Bloggers Quilt Festival

Hi and welcome!!!  

This is my second time entering the Blogger's Quilt Festival at AmysCreativeSide.  I think it is a wonderful chance for quilters of all levels to participate in an online quilt show. Also it is alot of fun and so inspirational to check out everyone's entries.

My entry this time is a quilt I made in honor of my 7 year old grandson doing his first Walk for a cure walk. I am so very proud of him and didn't think just donating money was enough so I made this quilt for them to raffle off. I actually surprised myself on so many levels making this!  The free motion quilting in the center is something I never even dared to try much less with no pattern. If you have followed any of my postings you will know that I am new to machine quilting. I do it on my home machine and just started this past spring. I got this idea in my head for a design and how I managed to make it still totally amazes me!  LOL I did manage to do it though, and am pretty proud of it.

details of center of  quilt

at the walk

They were pleased with it and made alot more money on it than I thought possible so all went well.

My daughter, Melissa and grandson , Noah at the walk. Noah was the second highest earner on his team!! Yay Noah!!!

So anyway :) the details. 

quilt size 60 x 60

pieced and quilte by me :)

machine pieced and quilted on home machine

categories  throw quilt

                  machine quilted on home machine

Thanks so much for stopping and make sure to visit all the quilts !!

hugs and blessings 

Kate

100 Quilts for Kids

Hi ! It has been awhile ..... I have been busy working on my quilts for the 100 Quilts for Kids project  that Katie is sponsoring at Swim, Bike, Quilt . I have a few in the process and I was going to wait to post them at the same time but I am waiting on a new foot for my machine so only posting one.  You still have time to link up for this, it is a wonderful project that will make alot of kids feel good.

I have a problem when I am working on a project, I don't like to show it till everything is done. I have parts to several projects done and I feel funny posting them till the whole thing is complete. Crazy huh?

Anyway, here is my quilt for kids :)   I made it using an assortment of frog prints and white Kona. The backing I bought on Ebay. It is a Free Spirit fabric. The place I got it puts all kinds of fabrics on sale for 1.84 yd. You cant beat that for backing fabric. If anyone wants the name of the place let me know and I will give it to you.

I know it is VERY green!! LOL seems like all the frog prints come in green!!

I am doing a little better on the free motion. I am enjoying it alot too. I really didn't think that I would but I do.  I am not panicking now and that helps :)  Just a matter of lots more practicing.

I hope everyone is enjoying the fall. I am in NH and the leaves are changing and the night are cool and the air so fresh and crisp. I think it has to be my favorite season.  We are going leave peeping in a the next week or so when it reaches peak and I will post some pictures for you. Running up the coastline with the foliage on one side and the ocean on the other is just so beautiful.  This is the time of year when I miss being able to just walk around and do what I want. blah.... I would be in the kitchen cooking up a storm, fresh apple crisps, home made soups from all the harvests. The house use to smell so good with the cooking. I don't know what it is about fall that makes me want to cook!!  I am also hoping to get down to Salem Mass to all the witch houses. When it gets closer to Halloween it is fantastic there. So much going on. I will take pictures of that for you too.  Hopefully I will develop some better camera skills over the next month :)  I miss my old simple to use camera. It was easy, no adjusting all the time and took fantastic pictures. Why do they have to complicate everything?

Well I hope you all have a great day and pleasant sewing experiences !!

hugs and blessings

Kate

Fun Tutorials

I don't know how many of you watch Jenny at the Missouri Star Quilt Shop, she makes the best video tutorials I have seen.  I thought it would be fun today to share some of my favorites with you.
These are all beginner ones with some great ideas. I hope you enjoy!!
Have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!!
Kate

 

 

Half Square Triangles

 



 

Tube Tutorial

Hour glass block

 

Dresden plate

 

Panels !!

I meant to post this right after the last post but I have had several down days and am now finally getting to it, Sheesh, I hate feeling like I am running so behind!

I really like panels. I know alot of people consider them cheating but I think they can really add alot to your quilts. It gives you alot more options as far as showing scenes. I have a few projects coming up to share with you done with panels.

This quilt was made from the Sea of Dreams collection by South Sea Imports. My youngest grandson picked it out for his quilt when the fabric first came out.  When they came to visit a few weeks ago, his little face just lit up and he was MINE! That one is mine! I was surprised he remembered it but he did. He carried it all over and insisted to sleep with it. I hope when he goes home he remembers that is is full of love and hugs every time he uses it.

The back 

The quilting  free motion is getting a bit easier )

Nathan with his quilt :)

So, what do you all think of panels? Do you use them? I did add several borders too it but he was just in love with all the animals in the ark

Many blessings and have a wonderful week!!

Kate

I'm back =)

The red, the white and the blue.....done!

Hi ! I didn't mean to stay away so long but life happens as we all know. My grandsons came to visit last week and I had promised to make them both quilts. They both picked out just what they wanted and several months ago I got started. For some reason the deadline was getting close to them coming and they were no where near ready. Noah ( the oldest one ) wanted a red , white and blue quilt and even picked the pattern. For some reason this quilt would not cooperate with me at all!! I ripped it out and ripped it out till I had to stop before there was no fabric left :)  As you can see the stars didn't turn out to be stars.

I used a Superior Rainbow thread in red, white and blue to do the quilting. This is my first actual free motion quilt where it is done start to finish with nothing other than the free motion. (May I add ... the next time I try to stuff a full size quilt through my sewing machine to quilt it when I don't know what I am doing ... hit me in the head, PLEASE!!! )

the back has the Pledge of Allegiance 

with blue borders

of course I filled it with lots of hiding hearts and his name!

There are a lot of jigs and jags in my quilting as you can see. At first I ripped them out every time and finally I gave in and acknowledged there is a learning curve and it will take time to make it all nice. In the end he was thrilled with it. He had it with him everywhere in the house and slept with it, hugged it, and told me how much he loved it a dozen or so times :) He never even noticed the jigs! That made it all worth it!

In the next day or two I will post about the little ones quilt :)

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Kate

And the winner is..........

Welcome to all my new followers! I hope to have alot of good stuff in store for you and many more giveaways in the future. With so many wonderful comments I feel bad that everyone couldn't win. Thank you to all who stopped by and entered.
So anyway the winner of my first giveaway is.........

BonnieJuly 16, 2012 5:10 AM

I am a new follower. Your block is great. After reading through your blog I am inspired by your spirit. Thanks for the chance to win.

I will be emailing you today :)

Red, White and Blue Blog Hop and GIVEAWAY!!!!

                                                             




Welcome everyone to the last day of the blog hop and I am so very happy you are here! I am a pretty new blogger and this is my first hop so I would sincerely like to thank Mdm Samm and Jane from Janes Fabric and Quilts  for letting me be a part of this wonderful hop. It has been 16 days of fabulously creative and inspiring blocks all done in red, white and blue and I have had a great time following all of it.
So, anyway, here we go!!
I only did one block ( and I am seriously jealous after seeing Mdm Samms blocks for today LOL )
Even though I only did 1, I hope you like it.

This was super easy and fun to make. It is a 12 1/2" square. I used 4 white on white fabrics for the center. I cut 2 strips of each color 1 1/2 " x 8 1/2" and sewed them together. I then cut 20 2 1/2" squares of assorted red prints to put around it. I found a star pattern in one of the quilting magazines and used it for the center. This was my first time machine appliqueing and I really liked it. I just did a simple blanket stitch on it. I quilted it using a varigaded blue thread. I don't think I would use this thread again though as I don't like the spacing on the color change.

I am currently working on a red, white and blue patriotic quilt for my 7 year old grandson that he requested, so I turned this into a little hanging he can put on his door.

So, now on to the giveaway. I have 3  1/2 yd cuts of Kona cotton in red, white and blue. You will get 1/2 yd  of each color. That way if you are so inspired to make any of the beautiful blocks in this hop you will be ready to go!

All you need to do to enter is become a follower and leave me a message in comments telling me that you did. That's it ;)  
Here is the line up for today's hop, make sure to stop by to see them all !

July 16th
PolkaDotClassic

Patchouli Moon Studio

little bits quilting  ( you are here )

busy as can be

Madame Samm

Thank you all for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the visit, I just loved having you!!

Kate