Before I was a quilter, I sewed. I embroidered, made stuffed toys, sewed clothes and pillows and just liked to try projects with fabric…but I obviously didn’t know any of the rules of quilting….

I just rediscovered an old project I made 10 years ago, while waiting for my first baby. It’s reallly cute, but I obviously didn’t know what I was doing. I made a quilted wall-hanging without a stitch of QUILTING!  I remember taking it down because it had gotten saggy. It’s also a set of pockets, so after years of holding toys and small books, the fact that there was no quilting holding it together made it look bunchy and wrong.

So yesterday, I fixed it.

Because “Once a Quilter, Always a Quilter”, I couldn’t just leave a quilt un-quilted!!

Click the images to see them bigger.  And I apologize, I don’t remember where I got this idea!! I think it was a book but I can’t be certain. If I figure it out, I’ll surely let you know, because I want to give proper credit. It was a great idea! And so fun to make. Look at all those rows of fancy stitches and reverse applique that I had fun with.

It’s still not a masterpiece of quilting. The sandwich, of course, didn’t lay quite flat anymore, so there are some bunches. But I’m now proud to call this a little quilt!

Kind of funny to have finished a 10-year-old UFO that I didn’t even know was a UFO! But it shows there’s always room for improvement.

Here is the beginning of my Kathmandu project. I just couldn’t wait to show you! It’s going to be a wholecloth quilt, embroidered and embellished into a colorful banner-size wall-hanging.

The fabric is that ruddy red with gold designs printed in blocks (I’m going to use 2 blocks x 4 blocks; from the Katmandu line by Mark Lipinski for the Troy Corp.). I’m going to fill in those lines with embroidery, then sandwich and quilt it and later embellish it with beads, sequins and/or shisha mirrors.

It’s so exciting to start a new project!! I know this will be a long project that I will work on many, many hours…but it is already fun to look at and enjoyable to do, so I’m looking forward to working on it a long time.  Some projects I do because I want the finished product, but this one I’m really doing for the process…and I hope it will be a beautiful masterpiece in the end.

Thanks for looking!

I got all excited about two weeks ago when I thought up a new product (A Quiltie Pillowcover) and the first one turned out great! But wait, there are no pillowcovers in my shop?! Well, it turned out too great! I’m keeping this.

My rationale is that I got that brown flowered fabric as a Christmas gift from my mom. And I love it! I have two other quilties in the works using other fabrics from that bundle, but I don’t want to give them ALL away! So, I think I’m going to be making more pillowcovers. It’s a great idea, practical-minded and just as easy to make as a quiltie (frankly, easier!), so I’m excited to have come up with a new product. I’m just not ready to roll it out yet.

SER4652ZQ66J

I got some pretty new fabric and promptly started another quiltie!

I hope the embroidery stands up to the border fabric, though. I’ll have to make sure to quilt it right so that it stands out!

So, if your hand-dyed embroidery floss says that it is not colorfast, it is REALLY not colorfast!! That is the moral of the story.

This pretty variegated floss was really fun to stitch with and made a beautiful little honeysuckle, but the fun ended there. I spritzed with cold water, as usual, to remove the water-erasable marking pen I used to draw on my design. The next day, this is what turned out.

So sad, but I should have known really.
At least I know I like the new design and I’ll just have to try it again with some tried and true DMC floss.

I had originally drawn this little birdie for a holiday quiltie! Don’t ask me why, because only one setting I’ve put him in has turned out very holiday…the rest are, well, not. Like this one! Don’t let the evergreen bow fool you!




And there’s another light blue one that will definitely have to wait for spring for it’s debut!

Here’s the holiday version.

So, is there one right setting for this bird?! I guess he’s an all-weather friend!

Handmade Wool Felt Santa Pillow

Originally uploaded by Quilties

This handmade wool felt santa pillow design came from Better Homes and Gardens Publication: Holiday Crafts 2008. It was on the cover and I just had to make it! I even started a whole new drawer dedicated to wool felt and launched into the world of wool because of this very project!!

Ok, I set up a Flickr account. I didn’t want to do it, because I like the Kodak Gallery for ordering prints from my camera…but it supposedly works nicely with blogging, so I’m giving it a try! If anyone has any tips for me on how to use it and what to do with it, please share!!

Now there is a photostream of some of the ten quilties I recently boxed up and mailed away. Here’s the link to that photoset.
http://flickr.com/photos/31735891@N02/sets/72157609377951078/

I had to say goodbye to ten little quilts all in one day!! They are now at Marc’ette Floral & Gifts in Sauk Centre, MN. Some were old, but most were new, made especially for their Holiday Open House.
But I’m glad to have these pictures of them, at least! Go see them on Flicker and let me know what you think!

I love my home. I spend a lot of time here and I’ve decided, I love it!

I hope I’ve made a home for my boys that they will love the way I do. I truly love my parents home too, the one I grew up in, and enjoy those memories and every visit back there.

Cheesy, but this little quilt was supposed to be a simple, honest expression of these sentiments.

That is everyone who loves embroidery should start a crazy quilt and work on it often and slowly over time. It’s an amazing creative outlet! It’s so fun to try out new stitches and come up with new ideas. With so much going on in each crazy quilt block, each little bit of work will not make or break your piece. Make it your own and have fun!

Here are some of my blocks. I have about 8 in progress…and none of them are “complete”!! I just keep adding to them. Each time I dig them out, I see something new. If one isn’t working out, I just set it aside, because chances are the next time I dig it out I will see what needs to be done to fix it!

I don’t know if I’ll ever finish this into a quilt, but this is one project that I don’t ever look forward to finishing it more than I look forward to just working on it more. So it’s worth my time!