Finished {Craisy Daisy} & A Winner

 There's just something about a finished quilt that makes me happy!

Then there's the way that the quilting designs bring the pattern, the fabric and the thread all together to create something more than I imagined it could be that makes me even happier!

This quilt is among one of my favorite quilts!

I am fascinated by how the colors of the fabric appear differently depending on how sun hits it.

 Since my youngest man has moved off on his own and is no longer available to do photo shots with me....I pulled my dear hubby into the process. When  I told him he had to measure up to the fantastic job that our youngest had done with this, his only response was to tell me that he wasn't as tall. 

Well, thankfully for him this is only Baby Quilt size and him being shorter didn't matter!

I told him on the bigger quilts that he'll just have to get the ladder out.

 The feathers in the border came out even more elegant than I expected them to. A happy surprise!

I like the pearl necklace in the white border strip.  If I were to do it again, I would make the circles just a tiny bit smaller.

  Spirited Verse Candy for the binding. I really like this stripped fabric! 

Pearl Necklace Technique: 

To make the circles uniform, I traced around a nickle with a water soluble marking pen.

Using the circles as my guide I free-motion quilted around the circles.

For those who are curious about the quilting motion....you'll see some colored arrows in the photo above. (click on the photo to see a larger image)

Motion 1: Red arrows

Begin stitching and trace around the full circle.

Motion 2: Blue arrows

Stitch right on top of the previous stitches (You'll only stitch over half of the circle you just stitched). When you come to the point of the next circle move right into the next circle and make a full circle. 

Motion 3: Black arrows.

Just as in motion 2 stitch over the previous stitching until you come to the point where you can move into the next circle.

It's kind of like a fat figure eight and even though I broke it down into three motions, ideally it's done as one fluid motion.  For best results, practice on paper first, then practice stitching on a practice sandwich before trying it out on your quilt.

Quilt Stats: 

Finished size: 54"x43"

Pattern: Craisy Daisy from Green Fairy Quilts available in my shop.

Fabric: Art Gallery Fabrics from my shop Little Pink Rose Quilting & Sewing 

Stabilizer for Appliques: Sulky medium weight

Thread: Aurifil 50 wt.  white #2024 & Pink #2425

You can see more photos on my flickr photostream. Click Here.

Last but certainly not least it's time to announce the winner of the Mystique Fat Quarter Bundle.

Mr. Random number generator chose:

Congratulations Connie!!! Send me your address and this delightful bundle will be on its way to you.

In the shop we'll be having a couple of different Sweetheart Specials. 

Stop on by and check out the deals. www.littlepinkrose.com

Blessings &
Happy Stitching

Marcia 

The Block That Almost Wasn't

Once my machine came back from the repair shop, I dove right into free-motion quilting the Craisy Daisy Quilt. The plan was to stitch daisies all over the quilt, but as I studied how to begin and how the daisies would fit in-between the appliqued daisy's petals, I realized that my plan wasn't going to work out as well as I had imagined. Time for a new quilting plan and the swirls I had been practicing were up to bat.

The swirl quilting went very well and I was pleased with the results.  The only thing I didn't like at this point was that the centers of the daisies were popping up in a weird way, but that would be easily fixed by stitching around the center of each daisy and outlining the inside of each petal.  In this picture the daisy in the top left corner had been stitched down.

 The request had been made that I create a block with the recipients name on it and incorporate it into the quilt. But, as you can see from the photo above I had neglected to make this block.  It wasn't until 4 AM the next morning that I woke up in a panic with the sudden realization that I had forgotten to make the block and put it in the quilt. 

The adrenaline was working overtime and I knew there was no point to even trying to go back to sleep. I practically flew out of bed and straight into the studio to figure out the best way to fix this problem. 

As I worked I was busy praising the Lord that I hadn't quilted the borders yet!! 

I started with creating the applique name block. To create the letters I went to my Print Shop program to find the perfect font and printed the name in the size I needed. I used a light box to reverse trace the letters onto paper backed fusible webbing and then pressed that onto the back of the white solid fabric. Cut out the letter and fused them to the replacement block and finished them with a satin stitch, using a tear-away stabilizer behind the letters.

Then it was time to take a deep breath and just accept that I had to rip out a portion of the finished quilting to be able to remove the block I needed to take out. Pulling back the quilt top I used my trusty seam ripper to cut the stitches. Once most of the stitching was removed I moved to the top of the quilt to carefully remove the rest of the stitches back as far as I needed to go without taking out more than I absolutely had to remove.

This is one of those "Keep Calm and Get the Seam Ripper" moments!

 With all the appropriate stitches removed I was able to carefully remove the block I needed to replace.

After careful manipulation I was able to sew the name block in place as if it had always been there. 

The next issue to tackle was re-quilting this area so that it didn't look like it had been ripped apart and restitched. To accomplish this I started with picking out a few more stitches to give me just enough thread to be able to tie-off and bury the loose threads. In a few places I found that I was only left with the very center of a swirl that wasn't connected to any other swirls. Those bits of stitching I completely removed. 

After all the loose threads were buried I started by lining up the new stitches with the end of existing stitching, just as I would if I had come to the end of a bobbin and was starting again. Having all the different thread ends to connect took a bit of planning, but I think it turned out pretty well.

Re-quilting around the new block.

Blessings &

Happy Stitching!!

Marcia

Enter to win this Mystique FQ Bundle. Click Here

Winner will be announced 11 AM, February 8th.

Save 24% on all Art Gallery Fabrics Through February 10th.

She's back!!!

My favorite machine (Ms. Sapphire) was out of commission for almost two full weeks. UGH! 

Yesterday hubby went for a nice scenic drive to Warrenton, VA with me to pick up my beloved machine from Kelly Ann's Quilting.  They took such good care of her and got her back into working order.  It's really kind of cool that the machine keeps track of actual sewing hours and I logged over 225 hours over the last 13 months. WOW! 

 While my beloved machine was away for repairs, I was using my old Janome and she did very well.  She even cooperated when I tried out free motion quilting on her. The sewing bed is pretty small and I don't have an extension table for her, so there wasn't a lot of room to move the quilt around.  I decided to wait on quilting the Craisy Daisy and Jelly Roll Quilts until Ms. Sapphire came home. 

With that decision made I had several days to wait, so it was time to pick something from my WIP pile and see what kind of progress I could make. I picked a mystery quilt that I had collected all the steps for and made fabric choices from my stash, but never made it any farther.  After a few days of cutting and piecing I've made it through 4 of the 6 steps, and now it goes back into the WIP pile.

Mystery Quilt Progress

While Sapphire was out of commission here's what I accomplished:

Pieced and sandwiched Craisy Daisy & chose a free motion quilting pattern

Completed a Jelly Roll Race Top & Sandwiched it

Made it a little over half way through the mystery quilt top.

Now I'm off to practice free motion daisies on Ms. Sapphire and see how she likes them.
My goal this week is to completely finish the Craisy Daisy quilt and be able get it into the mail next week.

Blessings & 

Happy Stitching!

Marcia

P.S. Don't forget to stop by the shop and take advantage of the Snow Days Discount Extension
(Through Jan 31st)

Craisy Daisy Top Ready to Quilt

I have to say that little Ms. Janome has done a fantastic job this week!

She did such a great job that I was able to accomplish my goal of finishing the 

Craisy Daisy Quilt top before the end of the week.  

I've been playing with some ideas about how to quilt this one and I think I've settled on an all over Free Motion Daisy Pattern. Something similar to this.....

Free Motion Quilting  Practice - Daisies

I think this may look a little more like clovers than daisies, so I will definitely be practicing more this week, while my Husqvarna (that I use for free motion quilting) is being repaired. I could try to do the free motion quilting on the Janome, but in the past I've had lots of issues doing free motion on it and I really don't want to fight with it, especially not on a new design.

Happy Sewing! 

Marcia

P.S. Hop over to the shop at www.littlepinkrose.com and checkout all the new additions and discounts in the Bargain Bin. All of the Salt Water Collection by Tula Pink is 20% off this week as well. While you're over there be sure to sign up for our Newsletter and never miss out on sales or coupons. 

Pulling out the Old Machine {& WIP update}

My poor Sapphire (yes I named my sewing machine) is sick and in desperate need of a trip to the hospital. But, just like a real doctor the next available appointment was over a week away.  At least I know that Sapphire's doctor is an expert and will take good care of her, sending her home ready to get back to work. 

In the meantime I'm pulling Ms. Janome off the shelf and praying that she won't be as difficult and temperamental as she was the last time we tried to work together.

Ms. Janome

To entice her into behaving herself, I took her apart, cleaned out some fuzz and gave her a drink of oil in all those strategic places laid out in her care manual and prayed for the best. 

Praise the Lord! 

So far she is producing some beautiful stitches and working amazingly surprisingly well!! 

Here's what Ms. Janome and I have done so far this morning.....

Craisy Daisy Baby Quilt

I am a bit concerned (and maybe it's just me) about my choice of the solid Citron Green pieces in the quilt...seems a bit harsh or overwhelming to me, so on the design wall it went.  I needed to see it all laid out. After laying it out (as seen above) I do like it a bit better than I thought I would. 

I'm thinking that using either a light pink or white thread for the quilting and adding some stitched daisies in the Solid and light pink squares will bring it all together in a satisfying way.  

Any thoughts? Should I scrap the solid green and find something different for those pieces? 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! 

Happy Stitching &

Many Blessings,
Marcia 

Applique Daisies {WIP)

The newest quilt is coming along much better than I had expected. 

The pattern contains several appliqued daisies in a couple of sizes and considering my minimal experience with appliques, I began the day fully prepared to make several practice daisies before being able to move on to the daisies for the quilt. 

With attention to detail, a steady pace and lots of patience, I only had to practice on one daisy and was able to take the same technique straight to the daisies for the quilt and ended the day with a little happy-dance of exuberant satisfaction!! 

Now, on to piecing the quilt top....hoping to have it ready to quilt before the end of the week. 

Happy Stitching &
Many Blessings,

Marcia