Design Wall Monday

I have a design wall...yep...made it this weekend.

It's a biggie-sized design wall. It started out as three sheets of insulation, each 4 x 8 feet.

The quilting goddess  was with me when I went to JoAnns...I found 9 yards of a cream felt...and I had my 40%-off coupon plus a coupon for 10%-off my total purchase. Sweet! I used three yards to cover each board. I made sure to put the blank side of the insulation toward the fabric so no funny images would not shadow through the felt.

I used an adhesive spray on the insulation board to adhere the felt.

Here you can see the back side of the boards.

I wrapped the fabric to the back and secured with white duct tape.

Then I covered the icky back side with some felt I had on hand by duct taping it...I had just enough to cover the pink panther. The boards are not mounted to the wall so they are mobile...I can slide them all together or space them next to each other.

Here's a quick detail of how I handled the corners.

I had an extremely productive weekend. Next I tackled mounting curtain rods for display quilts throughout my home. The Judy Niemeyer quilt, North American Bear Paw is right beside my husband's bear rug mounted on the stairway wall...I thought that was an appropriate location for this quilt.

I don't have any landscaping but I do have flowers blooming.

This is "God's Green Earth," in my breakfast nook...love my new additions.

A Happy July 4th

Erma Bombeck's reflection on the 4th of July - "You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten but it is patriotism."

We are combining holidays at the Bailey house. 

Since we were away from all our family on Thanksgiving 2012, we are mixing Thanksgiving with the 4th of July. We are having stuffed turkey with all the trimmings...and of course...apple pie for dessert.

We have a special guest this holiday weekend.

Titus, a 6-month old Bernese Mountain Dog. His family is camping on their boat and fishing this weekend in Prince William Sound...a gorgeous part of Alaska. I quickly offered to puppysit.

We went for a walk this morning. It feels so right to have a Berner in the house! Now it is puppy nap time.

It's a cool, gently raining day...perfect for making a big meal and eating it!

And...check out this funny young bull moose with his stubby antlers starting to grow.

He walked through the yard two days ago...I forgot I had taken his picture.

I feel like I should be working on a Christmas quilt!

Show and Tell

No  time for blogging...I have been consumed for the past five days with quilting this top...

It's finally off the frame and ready for thread trimming and binding. I'll be looking for a tropical setting to get photos of it when it is done...might be hard to find in Alaska.

I was so distracted I forgot to share Show and Tell from  Breakfast Club on Thursday.

This quilt started out as a mystery class and was later turned into a round table cloth!

An adorable table runner kit...everything in the kit was precut and just required sewing!

The fabric in this queen-sized quilt is ovarian cancer related fabric. A simple quilt in gorgeous colors.

These first four quilts are from Kathy...I always look forward to seeing what goodies she has brought to Breakfast Club when she attends. Here's a sweet runner...Christmas ornaments.

Last month's project was Reveille from Carrie Nelson's, "Another Bite of Schnibbles." Two of the ladies used two Stonehedge charm packs but they each chose a different accent color. Jane used black.

Marie used turquoise.

 Jane's "Charmalade," a Moda Bakeshop pattern.

This is a quilt Barb made for one of her grandchildren...so fun!

This beauty is Marie's "Bali Fever," a Judy Niemeyer pattern. Great quilting!

And here is a diaper bag that was designed by Gene. I should have gotten his etsy address. This bag is so perfect.

And...of course I have another moose photo. A baby resting in the wild grass of my back yard. Mom was munching on shrubbery in the woods behind the calf.

Sunday in the Studio

It's a little cloudy today so maybe I will get this quilt loaded on the quilting frame. I've been trying to work out my quilting design plan. Plexiglass and wonderboard markers that erase off work so well. Don't forget to put that tape edge around the outside of the plexiglass...too easy to mark your actual quilt when you are distracted and run your line off the plexiglass...I know!

Drawing on plexiglass it's a great way to see if the scale of the design from my doodling will work on the actual size. My muscle memory for making feathers is rather lacking...more practice is needed. Two years of not quilting is a little tough to recover from.

I got on a cutting binge and made more blades for the Dresdan plate quilt. I needed 300 blades...I think I cut  enough for 600! Maybe some matching pillows?

Speaking of pillows... from leftover backing fabric I made matching pillowcases for the Alaska's Wild Heart quilt. 

And I had just enough backing leftover to make one king-sized pillowcase for Batiki Argyle. The quilt fits perfectly in the pillowcase for gifting...just like I planned it!

Batiki Argyle Accomplished

Our wonderful weather continues!!! There is no where else I would rather be right now.

Not exactly good quilting weather...and that is not a complaint! I have my second quilt finish for the summer.

Batiki Argyle

70 1/2 x 81 1/2

This quilt will be going to a new home this weekend.

I used two layers of Hobbs Heirloom cotton batting. It has been washed. I used some precut fabrics in this quilt and batiks have lots of yucky chemicals in them so I always wash them before gifting.

More handwork...an embroidered label. First time I've made one with embroidery...this is a keeper technique. 

I need to learn how to photoshop this moose into my quilt photos! She was hanging out at the mailbox this morning...I think she is a yearling who got kicked out of mom's circle this summer.

The mama moose walked by my studio window yesterday...at first all I saw was a huge brown hide and I thought it was a grizzly bear. It scared me pretty good!  But then she moved and I saw one of her babies. There is only one baby now...and a bear with a full belly.

Batiki Argyle is a free pattern on my blog. Look on the top right for the link. If you have trouble downloading send me a comment and I will email you a PDF file.

Stitching Sunday

Another week has whipped by...another glorious week! I definitely have not been spending time in my sewing room...the view from the top of our driveway this  morning.

We've had perfect weather for days...we are even supposed to get into the eighties this week. We get those temperatures about once every ten years.

I should work on my landscaping...but I still have so much to get done inside the house I just don't have enough brain bytes left to tackle that design issue.

No bears seen lately but moose are always close by. Here's the mama one morning...saw her from our stairway window so the focus is a little soft.

Haven't seen the babies lately but I'm not worried. With all the vegetation filling in they could be pretty close but camouflaged. 

I'm working on the label for Batiki Argyle. I decided to stitch it by hand. This quilt is going to someone pretty special to one of my sons so I'm taking the extra steps to make it that much more special.

This is the first summer I haven't planted any container flowers but I'm only here a few more weeks...and how was I supposed to know this was going to be one of those, "once every ten years," kind of summers! The municipality of Anchorage does a fabulous job of covering the area in flowers...and they always do such interesting combinations. 

I'm linking up with Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday. Check out what some other ladies are stitching by hand.

Working with My Hands

My hands have been busy and they look like it! I have had some relaxing time at the end of the day to work on my Dresdan plate blocks. I appliqued 8 of the 12 blocks.

I've also started stitching the binding on my Batiki Argyle quilt.

I've discovered some tucks in the backing...they occurred when I turned the quilt to finish the border quilting. I knew there was a problem with getting my quilt lined up properly on the frame and the culprit is...

my leaders and enders on my frame are not consistent in their size...apparently they shrunk on the end that got drenched with the waterfall from the kitchen above last fall. SIGH...

I have ordered new leaders and enders to install on my frame before I quilt anything else. Another delay in my short window of time I have my Alaska studio to quilt.

I have spent a lot of time working out quilt designs...more handwork.

Trying to get some ideas for the next top to go on my frame...Fruit Loops.

And more "handwork" projects...staining...this time the stairway railing.

I haven't seen the babies but I have seen mama moose getting her calories. Lots of time very young calves rest in the brush somewhere while mom fills her belly. 

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.