The Tupperware Quilt is Complete

It's been a long time coming and this is finally complete. I've blogged about this quilt here and here. I'm so glad to be done with it! Here you can see its crinkly goodness after its first washing:
Here's few closeups of the hand stitching:

I've been feeling so good about the hand-stitching on this that I've decided to start another hand-stitched quilt.
I fell in love with this quilt on Film in the Fridge and decided to make my own.
I have 169 blocks -

Here's an almost-finished top on my bed:

I will add a narrow white border to this before it's basted. For the back, I've chosen a solid Kona tarragon. The binding's not yet decided - I am leaning towards Denyse Schmidt's Sugar Creek Kitchsy Tile Cornflower. Looking forward to some hand-stitching! Anyone want to help? At 102x102, there's enough room for a lot of hands to quilt this....

Anna & her commissioned quilt

Purple Plainspoken for my niece, Ashley

I finished and gifted the Purple Plainspoken quilt to my niece, Ashley.

This is Ashley á

This is her quilt â

She chose purple camo for a fun, warm, flannel backing:

Fake-napping for Aunt Patticakes, so I could see it in action:

Emmalina's First Quilt

Here's Emmalina's first quilt!
I followed the tutorial at Tall Grass Studio for the wonky log cabin pattern.
It makes a great baby quilt!


Fun and wonky everywhere -

Here, I hand-stitched an "E."

Warm flannel on the backside.

Sleep well, little Emmalina!

Quilt Story for the Blogger Quilt Festival

Here is my entry for the quilt blogger festival.

This quilt is special to me because it marked a turning point in my own sewing.

My grandmother taught me to sew and the joy of making quilts. For years, I had been working hard and improving my skills, but it wasn't until the few quilt tops leading up to this one and this quilt that I believe my grandmother was proud of my sewing.

Throughout my apprenticeship with grams, she was part of a hand-quilting network of women in the community. She would tell me about it, but it was this quilt top that she allowed to be hand-quilted by her group.

Here's some photos of the quilt in the frame - with me and grams at the library where she quilted:

And the finished product, with prairie points:

Orange Crush: FINISHED!

My glorious orange crush quilt is finally finished!

This one's going on my bed ;)

The gals at Melear's Fabrics did another fine

job quilting this on their longarm.

Here's a close-up of the quilting.

She used one of my favorite designs - the "wishbone."

Here's what I chose for the backing.

It's yellow with a pink design -

but it reads as orange.

This was the first time I'd pieced the binding with different fabrics.

I had some left over from the blocks and supplemented

with some bonus orange & white polka-dots.

The photo above shows the polka-dots.

I think I like it more than a one-pattern binding.

Check it out:

Dog Bed #6 - Red Faux Suede for Stella

Dog Bed #6 is for Stella.

I used santa-red (the shade doesn't show up in this first photo) faux suede material for a luxurious bed for Stella.

I ordered a custom-made size of foam and it is absolutely perfect!

It is "high density" and seems to have more body than the dog beds I've been buying annually for her. We'll see how long it lasts!

Here, the color comes in a little better.
The store did not have a super-long zipper in red, so I went with chocolate.
And next to the sofa, she'll be sleeping pretty!
Now, back to quilts!

29 days to Christmas... I'm wondering if I'll make the 100% handmade pledge this year?

Bed for the dog crate

Here's some shots of my first zipper project!

This is a box-pillow that will cover some high-density foam for a kennel mat for Stella (I know, I'm over the top with it))
I used exterior upholstery weight material.

If you can't tell by the photo this was some sort of two sided zipper where there's two different zipper cars and it can be opened by either end.

I ended up putting it in by exposing the teeth. I even tried my hand at a top stitch! and, check out the serging on the inside.

I watched a few youtube tutorials on zippers and asked everyone I knew how they do them.
Eventually, I'd like to learn the proper zipper installation technique!

what a hoot!

It's not perfect - the ends of the zipper need some minor adjustment....