Great minds think alike…

My sweet “Jane Austen” quilting buddy Erin wrote me about her tree quilt after she saw my Out of the Nest quilt!  Hearing from her always makes my day.

This is Erin’s tree quilt (I so so love the fabric she used for the border):

[Image source: http://erinrussek.typepad.com/one-piece-at-a-time/]

This is my tree quilt:

[Image Source: The Quilter]

It was quite sweet that we both posted about our “tree” quilt about the same time.  What can I say except great minds think alike? :)

I was thrilled to see the positive response on Out of the Nest on The Quilter’s Facebook page – it made me all tingly!

Keeping with the “great minds think alike” train of thought, you would agree with me Erin does great work, wouldn’t you?  If you haven’t checked out her website, you NEED to!  Click here to visit, and do tell her you like her tree quilt too.  She will enjoy hearing from you.

 

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Purple Parade: Sneak Peeks

Good day, my friends!  I hope those of you in the northern hemisphere are keeping yourself warm and cozy!  If you aren’t, maybe this purple quilt with purple wildflowers would send thoughts of warmth along your way:

You can see that I have even quilted “free-spirit sunbursts” on my blocks!

Purple Parade is schedule for feature in The Quilter‘s May 2011 issue if all things go well.  Fabrics are from RJR‘s Mariposa collection.  I have completed two out of three quilts that are due this week.  So I just need to hunker down and get the third one done.  I’d better get going…. thanks for stopping by!  Have a lovely day!

Autumn into Winter: Final Sneak Peeks

I completed my Autumn into Winter quilt at about 4am last Saturday morning. My husband told me that I had this silly grin on my face when I finally dragged myself to bed. I don’t remember the silly grin. I guess I was just happy that I was able to meet the deadline on the quilt:

I thoroughly enjoyed making this quilt because I just love the fabrics, and the seasons the fabrics represent — seasons of glorious foliage, hearth and home, God’s provision, and lots of food!

These glorious fabrics are from RJR‘s Autumn into Winter collection:

Special food items we like in the Ivory Spring household for these seasons are memorialized on the blocks. Instead of using permanent pigma pens to personalize the blocks, I embroidered with one strand of DMC floss. I like the look better. My stitches are about 1/16″ in length – tiny stitches tend to make the look of my embroidered letters flow better. Okay, you may laugh at me… but I do so adore Fruit Cakes during Christmas time:

I know it’s weird to look at the quilt in the heat of summer if you live in the Northern Hemisphere…. but my friends in Oz-land might appreciate it! :)

I really appreciate the many glorious colors in this quilt. So, I used different colored threads to match the blocks in my quilting. Here are the casts:

The quilt pattern will be available in the November 2010 issue of The Quilter. The magazines are hitting the newsstands in September – so you will have plenty of time to make this quilt for the holiday season.

I look forward to showing you this quilt in its entirety in a few months! Thank you for stopping by – I always appreciate your visits! Till tomorrow then…

Added on 7/1:  By the way, have you checked out my giveaway?

Autumn into Winter: Sneak Peek #2

Oftentimes, life presents us with cross-roads:

Which way should I go – this way, that way? I am reminded of these words — “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding…

…in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

I have thoroughly enjoyed working the Autumn into Winter fabrics by RJR.  Click here to see the full palette!  Use a little of each fabric to make a scrappy quilt.  That’s what I am doing for my current project that is scheduled to be featured in the November 2010 issue of The Quilter:

I still have a bit more work to do before the quilt happens… so, I’d better dash!  Thanks for stopping by.  I always appreciate your comments and friendship!

Yucca Whimsy: Final Sneak Peeks

Happy Friday, my friends!  I hope you have had a good week.  I worked and worked and worked on getting Yucca Whimsy done this week, and I am DONE!   Fabrics used are from Benartex‘ Sew Chick collection:

I had about two days to spend on the quilting.  There really wasn’t anytime for me to mark the quilt.  So, the quilting you see was entirely free-handed with my home machine.

Yucca Whimsy is now on its way to New Jersey for a photo shoot next week.  That’s why the rush on my end.

I had initially meant for the blocks to be a grape cluster blocks, but alas, the leaves didn’t look remotely like grape leaves!  So, I started think of these blocks as the blossom clusters of a Yucca plant. :)  Whether the editor would keep “Yucca Whimsy” as the final name remains to be seen:

A few more sneak peeks:

Setting the blocks in a quilt is always a fun exercise.  One gets different looks depending on how a block is place, rotated, and etc.  These are the same blocks, but when they are rotated different, together they give a nice look!

That’s all I can show you on this quilt for now until it is officially featured in The Quilter‘s November 2010 issue.  The magazines are hitting the newsstands in September.  Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, may a lovely weekend come your way!  Thanks for stopping by.  So many of you have become such special friends – and I appreciate you greatly!

p.s. I will be making an appearance with Dan and Rhonda of Rogers Sewing Center at the Northwest Arkansas Quilt Guild meeting on June 24th at 7pm.  I would love to see you there, and I would really like you to meet my special friends Dan and Rhonda if you haven’t already!

Autumn to Winter: Sneak Peek #1

From Autumn…

To Winter…

Hi Friends! It’s hot over here, and it’s only the beginning of summer. Working on these fabrics from “Autumn into Winter” collection by RJR. The prints on these fabrics are absolutely GORGEOUS! I can see using them for tablecloths, window treatments to suit your holiday mood! Working on these fabrics makes me long for cooler days…

This is another project with room I am working on for The Quilter. It is scheduled for feature in their November 2010.  The signature blocks allow for some really fun personalization!  Come back later to see how I have personalized this quilt!

Meanwhile, I hope you have a lovely week ahead.

Sneak Peeks: Sunshine in my soul

I stayed up late into the night sewing the binding on. I always do mine by hand. It was a good feeling to work on the finishing touches to a quilt, as always. The quilt was on a tight deadline, so, it went out first thing in the morning. I only had a few minutes to snap a few sneak peeks for you. Here you can see the quilt in the morning light:

The fabrics are from RJR‘s Summer Solstice collection:

I love the sunshiny and cheerful feeling these fabrics convey, emphasized by the gold in the design:

I named the design “Sunshine in my soul” for the moment because the song kept popping in my head as I was working on the quilt. The editorial staff might decide to change the name…

If all things go well, this quilt will be featured in the September 2010 issue of The Quilter:

Until then, these are all the sneak peeks I am able to show you! :) Have a sunshiny day, would you?

Retro Femininity

This week has gone by so fast for me.  My big accomplishment for this week  was that I was able to ship out the quilt I made using Free Spirit’s Dolce fabrics:

These aren’t usually my style of fabric. They are a bit more retro that what I am used to, but I thought the blue and pink floral made this retro all soft and feminine:

I didn’t think I would, but I really enjoyed making this block:

The quilting was nowhere near the intensity of my Cascade of Leaves quilt due to time constraint. But I did venture out from my traditional white or beige and used a blue thread, something I have never done before:

This quilt is slated for feature in The Quilter‘s September 2010 issue later this year:

I like the quilt backing fabric a lot:

Thank you again for stopping by.  I always enjoy your visit.  Do drop me a line so that I can visit you back.  Meanwhile, have a fantastic weekend.

Marabella Sneak Peek #3

Good day, Friends. This week I was able to finish my Marabella quilt for The Quilter. I took some pictures before sending the quilt off to the editor. One final thing I did was to attach the ribbon bows onto the vases to add a little special something to the block:

This quilt is made with Henry Glass‘ Marabella fabrics. It will be featured in the July ’10 issue of The Quilter.

I did some “apple core” quilting after reading Diane Gaudynski’s post about it on her blog:

Some more quilting pictures here. I do all my quilting on my home machine, no long arm here:

I will show you the quilt in its entirety once the magazine hits the newsstand in May! Meanwhile, have a happy weekend! :) I will be busy working to meet yet another deadline…

Marabella Sneak Peek #2

Good day, Everyone.  I have been busy quilting my Marabella quilt.  I am almost finished at the time this post is written.  This quilt is scheduled for the July issue of The Quilter, if all things go well.  I hope they do. Here are a couple of sneak peeks:

I basically wanted to give a textured effect to the quilt as the fabrics are already quite busy:

Thank you for stopping by.  I wish you a productive day!

Twilight Trails Sneak Peek #2

The quilt is out the door, but not before I managed to snap a few shots.  This quilt is scheduled to appear in The Quilter‘s May 2010 issue:

I had fun quilting this quilt, especially the outer border.  I forced myself out of my usual comfort zone used a contrasting thread for the outer border.  You see, a contrasting thread would show any mistakes 100 times more prominently.  Nonetheless, I wanted to challenge myself to see if I couldn’t do a good job in feather quilting by free-motion.  So here we are… Shall we take a tour of the outer border together?  Since everything was free-handed, nothing was planned.  So, no two sections in the outer border are identical:

I hope you have enjoyed our little tour today.  Thanks so much for stopping by!  Please leave a comment so that I can visit you back.

The end of the tunnel!

There is light at the end of the tunnel for those who are crazy enough to stick it out.  I have managed to prepare all the leaves (all 224!), and have started applique-ing them on the blocks:

I am on schedule even though my week has been leaf-ily uneventful.  That worked out well as I just found that I have another quilt due on the same day in November.  Yikes – I’d better run and get back to my stitching.

Thanks again for stopping by.  I wish you an enjoyable weekend.  I hope we get some sunshine this weekend as we have had rain, rain, and rain over here.  I will catch up with you on Monday.