Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Pinwheel Peace

 Here is a quilt I made out of pinwheels and squares. I first started by making the pattern on a grid of 
15 X 15 squares with each square being 4 inches. Then I color coded everything, number everything and started cutting. 
When I have a lot to cut, I use this cutting board. It allows me to cut 4 layers of fabric at once. Plus, it allows me to cut in all different directions. I LOVE this board!


I first cut 3 inch squares. Then I turned my straightedge to a 60 degree angle and cut my triangles. 

These are the triangles I made out of the squares. 

Here's my stack of triangles. Now, I am ready to sew.

I sewed together a colored triangle and a white triangle. Then ironed them open. Last, I ironed the seam open on the back. This is an important step because the seams meet up and produce a lot of fabric in one area. When your quilt is quilted, these areas can prevent quilting. So, iron the seams open in order for your quilt top to lay flatter and be able to be quilted. 


All seams are ironed open.


Front.


After I sewed all my pinwheels together and ironed all seams open, I started sewing the quilt top together. This is the main row of the quilt, so I started with that and built upon it. 

Here's a pic of the progress...

The peace sign is complete. Now, I just need to add borders. 

The top is now ready to be quilted. 

**If you are interested in seeing the grid (pattern) I designed to make this quilt, just let me know and I'll send it to you. :)

Saturday, January 28, 2012

No Power!

I just had to share this:


There are times in your life where you are very proud of your family. I get to experience these times quite often. However, recently we were without power for 3 days. No big deal, right?! Well, it wasn't until it was almost warmer outside than inside our house. It was 28 degrees outside while 38 inside. I'd say we needed some power to warm things up a bit. Here's one of the pics of how we stayed warm and happy during the power outage. I'm proud that we pulled through it together and made the best of it as a family. No arguing, no tears, no fits from anyone. It was great to spend all this time together without the TV and computer. However, I don't want to go without heat for that long again. :)

Friday, January 27, 2012

Pantographs

I often get asked "What is a pantograph?"
Well, here is the short answer: A pantograph is one edge to edge design that is quilted continuously across the whole quilt. 
Pantograph prices can range from $0.015/ square inch to $0.05/ square inch depending on the difficulty of the pantograph. 
Here are a few examples of the pantographs I own and use on quilts. (I have hundreds of pantographs, so here are only a few.)









There are literally thousands of pantographs to fit any quilt design. If I don't have a specific pantograph you are wanting, I will order it for your quilting order at no additional charge. 

Monday, January 2, 2012

Baby Clothes Quilt


 Here is the pile of clothes I was given to start a quilt. The clothes will become one quilt and the pile of blankets will become another quilt.


 The shirts are fussy cut and waiting for the fusible webbing to be ironed on the back...


 This is how the pants looked before...


Here are the pants after I cut them... Now it's time to get the fusible webbing on the back of everything! This is going to turn out great!!!!


Here's the shirts after I added the heavyweight fusible to the backs and squared the off.

This is what the back looks like after adding the heavyweight fusible. 

Once I sewed the shirts together, I added some sashing. Make sure to iron your seams open for easier quilting. 

Here are the shirts after being sashed. 

I did the same procedure for the night outfits. These I cut to smaller pieces so I can put them as another border. 

Here is the quilt with the night outfits added as a border. There will be one more blue border and then it is off to the Gammill quilting machine!

UPDATE: Here is the finished quilt! It is on the way to it's home in Daytona Beach, Florida!


Here is a close up of part of the quilt.


This is the back. I chose to use a fluffy, soft fabric. Although you can't see the thread colors, you can still see the quilting. Plus, it is super soft!!!



Sunday, January 1, 2012

Pinwheels the beginning


And so it begins... I finished cutting over 600, 3 inch triangles for a pinwheel quilt. Whew! I'm now working on sewing them together to make the pinwheels. I'm one who irons every seam open, so this is going be a long process!

Someone has to try out the new quilt!

Of course, he has to be the first one on the new quilt.
I doubled the batting in this quilt, so it is nice and warm. It is over 10 feet wide and 11 feet long. Yet, my husband still steals the covers at night. I thought this one would be big enough to share, LOL!

Welcome

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to my page. I have a true love for quilting. I enjoy sharing ideas and designs for different quilts and sewing projects. I own a Gammill Optimum Plus which is housed in my home studio. I use a variety of Signature permacore threads. Feel free to contact me anytime!