Monday, October 24, 2011

Winding Ways........Piecing the Rows


Winding Ways aka Wheel of Mystery


This was up on the design wall all summer.
I took it down so I could get to work designing my
2011 Challenge Quilt:


I pieced 4 rows together this morning.
They are all pressed on the ironing board.

There are 4 more rows to piece.
They are on the back table by my sewing machine.





All 56 of the 10 inch blocks
were sewn by hand while I traveled.
This was one of my take-along-quilts.





The blocks are simple to piece...
but tricky when it comes to which way you press the seams!





I developed this pressing technique to allow the blocks
to lay perfectly flat after pressing...
I snipped the seams half way through the curve,
which allows the seam to press either way.





This pressing technique allows the quilt to
lay flat as a sheet of paper, like you see in the image above.





Here are the last 4 rows to piece together...
My work for the afternoon.





Piecing the rows is not for the faint of heart...
especially if you don't like to pin.





Intensive pinning every 4 inches to keep all of the
points and seams aligned.

I will post more images when I begin the design work
on the borders.......stay tuned!




Suzy the Quilting Doggie
You haven't seen little Suzy on this blog for quite awhile...
She spent the day with me piecing this quilt.
She napped under the sewing machine in her bed.




Suzy is 16+ years old.
In this last year she has become blind, deaf and suffers from dementia.
She no longer knows who I am and is scared from my touch.
It has been months since she would stay out in the Thread Shed with me.
Today she gave me the gift of her company while I sewed.
It was a good day.....for both of us.


CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

CLICK HERE to view Suzy's Portrait Quilt

CLICK HERE to view Gunnr's Portrait Quilt

CLICK HERE to view my Challenge Quilts


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,
LuAnn

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Challenge Quilt 2011.....Part 2


6 weeks ago I began my challenge quilt...


This Memory Album was my inspiration:


I just love this color story...




I decided to do some sun printing ...

I think I matched the colors fairly well to the album




Here it is 6 weeks later and I am finally
getting back to the prints:


I used scraps of white fabric to print on,
so they are all odd ball sizes...



I decided to pull out some of my surface design
fabrics I have created the last couple of years...


Maybe some of these will find their way into
the challenge quilt?



I started to trim the odd ball sun prints:


Trimmings...





This is where I am now...
The blocks don't fit into rows because they are
odd ball sizes.
I think with some partial seams this will work.



This is a gorgeous fabric I purchased from


It is just begging to be included in this quilt...



Here are a few of my hand dyes pinned on the wall:


Vicki's hand dye is on the left...

This challenge has a big REVEAL
on December 12, 2011

I can't show you much more at this point
sorry...

I will show you bits and pieces here and there
as I finish this.....stay tuned.

CLICK HERE to view Challenge Quilt Part 1


CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts


CLICK HERE to view Challenge Quilt 2010

CLICK HERE to view Challenge Quilt 2009


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,
LuAnn

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Sweet Sixteen...


Saturday found me back in Portland at the
Machine Quilters Exposition....


This is what lured me back:



Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen
Sit Down Long Arm Machine

I like the Touch Screen Display and the Big Class M Bobbin.
You can set the speed, Needle up/down, the brightness of the light
and the foot pedal is so responsive.

My 100 inch quilts will be a breeze on this big machine!


Lucky for me, my favorite guy came along:


He loaded up the table and the machine and we are on our way!





Winding our way through the convention center...





We found the elevator...





Just barely enough room to squeeze onto the
elevator...





Getting off the elevator down in the
Parking Garage...




Finding our way back to the pick up...





Just enough room to slide in the table...





Everything is loaded up!



It looks like we have a new Driver...


Gunnr is in the Driver's Seat





The whole family came along to pick up the new
Sweet Sixteen

I am busy cleaning and organizing the Thread Shed to make room for the new Sweet Sixteen machine. I found a home for my old sewing cabinet to make room for the new table. When I get everything set up and get a quilt under the needle, I will take more photos.

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

CLICK HERE to view the Sweet Sixteen Video

CLICK HERE to view:  Sweet Sixteen True Stitch Regulator

CLICK HERE to view 1oo inch quilt on my Bernina Machine

CLICK HERE to view my Feather Weight 221 Machine

CLICK HERE to view my New Home Machine


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,
LuAnn

Friday, October 14, 2011

Machine Quilters Exposition.......Slideshow


I spent a few hours in Portland, Oregon at the
Machine Quilters Exposition

I thought it would be fun to test drive a few
of the sit-down long arm machines

Here are a few of the quilts at the show
that caught my eye...

Enjoy the Slideshow:


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CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts


CLICK HERE to view Class Sample Quilts

CLICK HERE to view Textile Painting

CLICK HERE to view Sunflower Quilt Slideshow


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,
LuAnn

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Cattle Drive.....September 2011


I am catching up on photo editing tonight...

I found a file of cattle images from
September 2011

Enjoy the Slideshow:


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CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

CLICK HERE to view Cow & Calf Quilt

CLICK HERE to view The Hen House

CLICK HERE to view The Cow Pony Quilt


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,
LuAnn

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Flowers for Mama......Slideshow


I belong to a teeny, tiny quilt guild
in the teeny, tiny valley I live in...

When everyone shows up.....there are 6 members.

Each year we create a raffle quilt for
The Women's Cancer Coalition

Click on the Slideshow Below
to watch us create...
FLOWERS FOR MAMA


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CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

CLICK HERE to view the 2012 Raffle Quilt

CLICK HERE to view the 2010 Raffle Quilt

CLICK HERE to view The Harlan Valley Quilters (my tiny guild)

CLICK HERE to view The Mary's River Quilt Guild (my BIG guild)


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full of Flowers,
LuAnn

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Free Motion Darning Feet......Improved


Check out this line up of
Free Motion/Darning Feet:

Click Images to Enlarge


These sewing machine feet have been altered
to improve visibility during free motion quilting.





My favorite guy snipped out the front section on the
plastic foot with wire cutters.
(He normally fixes fence with his wire cutters, but they worked great for this too!)





There is no longer plastic in the front of the foot to
obscure visibility during free motion quilting.





Singer 301 Darning Foot
Yes, he even cut the front out of this foot.
It worked like a charm.





Check out this visibility!





When my mother in law found out we were altering
free motion feet, she ran right down with hers!



Here she is with Gunnr:


Gunnr just had to see what was going on at the
kitchen table.



Speaking of Gunnr:


He spent the weekend in Nevada
on the 14th floor of the Nugget Casino





He was a polite hotel guest and enjoyed his stay!
He was a bit disappointed to find out he could not
go see Glen Campbell with us.


To view a video tutorial of altering your
Free Motion or Darning Feet

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

CLICK HERE to view Adventures in Art Quilting Slideshows

CLICK HERE to view the THREADS I use and Why

CLICK HERE to view Thermofax Printing


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,
LuAnn