Friday Finishes

Back in January I deicided to take a break from quilting on the frame.  Feathers and ruler work require lots planning and marking.  I was sick of it!  Well my quilty groove is back.  Today I feel like quilting every quilt top in my Studio.  I know this feeling will soon pass, but if feels good at the moment.  Here's the little quilt (48x48) I designed a few weeks ago for my new granddaughter.  She was born last Sunday.  It may be a little to fancy and white for a newborn but what the heck.

  

If you look closely you can still see my blue markings.  Most longarm quilting gals can remember their quilting designs without needing to mark, I'm not quite that talented.  

The best thing about feather quilting....THE BACK!  Two quilts in one.

Oh yes there's more quilt finishes.  I'm so glad this one is done and can be shipped far, far away from my studio.  Not one of my favorite quilts or color pallet, but the grandkids will love it.

  

Here's a shot of the back, it's ugly also.

This ugly fabric just keeps multiplying....so I made another quilt.  The backing is just more of the ugly stuff.

A couple of reversible treat bags.  They're identical, I reversed one so you could see the inside fabric.

Everything is washed and ready to ship to the young'ens. 

I'm linking up at the following places

A Quarter Inch from the edge

Richard and Tanya Quilts

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Michelle's Romantic Tangle

A Quilted Passion

~ Lea Anne ~

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Throwback Thursdays " In the Pink" Series quilt #1

Since this is Breast Cancer Awareness month it only seems appropriate to share a few of my pink quilts.  First let me do a little shout out to Krista for hosting the Throwback Thursdays for quilters.  You can find the link up at KristaQuilts every Thursday.  It's been fun seeing the quilts that have inspired quilters over the years and seeing the changes in quilt styles.   Hearing the tales of quilting woes and how they fixed them also seems to be a weekly theme.  I invite you to join us in our weekly walk down memory lane, you never know when you might be inspired or find some good quilting advice.

My "In the Pink" quilts are gifted to a Cancer survivor/patient.  Not all the quilts are pink, but the tradition of me making a quilt for cancer patients started with a Breast Cancer Quilt. 

Now let me say... this quilt was made long before my blogging days.  My photography skills were worse than my quilting skills.  Anyway...Mom had requested a quilt for a co-worker that survived breast cancer.  The pattern is Pink Ribbon from the Quilterscache.  If I were to make this quilt again the ribbon block would be reworked with fewer pieces and I think an Irish Chain block would look nicer as the alternating block.  Many different issues happened during the quilt construction.  I can't remember all of them, but I do remember being glad to finally finish and send it on its way.  One of the problems was cutting and piecing the flying geese blocks.  I cut all the pieces for these block in one night, and I cut them all the wrong size.  Just to make things worse there wasn't enough fabric to re-cut.   If you compare the quilt blocks below with my quilt blocks you'll see that mine has fewer geese and a smaller center.    All I remember is cussing a lot and reworking the block.  What you can't see in the fuzzy picture above is the machine embroidered words on each ribbon....Faith, Hope, Cure, Love and a couple more that slip my mind.  At this stage in my quilting life I didn't know how to FM quilt so the quilting was a simple outlining the shapes using my Domestic Machine.

See you next Thursday when I share my 

"Flying into the Pink" quilt.  A great quilt with an even better story.

~ Lea Anne ~

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Podunk Pickin's #9 (2 giveaways!)

My current work in progress.

   

Podunk Pickin's is all about sharing your tutorials and tips that are sewing or quilting related.  My tip this week is "get out of your comfort zone".  This could mean many things.  If you find yourself giving excuses of why you can't do this or that, then you are limiting yourself.  When I bought my BHQ above I told myself I can't quilt like the gals with $30,000 machines.  And you know what I couldn't.  But one day I made up my mind... I was going to make amazing quilts with my what some called "junk" machine.  And I made the quilt below, Summer Romance.  You can see more of it here.  Not bad for a frame quilting machine that is consider a hunk of junk in the quilting community.  It took many months of online research about "Issues" that would arise while using my BHQ.   Many of the tips were from gals who owned the expensive machine.  The same rules apply to cheap machines or your domestic machine.  And I know what your thinking, you think I was artistic long before quilting.  NOPE!  Stick men were about all I could manage.  This transformation didn't happen overnight.  It took months, not years, to train my brain and muscles.  Practicing every day on paper, dry erase boards, doodling while on the phone.  So get out of that comfort zone, try some applique, or paper piecing, maybe some miniature piecing, whatever it is that you wish you could do.  The first step in getting anywhere is seeing your destination.

Do you have a tip or tutorial you like to share?   If so link up below.  Beverly@44thStreetFabrics Etsy shop has graciously sponsored this months Podunk Pickin's Giveaway with this adorable bundle of Santa Express.  If you love it and need it right now I know the feeling!  You can purchase it at her Etsy shop here.

 You can also find out about new sales and giveaways for her shop by following her blog 44th Street Fabrics.  I'll let you in on a little secret...She lowered the prices!

  There's been several ways during the month of October to win this bundle, so go back to the previous post and enter.  The link ups are closed but you can still enter by following the instructions for the other entry options for that week.  Just click on the Podunk Pickin's image in my sidebar to find all the posts.

The rules to enter this week are simple.  One entry for each of the following.

1. Link up below, any quilting or sewing tip or tutorial from your blog or other social media.  Please only one link per week.
2. Follow 44th Street Fabrics on Instagram.  <---click there.  By following you'll be entered to win her Instagram giveaway for 3 charm packs of Hello Darling by Bonnie and Camille.  Of course you'll need to come back here and let me know your a follower of 44th Street Fabrics on Instagram. 

An InLinkz Link-up

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Throwback Thursday Quilt #3

If you been following along in the last few weeks I've been linking up with Throwback Thursdays @KristaQuilts.  It's also no big secret that I love scrappy quilts.  From my very first quilt to my most current, almost all have been scrappy.   And more often than not there's no pattern or kit, just an idea that pops into my head.  Of course the internet has helped to fuel and inspire most of my creations.  Occasionally people influence the design.  Which is exactly how the quilt below came to be.  

This quilt was inspired by Mr. Podunk who said "Do you have any fabrics that aren't bright?"  Well I do but they rarely make into my quilts.  I'm an emotional quilter(and eater if the truth be told).  Quilting with brights helps to keep my sunny disposition in check.   So I started digging into the stash for just the right muddy fabrics to make Mr. Podunk a quilt.  There just wasn't much to work with in his color pallet. But I could make it work with a few scraps leftover from quilt one and two.  If you missed them you can find them here and here.   I can remember struggling with quilting this quilt.  I was new to quilting on a frame and needed the practice, but didn't want it to look too girly.  I also remember about a year after making this "Manly quilt"  someone wrote a quilting book called "Quilts for Guys" or something like that as the title.  Mr. Podunk had no idea he would be such a trendsetter.   

~  Lea Anne ~

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