Fabric, Fabric & More Fabric!

I have spent most of this week playing around with my new sewing machine. And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!! I can't wait to start quilting my mermaid quilt next week.

I did finish the binding on my apple runner for our kitchen counter.

I love how it brightens up the kitchen.

It has been a happy mail week! I used some of the money I got from my birthday to by more fabric.

Lizzy House Castle Peeps - LOVE, Amy Butler and AMH Little Folks Voile

More AMH Little Folks Voile - Can't wait to start on this quilt!

Tufted Tweets by Laurie Wisbrun. I have a special plan for this fabric!

Happy Sewing!

K

My New Toy

I did it! I traded in my Janome 6600 (which I loved dearly) for the new Janome Horizon 7700 and I am in love again! This new machine has all the wonderful qualities that my 6600 had and more. The best feature is the added throat space. It has 11" from needle to base and 4.7 " in height. They added a free arm and a automated plate converter (no more fabric getting stuck in the hole while doing points!).  Also, this machine comes with 3 different free motion quilting feet. 
So far I have only done some piecing work with the 1/4" foot and it is working great. I am hoping to start quilting my mermaid quilt this week. It is going to be a dream on this machine!

Oh the beautiful things we will make together!!

Happy Sewing

K

Birthdays, Mermaids & Apples

My Birthday was last weekend. Another year older and a year closer to one of the "big one" birthdays (I am not going to tell you which one). I had a great weekend just hanging out with my husband and family. For my birthday, my husband got me a cake. Just to let you know something about me - I LOVE BIRTHDAY CAKE!! I could eat it every day if I allowed myself too. This year my hubby made it extra special by adding crayon candles! 


And yes, the cake tasted as good as it looked!!!


I have been busy working on the Mermaid quilt and finally got the top done this week (this is why there has been no blogging!) I am so excited about this quilt. As you know, I love this fabric and I am so excited about how colorful it has turned out.

Really happy about the pieced border I decided to add. It give the quilt a little more color, and you know I like a lot of color in my quilts!


I decided to take a quick break on the Mermaid quilt and start a runner for my kitchen counter/bar. It will help brighten up the kitchen and has inspired me to make some new place mats too. Hopefully I can find some more of the apple fabrics.



Last week I went and looked at the new Janome Horizon sewing machine. Of course, I fell in love with it but can't decide if I want to trade in my Janome 6600 for it. I love my 6600 and feel like I will be abandoning it if I trade it in! It is nuts how we become so attached to our machine!! I am going tomorrow to look at the Horizon again. You never know - I just might have a new machine next week!


Happy Sewing
K

Mermaids

I started working on my Mermaid quilt which involves my most favorite fabric in the world!!!
Thanks to all the lovely girls in my Sew New to Me Quilting Bee for making these beautiful blocks. This quilt is going to be wonderful.  Now I need to decide if I want to add a pieced border around the top using the various fabric from this line????? Decision, decisions..... Oh, and what to do for the back?????



I also decided to treat myself to an early birthday present. I just could not resist these lovely pieces from the Heather Ross Far, Far, Away 2 collection. I love the way the linen/cotton feels. I might just have to order some more!





Happy Sewing!
K

Ready for Football Season!

The orange and white quilt is finished and ready for Tennessee Football season!
And since I took the process pledge, here is how it all happened....


I have been wanting to make an Orange & White quilt since I started quilting. Both me and my husband are from East Tennessee so we were raised on Tennessee Football. My husband also graduated from UT so he is more of a football fanatic than I am!

I started collecting different Orange & White fabrics and they sat around for a while. I was waiting for just the right pattern to come along. Then I ran across a great tutorial from Oh, Fransson! called a Crazy Nine Patch Lattice Quilt and I knew it would be perfect. I wanted the quilt to be bigger so I added more rows! I started making my blocks which were really easy.

Once the blocks were made I had to decided on which solid color to use. You are probably wondering why I didn't use White?? I have 2 Black & White dogs and a Dark Gray cat who love my quilts so White is not an option for me to use (unless I want to wash them all the time!). I decided on going with a Khaki color to help tone down all the Orange. I went with Kona in Stone. I love this color - it goes great with everything.

Then I started piecing the top. 

Of course that is when we moved so everything had to be boxed up! After the move I finished the top which was also very easy to put together and started designing the back. 

I wanted the back to be very simple so I used the Kona Stone and did a Orange & White "Wonky Stacked Coin" on the back. 

I also like very simple quilting so I decided to do random diagonal across the quilt. For the binding I just pieced together the left overs of the Orange & White fabric. I finished hand stitching the binding while I was home in TN. Very fitting! This has now become my favorite quilt.

Now on to my next project!
K