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Monday, August 15, 2011

She Has Crossed the Finish Line....

I am proud to announce that Molly has completed her first ever quilt!  Yay! 

This quilt was inspired by a vintage Crazy Quilt and soon was emblazoned with her own signature....


She began with a dresden plate for the center.  Hand appliqued and embroidered on the top only with lots of stitches and color....


She flanked the center with quarter dresdens, and again added lots of fabulous stitching....
Peacock Lane was added for the wide borders and a coordinating fabric for the corner blocks....
Once the top was finished, Molly quilted with perle cotton {making her mommy very happy!}


The back was pieced with this vibrant sugar skull fabric {remember she was a Spanish major}...and again Peacock Lane in pink....

The binding was pieced....

    
Molly is thrilled!


I think we may have a new quilter! 
Stay tuned - she has some sweet embroidery tutorials to come!


mary....and molly :)


Friday, August 12, 2011

Quick Quilt....

I started and finished a quilt top yesterday....this is a sample for the shoppe.

I wanted to show off our lovely new Birch fabric....


I will be teaching a Coin Quilt class this Fall and this is a baby version...Coin Quilts are wonderful quilts for beginners {and more seasoned quilters}....this line of fabric is perfect for a Coin Quilt....


Hopefully today I will get it quilted and can share more....

Molly is still quilting away...and so thrilled with all you encouraging words!!!  I think I have talked her into doing a sampler of stitches and to post little stitching tutorials....Yay!


Enjoy your Friday!
mary

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Wacky Wednesday!

Molly has been quilting like a fiend since this Crazy Dresden idea popped into her head!
Now she has the front all complete....
   
She used the Peacock Lane fabric for the borders and the corner blocks....


She cut the corners so two would be this fantastic tree and two elephants!
Of course she has embroidered all over this quilt!


In proper Molly fashion!


And now she has the back pieced...the quilt basted...so let the quilting begin!


Be still my heart :)


I had to giggle...Molly said to me today....'I play old timey mandolin with a bunch of guys whose average age is about 65 and I quilt....I am thinking maybe I need a more youthful hobby!'
Nah....you are great just the way you are, Molly!
Happy Wednesday!
mary 

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Tiny Tutorial Tuesday.....

I needed to sew a few little bags to use in my classes....so my post yesterday was a bag I made for me....


This one is big enough to hold my plastic templates that I use for this quilt.....


And these are examples of the bags I will be using in my classes...

 

They are very easy to make and yet can really come in handy....for templates, spools of thread and a little pair of scissors, your precious and semi-precious stones {hee hee}!!!
So, I think a tiny tute is in order....

I cut my rectangle for the body of the bag 10" X 11".  The body will be folded in half so you can easily make this any size you need.


Measure down 1.5 inches from the top on both sides and make a mark 1/4 inch from both sides in toward the center of the bag....1/4 inch because this is your seam allowance.


Clip this 1/4 inch....

Then fold the top - just slightly - and press....


Fold all across the top at the clipped 1/4 inch mark, open up that fold and bring the folded edge at the very top down to meet the crease at the 1/4 mark and press....

   
Stitch along this folded edge....close to the edge.  This is the casing for your ribbon.
At this point, I stitched my words and embellished the front.  Keeping in mind this will be folded in half....so you want to be sure you are adding the adornments on the front!  

Take the body of the bag and fold in half...stitch from the clipped 1/4 inch mark to the bottom of the bag...pivot and continue stitching across the bottom.


Turn the bag inside out and string your ribbon through the casing!
And there you have a very simple bag :)

plate by Molly...high school ceramics class ;)

I have to show you a little of the lovely fabric that came in to the shoppe this week....
I just can't wait to cut into it....


This is from Birch....


So sweet!
Happy Tuesday everyone!
mary :)





Saturday, August 6, 2011

A Quick Spin....

I am still working on the Spider-web quilt....along with all the other projects....


This quilt is very similar to all the other spider-webs you have seen on blogs.  And very similar to the one in Material Obsession 2.  The difference from the MO2 is that my kite ruler {from Marti Michell}  is smaller than the template in the book, therefore my webs will be smaller as well.  


It is a bit tedious with all the ironing between each strip, but I do love this quilt....and adore the Flower Sugar in the star section!
Hope you are having a great weekend!
mary :)

Friday, August 5, 2011

Stitches....

Embroidery stitches are lovely....tiny works of art....properly placed and perfectly executed....







Lovely Molly!

I visited my favorite little flea market yesterday....truly a diamond in the rough!  I found something so exciting....although like my little market, a bit rough around the edges...
It is a quilt top....just a top...not finished...it has some holes....but all hand pieced.
The fabrics appear to me to be 1940's....have a look....





When I spotted this - I immediately thought of Clare from Summerfete....and her English Paper Piecing....


I am so drawn to this quilt top....I want to know who made this?  Why did she stop working on it?

I think I can save enough of it to finish it.....
Have a wonderful weekend....
mary