New York State of Mind

 This is Noreen's New York State of Mind quilt, and it received a light custom quilting treatment.

 I love how 3-D it looks,

300th post: Cut in Triangles

I find that somewhat amazing, but I guess it has been  6 years of blogging.

I thought for this 300th post, and since this is the 10th anniversary of this quilt, I'd share my first ever frame quilted quilt.

I had been walking through the north location of A Sewing Sensation with my hands held up to my face like blinders, so I couldn't see their frame quilting systems, but one day I was weak, and my blinders slipped.  And, I had this large top to quilt, that I had promised youngest would be ready for her birthday....

Came home and discussed with my husband, and we decided it was worth the investment if I did 30 quilts over the next 10 years. And a day or two later... here's my new 9" Husqvarna on a Grace Frame--it truly was an entry level setup.

this is it!  my first quilt on a frame quilting system.  I was naive.  I didn't know that I should do some practice pieces first.  I had a homemade paper pantograph to put hearts in that narrow turquoise border (top half in one direction and bottom half in the other--from the back of the machine, where you cannot see if you're matching your prior point)--I had no idea this was supposed to be hard!   I used contrasting thread on the white!   I had adjusted some butterfly designs to fit into my setting triangles, and my border blocks, and used the laser light from the front to stitch those in.   I had all these new options at my fingertips and I was going to use them!!
 I would have even needed to turn the quilt to do the side borders, and possibly even the bottom border, as my stitching path had probably gotten too narrow by then.

 I would have had to split this design, and stitch it in two passes--it was only a 9" machine, so at most I had a 6" pass right at the very top of the quilt.

Not too shabby for an absolute beginner?     I see I didn't photograph the hearts LOL. 


and wisely I decided to just meander in the center of the quilt

 I found a photo of those hearts after all, they look pretty good.  I even remembered to turn the panto around so they all point out.

 The quilt is called Cut in Triangles, because youngest always placed her breakfast order as follows:  toast, peanut butter and jam, cut in triangles, cold (which meant not toasted at all ).  I stitched the 'label' right on with the font on my sewing machine.

This quilt is still one of my favorites.  I learned how to modify a pattern (I added the on point borders), figured out the math for making the on point pieced border fit, my first time making a quilt that was all triangles, and using setting triangles, and my first frame quilted quilt!

As it turned out, I quilted 30 quilts in the first year of having that Husqvarna Mega Quilter, and before long I was walking through quilt shows with my blinders up while walking past longarms.

After 3 1/2 years I  sold the Husqvarna and about 6 months later I was able to replace it with an Innova in December of 2011,  and the rest of the tale has taken place in the past 300 blog posts.

Nine Patch Rails

Noreen made this Nine Patch Rails quilt, and I recognize several of her fabrics.  Noreen has this wonderful habit of using the fabric remains of her previous quilts quickly, which I think is a great way to keep the scraps managed.  I love the pebbles fabric, and the stonehenges.

for the quilting, I used Christina Cameli's wavy swirl.  I think it looks like water rippling above the rocks in a shallow stream (I get fanciful while quilting sometimes, repetition frees the brain :P)

Handprints

This is such a marvelous quilt!  Nancy and her sister Peg organized the ENTIRE extended family to each put a handprint on a block...and then assembled it for their mothers 90th Birthday.

 The label was a block.

 Blocks were left for Dorothy and her husband (it was a surprise at the birthday party), and they have since placed their handprints on the quilt.

I"m disappointed the house block is blurry--it represents the home Dorothy's children grew up in.  The house was only sold this year, so it is very fitting to have it on the quilt.

 Hands can be hard with little ones--they don't like to unclench them, so these would be Great Grandchild's feet.  I love the smear of blue on the side of the block--even feet can be tricky with babies.  What a great time capsule

 I love the creativity with the two-toned hand. 

 and for family members that have passed, there were line drawings.  What a special way to include them.