My First Quilt

In a much earlier post I showed you the fabrics that I had picked out for a quilt class that I had signed up to take.  Well, here's the finished quilt!  I actually had everything done on this except for the hand stitched binding (and even that was half done) and I wanted to finish it up for Thanksgiving so one day I sat down to watch a Packer game and whip stitch the binding on.  I just love how it turned out!  The fabric is Fandango by Kate Spain (Moda) and I love these bright colors! 

This is actually the second quilt that I finished even though it was the first that I started.  The other quilt that I've completed start to finish is a baby quilt for my friends Kristin and Jon for the birth of their baby daughter.  I'll see if I can find a photo of that quilt too. 

This quilt is machine quilted and pieced and I've flipped a corner over so you can see the backing fabric.  I also think it looks fabulous in my guest room which is decorated in some of these same colors! 

Frances Eden

As promised, here is my finish of Frances Eden.  I finished her last summer and got her into her frame this fall.  Isn't she pretty?  I stitched her on 36 count Forest Haven linen by Zweigart.  For threads I did a conversion to Anchor.  This pattern is charted for either silks or DMC but I wanted the slightly softer colors of Anchor.  I love how this fabric is a pale blue/green and that with all the greens in the piece the ground fabric appears more blue.  I purchased the chart, linen and threads from Lynns of Madison, if you contact them please tell them I sent you! 

The frame is also from Lynn's shop and I love the way it looks!  Here's a close up view:

Isn't it neat?  I just love the way that a cool frame really sets off a piece!  I struggled with this piece a bit since it's a reproduction.  I wanted to keep the personalization true to the original stitcher but also wanted to include my information.  I ended up stitching my initials, JB and the year toward the bottom.  I'm currently stitching Elizabeth Sheffield and think that I'll add "Reproduction Stitched by... " at the bottom in over one lettering.  What do others of you do? 

Thankful

Wow, I'm so thankful for being able to spend a long weekend with my family, it was wonderful to spend the time together and to be here in Colorado for the holiday!  We had my parents, Grandfather and Aunt all here plus some of my neighbors joined us for dinner so all in all we had 8 adults, 1 baby, 4 dogs and 2 cats in my house for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was great! 

If you've stuck with me all this time, you know that I've been working to finish a bunch of projects by the end of this year.  And, since I was expecting company I was very busy for a week or so before the holiday weekend framing projects, putting the binding on my first quilt, cleaning and organizing the guest bedrooms.  It feels great to have all of that completed and I'm happy to say that I have a few more finished stitched projects hanging on my walls now!  Photos soon! 

The card pictured here is one that I designed for a card swap earlier this fall.  It uses three stamp sets.  The words are from Thank You Kindly (111700) which is one of my favorite Thank you sets.  The frame around the sentiment is Elizabeth (117120) and the Acorn is from Gently Falling (123802) from the Holiday Mini.  I've also used Spice Cake DSP (124003), the Lace Ribbon Border Punch (122362), Crumb Cake seam binding (122332) and the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder (119277).