Happy-Go Lucky Quilt

Lissa pieced this darling quilt using the upcoming Moda fabric Happy-Go-Lucky. Her quilt is so cute and fun. When she sent it to me she told me I could quilt it however I wanted. So I did, and I had a lot of fun doing so! :)

I machine quilted this fun feather in the top and bottom borders, I wanted to give the quilt a totally unique look, not so "traditional" by only quilting feathers on 2 sides. I really love how it turned out!

Some custom detail on the center part of the quilt.

A view of how I machine quilted the side borders.

Thanks so much for letting me "play" with your fun quilt Lissa!

Fabric used in this quilt is available for pre-order here.

Here is more information on my machine quilting services.

Have a great day!

Little Girl Dresses

Last week when I was teaching somehow the topic of making clothing for our kids came up. In the conversation Beth and I talked about how our moms made lots of little matchy-matchy dresses when we were little. We loved them. Beth now, as a mother makes them for her daughters, me, not so much, the thought of sewing clothing freaks me out! I've tried, like twice and it just wasn't happening for me. :)

Last week, Kathleen, my mom, had a little bit of time to do some sewing, just for fun, so she made matchy-matchy dresses for all of her granddaughters.

When I saw the little dresses I fell in love! I had big plans to take some darling pictures of the little girls to show off their dresses..... well, as you can see, that DIDN'T happen. My models didn't want to cooperate. :)

Two of the little girls live far away so we haven't even gotten to see them in their cute dresses, but I can't wait!

This was how my photo shoot went.... .yes they have minds of their own. Just ignore the strange poses and look at how adorable the dresses are.

Pattern for these dresses is by Create Kids and this dress is the Rosanna's Corset Peasant Dress.

Fabric shown is by Art Gallery Fabrics.

Re-making a Quilt

Do you ever re-make quilts, or do you make a quilt pattern one time and you're done with that pattern?

Personally I can only think of one or two quilt patterns that I've made more than once. Not that I don't like them, usually I love them, I just never make quilts over...

Well, today I'm going to cut up this darling Comma fabric and re-make a quilt that I made a few months back, any guesses what quilt I'm going to re-make? I'll have pictures of the finished quilt to share next week! I can't wait to share this version!

Have a great day!

Blue & White Quilt

For the past few years Joan has been making quilts for each of her grandchildren as wedding gifts, each has been different. I think it's such a cool treasure for her grandchildren.

This quilt is all made from half square triangles. Since the quilt doesn't have as much going on as some of the other quilts that she's made she asked me to machine quilt the quilt with an all over pattern using contrasting thread. Most often I use thread that will blend, but on occasion I use a contrasting thread. In this case we chose dark blue thread. I really love the added detail that the machine quilting gave to this quilt.

Thanks for letting me machine quilt another one of your darling quilts Joan!

Antique Quilts ~ tying our family together

I believe that quilts are one of those things in life that can bring families together. I think they can connect us to generations past and generations future. I sure hope that quilts I make now will be special to my kids and their kids and so on. 

I've spent the last several days machine quilting this beautiful antique quilt. This quilt was pieced by my great-grandma, who's birthday I was born on. She pieced quilts for each of her grand-kids for wedding gifts. I feel that I have become so much more connected with my family because of quilts and quilting. 

When she died 20+ years ago several of her grandchildren were not yet married, a few were still small children. But, she had quilt tops made for each of them. 

This quilt is for her last grandchild, he will be married this summer. 

I feel so honored that my great-aunt brought me this quilt and had me machine quilt it for her, for her son's wedding gift. So special.

I don't get too personal on here but, I can tell you that I do feel that at times when I was machine quilting this quilt my great-grandma was here with me, it was very cool.

I shared a little clip of this quilt over on facebook and instagram and a few of you had questions about it. I will answer as many as I can.

**The quilt pattern, I'm not sure a name for this pattern, if you know the name I'd love to hear.

**The quilt was pieced by machine by Ella Clark Muhlestein, my great-grandma, over 20 years ago.

**I machine quilted the quilt, I did machine quilt continuous line quilting, Kathryn, the quilt owner wanted it to look as "antique" as possible so I quilted in a design that would best represent grandma's hand quilting.

Antique Half Square Triangle Quilt

Joan pieced this beautiful half square triangle quilt all from old "antique" clothing. The quilt has a lot of texture from the different fabrics but it is so beautiful. She did a fantastic job piecing all of those half square triangles.

I machine quilted this quilt for Joan. I used this really pretty all over pattern. I just love what it added to the quilt.

Thanks for letting me machine quilt your beautiful quilt Joan!

Modern Quilts From the Blogging Universe

**Giveaway is closed**
I am so excited and flattered today that I get to share this book. Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe.

Martingale published this beautiful collaboration book and I am so honored that they included me in the book. 

Designing this quilt for this collaboration book was a lot of fun. Times were a little crazy, like having a baby, so my kind aunt Ilene pieced this darling quilt for me. She did a great job doing so! THANKS so much!

Since receiving this book I've had a lot of fun reading the bios. Each pattern comes with a photo and a little snippet about each contributor. It's fun to read through them and learn more about other quilt bloggers out there! :)

To kick off this great book Martingale is giving away FREE e-copies of Modern Quilts From the Blogging Universe! Simply leave me a comment, tell me what about this fun bloggy land has inspired you the most!

I do have signed copies available here.

Winner will be announced January 28, 2013!

Modern Cross-Hatching

Ainslee made this darling Pottery-Barn inspired quilt for her new baby. I love it! She sent it to me for machine quilting but asked me to first embroider her babies name, no I don't usually embroider for others, I'm not that good at it. :) but Ainslee is family so I did. :)

 (after Ainslee's husband played a little joke on me, I considered playing a little joke back and changing the babies name.... but don't worry Ainslee I didn't!)

Then, she told me I could machine quilt the quilt however I wanted to.

After seeing some of the awesome quilts that Jenny - from Sew Kind of Wonderful, has been quilting I totally got this idea from her, modern-cross hatching. I LOVE the texture that it added to this boy quilt and I have to admit that I was really worried about puckers or tucks machine quilting a quilt this way, but I am so happy that I ended up with not a single pucker or tuck! YAY! I will for sure be quilting more quilts with this modern cross-hatching in the future!

Have a great weekend!

Easter Egg Table Mats ~ Sweet Celebrations

I love decorating for holidays! Easter is always a fun holiday to decorate for, maybe because the fresh, end of winter feeling it always is exciting for me!

I am so honored to share today my Easter Egg Table Mats.

I designed these fun table mats for the new Moda Bake Shop book, Sweet Celebrations. The book is so much fun and so inspiring!

In the book there are patterns for 8 different table mats that can be used individually or tied together and used as a cute table runner! Make one or two or make all eight!

I just pulled mine out and they'll be displayed from now until Easter!

I have signed copies of Sweet Celebrations available here, or it's also available at Fat Quarter Shop, Amazon or visit your local quilt shop!

Don't forget to check out all of my FREE Moda Bake Shop tutorials!

Machine Quilting ~Monkeys

My friend Vicki pieced this darling Monkey quilt for one of her boys. I love the sock monkeys. 

Vicki sent it to me for some machine quilting. I had fun with it and machine quilted monkeys. If you look closely you can see the monkeys eating bananas! :)

I just love that pattern!

Thanks for letting me quilt your darling quilt Vicki!

Vicki has a few darling patterns that she's designed available in her Craftsy store.

Playing Cards ~ Toddler Boy Quilt

Christine made this darling "Playing Cards" quilt for one of her grandsons. So darling isn't it!

The quilt is made from Kimberly's Playing Cards pattern. 

I machine quilted the quilt with and all over "boyish" fishy pattern. I really love how it turned out.

Playing Cards pattern is available for purchase here.

Fintersteaks ~ Sometimes I cook

One of my resolutions for this year is eating healthy.... With an occasional splurge. Last night was one of those "splurge" nights. 

I made my all time favorite greasy food.

photo via instagram

I love it so much, I'm pretty sure that when I go to heaven they'll be serving these there....and Kenny Chesney will be performing.... and the Patriots will be playing. :)

To make:

1lb Round Steak

1 Packet Beer Batter (mix per directions on the  back of the box, I use water)

Vegetable Oil

Cut Steak in 1/2" strips, dip in Beer Batter, fry in oil until golden brown. 

They are so yummy you don't need to dip them in anything, my husband does like to dip his in steak sauce.

Enjoy!

Modern Basics 2 ~ Machine Quilting

Last year I had the opportunity to machine quilt quite a few quilts for my friend Amy ~ for her new book, Modern Basics 2. 

Amy has designed 14 Easy Patchwork Quilt Patterns.

They are all beautiful quilts!

I had a lot of fun machine quilting these quilts for Amy, some are custom machine quilted and some I machine quilted with all-over quilting patterns.

Amy's new book, Modern Basics 2, was just released this week. 

You can pick up a signed copy here.

Fat Quarter Shop also has copies available.

Teaching ~ Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting

Tonight I'll be teaching part 1 of a 3 part class from my book, Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting at my local quilt shop. 

photo via instagram

I'm pretty excited about this class. It's always fun to go and share my passion with others. 

I've been preparing to teach for a few weeks now, but just today I decided to highlight a few points that I thought were extra important, things I really wanted my class to learn. For some strange reason it felt so weird to write in my book..... But I did! :)

**Shop owners, there is information on class plans for your shop available here.

**If you're interested in having me come to your shop or quilt group to teach or share a trunk show email me today!

Have a great day!

Farmers Wife Quilt

A few years back my mom, Kathleen gave my grandma the Farmers Wife quilt book for Christmas. My grandma is a fantastic seamstress and we thought it would be fun for her to make 100+ Farmers Wife quilt blocks.

 Along with the book she gave her a few fat quarters, but, this quilt also became a great stash-buster quilt. I'm so proud of my grandma for making this quilt. There are so many tiny pieces and she did a great job!

I custom machine quilted it for her, she has no idea that it's done, I've popped it in the mail and I can't wait to her the surprise when she receives it back! :)

Hope you're all having a great day!

Modern Asterisk

Over the past year or so I've had a lot of fun machine quilting quilts for Kimberly of Main Street Market Designs, she's a fabric and pattern designer. 

You can check out her first line of darling fabric here. 

Just before fall quilt market I machine quilted her Modern Asterisk quilt, it was featured in the Riley Blake Designs booth. You can read more about the quilt and the pattern over on Kimberly's blog.

I custom machine quilted this quilt with a fun swirl and pebble combo in all of the background, and then outlined each zig-zag. It was really fun and I love the little detail that it added to the already cute quilt!

Here is the whole quilt, it's darling, and look how nicely she lined up those zig-zags!

Here are a few of Kimberly's other patterns and quilts that I've machine quilted. I just love her style!

Whirligig

Playing Cards

Daisies -  Car Seat Cover

Kimberly has several other darling patterns. Check them out here.

Beautiful Quilt Back

Yesterday I machine quilted this beautiful quilt. I can't show you the top but I am sharing the backing. I love it!

photo via instagram

 I picked up this new feather machine quilting pattern and I absolutely love how it turned out!

Have a great day!

New Year ~ New Beginnings

I love the start of a new year! I love the feeling of a new beginning and a fresh start!

I have so many fun things in store for 2013, so why not start with a studio make-over!

If you've been to the studio lately.... you know it's been in major need of some help. The time just hasn't been right until this past week.

There are still things that we want to do, like paint the table and chairs and hang a few more things on the walls, but for now. I'm loving the way it's feeling!

These pictures are totally un-edited. There are shoes and a little quilt on the floor for my baby. That's what it's like quilting with little ones. :)

Here is a view to the left, I wish I could say that I take a daily beauty nap it that bed... but with little ones.... that doesn't happen! :)

Here is a view to the right, one of the big plans for this year is to paint that oak table. We've got a few ideas in mind, if you have any great painting tips I'd be more than happy to hear!

The new sewing machine area. It still needs a little help, like that white thing in the bottom corner is still a painting work in progress. :) This area has great natural light so it's really nice for piecing.

The area with my long arm. This machine used to be in a totally different area, and when working at it I was always facing the wall. We moved it and turned it so that now when I'm quilting I'm facing out into the room, this way I can see what kind of destruction my kids are causing.

I'm so excited for this new year. This is the first year in quite a few years that I've made resolutions. I made a big list and hung it on my bathroom wall, this way I'll be reminded every day!

Happy New Year!