Hand quilting, Machine piecing, and Designing too!

Since finishing Kaydences sweet Butterfly Woven Quilt… she did receive it and she loved it her parents said… so all is well there!!!

Here is where I have spent some of my Sunday last week!!!

Daytona Beach Shores, Florida!

We have a driving pass to drive on the beach and walk around whenever it is open for driving on… when the surf isn’t dangerous or in the driving path… so that is what we did last weekend… what a great way to rest and relax!!!

My bloggy friend Kathy is talking about how relaxing and restful taking slow stitches is… I couldn’t agree more!  I have picked up a UFO that was sitting beside my recliner and have made a refreshing focus on it this week.  Here it was when I had it pieced and ready to layer and pin baste…

And here it was in my hoop as I started going closely around the “flowers” coming out from the center…

Daisy is always close at hand when I am hand quilting… above I was working on this project on my back porch Florida room (screened porch)… now I have brought it in and am working on it in my recliner in the air conditioning and in the living room 🙂

If you look at this photo above… the flower closest to this writing is not yet quilted around… the other 3 flowers and berries are quilted around now…  This is raw edged applique done expertly by my bestie Connie… I made it into a wall hanging but she did the applique I am not skilled enough to manage! lol

I am using wool batting on this project so once finished and out of the hoop the quilting will really show too 🙂  It will be a while yet as I have quilting for the borders… all to be decided as I go… this is my relax and enjoy project… because that is also Kathy’s theme today for our slow stitching and I am working on this today as well… I am linking my post today to Kathy’s Slow Sunday stitching HERE!!!  Come see what others are slow stitching while they relax and refresh 🌸

When not slow stitching on Sundays and when I need to relax… I have been designing a new quilt with this cool new book I just received.. it is an older book but still a GREAT book for designing borders…. it has 12 different quilts in it too 🙂

These quilts aren’t so easy to make and far more than I would design myself… but they also explain how to add fun pieced border designs to your own quilts… the authors are great precise quilters on their own and together I think they are just FAB!!!!

Judy Martin is the queen of precise piecing log cabin quilts and Marsha McCloskey is the queen of the feathered star pieced patterns!!!  Yippee!!!

In between slow stitching and designing a quilt for my son and his new wife…. I have found ANOTHER ufo to unearth and continue working on piecing on Gloria my Singer 301a!!!

It has been over a year I think since I have worked on this quilt … I had to discover how to piece the “flowers” all over again! lol

Here is 1 flower and a pic of the pattern…

 Here are several finished flowers and the template…

 Here is the booklet the pattern is in… it is full of lots of cool information though and is compiled by Darlene Zimmerman… this pattern is Hollyhock Garden and comes in 2 sizes in this book… but I am designing my own size! lol

 Here is some of the flowers on my design wall…

 This collage of pics shows a better view of what the finish may look like as well as my designing process… so I know how many flowers I will be needing!

 I am making the flowers from batik fat quarters… each fat quarter makes 6 flowers… 3 positive and 3 negative ones… I am using both types in my quilt… the pattern says to use just the positive ones though… I just can’t see wasting those negative triangles though….

 You make strip sets then cut the positive and negative triangles…

Once the 2 sides are sewn together you best bet is to double pin the center to get a perfect flower each time… this is a pic I sent to Bonnie Hunter after her most recent Quilt Cam.. I was just sewing them….

Her quilt cam reminded me of the importance of taking time to pin some things… so I am now!

I need 102 flowers if you noticed that in my notes above… I am over halfway now so hopefully I will start adding the green triangles later this week.

Today I plan to work on a quilt I am designing for my son and his new wife…

 Above they are in Gatlinburg last weekend when they finally tied the knot!

And after seeing quilts that inspired them I am designing on graph paper something similar to the pic below I found on pinterest in Civil War colors at their request….

I love how the sashing of the charm square fabrics make stars 🙂

I will be adding a fun pieced border from my new to me book on borders to this to make a nice living room snuggle quilt for them as a belated wedding gift… it will be hand quilted once pieced on Gloria!  I am planning an extra long quilt as my son is 6 foot 7 inches tall with big feet … his sweet wife Heather is only 5 feet tall! lol

I have recently printed new pics of my grandkids… thought you may enjoy seeing them…

Kaydence’s new grandma does a great job of sharing pics… and CJ’s mom caught him with a big smile I think as his dad swings him big!!!!

Hope you have a restful and relaxing Sunday y’all!

Please make time to …

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Butterfly Woven Quilt for Kaydence is ALL DONE !!!

After sharing so much in my last post about HOW I quilted this quilt… I have kept my nose to grind stone and finished the quilting of it 💗

I had lots of fun making this a special quilt for my granddaughter Kaydence… with her first and last initial on the left side of the quilt…

I couldn’t let KC be the only thing on this to identify who it was for though… so I used the nickname her dad and stepmom had given her across the top as well!

I had to draw it all out several times before I was satisfied… but what do you think below now! 🙂

I found that quilting “Bubbles” with back stitches turned out well for both sides of the quilt also… I wasn’t sure before I did it though! lol

And above the label and tag are now on her quilt… I love the finishing though!

Then into the wash and dryer it went… finally ready to show off 🙂

I used a permenent pen and heat set it… and since I didn’t have exactly the right shade of pink to sew down the label… I added a bit of found lace instead!!!

The hearts on the back side of this quilt came to be on Valentine’s day… when the front was complete and needed a backing just a bit wider than this fabric was… so I expanded it from the center and used fabric from my stash and the hearts from leftovers from the front for sweet Bubbles to enjoy and remember her 2 year old present from her Grammy!!! ❤

Linking this slow stitching accomplishment to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday Linky ❤  HERE!

I would also like to wish you all a Happy Quilting Weekend… this is a fun weekend to take time to sew and I am doing just that myself as you can see above!!!

Thanks for visiting and take time to….

Halfway done ~ Simply Woven for Kaydence!

I am so excited to share hand quilted progress on this toddler sized quilt I am making for my granddaughter’s 2nd birthday !!!

Here is a view of the flimsy before I layered it into my Hinterberg hand quilting frame…

And here is a shot of my sweet Kaydence Ava Grace…

She will be 2 the end of May this year 🙂

I am quilting in a “Baptist Fan” pattern in the center and fluttering butterflies around the outer border 🙂

Above you can see how I made my template for marking the baptist fan pattern…

The butterflies have a traditional stencil I had in my stash I am using… I am quilting them in rose YLI while the baptist fans are getting quilted in 28/2 Aurifil white … both are hand quilted though 🙂

Here is the right hand side…

And where I just finished marking on the left…

Once I have quilted a row or a section of a row I just spritz out the blue lines I am marking it all … with water! 🙂

At times I am using hemostats also known as a needle puller when the seams are thick to save my fingers…

Here is a good overhead view of my progress at this moment…

Above you can see how I marked the baptist fan pattern fairly well… I am using 3 marking implements for this quilt…

The marker on the left is by Dritz called “Mark B Gone”… I get it at walmart for about $3.00 each in their notions section.

Next to that is a plain piece of chalk I use for the dark blue fabrics to keep my lines easily visible.

Then on the right is a fine pointed wash away marker by Clover… I am using it for the delicate butterflies.. it doesn’t mark very dark but on the bright white fabric it shows up fairly well and spritzes away then easily once stitched 💗

Thanks for stopping by… you ALL are thimbly the best… I sure felt special after being off blogging for so long to hear from so many of you!!!

Linking this blog post to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday HERE to share my progress on this project…

There are several projects that got abandoned that will be coming after this project is complete too… I need to finish that fun quilt for my daughter, work on a wholecloth, and sooo much more… all hand quilted!!!  I also got a special quilt top to figure out how to hand quilt!!!  So stick with me 🌷

If you like more up to the minute progress on this project follow me on Instagram at kathi.clower or on Facebook at Kathi B. Clower 🙂

Have a blessed weekend and make sure you take time to…

…And after this unplanned 3 month blogging hiatus…

I have a catch up post to share with you all… I have been thinking of all my regular readers 🙂

First I want to dedicate this post to my good friend who is now in heaven… Kathy Porter.. she passed in January from ovarian cancer… her death was not sudden but did hit me hard… she was a very sweet quilting and blogging friend of mine.  If you knew her please pray for her family she left behind like I have been !!!

Over the Christmas season I found this photo on Facebook .. my grandmother (will be 99 years young this September!!!) with my brother and his family 🙂  It is now on my refrigerator! lol

Now let’s get into some quilty business… I worked very hard all of November and December and on January 4 I finally finished so we could sleep under what is now known as “Chain of Diamonds” quilt…

 And here it is on our bed 🙂

I designed this myself but was inspired by this quilt called Emily’s Wedding Quilt found in a Fons and Porter magazine/website 🙂

We have since added a quilt I made with my bestie Connie a few summers ago from a book she had.  It lived as a throw and backdrop for featherweights for those years… and now it will be for Daisy to sleep under!!! lol

Yahoo 🙂   These are BOTH hand quilted btw … I am so happy to see these both going to good use now in our daily life!  A fresh start for sure!!!

Soon after finishing these I decided to start sewing my stash up into quilts for 2 twin beds we have in our 2 guest rooms… this summer we are expecting friends and family to come for visits and I wanted real quilts on the beds … but my poor hands were worn out from Chain of Diamonds quick quilting … so my honey sat me down and had a chat with me and it was decided that these 2 quilts would be machine quilted on my newly fixed up 401a Singer from 1952 😀  WOW honey thanks for getting her back into running condition … mending got done and quilting to do after that… all my piecing was done on Gloria my 301a from 1956… she is an excellent straight stitcher…

You see to the right of this machine is my ironing station… and to the left is my design wall… so it all works soooo nicely… she sits in a Queen Anne style #40 Cabinet… and is quite at home here 🙂

Hopefully this will give you a better idea….

Notice also the “k” thread spool and bobbin holder my honey made and gave to me over Christmas 🙂

So to work I got making half square triangles from a Missouri Star Quilt pattern I watched on youtube called a Herringbone Quilt…

I used some 10″ batik squares and creamy light yardarge I found in my stash…

 and made fresh friends with Zena to machine quilt this using a vintage walking foot I found

that Bonnie Hunter had recommended as a better choice for these vintage machines in a quilt cam session I watched…

And this is how it turned out!!!

Hope you can see the machine quilting on this one… I followed the zig zagging of the quilt overall and love how it finished … it is about 76 x 100″ done 🙂  A nice LARGE twin just as desired!

Just needed 1 more quilt and I had this panel I wanted to incorporate in a design…

then I found THIS blog post with a free pattern on it… I used a jelly roll instead of 3 1/2″ strips from yardage… and made mine scrappy instead of color blocked as they did in this shot of theirs…

This is also a Wedding Quilt! lol  I don’t know if I have attraction unknown to that or what!  But again, I was inspired and used some of their directions but I cut and pasted the pattern to make it my own…

I did take a few more pics of this one along the way… it went from this with 1 jelly roll I bought on sale and yardage I had in my stash…  (the center fabrics came from Connie though! lol)

To this fun flimsy!!!

And here is the Wavy Sea Turtle Quilt getting quilted on Zena my 401a…

To make this finished quilt about 74 x 90″ when done…

 and a close up so you can see the quilting better 😉

So I am finally up to February.. and I am working on an all new project… did a bit more mending of stuff that needed mending while Zena was being so agreeable… you see before my honey fixed her she was breaking thread for no reason no matter what he or I did! lol  I guess she just needed a time out or something.. I actually bought a Singer 347 for my zig zagging needs but it just wasn’t heavy duty enough… so after the holiday was over my honey spent 1 on 1 time with Zena and now she is EXCELLENT!!!!

This project I am working on now is my first time working with 1930’s reproduction fabrics… I followed a Moda Bake Shop recipe for Simply Woven HERE to make the center and added a couple borders and this is what I finished with… on Gloria my 301a of course 🙂

My top ended up at 46″ x 60″… nice size for a 2 year old and her daddy to enjoy snuggles together 🙂  And on Valentine’s day I added a pieced back with 2 little hearts in the piecing…

I love those little hearts a lot!  HERE is a close up with directions on how I made them with leftover 2 1/2″ strips ;)… they don’t show off enough here but once they are properly quilted from the front in the overall pattern I have chosen they will be more fun.

This quilt will be for the 2nd birthday of my granddaughter Kaydence…  So 2 hearts on the back.. there will be 2 on the front also in the border quilting.. The pic to the right is a fun shot I caught… the one below is a pic I took just for this post… and for my facebook followers too 🙂 

I will tell you that it sure it AWESOME!!! (after having to machine quilt 2 quilts) … To be back at the frame HAND QUILTING again y’all!!!  This Hinterberg frame we bought as a kit and my honey built into a frame really is…

My Happy Place!!!

Notice above… I have wireless headphones… quilting helps… and a glass of sweet tea on the table beside my chair (table rolls and my honey made me a few years back… chair I got at Walmart for $70) and my fave lamp to the right moves around the quilt with me and it’s a fun gooseneck ( it came with an attached torchier part too but my honey took that off as it was useless really for my needs.. $15 at Walmart)… I have a second one of these lamps but one is all I need presently 🙂  The shade is painted to make it opaque so it doesn’t blind me as I quilt and points all the light at my work also!

I hope to catch up to each of you between posting this now as well as sharing Sunday…. when we can all see what you are slow stitching over at Kathy’s slow Sunday stitching linky HERE where she is sharing a favorite podcast and how to bury machine quilting threads in a tutorial link 🙂

I haven’t been reading many blogs during my hiatus… since about the time I quit blogging because I got so immersed in quilting… and now I am on a timeline as I am having a necessary knee replacement surgery in March just next month!  Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers for a quick recovery and painless healing!!  

I wrote this post on Friday and read over it this morning adding this photo in to show you how I am doing the center… 

With baptist fans from THIS great tutorial!!!  I made a template from some template plastic I had and punched holes with a tiny hole punch I had saved from my paper crafting days… I am marking with a blue water removable marker 🙂  More on this in my next posting !!!

I look forward to hearing from you all… have a blessed day and until my next post.. hopefully sooner than 3 months from now!!! lol

And in this time of turmoil in the US as a whole… as well as the world overall… remember to…

 Every Day & Do Something Nice to Someone Else Friends 🙂