Graduation Quilt {Finally Finished}

Without a doubt the emphasis here is on finally!

Our youngest's High School graduation was only12 months ago...no need to rush into anything! 

I'm pretty sure when he received the sneak peak of his quilt that he never dreamed that it would take mom this long to finish it! 

Here's the sneak peak he had 12 LOOOOOOOONG months ago...

Doesn't he look amused!?!

I had just told him that, that little square was his whole quilt. 

Without any further delay, here is the finished quilt!

The original plan for this quilt was an Irish Chain Quilt and technically it still is an Irish Chain.

Though taking a quick look at it you would never guess that the pattern is Irish Chain. 

So, the youngest took one look at the layout I had planned for his quilt and wrinkled up his nose, "Too much white!" for his taste. So we switched out the solid white squares for black star fabric. 

Unfortunately I had already pieced all of the 361 tiny little black and white nine-patches. 

The simple change of one block completely changes the overall effect of the layout. 

I thought about naming it, "The Lost Irish Chain." In the end, I went with "Universe of Opportunities," a nod to the new chapter of life that graduation marks and in reference to the outer space fabric used on the back. The backing may even be his favorite part.

All over Free Motion Swirls for the quilting. 

This is the same quilt that I had so much trouble with the thread skipping stitches, balling up and making nasty little nests on the back side. I spent waaaaay too long adjusting tensions, changing needles, stitching speed before throwing out the thread and switching to my trusty, awesome quality Aurifil thread!!!! 

Once I changed threads I didn't have asingle problem the rest of the quilt.....too bad I didn't switch threads sooner. Because I spent as long as I did trying to make the other thread work properly I was left me with a bit of a dilemma....rip out everything I had stitched or find a way to "fix" all the skipped stitches and bird nests. 

I really considered ripping out all the stitches and starting over, for half a second.  If it had been a customers quilt I would have done just that, of course I would have given up on the crappy thread much quicker, leaving me with a whole lot less to rip out. 

But......

Since this was a "family" quilt I was going to "cheat" and stitch as nicely as possible over all the problem area with that awesome Aurifil thread. I wouldn't have considered this "fix" for a customer's quilt! Thankfully most of the "fixes" don't show too much!

As always I LOVE how the stitching looks on the back! 

 In this photo you you can actually see the start of the Irish Chain along the edge.
I've studied these pictures in amazement at how color placement can make such a huge difference in the look of a quilt!!

 

 Even though my trip back to Missouri concluded with me bringing our youngest back home to Missouri....making him available to help with quilt photo shoots, this cute little hopper was the only assistant I could find willing to help me out with this particular shoot and he insisted on being included in the photos!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing some quilting love with me! 

I greatly appreciate all your support along the way! 

Blessings &

Happy Stitching!

Marcia 

On the Design Wall {WIP}

I've made some pretty good progress with Michael's graduation quilt. Though I'm not one bit sue I'll be able to have it finished before he moves out on Sunday.  I want to at least have it quilted and binding attached by Saturday morning.  We're loading his moving van on Saturday and he'll be heading for Missouri after church Sunday.

A good amount of progress has been made since yesterday.

Where things were at just yesterday

Replacing all the white squares with black squares has totally changed the visual effect. In the original the white blocks caused the tiny black squares to create chains across the quilt. Now it's the tiny white squares that are what stands out, being set on point makes them look like "X"'s all over the quilt.  Reminds me of XOXO {Kisses and Hugs}.

I'm playing with the idea of changing the name for the quilt to "Kisses from Mom," but I'm not sure my big boy would like the name all that much.  Maybe it'll just be my own personal name for the quilt.

Lots of sewing to do today, so I'm off to the studio.
Happy Sewing,
Marcia

Gowns & Dresses Everywhere!

Last week was such a busy week, I barely had time to breath let alone blog about all the happenings. The best part of it all was that every project came to a successful completion.

You'll remember a couple of weeks ago that the wedding gown I was working on had to be re-cut and essentially started again.  After some very long hours and very late nights, everything came together wonderfully.  The bride's reaction when she saw it was perfect. She walked around the corner and at first sight declared, "Ohhhhhh, I love it! You do beautiful work!" 

Here's what she saw...

The hanger still doesn't do it justice

 The pattern was designed for knit fabrics which have a much softer drape. The fabric we chose for the gown refused to drape even a little bit. So, to get the open shoulder sleeves to drape and lay down like we wanted I pinned each drape and fold where we wanted it and then I made tiny little thread tacks to hold everything in place.

The sleeves may be my favorite part of this gown.

Every bride needs something blue for her wedding day! Using 2-strands of variegated blue embroidery floss, I hand-embroidered her wedding date into the hem of her dress...an idea I saw on Pinterest {love pinterest!!}. 

Hand-embroidered wedding date in the hen of the bride's wedding gown

My favorite part is seeing the bride in her finished gown and seeing how pleased she is with the outcome. She wouldn't let me take a picture unless I agreed to cut her face out. She had, had an allergic reaction the previous evening and really didn't want her swollen face memorialized on my blog. Can't say as I blame here one bit!! When she gets back from her honeymoon she's sending me pics from the wedding {Looking forward to seeing everything all together; dress, jewelry, hair, nails, etc...it is amazing how much all those touches add!}

The beautiful bride

________

Once the Bridal Gown was finished I had a bridesmaid dress and flower-girl's dress for another wedding to finish up. The day I wanted to take picture the house just seemed so dark inside I went outside to click a few photos.

The fabric is a reproduction of an old feed-sack print that ladies used to use to make their dresses. In the olden days (1920's & 1930's) feed stores used cotton sacks to package the feed they sold the farmers. Once the sack was empty the ladies on the farm used the cloth to make their dresses, curtains, towels and other household items and clothing. Nothing went to waste in those days. The bag manufactures finally caught on to this fact and in the 40's began printing their sacks with colors and designs in the hopes of boosting sales. The thought was that the women of the house would insist on purchasing the sacks with the prettiest designs.  {Ok, enough with the history lesson} 

Bridesmaid dress with grosgrain ribbon on the waist and matching padded hanger.

The little flower girl's dress is just adorable! The bow on the shoulder is just too cute!!!

Flower girl's dress

Tiny little bloomers peeking out from under the flower girl's dress

Another happy customer.

After all of last weeks satisfying finishes this weeks goal is to finish Michael's graduation quilt.  I've given myself a deadline of October1st to have everything bound and delivered. Better go get busy if I'm going to make it!

I'm seeing black & white everywhere I turn

Before I close this post I wanted to announce the winner of the custom bundle. Mr. Random Number Generator chose comment #6.

Karen 608 put together this bundle on comment #6......

Light Victorian Quilt:
1. Lace Elements- pearl lace
2. Lilybelle - moire aquamarine
3. Living Element - tutti fruiti
4. Nature element - light blue
5. Nature element - seawater
6. Ombre Dots Aqua
7. Ombre dots orange
8. Clean white cotton solid - Riley Blake Designs

Congratulations Karen! Email me your shipping address and I'll send this bundle on it's way to you.

Blessings,
Marcia

Week in Review

It's been on of those weeks that I'm not sure how to describe.  It's been a good week. It's even been a productive week. Yet I don't "feel" like I accomplished much. So, to combat this, "feeling" I'm doing a blog post just for me....and you all are invited to join me.


This week I worked on:

This months block for Clubhouse (finished)

Pyramid pincushion (finished)
Made using fabric selvages & filled with crushed walnut shells

Designed a new ironing board cover - with little pink roses all over it - LOVE IT!
The old one was so gross, I couldn't bring myself to even take a before picture for comparison.

Created & Hung Design wall in my studio
Once I get my studio painted this will show up better!
Added grommets at the top and hung it from hooks in the wall.

Bridesmaid dress for October Wedding
started and had first fitting ready for a few alterations

Mock-up of Wedding Gown for September Wedding
completed and fitted several design decisions made

Special ordered Cathedral Window Pincushion
Finished & ready for pick-up

Michael's Graduation Quilt
Progress Made (1/2 of the rows stitched together- more of it is on the design wall above)

Graduation Quilt rows piled up and ready to be chain stitched.
"Leaders & Enders" at the right of the machine - using scraps that will be turned into a scrap quilt later

Also  worked on(but there is no photographic evidence for):

• Quilt Shop Website (went through several how to videos and user manual lessons)
• Figured Out how to watermark my photos (as seen on the photos above)
• Updated & Cleaned up this blog
• Went to Ultrasound appointment (mother nature & I aren't getting along very well)
• Delivered Andrew's car to the body shop for repairs (my hubby & youngest were re-ended last week. Thankfully only the car had any injuries)
  Accepted several fabric deliveries for the shop (it was like Christmas!!)
• Ordered Fabric for a Special ordered Mario themed quilt
• Played with some different ideas for 2 other special ordered quilts
• Made list of supplies needed from the fabric store for several in progress projects. 
• Took several more special order requests and appointments for custom sewing & alterations

It was indeed a very productive week!!  That doesn't even take into account the time spent reading books, other blogs, doing research and cooking several meals. Thanks for indulging my need to do a little review....that "feeling" has passed, now I'm off to the studio for a bit more sewing time.

Hugs,
Marcia

One Last Graduation Quilt {nine-patch chain quilt} WIP

After much harassing from my youngest, I've finally carved out some time to work on and hopefully finish his Graduation Quilt.

You've heard the ole saying about the cobblers kids going barefoot, because he's too busy making shoes for everyone else......well, I have to admit that I'm guilty of neglecting my immediate family in the quilt arena. 

I had good intentions, but good intentions only get you so far.

Here's where it got me......

He's laughing here because I told him that this was as big as his quilt was going to be.

 ....an unfinished quilt. On the day of his graduation I was only able to present him with a tiny sample of his quilt. So much for good intentions. At least he was amused by my tiny quilt presentation.

But there is still hope! And after a not so small change at the request of the recipient,  progress is being made. 

In total I need 361 of these nine-patch blocks.....I have 23 completed

 

 

Originally I had cut all 324 (3-1/8") squares from Kona white....this was the change Michael requested, he didn't like all that white and asked if I could change these to black, "Of course I can son, I aim to please!!"

 There are now 36 black swirl blocks cut and ready, only 288 more to cut....

Then there's the Kona white Triangles, the plan is to leave these in white. My hope is they'll act as a nice frame around the quilt.

Bring those three pieces together and here's a peak at what you have. It looses the chain affect, but I think it still has a nice look. See the rack in the top, left corner of the pic? those are all the strips waiting to become tiny (3-1/8") nine-patch blocks.

This week I've also added a wedding gown and a bridesmaid dress to my upcoming schedule, I'm going to have to be very intentional and purposeful with every bit of my time from now until mid-September when all three projects must to be finished.  I know I'll be busy, but I like being able to work with a purpose!

Be Creative!