Quilting and Assembly of the ....my little Sweetheart Box

Assemble/sew 4 crazee patch hearts and a solid square and a striped square like the picture. Note that the points of the hearts are point ed towards the solid square. The striped square is attached to the orange square too and then the last heart is pointing away from the orange. It will all make sense as you follow along with the photos.



Then to the quilting machine. I quilted each heart with a different freestyle pattern. On the orange I quilted hearts and one flower and wavy lines on the striped fabric.













Photos of the quilting up close. I just had fun with it. I "Wachuta Doodled" on each block! Follow along as the photos show you how I trimmed after quilting and then zig zag stitched the edges and assembled/stitched the my little sweetheart box.

More pictures on the next blog of the finished little Sweetheart Box.

Wachuta Doodles - Starting to quilt the block part of the quilt!

I started to quilt my challenge quilt for Project Quilting - Using a form of Zentangle quilting which I personally named Wachuta Doodles.










I quilted on just the open blocks.... creating a pattern design in each block. Just had fun making patterns... the dot blocks - circular designs, the flower blocks - zig zag patterns and the plain white blocks - cross hatch and basket weave patterns. What a blast!
















More pictures from the yesterday's quilting at the end of the day will be on another post - maybe tonight or tomorrow! Photos in the Photo Gallery --- Click any of the photos and it will take you to the Picasa Photo Gallery where you will find all my photos - click on that and then on Project Quilting. Also photos on Flicker.

My Quilt Project for Project Quilting --- The next steps!!!

After work today I completed the quilt top - tomorrow after work I will quilt it!! Yippee...Here is how I got to this point... follow the steps below....

Selected the final fabrics for Project Quilting.

Cut strips in random sizes from 1 3/4 inch to 3 inches.
Lay them out to see how it will look....



Sew strips on one side of the block.

Sew strips on one side of the block.
Square up block at an angle to 6 1/2 inch square.

Lay them out in random order.. I changed the order many times before sewing them together. I should have just picked them up in any order and sewed them!

Sew the rows together unevenly to offset them.

More photos in the my Photo Gallery.

When I am not Quilting... I am Sewing... and I am Weaving!

Sometimes I make other sewing projects other than quilts!!! During the past two weeks my mom and I made 16 woven baskets!!! They are called Biscuit Baskets. First we were at a quilting retreat and worked on them for 3 solid days. Then we came home and I quilted for my business in the mornings and we worked on the baskets together in the afternoons and evenings up til the Eve of Thanksgiving. It was a fun project to do together! I cut the strips and stitched them. Mom turned them right side out and fed the heavy stiff interfacing into each strip. Then I pressed each strip and started the weaving process -- which this is where I added my own step of Zig Zag stitching the base of the basket before weaving the sides of the baskets. I did a lot of pinning to hold the fabric strips as a wove the strips and then stitched on the binding. I again used a Zig Zag stitch to finish the edge of the binding (an all machine stitched binding).

Biscuit Basket is the name of the pattern. See the picture with the information. I made a few changes as I made the baskets. I stitched the bottom of each basket with a Zig Zag stitch to hold the strips in place before weaving. I also used a 3 inch strip for the binding. The changes made the binding and weaving process easier. This is a link to all the pictures of the baskets.

The Easy to Sew Quilt Pattern available today!

The Easy to Sew Quilt Pattern is available starting today for only $8.00 and FREE SHIPPING for the month of March!!! This unique quilt looks different every time you make it! Your quilts will be crafty, unique, and creative! One of a kind! You can make it in any size from as small as a hot pad, place mat, or table runner to as large as a full, or queen, or king size quilt size! You can use new fabric or you can use up your scraps! It is a simple way to learn how to be crafty and creative! This pattern makes sewing and quilting fun!!!
Mail check or Money Order of $8.00 per pattern to: Marcia Wachuta, 41826 Cty Rd W, Boscobel, WI 53805. Order one for a friend too --- I will mail it directly to them with a gift card from you! Free gift card and FREE Shipping! Make sewing and quilting fun again for everyone!!!

See previous post for full size picture of a lap sized quilt.

Friendship Quilter's Walk with Grace Donation Quilt

This is our Walk with Grace Donation Quilt for 2009 from the Friendship Quilter's in Richland Center. Each member was given a packet of black and white and red fabric from Linda Kowalski our president from June 2008 to June 2009. We then were given the pattern to make the block and then returned it to Linda. She then assembled the quilt and asked me to quilt it with an overall freestyle quilting. I used a Grey thread. It is on display at the Richland County Bank. It will go on the Walk with Grace Radio Auction in Richland Center on Monday, August 10, 2009. The radio station is WRCO 100.9 FM. A few close up pictures on my website... www.craftysewing.com --- the Quilts for a Cause -- Other Good Causes page.

Who won the 2009 Relay for Life Quilt?

Thank you to all who purchased chances to win the 2009 Relay for Life Quilt. The Quilt Raffle for the Fireside Team raised over $850. for the American Cancer Society. Pictures of the quilt and the drawing and the winner, Donna Abel are on the media gallery under Quilts for a Cause. Donna is on the left with Julie Nordeen on the right.

"Don't Fence Me In" quilt on the front page of local paper

Our local newspaper, the Boscobel Dial, recently published a front page article about Linda Halpin's quilt patterns being published in the Quiltmaker Magazine (see previous post). Click on the image in order to read the article. I was so pleased with the article, and it makes me smile to be mentioned for my quilting work, which I just love to do! This rail fence quilt, which is a variation of the traditional rail fence design, was quilted with leaves and swirls that vine across the fence line.

Twitter

My daughter is helping me get connected to the online quilting communities, and therefore for those of you who are technologically advanced (I am working on it!:) you can now follow me on Twitter!!

Learning Something New!

I, Marcia am a full-time long arm quilter, mother of two college kids, (Jewels and BJ), wife of Ritch (wonderful, honest, and hard-working electrician) and I am the caretaker of two wonderful little dogs, (The Girls). My days are filled with hours of freestyle quilting -- creating wonderful designs on customer's quilts! I truly love stitching!!! Every quilt is a new adventure! It is a joy to watch the quilt tops transform into a truly unique quilted quilt!!! --- But doing a blog is a NEW adventure for me...I am trying it and I don't know how many times I will take the time to come to the computer and type, as I want to be at my Gammill all day long stitching!!! But maybe this is good for me to write about my passion.... sometimes others don't understand it. When I am stitching and creating I am in control of every movement of the machine and as it glides across the fabric and thru' the blocks, lattice, and borders to transform the quilt top into a quilted quilt. It is a feeling I cannot describe.... so I live and breathe quilting 24/7. It is all I can think about all day long.. I even dream about quilting... I have been quilting full-time since the fall 2003 and to my husband's and my family's surprise I am never bored of it. I am so lucky to have a job that I love. For more information check out my webpage at http://www.craftysewing.com.