Progress Made on the Double Irish Chain

Look I made some progress on our daughter's Double Irish Chain!!  Yesterday I had four rows done today I added three more rows.  I only have 8 more blocks to add.  All the blocks are chained stitched together.  After I sew on the last eight blocks, I'll start sewing the rows together in the other direction. 

I am planning on doing a Seminole border.  This will be a king size quilt.  I haven't done a quilt this big in awhile.  It is big!
It has been fun to get some sewing done.  Back to work tomorrow.

To take this photo, I draped the blocks on a mattress that is in our soon to be guest room.  The bed is leaning against the wall, so we can remove the popcorn ceiling and replace the carpet. A project to start next year.

Happy Stitching!

Man Cave Update

I am a week late posting this but I wanted to catch up.  Mr. B. finished all the siding on his man cave!!  All he needs to do is caulking and painting.  I almost forgot he needs to close in two ends of the eaves.  Getting closer to being done!


 

Fun Fun Easy Easy Project

While at the Quilter's Mercantile in Williams Arizona one of the gals brought in a cute table runner she had made that morning.  The fun thing is I know this gal, her name is Debbie and I have been to quilt camp with her.  She is the only person I know who lives in Williams AZ.  It was really fun to see her.  I was so excited about this fun little table runner and I am thinking fun gift idea.  So I watched a little demo on how to make the table runner and purchased some fabric to make one. 


Teal Fabric from Williams AZ

After we left Williams we drove to Cottonwood, AZ a see the quilt shop there.  At Quilter's Quarters I found some fall fabric which what I really wanted but couldn't find in Williams. So I purchased some.  

Fall Fabric

I didn't time the teal runner, I did time the fall runner and it took me 30 minutes but I was taking pictures of each step and I was watching TV.   I see Christmas gifts for co-workers.

Happy Stitching!!

Class Sample Is Done!

My Sweet honey took me on a little trip to Williams Arizona to take the train to the Grand Canyon.  Of course I like to bring some handwork with me.  I worked on the binding for my Fly to the Star Class sample.  Here it is on my lab in the car.

Here it is all finished and ready to take the shop as a class sample.  I quilted it during the week and added the binding so I could do the hand stitching on the trip.  I finished it about 1/2 an hour before we arrived at our home.

I did simple quilting, in the ditch, and a 1/4 inch inside the square of the star and some of the geese.  Around the three dimensional geese I quilted the background of the blocks in a small meandering so the geese would pop.  I don't think it shows real well in the photo.  I did larger meandering in the border. You can double click on the picture to see it bigger.

Happy Stitching and Happy Halloween!

Class Sample

I offered to teach a class on different ways to make Flying Geese.  It is for newer quilters and I will also teach them how to use their rulers for cutting 45 degree angles.  I found some fabric I really liked and started thinking about a layout. 

Not my real fabrics

Of course I played with some layouts in EQ7.  I even scanned in my fabrics for a realistic look.  Here is one of my first ideas.  The problem was I liked both of my colored fabrics and I could not decide which one to use the most.  So I was trying to go for balance of both colors.  What a mistake that was. 

First layout

This is what kind of craziness you get when you cannot decide on colors.  The next morning I woke up and had a great idea.  So after work on Monday night I did some frog stitching and made more flying geese and a star. 



Final Layout



I planed it out in EQ7 and loved it right away.  I named it Fly to the Star.  The red geese I am just going to make a single strip hanging.  No waste here.

Here it is all basted and ready for quilting. I have five different ways to make the flying geese.  There are more ways then that but a couple of them are too strange for new quilters.  Plus I won't want to use them myself so why teach them. 

One of the fun techniques I am teaching are three dimensional.  See the rulers tucked in the folds?  Here is where I learned how to do the goose on the left. The one on the right I learned on the Dear Jane list many years ago, when I made a one inch star. 

Now to go start the quilting! 

On Sunday I also finished my Beyond the Basics EQ7 class handouts I will be teaching on the 5th.  I have been a busy girl!

Happy Stitching!

The Quilt Has Crossed the Pond

Today I received an email from my cousin in England below is what she wrote.  This was nice to receive before going to work.

Wow Mary



The parcel has arrived this morning. Thank you so much. Michael thinks I am a very lucky girl! The book and sea turtle all arrived safely.

I have been walking around the house trying to find the best place to display the quilt. Probable place is on the stair landing. We shall see. Picture will be taken to send to you.

Thank you, thank you.


Much love from your cousin Sue. xxxxx

I think she likes it!!
Now I can unveil the label.

I did the flower design with my machine using the same variegated thread I used for the quilting of the borders. 

Man Cave is Progressing

Mr. B. is making more progress!!  He has all the siding on the South side of his Man Cave.


South Side


He is also more than half way up the East side! 


East Side

He still has to close in the underside of the roof on the North & South sides.  Of course painting will come after that and I think he has to do something on the roof.  He is a whole lot closer to being done than he was a year ago.

Here are two links to where he was a year ago, give or take a week or two. Here and here.
See he has made progress!

Fresh Picked Flowers is Done!

Yes my quilt for my cousin is all finished!!  The label is on, I even sewed it on by hand.  I usually just fuse them on, but this is a special quilt so I designed the label and I sewed it on by hand. 

These pictures aren't the best but I already have the quilt wrapped and packed to be mailed tomorrow.  I am not sure how long it will take to get to England but I am sure I will hear when it arrives.

I love the cute little tags I found to insert between the seam and binding. I found the cute little tags on Saturday when the binding was completed.  I ripped out some of the stitches to insert the tab. It says PS I Love You.  I have covered the label so if my cousin looks at my blog, she won't see it, I mean she should have some little surprise.  I am not a very good secret keeper am I? 

Happy Stitching!

mequilter

What is in a Name?
Dawn over at As Sweet as Cinnamon is asking how did you name your blog.  Naming a blog is very personal and I have seen some I really like and some are so simple but great.  Some are very clever and I am not all that clever. 

I named mine after my Web Shot Album, which was the first online thing I did that required a name.  So I wanted to keep the same name.  How did I come to mequilter.  Well my initial as M. E. for Mary Elizabeth, I frequently sign notes me.  So it just seemed natural to me to use mequilter.

Maybe we have too many me's around here. 

While thinking about this post I was thinking maybe the title should be M. E. Quilter but I am accustom to it being run together.  So that is how it will stay for today. 

Frankie

 My blog is about me, my quilting, my family, and whatever else I happen to be into.  It has been fun and I have enjoyed all the friends I have made. 

Here is a picture of a little Halloween quilt I made, just because I believe every post should have a picture or two in it.

I sign my blog Mary Mary because that has been my nick name for a long time, way back when a TV show said the name twice, Mary Hartman Mary Hartman.  Well that was my name and everyone took it in vain but they got tired of saying the full name twice so it was shorten to Mary Mary.

Man Cave Update

Guess who has been making progress on his Man Cave, you got it Mr. B.  He is working on the last two sides at the same time.

East Side

This is the East side and below is the South side.  I tried to stand in the corner but I couldn't get the full view of both pictures so you get two pictures.

South Side



Final Funkin

Well I cut out the other set of points and I am happy with the results.  And the little flame-less candle gives off enough light now.

Here it is in my front window set sitting on the witch's hand.  It just needed some more work.  

Craving a Funkin



Before Craving



Last year I was leaving a quilt shop and someone walked in with a Funkin craved with a quilt block design on it.  I didn't get to study her design, thinking I could do this no sweat.  So I purchased a Funkin on sale after Halloween.



Didn't light up well


So when I took out my Halloween stuff for this year I just had to crave my Funkin,  I searched the web to see if anyone else had craved a quilt block on theirs.  No such luck.  I thought I wanted a Mariner's Compass and had just the block in mind but the pattern I had was too large for the space I had.  So I went to EQ7 and found a compass block I liked sized it to 5" and printed it.  I taped it on the Funkin and I made little holds first along the lines of the pattern.  I had a real candle lite in this to show this much light, that would be a fire hazard.  So back to the drawing board.



Cut out some more



Last night I cut out some of the points and it looks a lot better and I think tonight I will cut out the other points.

I am thinking I should have looked at what she had done not that I would have remembered a year later.  This may have been one of those great ideas that was better in my brain than in reality,  but nothing ventured nothing gained. 



Lite with points out



If I don't like this one I can always try on the other side and then buy another one on sale at the end of the season. 



 

Fresh Picked Flowers

This was a quiet and restful weekend lots of at home time and I accomplished a lot. 

First I basted the quilt.  Of course I had to move my cutting table away from the wall to baste it but it works real well. 

Here is a close up of the quilting.  I quilted all the white triangles with a free motion fuller design on Saturday.

Today I quilted the boarders with a pastel variegated thread and in a free motion loop de loop design.  The binding is on and one and 1/4 edges is sewed down.  I feel so good to have this project to this point.  It was nice to sit and do some hand sewing today!

Isn't my backing fun!  My back seldom match my fronts.

I also sewed three pairs of the Double Irish Chain blocks together.

Happy Stitching!!