Rainbow Feathered Star Is Quilted!!!

Hello Everyone,

I am sooooo excited!! My Rainbow Feathered Star is quilted!!!!  I was able to finish it the day before I got sick.  Thank goodness too, because I don't think it would be finished now if hadn't finished it then.

As far as the quilting, I am in LOVE with it!!!  Let's check it out....

Lots of glorious feathers.  I used mostly Superior's Magnifico for the thread.  Although, I did switch a couple to a variegated poly.  Love the sheen on these thread.

Flame like stitching in the spikes.  The quilt as you can see is heavily quilted.

More gorgeous feathers!  Swoon!!

Here you can see the flames a little better.  I did change the colors out with every spike.  I wanted the threads to "blend" with the fabrics.  The effect that I wanted was achieved.

Can't say much more, but... 

This has got to be my most favorite quilt that I have made.

I will be teaching this class as a retreat at Olde City Quilts in Burlington, NJ in April, 2014.  You can find out all the information here... Just scroll down.

If you can't make the retreat here are the stats on this quilt and how you can make it yourself.

1.  Queen Size Feathered Star 96" X 96" ~ Pattern can be found here.

2.  Rainbow Feathered Star Quilt Kit can be found here.

3. All batiks were used in this quilt.

4.  Black batting was used.

5.  Superior Threads were used to quilt this quilt.

6.  Digitized pattern from Quiltworx was used and can be found here.

Until Next Time...

Rainbow Feathered Star Is Quilted!!!

All Together Now

Hello Everyone,

As promised, I was able to finish my Feathered Star Quilt.  Isn't it funny that every time you have a finish it instantly becomes you new favorite quilt??  Does that happen to you??

It took be the better part of the day yesterday to finish the second half and join it so it became a whole.

Love the center and the burst of color.  I like to take close ups so that you can see the beautiful fabrics, but the perfect floating, spikey points that you achieve with paper piecing.

In this quilt like in many of my other quilts, I use a combination of batiks with Kaffe Fassett.  Sometimes you need to go "outside the box" to find that right color combination.

In this quilt the center purple star has alternating Kaffe Aboriginal dot and a purple batik.  Then the very light purple batik that is the background for that middle feather.  Moving to the second feather layer, their are pink Kaffe with a light green batik background.  And the last batik that I used is the magenta in the inner border of the quilt.  

And I love the Rambling Rose Kaffe that I used for the main background.  It worked really well and I am pleased.

Spikey points make beautiful feathers and....

One really happy quilter with a finished quilt top!!

Now to quilt it...

Here are the quilt stats:

60" X 60"

1.  Pattern Feathered Star can be found here.

2.  Kaffe Fassett fabrics can be found here.

3.  Batiks can be be found here.

Until Next Time...

All Together Now

Half Of A Whole

Hello Everyone,

I am finally starting to feel a little better.  Being sick though does explain my absence of blogging.  I hope to really get back to some semblance of normal soon.  

Anyway, my Mom has been concerned about me because she hasn't seen any blog posts from me except for Tuesday's.  So Mom, this one is for YOU!!

Yesterday, I started to piece the units together to make my feathered star a WHOLE quilt top.  One of the things that I enjoy the most about piecing the top is finally seeing it come together as one.

The above photo shows the units all pieced together as one.  Yes there are quite a few "Y" seams, but they are a breeze.  If you have never done one, you really need to try it, they aren't that difficult and the more you do it the better you get.  Remember practice make perfect.

So I got a half of the whole pieced together yesterday.  Here is what that half looks like.  You can see the top portion still needs some sewing.  I plan on working on that today.  

Maybe tomorrow, I will be able to show you a completed top?!  That is my goal anyway.  I really, really LOVE this top and can't wait to make it a quilt.  

Stay tuned!

How'd I do Mom??  By the way, if all is as I suspect, I am feeling better today... ;)

Until Next Time....

Half Of A Whole

I Was Down for the Count....

Hello Everyone,

Have you ever been so sick you just couldn't do anything, I mean anything for days??  That is what I have been up to for the past week... a lot of nothing.  I got sick and just couldn't do a thing.  I missed sewing so much, had to cancel a trunk show and reschedule a class.  I laid like a slug in the living room snuggled under a quilt with my cats laying all over me.

As of yesterday, I began to feel slightly human again and decided to go into my home studio and sew a little.  This was the best therapy for me.  Even though my sense of smell, hearing, and taste are still off, because of my slight congestion that is still lingering, it was wonderful being back in the saddle again!

Here is what I was up to...

Remember my Feathered Star Wall Hanging?  I had pieced each unit, but they still needed to be pieced together.

So I got started... I have eight "V's" now.  They go smack dab in the middle of the quilt.

One of the best things about ALL of Judy Niemeyer patterns is that the points ALL float.  By that, I mean, the points never touch the seam allowance.  Therefore you never, ever cut off that point by sewing it into the seam.  Cool, right?

Then I made eight of these, by joining three units together.

Eight border units together, by joining three smaller units together.  Note the floating points!

Here it is back on the wall.  Today, I hope to have the entire thing pieced together into a top!  If all things go as planned.  I had a minor slow down yesterday and had to stop sewing.  Hopefully today, I can "press" on!

Until Next Time...

I Was Down for the Count....

Working With Black, White, Bold and Bright

Hello Everyone,

How many of you work with bright fabrics?  How many of you use them on a solid background?  How many of you use them with black and white fabrics?

I think my favorite way to use bright and bold fabrics is with black and white fabrics.... it really makes them POP!   Yesterday, I pulled a bunch of bright fabrics and black and white fabrics.  I wanted to just play.  Let me show you what I pulled.

Great prints with some Aussie and Kaffe Fassett, along with some batiks thrown in...

Black with white fabric...

White with black fabric...

Aren't they wonderful and the colors will just POP!!

Here are all the brights with more batiks and prints thrown in for good measure.

Beautiful little stack, don't you think?  So now what to make.... I have several designs drawn up and you will see them in there soon... I hope!  In the meantime, if you would like to try a small little project to try with black, white, bold and bright....

Just click here for  a FREE tutorial that I created in April, 2013 for you!  It is still available.  Many of you may have tried it before, if you haven't seen it you must go now.

Click here for the tutorial!

Oh, by the way, if you would like to get some great black and white  fabrics, just click here.

And for more black and white inspirational quilts click here.

Until Next Time...

Working With Black, White, Bold and Bright

A Photo Shoot In The Snow

Hello Everyone,

On Saturday, I had the most productive sewing day and I managed to get my Bali Bed Runner complete!!! I am so excited!

Being excited about it, I decided to take the top outside for a snowy photo shoot.  My husband thought I was a little nuts, but I told him… "it is fabric, it will dry."

Without further adieu… here it is… 

I am smitten with the color scheme and am very happy that I went with the color blocking layout. I like that the hot colors are all framed with the cooler colors. Don't you?

Here it is before I cropped the photo.  You can see the snow blower tracks.  Yup, we had just finished shoveling and plowing the snow.

Had to do the side shot to see some of the left side closer...

And the right side….

Some of the pinks, my favorites!!!

And the hot oranges!

Would you like to know the stats on this quilt?  Here you go:

1.  Bali Bed Runner ~ Pattern available here.

2.  Kit with these exact fabrics ~ available here.

3.  Black and White fabrics ~ available here.

4.  Splash Bali Pops ~ available here.

Now I am working on something different!  Check it out tomorrow.

Oh and don't forget to enter my fat quarter giveaway, still going on!!!  Just click here.

Until Next Time...

A Photo Shoot In The Snow

It Was A Pieceful Day

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday, it was snowing all day here.  What does a quilter do when it snows?  Hunkers down and gets serious about some piecing!!!  Woohoo, I got to sew all day.  I didn't do any quilting, but will get back to that on Monday.  I think I will be piecing tomorrow too.

How about you?  What do you do when it snows, if it snows near you?

Let's take a peek at what I worked on… 

Remember my Bali Bed Runner?  It was time to continue piecing the curves and get this one done!  This is the first half on the ironing board.

Here is some of the rest on the design wall.  Not quite the whole thing.  So I had a little way to go. 

Here is one block.  This is a great way to make a wedding ring quilt… in blocks!

A little more… we are getting there.

My helper arrived on time to help me sew some of the rows together.

Then he decided to lay on it as he didn't want to be under any longer.

Any way, it was a productive day and my helper and I had a great time.  More photos tomorrow!  Stay tuned!!

Oh and don't forget to enter my fat quarter giveaway going on here.

Until Next Time...

It Was A Pieceful Day

Finally Quilting the Top!!

Hello Everyone,

The past two days I have been working on making my quilt top a quilt!  This one you may remember seeing late summer when I finished the top.  I have been hankering to get it on the long arm since then! The time has come!!! Yippee!!

First I have to piece the backing.  This is a batik I chose from our shop.  I think it is just perfect for this quilt. You will see why in a minute.  You can find this fabric by clicking here.

See… didn't I tell you, it is gorgeous isn't it?  It has all the colors of the quilt top in the backing.  The other thing that I like about it is that it is a busy back.  I like a busy back for several reasons, they are pretty and have tons of interest, but they also help hide quilting stops and starts.

Here is some of the quilting that I am doing on this quilt.  I am using Superior Magnifico.  It is poly thread and has a bit of a sheen.  I like the outcome so far.

Love the feathers.  I will be switching out the thread colors throughout the quilt to match or blend in with the fabrics on the quilt top.

I also love the "fire" like quilting in the spikes.  I will be doing that on the opposite side in the colored spikes, but matching the threads.

Right now I am working on all the black areas.  This is a very large quilt and will take me quite a while.    Slow and steady, right.

Another area of feathers.  I think they really look great on the black solid areas, don't you?

Here is the front.  See what I mean about the backing.  Isn't it perfect!!??  Now to get back to work!

Oh wait… all this quilting and sewing has tuckered out the boy!!  

Facts about the quilt:

1.  Queen Feathered Star ~ Pattern and/or kit available here.

2.  Batik backing ~ available here.

3.  Yes, the design I am using to quilt it is digitized by Judy Niemeyer and can be purchased here.

4.  Since it is going to snow all weekend, guess what I will be doing??

Oh… don't forget to enter my fabric giveaway going on now by clicking here.

Until Next Time...

Finally Quilting the Top!!