STRIP PIECED TABLERUNNER...........

                                 ............IN AN ASSORTMENT of fall and autumn hued fabrics.

I have an awful large amount of scraps and I store them by color in bins

underneath the longarm system for easy accessibility.

Every once in a while I like to mindlessly sew strips together and

make tablerunners.

I say mindlessly because there is not a lot of thinking or measuring involved in

making simple tablerunners.

There are 25 ...1" strips across the center of this tablerunner so I used

increments of five and did some ruler work.

No rhyme or reason to the design, just some V shapes and then arches in between.

A view of the back....which is a cute candy corn pattern.

This tablerunner is reversible.

Use the candy corn side for October and Halloween and then turn it over

and use the striped side for Autumn and Thanksgiving.

My big wooden crate full of dried gourds came in handy for these photos!

Being a shop owner I always have to be a few months ahead of the seasons.

My next project is a more formal autumn tablerunner.

I'm off to the happy quilter's loft to load it

on the longarm system right now!

Until next time........

Happy stitching everyone!

A TEACHING PROJECT............

.......on paper piecing.

I taught a class on paper-piecing.

Not sure but I think the pattern is called something like

Friendship Circle.

I like to practice ruler work on non-customer quilts.

Still trying to master the continuous line of quilting with

minimum starts and stops.

Its hard because I don't like to do too much backtracking

over previous stitching lines.

Close-up of the block.

I used a light teal/green thread and it blended

really well even on the mauve pink.

Love the texture of the quilting on the back.

I used the same teal/green for the backing even though

the picture is not showing any color.

I like to use my projects but am not sure what to do with this one....

Maybe a table topper or wallhanging....except these are not really colors I like.

Oh Darn!!!!

My next two projects are tablerunners and they are both fall-themed.

Plus, I have another applique project cut out and waiting to start.

Until next time...........

Happy stitching everyone!

HOMESPUN TABLERUNNER...........

............on and off the longarm system today.

There are 2 each of 21 different 1" fabric strips surrounded by a

blue and gray pinstripe border.

The colors a very muted and looks so old-fashioned.

The strips are assorted greens, blues, browns and tan colors.

It would look perfect in a period house.

The size is 19 x 51".

The side borders are quilted with a 3/4" beadboard pattern and

the ends are just a single row of stitching 1" apart.

I couldn't decide what to do in the center so I just did a soft, rounded zigzag

over three rows at a time.

The backing is the same pinstripe as the borders.

The quilting really shows up on the back.

Binding is a black and blue mini check.

It is all machine pieced and quilted and the binding is also machine stitched for durability.

I like to use the things I make so I make sure they are machine wash and dryable.

 

Well..........That was my project for today.

A good way to spend a rainy day in Northeast PA.

Happy Stitching everyone!!!

AN AMERICANA QUILT PATTERN......

by COUNTRY THREADS.

Since I sell patterns in my shop I like to have finished models made.

The patterns sell faster that way.

 I went thru my homespuns and flannels and put a pile on the cutting table and was able

to pick and choose to make the different units.

Don't worry.... the letters do spell something!

Americana flower blooms.

The background is pieced and I had to add the borders as I went because some of

the units get stitched on the borders.

Here is the finished top loaded on the longarm system.

Liberty Basket.......by Country Threads.

They've gone out of business but I still have some patterns available.

Because there are so many different areas separated by applique,

I decided to quilt randomly and with abandon.

No rhyme or reason...just lines here and there...circles wherever.

Circles around circles.

Some of the border is done with piano key and another section with a

type of checkerboard and clam shells on a third border.

I opted to do the borders in three different red fabrics and then thought each

color should be a different quilt style.

Don't know why the picture got turned but can't figure out how to upright it.

The backing fabric is a cute Americana print.

I'm thinking it is

 a Debbie Mumm from quite a few years ago.

And then a sneak peak at the next project in the works.

Happy Stitching Quilty Friends.....

ORIGINALSCRAPPY FEEDSACK QUILT..........

 FINISHED.

The front of the quilt is very busy so the pattern does show very well.

The back shows the quilting pattern better.

How about that zig zag border?

The top and bottom borders were straight.

It was not fun to bind the zig zags.

I had never done it before so I found a webpage that went into detail about the process.

Not as hard as it looks, it did take a good 2 hours though.

                        I outlined each offset block and then did swirl in each "arm" of the block.

I found a reproduction fabric in the color that the client requested.

A lot of the fabrics were too cutesy with ducks and bunnies but didn't fit with the overall look of the quilt. This fabric was perfect.

I like to document the journey of a quilt if I have information about it.

My client had the information I needed so I did this awesome label on the computer.

It documents the recipients through the years and in small print

I put  my information on the bottom because, of course, they didn't do longarm quilting that long ago.

And onto my next client quilt. A very simple rail fence.

the piecing on this is perfect and each "rail" is exactly the same size.

If you've ever done a quilt where the blocks vary by 1/2 to 1".....

NOT FUN!!!!

Throws off the ruler work math terribly.......

Happy Quiltmaking everyone!

IN THE PROCESS...........

..................of the big rearrangement I found this cute bunny fabric.

Actually, I found a lot of piles of projects that I meant to do and then didn't for one reason or another.

The center of this tablerunner is a solid strip 11x42" of the cute bunny fabric.

I added a 1" light border and then a 4" matching dark outer border.

Because there is no piecing of blocks it went together fairly quickly.

I immediately put it on the longarm system. The border is simple arches and the center I stitched with diagonal lines 1" apart all the way across.

The back is the same striped fabric as the inner border on the front.

I then binded it in the same green as the wider border.

I almost always bind in a darker color than the last border or the same fabric.

So.................here it is on my table.

I don't do cute and my table is round and small so it doesn't fit.

The size is approximately 19x50".

It will go into the shop in time for the Spring Open House later in April.

Happy Quilting everyone!

ONE DAY LAST WEEK.............

..............was spent tidying up the quilting loft.

All the furniture was lined up in rows and was not efficient.

I had to walk around the sewing table to get to the cutting table and there wasn't

room to walk in the aisles and I had to stand sideways to pick and choose fabrics.

The picture above is the before.

The picture below is the after. I love it!!!

Look at all the space in the center.

This space is about 15x20 feet.

To the left is a 3x5 cutting table which sits on top of counter height shelf units.

These units hold my stash, which is stacked by color.

Straight ahead is my 30" by 8 foot sewing table, lots of room to lay out blocks etc.

right in front of the sewing table is a design wall and there are currently

two applique quilts hanging there waiting for borders.

To the left between the two tables is the ironing board.

Beyond the ironing board is a half wall to the kitchen and right over that half wall is the sink so I can reach over to fill my iron without having to leave the ironing station.

On the right side of the room is my longarm system.

And another design wall beyond the longarm.

Underneath the longarm system are baskets organized by color and they hold scraps.

This is a little cubby space with more shelf unit with more fabric stash.

I have a shoe rack on the back of the door for thread storage.

The door goes down the back stairs into the shop.

Another cubby space on the other side of the stairs and that's where I have batting rolls.

Shelf units under the cutting table holding green, red and blue fabrics.

Well............there you have it.

My happy place.

Since I rearranged I have finished two client quilts......

two tablerunners.........

loaded another client quilt on the longarm system.........

designed the layout for a butterscotch hued queen quilt top........

cut fat quarters for the shop........

and about twelve other things on the to-do list.

Whew..........I'm tired!!!

Happy Quilting everyone!

An ORIGINAL 1920'S QUILT............

........on the longarm system today.

 The blocks are in really bad shape.

I had to go over them and trim off all the torn patches and it was most of some of the blocks.

I had to trim around the hand quilting that was already done.

The quilting is like 5 stitches to an inch.

see picture below too.........

This is the back.

It is pieced with original feedsacks and they are in really good shape.

No tears or worn sections at all.

My client got this quilt from a family member so it has sentimental value to her and she wants to use the quilt for display so my solution was to cover the very worn out front

with backing and use the original back as the front.

Does that make sense?

Since the quilt was already layered and quilted (and heavy) I did not use batting when I added the new backing.

I rolled the new backing on the longarm and put the worn pieced side of the quilt face-down  and proceeded to "quilt" (see above picture).

Every 6" I quilted a little half flower across the width and then rolled down 6"

 and quilted another row.

The original maker used two tablecloths for the batting.

So my quilt sandwich consisted of

new backing

pieced blocks

tablecloth

tablecloth

original feedsack pieced backing

and my machine handled it like the queen that she is!

My next project is also an original early 1900's quilt top from a client

who inherited it from a family member.

This one is just the top so I will be able to have some fun with it.

Until next time...........

HAPPY QUILTING!!!

TABLETOPPER REDONE.............

 .................INTO A WALLHANGING OR COUCH THROW.

First...see the lace around the edge....that had to come off!

There is no batting in the layers but there is a pieced top and a backing.

It was hand quilted with a big stitch just enough to hold the layers together.

A label on the back identified the maker as Peggy F_____.

I don't want to put her full name in case she doesn't want her name on the net.

Also....there are places that are stiff where I believe a spray adhesive was used.

Which led me to think it was never washed.

This is the before.............

 ..................and after the longarm magic.

See how it hangs funny on the left side? Well....when I loaded the quilt on my longarm system, I make sure it is straight across the top.

So I'm going along, happily quilting and rolling, quilting and rolling....

I get to the bottom of the quilt and it is a good two inches or more longer on the left side....WHAT????

Do I leave it or do I trim it?

I decided to leave it.....trimming it would have made the border look awkward...6" on one side and then tapering down to 3" on the other.

I don't know....what would you have done?

 A little detail.

This was hard to quilt because there seemed to be too much fabric.

Maybe that's why the one side was too long.

I had to work in the extra so my plan to do geometric ruler work wouldn't look that good.

 Some more detail.

I used cotton batting and another backing because I wasn't going to spend the time to remove the hand quilting. My longarm handled it beautifully. Even thru the stiff adhesive

And the back...

Love the texture.

I hope my client loves it.

What a difference.

I have already loaded another quilt on the longarm from the same client.

This is one she inherited and its from the early 1900's and it shows.

So until next time...........

HAPPY QUILTMAKING!!!