And The Winner Is......

The winner of my Fall Into Fall Giveaway is.....Michele from Quilting Gallery. Congratulations Michele, I hope you enjoy the book.

Thank you Debi for organizing the giveaway. I can't wait to participate in your winter giveaway.

It has been so much fun reading all the nice comments left on my blog. I hope you are all frequent visitors.

Happy Quilting!

One Down Four To Go

I'm feeling quite proud of myself today. I finished one of my UFO's since joining Finn's challenge.

It isn't bound yet but my part is finished. I've owned my HQ16 for about three years and I'm finally getting the confidence in myself to use it.

Here's a close-up of the quilting.

My friend Bren who doesn't like machine quilting gave me a very nice compliment today.

She said that if she were ever to have a quilt machine quilted she would have me do it. Coming from her that is quite a compliment.

This wall hanging isn't on my list of UFO's and it isn't even finished but I wanted to show another project that I've been working on. I started this one years ago when I taught this as a beginning quilting class. I've been working on it off and on (mostly off) for years. I picked it up again after I took the Thimblelady hand quilting class last Saturday. I'm using it as my hand quilting practice.

Even though I've started machine quilting, there are still quilts that should be done by hand and I want to keep in practice.

The center blocks are quilted and I still have the borders to go. I'll show it again when it's finished. After I finish it, I'm going back to the finish the log cabin that's in my banner. It just needs the border and one or two blocks finished. I should have practiced enough by then to do a nice job on it.

That's all that I have to share for now.

Happy Quilting!

Quilt Class Junkie

I'll be the first one to admit it..........I Love taking quilting classes.

This last Saturday, I took a repeat of a class that I had taken 3 years ago. "Quilting the Thimblelady Way" This is a hand quilting class. It's a method of hand quilting without pain.

Liuxin Newman is the Australian lady who started it.

In this method, you fold the fabric on to the needle instead of using the traditional rocking stitch.

There is a book with a DVD included so if you can't take a class on the method, you can still learn.

By quilting this way, you can quilt for hours and your underside finger is not being pricked. In my book, anything that doesn't cause me pain is the way to go.

The next class that I'm signed up for is for a quilt called "Suffragette". The first thing that drew me to it are the colors. It's a scrap quilt in reds, creams and blues.

I'm still working on my UFO's and I'm almost finished with one. I'll post pictures as soon as it's finished.

The Fall Into Fall Giveaway has been so much fun. I love visiting all the new found blogs and reading all the kind messages that you ladies are leaving on my blog. Thank You!

Happy Quilting!!!

Coleen

Fall Into Fall Quilt Giveaway

My giveaway for the Fall Into Fall Giveaway is "Beautiful Foundation-Pieced Quilt Blocks" by Mary Jo Hiney.

This book is filled with 4" foundation pieced blocks. I hope whoever wins it will enjoy the blocks and the ideas for their uses.

The rules to win it are simple......... Just leave a comment on this post and I will draw a winner on October 15th. You do not need to be a quilter to enter, nor do you have to have a blog. If you do not have a blog, please leave your e-mail address. ALL international readers are welcome to enter. My comments are set to Google account holders only...no anonymous comments, but a google account is free and easy to get. Just click on the "Sign Up Here" link at the end of the comments.
Now here is the bonus.....Click on the scarecrow and you will find a list of 40 other quilting bloggers doing a giveaway. They will be posted by Oct. 1st and all will be drawn on Oct. 15th. I can not say they will not have different rules to their drawings. Be sure to check out all the great giveaways....after you leave your comment here.

Fall Into Fall Quilt Giveaway

I've just spent the last two days frogging all the quilting that I put into this three year UFO.

The thread kept breaking and so I decided to frog it and start over, oh well it's good practice.

I'm working on my UFO's. Wish me luck!

Coleen

New Years Eve Challenge

My friend Bren joined the New Years Eve Challenge on Finn's blog. Bren pointed out to me that I had some UFOs and I should join in the challenge too.......So I did! I went on Finn's blog and signed up a few of my UFOs.

The first thing I need to finish is this quilt. It needs to be quilted and bound. It is a wedding present for my friend's daughter. I've shown it on a previous post but here it is again.

This top has to be finished next. It is a quilt for the American Hero Quilts organization. I will do the quilting but it will be sent to someone else to be bound. When it is finished, it will be presented to a wounded soldier.

Next I would just like to get this top pieced. It needs setting triangles added and the blocks put together. Quilting will probably not be finished on this one yet.

This top was loaned to me by a friend of mine 3yrs. ago to practice machine quilting. Think maybe I should finish it?

Last but not least (for now)...... This is an applique that I started in a class years ago. For now I would like to finish the trellis border. I love to do hand applique.

I'm going to try, No, I am going to accomplish all of this by the end of the year. If I don't go into this with a positive attitude I'll never succeed. In my first blog, I showed my hand quilting project which is still not finished but it is going to have to wait awhile.

While I was at joining neat things, I joined the Fall Into Fall Giveaway. I will post my giveaway before October 1st and draw a winner on October 15th so please sign up. You don't have to be a quilter to enter. Make sure you make the rounds to get your name in on this giveaway. Your can find the participants at the link above.

Happy Quilting

Coleen

New Sewing Space

I wanted to share my new larger sewing/quilting space. My DH has enlarged it. While we're not quite finished with it, I wanted to show some pictures.

Here's one of my new cabinet. It's great for housing my machine bags and hanging tops waiting to be quilted.

The wire bins next to it house pieces of fabric that are less than a yard.

I have cubes to hold my larger pieces of fabric. I have them stored by color. It took me hours to fold the fabrics so they would fit in the space.

Here's the bottom half.......

I have shelves to hold batting or a bolt of muslin and other large things.

My sewing machines....

Some of the walls have foam board so that I can use them as design walls.....

These are blocks from a Christmas exchange that I'm doing.

We still have some peg board to add to one of the other walls.

This is the most amount of space that I have ever had to devote to sewing and I'm so excited and blessed to have it. Now I don't have any excuse for not getting things done.

Thanks for looking!

Coleen

A Lot Happy, A Little Sad

This time of year is always a mixed bag for me. As anyone that knows me will tell you, I love Hummingbirds. Right now they are buzzing all over my yard which makes me very happy. For some reason my yard seems to be the gathering place for the little boys and girls at this time of the year. All summer long we're lucky if we see two or three a week. They are gathering to make their long trip down south to South America.

My DH managed to snap a few pictures......

They are so cute, I wish I could spend all day just watching them. The last two days I have hardly been home so I've only been able to see a few. DH said they were all over the yard today.

Soon they will be gone and I'll have to wait until next April to see them again.

Coleen