My first Bargello

One day while sitting on the sofa with my hubby, I was looking through Pinterest at all kinds of beautiful quilts.  Isn't is amazing what you can find on Pinterest?  He happened to glance over and see one of the quilts I was admiring(pic from Pinterest, not mine!):

Here is the link to her blogpost:  bargello


He immediately said that was the quilt he wanted!  A little about my sweet hubby.  He's an old hippie. He loves tie dye, has long hair and is very easy going.  He supports me totally in my sewing/quilting/crafting hobby.  Even though with all the sewing I have done, I've never made anything for him.

I was a little intimidated by the thought of a bargello, but after looking at the instructions, I decided I would try to tackle it.  I don't push myself out of my comfort zone often enough.  I purchased the jelly rolls through Missouri Star Quilt Company   It takes two jelly rolls.

I took them to a quilting retreat and knew I could ask some of the wonderful people there for help.  I got extremely lucky and another lady was working on a bargello too!  Her's was much more complicated than mine and she had made a bargello before.  She was a lifesaver!  She showed me how to cut and label everything so I didn't get the rows mixed up.

I managed to get the top almost finished at retreat and then had to finish up at home.  Fortunately hubby works shift work, so I was able to work on it when he was working or sleeping.  When it came time to quilt it, I was stumped.  I didn't want the quilting to stand out so I ended up by lots of different colors of thread and quilting diagonally across the rows of color.  Hope that makes sense.

I finished it up in time to give it to him for Christmas.  He had no idea and was shocked when he opened it!  I was the first thing I had actually made for him!

Since I'm notoriously bad at remembering to take pics, this is the only one I have of his quilt.  It's hanging on the quilt rack in our living room.  He loves to show it off when friends come over, but he rarely uses it.  I need to remind him that quilts are made to be used and loved.

To anyone who has been too scared/nervous to try a bargello, I recommend you try.  They really are much easier than they look.  I'll definitely make another someday.

Happy Sewing,

Lori

Falling Charms

I recently had a wonderful opportunity to try out a long arm quilting machine!  Oh my I was soooooo excited.  I have a dear friend and her husband who have a long arm.  Don't ask me what kind, why I don't remember I don't know.  I think I was too excited about my finished quilt that I forgot to pay attention to important details.

Anyway, my friends Sandy and Al live about an hour away, with my busy schedule I don't get to visit them often.  One day I mentioned to Sandy that I had a quilt top I needed to quilt and she suggested I come up and Al could show me how to use their long arm.  I jumped at the chance.  We figured out a date that would work for all of us which was two weeks away.  I think I had a harder time waiting for that than I do for Christmas!  It worked out that sweet hubby was off work that day too so he was able to join us.

The quilt top I made was a falling charms pattern

The charm pack I used was Sweet Baby Girl Charm Pack by Doodlebug Designs for Riley Blake.  I think it's such a cute pattern for a little girl.  When I picked this out I didn't have anyone in mind, I just liked the fabric.

Al helped me pick out a quilting design and off we went.  He was so patient, taking the time to explain everything, sometimes several times until I understood. 

We picked this flower design, which goes perfectly with the backing fabric;

I chose the little frogs on the pink background for the binding.  I love how it looks like they are peeking over the quilt!

The finished quilt!

I had a hard time deciding what to do with this little quilt. It's the first quilt I quilted on a long arm, so it's special.  I thought about saving it until we have another granddaughter, but who knows how long that will be!  

I decided it's much better for the quilt to be loved, than to be stored in a box, so we gave it to the newborn baby daughter of one of my husband's coworkers.   They love it and were so touched that we gave them a gift from the heart.

I can't thank Sandy and Al enough for inviting us into their home and letting me play on their longarm.  I've decided a longarm is in my future, probably several years away though.  I'm starting to research them to see what I like.  As a matter of fact, the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival is coming up later this week.  I'm planing on test driving several different longarms to see what I like.  I'll try to remember to take pics and report back.

Happy Sewing,

Lori

Jelly Roll Race

A couple years ago my youngest daughter made a jelly roll race quilt for me for Christmas.  I actually helped her make it thinking the whole time she was making it for herself.  Imagine my surprise when I opened my present on Christmas and it was the quilt she had worked so hard on for several months!

My son commented at the time that he really liked my quilt and several months later mentioned it again and said he would love to have me make one for him.  We actually sat down at the computer and I had him look at lots of different fabrics.  I discovered he liked the civil war type fabrics.

I picked out Georgetown by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Fabrics. I quilted it on my domestic machine, stitching in the ditch...well mostly in the ditch.  

I gave it to him for Christmas this past year and he loves it.  This is the only picture I managed to take before he whisked it away.  His bed is a queen size and this is a little small so of course I have a request to make him another quilt!

Time Flies

Wow! I can't believe it's been almost three weeks since I last posted.  I've gotten a lot done, but haven't taken many pictures.  I've finished my first baby quilt, made another towel set, almost finished a jelly roll race 2 quilt top, helped DD3 with her first quilt top (also a jelly roll race 2) and whipped up this cute burp cloth.

My daughter and son in law just found out they are having a boy in December!  As of right now they are planning on doing his nursery in a fishing theme.  I thought this would be a good start. I used fabric I had laying around the house.  Hopefully I'll be able to find something more along the fishing theme.

Tomorrow is a 10 hour work day but I have Thursday and Friday off work!  Yay me!  So my plan is tomorrow evening after work I'm going to run to Joann's to pick up batting and get some of the fine terry cloth. Then bright and early DD3 and I can start sewing.  I'll help her sandwich her quilt so she can start quilting.  I'll finish up my quilt top and hopefully start sewing the I spy quilt I'm making for DGS for Christmas.   If I have time ill make a hooded towel or two out of the fine terry cloth.

I'll try to remember to take pics of our sewing marathon!  

Happy sewing,

Lori