Vintage Pink and White Runner

I have been inspired by modern quilt makers using straight line quilting to quilt their pieces.  Most quilters seem to use semi straight lines as apposed to perfectly spaced ones, but I’m not quite that free yet, grin.

I decided to try the method on a vintage striped sheet.  I added pink sheet patches as focal points; they are not pieced in, but simply quilted down.  I added a lot more lines than I had initially intended.  I had planned on stitching the lines between the colors, but decided to stitch down the center of each line as well.  I used light pink thread in all areas thinking it would tie the piece together.  The back and binding are also vintage sheeting.

I cannot wait to hear what YOU think!  Take a look!

April 1st JT2 blocks are up!

Gee, I just love the “Just Takes Two” new blocks AND the setting for the blocks we have already finished!
I am soooo glad that I have pretty much kept up!  This is going to be a completely different quilt than I have ever done before - I love it! 
I don’t think I’ll have time this week to work on these blocks with Easter next Sunday, but maybe I can assemble what I have!  I love this BOM!


I can’t wait to post MY blocks!
Robbie Marie

Pinwheel pillow finish

Funny story behind this pillow.

Our quilting bee got together at Sandy’s lovely home in Pine, Colorado for a day of sewing some time ago.  I had brought a template that I used to make pinwheel quilts (like this red and white one I made)  that I was going to show the girls how to do it.  I taught elementary school for umpteen years, but I have never been good at explaining things to adults.  I shoved my pieces into a sack and there they had stayed.  At least until this week when I decided to make the pillow.  Lo and behold I LIKE it!  I ditch quilted the top and also stitched 1/4” off the seams with cotton in the bobbin and matching shiny poly in the top.  (You can see the quilting on the back of the top above.)

Oh, the picture of the pillow front is in front of the ONLY green in our yard here at the end of March.  I have hops vines in a big pot and because they are above ground the soil is warmer and they are growing!  Hurray!  Green!  My weeping cherry tree is about to burst into bloom; spring WILL arrive shortly.  Our allergies are proof positive that something is changing!

Robbie Marie

didya know???

FREE weekend at QNNtv.com!

Okay, so it took me f.o.r.e.v.e.r to register, but….

I know what I’ll have on this weekend!  I hope you have fun, too!

 

Robbie Marie

Lucky Day! Lucky Day!

 

Saturday I hit a local thrift store and found a vintage sheet still “in it’s package”!  Hooray!  What a lucky strike – I just loooove when I can do that!  I usually reserve these sheets for my vintage quilt backs and use what’s left over for piecing afterward.  This sheet has pink and turquoise in, too.  They are the hardest colors for me to come across.

The two pillows in the foreground are made from vintage sheets, too.  I love these babies!

Robbie Marie

New Patsy Thompson Free Tutorial!

Have you seen this video yet?  Patsy Thompson’s newest video is about machine embroidery.  I really like her free motion embroidery stitch she calls her EKG Edge Finishing Design around her appliques.

Oh, yeah, you can check out Patsy’s blog here, too!  Enjoy!

Robbie Marie

Binding with Pat Sloan

I ran into a friend this weekend that asked me how I bind my quilts.  I told her the same as everyone, sometimes.  I stitch it down from the front, turn and hand stitch it down on the back with itty bitty stitches.  I told her I usually do an easier way for baby quilts and other pieces that will be washed a bunch and are meant to be “used” a lot. 

I promised her I’d share a video to explain it better and here it is.  If you would like to see the tutorial via pictures, Pat Sloan has a tutorial on her blog here: HERE.

Machine Binding with with Aurifil Thread

My only difference is that I don’t use a blanket stitch as often as I use a regular straight stitch.  I usually sew it down with my 1/4” foot letting the inside left-hand edge of the foot run right off the edge of the binding; this places the stitch right on the edge of the binding.  It is very neat and the backside only shows a straight line on the back of the quilt.  You can match your bobbin thread to the backing and it is even harder to see.

Here is a picture of a runner I just finished out of vintage sheets.  I wanted the binding to be 1” on the front to match the 1” white bands between the flowers and stripe pieces. 

This runner will end up on Etsy shortly.  I just adore the prints!!!!

Ya gotta love the net!

Robbie Marie

A quilting video by Adam C.

I first came across Adam in a Yahoo group for Hinterberg Voyager 17 quilting machines.  The V17 was paired with Hinterberg Stretch Frame and was one of the first mid-arm quilters on the market.  The Yahoo group was a great place for us to learn what this machine could do.  Adam quickly distinguished himself with his natural quilting ability.

http://www.hinterberg.com/Voyager-Stretch.aspx

Adam showed us all with potential the machine had, but soon outgrew it.  He ended up getting a Sharon Schamber Prodigy machine and I got a Handiquilter 16.

I think this is one of Adam’s (Pinktext) best videos; I think you will enjoy it, too. 

Robbie Marie

Done!

I got pulled out my sheet stash and made a runner after I finished the baby gift today.  I love it!!!!  Maybe I’ll make a couple pillows like the striped one I sold on Etsy. 

I’m unsure about my future with Etsy, but these may end up there along with a couple aprons I’ve made, napkins, and a quilt, or two.  I wonder if I could sell the embroidered postal stamp?  Guess I’ll see!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just love these pillows!  They look so sweet with the quilts!  Gotta make some more!  The ruffled one is so sweet – the striped one is going to delivered to its new owner in Hawaii tomorrow!  Hooray!

This is going to be a great year!

Robbie Marie

Little Bridger

I want to introduce you to my little grandson, Bridger. 

He is 5.5 months old and the son of my son and his lovely wife.  B-man lives near, so Grandpa and I are able to see him often. 

We are sooo lucky!

Isn’t he cutest little guy you have ever seen?

BTW, I made this quilt from fat quarters that my daughter and son-in-law gave me for my 50th birthday.  There were 50 black fat quarters!  It took my daughter a long time to collect them all!  She presented them all bundled in a black basket with a black bow, you get the idea.  The babies have all enjoy the quilt as much as I do! 

Robbie Marie

Little Flag Quilt

I picked up this quilt kit from the Pearl P. Pereira Designs (aka P3 Designs) booth at a quilt show.  It is fun to do little projects sometimes and lets you practice your skills.  The berries, and the ball on the flag pole, are 3/8” across.  I raw edge appliqued the little quilt and then hand quilted it.

SOMEDAY….

I want to make P3 Design’s Baltimore Halloween Quilt!  Do you want to join me?? 

Robbie Marie

With Every Quilt…

With every quilt I learn a little more…

My parents were visiting family in Missouri and on their way home stopped in Jamesport Missouri.  Jamesport is an Amish community and they have lots of craftsmen and shops.  Mom and Dad have purchased furniture from them as well as pillow, and good things to eat.  This trip they brought me back some fat quarters, a couple patterns, and a kit.

The kit was a paper-pieced Mariner’s Compass.  I put off putting it together for a couple of months.  I had done quite a bit of paper-piecing, but these were tiny bits and I wanted it to get the colors “just right”!  I shouldn’t have worried so, it was easy!

I thought it would be a good idea to hand quilt the piece, but the stitches took away from the design and colors.  I took out the stitching and stitched all the seams in the ditch.  I stitched the lighter blue background in straight lines around the center.  I was pleased with the way it looked; everyone thought it was a lot more complicated than it actually way, grin.

Later as I’ve looked at it, I can see that the lines in the light blue should have radiated out from the center, but I couldn’t see it at the time.  I knock it up to experience; I guess it’s great to learn something new with each quilt.  I love this little quilt!

Robbie Marie

Every Quilt Can Tell a Tale

I went to a quilt show/sale awhile back.  I was at a particular booth from a shop across town that I didn’t get to frequent very often.  They had a big tub of fabric scraps and was selling the random pieces for $5/bag.  I glanced inside the tub and lo and behold, there were Amy Butler prints inside!  I asked for a sack and began filling it with the pieces, grinning a little under my breath.  It was then I heard a lady muttering gruffly and loud enough for me to take notice.  I looked up as expressed her opinion that ANYONE having to “grovel for scraps” couldn’t afford the hobby and should leave!

I was embarrassed; I paid for my bag and sheepishly took off.  I will admit that I am frugal, I do try to stretch my $$$ – and I’m not ashamed of that, but she did hurt my feelings a bit.

I took those scraps and made one of my most favorite quilts!  I bordered each piece with a finished half inch border.  I used Amy Butler’s Spruce French Wallpaper print to make a border of squares that pulled the top together.  I then found another Amy Butler big print for the back.

I spent a lot of time quilting this quilt.  I stitched in the ditch around each square and then randomly positioned a circle inside each.  I love it!  It’s mine and there isn’t another like it!

This quilt holds a warm space in my heart and will never be up for sale by me.  The colors are bright and happy and the whole quilt sings to my soul!  When I see it I remember that we all see the world a little differently and what may be trash to one is a prize to the next.

Here is shot of the back.  The fabric is Amy Butler’s Water Lily.  The little doggy that I am NOT disturbing, is Stitch, my little Boston Terrier buddy; she is never very far away.

Moral of the story:  be nice to each other!  There may be more to the story than you know.

Robbie Marie

Christmas quilt, just in time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                         free Moda Flurry pattern

 

Since it looks like Christmas outside, it was a perfect time to finish my Flurry quilt.  It was a really fun and easy quilt to make and a great way to use some of my Christmas stash!  I ended up short on my white on white background, so I improvised.  Guess what?  You can’t even tell! 

Here is the pantograph I used.  It is called “Holly Berries” by Hermione Agee.  It was a lot of fun to execute and covered my top quickly.  After all, next week is Halloween an then Christmas will be upon us before we know it!

 

Robbie Marie

I’m on a roll!

Are you like me?

Do you make yourself wait to something you really really want to do until X, Y, and Z are done??

That is where I was yesterday!  After being sick for a week and getting caught up (because I was home and had nothing better to do) I had completed all of my “have-to-do-first” tasks.  Yippee!!!

Off to my quilting room I went!  I had my “present” quilt on the frame and ready to go, kind of my incentive to get everything done and yesterday I started quilting!  It felt so good!  I didn’t finish it as I did have life to contend with, too, but this morning I worked the last portion and pulled it off my frame!

Next, I put another quilt on the frame and changed pantographs.  When everything was in place, away I went!  My fourth vintage sheet quilt is finished! 

Of course, I still have the trimming and bindings to do, but they are my frosting on the cake; I really enjoy binding.  Bindings are forgiving; I can stop and come back whenever I want.  That’s not so easy to do with frame quilting.

Here are a couple of almost done shots.  The vintage sheet quilt will be up on Etsy by the end of the week.  I’m having so much fun!

Robbie Marie

Don’t tell anyone, but…

Don’t tell on me, please, but I probably have 50 vintage sheets and I’m always on the hunt for MORE!  I just can’t seem to get enough of them!

When my grandparents passed on several years ago we found several packages of BRAND NEW unopened sheets in their drawers.  Why hadn’t they used them?  They had probably been gifts and were put away until they were needed.  The sheets they were using were “just fine” I am sure.  There were lots of things around their house like that, but I always loved those sheets, they seemed to remind me of them.  Vintage sheets are pretty, kind, unassuming, joyful, a little old-fashioned – just like my dear Grandma and Grandpa were!

Sometime after I had grandchildren of my own when I saw those vintage sheet patterns, my heart thumped a little.  Vintage sheets seem to represent all those good times I grew up with. 

My mom used to put flannel sheets on our beds in the winter and I can remember my brother running our feet fast through the sheets to make fire!  It was particularly impressive when the lights were off!  You did that, too, right?

So, I had all of these sheets.  Now what, I had to do something with them!!!  I started a quilt and I just loved the way it was coming out!  I was using a simple zigzag pattern   I had a beautiful new white sheet with little dot in the weaving that caught the light which was perfect next to the soft vintage sheets!  The quilt kept growing and growing.  I HAD to stop!  I will not part with that quilt!  I just love it to pieces!  I have a cute sheet on the back; this quilt makes my heart sing!

 

I chose the most feminine pantograph I could find for the quilting.  It had to have lots of feathers, of course!  It was so much fun quilting it and watching the texture declare itself!  Hyacinth Grande, Urban Elementz

I made 3 more darling sheet quilts, but what in the world would I do with them all?  I didn’t have family members clambering for them and everyone was telling me I could make a fortune with them if I would sell them.   I wasn’t interested in “a fortune”, but covering my supplies would be great, I thought.

 

The quilts were so much fun to make that I thought, what if in fact I COULD sell them?

Robbie                                                                        Quilty Bits n Whatnots – My Etsy shop

Halloween is on the horizon!

I loooooove fall!  It is my favorite time of year, I think.  They say that if fall is your season, you are a person that holds on to old friends.  That’s a nice thought!

For me fall means cooler weather and a chance to switch out my summer quilts and table runners.  I love getting out my Halloween pieces and seem to have more every year. 

This year I’m making a new wreath.  I found a really thick double boa and wrapped it around a large ring.  I was going to add lots of eyes like the tutorial showed, but I think I’m going to just find a cool ribbon for a bow.  What do you think?

I’m going to hang it in the middle of my mirror above my loveseat, but I couldn’t get a good picture with the mirror.  (Putting it on the door muffed it up a little, but I’ll fix that when I move it back.)

I am going for the “at Nana’s house she has…” look, grin.

Here was my inspiration: Spook your friends.

Here are some of my favorite pieces, they need pressing and hanging, I may add more pictures when they are up, but I get so excited pulling them out!

These were all quilted on my HQ16, the bottom piece has a lot of hand quilting in the swirls in the batik, but it does not show in the pictures. 

Thanks for looking!  Robbie