Bloglovin'

I greatly enjoy sharing with each of you who stop by from time to time to share in the projects and posts that I share with you!  If you're enjoying the posts and receive my posts through Google Fiend Connection, I would like to invite you to follow my blog through bloglovin'. 

It's easy to do, just click on the bloglovin' icon to the right and follow me through the bloglovin' feed.

I received notice recently that google friend will be going away completely within the next week or so.

We don't want you to loose out on your favorite blogs!

I've chosen to use bloglovin' as my personal blog feed and offer it on my blog because it is easy to use!  You can even add blogs to your personal blog-feed that haven't connected themselves to bloglovin'. It's all Easy Peasy!!!!! 

On the quilting side of things: 

Here's a look at my most recently finished block. The vines/feathers kind of mirror the vines in the print found in the center part of the block.

In other news: 

Actually rather amazingly and miraculously we sold our home. Put it on the market Saturday morning and signed the contract Monday night. What a whirlwind!! 

So now we're in search mode, hoping to find what we're looking for this weekend. Praying for more miracles and trusting the Lord God to provide!

Happy Quilting & Many Blessings!
Marcia 

Nancy's Quilt {Progress}

If you've been keeping up with my quilting progress of this quilt on facebook you already know that I'm having a great time with all the quilting!  It seems that every block I finish becomes my new favorite of the quilt.  

On most of the blocks I've chosen to do a tiny stipple stitch to make the center star or applique pop up and be the star of the show. To help with this I'm stitching in the ditch along every seam using matching threads.

I was recently watching one of Leah Day's tutorials where she explained that she doesn't use her walking foot to stitch-in-the-ditch, but instead she uses her darning foot and does a true free-motion stitch-in-the-ditch. She explained that for 1 it saves a whole lot of time to not have to keep switch feet, the walking-foot limits movement as it can only go in one direction and that your (my) free-motion quilting will not improve if I rely on the walking foot. All valid points. 

Since I've had been having issues when using the walking foot along seams and having to rip out stitching when the needle jumps to the top fabric and stitches where I really don't want it, I thought Leah's method was at least worth a try.

After 5 blocks worth of stitch-in-the-ditch, I'm really enjoying the freedom of being able to stitch straight lines in any direction I want without having to completely turn the quilt or having to take time to change feet! I'm lovin' it!

 As I was working on the yellow pebbling on this block it was quickly becoming my new favorite of all the finished blocks. Once finished it was absolutely stunning and in person even more so and at the moment anyway it is my favorite block.

This tree block had been my favorite, with the swirls of wind blowing around the trees. Love it!

I'm not even sure what to call the filler in this border....kind of reminds me of a worm hole tunnel that you might see in a movie as you travel through outer space. 

 To keep the fabric front and center I used a dark gray Aurifil thread that just melted into the fabric, if you very close you'll find that the pattern is a mixture of swirls, paisleys and pebbles.

On this border is my version of "McTavishing" with the quilting creating wave patterns that sort of mirrors the pattern on the fabric. 

 With 5 of 12 blocks finished I've now used 16 different Aurifil thread colors.

On to the next block, I'm considering some orange peel, or maybe........
We'll see what speaks to me. 

Happy Quilting & Many Blessings,

Marcia 

Quilting Away {Truly an Honor}

I've had this gorgeous quilt hanging on my design wall for several weeks now.

I didn't make this quilt. A missionary friend of ours made it and I'm feeling so humbled and honored that she choose me to do the quilting on this beautiful piece of art!

 From my Aurifil selection {my absolute favorite thread for both piecing and quilting!} I pulled together several coordinating solids and variegated spools that I thought would compliment the fabric. 

 

 The goal is to do the quilting in a way that the fabric is center stage and the quilting motifs compliment the fabric.

 So far, I like how it's coming together.

I absolutely love the beautiful bright colors in this quilt. So fun to work with!! 

Happy Quilting & Many Blessings,
Marcia 

Update - New Look - Sneak Peak

I've been off the grid and out of the blogging scheme of things for awhile staying busy traveling, working and of course some quilting thrown in there.

First up a sneak peak of the quilt/wall hanging I just finished:
This is a string quilt using only "Poppy Love" by the Swirly Girls for Michael Miller Fabrics.

 

 I really enjoyed doing the quilting on this creation!! It's full of feathers, swirls, paisleys and pebbles.

 A view of the quilting from the back. LOVE the feather swirls! 

Last week just hours before flying off to Missouri I decided it was time to cut off all the long hair, even though my husband dearly loves my long hair. I was just tired of dealing with it. So, without telling him what I was doing I was off to the Salon for that much needed new do!!

After some discussion with my new stylist here's what we ended up with. Much shorter! Much lighter! And much healthier!! 

 

Thankfully my sweet hubby LOVES the new do as much as I do!

My hubby and I spent last week in Missouri doing some work on our house there. We preparing to put it on the market again, hoping and praying desperately that it will sell this time and that we won't loose too much in the sale. 

After having two different renters in the house the cabinets were in need of some deep cleaning. My mom came down to help us and she went to working scrubbing off all the years of built up gunk and then rubbed down each cabinet with Old English Oil. When she was finished they looked like brand new cabinets! Beautiful!! 

While my hubby worked on a variety of odd jobs and helping me whenever I needed, I busied myself laying down new vinyl tiles in the kitchen and the bathroom. Wish I had some before pictures, but trust me both floors look 100 times better now. The kitchen had been carpeted.....we discovered that it was put down in 1997 (way past time for something new)!

Laying tile is a lot like quilting, but like I told Darren, "I would much rather be quilting than crawling around on the floor working with sticky tiles!!"

Created a paper template to be able to cut the tiles to fit perfectly around the curve of the stool.

We'll go back in a few weeks for another work session and to meet with the realtor. 
We're looking forward to a busy and tiring summer, but praying it all goes well!

I'm off to sandwich a quilt and sit down with my sweet Sapphire to create some beautiful stitches! 

I've got Tula Pink's collection of Aurifil thread ready and waiting for this gorgeous quilt.

Many Blessings and Happy Quilting!
Marcia 

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