This week at Island Time

I had some great quilting times this week! We had a "Christmas in July" day at my house with my Sugar Creek Quilters, where we sewed, ate, laughed, sewed and ate some more! I was able to start a new quilt with a layer cake from the Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial "Alter Ego" (just a four-patch and a QST). I even ordered the border and backing fabric and got it in the mail this week, so it's ready to to border and then quilt! I'm using the "Holly's Tree Farm" line of fabric, and it's adorable. I used a layer cake, plus a yard of inner border, 3 yards of border, a yard of binding, and ordered five yards of backing in this great flannel. I've linked the Fat Quarter Shop (not an affiliate link), but you might find it at your local quilt shop! I have to say, FQS got my extra yardage here in three days. I love both Fat Quarter Shop and Missouri Star Quilt Company for their speedy service and great selection of Moda fabrics. I actually bought my layer cake when I was in Ohio in June, so you could also order from Fabric Shack if you like...which for a long time was my local quilt shop!

Then I pieced a cute "leftovers" top from the scraps remaining from Gumdrop's baby quilt. I used the Moda Bake Shop pattern "Lattice Bones" to piece this fun finish. I have the backing pieced and ready to go, so this will go in my frame in August.

I quilted two client quilts on Monday, and got their bindings on by Thursday, so they are ready for pick up. They are both such fabulous quilts, and they have great textures. I'm happy to attach your ready-made binding for you, or even completely finish your quilts. I honestly think binding is one of my favorite parts!

Julie's Quilt is quilted in "Amulet" by Lorien Quilting in Glide Cool Grey 3.

Nicholette's Quilt is quilted in Baptist Swirl in Glide Magic Mint.

I have a third client quilt in my frame now. It's a great vintage top, which has challenges that stretch me as a quilter. Many vintage tops were pieced from templates, and may have very full blocks or borders. I have lots of tricks for flattening that excess fabric out! Check out my Facebook page to see the finished pictures of this vintage snail's trail as I complete it.

As always, follow me on Facebook or Instagram for the most up to date pictures, because I can snap them and publish from my phone on the fly.

Happy sewing!

Lori

Friday Finishes Report

Here's a quick post to share some finishes from the week!

This adorable Christmas quilt was delivered this week:

I quilted it in "Slick" by Lorien Quilting in Glide white. I love the texture of Slick...I think it looks like nondirectional hearts. I used a nice soft loft batting and density for this bed quilt.

Then I finished this "Scrumptious Squares" from my UFQ pile, and plan to gift it soon. I quilted it with Strawberry Blonde Glide thread in "Luxury" by Lorien Quilting, and bound it in the lime green bias stripe. I love the flannel polka dot backing fabric.

This adorable table runner was picked up by a happy client today! She had seen my Lakeside Gatherings table runner from Fat Quarter Shop, and ordered her own kit! I quilted hers in "Waterworld" in Lemon Ice Glide thread, then bound it in Lantern Glo.

I have had this in my UFQ pile since March or so. I pieced "Yellow Roses, Lakeside" from the leftovers from my Cross & Crown quilt, but added in a special favorite fabric that Maggie fell in love with at our spring Greenville Quilters Guild show, and a guild member shared graciously from her scrap pile. So, I guess you can say this is a "scrap" quilt but it was custom-designed for my daughter.
I added in triple lattices and nine patch cornerstones, plus a flange binding to make it special. The backing is a grey gingham from April Showers by Bonnie & Camille for Moda.

Here's that favorite yellow roses fabric...

This was another UFQ in my stash. I'd pieced four rows over a year ago, but finally got around to finishing the other three rows and cutting the white setting fabric, and getting this quilted. It's 45x55" and is for my younger granddaughter "Gumdrop" to enjoy. I quilted it in Florist by Lorien Quilting in Glide White.

 I think this is the first quilt I've ever bound in white!

Today I'm cleaning and resetting my studio for a fun sewing day tomorrow. We are celebrating "Christmas in July" on July 25, and starting some Christmas-themed projects.

Happy sewing! (Five months to Christmas!)

Lori

Schedule, Schmedule

When I began working as a professional quilter, I set up this blog and actually SCHEDULED it on my calendar to be updated weekly. Ha! Well, as we all know, weekly might be ambitious, particularly since I haven't posted since MARCH.

Sigh.

First, I'd like to encourage you to follow my Facebook page, where I can post pictures quickly and efficiently as I'm working, so it's my first line of communication. You can find it at Island Time Quilting on Facebook. If you aren't a Facebook member (you know, because you are one of about six people on the planet who hasn't given in and been assimilated by the Borg), you can also follow my Instagram feed. It's my personal feed, so occasionally you are inundated with pictures of my beautiful granddaughters, so don't say I didn't warn you!

But, since you are here, I'll post a few pictures of what I've been up to since I finished my Cross & Crown quilt in February.

On my personal quilting side, I have finished several on my "To-Do" list. I've made a couple of gifts (not to be published yet), and I've gotten these two done for Grams's house.

The first one is called "Persimmon Tweet" and I pieced it from Persimmon by Basic Grey for Moda Fabrics charm squares plus yardage using Swim Bike Quilt's Star Bright pattern which you can find here. It's fabulous for a quick gift or a fun project. It's a great twin-sized quilt for Grams's guest bedroom.

The second one I named "Scrumptious Slick Showers" and it's all 2" finished squares of Bonnie & Camille fabrics from the April Showers and Scrumptious lines for Moda Fabrics, plus a jelly roll of Kona cottons called "Sandcastle" in an assortment of beiges. My sweet customer Donna C. had done a beautiful checkerboard quilt last year using Sandcastle, and I envied it so much that I completely copied her. The Bonnie & Camille fabrics were leftovers from two previous projects for another customer Julie L., who always has the BEST taste in fabrics!

I also finished this long-time-UFQ (from 1994!) one day in April:

It was a fun and quick finish of an unfinished quilt top I'd carried as a burden for 20 years. I have a few more of those upstairs (sigh) and I'm determined to get those quilty-guilty projects DONE. This miniature quilt has 1/2" finished squares, and fussy-cut Dalmatians. It's a Christmas quilt, but I hung it in my studio and there it still hangs!




Now, as customer quilts go, I have finished a bunch in March, April, May and June! I cannot possibly post details about all of them (go look at my Facebook albums from CQ1525 through CQ1540!), but here are a few highlighted photos.

I'm looking forward to seeing what I complete in the next few weeks! I have a couple of doozies in the line up, and a stack of my own personal goals to accomplish. Stay tuned! (You know, check in every month or two to see if I've posted "weekly.")