Fall Rag Pillows

I saw some Fall rag pillows on a quilting forum and decided to make a couple of my own this afternoon. These are very fast and easy to make, it only took a couple of hours to make these. I had a couple of 14" pillow forms on hand, so made them to fit those. Happy Fall, everyone! :)

Finishing up a customer's "manly" quilt this morning

I'm working on finishing up the quilting of a customer's "manly" quilt top this morning.  I really like the fabrics that she used in this quilt and the pattern as well.  I'm doing a variety of quilting on this one, a panto in the outer border area, outline stitching in the piano key border, small meandering in the black borders, and a different, curvy panto in the inner top area across all the blocks.  This one is big, 95" x 113", and I had to turn it 90 degrees after doing the initial quilting and re-pin it to do the other border areas.  I like how it's turning out, a "manly" quilt that this man likes!  :)

Quilt finished for Bella

I recently finished quilting this quilt for a fellow member of the Arkansas Quilters Guild.  She made it for her little niece, Bella, and the colors are bright, bright, bright!  She wanted Bella's name somehow in the quilt, so I suggested that I could write her name with fabric strips as shown after it was quilted.  I really like the personalized look of a quilt when doing this, it adds a nice touch.

A fun, fun day!

Today was a very fun day.  I'm a member of the Arkansas Quilters Guild and each December we have a member auction where a few members of the guild will offer themselves for auction so that the highest bidder gets to spend the day with them in their studio, have lunch, etc.  One of those members who was auctioned was Jim Gatling and he had a twist to his offer - whoever won him could bring 11 of their friends as well!  Geannine won that bid and she asked if I'd like to come along as one of the lucky dozen.  Wow, didn't take me long to reply back with an enormous YES!!!  So today was spent at Jim's house, touring his fascinating home, enjoying a delicious lunch, and then spending the afternoon sitting and sewing with him and good friends.  It was a perfect day.  Thanks Geannine for asking me to join y'all, and thank you Jim for opening your home to us today.  It was wonderful!!!!  :)

(Jim Gatling, one of the most creative and interesting persons that I have ever met!)

And after spending the day at Jim's, our carload of folks decided to make a stop through a local quilting store, The Stitchin' Post, on the way home.  We arrived a little after 4:00, which was after their 4:00 closing time (we thought it was 5:00!), but they let us come in anyway.  Nice folks!  I bought 8+ yards of Blackbird Designs' "Garden Party" line (the grays) that were on sale for 50% off.  Love a good sale!!  Melissa bought an applique book, Leah bought a pattern, and Donna bought some Sulky threads for the hibiscus flower quilting on a top she's working on. Great way to end a day!  :)

Another "Winter Garden" block done - "Coxcomb"

Here's a pic of the second Winter Garden block that I've done (color is kind of washed out, not a good pic).  This one is called "Coxcomb".  It is only fused down at this point, I need to machine stitch the edges next.  This is the last one that will have the deep purples for the flower heads and buds.  The rest will have a deep red in them (see fabrics in second pic).  I'm pretty much following the color choices from the pattern, but making a few alterations here and there.

I've been refining the color palette for this quilt a little.  I've added in the purples and reds you see at the bottom of the pic, and removed the blues.  I had intended to use those blues for the birds that I have planned for the borders, but I'm going to do them in blacks now instead, i.e., Blackbird Designs.  :)  Quilting is an art form and art is all about change and adapting as we develop the piece, so we make adjustments as we go along.  Sometimes minor, sometimes major.  But if something isn't working for you, shake it up and make a change.