to see what I could do.  This one came out nicely, I think!

I am still painting lots of angels, and I made this one for our mountain neighbor's daughter who requested one with this scripture verse.

That's about it for now.  Thanks for stopping by!

Flamingo Baby Quilt...Quilted!

Today I finished the quilting on the Flamingo fabric Yellow Brick Road baby quilt that I began a few weeks ago.

These are some of my favorite colors, and the flamingo print is really cute.  I decided to do an all-over feather design, with a few flowery swirls.

Next is the binding.  I will try to get that sewn on while we are here at our mountain cabin.

A Joyful Noise...Finished!

Still working on projects from the UFO basket...and finished the binding on another little quilt last night!

A Joyful Noise, by Jeanne Turner McBrayer, 2017

 This one has been "cooking" for quite some time.  It of course is made of scrap fabrics, mostly from baby quilts that I have made.  I followed directions from the blog Del Quilts, who learned this technique at a workshop with Rachel Maus called "It Doesn't Matter."  Basically, you sew lots of scraps and strips together, cut them into triangles, sew together into squares, and then arrange your squares in a pleasing manner.

Here is a detail of the quilting, which is my favorite free-motion meander with flowers, leaves, and feathers.

A Joyful Noise detail

The backing fabric is a very happy print of cherries and cherry blossoms.  In fact, everything about this little quilt makes me happy.  I borrowed from Psalm 100 for the title, A Joyful Noise.

A Joyful Noise label and cherry backing fabric

I am not sure where this little guy will end up, but I think it will be a table topper.

Chenille Posies-Finished!

We had a snow and ice event here in Raleigh last weekend, resulting in us being housebound for a few days.  Result:  I finished a few projects!  Here is one quilt that is now complete.

I bought the top at an antique store in Pittsboro, North Carolina, last spring when I went to French Connections with two friends.  I think it was meant to be a summer-weight child's bedspread.  The edges were a little ragged, but I thought it would make a nice quilt.

I put this one on my Gammill in the mountain cabin in July, but it took months to finish it.  I did not know when I put it on that I had a broken leg.  I could not stand very long on that hard concrete floor!  

I quilted lots of leaves and swirls and echoed around the flower shapes.

When it came time to bind the edges, I recognized a problem.  I would have to cut off that last chenille border if I wanted to add a traditional binding.  I decided to just zigzag the binding and batting to the very edge of the top.  I think that solution is fine.  This one is not going in a quilt show!

You can see the pastel stripe flannel I used for the back.  It is turned up so you can see the stitched edge.

I think this quilt will live in my bedroom, where I will keep it on my chair.  

Chenille Baby Quilt

It only took three months to finish the quilting on this little baby quilt!  But, it came off the machine today!

I purchased the top at an antique store in Pittsboro, NC, back in April.  I put it on the machine in July, and tried quilting, but it hurt my ankle to stand on the concrete basement floor.  Little did I know that I had a broken leg!  I went to the my orthopedic foot specialist a week later, and found out I had a displaced oblique fracture of the fibula.  I got an ankle brace...which I am still wearing, because the fracture has still not healed.  Anyway...

I echoed around the chenille flowers, did spirals in the squares, and leafy vines in the borders between    the chenille stripes.

The backing is a soft flannel in pastel stripes.

It is good to finish the quilting!  After it is bound, it may offer it for my new grand-baby Layla to use until her garden quilt is finished.

My state of North Carolina has been through a bad time following Hurricane Matthew.  We were at our mountain cabin when the storm hit, along with our son and his family from South Carolina.  Their power was out for five days.  When we returned home, our Raleigh house was fine.  There are many places in North Carolina that are totally flooded.  It is amazing what too much water can do.  My heart goes out to all those who are in shelters, hoping that they will have a home left to return to.

 
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Quilting in the Snow

I braved the cold of our unheated basement to quilt two small projects last weekend.

The first one is the scrappy baby quilt with white washings and borders all around.  I decided to do a freehand Feathers All Over motif to counteract all those straight lines.

I stitched curvy stems from side to side the whole length of the quilt, and then created feathers and outlined them.  Where there was too much space between the rows of feathers, I quilted in some ribbons and flowers.

The other one is a little smaller.  I did a leafy meander with some posies here and there.  Nothing like dreaming of some actual foliage and flora in the middle of winter!

This is my setup in the basement.  If you look out those double French doors, you can see the world of white outside.

                              

Two of these babies helped a little.

 It was really beautiful outside.  It snowed about ten inches the weekend before, and there was lots of fluffy snow left for us to enjoy outside.

It is amazing how much color is in the winter landscape.  I took this picture during a late afternoon walk along the creek.

 This time next week we will be leaving again for Florida.  It is hard to imagine.

"It Doesn't Matter"...It's Quilted!

After almost a week back at our Raleigh home, I felt more rested.  Yesterday I drove up to our North Carolina mountain cabin, and today I decided to see if my poor, neglected Gammill long arm machine would crank up after more than four months of sitting idle in the basement.  Yes, indeed, what a good ole' horse!  I saddled up a little quilt top that I finished a long time ago.

Here it is on the machine with only the very top quilted.

The top is called It Just Doesn't Matter!  I read about how to make it here on Del's blog.  An instructor named Rachel Maus taught her how to piece the top using orphan blocks, strips, scraps, etc.  You can see some of the settings I tried after constructing the 9.5" squares on this old post.

Anyway, I ended up using no sashing, but adding a black dotted print border.

I used a lime green thread with free-motion "artistic" quilting on the long arm.

    

The backing is a cheerful cherry print.  I am thinking that this will be a table topper, and either side of the quilt could be used.

It has gotten very cold up here in the mountains, and the basement is still unheated.  One of our last projects in the basement was insulating between the joists, and I think that made a big difference.  I was quite comfortable quilting with just a small space heater.

We hope to get the gas company out here to move the kerosene monitor from our "Penthouse" garage apartment to the basement.  It would heat the whole basement easily, and we can put a much smaller one in the Penthouse.

Charlie is still worn out, but he came up here last week for the annual deer camp, his favorite time of year.  He did not even hunt, but enjoyed being around his son, grandsons, brothers, and other assorted friends and relatives who gather for deer camp.  Most of them went home Sunday.  We will be eating Thanksgiving dinner with our neighbors Ricky and Mary, who also live up here on the family compound.  We are feeling lucky to be done with all treatment in time for the holidays.  There's no place like home!

Reversible Holiday Table Mat

I recently made a small quilt to use on our dining room table.  It is reversible, so can be used for either Thanksgiving or Christmas.

I started out by making a "Lucky Star" block from Atkinson Designs.  I am making a large quilt using this pattern for my friend Marcia, and wanted to practice.

The green outer border is flannel.  I did freehand machine quilting with my Janome 6600 domestic machine.  I used a variegated poly thread everywhere except in the gold background.

The feather is just done freehand, no drawing or pattern used.

Here is he other side.  I used one block from a fabric designed to make pillows or a cheater quilt.

I did not feel like binding it, so just made a pillow-case type block by turning it, hemming up the opening, and top stitching the edges.

I hope you are enjoying your fall, and thinking about your holiday projects!