Garden Magic Quilt...

My recently created Garden Magic quilt came back from the longarm quilter last weekend. I finished hand sewing the binding yesterday and thought you'd like to see it as a completed quilt. I've installed it in the guest room and am quite happy with the results. Handsome likes it, too!

The bed is an Ikea model that we purchased for our guest room when we moved here, and it has a padded headboard. The only problem is that they chose a black shearling-look material for the padding. (Who came up with that?!) I decided that, if there was enough fabric left over, I'd make covers for the padding on the headboard. (Still comfortable if you're sitting up and reading, but no longer ugly black that fit with nothing else in the room.) Fortunately, there was plenty of fabric, so I pieced the covers to match the quilt. What do you think?

I want you to see the detail in the machine quilting, too. Kathy at Sandy's Quilt Shop in Harbor Heights, FL did a great finishing job for me and I'll be going back to her again, without hesitation.

Do you like it? Mum, Eli, Lee, Delly and Jen...Here's the guest bed where we hope you'll have sweet dreams when you come to visit - Not at the same time, silly. Of course, even though I didn't specifically mention our kids and usual Northern guests, they know there's always a comfy bed here for them, too!

Tomorrow, I'll show you the completed Cotton Candy quilt, which I'll be adding to the Brynwood Boutique.

Happy Veterans Day to my brother and my friends who have served or are currently serving in the military. I thank you for your sacrifices and your service. Because of you, we can all sleep safely in our beds each night. God bless all of you, and God Bless America.

Simply The Best...

I want to start by saying that I really have the best friends in Blogland! You were all so gracious with your comments! First, to say that my rooms don't even look cluttered. Then, to give me some great ideas to consider for dealing with the items in question. And last, but not least, the fact that you cared enough to leave a comment in an effort to either help me out, or support my decor. I love each and every one of you for that. I'm going to take all of your suggestions and "play in the kitchen" today. I'll have photos for you tomorrow so you can see what I came up with.

I'm heading over to a local quilt shop today, too. The owner has a Gammill machine set up in a side room where she'll be quilting my Cotton Candy and Garden Magic quilts. I want to get these back and in my hands as soon as possible so I can bind them and get them finished.

The Garden Magic quilt is going to stay here and go on our guest bed, but I'm thinking I'm going to put the Cotton Candy quilt (the pieced top is shown in the photograph above) in my Brynwood Boutique. As promised, I'll be posting photographs of both finished quilts so you can tell me what you think. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get them back by the time I return from Wisconsin on the 31st.

I don't leave to visit Mum until the 21st, so I'll be working on a few other quilts in the meantime. My French General quilt is on hold until my fabric backorder arrives. I have a lovely yellow and red lap quilt in the works, so I'll probably tackle finishing that one next. I've called it Pretty Pathways and you can see it here. Miss Ellie sure has been busy lately.

Thanks again for all your comments. You're all Simply The Best!

Sunday, I Was "In The Pink"...

Sunday was a really nice day. Handsome spent some time doing yard work and I was in the studio. I was sewing sashing to the pink flannel quilt blocks.

Of course, after he had finished his yard work, a swim was in order, so we both went on break and spent about an hour in the pool. I'm so sorry if you're in the North and subjected to the premature cold weather already. It's still in the 90s around here and we so were anxious to cool off.

After our swim, I headed back to the studio where I put together all ten strips - each made up of six four-patch blocks and separating sashes. I was pretty proud of myself for matching up all the seams when I joined the first two long strips together, then gave myself a beaver slap to the forehead when I realized that I hadn't attached the long sashes yet. (There has to be a long sash between each long strip of blocks to match the ones I stitched on the sides. The finished effect is a contrasting block around each four-patch. It's a necessary step, since we all voted for sashing!) You can see the side sashes in the second photo. My bone crochet hook - which I use to guide fabric through Miss Ellie's presser foot - is pointing to the sash fabric.

I should say one more thing about my technique here. I do not stress over lining up plaids or stripes in my quilts as I do in garments. I like the random, haphazardness that comes from just sewing them together as they want. You'd think with my Type A personality, I'd be working toward perfection. I'm only that way when matching seams, not when lining up those straight fabric patterns. I tell you this so that you don't think I'm just a sloppy quilter. I do this on-purpose.

Anyway, you guessed it. When I realized that I had missed the long sash, out came the seam ripper to unsew that one long seam. By the time that was done, it was time to prepare dinner, so I turned off Miss Ellie, the fan and the studio tv and walked away.

Today, I've got a fresh outlook. I'll first cut all the long sashes, and then I'll set about correctly joining all the long strips of blocks together. When I'm finished, the quilt top will be all assembled. Then, all I'll need to do is assemble the backing and it will be off to the machine quilter's this week.

I want us to be able to keep all these completed quilts straight, so I'm calling the nine-patch quilt from this post "Garden Magic", after the name of the fabric line. This pink flannel quilt I'm calling "Cotton Candy" because that's what I think of whenever I see the pretty pink fabric. Of course, there's no better name for the red and grey quilt shown here than "The French General" named for the designer of the line. Besides, I don't know how to pronounce the fabric line (Rouenneries)!

I don't know how long it will take for the quilts to come back from the machine quilters, but you can rest assured that as soon as they do, I'll be crowing about her work and showing you the finished pieces.

Quilt Top Accompli'...

Brynwood Needleworks - Garden Magic Quilt Top (pre-longarm)

I finished my quilt top on Sunday. It's a perfect size for our queen-size guest bed. I'll still need to sandwich the top, batting and backing together, and then I'll be able to mount it onto a frame and do the machine quilting. Last stage will be binding, and my goal is to have that step (and then the quilt) done very soon.

For anyone interested, this fabric line was called Garden Magic from Blackbird Designs for Moda. I really like the quaintness of it. Sweet flowers and patterns, along with a nice selection of colors, but not too girly that a guy would be offended. Oh, the fabrics are very soft, too!

Handsome is particularly smitten with this quilt-in-progress. He thinks the finished quilt will make a comfy cover-up for an occasional afternoon nap. I think he's right.

So, I'm feeling very accomplished for this week already. Let's see what reveals itself as the week progresses, shall we?