Promises & Borders

About a month ago I finished my Promises and Borders quilt top this was a ten month stich along from Jenny of Elefantz.  This was a wonderful project and her pattern is truly inspired.   I posted a photo of it then and I felt like I needed to do a something more to it so I decided to add some needle turn applique inspired by the wonderful designs in the embroidery blocks.  Last week I finished the entire additional applique.  I’m so happy with the way it turned out and I cannot wait to quilt it.  This will be the next top that I quilt maybe I will get it done before the end of the year.  I will make sure and show you better overall photos after I quilt it.

Yesterday I put binding on the two additional charity quilt that I made for my quilt group. My friend Pat let me quilt them on her long arm it was my first time and wow was it harder than I thought it would be.  I had a lot of fun and hope I will have the opportunity to work on one again.   These quilts will be going to a great place that helps children in the first hours and days when they are taken away form an abusive home.  Hopefully a quilt will be a little bit of comfort in such a traumatic time.

Finally I thought I would show you the Arial pillow that my daughter made.  She is on Christmas break from school right now so she is trying to get a lot of unfinished projects done.  I didn’t have the right size pillow form so I just used one that was too small so I could take a photo.   I have ordered a nice feather/down form from Pottery Barn so it should look perfect when that comes. 

Mary Christmas and God Bless,

Lisa

WOW December 12, 2012

What a busy month I have had.  I don’t think I have posted for over a month.  I have been really swamped at work and also busy with sewing.  I have lots to share with everyone so I will try to do a post every few days until I catch up. 

Today I thought I would show you the pillow shams that I finished for a friend of mine.  I think they turned out great and she really liked them. 

Last Sunday I made a Christmas stocking for my son’s girlfriend so she would have one at our house.  Well that started a revolt with everyone else and I quote “Why did Catherin get a handmade stocking and I didn’t” So I will try to make a few more between now and Christmas.  I used dark purple wool and quilted it with variegated thread and then used hand dyed wool to make the holly.  The berries I bought premade little wool balls.  I think it’s elegant.  I bought fabric to make one for my daughter next.  

Regards

Lisa

WOW- November 7, 2012

This week I spent most of my sewing time working on a charity event that my quilt guild is hosting.  We will be making eye-spy quilt for foster kids.  Pat and I organized all the packets of fabric squares and made 20 backs and a lot of binding with the help of a few of our members.   We are ready now for the meeting and a lot of sewing.  Below is one that I made for an example with some of the leftover squares.

I started working on the Betsy’s Closet – In Stitches I have four of the patterns stitched up.  They are really sweet and will make really nice baby quilt when it get them done. 

  

Saturday I made up two pillow shams for a friend of mine that bought the fabric to match a quilt her mother-in-law made her a while back and she wants to start using it on her bed.  I have them ready to quilt up but I need to practice the quitting design. I’m trying to copy the original quilting on her bed quilt.

Have a wonderful week.

Regards,

Lisa

WOW – October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween everyone!  Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love seeing the kids dress up and of course I love to eat candy. My kids had a great time carving pumpkins actually so did my husband (he did the Glock pumpkin). 

Last week Bunny asked me a question about the Art quilt that I shared with you all.  I had the privilege to take an all day workshop with Rosemary Eichorn about a year ago.  She taught her Fabric Collage method that she uses for art quilts and garments.  Her book is called The Art of Fabric Collage and is available on Amazon.  I used this technique for this quilt and a few others that I have made.  The book is easy to understand and I have gone back and referenced it many time since I read it the first time.  It’s well worth purchasing if fabric collage interests you.  This type of quilt is so fun and easy to make, I can see myself making many more. 

The best part of quilting is finishing a project and I have finished another quilt I have been working on for quite some time.  This was a sew-a-long with Clover and Violet and I made the quilt for my nieces 10^th birthday.  I’m so happy with my quilting on this one I did a flower design with trailing leaves and vines. 

My daughter asked me to teach her to do embroidery a few months ago so she picked a page from a Disney coloring book that she liked and I tried to teach her a different stich on each part of the design.  (Remember my daughter is nineteen she just really loves all that is Disney and wants to be a costume designer for them some day).  She decided to make it a pillow for her bed and sewed up this cute top.  So of course I had to do the quilting for her so this is our joint effort.  She is really busy with midterms right now so the rest of the pillow will probably not get done until Christmas break.

Lastly a peek at the quilt I started at the workshop I attended a week ago.  

Regards

Lisa

WOW – October 24, 2012

Another fast week with lots of sewing.  First thing I want to say is what a great workshop Mukilteo Lighthouse Quilter’s had with Jenny Pedigo at Sew Kind of Wonderful last Saturday.  She is a very innovative quitter and her instruction was great.  I forgot to take photos of what I accomplished on Saturday but I will show you in the upcoming weeks as I continue to work on my quilt.  Jenny is having a sew–a-long on her blog so if you have not seen her wonderful quilts and ruler you should really check it out. 

Monday I finished Ian’s bed quilt.  I still need to wash it but he was ready to start using it so I skipped washing it for now. The lighting in his room is so bad that the photos are not great but you should be able to get a good idea of how it turned out.

I entered the quilt below in a local quilt show about a month ago and it was not done.  I have to drop it off on Friday so I decided to take a vacation day yesterday to get it finished.  I’m so in love with this I will be hanging it in my downstairs power room once I get it back from the quilt show.  I took some close ups so you can see the beading.

 

 

I also put the top together for my Promises & Borders quilt.  I will be putting some applique on this quilt before it’s done and ready to quilt.

Have a great week!

Regards,

Lisa

WOW – October 17, 2012

What a week this has been.  I will admit I have been a little overwhelmed by my schedule and I still have so much to do between today and Sunday.  At least I have been having fun but soon my family will run out of clean cloths if I don’t step into the laundry room.

I did make some progress on Ian’s bed quilt I’m about 70% done with the quilting. It’s turning out nice but it’s so big and heavy that my shoulders hurt after a few hours of sewing.  I will work on it tonight for a few hours maybe I will get the quilting done by Saturday and then I can do the binding Sunday. 

Last Thursday I attended a class about reverse raw edge applique.  It was a fun day learning a very easy technique.  I finished the applique in class and now I plane to do additional quilting and some embellishments before I’m done.  I ordered some metallic black thread for some of the quilting I think it should add some interest to the piece.  

Saturday I attended a class on painting with oil paint stick on fabric and applying foil to fabric.  It was also fun and I can really see the potential for art quilts. 

Last night was my Mukilteo Lighthouse Quilters guild meeting that I organized the program and workshop for.  We had Jenny Pedigo from Sew Kind of Wonderful talking about her quilting and curve ruler.  She will be teaching us how to cut and sew the curves in a workshop this Saturday.  I will have lots of prep to do Friday to get ready for the workshop, but I’m excited for it.  Below is the fabric that I will be using at the workshop.

Regards

Lisa

WOW - October 10, 2012

It’s Wednesday again and I still don’t have Ian’s quilt done.  I have made forward progress the top is completed and the quilt is sandwiched and ready to be quilted.  I also know what I will be doing with the quilting witch is something that can hang me up.  I will start the quilting hopefully tonight. 

This weekend I went to the La Conner quilt festival and show.  It was a lot of fun and my Affairs of the Heart quilt was entered and I received a second place for tradition applique.  This is my first judged and juried show so I was excited to receive an award.

Well do I dare say I will show you a finished quit next week. Might not be wise considering I will be attending two all day classes between now and then.  I guess we will see what happens. 

Regards

Lisa Mortell

Gina’s Birthday Present

I have been waiting a while now to show everyone how the bag I made for my sister’s birthday turned out.  She does not read my blog all the time but I figured the one time she did it would be when I showed everyone her gift.

I made this really complicated feathered star block to put on the back.  I have never made anything like this before.  It was time consuming but really fun to make. I put little half square triangle all around the embroidery to tie it in to the block on the back.

My sister really liked it.  My cousin was funny she said to me “this is so cute you should sell these” and I had to giggle because I have about 40 hours of hand and machine work in this little bag.  Think anyone would want to pay me for all that time.  My joke is if I would not give you my kidney they I would not make you a quilt. I think most people just think you can make a quilt in a few hours and it cost about $50.   

Regards,

Lisa

WOW-October 3, 2012

I was pretty cocky last week talking about showing you a finished quilt.  Needless to say I did not finish Ian’s quilt, but I’m almost done with the top.  I still have to finish the placement of the applique and then do the blanket stich around all of it.  I will be doing it on the machine so it should go pretty fast.  Maybe I can show you a finished quilt next week.  I spent about 32 hours so far on this it’s talking longer then I thought it would.   Overall I like the way it’s turning out and so does my son.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Regards,

Lisa

WOW – September 26th 2012

I have spent the last two days making about 280 3” half square triangles.

Last Friday my 22 year old son ended up in the ER.  It turned out that he had scarlet fever.  So being the mom that I am I decided to completely disinfect his room considering that he is normally cleaning his own room I knew it deserved a little of my attention.  So in the process of washing his bedding the nine year old bed spread of his total came apart in the wash.

Ian is the only one of my children that I have not made a bed quilt for.  So the challenge is on.  He wanted something made entirely from flannel with a high loft.  I have modified a pattern that I have always liked from Edyta Sitar’s book Friendship Triangles.  So I will be working like a maniac to get this done so he has something on his bed before it gets cold.

Hopefully next week for WOW I can post a finished quilt photo.

Regards,

Lisa

My Fernhill progress.

I’m all caught up with my Fernhill BOM.  This will be so great when it’s done.  I had a little mishap with putting the third border on I originally put the red strip of fabric on the wrong side I had to unsewn my entire applique and fix it. Oh well it’s right now.  I’m looking forward to the next installment. 

Regards

Lisa

Lots to share!!!

I have lots to share with everyone.  I have not posted to by blog again for way to long.  This does not mean that I have not been doing lots of sewing, baking and other fun stuff.  My job has been extra demanding as well so my blog has been the area to be neglected.  

This weekend my husband and I went to see Jason Mraz at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington.  It was a very fun show.  His band is really talented and a really good time was had by all! I did some hand sewing in the car on the way over and back it’s really hard to keep your stitching even on a bumpy road.

I want to start by showing you my last three blocks to my promises and boarders quilt.  They are wonderful designs and I have enjoyed stitching them.  One more month and I will be finished. 

I finished the quilt I started at the Colleen Wise workshop that I attended earlier in the year.  I really enjoyed making this quilt.  It was something that I might not have done on my own and I learned a lot from Colleen.

Lastly I will share with you a little block that I made for a gift to a member of one of my guilds. We were given the background fabric and the pattern.  This is my interpretations.  Hope she likes it. 

I have so much more to show you, but this is all for now.

Regards

Lisa