Another Festival Quilt

Since we're allowed to showcase 2 quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, I thought I'd show another one.

I made this one about 20 years ago.

My husband remembers his great grandmother, who was a quilter.  He had described one of the quilt patterns he remembered her making but he didn't know the name.  I immediately knew he was talking about a Lone Star quilt.  He didn't receive a quilt from her so I thought I'd do the next best thing and make the one he recalled without telling him.

Thankfully, my sewing room is the only room upstairs so secrecy was fairly easy.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much furniture in the room at the time so it wasn't very comfortable for me.  One thing the room was lacking was a decent chair!  I tried to finish this for him for Christmas but because it is so big (king-size) and I hand-quilted it, I didn't get it done in time.

I wasn't going to not give it to him at Christmas but I had tell him his gift wasn't finished yet.  I went upstairs and brought it down all folded up.  I unfurled it to let him see it - he took one look and left the room!  I thought, "He doesn't like it!".  The truth was, he appreciated it so much he walked away because he didn't want me to see him cry.  I do love my man!

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Online Quilt Festival!

This one sounded like a lot of fun so I thought I'd join in.  For information on the festival:  Blogger's Quilt Festival.

This wallhanging was made through an internet quilt block swap.  Some of the squares were made by me, the rest came from all over the US.  These are string blocks in greens and purples (theme colors).  Because it was going to be a wallhanging, I did the prairie points all the way around.

I quilted it on my sewing machine in straight lines horizontally and vertically.  The spacing of the quilting makes each block look like it's a nine-patch.

This hangs on the wall going up the stairs to my sewing room.  It has 3 other "friends" hanging around with it.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

It came!

Hi Everyone!

As some of you are aware, I had been saving for a Grace Z44 hand-quilting frame.  I wanted the Z44 because it went up to king-sized quilts.  After measuring my largest top (width is the only dimension that matters), I realized that I didn't need such a large frame, a queen-sized one would be enough.

Once I discovered this, I checked my savings and found I had more than enough set aside for the smaller EZ3 frame.  Of course, referring to it as smaller is ironic, it's actually massive!

Well, I ordered it through Amazon.  When I received my shipping notification, it had arrived at a warehouse in OH.  Then it arrived at a warehouse in IL.  Then it said it had never arrived at the OH warehouse!  The shipping company lost my order!  argh!

I had to wait a couple of days for it to be "officially" lost.  Once it was, Amazon was great about refunding my money (was refunded to my credit card the same day!).  They also offered me a free shipping upgrade if I needed it (I didn't - shipping was already free on the order).  Amazon suggested that I just reorder it if I still wanted it (duh! of course I wanted it).  When I went to reorder it, the price had dropped $5.

The "new" order arrived 2 days before I was expecting it!  Yeah!

I had to rearrange a bit in my sewing room so that I'd have enough room for the finished frame.  Once that was done, I set about assembling it.  It took me about 2 hours total.  It would have been less time, but I didn't gather the tools they said I'd need before I started working on it.  I had to rummage around hubby's shop looking for them and that took about 15-20 minutes.

After it was assembled, I had to make fabric leaders for each roller (3).  I just used some muslin that I already had - the instructions for the frame included how to make the leaders (saved money by making them myself).  In order to put my quilt on it, I had to remove the little bit of quilting I'd already done plus remove all the pins I'd used as basting.  The layers have to be separate in order to be put on the frame.

Here it is all assembled with my Bullseye quilt on it:

It's currently set up at full width of 90" (that's usable quilting width, it's probably 96"-100" wide total).  The entire top is 10 squares wide and the photo only shows a full 8 of them.

I have to tell you all, I am IN LOVE with this frame!  I did roll the quilt up so that I could start working on the bottom border.  I've already done about 1/2 way across the border.

If you want to get your own, here's a link:  (please note, it doesn't cost you more to use the link but I do earn a small commission if you buy via the link)


Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Finish It Up Challenge

I know I haven't been "on time" about posting updates.  I get that way.  The odd thing is if I'm going somewhere, I'm never late.

I do have an update for my FIU Challenge!  I finished the Crumb Quilt top!  Whew!  Here's a photo of the top:

The crumb blocks are 3½" and are separated by squares of black.  The top measures 67" x 81" (170cm x 206cm).  I'll quilt it eventually but it will probably be awhile before I get around to it.  Maybe I'll put that on my FIU list for next year.

Here's my current FIU list:

Put all my loose floss on bobbins finished January 27th with new purchases done February 3rd

Stitch a design for the candlescreen that I have

Assemble my Happy Blocks quilt top finished 12 August

Assemble my Crumbs quilt top  finished 10 September

Finish hand-quilting the Bullseye Quilt

Finish the Log Cabin Star wallhanging

Hand-quilt at least 10 blocks on my Christmas Strings quilt

Finish my Through the Storm cross stitch as a free-standing block  finished 30 July

Finish my green Temari ball

Finish 1 of my Santa kits (not cross stitch)

Make bookcases for my sewing room

Decorate wooden "S" for my sewing room

I also (finally) received the Grace EZ3 hand-quilting frame that I ordered.  The first one got lost in shipping.  I will say that Amazon was great to deal with.  I was lazy and contacted them by email.  They emailed me back promptly and refunded my money immediately.  They suggested that I reorder it and offered me free shipping if it wasn't already offered (it was).  I ended up saving $5 because the seller had dropped the price since my first order.

I assembled the frame for a crib size quilt because that's how big my Bullseye Quilt is.  Silly me didn't allow for the extra material dimensions of the backing fabric, so I have to extend the frame to queen size.  I also have to unpick the bit of stitching that I had already done.  The backing and front get rolled up separately on the frame and need to be apart.  

I'm fine with that because I wasn't thrilled with the pattern I'd chosen anyway.   It will be at least a few days before I get the quilt onto the frame but I'm really looking forward to it!  In the meantime, I am working on another scrap quilt top and doing some online swaps.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy