The Christmas Tree Farm

 Clair made this very cute tree farm quilt for her brother for Christmas.  He has a tree farm, how perfect is that!!

It was so much fun to topstitch.  

Lots of little extra topstitching to really make the gnomes beards and hats stand out.  As well as creating wheel wells on the truck.  Adding dimensions to make things really stand out.

Tree Farm!!

 

I hope your brother just loved it.  Great job Clair!!

Minnie Mouse

 Norah brought in this very cute panel for me to longarm saying "something simple, meandering or something" .  

But with the cute hearts I just could not resist loops and hearts instead of a simple meander.

And since it is the same price to have loops and hearts, or stars, or daisies as it is to just meander, why not.

Warm soft back.

As we were using a thicker blanket on the back batting was not necessary.  There is going to be a very happy little girl with a fun and fuzzy warm quilt to play on.

Pottery Class

 For the holiday season I took a pottery class.  Was it fun or what!!

My work station.

It was messy, informative, and a little hard work: you really had to add a bit of weight to the turn table to center the clay.

I managed to get 3 bowls made and the first was a little wobbly, the second ended up with a bubble in the center bottom, and the third.... perfect.  Third time is the charm.

Into the kiln for the first time, biscuit (unglazed).

My second bowl cracked in the center but I decided to keep it the way it was as a reminder.

After they were glazed and fired again I think they turned out beautiful.  The variegated clay was a nice look.

My instructor was kind enough to silicone the cracked bowl so although we cant use it for food items it will make a nice pin bowl or button bowl.  

I think it was a huge success and I had a lot of fun.  It would be a great way to make personalized gifts for friends at Christmas or just for fun.  

Don't worry though, I'm not giving up quilting to become a potter.....but it was a wonderful thing to try!

Hoping for spring

 Florence's third quilt is, well, spring!!

Spring

A scrappy quilt with a whole lot of sunshine mixed in.

I was happy to introduce Florence to something a little less traditional and big on the modern fun side of topstitching.

Big loops and daisies, all over the quilt.  Can't you just see sunshine swept fields of daisies in her quilt?

And look, a lovely sea mist green thread to hold it all together.  Way too much fun.

Cardinals

 Florence's second quilt is beautiful with it's hand embroidered Cardinals.

Florence was very adamant about not topstitching over the cross stitching so I echoed around each bird on a branch and meandered a large wandering leaf around the remainder of the quilt.

It tied everything together and kept the cost down as well.

Lovely stitch work.

Just look at that back...stunning!!

Florence has done it again!

 Dorothy's mom Florence sent me another 3 quilts to do.  The first is a bright and beautiful 9 patch and window quilt.

A large scrappy quilt with lots of color and I love how she places a yellow in the white for  all the window blocks. 

Florence loves a traditional topstitch with white thread.  Cathedral windows were perfect for the squares of this quilt.

The back, white on white.

Mrs. Snip's #01

 Clair brought back a box of linen remanence from Mrs. Snip's in Dublin, Ireland.  With a few of the pieces she made this wonderful lap quilt.

Quite the accomplishment for a beginner quilter to patchwork linen as it has a life of its own.

It frays, moves, and is generally unruly taking a steady hand and as I suggested to Clair, a whole lot of  starch. 

We had a time thinking about what to topstitch onto the quilt with all the lines and checks.  As soon as Clair saw another quilt done with the feathered scroll, that was the one.  It also made sure that all of the seams and pieces had multiple stitching through them all.  

A lovely final look.

This helps to bind all the pieces and stop any further fraying over time.  Looks cool too!!

As an added note I wanted to show you what happens to a bobbin winder gone wrong.

What a mess!!