I am breaking in a new helper in the studio. He has a lot to learn but will soon be acquainted with every square inch. I have got to learn not to leave spools of threaed lying about. I am also going to be reorganizing some of my scrap fabric bins- they definitely need something with a sturdy lid. Bailey is his name. He was a stray that we adopted a couple of weeks ago and we are guessing he is 8-9 months old. A bundle of joy for sure. I knew when he started following me everywhere around the house that it was going to make life in the studio interesting. The German Shepherds are content to just lay at my feet, but not so a kitty. While I was pressing some seams I turned back to find him taking over my chair. Here is the current project. Next step, putting all the layers together and machine quilting. I have found a cute flannel for the back that was just made for this one. And yes, there is still a special block that is staying hidden from view for now. As I wrapped up the day I looked out the studio window to this view. A cold front is moving in and with the storms are building. I still am not used to thunderstorms this time of year, but I guess when yo ucan go from near 80 to a low in the 20's it is not too surprising. So tomorrow our pleasant summer days will give way to a taste of winter. I think it should be a good weekend to stay in and get some more work done in the studio. I still have some leaves to make for the quilt along this week... And maybe cuddle up with my beloved under a quilt to watch a movie. Taking it a stitch at a time,
Deb In my search for free quilt patterns I happened upon this little reindeer over at Stitchin Therapy. I thought he was cute but then learned there was a story behind him and you can learn more here. I also discovered a new favorite quilt blogger. There are so many helpful tutorials at the Stitchin Therepy Site...I have just begun to explore all she has to offer. This pattern for reindeer in this quilt has been shared for all of us to enjoy and you can find it here. Here is freebie from FreeQuilting.com. You need to create an account for this site. It too is free and once done you can download as many of their free patterns as you like. View and download it here. This is a freebie from Piecemakers. The page has several and this particular one is down at the bottom and called Christmas Cheer. I keep telling myself that before I can start any of these new patterns I am finding I need to finish the two unfinished Christmas/winter quilts I have in my studio. Is there a name for ADHD for quilters? I can be contentedly working away on a quilt I love when suddenly I see something new and BAM! off I go to a new love.
What unfinished quilts do you have in your life? Maybe I should start a UFO busting journey for the new year- instead of Freebie Thursday I could stop looking at the new and encourage the finishing of those beauties lanquishing on my shelf. Haha- notice I think of this and immediately relegate it next year. I think I might need some encouragement for this one to become a reality- what do you say, anybody out there want to finish some UFO's-even non-quilt related ones? Taking it a stitch at a time, Deb Did you check out the Fancy Flowers Quilt Along? I finally got around to making my fabric choices yesterday. The challenge for this project was to try to limit myself to fabric form my stash. It was a bit more challenging than usual to pick out options with the help of our new kitty, Bailey and two still very curious German Shepherds who want to be everywhere that the kitten is. Bailey was in this shot just a moment before I snapped the photo. It was hist first time in the quilt studio and it brought out the wild kitty in him so I finally just gave up with the photo op idea. I wanted to identify the fabric for the basket first and then pull my other fabrics from that. These two were the early contenders. I love the colorful pansy print, have had it for several years now, I need to find the perfect quilt for it, but ruled it out here because of the light background. The blue is really a beauty, and I could see doing the flowers in yellow and having a wonderful spring quilt. With the scale of the print I set it aside as well, mainly because I was not in the mood for spring. I went with a simpler print that had a dark background. The black and rose colors I decided were the mood I wanted to create. I broke from the pattern color inspiration by going with yellow for my flower centers. With all the greens I had in my stash they turned out to be the hardest to find. I had bright greens, too bright for this quilt, and very dark greens, blue greens. Thank goodness I keep all of my little leftovers. I found a nice variety for the leaves that looked good with the greens in my main fabric. Just one problem. Those green setting triangles. I could not find a green with enough fabric that blended well with these choices. Back to the drawing board, err, the fabric stash. This time I started with a green I liked for the setting triangles and found the fabrics for the stem and leaves. These greens had a little more yellow in them than I originally wanted, but I like the way they gave a little more life to the color palette, and the fabric for the setting triangles even has a green litte vine that matches the greens in the basket fabric pretty closely. The thing about working strictly from the stash on hand is that you sometimes make fabric combinations that would not necessarily be the ones you chose at the quilt shop- and it also causes me to stretch beyond the limits of the pattern I am working with and play with making my own choices, gaining confidence along the way. So now it is off to watch Week Two's video lesson. Hopefully I will have some beautiful leaves to show you next week. Taking it a stitch at a time, Deb |
Welcome to the site of Debra Davis-a woman who loves the Lord and loves to quilt.
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