What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 Sometimes you make a quilt for someone because you come across a new pattern and/or fabric line that you know instantly is perfect for someone in your life.  That's exactly what happened when I first saw The Regetta by Patchwork Studios.  

You see, my son's best friend Jon's parents, Linda and Tom, have a sailboat on a local lake where they spend practically the entire summer and they graciously invite my son to join them for multiple days at a time over many weekends each year.  They are even teaching him how to sail.  It goes ...

 When my customer Kathy brought me her adorable chickens quilt, she also brought this pretty Pink and Black Flowers Block quilt.

The combination of colors that she used is very vibrant and it just needed the finishing touch.

Unfortunately with the practically daily rain and/or overcast skies we've been having here, getting really good pictures of the finished quilts is nearly impossible but trust me when I tell you it turned out gorgeous.

Glide thread in Military Gold was the perfect choice for the top.

The panto Surf's Up was fitting and I really like the way ...

 This is another recent finish and this one was for my younger sister Diane. 

Way back in Spring 2013, I signed up for my very first charm swap.  Little did I know the appeal of swapping charms at the time and I eventually ended up hosting a number of Kate Spain charm swaps in later years.  I had no plans for them at some point I added a Disappearing Nine Patch pattern printout to the baggie they were stored in and put them on my project shelf.

 My customer Kathy brought me an applique quilt of adorable chickens to stitch up for her.

This quilt is for her daughter, who actually purchased the pattern and the fabric and asked her mom to make it for her. Although this would have been fun to add great details with some custom quilting, Kathy wanted only an edge to edge design.

 

 Here a few of the cast of characters, both before and after.

 

I imagine Kathy had fun creating each of these blocks and her applique is fabulous ...

 Once upon a time, I saw a panel on a Facebook fabric selling group and new that instant that I had to buy it for my good friend Anne who is a huge Disney Villains fan.  Once the panel and the coordinating border and backing fabric arrive, I pieced it together and added it to the "to be quilted" pile and there it sat.  Forgotten about.  For way too long! 

One big thing the past year has brought front and center to my attention is to get my tail in high gear and get finished all these projects so that ...

 When I bought the Villains panel and fabrics for my friend Anne, I also knew that I also needed to find something for my friend Sharon.  Her favorite character is Kermit the Frog but after an exhausting search online, I came up empty.  She's also a big Disney fan and I found out that Mickey is her favorite character. Mickey panels and prints were much easier to find.

This is her finished Mickey Mouse quilt.

Picking the right panto was tough.  I ...

 My customer Colleen called me to say that she had a big top to be quilted.  I couldn't wait to see what she created.  When she arrived with it, needless to say I was excited to get to stitch this one.  This is her Navy and White Hunter's Star Quilt.

Here is the "before" photo.  It's a big quilt, measuring 98" x 98".  Luckily I have a 12 foot frame so I can fit big ...

 It's always fun to see what my customers bring to me to quilt for them.  Colleen's creations never disappoint.  This is her Gray and Green Star Quilt.  Isn't it beautiful?

I actually remembered this time to take a "before" picture. As I've mentioned before, her quilts are always a pleasure to work on because they are well constructed.

She picked a new-to-me panto called London Fog and once I started stitching it I definitely liked how it turning out. So Fine Silver was the thread of choice for the top.

This is the completed quilt fresh ...

I'm grateful that one of the local quilt shops has been recommending me to their customers recently who are looking for someone to help them finish their project.  Gail is one of those new customers.  This quilt is for her granddaughter and her granddaughter helped with the piecing.

The final few weeks of last year found me busy with the usual December craziness.....both kids' birthdays and all the craziness that surrounds Christmas.  Having a child who still believes in Santa (the older one has also yet to utter any suggestion that he knows the truth) is fun but exhausting.  The gift wrapping had to happen at a fast pace while they were in school, we had to remember to move our elf Twinkle every night and we had to set our alarm clock for midnight on Christmas Eve so we'd get up and get the gifts ...