Christmas is Coming!

My friend Hilary made this beautiful quilt top for her daughter.  She asked me to quilt it for her on my Tin Lizzie.

 I was a little concerned because it was about 7' square and my Falcon frame is exactly 7'.  This means that there is at least 6" on both sides that cannot be quilted.  Eek!   So since I'm a problem solver by nature, naturally I wanted to tackle it ;]  

I quilted the center of the quilt while folding the excess backing and batting over at bit.  It did make the tension a bit of an issue so I made sure it was only 4" excess on each side.  

After finishing with the center,  I trimmed the excess backing/batting to be exactly 4" from the quilt top.

I turned the quilt 90 degrees on the rack and used the large straight pins to pin it at the top.  Then I used clamps over the lower roller to secure the bottom.  I quilted 1/2" of one side, moved it over repinned and did the other half.  Then the other side.  It actually worked out pretty well. No puckers ;]  I love "Duck Tape" workarounds.

I am in the process of quilting a large 9 patch and have the same problem.  I'll posted pictures of how I did the sides this time and repost the tutorial.

This is an ornament made by Bev in my Wool Gatherer's group.  Had to share it with you.  I love soft ornaments that my WillieNo! can't destroy.

Beautiful fabric I received in a gift exchange with my EZ Quilters group compliments of Sandra Usher and the good sportsmanship of Debbie Shapiro.  

Thats all for now.  I'll post again when the 9 patch is done!

Hope you are all sewing this weekend!

Love Aunti Nicole

October's Behind Us

This is a quilt made by my friend Carol Culbert.  She asked me to machine quilt it for her.  I just chose something simple that would blurrrr the straight lines.  I like the way it turned out.

Our guild this month challenged us to make a stocking.  Since I don't like to be too traditional I found this really different Christmas fabric in Arrowhead when I was on retreat.  The flowers were made by my new Kawansi tool and two antique buttons that came from....I don't know where, lol.  I think we are supposed to  stuff it, but we'll see ;]

Added a little flange to my binding on this t-shirt quilt.  Added a little je ne sais quoi.

I'm in the mood to get some projects done before I start any new ones.  Strange I know, but you gotta go with your gut! 

Hope you all got a chance to sew this weekend!  ~Love Aunti

T-shirt Quilt for Hubby!

Have you ever made a T-shirt quilt?  Does your husband have old shirts that he just won't throw away?  Even though they are so old he will never wear them again?

Well mine did!  My friend Nancy Chocek did a t-shirt quilt workshop a couple of weeks ago.  I seizes the opportunity to make my husband clean out his t-shirt drawer.  He was willing since it was for a good cause....a quilt for him ;]

This quilt has a little bits of my husband in it.  Just to make sure, I quilted writing across the blocks.  Hard to see in the picture, but he appreciated it.

I had purchased this beautiful "tale of the dragon" fabric from Alexander Henry a year or so ago but could not bring myself to cut it up.

The orange I bought at Beyond the Reef last year.  Also had to have it and didn't know what I wanted to do with it.  It goes just perfect with the dragons.

So its done and quilted.  Just have to put on a binding and voila!

I do hope you all got a chance to sew this weekend!

Love Aunti Nicole

Got Marines?

My guild does mini workshops over the course of the year.  I got to take two in the last month.  The first was was by Nancy Chocek.  She has pretty much mastered the T-shirt quilt thing.  She shared some great tips with us and we got a lot done in the workshop including plenty of laughs.

I got most of the blocks made in the class and now I'm in the process of setting them.  Check back in the next couple of weeks, you might see a finished quilt, lol.

So another workshop I did was by my dear friend and fabric artist Eileen Wintemute.  Her's was Beading Embellishment workshop.  Here is a picture of her sample.  Can't believe how much I learned in so little time.

Mine isn't very far but will be working on that in the next couple of weeks.   

 One of my friends in the class Sandy Ingraham did a Christmas stocking and she finished hers already!  I had to make it big so you can see the cutes little buttons on the bottom.  Great job Sandy.

Great job on both workshops ladies, I ready enjoyed them.  What a great way to spend a couple of Saturdays.  

Ok, more to come.  Next week I'm going on a retreat with my EZ Quilter friends.  Four days, of pure unadulterated quilting in a cozy house with 12 good friends.  Noice!

Hopefully I'll have lots of pics to share when I get back.

Hope you all get to sew this weekend!

Aunti Nicole

Budding Quilting Star

My niece Megan (right) is here with her sister Marisa.  Megan has entered her quilt in my Mom's guild show.  Her piece was hand appliqued and she did a fantastic job.  Her applique stitches are invisible, a talent that takes years to master.  I am so proud of her!  And look.. are those ribbons?  I'll have to find out the scoop on that...

I managed to do a bunch of quilting in August.

Just put the last stitch in a baby quilt for my cousin Julie.  She is due this month.

 






I have been working on a UFO challenge and just cranking them out.  Here is one that I did for my Aunt and Uncle.  This was UFO #3 on my list two more to go.

Here's a bigger picture of that one.
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8378787154792953915#editor/target=post;postID=4134521522125988271


This 9 patch is what I'm currently working on.... Its almost together, at least it will be today I hope.  I'll post when I have more progress, and hints of a border...

Plus I've been doing a little quilting for some friends.

I started Croffsit a couple of months ago and have been focusing on eating and working out.  Strange how addicting exercise can be, but here I am at 6am on a long holiday weekend and my body is ready to go, of course my brain says quilt quilt quilt.  If you have never heard of crossfit, its a combination of endurance, gymnastics and weight training.  The work out is different and challenging everyday.  Each exercise is scalable meaning, I can't do pull-ups so they have a giant rubber band to help me get there at my pace and smaller weights for me, since I have never done weights.  Each workout seems impossible, yet you do get to the end and feel great!  ok well tired and great...sore but great!  lol.  Crossfit is everywhere, look up local crossfit box and I'll bet you've got one near you.

A lot of catching up to do on the blog so I'll spread it out over the next couple of posts.

I hope you get to sew some on this wonderful holiday weekend.

Love Aunti Nicole

Twin Pretties

I was talking to my friend Sharon and mentioned that I was practicing my long arm quilting.  She asked if I would do some baby quilts she had made for twins.

So this is my first commissioned quilting job, yeah!

Last month I gave my hair stylist a quilt that I had been working on with her in mind.  The back was tula pink Parisville with the crazy hair styles, see previous May post.  She loved it.  I scanned her thank you card which was like quilter crack.  Had to share it.

Working on a baby boy quilt now for my cousin Julie, have a Septemberish timeline on it.  here is a preview....

I am hand quilting this one and am about 1/4 finished.  Better get crankin ;]

Hope you get to sew this weekend!

Aunti-out!

Sedona Arizona Inspiration!

Happy to be Home!  I just got back last night from a week in Flagstaff, AZ.  A successful business trip!  Now I need to get back to the real business of quilting ;]  Arrived in Flagstaff Sunday morning at 11am so I took a drive down to Sedona which took about an hour.  Must have been a cyclists convention or something cause there were a lot of people on the beautiful winding road to Sedona.  

I went to the Quilter's Store Sedona while I was there, course.  Bought some goodies and saw some really unique pieces made by a local quilter Mary Jardine.   I love how her embellishments jump right off the piece.  My photography skills don't do it justice, but you can get the idea.  These pieces are all for sale at the shop. 

She is also featured at http://www.jeromecoop.com/index.html

Here were some quilt inspiring statues I found in a shopping center, while looking for food!  

I ended up eating at Oaxaca...yum!

Here are some goodies I picked up at the Quilt Store.  I have never seen a threader for embroidery needles.  Kind of interesting.  I'll let you know how it works out.

Also this yo-yo style Kanzashi flower maker.  They had some lovely little Kanzashi samples there, I cant wait to try it out.

I worked so much all week that I didn't get to explore much of Flagstaff.  I did find out that the quilt store that was there had to close ;[ very sad.

I did find some interesting food though.

Native New Yorker  (funny website too)- I had Baked Penne and a Bacon Fried Sunday.  Yes, Don't knock it til you tried it!  Vanilla Ice Cream with ...wait for it... Chicken Fried Bacon.  I got it to go and they put it all in separate containers.  I crumbled the bacon (did i mention the bacon was chicken fried by the way) on the ice cream and drizzled a little maple syrup and oh wow.   My heart literally skipped a beat (could be the cholesterol).  It was phone home good.  I had to tell my hubby about it, being the bacon guy that he is.

Thurdsay night I went exploring in downtown and ended up at Criollo   The food was so good.  I had the seasonal fish, which i believe was Halibut.

seared seasonal fish ~ smoked tomato risotto, coconut-ginger sauce, Calabrian chili oil, cilantro-macadamia nut pesto

   The presentation was beautiful and I would have taken a picture but it disappeared before I thought of it... and by then it was half eaten so I thought, too bad soo sad!  Of all the choices on the list of places to eat the "sustainable" caught my eye.  I like companies that are conscious of their community and the environment.  I can't say that I only frequent them, but it makes me more likely to be a patron.  Good job Croillo!

Sorry I was so verbose this time.  I have so much to share and feel like I've been away alot.

Hope you were inspired to quilt (or eat) this weekend!

Love Aunti

Happy Village

My mom was visiting me for the last week.  I got to have her for Mother's Day and that was really special.  

We went to our guild challenge presentation on Monday night.   The challenge was called a history lesson and I was on the committee.  It was a huge success.  Take a look, mine's in there!  http://www.flying-geese.org/SlideShows/may_challenge.pdf  This was a judged showed and really a great success.  I won best Title Sacajawea's iPhone, and got some excellent feedback from the judge.  My mom, Jane St.Pierre, had a quilt in the show as well, its 54-40 or fight!

So during the week, I had a bad cold and lots of work so I didn't get to spend a lot of time with mom, but last night after I said lets make something new!  She looked at me with one eyebrow raised and said O...K?

I pulled out my Happy Village book I picked up when Karen Eckmeier presented at our guild.  I have been wanting to make one and I thought it would be fun and quick.  Well I was right!

We did this in about 3 hours, which is great considering we were loopy and tired.  The pieces are temporary glued in and there is tule over the top.  Now I'll machine quilt it with monopoly.  In the future we will probably listen to the recommendation that you don't use prints, but adding a touch of black helped calm our crazy little village down.  Very fun, I'll definitely do it again.

Well I'm off to Las Vegas.  Today is our 10th Anniversary!  10 years is Tin so my Tin Lizzie is very fitting.  We are going to a gun range in Vegas so maybe there is some tin or aluminum in there somewhere, lol.  I'm a horrible wife, not really ;]

I hope you all get a chance to sew this weekend!

Love Aunti Nicole

4 Patch Posie - Hawaiin Style

At Road to California this year, I picked up this beautiful  fabric from Beyond the Reef.  What to do, what to do?  

I was at an EZQ meeting last month and my friend Sharon did a 4-patch posie and convinced me that it was much easier than stack and whack.  

and she was right!  The blocks only took me a couple of hours.  The setting again a couple of hours.  

It so fun to see how different each block turns out.





I a making this one for my Aunt Debbie.  Will probably quilt it with lt blue and grey thread.

That's all for now!
Hope you get to sew this week!

Love
Aunti Nicole

Summertime - Living is Easy

 A few years ago I picked up some bright colorful fabric from Orange Quilt Bee.  I started making my own version of Turning 20 (it was late and I couldn't run to the store) and when I finished I realized I had a space in each of my blocks.  I added a little white square in each.  Then I got the hair brained idea to embroider in each of the squares.  That the part that took me so long.  It was fun though!

So here are a couple of the embroidery pieces. 

I machine quilted it on my Tin Lizzie, experimenting with different quilting designs.  Each block is a different pattern.  I am having trouble photographing it well, I want capture all the different patterns I did before I give the quilt away.

Yes, Im giving it away to my Hair Stylist Colleen.  She likes to wear black but she is always so sunny on the inside.  These bright colors make me think of her.  So on the back I found the perfect fabric, Tula Pink - Parisville.  I have this fabric for a while, but did not want to cut it up.  It must have been waiting for this quilt to be finished ;]   Incidentally, Colleen used to do stuff like this to her daughter's hair on crazy hair day.  She once told me about the time she made a birdcage out of her hair, with birds and all.  

Today I am helping out with the judging for our quilt guild challenge A History Lesson.  I am so looking forward to the reveal next Monday.  I'll share my favs with you next week.

Monday I leave for the week to Texas for a work conference and Friday night my mom is arriving to spend Mother's Day here.  Yeah!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you get a chance to sew this week!
Love Aunti Nic

From Girl and Dog to Moose and Squirrel

Big news!  Last week my niece Marisa  obtained her AKC Master Handler certification thru the AKC Junior Handler program at just 12 years of age. I understand she is the youngest person to accomplish this level of certification.  


Way to go Marisa and Dolly!
Photo by Lee St. Pierre, go Dad!


Read more...
http://www.pepperjackkennels.com/



So last week I was on a business trip in Newcastle, CA.    I stopped into Runs with Scissors quilt shop in Roseville, CA http://www.runswithscissorsquiltshop.com/ cool shop and very nice people.  I always try to pick up something I  don't have or have not seen before.


Here is what I found...

This panel reminded me of my friend Sandra Usher who has made two little black dress quilts.

Oh and remember these guys?  I grew up watching Rocky and Bullwinkle.  I had no idea what they were talking about until I watch the shows as an adult.  Very deep stuff, for a moose and squirrel.  So I picked up this 5 fat quarter pack.  Not sure what will become of it, possibly a bag for me!

I just finished quilting a gift for a friend.  I'm putting on the binding today so hopefully will post it tomorrow!

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you get to sew this weekend.

Love Aunti Nic

Tessellated Mint Chocolate

At my Flying Geese Quilt Guild I joined a UFO Challenge.  The challenge is to finish 5 quilts that were Unfinished prior to the challenge.  This is my first completed quilt.  I started it about 2 years ago.  It was my month to big a block in my EZQ group.  Each member made me a block and I put them together.  This is actually a one block quilt.  I chose mint chocolate for the theme.  I love the fabric choices and the quilt came out great.  I finally finished the quilting on my new Tin Lizzie.  I have a feeling a lot more UFO's are going to be completed here in the new future, challenge or no.

 Here is the block.  Its created by sewing and slashing and resewing.

For the backing fabric I used some fabric I got from Beyond the reef.  Kind of a beachy toile.

Some of my friends Donna and Pat created some simple philanthropy kits and passed them out at the last EZQ meeting.  Great idea.  I whipped this rail fence up in no time.  Its a pretty good sized lap quilt.

I'll be traveling next week to Sacramento.  So I've got this weekend to sew, do laundry and pack.

I hope you all get a chance to sew this week.

Aunti

Nicole