quilt whispering

I recently finished an online quilting class by Carla Barrett through the MQR forum. I loved the class titled quilt whispering 101. Awesome information and Carla was a wonderful teacher. Here is my final project a top made from swap blocks I swapped on the quilt shoppe forum last year. they went together beautifully.

I am taking more quilting customers if you are interested please e mail me at robicole@msn.com
thanks,
Colene

doll swap IX

I am participating in another doll swap on about.com's quilting forum. This time it is quilter's choice. Here is what I made for my partner. I had the center block. I hand pieced it a while back during a work training.... ( had to entertain myself somehow) It has been hanging around wanting to be something exciting ever since and so here it is.

Sample Quilting

I've been quilting for others for a few years now, but only a select small few. I've decided I'd like to increase my quilting clientele a bit and I have made this quilting sample to hang in a local fabric store I frequent. I love the all over feathers design and did this in a small scale. (Click pics to enlarge and see the detail)

Here is a fun picture of Mason a few weeks ago. We aren't supposed to let him play with this ball anymore as his dad thinks he will bite a chunk out of it. What happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's LOL (really Cody we don't let him play with it anymore, I promise, really, you can trust me I'm a grandma)


My quilted and bound scrappy 9 patch quilt. I quilted it with all over meandering feathers, and I liked that quilting so much I used it on my Sister's Christmas quilt, which I can't show as she might see it here.

Here is a second quilt I'd like to do from the magazine I show below. I probably won't do it in these colors, though I like the look of it in the magazine.

Here is the one I did make.

I've always admired quilts with striped binding done on the bias. I've purchased striped fabric to do this over and over, and always chickened out and just cut it straight. I finally used the awesome instructions from Shelley's website. Incredible instructions I might add. Practically no waste as you use the whole rectangle and don't cut your fabric into a square. I love how my binding turned out. I used it on this Serendipity quilt. I used this quilt to try out different quilting patterns in each different fabric, and had lots of fun doing that.

Sideways picture of the magazine I got the pattern from. Easy Quilts, Its the first of this magazine I've purchased, and I have to say I loved how fast this quilt was; granted its basic.

My serendipity quilt

With bias striped binding. Yay!

Bathroom Re-do

A while back I started peeling the yucky wallpaper off my upstairs bathroom. What a pain!!! I finally finished the wallpaper, and painted this week. I bought a new light fixture as well as new decorations. Well some were new, the round candelabra I purchased at a thrift shop. Loved that deal. I even bought new towels at TJ Maxx, I really love them they are so plush!!! Anyway, here it is.

9 patch Almost finished

By the time I get to this point in a quilt I generally think...... I'll take a picture for the blog after its quilted, then it sits and finally gets quilted and I can't remember if I posted it on the blog or not. Soooooo I'm going to post now. I got this idea from Crazy Mom Quilts' blog, and had wanted to play along with the block a day but life got in the way. I did manage to catch up just as they started round 2 though. Instead of using 2 1/2" blocks I had a bunch of 3" blocks I had that were already cut, so I used them as well as the larger 3" sashing strips. Amanda Jean's came out to be a twin size, mine is a large queen for my bed. I chose the butterflies on white for the backing and the pink plaid type fabric on top of that for the binding. I'm going to quilt with white thread, but haven't decided how I will quilt it yet. I love how fresh and clean it looks with the white don't you?

quilt update

I have finished 2 quilts recently, but hadn't shown a picture as life was too busy. Here they are, and they aren't great pictures as it is raining and nighttime here. The first is a bento box type pattern, made with noodles I swapped a while back on the about quilting forum. The second is a batik maple leaf lap quilt I made with some swap blocks from around the world quilting, it is backed with a fuzzy brown snuggly fabric, and has thin batting as well. It should be very warm this fall.

Birthday

Today is my birthday, I'm 49, but have been trying to get away with 39. Last October I set out on a journey to become healthier. I've been eating healthier and less and working out at curves 6 days a week as well as walking 6 days a week for a couple miles. I took a picture my first day and then after 100 workouts at curves. I recently (last week) received my 200 workouts shirt and took a picture this morning. I haven't seen them all together for comparison but here's how it looks so far.
According to the curves records I've lost 32 inches and 52 pounds. I've gone from a size 22 to a size 14. I'd like to lose another 30 - 35 lbs before I'm done, but I'm please so far with my results.


Today

after 100 workouts

When I started in October 2008

Cody progress

Here are pics of Cody's burns after the skin grafts and some healing time. He thinks they look pretty good, and I have to say they look much better than they did before the skin grafts, but as a Mom I guess I was hoping for much much better. I'm hoping the red coloring diminishes over time. Time for the vitamin E oil. Don't look if you are a queasy person.
Fair Warning!

Stomach

Father's Day

Today I talked to my Dad on the phone and told him how I was lucky to have him for a Dad. He was and continues to be a great Father. I also went to see my son on his first father's day. He's struggling today with the burns and the pain, but was thrilled to have his first father's day despite all that. I took the baby home with me for a while so he and his wife could have some alone time. The burns have really added so much stress to their marriage, its overwhelming for them both. ooops crying baby gotta go

Grandma's vacation day

I had vacation and was able to spend the day with Mason yesterday. Here is one of our conversations. We had too much fun
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PICT2786

Couch quilt

I've been a slacker on posting on the blog, but I do have this couch quilt to show for my time. I used shirtings from the thrift store for the green and purchased the brown solid. I like how it turned out.

sfrr 3

I have added the last border to this flimsy and here is a sneek peek of it.

Spring Doll Quilt Swap

I'm entered in the Spring Doll Quilt Swap on About.com quilting forum. We were to make a spring themed quilt using only stash on hand. I made two similar quilts, one for me and one to send, but I don't know which is which yet. I still need to quilt and bind both at this point, but at least this is progress.

Quilting for others

These are pictures of a quilt I quilted recently for someone. It was a holiday quilt, with a large blank center. I went for the feathers all in a row. It was scary to do, but I like how it turned out. The borders have an ivy and ribbon meandering I learned in Suzanne Earley's books.









The back

Peggy's Quilt

Last weekend I quilted this gorgeous quilt for my friend Peggy. I love the feathers in the border. In the center I used a mix of the pajama quilter's wonky feathers, and her stylized flowers. I love how it turned out.




On another subject, one of my favorite lqs's has gone out of business. I drove to I.F. yesterday and upon arrival found the Quilted Daisy to be closed down. Very disappointing for me.

Quilting Weekend

I've spent most of this weekend quilting for others. With the exception of Saturday when I spent the day with Mason, what fun he was! Friday I quilted this fall leaves quilt for JoAnn, its her second quilt. I love how it turned out.



I quilted feathers in the border, and on the leaves some detailing. I filled in the blocks with stippling. It took forever, about 7 or 8 hours to quilt, but it was worth the result.

You can see the continuous leaves in the sashing in this picture.



Today I'm quilting a pretty one for my friend Peggy. We swap quilting for binding work. She does beautiful bindings for my quilts. I'll try to remember to take a picture when I'm done, if there is enough daylight left.

Worth the Wait!

This beautiful little quilt was lost in the mail for several months. It spent time in Illinois this winter before heading back to its maker and then eventually onto me in Idaho. (Its that "I" state thing) Anyway, it was definately worth the wait. I love the applique' and the gorgeous star. And.... I love the out of the box shape of it. DH loved it too and it immediately went up on the quilt wall (quilt wall #3 actually) in the living room. Thanks to Toni for making it, and Kate for hosting the ALQS swap it came from.



I finished up my fitness quilt this week, and it is out having the binding put on. I started a new one, I'm calling it my heart healthy quilt. Same rules apply as the fitness quilt. I've got 2 blocks made for it so far. I made my center block today for the spring fling round robin 3 swap. I can't show it as its a big secret, but I can say I love love love how it turned out. Its all packed up and ready to mail to the hostess Margaret. Yay!!!

Quilting Fun

I did some quilting today for a friend of a friend. I used the pajama quilter's dwirling pattern, but made the lines further apart than I have before, and added more swirls. I love how it turned out. When I gave it to the owner she had a friend there who fell in love with the pattern and asked me to do it to a baby quilt she had, Of course I said yes!




Also I have a sneak peek of the red and cream stars quilt. I have the alternate blocks done, and am just waiting on some more blocks to arrive. I also think I need to make a few more star blocks myself to even it out and make it a bit bigger. Anyway, I love how it is looking so far.

Have you ever wondered?

I sometimes look at the fabric scraps and fabric stash I have, and wonder.... How many quilts could I actually make with all this fabric. One day I was looking at this little box of scraps and thought... I'll find out, about this box anyway.
They are 2 1/2" X 4 1/2" bricks leftover from other projects etc.



I sewed the little bricks together into a quilt and added a border from stash. I used a thrift store find for batting, this us army blanket. Its wool and brand new for $12. Then I used a thrift store sheet for the backing.

All in all a fairly green quilt and all made from thrifted or stash. At any rate it ended up being twin size.

So, if I can make a twin size quilt from a small box of scraps, I shudder to think of all the quilts I can make from the rest of the stash. My Mom was a crafter and had a fabric stash for that. We would tease her about having so much fabric. I'm guessing my stash is quite a bit larger than hers and I have to say, I need more! LOL Not really, but don't tell husband I said that.