Unavailable

My backing fabric from Hancock of Paducah which has been on back order is no longer available.  My order has been cancelled.  I went online to see where else I can find this fabric.  It's back ordered EVERYWHERE!  Fabrics.com won't have a new order until JULY!  Keepsake-quilting.com won't have it until Mar. 18 (maybe.)  I finally found a little shop in Minnesota that had it!  I ordered it right away, and have received an email that it is shipped and I should have it in 2 or 3 business days!  LIFE IS GOOD!!

Painted Lady's Outer Border

I have put on the outer borders of the Painted Lady quilt.  I had to order more of this fabric since the original kit didn't include any for an "outer border" (I changed the design!)  I was worried that this fabric would be a different dye lot than the original, it even came from a different shop.  But the worry was in vain because the colors matched up wonderfully and it looks amazing.  These pictures don't seem to do justice at all to the actual beautiful colors of this quilt!  There will be just the binding to go around, it will be the dark blue of the inner border and the "domes".  However, I have to wait for MORE fabric to arrive, it is back ordered so I'm not sure when I will get it.  It is the backing fabric.  I just ordered it a few days ago because I wasn't sure just what I wanted to do with the backing.  However, when my border fabric arrived from Hancock's of Paducah (check them out sometime!), they also sent me a FABULOUS CATALOG of a gazillion fabrics!  There were so many beautiful choices, it was difficult to decide!  I finally decided on the recommended backing fabric because I have snippets of it in the sashing strips, but they are so small you don't actually get the beauty or flavor of that fabric.  I'll post a picture when the fabric arrives.  In the meantime, here is a picture of the Painted Lady with her beautiful border.

Painted Lady

Let me introduced you to my latest project:  The Painted Lady.  I saw this quilt in a catalog and and knew I had to make it for my Granddaughter Anna.  She'll be 13 in April and I think this is perfect for her!  It came in a kit, but of course, I had to change the fabrics and fancy it up.  It was a smallish quilt, the kit finishes off at 53 x 61.  I recently bought a book about pieced borders, and I've been excited to try them out.  This was the perfect opportunity to kill  two birds with one stone--Try out a pieced border AND enlarge the Painted Lady quilt.  I've been working steadily ever since.  Did I say "working"??  This is NOT work, this is FUN!  I love making quilts and trying out new fabrics and ideas.  Wheee!

Here is the Painted Lady as it (size-wise) from the kit:  (Colors are a little different too.)

Here is the Painted Lady with it's new pieced border!

There is still one more border to go, the rose colored that you see inside the "V's" of the pieced border.  Then the binding.  It will end up somewhere around 84 x 72.  Perfect!

So you see, I HAVE been busy, this whole quilt going together in a month!  Whooo hoooo!

New home for Moon Glow

I haven't blogged in a month???  Yikes!  You'll think I've been slacking!  But  fear not, faithful readers!  I've been hard at it!

First, I took a trip to Colorado to install the Moon glow in its new home with Dianne.  She was surprised because I had told her it was for someone else so I could get her honest opinion about it.  (Remember, I thought the colors were too dark...)  She loved it then and she loves it even more now since it has taken up residence in her new home.

So, say "fare ye well, Moon Glow" and see how nice it looks on Dianne and Larry's new bed!

MoonGlow Borders

Well, now that that holidays are past, I can get back to the business of quilting!  First of all, I HAVE been working on the quilt during the holidays, just didn't take the time to blog about it.  I finished the MoonGlow, actually, and am taking it to Denver where I will be giving it to my daughter, Dianne.  I admit, when I saw the MoonGlow quilt, I just knew I had to make it for her.  But when the kit arrived, I felt the fabrics were too dark and worried that she might not like it.  So I showed her a picture of it and asked her opinion, telling her that it was for someone else.  She agreed that it was dark.  So I chose some lighter fabrics and substituted them in for the darker ones, and asked her opinion again and now she liked it a lot!  OH YAY!  So I had a renewed enthusiasm for it, and worked hard on it so it would be ready for  her for Christmas.  Alas, I had some set-backs, and so this Xmas present has turned into a Housewarming Present, and I can't wait to give it to her!

Here is a picture of the quilting on the borders.  I wanted to give the effect of moon rays shining out of the quilt.  so I came up with these zigzags.  The total finished look is not exactly what I had in mind, but it looks nice too.

One final important detail before I can wrap the quilt and give it away...  I had to roll it with a link brush!  One of the disadvantages of having dogs is that they shed.  And that hair goes where you don't want it to, sometimes.  I had to get all the dog hair off the quilt!  Dianne has a cat, so I know it will eventually be "hairy" again, but at least, to start, I want it perfectly clean!  IT TOOK HOURS to remove all the dog hair!  Labs have barbed fur, and it just doesn't "come out!"  Each hair has to be picked out individually.  Ok, maybe not EVERY hair, but close!  Anyway, it is done, it looks beautiful, and I can't wait to give it to her!  

I love you, Dianne!  <hugs!>

Feathers and Ferns

Quilting the Moon Glow is progressing.  I am trying to make feathers in the log cabin blocks but it's not as easy as I thought it would be.  My "feathers" are looking more like "ferns."  It is going well, though, and the results are acceptable.  Not perfect, but it's the thought that counts, right!?  The hard part is rotating the quilt 90 degrees to do the next section.   Here's how it looks:

Working Away

This monster quilt is definitely a challenge!  It's BIG.  Hard to turn and maneuver through the sewing machine.  It's not pinned as tightly as it should be either, thanks to that foam pad, so I have to stretch each section as I go, first the top, then flip it over and make sure the back is also tight.  The first section I quilted, I didn't do that. I just assumed that if the front was stretched, the back would be also.  Nope.  I had to rip it all out and re-adjust the pins and start again.  I learned my lesson!  So I have to flip the quilt a lot but it's better than tearing out quilting stitches.  I make a little "runway" between the seams where I want to sew, and make sure both sides are tight along that path.  It works pretty well.

The quilt is HEAVY too.  It falls off the table, and the weight of it pulls the quilt against the needle.  I have to work hard to keep it on the table, piled up close to the sewing machine.  I need a bigger table or a smaller quilt!