Finished?

I think I can call this piece done now. I might dabble a tiny bit more, but I am giving it a rest before I make any changes. Here is a photo where it is almost done:

And here is the finished quilt I call "Late Summer Riverbed"

I could probably tweak this and that for years and never be totally satisfied! lol Remember, you can click on the picture to see a larger and more detailed view!

Dry Days

The temps are still in the 100's and are supposed to be until late this week.
I am working on my landscape quilt.

Back on the Bandwagon!!!

Some of you may recall that my muse had gone missing. Some of you offered wonderful suggestions on how to find her! I am happy to announce that she has been showing up again! In fact, over the past forty-eight hours, she's exploded in my studio!

I made six bags out of some happy-birthday novelty fabric I had, to take to the store to sell. Some were just plain drawstring types and some were origami bags. Sorry, I forgot to take photos! Someday I will take a photo of my little mini-booth at the store to show you what it looks like.

I am also working on a block-of-the-month for the guild for August's meeting. It has a lot of applique work and it is not a block pattern that I picked out. It has been very challenging for me to do! I have to attach the flowers and flower centers by hand yet:

An idea popped into my head for the landscape challenge too:

I worked on one of the accent strips for the U is for Unicorn quilt:

Meanwhile, outside, we have rather large moles, digging up our yard:

Last but not least are two of the blocks I am making for Anna Maria Horner's cause, RAINBOW AROUND THE BLOCK. She is asking for 12.5" blocks to help victims of the flooding in Tennessee. Click on the link if you want to help too. You don't have to be a quilter or make a block to help either! I did decide to make blocks though, and here are two of mine so far:

I plan to cut them and make them into a Disappearing Nine-Patch block.

PHEW! It is SO good to have my muse back! I feel better too.

Quilt on, Piece out,

FINALLY UN-STUCK!!!

Silly me...I can't believe how RELIEVED I am, to be moving forward on this quilt! I was inspired by the blogger who is doing 365 days of free-motion quilting. I decided to try my hand at doing different designs on my quilt too! Many are my own ideas and of course I am inspired to adapt several of Leah Day's ideas too!

I must admit, I am having FUN with this!

Remember the trouble I reported about the thread breaking so much? I re-read Sarah Ann Smith's book "Thread Work - Unraveled" to see if she had some hints about the problems I was having. She DID! I was using a good quality metallic thread on top. I already did have the correct needle (thanks CJ for suggesting that too). So what was the culprit? The bobbin thread! It was too thick!!!

I tried monofillement and that cut the metallic thread right away. What has worked for me is a thin Gutermann cotton thread in the bobbin. I think a polyester might have worked even better, but I didn't have any in the right color. The Gutermann I had was the thinnest thread, in the correct color. So far, so good too!

Related to this specific quilt is something I recently heard about. Did you know that if you share your quilt photos online in ANY way, that SOME places will not accept your entry in their contests or shows? I did not know that. You cannot show progress reports nor the finished quilt without risking being disqualified. We will find out if that is the case with this project. I am not going back and pulling out all my photos from my blog!

I am close to halfway done with the quilting today. I did some yesterday too. I took a break to make supper. Here are the helpful males in my house, doing what they love to do...gaming!

(Moqui, the Child, and the Dad)

Procrastinating

Ok, I admit it. I am stuck. I am avoiding several projects at hand because I am just not sure how I should proceed. OR I am not wanting to face the intricate work on the Unicorn Quilt. I decided to just take a few photos of random thoughts.

First up is a pattern that I was trying to sell. It is one of Karen Stone's and is paper pieced. I have also been trying to figure out what to do with the leftover old fashioned fabric strips. I have the idea that perhaps I should challenge myself to make the pattern, using the leftover fabrics!
Next up is that challenge quilt. I have agonized over how to finish it. I am not as worried about the borders as I am trying to make it unique. My latest idea is to put little fabric buttons on it.
This next photo isn't because I am procrastinating. I just wanted to put up some of my cathedral window blocks because it is so pretty! I am doing most of the sewing by hand and plan to spend a few years on making it. It looks like it has little jewels in it, doesn't it? :) I work on this a little every night while watching TV. I usually get two colored squares sewn down, per night.
At my Pfaff machine, I have the last letter block to make and then a bunch of accent blocks for the U is for Unicorn quilt. I am not working on it though, because it is VERY labor intensive.
At the Juki I have the Cathedral Window block backgrounds. (white muslin) This is the only part I am machine sewing. I stopped in the middle of doing them because the bobbin ran out. To the right are scraps that I am using when I start and stop. I plan to sew them together and make little blocks out of them. The fabric is mostly from the Cathedral Window quilt centers. The fabric is just too pretty and bright to throw away!
Here is a shot, looking out my studio window. There is snow on the ground. This is rare for central Arkansas. It should be perfect sewing weather but instead I am blogging. lol

Flippin' Out

Who would have thought that it could take WEEKS to decide on the layout for this wall-hanging? Well, I guess you don't know me if you can't answer that one! lol I *think* I have it down to one of these two: