Finished Machine Quilting My Sister's Quilt

This is my younger sister, Lisa's quilt.  She is just starting quilting and used a Jelly Roll to make this quilt.  The Jelly Roll bundles are very nice for beginning quilters.  They are already cut, lengthwise, so all you need to do is make short cuts or strip them all together and save yourself some time.  Lisa and I are as different as night and day.  She wound up being a single mom/career gal with 3 kids, working 60 to 80 hours to make ends meet.  I was the stay at home mom and 2 kids, but no career, other than my children, married now for 28 years to my nice man, Bob.  I suppose it was a natural that I should be involved in quilting long before my sister, because, frankly, I had the time.  Now my sister is an empty nester and has decided she's tired of bringing so much work home with her.  My mom and I started quilting together many years ago.  She taught me to sew when I was very young, helping me make a Neru shirt in the third grade.  Lisa spent most of her time fighting with my brother, while I happily sat in the middle of the backseat while they lunged at each other.  Lisa has no one at home to fight and quilting is the obsession one can get involved in.  

Young Buck in the Backyard..Run Away, Run Away

It's another beeeeautiful fall day here in the Ohio Valley.  Lest I speak too soon, I think my alergies have actually adapted and I'm able to spend the afternoon working in the yard.  We did get some pruning done.  I imagine some of you gardeners might cringe at the but there's been a plum tree in our front yard that is so heavy with leaves and limbs, that is droops so low it really bugs my husband while mowing.  So, off with her head.  I hope the tree doesn't die.  

On to my post today.  I'm still working on the machine quilting for my sister.  While walking into the kitchen I noticed a deer in the backyard.  Every time I've seen a deer in our yard, it's followed by one or two fawns.  There were no fawns with this one.  At first I felt a little sad, you know there's dogs around here and I thought that maybe Bambi was left for dead.  Then I looked a little closer.  Just above the ears you'll see the horns.  Oh my goodness, a buck on the run.  It's November and that means deer hunting season of some sort or other.  I don't think I've ever seen a buck around here....hmmm...now how can I get him in my garage for safety.  On second thought, he's probably pretty safe, as long as he stays in our neighborhood.  No hunter in his/her right mind would get a gun out in A NEIGHBORHOOD...or would they.  Yikes!

Machine Quilting My Sister's Quilt

This is my poor boy set up quilting machine, a mechanical Brother 1500.  I'm not in it for the money.  Thus, I quilt when I get around to it.  Like material on the shelf, it won't go bad.  My only motivator is that the quilting frame is set up in my dining room and as you can see it gets an evening intense sunlight.  Sunlight is not your material's friend.  So, when I get it loaded on the bars, then I shift into gear to finish.  Even though this is not my quilt, I still respect the work involved.  

My sister is new to quilting and this is her Jelly Roll quilt.  Happily new quilters get all excited about making quilts, then they realize you must quilt it.  When my Mom visited last April for the Paducah quilt show, she dropped off 2 quilts, this being one of them.  I think I must have delayed the finish too long for them, as they have found their cottage industry quilt lady in Oklahoma.  My mom and sister have to provide the backing and batting and the final cost is $50 for a lap size quilt.  This is a bargain to me and the beautiful thing is they don't have to wait for sister/daughter to do it for free.  The best things about quilts is the finishing.  Any quilt looks good on a bed and a finished quilt is always better than an unfinished UFO.  Whether it has loops or intricate designs, I think that getting it done is the most important thing.  Unless you want to enter the quilt into a competition, then it is necessary that you have great quilting done on your quilt.  

Quilting tip:  Just like piecing the back and using all your stash, you can piece your batting too.  Just butt it up to other small pieces of batting and make big zig zag stitches..tah..dah!!