The third and final doll quilt...

The third reproduction doll quilt is done!  (see my last post for the first two...)  Mary Jones pieced these little beauties and I got to hand quilt them and give them back to her for binding (to me, that's like getting to play with the baby, then hand it back to mama to change the diaper!).

They are store samples to help sell reproduction fabrics and this great book, out of which all three little quilts came, at one of our LQS.

All of these quilt patterns are so nice and finish up quickly with scraps and a little time.  There is also some interesting historical reading in this book.  Just lovely.

Stay tuned...the chickens are coming in the next post...

Does anyone know a good online source for Moda Bella solids??

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Cute little doll quilts...DONE!!

I have finished hand quilting all three of Mary Jones' reproduction doll quilts and she has bound the first two.

Her piecing work is absolutely perfect and color choices amazing.  My crappy photography doesn't show it, but everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is square, straight and perfectly true in every way.  (Any pointers out there on how to make a perfectly rectangular quilt look like a perfect rectangle in a picture??)  No marking required for the first little quilt.  I quilted through the center squares on every diagonal and did a chevron design in the outer border, outlining part of the flying geese blocks.

This second one, a "broken dishes" pattern, has little hearts quilted to soften the blocks and a swag around the outside border with more hearts in the outer corners.  The inner blocks are also quilted on the diagonal.

I will photograph the third one when I see Mary again...I'm sure she has it bound by now, as, in addition to being so gosh darn precise, she is SPEEDY!!

If you have never checked out Fun With Barb and Mary, you really need to!  Barb has a great sense of humor, interesting posts, and does beautiful work.  In her latest post, she shows apple core shapes of Halloween fabrics for a project she laid out on at a retreat.  She would LOVE some tips on machine piecing them.  It will be a stunning project.  If you have some valuable experience with this kind of project, please help her out and leave a comment.  I would love to see her finish this project so that I can copy it, LOL!  After all, imitation IS the highest form of flattery!  (with all credit given, where credit is due, of course...)

Barb is also working on a selvage project that is really cool!  As I told Barb, I wish I had a dime for every selvage I've ever discarded, then I would have more money to buy fabric (and more selvages, more dimes, more fabric, and more selvages.....).  It seems like I was telling someone in the class I was teaching yesterday about all the cool things you could do with those selvages...(hey Laura, click on the link above!).

Well, I suppose I've procrastinated enough at this point.  I am supposed to be cutting in and painting two bathroom ceilings.  Doesn't that sound exciting?!?  I will be dreaming about quilting while I am working. 

One of the bathrooms is my infamous "chicken bathroom," which houses chicken quilts and related artifacts that used to occupy my "chicken kitchen" in my previous house.  I had to take everything down to paint, so I should take and post pictures.  These two quilts started some vicious rumor a few years back that I collect chicken related fabrics.  As a result of this overstated rumor, I have an overflowing tub of chicken fabrics.  The result of this tub was using a "chicken theme" on an "around the block" round robin quilt with 10 other very talented quilters (I thought picking this theme and piecing the back for the resulting quilt would get rid of all the chicken fabric).  HA!

Now I have a tub of chicken fabrics that is twice as big.

How does this happen??

I will post the chicken quilts and discuss the ever exploding chicken fabric bin next time.

Have you ever been falsely labeled the collector of a certain kind of fabric...like chickens, Elvis, mushrooms, owls, witchcraft/wizardry?  Do tell!

In stitches,

Teresa   :o)

The third one is the charm...

Ahhhh.  I've been in hand quilting Heaven while doing a little stitching on three lovely reproduction doll quilts that my friend Mary Jones pieced as store samples for one of our LQS.  Her fabric choices and piecing are amazing...and just look at her basting!  She could sell them basted like that and call it hand quilted!!  LOL

I've already done the hand quilting on two others, which I returned to Mary yesterday so that she could bind them.. This is the third one.  I will post more pictures of all three of them when they are all finished.

Hand quilting is my favorite part of the quilt making process.  It is my therapy.  I love the repetitive motion of the "rocking" when making the stitches and the feel of the 2-dimensional pieced top becoming softly 3-dimensional in my hands.  I enjoy getting to examine all the fabrics "up close and personal" as I take my stitches.  Coming up with quilting patterns feeds my creativity and, sometimes, my sense of humor.

I knew life had been stressful lately, but taking some time to calmly do some quilting has been fabulous!  And each of Mary's lovely doll tops is so small that I can quilt them quickly and get the rush of a "finish."  I got them from her on Tuesday late morning, and I finished the second one yesterday (Wednesday) - they do go quickly!!

On an unrelated, but exciting topic...Jane at Jane's Fabrics and Quilts is giving away an AccuQuilt GO! on October 1, so check that out.  It has been fun watching people blog about the GO!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)