Getting Ready for Quilting

Since both quilt tops are completed, it's time to get ready for quilting.  I wish I could remember where the ribbon quilt pattern came from but I honestly don't remember.  I squared up the quilt top.  Before loading it, I decided to practice the pattern on some ruined white (now yellowed) fabric piece I had. 

Even though the software can figure out how many repetitions I should use for the pattern on my quilt, I tend to like to rely on my own figuring out on scratch paper.  I'm glad I practice it first since you can see my spacing was way off on the spacing between the rows 1 and 2 at first.  So, I tried again and then I was happy with the intertwined designs on rows 2 and 3.

 
Now it's time to load the first quilt and get going.  I'll post pictures of the finished product hopefully by the end of the weekend! Stay Tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~

Simple White Border

The last part (I thought) that I needed to do on the second charity quilt was to add a border to it.  I thought of all different options.  The last idea I had was to keep it simple. One single border.. But what color should I use?  I settled on a white border.  The same white fabric that is in the center of the quilt.  Once the pink binding is added, the whole border/binding combo will match the quilt center.    Next up, a little practicing for quilting and then it's time to start loading the quilt tops to be quilted!

I'm not crazy about how you can see through the white fabric.  Because of this, I went out and purchased the warm and white batting.  The warm and natural I usually use made the white have a beige tint to it.  Hopefully the warm and white will work just as well.

Additionally, I need to embroider a few more words on the completed quilt top.  This will be a big challenge since it's already assembled.  I honestly missed mentioning the guys as well.  I should put Men and/or Brothers somewhere on the quilt.  But where??  Maybe in the pink around the white center.  This will be interesting.  I need 2 additional words to add with the words Brothers and Fathers.  Here are the other words that I already used on the quilt:

Faith / Believe / Sisters / Fight / Family / Strong / Courage / Friends / Cure / Hope / Support / Brave / Love / Wish / Inspire and Mothers.

Thanks for stopping by!
~*~Trish~*~

Second Quilt Center assembled

I only have the border to complete on the second Ford Cares Breast Cancer quilt.  I was able to assemble the center part of the top.  I like how all the extra embroidery blocks turned out.  Even with the different fonts that I used.  To me, the Cure and Wish words are larger than the rest but I'm going with that it was on purpose.  We all wish for a cure on this disease. 

Here's the center part.  I plan on adding a thin white border and a pink exterior border around the whole thing.  I didn't get a chance to iron the top yet.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!
 ~*~Trish~*~

Many Wishes

I found that I needed to redo a few words in another font.  I just could not keep the funky looking I on the first try.  The font's don't match but I like them better than before.  It took me a few tries to get the right size of "wish" for the quilt.  I have a few extra blocks so I may be making a pillow too.  Here's my many wishes.  It took me a while to find a font with a normal looking I

I finished up all the supportive words to add to the second charity quilt.  Here's the second batch of words and then all the words line up.

 

Next stop will be the quilt layout.  But time to go and enjoy some other items for the weekend.  Stay tuned for the quilt layout...

Thanks for stopping by!
 ~*~Trish~*~

The I's have it

In between the storms today,  I was able to work on the extra blocks that I wanted to add to the second charity Breast Cancer Quilt I am starting to assemble.  I had blank blocks added to make it to the 10 blocks by 12 layout size I wanted, but could not keep them blank.  So, off to the embroidery machine I went.  I was able to get these completed pretty quick.  They all needed to be light backgrounds to work with the layout I was thinking about.

I'm pretty much happy with how they turned out except two.  Why is it that every embroidery font that comes with a sewing machine has a funky looking I?  I mean the capital I's always look like T's to me.  What gives?  Ugh... What do you think?  I wanted it in all caps since I'll have four blocks in caps and four in sentence case.

While I am being picky, I'm thinking my capital C looks almost like an E.  Instead of CURE, my eyes are seeing EURE.  Maybe it's time to push up that eye doctor visit.  I may be off to look for new fonts with basic I's and C's to redo these two blocks.  I wanted to keep them all in the same font, but, not sure I will.

Hope all is going well with you this weekend! 
Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~

Butterfly Babies

Every year we anxiously await the arrival of the monarch butterflies to our butterfly garden in the back of the yard.  Over the last week we have seen a few fluttering around the flowers and we know what that means.  Tucked underneath those leaves are scattered micro dots of butterfly babies.  I know technically they are caterpillars but to me they'll be the butterfly babies. 

Most we leave on the leaves to try and mature naturally but others find themselves brought in and pampered in a safe environment to mature until it's time for release!  Look closely at the leaves photo.   The tiny specs of white are eggs that will hatch into tinee tiny caterpillars.

Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~

First Quilt Top Completed

I finished the first charity quilt for the breast cancer campaign in October.  Everything went well for the quilt until it was completely done.  One of the corners is a smidgen off. By smidgen, it's more like almost a 1/4 inch.  Driving me crazy.  But, most of the other blocks in the row match up so I'm not too sure how I would go about fixing this unless I add more to one column of blocks to push the white strip to the left a little to line up.  Or, I can reduce the size of the white strip a smidgen maybe. 

I forgot how difficult it was to add a strip and then continue to line up the blocks on either side of that strip.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know.  Here's the problem corner and then the full quilt top.  I'm also a little disappointed with the white fabric.  It's a little see through.  I'm concerned that when I put the yellowish natural batting behind it, the quilt top will lose it's crisp white strips.

2012 Quilt Top - Needs a little ironing.

This week, time to figure out the layout for the second quilt top and get moving on that.  Then, we are in the waiting game again for some tests completed on Friday for DH.   After 2.5 years of remission, it's still a roller coaster ride.  Keep your fingers crossed the bone marrow test comes back just "naturally" low.

Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~

Making Progess on First Charity Quilt

I'm on my way with assembling the first Charity Quilt for the Ford Cares Breast Cancer Quilt.  It's just what I needed to keep my mind occupied instead of stressing over other things that you can not control.  Each year I make these, it humbles me and makes me realize although we have had our share of issue these past 3 years, we are still so blessed.

I was only going to do a couple of rows, I was curious to see how the white would turn out with the blocks.  Here's my answer.  I like it however I'm not to happy with the white fabric purchased.  It's a little see through.  So, when I put the cream warm and natural underneath it, I think it will dull the crisp white...  I'll have to think on this one..

Then I thought I'd like to work on the center logo part.  I went to put the white around the white embroidered logo provided and decided it needed a dark border before the white is added.  So, I added a 1" pink inner border to match the other appliqued ribbons on the quilt.  Here's the center by itself.

So I kept going from there and now I have the top part, the left and right panels and the center grid all completed.  Maybe today I'll still add the white strips to the left and right panels and join them with the center grid of blocks to complete the whole middle section.  Of course, I'd then have to add the top to the middle section and heck, I'll be 75% complete with the top.

Here's the left, right, and middle panels handing on my banister (aka quilt rack) as soon as you walk in my home.

Making progress and that makes me happy!!
Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~

Uniform Randomness

I try so much to do random layouts but once I take a photo of them, I see the multiple colors not looking random enough for me :-).  There's too many darks together and too many lights together etc...   When I layout the breast cancer quilts, I do them on my floor, take a photo, rearrange and take another photo, and repeat so many times until I'm happy.

Here's what I started out with on my first breast cancer quilt layout.  I digitally added the white strips on the layout.  Of course, my photo of the layout on the floor also creates a distortion on the photo.  The dark wines jump out at me being not random enough for me. 

First Layout

After several episodes of rearranging, I added the dark wines around the center Ford Logo block.  The center block will also have a colored sash around it.  Then, the extra dark wines I added to the outer corner blocks.  Then I tried to alternate the remaining pink shades to create light and darks along with uniformly adding the embroidered blocks I created.  Now it's time to start sewing this one!

Final Layout

Thanks for stopping by!
~*~Trish~*~

Embroidery Weekend

It was an embroidery weekend at my house.  I am just about completed with all the extras I like to add to the Breast Cancer quilts.  I love adding embroidered blocks of different sizes and styles.  This year, my favorites are the applique angels.  I used frosted fabrics for the wings.  It added just the right amount of sparkle!  I need about 16 extra (8 for each quilt) plus the ribbon corner blocks which are the basic ribbon applique blocks below such as the top left one.

Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~

It's That Time, The Quilt for the Cure

This will be my 4th year to participate in the Quilt for the Cure cause in sewing together blocks gathered from the race for a cure race in Pittsburgh PA.  Here's where you can learn more about the process!  

Also, if you can help assemble a quilt from the blocks submitted, here are instructions on how you can join in and volunteer to assemble the quilts.  If you do volunteer, let me know.  I'd love to see how yours turn out as well.

This is my favorite project each year because it has a deadline that I never let pass.  I don't set the projects aside and "do them later".  No procrastination here and I consider myself blessed to be able to read the special messages on each square.

Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~

String Quilt - 33 Blocks to Go

Yesterday I spent a little bit of time trimming all the newly completed string quilt blocks I had completed.  I then threw them together rather quickly with the others to see how many more I have left to do.  If I want to make the 8 blocks by 10 blocks size I want, I have 33 blocks to go.  I think if I ever complete another string quilt, it definitely will not be as small of strips as those I have been using.  I will also not use as small of blocks (6.5" blocks) as I have been using.  But, little by little, I'm getting there.  However, let's not forget, I have all that paper to remove from the blocks as well.  Bummer.

But, one thing at a time.  I am determined to finish this quilt this year!  Here's what I have so far now.  I wish the colors would photograph better.  It's not as dark as it seems.   When it's time to assemble the blocks, I'll spend a lot more time evening out the colors in the blocks. But, not too bad for a pack of fat quarters I never thought I would use.

Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~

It's Completed - Lotta Love

I finished my Lotta Love wall hanging on Wednesday!  I actually free motion quilted the wall hanging instead of stitching in the ditch, which was a first for me.  I credit SewCal Gal's Free Motion Quilting challenge for pushing me to use my practiced skills.

I was thinking about adding rhinestones to the hearts in each flower but I have decided against it for now.  Here is the finished product.

Quilting

Finished Quilt

It is hanging in our living room for the next couple of weeks.  I added a matching binding to the outside of the quilt.

Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~

Favorite Last Minute Gifts - Monogram Hand Towels

At the last minute, I decided I needed more gifts.  I had recently bought a few sets of hand towels and thought I would monogram them for a few people for Christmas.  My all time favorite font for monogramming towels was previously purchased from ABC Embroidery Designs.  My favorite is called Monogram #2.  It is a rope stye script font that comes in 3 sizes.  I usually use the 3.15" height size.  It has depth and style and looks beautiful on towels in my opinion.  Please note, this site delivers their download links by email and it can take up to 12 hours to receive it.  I usually receive mine in under 2 hours.

First the setup.  To find the perfect placement, I usually fold the towel vertically and place a pin at the center point.  This then lines up with the center mark on the hoop.  I use sticky Tearaway stabilizer.  The sticky obviously holds the towel where I want it to stay.  I usually pull the towel up 1/4 inch from the bottom too.  This give me as close to center as I can get and usually places the design in the towel band.  

 I also use less of the sticky tearaway stabilizer by only replacing the part that I rip off when completed with the design.  I cut a smaller patch to replace what was removed.  It saves so much stabilizer and works like a charm.  I use a larger patch though to make sure I have enough stabilizer to hold the towel.

I completed 10 towels in about 4.5 hours.  I'm pretty happy with the end results.  They look so expensive and you just want to touch the embroidery.  

One final, to remove the excess stabilizer from the back.  I use a tooth brush (new one of course lol) and wet the excess stabilizer.  I soak it and then wait a minute or two.  Then I scratch it with a straight pin to get it started and it seems to come off so much easier for me!  It's not as sticky.   I end up with a clean towel back as well.

Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~

Wreaths Completed - Decorating Options

Yeah, I finished all three pineapple wreaths!  I made the binding on Thursday, added it to the quilts Friday and finished hand sewing them this morning.   Here are the 3 completed wreaths.

Now, I'm not sure if I am going to decorate them.  I have 4 options to decorate with.  Ornaments, Rhinestone Berries, Flat Berries and then finally crystal beads like my original one.  Here are the options...  I'm leaning towards the 4 ornaments I think.  I have a full bag of them that I could use.

Crystals.  I would add them in a random order instead of above.

Flat Berries

Rhinestone Berries

4 Random Ornaments sewn down.

Which one do you think looks best!  I have 3 to do, maybe I'll do each one different.  Now, I need to determine who's going to receive these wall hangings. 

Thanks for stopping by!  
~*~Trish~*~