The Blue Peacock (and the one that got away...)

Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful 2013 and finished lots of quilts. I took a look back while I was updating my "finishes" page: I counted 8 lap size or larger quilts (2 oversized twin/full), 2 baby quilts and several other small projects that I finished in 2013. It seemed like it was a lot more!

Anyway, here is another finish that I have not officially blogged about yet. You may have seen a picture here and there, especially on my instagram account, but here goes.

A friend/neighbor commissioned me to make this quilt. He picked out the fabrics. I designed it on EQ7 then whipped it up :)

It measures about 72 x 84 inches. I spent a total of 33 hours working on it.

 I was planning on doing some fancy quilting on it but after I showed the client some options he insisted on a stippling. I was fine with that as it's the easiest and I think the most quilty looking design :)

 Here it is about halfway quilted on the long arm.

 Some nice outside pictures before all the snow arrived.

 The border had very large printed blue peacocks on it. I could not make them fit without making the border over sized. Sew, we decided that one of them should come off the border and onto the quilt blocks. I got the idea at my Quilting Club meeting from one of the members.

 This was the first time I had ever done any "in depth" applique. I used wonder under, then cut one of the shapes out and appliqued him on top of the one peacock head in the lower right hand corner. I added some extra batting for added texture then stitched around all the feathers and such, not just the edge of the shape. 

 This is the under side of the quilt top.

Overall he and I were very pleased with the outcome.

I have a few more finishes to share, but I will save them for another post. They are already on my finishes page.

I'm going to link up at Link a Finish Friday. They are having their 100th Friday finish post this coming Friday! You should stop by!

Happy 2014!

Until next time,

Mike.

I have Google+ comments activated, so you can only comment if you have a Google account. If you do not have a Google account (and don't really want one) you can comment on my Facebook page, Twitter feed, Flickr, Instagram, or Pinterest pages! ...On any of my photos or posts!!! I love getting comments! You can also email me at amateurquilter at gmail dot com! I will always respond! Thanks for stopping by! .... Mike.

Gettin' Squirrelly

I have had sew many finishes in the last few months, but I have been sew busy making last minute quilts and projects that I have not posted any of them (although you may have seen a post here and there on my instagram, facebook or twitter accounts). Today I am going to show you one and hopefully I will get the others blogged soon!

This quilt was commissioned by some very dear friends for one of their family members that was turning 60 in November (on Thanksgiving!). The only stipulation was that it had to have a squirrel theme :) Sew, we scoured the earth (even Seattle, Alaska and Canada when we were there on a cruise) looking for anything that might work. We bought online from fabric.com and ebay as well. I designed the layout on my EQ7 and then pretty much winged it from there. Here are some pictures:

 As usual I used leftover fabrics for the back of the quilt. They also let me keep any of the leftovers, probably about 3 yards in total.

I quilted it with a leaf motif and viny loops :)

Although it was technically a twin size (72 x 84 in.) it just fit on top of this queen bed. In total I spent 16.5 hours from beginning to end. It was easy and fun, especially working with such crazy prints! And, the pattern was perfect for large, medium and small prints!

 

Anyway, the recipient was just "nuts" about it :) I hear it was a great birthday celebration. And to top it all off, I got paid to do something I love. The money I made will definitely help me support my habit.

 

On a side note, the winner of the Blog Hop Party Giveaway from last month was Tami C. She chose the colors red and green. She has already received her prize in the mail.



 

Hope all is well my friends! Happy holidays to you all!

 

Until next time,

 

Mike.

I have Google+ comments activated, so you can only comment if you have a Google account. If you do not have a Google account (and don't really want one) you can comment on my Facebook page, Twitter feed, Flickr, Instagram, or Pinterest pages! ...On any of my photos or posts!!! I love getting comments! You can also email me at amateurquilter at gmail dot com! I will always respond! Thanks for stopping by! .... Mike.

Blog Hop Party & Giveaway! (Fabric)

Yes! It's that time of year again :) Let's make this short and sweet. First, one fun picture then onto the giveaway!

I'm giving away 6 fat quarters from my stash.
Leave a comment (read the note below, you can comment on any of my social media pages) telling me your favorite color combinations and I will put something together. My stash is so large, I'm sure I can accommodate :) I will only count one entry per person. I will announce the winner after Thanksgiving :) Have a nice Turkey Day everyone!

Don't forget to check out the other giveaways! Link in right hand sidebar at the top!

Until next time,

Mike.

I have Google+ comments activated, so you can only comment if you have a Google account. If you do not have a Google account (and don't really want one) you can comment on my Facebook page, Twitter feed, Flickr, Instagram, or Pinterest pages! ...On any of my photos or posts!!! I love getting comments! You can also email me at amateurquilter at gmail dot com! I will always respond! Thanks for stopping by! .... Mike.

I'm bringing Hexy back...

Well, it's been too long! Did you miss me? My last post was almost 6 weeks ago! I have to say... I've been a very Hexy boy since the last time :) I always say, if I'm not blogging, I'm sewing, sew that's a good thing :) If you follow me on Instagram, you definitely know what's going on. It's like my little microblogging tool :)

Sew anyway, I thought it appropriate for this post to mention that I started a Google+ community quite awhile back called "I'm Hexy and I Know It!" We've got quite a few members and so far it's been a blast seeing all the awesome Hexiness :) Come join in the fun!

Now, wanna see some pictures from the last 6 weeks?

I hope that was a yes, 'cause here goes:

 I've been getting very hexy on the train... These are 1 inchers (sides as always) using scraps from the bin :) Yay! Scrapbusting!

 These are 2 inchers and it has 20 double ring flowers with an inner border, 4 x 5 rows of flowers. It's gotta be a queen size. I have 4 rows of 5 sewn together, now I just have to sew the 4 rows together. They are just too big to take on the train now, sew I will have to finish this quilt top in another setting.

 Here is the back of the 1 inchers.... I'm just randomly picking from my stack of flowers... no rhyme or reason except to keep similar fabrics from touching each other.

Here is me busy working on it :)

 Oh, and here is where I am headed to everyday :)

 I just got this one loaded on the machine. I hope to have it quilted this weekend sew I can take it to my quilting club for show and tell on November 2nd.

Here is the top on the design wall, which I may have posted before. It has the appliqued peacock in the lower right hand corner.

Well, that's all I have for you today! Wait, I wanted to say that I did pick a winner for the giveaway for the Grandma's Lawn Chair blog hop. It was Paul B. He already received the pattern and the fabric. I threw in some die cut hexies too. He was quite happy. I was surprised that the random number generator landed on him because we had already met in cyberspace. He's a hexaholic too :) and a member of the "I'm Hexy and I Know It!" community :)

Until next time,

Mike.

I have Google+ comments activated, so you can only comment if you have a Google account. If you do not have a Google account (and don't really want one) you can comment on my Facebook page, Twitter feed, Flickr, Instagram, or Pinterest pages! ...On any of my photos or posts!!! I love getting comments! You can also email me at amateurquilter at gmail dot com! I will always respond! Thanks for stopping by! .... Mike.

Grandma's Lawn Chair Blog Hop & Giveaway!!!

Hi everyone! Welcome to my stop on the Grandma's Lawn Chair Blog Hop!!! I would like to say thank you to Diane at ...from blank pages for allowing me to be a part of it, and to test out such an awesome pattern!

I want to start off by telling you how I met Diane :) I was browsing through some quilting/sewing blogs one day and came across hers :) she was giving away a zippy pouch for any commenters on her blog. I entered and I won the pouch! And, I use it everyday for my hexies on the go! Sew, I consider her officially my bloggy friend :) Hopefully someday our paths will cross in real life. After following her blog for the past two years and interacting through emails and blog comments, I can tell she is a delightful person and a good soul! I recently started following her on instagram, which I LOVE! That is where she was asking for pattern testers, sew... I volunteered (even though I was on a tight schedule)... and as you'll see, I ran with it!

On first glance, the pattern looks like it will be tricky, but in reality, it's very simple and it produces a great weave effect! It has 3 sizes, baby, toddler and lap size, but in the end it's very flexible. You can add more rows or columns and make it any size you want! There are cutting diagrams, notes on cutting from different sizes of fabric including fat quarters, fat eighths and yardage. She even goes further with tips for using directional print, plenty of diagrams and great details on construction... even a diagram you can color so you can see your layout first!

I'm so excited that I finally get to share this! I have been keeping it under wraps for the blog hop. Nothing worse than not being able to share a finish!!! At least with this one I can tell you it has already been used and it works great! ... lol. Here's my finished product:

I used some really brightly colored "batik looking" fat quarters that I found in the bargain bin at a local craft store :)

 Didn't have a lawn chair to throw it over  :)

I quilted it with a variegated rainbow colored thread in the pattern of rainbows. I also picked out the backing fabric at my local quilt shop (Joann's... lol). I had seen that "love" fabric many times and just always wanted to use it. I think I paid only $3.50 a yard for it with my coupon :) The pattern had instructions for using fat quarters, but I had enough of each color left over to make a scrappy binding! This was the first time I had ever done that!

Anyway, Diane is offering up a free pattern to one of my readers! Yay! And, I am throwing in these 5 fat quarters to get you started! All you have to do is comment on this post and say anything about lawn chairs :) I'll pick a winner after the blog hop ends.

In the meantime, check out the other blogs on the hop!

Mon 9th - Diane @ from blank pages...

Tues 10th - Julie @ Jolie Maxtin
Wed 11th - Ginny @ Fishcreek Studio
Thurs 12th - Kelleigh - guest blogging at from blank pages
Fri 13th - Sara @ Sew Sweetness

Mon 16th , Diane @ from blank pages...
Tues 17th - Hilary @ Young Texan Mama
Wed 18th - Mike @ The Amateur Quilter
Thurs 19th - Rachael @ imagine gnats
Fri 20th - Courtney @ Mon Petite Lyons

Mon 23rd - Jamie @ Sunflower Seeds
Tues 24th - Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts
Wed 25th - Krista @ Spotted Stones
Thurs 26th - Cristy @ Sew Much Like Mom
Fri 27th - Diane @ from blank pages...

Here are links to the pattern in case you want to buy your own copy:

Craftsy: http://www.craftsy.com/project/view/grandmas-lawn-chair---baby-size-quilt/128241

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/162213292/grandmas-lawn-chair-quilt-pattern-3

Until next time!

Mike.

I have Google+ comments activated, so you can only comment if you have a Google account. If you do not have a Google account (and don't really want one) you can comment on my Facebook page, Twitter feed, Flickr, Instagram, or Pinterest pages! ...On any of my photos or posts!!! I will still enter you in the drawing if you mention this giveaway! You can also email me at amateurquilter at gmail dot com! Thanks for stopping by! .... Mike.

Quilts in Action!!!

Nothing says "Thank you!" like seeing a gifted quilt in action! :)

I love getting pictures of people using my quilts. It's the best feeling! Even when I am at home and my honey bunny is sleeping on the couch covered with one of my quilts, it says "Thank you!"

Sew, here is a picture I received from my office mate with his new baby boy on the quilt I made for him!

Isn't he just cute as a button?!!! You can see the full album of pictures for making this quilt here.

I also wanted to share with you this awesome stuff I got at my Quilting Club the last time we met. It's a fusible tape for joining 2 pieces of batting together. I always have medium to small pieces left over when I square off my quilts. Especially since I use the large 40 yard roll (90 inches wide). If I have a lap quilt I usually don't need all 90 inches so I save these pieces that are usually about 20 inches wide. Well I took 2 of those pieces and joined them. It worked like a charm!

I hope all is well in your life!

Until next time,

Mike.

Note: I have Google+ comments activated, so you can only comment if you have a Google account. If you do not have a Google account (and don't really want one) you can comment on my Facebook page, Twitter feed, Flickr, Instagram, or Pinterest pages! ...On any of my photos or posts!!! I love getting comments! You can also email me at amateurquilter at gmail dot com! I will always respond! Thanks for stopping by! .... Mike.

Quilting, Sewing, Gettin' My Hexy On...

Well, another month has passed. I decided another blog post is way overdue, so this is just basically a catch up post for what I have been doing since the last post.

 This one is still on the frame right now. This is the backing. I see this fabric all the time at Joann's and I finally decided I had to have it for this quilt. I am not showing the quilt top yet, as it was a pattern test for a bloggy friend, and I think she might do a blog hop, so I didn't want to spoil it.

 The pattern called for fat quarters and I had leftovers, so I made the binding scrappy.

The colors are very vibrant, and I did not wash them first so I hope the new dye catchers I bought do what they are supposed to do!

I finished a baby quilt for my office mate. He had his first. It's a boy! I didn't have this information when I made it :)

I quilted it with a loopy ruffly looking pattern.

 And, of course, I still been getting my Hexy on.... on the train commute in the mornings. There are about 50 flowers in that pile!

Last weekend I went to a thrift shop for which I had seen an ad in the paper saying fill a paper bag all you want for $5. When I showed up I found out I was a week early. I then proceded across the street to another thrift store and hit a gold mine for fabric! Boxes upon boxes of quilting fabric, most from the mid 1990s. There was Moda, Michael Miller, Timeless Treasures to name a few. Most were 2-3 yard cuts. They were all marked as $2 per yard!!! But.... that day was 50% off everything in the store! Thats' right! I paid $34 for what I bet is 40 to 50 yards of great fabric! Jealous???

Oh, and I went to the Kenny Chesney concert last Saturday. We were in the Sandbar! Jealous???

Hope all is well on the quilting front!

Until next time,

Mike.