Hillbilly Hookup finished!

Come on in and sit a spell while I tell Ya'll about this here quilt!

That sounded as if it came right out of my granny's mouth.  I was lucky enough to spend lots of time with both of my grandmothers.  They were country girls with a southern way of life.  Southern meaning Kentucky backwoods style. Visiting them meant listening to endless hours of funny stories.  I'm not sure if the stories were really funny or just the way they told them.  

Well lets get back to the quilt I'm calling Hillbilly Hookup.   It's a Double Wedding Ring made with string piecing instead of the normal oddball arcs  piecing.   I made an applique template from the arc and omitted the connecting corners, replacing them with a huge Posy. 

Using one large piece of fabric I marked grid for placing the arcs.  After glue basting the arcs and Posies in place I used my sewing machine to make a very tiny blanket stitch with invisible thread.

It came out so cuddly and soft with the minimal quilting done on the Domestic Machine.  The Posies are FM quilting so don't look at the stitch length.  At first I started quilting with stitch in the ditch.  The planned changed when I couldn't stay in the ditch.  So  I ripped out the stitches and changed my stitch plan to outlining the blocks.  The backing is from my older stash.  The fabric was purchased from an estate sale years ago.  I have about 6 more yards of it!

Look how fluffy she is, and that's a low loft poly batting.  I talked earlier in the week about getting back to the basics of quilting.  There were so many of you that expressed your dislike for the quilt it to death quilts, which shocked me.  I'm not saying I'm never going to quilt it death again because I love the look of them.  But I think I'll be doing a lot more of the"less is more" quilting.

While I was folding it look what I found.  Dirt from my outdoor photos. GRRRR....The things we do to get a good picture.  I hope its not grease. 

There's some linky party's today.  

Richard and Tayna Quilts, Link a finish Friday

and

Can I get a Whoop Whoop@Confessions of a fabric addict

~  Lea Anne ~

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Getting back to the basics

Happy Snowy Monday!  We're setting snow accumulation records here in Podunk for the month of March.  In our little spot of the woods the snow piled up to about 8 inches on top of the 5 inches already on the ground.  But it's still not warm enough for a snowman.  The snow is like powder.  I think by this afternoon that should change.  Anyone else playing in the snow today?

Since I couldn't build a snowman(boohoo) most of the weekend was spent quilting.  I managed to get all the applique machine stitched in place.  Now for the quilting.

My new walking foot is so bulky and I can't see a darn thing when I use it so today I'm trying out the open toe foot.   I really wish they made a walking foot with the open toe, it would make stitch in the ditch so much easier.

 The keep it simple quilting will make for a quick finish.  I don't feel like dealing with quilting on the frame lately.  Sometimes it's good to get back to the basics, don't you think?  It takes me back to my early days of quilting, long before I knew longarm quilt machines existed.  Oh don't get me wrong I still love the "quilted to death" quilts.  But sometimes it nice to just let a quilt be a quilt and let the quilt design do all the talking instead of the fancy quilting.   And this bright quilt has a lot to say!   

Maybe someday I can really get back to the basics by hand quilting a quilt....

Maybe.  So tell me what's your thoughts on quilting?  Do you like your quilts to be quilted to death, lightly quilted, tied, or hand quilted?

I found a new to me linky over at Hug-a-Bit Quilts.  Hop on over and share some quilty love!

and another new to me linky is MCM@Cookingupquilts
Hope to see you there!

And don't forget Judy's Design Wall Monday over at PatchworkTimes

~ Lea Anne ~

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Flimsy Friday

 I'm loving the snow!  My studio gets brighter earlier in the day due to the sun reflecting off the snow.  This is how I started my day.   So bright and happy, it  washes away any gloomy and glum cabin fever blues that might be lurking about.  

 When I started making strings last week I didn't plan on making a Wedding Ring quilt, but...failure on Plan A.  Onto Plan B which I pulled out of thin cold air.   My attempts at piecing the blocks ended in disaster.  Good thing there's always a Plan C that doesn't require so much pinning.  If you look closely at the picture below you can see where I marked a grid on a solid piece of fabric.  100 % applique.  All I had to do was add glue to an arc and press.  Much easier than a bazillion pins.

Add a few posies....

Now all I need to do is do an invisible machine stitch around ALL of it! 

Why can't I get a good picture of this quilt.  Maybe its because it's so bright.

When all else fails...put on your husbands boots and brave the weather.

Hmmm...the colors are still showing brighter than real life.

Oh well you get the idea.  She's happy and bright and puts a big ole smile on my face.  

Found another new to me Linky Party over at Modern Tradition Quilts, hop on over and link up.   You could win a free pattern if your project is featured next week!

~ Lea Anne ~

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