Welcome baby Joey!

This might be the sweetest picture I've seen in a long time!  Look at this darling little bunny in his Easter outfit!  Not sure who made that outfit but its precious!

Congratulations to Joe, Stephanie and Nonnie Debbie.

I made up a quilt to welcome little Joey into the world.  

The quilt in the background is the back of a disappearing 9-patch in teeny woodland creatures flannels.   

Disappearing or split 9 patch.  This a great design if you have 3 or 4 fabrics but not sure what to do with them.  

Create blocks of 9 patches, I like to make the most contrasting fabric the center square.

Then cut the block into 4.  Turn and sew back together.  No pattern needed really.

This one was with 4.5" squares.  made 20 blocks.  End quilt 48x60

  You can look on Pinterest and see so many ways to put it together.  

the front

the back!

one of the fabrics...i couldn't find the designer of this, but super cute.

http://www.fabriceditions.com/shop/3-Wishes-Projects/p/3-Wishes-FabricbrPlayful-Cuties-Quilt-Coral-x27132123.htm

That's all for now!  I hope you get a chance to sew this weekend!

Love Aunti Nicole!

Daddy's Shirts

This is a project I worked over last Christmas.  A year ago, my friend Jonathan passed away.  My friend Amy Austin suggested that I make quilts from his shirts.

I asked his wife Sara for some of his shirts so I could make some keepsakes for his children.  She sent me some of his work and dress shirts and some t-shirts.

For his little girl, Mia, I took the dress shirts and created loose edge, machine appliqued circle blocks. I used cotton tone on tone fabrics as the backgrounds for all of the blocks, since I was not sure how the dress shirt fabric would hold up after washing.  

I know the colors look a little masculine, but I used some pretty cotton tone on tones and a flowery quilting pattern.  Also the back is very pretty.

For the boy Dallas, I used the T-shirts his Dad had sent him while traveling on business trips.  I sashed them with a grey dot fabric and then used some of the left over dress shirts for accents.  The background is Kona black.

I love grunge dots, so they are on the back and a striped binding to finish it off. 

Lots of prayers were said for these kids and their brave Mom while I worked on these quilts.  Mom and kids are doing well, I continue to keep them in my prayers.

I wanted to share these quilts with you to give you some ideas for some keepsake quilts.

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

Love,
Aunti Nicole

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Kieffer

Last month we traveled to Tennessee to watch Pete's daughter Summer get married.  The wedding was in Lebanon in a beautiful woodsy chapel.  Summer was absolutely radiant and so was Matt.  The ceremony and reception was intimate with just close friends and relatives. The reception was a lot of fun and there was much dancing.

Congratulations! We wish them the best on their journey together!

I started on the wedding quilt as soon as I heard, but had possibility paralysis!  I know Summer is a strong Christian and has very modern taste.  For the fabric, I chose Natalie Barnes Maker's Home and lots of Kona Silver.

This gave me a chance to play with my Quick Curve Rulers by Sew Kind of Wonderful and leave lots of wide open space for custom quilting.  I have been Pinterest stalking Judi Madsen and all related quilters.  I have two of her books and just love her work.  

We stayed with some friends in Heritage, Tennessee, Sandra and Tony Usher.  Sandra is a friend of mine from the EZQ Quilters in Southern California.  She moved to Tennessee the same year I moved here.  I miss her and my quilter friends from So Cal so much.  A very talented and fun bunch of women.

This a view from their back porch, there are dear in the background looking to score some goodies.















Here is one of her beautiful quilts! Gorgeous work.  Sandra has always had such wonderful taste.


More about our vacation next week!

I hope you take the time to quilt this week!

Love Aunti Nicole

A Gift for the Bride to Be

This year in July, my cousin Daniel St. Pierre will marry this beautiful woman.  Lauren is a wonderful person and we are all looking forward to having her as part of our family.

Her bridal shower was yesterday and I unfortunately wasn't able to attend.  But it looks like she had a great time.

For the bride, I made a wedding purse.  Traditionally at weddings, our family traditionally does a dollar dance, where we bless the newly weds with gobs of cash.  This is always a lot of fun and fruitful for the new couple.  

Assembly:  8 pieces were cut from Satin. 4 of which were embellished and embroidered for the outside, 4 for the inside.  + a pocket for the inside.

Then each outside embellished piece was sewn to an inside piece (wrong sides together) and then turned, the hole was hand stitched.  (I recommend a light facing).  

Button holes were made by hand (thanks Mom!) 

Then the sides were hand stitched up the 3/4 of each side.

Two cords were folded in half and threaded through from either side.

The bag was embellished with lace from Lauren's mother's wedding dress.  How do you cut up a wedding dress?  My Aunt Debbie did it for her.   

So some lace, beaded flowers and cloth buttons from the dress; part of her veil.

.

Some of the embellishments were from my stash.  But some of the buttons and bling I collected just for her. 

Daniel's mom, Debbie St. Pierre, collected photos of women from both Daniel's side of the family and Lauren's.  I took all the photos into Photoshop and made them all similar in size and used a sepia hue to give them an antique feel.  I printed them onto a fabric sheet and heat set.  Then ironed to fusible web.  I cut out the photos and ironed them in place.  Then did the embellishments and embroidery.

 

After the wedding, this becomes a prayer bag, where her hopes and prayers can be watched over by the many amazing women in her family, as the Lord works his ways.  These women have experienced every situation as wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, cousins, aunts and on and on.  Many of them teachers which is a special legacy for Lauren who is a school teacher as well.

The pattern I purchased for Julie's wedding.  By Roxanne's Ribonnry.  






This is the 2nd wedding purse I made.  The first, I made for Daniel's sister Julie in 2009.  The first one looked a little more traditional crazy quilting style, with different fabrics.  This one was mostly lace.  The project took about 6 months, but just because I have to think about a thing before I act on it.  Once you get started and visualize where you are headed, you just start.  Don't be afraid to leave areas you don't like or are just ok.   Life isn't like Facebook where you only post your perfection, when you look back to areas you don't like, they are equally part of who you are.  So leave it all, it makes it richer!

My Aunt Debbie says that Lauren loved the purse! So I guess mission accomplished.

The crazy quilting thing is fun and freeing.  I am not sure I would like to do this for a whole quilt but maybe a photo album cover (do people even use those?)  or prayer box for someone special.

Thank you all for stopping by!

I hope you had a chance to sew this weekend!
Love Aunti Nicole

A Gift for Me!

On Monday I went to my EZ quilters Meeting. EZ quilters is a friendship group that my Mom belonged to for many years and then when she moved out of the area, they asked me join and keep her spot warm.  One of the new members Pat Chambers made these cute little pin cusions for all of us.  I believe she used walnut shells for the insides.  I picked one for Mom and one for me.  I haven't decided if I'm going to mail Mom's or made her drive 10 hrs to get it ;] ....Hey I know that sounds bad but we are always looking for excuses to visit.

Donna and Pat are in charge of philanthropy for our group.  Donna passed around a bag of philanthropy projects and asked if we would like to do one, and of course her bag came back empty.  We don't take much prompting, lol.  New project, cool!  So here is the one I grabbed!









Today my friends Dione and Carol are going with me to the Pomona Quilt Show.  There is a Tin Lizzie 18 DLS Long Arm that I have my eye on.    It comes on a Grace Falcone frame and it seems like a great deal ($5999).  I still have to test drive, but I'm itchin to get it.  

If anyone has any warnings or word of wisdom, I'm all ears....for the next couple of hours anyway.  Cuz after after I buy it, I don't want to hear...."oh you should have done this"...or "oh I have one I could have given you"....hehehe.  Its a big purchase and I'm a little freaked, which is why I am bringing backbone reinforcements.

Well I'm off to the circus, I hope you all get a chance to sew.  Check back here tomorrow, and I'll let you know if I did it!

Have a wonderful Day!
Love Aunti

Finishing Touches

So nice to have Christmas Eve off work tomorrow.  Mom and Dad are visiting and we will probably sew and cook all weekend.  Nice!

Last Gift is for my Gramma who found only recently that she loves embroidery. I made this little wooley needle case for her.   Kinda looks like it got socked in the eye but ok.  I will place this in a box with gobs of other embroidery goodies, like floss and an organizer box and on and on.

 Mom said the butterfly should be in color, but the butterfly was an after thought, he's lucky to be there at all    

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!  I hope you all get to visit with family and share the warmth and joy ....and food that family can bring.  

Peace on Earth to all y'all.

Love

Aunti

Mystery Present

I'm back from a business trip in Las Vegas.  Every year I speak at Autodesk University in Las Vegas.  This year, Autodesk University was at Mandalay Bay.  I think I walked about 5 miles a day from the hotel to the convention center.  But the food is fantastic and the people always a pleasure.  Autodesk University is a 3 day training event for Autodesk software users to come and gather as much knowledge as possible in a short time, just like a quilt show.  Always fun and exciting, but am glad to be back and get a chance to sew this weekend.

Yesterday I took a class at the Orange Quilt Bee.  I can't share with you the end result yet, because I made a Christmas gift for someone who watches my blog.  You'll have to check back after Christmas to see the end result.  But I can share the supply pile with you.

Oooo.....is that a zipper in that pile?

I don't know.......

Class was a ball and mostly made up of other instructors from OQB.  They are loads of fun and it was great getting to know everyone in class.  Everyone in the class managed to finish their project and had a great time doing it.  Lisa was amazing and has a lot of patience.  Everyone was sewing at difference speeds, me being the slow poke in the crowd.  But Lisa, was willing to do each step 12 times, once for each quilter.  Good grief!

What are you all making for the Holidays?  Would love to hear from you.  You can post a link to your blog, or send me a picture and I'll post on my blog.

Hope you all get to sew this weekend.  

Love 

Aunti

Nicole

Hexie Table Toppers

 Last year I saw Julie Herman at Jaybird Quilts demonstrate this cool ruler in the Beyond the Reef booth at the Long Beach Show.  This ruler by Creative Grids is designed specifically for 4 1/2" strips or 2 strips of 2 1/2" sewn together.  You can cut several 60 degree triangles without moving the ruler.  Perfect for Hexies.  Well by the time I convinced myself to buy one, they were sold out.  = [

(Just now, while I was adding the link I looked at the Creative Grids site and ooh la la.  They've got some new stuff on there.  Check it out at Creative Grids Products) They've got a new one with the setting 30's.

So anyway, I watched the hexagon quilt along on Jaybird's site from the sidelines for the next few months.  I had a 60 degree ruler but knew it could be done more quickly with the crazy looking one, so I waited.

So this year at PIQF in Santa Clara, this is the first thing I got from Beyond the Reef (after the hugs and hellos of course)...mine!  I got to be demo girl and subsequently learn how to use the tool.  Among others.  When we sold out of that fancy ruler, I demoed the 60 degree ruler and found that...hey thats no so bad!

What to do... what to do...?
My Aunt Sandy asked me to make her a table topper to match her newly remodeled kitchen.  So I figured what better way to try out my new ruler.  Mom helped me pick out the fabrics from Calico House in Brea. Robert Kauffman's "Marbleous Jacquard" for the black and "Imperial Collection" for the rest.

 I went a little crazy and ended up with a bunch of hexies...so I made two, natually!

I can't decide which to give her, so I'll probably just give her both of them...

The first one went together quickly and I machine quilted, I like the way the machine quilting came together to make a star.

The 2nd one I appliquéd to a large square of black fabric and hand quilted.  It only took me a few nights in front of the TV.

 

So with the left over hexies I made pot holders which insulbright which is basically heat resistant battting.  A trick I learned from Natalie at Beyond the Reef.

If you want to practice your 120 degree binding techniques, I recommend these little buggers.  If you don't, well then add setting corners or appliqué it down to a square.

First of the Christmas presents done!

Hope She likes them
Love,
Niece Nicole

Shoo Fly... Don't Bother Me

Its finally finished!  I started this quilt, wow almost 2 years ago for my dear friend Gina in New Mexico.  I decided to hand quilt it so it had to wait its turn.  I started the hand quilting around the beginning of this year and just finished it.  Now its bound and ready to go.  

Shoe-Fly is a traditional pattern, a simple block with sashing and corner stones.  This was done scrappy and the only fabric I bought was the background.  I love how the colors fade in and out.   I used what we call Uglies mixed with bright pretty fabrics.  Uglies give your quilt character and interest.  Scrappy is fun because you can take fabrics that normally don't go together and they look great together. 

So don't throw out those fabrics you think don't go with anything, cuz I'm here to tell you...they will find a place if you do scrappy.  I mean look at the picture below, would you ever think to put those together in a quilt, no not while they are on the shelves.  But thats the fun of scrappy.

The hand quilting was done with a variegated thread.  I heart variegated thread for hand quilting because it gives your eyes something new to look at every 30 secs or so.  

  

The paisley border was a little out of the theme, so I used a woven check for the binding cut on the bias to bring that country look back into the quilt.

This is my favorite hand quilting find.  Clover's Dome quilted needle case allows me to load 10 needles in one shot.  I load 10 quilting betweens on a needle threader, pull the thread from the spool through the needle threader loop.  Then pull one off at a time, cut it and put it in the dome.  Then the next and so on.  Finally you twist the case and the thread gets tucked in the bottom.  It has a little plastic cover to make it kitty proof.  

I can't tell you how many times my WillieNo! ran off with my pin cushion loaded with needles and I had to find needles in cream carpet.  Assuming I remembered how many I had in the pin cushion.   lol...NOT!

Thanks for stopping by and Gina, I Love You Sister, and I'll have this to you in time for your Anni....Birfday.....Ok, Christmas!  Eh-Wheh-Chu!  Squeeze Jade and Pablo for me.  Squeeze em hard.

Love Aunti Nicole

What's on the Hoop

This shoe-fly quilt is a great scrappy project.  I bought one background fabric and all the rest is stash!  Oh exept for the border.  For a scrappy project, I almost always buy new border fabric after I'm done with the inside.  The scraps will tell you what border it needs (scrap whisperer, hehe).  Its hard to tell before hand.  It also may limit the color of scraps you pick, unless that is your goal of course. 

I have been working on the hand quilting this one for about four months.  Its my evening project (when there is no other hand work, applique, binding, embroidery, etc.).  There was a deadline, but its come and gone.  So I am not stressing about it anymore, it will be done when its done.

Well I'm finally on the outer sashing, so thats a good sign right? I'm about halfway around with the sashing and then I am on to the borders. My husband Pete helped me pick a pattern for the borders that has a knot in the corners. And maaaaabee I'll do some special binding, it depends on how much longer the quilting takes.

I love feel of a quilt after its been hand quilted.  The fabric gets worked and it has a special appeal.  It just takes longer.  Which is why my blog posts have been few lately.  I like to use a variegated machine thread or silk thread for quilting.  

Those of you who have not gotten into hand quilting, I recommned it.  When this quilt is done, I'll post a better picture, tell you about some great quilters and maybe post some hand quilting tips I've learned.  I suspect it will be around the end of this month.

Happy Quilting!