The Quilting on My I Wish You a Merry Quilt a-long Quilt

My mom had a lot of fun quilting this quilt for me.  She put stars behind the elf.

And rays behind the ornament.

And bows behind the presents.

She added curls to Santa's beard.

And did trees and angels to the border.

And added some figure eights in the trees.

In case you missed it yesterday, here's my full quilt.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

My Final Quilt from the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-a-long Group

I started this quilt in August because I absolutely fell in love with some batik Christmas fabric and because I fell in love with the first block.  After the first few blocks I realized that I'd turned them all into applique blocks.  So I stuck with that theme.  I had completed the center block you see as an extra block before making this realization.

I had the twelve blocks done.  I'd purposely done four with red, four with cream, and four with green backgrounds.  I fell in love with a new fabric coming out in April from Island Batiks.  It's green and you can see it below.  It's from their Alpine Jingle collection.  It's the first batik I recall seeing that is a stripe.  It reminds me of Norwegian sweaters which just scream Christmas to me.  The lovely Katie at Island Batiks was nice enough to send me some sampling yardage (THANK YOU KATIE!) and it just makes this quilt!  I love the trees going around the blocks.

Now....what to do in the center.  I originally had planned another block but after much frustration, realized it was much darker than anything else in the quilt and just stuck out like a sore thumb.  So...I tried our this other orphaned block.  I ended up cutting off the triangles originally in the corners because I didn't like them.  I love the way it looks now.  It's like a gem in the middle of the quilt!

My mom was with me when I finished the top.  I told her I didn't want to quilt it.  She was excited to do it on her long arm.  I'll show you more of the quilting tomorrow.  She had such fun!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Shopping Inspiration

While out and about Christmas shopping today I found a few inspirations.  I love this mirror.  It has a great shape for a border.

Aren't these pillows cute?  They are embroidered, but would make great applique!

I like the leaves in the top middle of this picture.  Again, they would make great applique.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

My New Bernina 570QE

It's day 17 of the 31 day Blogging Challenge and I have a new machine!

When I went to International Quilt Festival Houston, I took a class in which we got to use the brand new Bernina 570QE machines.  I have a 770QE and I love it.  It has a fantastic dual feed built in and a huge bobbin system.  I've been waiting for those features to come down to a smaller, portable machine that I can take to classes, retreats, etc.  My 770 is just too heavy.  We sat down (my mom and I) at the machines and I looked at my mom and said, "I'm in trouble."  And I was.  The machine was a dream to stitch on.  So I bought one.  Berninas are amazing!

Since it's brand new, Houston was the first show they were shown at, it took a while before they were available to ship.  Mine came in yesterday.  As soon as I got it home I opened the box!  

Here she is all set up in all her glory.  The fabulous part is that the setup is the same as my 770QE so I understand how most of the machine works.  Or at least, what I"m used to doing anyways.

It came with a 97 foot (it's a quarter inch foot), but not the 97D which has the build in dual feed.  Fortunately my 770QE came with one and I went and grabbed it.  The foot worked like a charm and my seam allowance was perfect!  I sewed some scraps from my Bonnie Hunter On Ringo Lake quilt and they measured just perfect.

Then I put on my favorite free motion foot (a number 24), and tried that out.  It too worked fabulously!  I had no troubles at all.  

This was part of my doodle.  I love these!  I want to use them again soon on something.

I can't wait to sew some more on her tomorrow!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Island Batik Ambassador's Scrappy Table Topper Challenge #2

When I found out our December Island Batik Ambassador challenge was to make a scrappy table topper I decided to challenge myself to use some of the 5 inch square packs I have from Island Batik Fabrics.  One day in August (yes, really, I was motivated that day even though the quilt wasn't due until December, not to mention that I made two that week), I decided I wanted to play around with some rectangles.

Here's a closeup look.

For this quilt I picked out all my blue and green five inch squares.  I also used some five inch squares from the California Creamery collection.

I then cut the pieces and set to work.

Here's the strip sets all ready to assemble.

And the final quilt!  I can't wait to put it on my table. 

I love being an Island Batik Ambassador. 

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Helen Godden's Christmas Advent Quilt Along - Part 4

I've finished 6 more Christmas ornaments since last week and I'm only one behind at the moment.  Here's what I have so far.

I had fun making a "rose" and then adding some extra quilting to it.

The upper left ornament was supposed to look like a spider web, but I thought it looked like a peppermint candy so I made it that way.  It's one of my favorites.

I can't wait to see what Bonnie Hunter has in store for us for On Ringo Lake Clue 4 today.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Island Batik Squirrel Quilt - Part 1

 My husband loves squirrels.  So I wanted to make him a squirrel quilt with the Island Batiks Pumpkin Patch layer cake.  The fabrics scream fall and fall screams squirrels.  At least it does to me.

I found a picture of a squirrel on the internet and then played with the shapes.

Originally the squirrel was to have an acorn in his hands.  However, when cut out of fabric the acorn was so tiny you really couldn't see it so I made a design decision and left it out.

Next, I laid out my 10 inch squares in a pleasing arrangement with one background fabric and one fabric on top for the squirrels.  I tried not to repeat fabrics, but inevitably, it happened.

Here's the finished top all ready for quilting. 

I know, there are socks in the picture.  Who doesn't love feet?  Well, I don't, truth be told.  However,  I teach full time and didn't have time to edit the pictures.

I totally meant to have this quilt done for fall and hanging in the house.  It didn't happen, but I wanted to share it anyways.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy