This the the Quilt Back for the Stereo Quilt

My customers requested a zigzag pattern on the quilt back.  I'd made zigzags on their previous quilt back that ran horizontal, this time the zigzags are vertical and bolder.  I've contacted my favorite long-arm quilter Janiel and she says she'll be able to get this project back to me by the middle of January.  That'll give me time to finish it up, and ship it by the end of January when they want it.

This is sweet Ben, he's never far from me.  He needs a haircut, but that'll wait until we have warmer weather.

May your bobbins always be full,

The Wonky Improv-Curve Quilt

I took these photos a week ago.  I've been so busy that I forgot to post them.  This is the first quilt I've had custom quilted.  The lovely Georganna Hawley quilted it for me.  She was well recommended and I had a chance to meet her at Quiltcon this year.  We live about 3 hours apart, that's how you measure distance in California, so the quilt traveled via US mail.

I'm in love with the result.  I haven't decided on the binding, yet, so I can't mark this complete!

May your bobbins always be full,

Quilt Back for the Lawn Diamond Quilt.

This is the pieced center for the quilt back.  I figured I didn't need to show the sea of plain fabric that made up the remainder of the back!

After this was assembled I cut 7.5-inch squares for a future project.  I'm doing some traveling this month and having these ready will help me be productive between trips, I hope!

I love this project so much, I decided to have it custom quilted, it's already been shipped!

May your bobbins always be full,

The Wonky Improv-Curve Quilt Top and Back

This is what I came up with for the quilt back.  I kept it random and ended up with two pink rectangles together!  That's how you know it's random!

I've decided to us a Long Arm Quilter that I met a Quiltcon in February because she does custom quilting.  Before I met her, another quilter from the Ventura MQG had highly recommended her.  It's always great to have an independent recommendation.

Since I'm not much of a leave it to chance kind of gal, in spite of the evidence in the quilt back, I came up with a plan for the quilting and I'm going to let the quilter "run with it".  She has a busy schedule, so I won't have it back until August.

May your bobbins always be full,

MQG ~ Riley Blake Designs Fabric Challenge ~ Quilt is finished

It's small but mighty!

I seem to say this a lot, about my quilts - I really love this one.  It was such a great challenge from Riley Blake Fabrics, to use their Sashing Stash fabric.  You could make anything, as long as it was quilted.  Me, I made a quilt, of course!  I rarely hand stitch, but last night I hand stitched the binding because it's small 34" x 34".

I had a hard time keeping this as the quilt back.  I almost caved and made two quilts!

May your bobbins always be full,

MQG ~ Riley Blake Designs Fabric Challenge ~ Quilt Back is finished

If you know me, you know that I piece 98% of my quilt backs.  I do it for a few reasons.

It's a challenge.
It uses up scraps.
Each side of the quilt is "special".

Many times the quilt back becomes my favorite of the two sides.  Not this time, I love both the top and the back.

I'd planned on quilting this small quilt myself, but I've chickened out.  I'll call my LAQ, tomorrow and see if she can fit it in!  If she can't I'll give it a try, but I'm really afraid of messing it up!

We have rain today, so the photos were taken inside and the light isn't the best.

May your bobbins always be full,

Quilt Back for the Urban Life Baby Quilt

After making the Urban Life quilt top from Central Park fabric, I had 20 - 1" x 10" fabric strips left over.  I spent yesterday afternoon making these four blocks.  I'm calling them "Pick Up Sticks" quilt blocks.

Today I decided to separate them by a 3.5" strip and put them half way on the quilt back.

The quilt top is below.

I'm taking a wee sewing break.  Believe it or not, I need to clean the garage and get rid of some things.  I think February is the perfect month for that task.  I still have plenty of Bob's things to make decisions about.  Boxes and boxes of "stuff"!  I need to clean my closets, too!  Imagine that.

May your bobbins always be full,

Scrappy Scrapalious Quilt is finished!

I spent most of the month of March stitching this quilt top together.  I used a lot, not all of my print scraps.  I call this design Brick by Brick.  I tried to alternate light and dark, I was semi-successful.

Photographing this monster, it's 92" x 90". was a challenge.  The photos taken on the grass were only OK, and these on the tennis courts required seven clothes pins!  Seven!

For the quilt back I stitched together fat quarters of Make Life Sweet by Sweetwater.

I attempted to get both dogs to pose with the folded quilt, Ben was the only one to co-operate!  This photo shows the bounce of red I added to the binding.  It's such a large quilt I added two extra scraps, I'm loving the look.

I believe this quilt is staying at my house.  I currently sleep under a quilt that I purchased over 15 years ago before I started making quilts; my youngest daughter, Sharon, has advised me that I need to sleep under one of my quilts!  Bossy, bossy, bossy.

BTW, I now have no UFOs!

May your bobbins always be full,

The Accidental Quilt

This quilt began its life as a quilt back.  I'd just finished a Modern Log Cabin quilt top and started piecing scraps together, and fell in love with how it was turning out.  I decided it should be a quilt top.  Below is the quilt back I made for it.  I think the front and back are both lovely.  (If I do say so myself!)  The finished size is 68: x 69".

 Here are the two quilts, together.  Can you see how they're related?

May your bobbins always be full,

The Back of the Skateboard Quilt.

I really like to piece the quilt backs I make.  I think the piecing gives the finished quilt an added umph.  For the front of the Skateboard quilt, I used part of a layer cake and some coordinating fabric from my stash; I echoed those on the back.  I also had some leftover wheel units from the front; so I strung those together for more interest.  The word fabric is by Whistler Studios for Windham Fabrics.

Now to get these to my LAQ, so she can work her magic.

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt Back with HSTs

For this quilt back I took all the leftover bits from making the quilt top, strung them together and put the panel in the middle of some Kona White.  I love making then using the leftover bits.

Here's the quilt top.

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt Back

I had a lot of fabric pieces leftover, all 3.5 inches wide but different lengths.  I used them to make 5 strips for the center of the quilt back.  

This is the quilt top.

Ben was my helper, today.  Frisco laid under the quilt ladder and barely raised his head when I asked if he wanted to help!

I started writing this post about noon, and I'm finishing up at 5:30 PM.  What took so long?  We had surprise visitors.  Both of my daughters and our grandson Oden.

Bob and Oden.

 Carrie, who lives in North Carolina, Sharon from Orange County and myself.

Now, these girls know how to surprise their parents!  We're having a heatwave, and our AC went out, so we all went to Chili's for an early dinner.

May your bobbins always be full,