Welcoming 2018!

As usual, the Christmas and New Year's holidays were a whirlwind--and also as usual for me, I overestimated what I could finish for the holidays too! Not only was there a last minute crunch on several customer quilts, but I also planned to make several family presents. For the 3 g-boys, I used panels of their favorite characters (Paw Patrol; SpiderMan; Star Wars) and simply backed with flannel, quilted and did a turned edge binding for car or tv quilts. Now this sounds easy to me--but dang did it turn out tricky! Why is it that panels always seem wonky? At least I was able to finish these by Christmas!

Next up: I planned on making a quilted vest for my grown son to match the kilt he got a couple of birthdays ago. I had attended a Kris Veira class on how to do this--using light weight bat, thin backing and marking the pattern pieces on the fabric, then quilting. With the help of my sister-in-law, Julie, the vest back has a rampart lion that appears on the my husband's Mom's family crest. Sounds great--and Julie did an awesome free-hand drawing--but now I'm worried about whether I should have just done an all-over design in case the parts don't go together well. Since I still need to cut the vest pieces out, that part is unknown. I did get advice from my friend Connie who is a retired FACS teacher--she suggested I trim out the bat and backing from seams before I sew in lining. Hoping to get this finished by Valentine's-or maybe his July birthday!

And the real challenge! I saw an adorable wall hanging kit in Keepsake Quilting of 3 raccoons peaking out of a tree knot hole and decided that it would make a great wall hanging for my son & daughter-in-law since it reminds me of my 3 g-boys. I pondered between purchasing the pattern only; the kit ; or the pre-cut kit. My friend Jenny convinced me the pre-cut kit would be WELL worth the extra $20--and she's right. (but more about that on next post). Today I finished fusing all the tiny pieces, now for borders and the 3D leaves, then to quilt, etc. My son put an offer on a house today--his first!--so we are hoping that all goes smoothly and they can actually buy it. Think this will make a perfect housewarming gift (assuming i get it done!).

Here's a picture of the quilting on the vest back.