What a Memorial Day!!

This is the back of the 'whole cloth' that I have been working on for 2 days. I finished all of the quilting today.

The front is a decorator weight Toile in red and cream. I used Permcore thread on top and those wonderful Superior prewounds with Sew Fine thread on them in the bobbin. I really am in love with these prewound bobbins. I will be trying other brands also and will let you know what I think. 

The backing of the whole cloth is cotton sateen. Stitched beautifully. I think that I am going to try some of this fabric on the back of some of my own quilts.

This is what the top actually looked like. You can't really see the quilting on the top, just the texture.

I hope you have had a memorable Memorial Day and can look forward to a wonderful week.

LET'S GO SEW!!!!!!!!

Laura's Quilt

 This is a commission quilt for Laura. The colored squares in the top are the bandanas that were given to some very special friends when they visited their groomer. There is so much feeling in this quilt. I know how much Laura loved these friends, so I wanted to make sure that this quilt was special for her.

The green inner border is from a colored paint chip that Laura brought with her when she came by for her consultation. There is also a peach that is used in the inner borders that she brought with her. The tan is a color that Laura wears alot. The outside border is a 'dog-bone' print that goes with the theme of the quilt.

I often ask clients to bring in paint chips of special colors that they might want in their quilts. They understand that I might not use all of them, but, that I will use them to make special selections of fabrics.

Then it was time to quilt the top and I had some decisions to make. I know how much Laura loves the ocean. She and Clyde spend weeks on the Outer Banks of North Carolina every year. Knowing that, I picked a shell pantograph to use for the quilting. The thread used is the same color as the tan in the quilt top. The binding is a dark brown, another of Laura's colors.  The backing is a mottled tan wideback.

So much fun to do. I love really getting into the history of a piece and trying to work special events/things into each commission piece that I do.

Thanks Laura for trusting me to do this for you.

Just wanted to share this with you,

SUNDAY FUN

I put this little top on the frame today, just to play. I think that it belongs to Greater Columbia Guild. I was playing along and doing loops and having fun. I forgot that Piper was suppose to spend the afternoon with me.

Well, once she arrived we decided that she could 'help' me with the quilting of this top. When I got to the end we stood her up on a stool and she held the handles and I helped her guide Olivia. Her first question (remember she is 6 years old) was how do you do smooth loops. Well, she decided that maybe this was a little harder than she thought. She did help me finish the top and the picture below is what we did. I can't tell you how much fun that was.

I'm not real sure that you can see her quilting. She was amazed at what it felt like to drive Olivia. However, she assured me that a little girl would love this quilt. She was quite impressed that it was being given away to some special little girl.

Out of my 2 granddaughters I am sure to get at least one quilter------maybe both.

See you later this week.

Act 4 of the First Grade Play

Piper's theatrical debut!!!!!!

Piper had a really good day. Listen carefully. Piper is the one in the blue vest, she plays the mother. She did not miss a beat and really did a great job.

All of the first grade students did a great job.

BEACH TRIP

Let's go to the coast of South Carolina!!!



Wouldn't you just love to take a walk down this secluded area beside the water?
This is the strip of sand that will be available for you to take these walks on if you participate in our Beach Trip Retreat in November 2011.

St. Christopher has great facilities for our use. Beth is demonstrating the 'White Board' we can write all of our important points on.

See the projector in the ceiling? I have many video's on quilting subjects that we can show using that equipment.

Can you believe the SIZE of this room? Those of you who have been with me to Quilt Camp, can appreciate this room. With all of this area we will finally be able to 'sew together', something we have been wanting to do for years.

The contrast on this picture is not really good enough to see the water over the dunes, but, you get the idea. Outside of our sewing area is a wonderful deck with rocking chairs to sit and ponder the next project that you can start.

Our sleeping quarters are all within 200 feet of the sewing area, so a quick nap will not be far away.

The cafeteria is just a short walk away and the staff tells me that the variety of food available will make sure that we don't starve.

We had a really good site visit. The staff at St. Christopher could not have been nicer or more accomodating. Many quilt groups have used this facility in the past and that makes it easier for 'One Loose Thread' to take a group there.

Our trip down to Seabrook was made even better with a stop at 'People Places & Quilts' and also at 'Sew and Sew' in Summerville. At the 'round about' between Kiawah and Seabrook is a very nice shopping area with several resturants, lovely shops, an awesome grocery store, and of course STARBUCKS.

I also feel that I need to point out that the trip from my house to Seabrook (without the 3 stops), would only take about 2 hours. My GPS did not 'see' I-526 so we went into Charleston. So, 2 hours from Columbia you can have a great retreat with some wonderful quilting friends in November 2011.

My Design Wall

 This is what I had when I started my day today. These and my 4 hst border pieces that I have done since last Friday.

Well, I worked most of the day---slowly. Discovered that I had been straying off of my 1/4" mark, so had to be very careful constructing these border blocks. I don't find these to be as much fun as the big star was.

This is what I have this afternoon.

This picture shows the 10 red border blocks and the 4 sections of inner border for Helen's Lone Star.

I am now going to put everything into a project box and keep it out of sight for at least a week. I really need to get some work done on customer quilts. However, I may leave the scrap box out so that I can pull some blue, yellow , and green strips for more stars. Or, I could just leave the neutral box out and just work on those as I have time.  This has become an all consuming project. Sooooooo, I am going to hide it for a week.

First thing up tomorrow will be to put borders on Laura's top, find a backing for it that I like, put it on the frame and share some time with Olivia.

Will also start to cut out applique's for Ellen's applique panels.

After Laura, the next project on the frame will be either ________ or _____________. Not sure which. Need to work on Holly's and get pantograph done on Sandy's. That way I know that they will be ready before 'Summer Fun' Quilt Camp.  Just have to see how the week goes.

 I have to make a trip to Seabrook Island this week to do a site visit at St. Christopher. That will take a full day. I am sure that there will also be some Fabric Acquisition done on that trip. Friday will be the 1st grade play at Piper's school, so will need to take sometime and be there.

I really need to do better with time management. Oh Yes, and tomorrow is my 42nd wedding anniversary. Hard to believe.

Hope everyone has a good and safe week.

More from Helen's Lone Star

 This is where the lonestar stands at this point. However, there is one hst that is in the wrong place in the cream star in the middle (Can you find it?). For that reason I will need to 'un sew' one of the middle seams, take out the offending square, replace it and then stitch the seam back together. Thank you to Sue for pointing this out to me before the quilt was complete.

I spent all of my 'free time' this week constructing  a double border of half square triangles (no picture). That required 296 hst's. Now, this weekend I am devoting to the lonestar quilt and will go back to customer work on Monday.

This is a picture of what will be constructed this weekend. This is a 10" border block. The stars that will dance around this border will be all different colors, using more scaps.

The hst's in this block finish at 1 1/2 ", so I have to make many more. All of the rest of them in the quilt are 2" finished. I am using the 'Easy Angle' to make all of these hst's. It certainly makes this process easier.

OK, back to work. Mr. OLT is working in the yard to clear the debris from a tree that we had taken down yesterday. Now the garden can get full sun for most of the day. That should make for some really good vegetables.

More from Helen's Lone Star

OK, I am 'deconstructing' the center of the star. I decided that the middle was just tooo bland. I have taken the corners apart and am inserting a small yellow star out of the same fabrics that I used in the tips. I have also taken one row from the perimeter of the quilt. I did this so that I could work better with the borders.

The first inner border will be ------you guessed it---half square triangles from scraps. The second border will be-------yes, that's right------half square triangles of the background fabrics. The second border is planned to be wide enough to do some appliqued vines and flowers. Then the third border will be----------haven't decided yet.

So, that is were I am currently with 'Helen's Lone Star'. Stay tuned for the next episode.
Have a great week,