Apple Blossoms out of the cupboard

The apple blossoms on the trees were fabulous this year but very short on the branches because of heavy rains and wind. So I pulled my Apple Blossoms out of the cupboard to savor spring a little longer. The pattern is in the book Pink Lemonade and Other Delights by Linda Johnson.  I don't often follow any pattern as closely as I did this one but I had fabrics that were so similar and it was so gorgeous in the book everything in the book was gorgeous. I loved doing the applique and I used silk thread. If you haven't tried silk for hand applique I recommend it. It was professionally quilted by Kaye at My Olive Branch, she always does such wonderful machine quilting.  The label says I made it in 2002.  Savoring Spring~~Ann~~

Blogger's Quilt Fest

I do love puzzles, word puzzles, number puzzles and tessellating star puzzles, I call this quilt Dragonfly Dance.  The stars are cut from two bales of Merryvale fabrics. (click for and explanation of Merryvale) The entire quilt was arranged on my design wall before any parts were sewn together then kept in order. (click for sewing tutorial or click on tessellating star in the label section)  The yellow and lavender swirl through the center of the quilt like a well choreographed dance to direct the viewers eye. There are only a couple blocks that could be switched in the quilt and not change the stars. I free motion quilted it on my Bernina with loops, dragonflies and echo quilting. I practiced the dragonflies on paper with pen then on the machine with paper and no thread until  my eyes, hands and brain memorized how to sew a dragonfly then practiced on scraps before working on the quilt. I hand dyed the back of the quilt. Enjoy all the beautiful quilts at Amy's Creativeside Bloggers quilt Festival. Be inspired!  Ann

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Free Motion Quilting

Scrappy nine patch in the log cabin quilt. This quilt was inspired by Kim Diehl's quilt in the March 2013 F&P LOQ magazine. The strips are all cut 1 1/2 inches wide. I free motion machine quilted it with concentric teardrops kinda sorta meandering feathers. Its my favorite to do on scrap quilts. I used miss matched leftover binding. And the best part no new fabrics were purchased for the completion of this quilt! scrap happy and we are off this weekend to celebrate our youngest's college graduation and deliver this quilt to a niece.
~~Ann~~

Out of the cupboard-- another old quilt

Another old quilt and my favorite color of blue. My great grandmother made this quilt long before I was born. It was on my bed when I was a little girl. It has a wool bat that has shifted, there is a lot of wool in the bottom corners but not much on the sides or top edge. She didn't sign or label her quilt and now I am foggy as to which great grandmother made this quilt. I must make a label for the next generations otherwise it is just an old quilt.~~Ann~~

Off the Wall Free Motion Quilting

 The Hummingbird in Green quilts are finished!!

 I cut so many pieces I made a second smaller quilt which I listed on etsy. I just free motioned a squiggly line through the hummingbirds and swung arcs from point to point of the triangles and sashing. I stitched across and up the borders like a ladder and followed the miter.

Sewing the block "how to" here and click on hummingbird in the labels section for all the hummingbird quilts made with Darlene Zimmerman's 30 degree tool. While I was working on these quilts I tried no line trifocals which gave me a headache so I didn't wear them much then I tried trifocals with lines which were better but I felt like a chicken bobbing my head around trying to figure out where to look anyway I had the center of the quilt pinned to my design wall and was considering which way to put the stripes in the border and was looking at the vertical stripes on the bottom of the quilt and horizontal stripes on the sides. The vertical stripes were clear and sharp but the horizontal stripes were a mess. I walked right up to the quilt and looked at it to see if the fabric was flawed nope so I went back across the room still a mess so I got my glasses and put them on everything was sharp now I know what it really means to have a mild astigmatism.
P.S. I traded the trifocals for bifocals and am much happier but still use the cheap reading glasses in my sewing room unless I am working with stripes.--Ann--check out Free Motion Friday at Leah's  and Nina Marie's on and off the wall.