Getting Out

I spend a lot of time at home either in my studio quilting and designing or on my computer writing patterns and taking care of business.  So I don't get out much. I'm not complaining, because I love what I am doing.  Ten years ago I never imagined that my live if quilting would turn into a more than full time job. I consider myself extremely lucky. 

Last week I attended the monthly board meeting for my quilt guild. I'm the Orogram Chair. The hostess, Pat Barton, was in my Perfect Pillow class at MAQ this summer. I was in her kitchen eyeing the snacks and when I looked up to admire her screened in porch, look what I saw. 

They were just beautiful. 

Most mornings, I meet my wonderful friend Hattie at Ridkey Creek State park to walk our 5 mile loop (with Bailey too). Driving into the park this week, there's a stunning sunrise veiled with the morning fog. I drive by the stables to 

I know one day, this view will be the subject of one if my quilts. 

When I arrived at the parking lot, I was greeted with another Curvalicious creation.

It continues to amaze and excite me to see quilters using Curvalicious and to see their designs and fabric selections. ( and yes, I am still getting orders from the shout out from The Quilt Show).

Now I did have to go to Home Goods to buy some sheets. This is an awesome time of year to shop there. Tons of items for college bound kids plus lots of stuff for Halloween. I did buy Bailey an adorable costume for both Halloween and the New Year's Eve day dachshund parade in Key West. I'll save her the humiliation of modeling it for now. But I brought home a new friend. 

I think she's adorable. While I'm deciding whether to keep it inside or put it outside and whether to use it for a mum or candy, I thought my girlfriend would look cute in it. 

She doesn't look too unhappy. 

Finally, The Wedding Quilt

I can finally share the quilt that I made for my son and his new wife. (I was surprised when I found out that sometimes she reads my blog!) This was the first quilt that I made using my new favorite scrap pattern from Moda. Two great things - you cut up all the fabric into 2 1/2" x 7" rectangles. Can't be easier than that. The second great thing is that the pattern is free on Moda's website.

I was saving a bunch of fat quarters for another project that never materialized. The colors were perfect for their house. I just kept sewing until most of the rectangles were used up. That's the beauty of this pattern. I just had to make sure that the braid strips were the same length. I have to add that when I sewed the long braid strips together, I intentionally offset where the rectangles met. If I had to match all of those points, I would have had no hair left by the time I was done. Moda's pattern does the same thing.

One of my goals was also to make it a heavy quilt. My son thinks it would be perfect if a quilt could be as heavy as that lead apron they put on you when you get x-rays at the dentist. The batting I chose was Hobbs Heirloom wool batting and then a flannel for the backing. That quilt turned out to be really heavy.

Before the quilt is quilted, I put a label on the back. I used the label from their wedding announcement. I know everyone has heard it before, but it is so important to document your quilts. Using your computer to make the label becomes such a simple thing.

After printing the label, I frame it out with some leftover strips from the top, add triangles to the corner. It is then fused to the backing and I stitch around it with a machine blanket stitch. Easy.

My wonderful long arm quilter, Susie Racobaldo quilted it for me. She doesn't have a website, but if you want her e-mail, contact me.

Then my buddy helped me to bind it. I really had to squeeze that fabric for the binding. I used the border fabric but had to also use a bit of another fabric. But you would never know unless you looked for it.

I headed to the dollar store to get a gift back. I just try not to use wrapping paper anymore. It kills me that you buy it, spend the time wrapping it and then as soon as it is unwrapped, it gets thrown away. On my way there, it dawned on me that for the same price, I could run into Home Goods and get a reusable bag.

These bags are just gorgeous and perfect for the gift giving of a quilt, and they cost 99c. So I bought all of these. And they have a snap at the top, too. I really don't care that the store name is visible. I think they're gorgeous.

And finally, here's the quilt!

I think they liked it.