Wildcat Wall Hanging

My brother graduated from Central Washington University. He commissioned this quilt/wall hanging to be presented to his old track and field coach at a reunion on April 19th. He sent me a scan of the recruiting logo. I printed an 8x10 copy and had enlarged 300% at a local print shop. The enlarged logo was then used as a fused applique pattern.The wildcat fabrics are batiks and I was lucky enough to have all of the fabrics, the backing, except the batiks my stash. The background is off white Fairy Frost. It is machine quilted, finished size is 55"x58".

Finished

 

Work in Progress

Original Logo Copy

I finished Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt top yesterday March 15th. Bonnie's original design was to use blue fabrics for the "darks". I am not a blue person and chose purples and brownish purples. The flying geese tri-rec blocks and the chevron units were paper pieced using a patterns I designed on EQ7. The split triangle units were also paper pieced using the Birds in the Air quilt block. With the plum colored borders the quilt measures 90 x 100 inches. This quilt is going to be my summer quilt once it is quilted. FYI, a confession, I did not purchase fabric for my quilt, it is all from my stash.

Atlas Sewing Machine Manual

Cover Page

Inside cover page

Page 3, replacing the needle

Page 4, the bobbin case

Page 5, Winding the Bobbin

Page 6, To Thread the Bobbin Case

Page 7, Threading the Machine

Page 8, To Prepare for Sewing, To Start Sewing

Page 9, Cleaning the Race

Page 10, Features

Page 11, Exclusive Features

Page 12, To Regulate Length of Stitch

Page 13, Tensions

 Page 14, Replace the Bulb, To Oil the Machine

Page 15, To Oil the Motor and Underneath

Page 16, Non-Jamming Feature

Page 17, Needle and Thread Sizes

 

Page 18, Operating Hints

Page 19, Lifetime Guarantee Bond

Page 20, Back Cover Page

My 1959 Pink Atlas Sewing Machine.

I have been lusting for one of these sewing machines because it is PINK. She came with a full set of attachments in a pink box. A pink foot controller and the manual. Whoo Hooo! At the back of the manual is a Lifetime Guaranty Bond dated May 13, 1959. The full cash price in 1959 was $219.50 a lot of money in 1959.
I don't thing any of the plastic wonder sewing machines sold today come with a guarantee like this one.

Celtic Solstice - Clue 2, all those pieces

After sewing six of the diagonal pieces together, four were OK, two were short. Aaaargh. So I sat down with my EQ7 program to work out a paper piecing template. Going to test drive the template today to see if I "did good". I already have my number one New Year's Resolution, become proficient with EQ7!

Celtic Solstice - Clue 2 - Cutting done

Wow, it takes a long time to cut all these pieces. 200 green rectangles, 200 neutral square and 200 yellow/gold squares. And I found some more neutrals in my stash and cut a few more. Thank goodness I decided to do the SMALL quilt. Now off to sew some test CHEVRONS.

Celtic Solstice Clue 2 - Greens

My greens and all 200 of the 2" x 3 1/2" rectangles cut. Upward and onward!

Clue one, First Tr-rec blocks

First 24 Tri-rec blocks, umpteen more to go. But I like to "test drive" my fabric choices before continuing. So far I like the colors a lot. Sure wish I had some good sunlight to show the richness of the colors.

Here are a couple of donation quilts that I completed last week. Both are scrappy using scraps and fabrics from my stash. The backing is flannel and the batting is rayon-bamboo/cotton machine quilted on my HQ Sweet Sixteen.

Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt - Celtic Solstice

This quilt will be my second Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, the first one was Orca Bay. Of course I am changing up the colors to take advantage of pulling fabrics from my stash. Blues have been changed to deep purples, purple-browns and some darker purple/green/brown batiks. I have a lot of orange golds and greens in my stash. BUT, am so short on neutrals. I guess that tells me that I have to do some shopping for neutrals.

I have decided to use the paper piecing method to construct the Tri-Recs. Perhaps constructing this quilt will help me from losing my mind by losing my points. Thank you Bonnie for providing the PP templates.

My fabrics: a mix of batiks and prints, oh and fabric from bedsheets.If they are cotton, they are candidates!

Shelley's Bag

I do occasionally make things other than quilts. This is a handbag I made from drapery fabrics in June of 2011. The pattern is Shelley's Bag published by Sewphisti-Cat. I added extra pockets in the interior for my cell phone, pens, note pads, etc. The lining was from fabric stash.

Flannel Jelly Roll Race Lap Quilt

Flannel lap quilt made and finished December 2012. On a whim I had purchased a Moda flannel jelly roll. I did not know what to do with it at the time. I thought it would be excellent to use for a Jelly Roll Race quilt. The backing is a flannel sheet, batting is cotton. I free motion quilted this quilt with large stylized oak leaves.

Fabulous Felines for a Fabulous Daughter in Law

The title of this quilt says it all. It was made for my feline loving daughter in law because she and my son were always fighting over the couch quilt made for my son. The block centers are from a Laurel Burch Fabulous Felines panel and the block logs are from the coordinating fabrics. The backing is flannel, and the batting is cotton. It was a challenge to use the blocks from the panel because they were not true squares. So I decided to do a "wonky" log cabin style using the quilt as you go method. I outline quilted around the cat faces and stitched in the ditch the logs. FYI, the print strips in the borders were to cover some mistakes. That is Leroy in the picture, a quilt inspector in training. He loves cats!

Close up

Back of quilt

 Label made from one of the panel motifs. It covers an obvious error, to me, of the sashing strips not matching

Comfy Flannel Lap Quilt, Scrappy

The center of this lap quilt was a flannel thrift store find and already sewn together. The border fabrics are left over flannel scraps from previous quilt backings. The backing is made from left over flannel cut into 2 1/2 strips and sewn together using the Jelly Roll Race method. Batting is cotton. This quilt is free motion quilted. This quilt resides on the recliner.