Welcome to another steamy Main Crush Monday! It’s gonna be a warm one here today, so all a girl can do is hang out in her sewing room with the AC on. 🙂
I finished several customer quilts last week and also made a lot of binding. Those bindings all have to be stitched by hand so it will take me a bit longer to finish them than it did Rita’s quilt.
One of the most fun finishes I had was this gorgeous quilt by Sarah. I’m calling it the Bee Quilt.
Sarah used a fat quarter bundle of bee printed fabrics for the four patches. I’m not 100% sure, but I believe it is the Bee Joyful line by Deb Strain. After she finished the top, she asked me if I could quilt bees on it for her. I found the cutest bee design called Busy Bees from My Creative Stitches.
I really like using digital designs from MCS – they always stitch out so beautifully, with no blips or wobbly lines and not a lot of backtracking. I also like that they offer great designs for $5, and I always find something I just NEED to add to my collection!
Those busy bees really show up on the back – Sarah used Grunge wide back (yum!), and it shows off the bees and flowers playing all over the quilt.
There is wool batting from Quilter’s Dream in the quilt, so this quilt is packed full of quilty goodness. The design, the batting, the quilting – everything works to make it a fabulous quilt. Sarah won’t be getting her quilt for another week, so I’ll have lots of time to drool over it before it goes to its forever home!
Today I’m starting a big project – 118″ x 128″. That size is certainly gonna fill up the quilting frame! There’s lots of prep work to do before loading, so I probably won’t get to start quilting it until Wednesday (I have two classes to teach on Tuesday).
On a personal note I thought I’d share this pic of my great niece and nephew. I think it really shows off the joys of childhood in summer.
Flying a kite, running through freshly mowed hay fields with your sibling, on a beautifully sunny day. Does it get any better?
Oh my gosh! I almost forgot! You are going to be so excited for me. I’m happy to announce I am all caught up with Cheryl’s Mosaic Mystery quilt. Yay, me!! Now – to keep it real, we’ve only had to pick our fabrics and cut them so how far behind could I really be? But. I have everything cut and ready for the next clue when it’s released and that’s an accomplishment for me. Look at all these beautiful Alison Glass pieces:
They look so pretty all cut and stacked. I can’t wait to see what this is going to look like when it’s put together. It’s not too late if you want to join in – just follow the link above for all the details.
That’s it for me today. Now it’s your turn to share what you are working on. What has you excited to be in your sewing space? You can link any blog post, Instagram or Flickr pic – here’s how:
The bumblebee quilting is so fun, it’s a great quilt. You are ahead of me in on the mystery, I still haven’t cut my fabrics!
Oh, I will have to remember that computer design name. Its an adorable quilt!!
I love the bees and you are right, the digital designs look so clean.
Adorable pantograph and perfect for this quilt!
Oh that bumblebee quilt. It is so great. You picked the perfect design for it too. I must go check that one out although I’ve been keeping an eye on their designs for years and own many of them. How tall was the design when stitched out? Looks like a fun day for the kids.
Beth, that photo of your great niece and nephew took my breath away! Where was that taken? I haven’t been anyplace like that in so many years, but the flat expanse of lush green fields as far as the eye can see and the endless sky, the skinny little paved pathway, snapped me back in my mind to summer holidays at my grandmother’s farm in New Richland, Minnesota. Where I live now, every available space gets snapped up by developers and where one old house used to be, 100 new townhomes goes in. My soul longs for the heartland!
That bumblebee design is just perfect for your customer’s quilt; she’s going to love it. I’m curious about how you charge for hand stitched binding, though. Our quilt guild was recently contacted by a woman who found a WIP Double Wedding Ring quilt while going through her late grandmother’s things, and she’s looking to hire someone to complete it for her. No one in our guild raised their hand but I was curious, so I agreed to meet with the woman later this month “just to see…” I’m thinking of quoting the piecing based on an hourly rate, not sure if I should agree to do the job from start to finish (including quilting and binding) or refer her to someone else for that. I suppose it depends on whether she’s wanting quilting that is beyond my ability (and whether she’s willing to pay for custom or not).
Those bees! What a super fun quilting design this is!
the quilt is fun looking front and back – I like the design on the back of the quilt — well be hot here to — close to 100
This quilt is gorgeous! The quilting …. perfect! Well done, both of you! Oh, do kids really still play out of doors? I don’t see too many around here. I really want to sew along with Cheryl, but I just don’t have enough backing fabric on hand that isn’t already designated. So, I’ll just keep working on the projects on my list until I have an opportunity to pick some up.