Showing posts with label machine appliqué. Show all posts
Showing posts with label machine appliqué. Show all posts

Sunday, July 21, 2024

New grand daughter on the way! And I finished patching Two's nine-patch

 


First our big news is that our oldest daughter Noelle, who lives not too far from us here in NC, is due with a baby girl in December!  We are all so thrilled.  I can hardly believe it - this will make four grand daughters!  And this little one will be local to us, not far away, in Raleigh.  Noelle and Keenan are all smiles (pictured here with my niece Megan).  

 

Meanwhile I have finished patching up my great-grandma's nine-patch.  

I cuddled with it for a day, and then took it back to my sister-in-law Janette.  She's pleased with it. 













My first step was adding a single-fold binding over the old shattered one. 


And now I'm thinking about making my own soft nine-patch, sort of replicating this one.  Just one more quilt in my mind, happily occupying my thoughts;). 


xo

Cynthia 


Monday, January 8, 2024

Lovebirds wedding quilt finish, books, happy new year!

 


We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with all our kids and spouses and grand babies with us - 


And on Christmas day Tommy and Camille opened up their wedding quilt.  It was so fun (and challenging) to make and I hope they will enjoy it.  David literally laughed when he saw the finished top, so I feel a bit insecure about it, but, it truly was fun to make. 

Indigo for Tommy and the bright cheerful colors for Camille.  In the folky style they wanted. 

And not the last quilt I will ever make for them... 



Machine quilted very freely - 

Quick photo after church - 

Side note - look at the Carolina blue sky - one of the things I love about living here, even as I miss the beautiful quiet New England snow. 

And now I've eased into the new year by cleaning out, straightening up, rearranging,  putting away all the baby things (Kaela's family is moving to California - I'm still in shock).  I've started a new quilting process notebook, and a new bullet journal.  I love a fresh start. 


Here were my books in 2023 - I listened to many of them. 



Most memorable were Demon Copperhead, True Grit, Tom Lake (all on Audible).   Lessons in Chemistry, Our Missing Hearts.  

Happy New Year quilty friends!  

x

Cynthia 


Thursday, June 15, 2023

Some progress on the Lovebirds Quilt

After posting my progress on Lovebirds (Tommy and Camille's wedding quilt) last week, I realized I wasn't happy with parts of it, so I chopped it up a little and eliminated a couple of things.  

I am really simplifying the design and making the appliqué center of the quilt a little smaller, still making sure I include the motifs Tommy and Camille want to see in the quilt.  

One motif they want is "glasses" so I created some glasses with pink variegated sashiko thread.  Not sure if it's obvious but that's meant to be a stack of books too. 

I also did their traced hands in sashiko, so fun.   There wasn't enough contrast so I simply wove red and dark blue thread through the sashiko stitches.



The next element would be "flowers" and so I piled up some fabrics to audition: 



I created this little flower arrangement yesterday, and machine appliquéd it.  The pot and stems are invisible machine appliquéd, and the flowers and leaves are raw edge appliqué, collage-style.  I really enjoy working in this improvisational way.  I see that it may need another element or two for balance, which I can easily do the next time I'm in the sewing room. 


I really had fun with this block and it reminded me how much I enjoyed making little collage quilts during the quiet covid years in Tokyo.  

It's a tiny detail but the yellow center below shows a figure reading a book.  Tiny fun detail. 


For now, I'm happy with how the center of the quilt is taking shape.   It will be a bit of a puzzle putting it together, and then on to some simple borders. 


Meanwhile, David has done a nice job with the front of our little townhouse, with only minimal input from me;).  The green birdhouse was my Mom's.  And, Happy Pride.


Big sis Charlotte turned three, what a love.  When asked what she wanted for her birthday she said "pink!" and when asked how old she would be, "three candles!"


That's all for now friends!

xo
Cynthia 

Saturday, July 3, 2021

Indigo Butterflies finish!

 


I really channeled by 70's childhood with this quilt.  I wrote in detail about the blocks here.  

The butterflies are indigo and Liberty.  The border and backing are both Liberty as well, making for a very light soft quilt.  


I machine quilted it very simply, with asymmetrical straight lines.   It should stand up to a lot of use and washings!   I free-motioned the border and included Charlotte's name.  

We often call as soon as we wake up in the mornings.  I love waking up this way! 



In one week from NOW, we will be at the airport boarding our flight to the U.S.  Our trip will be about 23 hours total door to door.  And then I will be able to wrap Charlotte in a quilted hug, in person.   




x gratefully, 

Cynthia