Tag: quilting

quilting · wild rose quilter

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

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I had this adorable, cheerful client quilt under my needle to brighten the cloudy, cold, wet day we had.

We were supposed to get 4″ or more of snow overnight and into the afternoon, but we ended up with only a dusting.

I spent the rest of my quilting time today working on more star blocks for the commissioned quilt I’m making. I’m keeping my little grandsons the rest of the week. I didn’t have them today, however I did have lunch with them, my son and hubby. So, I had some “son-shine” in my day, as well. 😍

quilting · quilts · wild rose quilter

Good Day

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Today was just a good day. I had my two youngest grandsons and they were a blast today. A client dropped off a quilt for me to longarm quilt for her. And, I got a nice squishy in the mail from Missouri Star Quilt Company. In addition to the two lovely quilt backs I bought, they threw in two extra goodies for free! A sweet little pattern and cute pin set. Gotta love that! Thank you, MSQC!

Yesterday I didn’t have my littles and got quite a bit more work done on the commissioned memorial quilt I’m making for a recently widowed client. I laid a few blocks out on the floor to see how they look mixed together.

There will be 49 blocks altogether. These blocks are made from several of his shirts and even some swimming trunks he wore on their vacation trips to Mexico. I hope it brings her much comfort when it’s finished. I purchased the pattern several years ago from Quiltin’ Tia Quiltworks called Gracie’s Star. I’ve really enjoyed this pattern. This is one of my own quilts and the first one I made using this pattern. I love this quilt. ❤️

And, this is a cute cowboy themed baby quilt I made with it.

Have good night and a fantastic Friday tomorrow! Thanks for visiting me.

Frozen to Melting
nature · quilting

Frozen to Melting

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The day dawned dreary and frozen here.

Noon-time has brought sunshine breaking through and the ice is releasing its hold on the captives it has encased in its frosty, glistening coating. Some is simply dripping away, and from time to time I hear large chunks crash onto the patio out back. It’s pretty to look at, but treacherous for travel so I’m glad it isn’t sticking around long.

It is a good day to get some sewing done!

Wrapping Up this Thursday
food · quilting

Wrapping Up this Thursday

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As this day has wound down to a close, I’m sitting by the bedroom fireplace listening to little sleet balls ping against the windows. It’s supposed to do that all night. I’m glad I don’t have anywhere I have to go in the morning.

I did pretty good at getting most of my to do list tackled today. I did my paperwork that needed tended. I focused on cutting out more pieces for the commissioned quilt instead of sewing. The cutting seems to be moving rather slowly as I’m not using fat quarters I can stack and cut multiple block sets from at once. Using clothing makes that part quite a bit more tedious. At least it does for me. Some of the fabrics are a bit fussy to work with, also. I’m anxious to see how it comes together. It has such a varied array of patterns, colors and fabrics, but each item has special meaning to my client.


I did make my first chicken fried venison steaks with some back strap meat from the doe my husband harvested. This was a first for us both as it was his first deer. I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out quite tasty.

I used my Pampered Chef meat tenderizer on it before soaking in it milk for about 4 hours before frying. It was also my first time using it as it’s a recent purchase. I was very pleased with it. It made quick work of getting the steaks prepped. I had them all done and soaking in less than 15 minutes. I have no affiliation with Pampered Chef, but I do have and use several of their products.

I always lose some of the crispy coating when I cook chicken fried steaks and I don’t know why. If you have any tips for keeping it stuck, I’d love to hear them.

Late Start to a Busy Day
quilting

Late Start to a Busy Day

Wild Rose Quilter4 Comments

Today and tomorrow are my son’s days off so I’m not keeping my two littles and have my days filled with my own activities. However, I really overslept this morning. On the to do list is a workout, paperwork for our oilfield business, some stitching on a commissioned quilt for a client, and cooking up some venison. I’m new to that last one. My husband harvested his first ever deer on my family farmland, which I inherited a share of when my mom passed. I’ll share more on that as we go along here. It’s one of my favorite places on Earth. Today, the plan is to try chicken frying some back-strap. Check back later to see how this all ends up and how many things I actually get checked off my list. But first, I have a breakfast date with my hubby. Oh, and there’s a massage appointment scheduled in the afternoon for me, also. I have a feeling I’m not going to get everything accomplished that I wanted. That’s just a typical day for me though, lol.

In the meantime, enjoy this beautiful client quilt I got to do the longarm quilting on recently. One of my favorites from last year. Thanks again to Ruth Ann for trusting me with this treasure! This is all freehand and ruler work.

Orange
quilting

Orange

Wild Rose QuilterLeave a comment

I loved this orange and white Irish Chain client quilt that I had the pleasure of quilting recently. My client asked me to keep the quilting simple. I decided an orange peel design would be perfect. Sometimes less is more and simple can be stunning. I was very pleased with the end result. I usually use a ruler to quilt continuous curve, but I had gotten my Intelliquilter installed right before this one came up for its turn on the machine. So, I programmed in the quilting path row by row and watched the IQ do its thing. It was fun and exciting to see it turn out.

 

 

It’s such a bright, uplifting quilt. One I hated to see go back out the door. I really need to make an Irish Chain for myself someday.
I’ll sign off with this beautiful sunset with a streak of more beautiful orange. Goodnight all.

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quilting

Sunday Stitching

Wild Rose Quilter4 Comments

Wow! It’s been awhile since I did a Sunday Stitching post. But, I’m trying to get back in the blogging habit and I did some stitching today, so here we go. My Mister wanted to squeeze in one more day hunting before deer season closes on the 15th, so I had the house to myself. I did quite a bit of multitasking. After over a decade of longarm quilting, I finally took the plunge and added an Intelliquilter computerized system to my A1 quilting machine. I am loving being able to stitch out an edge to edge while doing piecing work on another project at the same time. I used a panto called Toys from It’s a Quilt Thing to quilt this cute client baby quilt.  It stitched out so nicely. My client brought me a denim quilt back with this one. That was a first for me and I was a bit concerned about having tension or thread breaking issues. Not one bit of trouble! My trusty A1 handled it just fine.

While the IQ was working away for me, I worked on piecing some more floating star blocks for a commissioned memorial quilt I’m making for a sweet lady that was recently widowed. Having lost a spouse myself, I know what this means to her. It’s going to be very scrappy looking, with a mix of fabrics from his shirts, a pair of shorts, and even some swim trunks. I am praying it all pulls together nicely in the end. This is such a special project.

I knew it was time to call it a day when I started sewing parts together upside down. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Un-sewing and re-sewing is not so much fun. Once I fixed my boo-boo I called it a day.

Have a marvelous Monday tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by.

Two Blocks Shy…
death · family · losing dad · quilting

Two Blocks Shy…

Wild Rose Quilter3 Comments

I started cutting squares for baby Z’s quilt tonight. I somehow cut my piece of fabric one 10″ strip short of what it needed to be. Therefore, I am short two 10″ blocks to make up my home cut “layer cake”.  But, at least I have 40 of them cut. I will have to cut more off the yardage I purchased and get it washed and pressed before I can cut the last two.

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On August 20th, the day after my last post, all normal routine came to an abrupt halt when it became clear that it was time to call in hospice care for my father. Some of you will remember that I have mentioned his struggle with Alzheimer’s here before. His battle is over. He passed peacefully just before 4 a.m. on Monday morning, August 22, 2016, laying beneath this quilt that I made him several years ago. It was one of his most treasured possessions. He was so proud of it. It seems surreal to have it back here in my home, where I presented it to him what does not feel like so very long ago. Soon, when I can collect my thoughts on this, and have ample time to devote to sitting down and writing it, there will be much longer, very personal post about our experience with this disease, and my dad’s death. For now, I leave you with a snippet of Daddy’s quilt. Goodnight.

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Blended family · Casa de Ortega · grief · Life after loss · quilting · Widow · Wife

Oh Boy! Good Mail Day!

Wild Rose Quilter4 Comments

The rest of the fabrics I ordered to go with the ones I pulled from my stash for soon to be Baby Z’s quilt arrived today! I have to get these washed and pressed so I can get started cutting my squares! I’m so excited to see how this comes together! 


If you’ve read the previous post, you know I’m planning to make a chevron quilt. The light gray print on bottom will be the background for the zig zags in the other colors. Then there may or may not be an appliqué added on top in the darker gray in this next photo. 


Either way, I can’t wait to work on it! I absolutely adore this next piece of fabric. I only ordered one yard to use  in the  light blue zig zag, but now I think I must get more because this fabric just needs to be the backing also!! I was going to make the backing from the light gray print, but I’m just too in love with this blue and all the sweet sayings in it. 


I needed a dose of  pretty fabric “medicine”. A dear friend passed away yesterday. He was like a brother to my late husband, who passed away five years ago this past May. I think a wonderful reunion is happening on the other side. 

And, my new Prince and I took his young prince back to the  airport today to fly home to his mom and stepdad. We really enjoyed the past two weeks with this sweet young man. I’ve only known him for two years, but our relationship has come very easily. We seem to have bonded well. I already miss having him here. I know Efren does! I wish he didn’t live ten hours away from us, so we could be together much more often. I snapped some pics of him and his dad before we left. Love these guys and I’m thankful to have them in my life now. 

family · quilting

Wrapping Them in Love

Wild Rose Quilter2 Comments

Isn’t that one of the best things about being a quilter? Being able to literally wrap your loved ones in something you made with love!? These photos from my daughter-in-law of my sweet grand baby C snuggled in the quilt I made him made my heart melt. 

His big brother C sleeps under this quilt I made for him and I love how it looks on his bed. 

I now have a plan for Baby Z’s quilt, and am anxiously waiting on an order of fabrics to arrive to go with the pieces I have pulled from my stash so I can get started on the piecing. This is the bedding his mom bought for his crib. 

It looks like it was made to go with C’s quilt! What a coincidence! So, I decided that baby Z’s quilt will  be a chevron quilt, and after perusing different ways to put them together, I ran across another tutorial video from Missouri Star Quilt Co. that uses 10″ squares and finishes out at just the size I was wanting to make. They use layer cakes for their tutorial, but I couldn’t find one with the colors I want, so I will cut my own 10″ squares from yardage I have chosen. I also plan to embellish it with some appliqué that goes with the theme my daugter-in-law has chosen for his baby decor. Can’t wait to see how it turns out!