Free motion quilting

Sometimes I have to sew something quick and easy for that great feeling of accomplishment when all other projects seem to be dragging. I just finished a little window hanging, I made it short enough to let in lots of natural light but block the view of the dirt (new landscaping in earliest stages) next door.  These are my trial blocks using the quick curve tool. Is it ever slick!! and very little waste for curved piecing!! The fabrics were all from a bundle of fat quarters I purchased years ago. There are tons of variations and blocks for these curves. I free motion quilted with my sit down sweet 16 machine. The counter said I did 25,584 stitches on this little quilt that is only 28" x 36" I have started signing my name and year in machine stitching because I don't always get a label on my quilts. I am so glad I used a backing fabric with the same colors as the front of the quilt because in the daylight the colors show through you can see the purple coming through on the right.--Ann-- Linking to Leah's Free Motion Friday

Design Wall Monday

I have a good  start on the second of three log cabin with fans quilts. click the first one. This one is to have more green. Some of the log cabin blocks were partial blocks left over from the first quilt. I think I need more green in the LC blocks. I also need to stay home and work on it.
In the search for a particular quilt magazine that I knew had the color scheme I was looking for.....I stacked up some books that I haven't used for years so have listed them on etsy.  click here   or on the "where to find me" sidebar to find my etsy shop.
The 12 Days of Christmas by Debbie Mumm
The Joy of Quilting by Joan Hanson and Mary Hickey
In the Studio with Judy Murrah  and Jacket Jazz by Judy Murrah
At Home with Thimbleberries by Lynett Jensen
also three book on Marbeling on paper and fabric
too be listed in the next couple days....... there is gardening to do and errands to run and sewing to do and a meeting to go to, and daughter is home for a couple days...........
French Braid Quilts by Jane Hardy Miller         Altered Books Workshop  by Bev Brazelton
Pop up Greeting cards by Ondori               The Art and Craft of Papermaking by Sophie Dawson
Better Homes and Gardens American Patchwork and Quilting book published in 1985

and now the wind has come up so I won't be riding the bike to run my errands but I am linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday --Ann--

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

---

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.