Afterimage the last stitch

  I stitched the last stitches of the label last night onto Afterimage.  I finished DD baby quilt the eve of her birth, yesterday's post. Happy Birthday Darling Daughter!! I'm so glad I added the hot pink and the bright turquoise to the mix of fabrics. They are light turning on the lights. It is snowing here and the ground is white. --Ann--

Out of the Cupboard

Twenty-three years ago today I finished the binding on this quilt. I remember because Darling Daughter was born the very next day. She couldn't have timed it better.
I pieced the rail fence in the center because it made me think of the neat little gardens in the Beatrix Potter books. Followed by a row of carrots from the scraps of 1/8 yard cuts.  I hand quilted the figures from the Peter Rabbit and the Benjamin Bunny stories. Then I still had scraps left over so I built a garden wall around my garden with a gate for Peter and Benjamin.  A couple months after she was born I stitched her name, birth date and weight in the space below the flower. It is all hand quilted a lot of it in the ditch. Happy memories.--Ann--
 

Carrots

 Twenty some years ago I made this carrot quilt out of 1/8 yard cuts that I bought a quarter century ago. Doesn't a quarter century ago sound ancient compared with 20 some?? Remember when a fabric store would cut less than 1/2 yard cuts? And I had all that left over fabric............come back tomorrow to see what I made.--Ann--

Out of the cupboard

 Just a little quit I made 20 some years ago. I recall I started this for a doll quilt for DD but it got too big. I think it was also one of my first attempts at free motions quilting. Looking at it close I had a flash back of practicing a zigzag free motion and moving the fabric back and forth with each stitch of the machine. I stitched around the flowers and foliage so there are some zigzags. I still love that print and it reminds me of DD in her toddler years.

The dress I sewed for her had little angel ruffles and a ruffle at the hem, it buttoned in the front and had little matching bloomers. I made the same pattern with 2 or 3 other floral prints and larger sizes.  Cherishing the memories. --Ann--

Design Wall Monday

Afterimage machine quilting was finished over the weekend!!!!! The circles just seemed to get bigger and bigger as I went. Two rows of stitching in each circle,  288 overlapping circles. I do like the over all effect. Next to cut binding and finish and maybe make matching pillowcases. If I use the  left over lengthwise strip from the borders there will be enough for pillowcases.

 Easily distracted from clearing the table to trim the quilt I put blue triangles over the tan and a couple possibilities for borders.  I think my original plan was to use tan for the corner triangles and maybe sashing between blocks but that is kinda dull okay down right boring. I like the blues better maybe they are beach balls bouncing over the waves in the deep blue sea instead of beach umbrellas. Check out the quilts at Judy's design wall Monday.  --Ann--

Quilting on Afterimage

I'm 2/3's done machine quilting. Last night I thought I must be 3/4's done, its hard to tell when is it rumpled under the sewing machine and bundled  on the table surrounding the machine and the pieced circles keep getting bigger in the center of the quilt. The goal is to finish quilting it this weekend. Projects like this brighten the gray day with the chance of more snow in the forecast. What do people do who don't quilt or knit on these long extended winters? Happy stitching--Ann--

Afterimage

 This quilt has been sitting for weeks as I pondered how to quilt it. I wanted to do circles to accentuate the curves in the piecing but I didn't have a half circle template the right size. My big pizza pan was the right measurement but  just too big to work around. Try centering a pan on the block then hold it and move the quilt and  pan under the needle. I thought I could make a template by tracing around a platter onto form core board but I knew my cut wouldn't be smooth so to clear my head I went for a walk after weeks of being lazy and it hit me like a big wet snowflake in the center of my forehead to use the templates that I used for cutting the block parts. The big triangle template with the concave and convex sides is perfect. I have to be careful not to let it get under the presser foot but it works and it is a nice size to move around the circle. And works for the inside circle too. The solutions I find to everyday problems when I go for a walk! The next problem was the template was too small to extend the circle into the border. I could only stitch 1/8 of the circle at a time and no blocks parts to guide me. I pulled out my old fashioned and most accurate easy to make and use compass. Then made a new one. This was how Grandma and Great Grandma marked their baptist fans for quilting. I used cover weight paper, I folded a 1 1/2 inch to 2 inch wide strip in half then put a pin hole at least 1/4 inch from the edge to put a pin through at the center of the circle then I punch a small hole a generous 1/4 inch from the outside of the circle for my chalk pencil then hold the pin end and swing a half circle with the chalk. Easy, accurate, cheap. Back to quilting I'm on circle 75 of 144. --Ann-- click to see design process