Welcome Fall!!!

I welcomed Fall today by replacing Summer banners and wreathes with Fall ones:

I noticed my roses have gifted me with one more round of beautiful blooms too:

And, yes, I'm savoring my first Pumpkin Spice latte of the season!

The rest of the day will find me spending the afternoon enjoying the comforts of home as I stitch and sew in-between loads of laundry and getting our menu made for the week. Seems the change of season also finds us not only enjoying the cooler weather, but replacing BBQ meals with comfort foods like warm bowls of chili and yummy casseroles. I'm sure I'm not alone huh.

Wishing each and everyone of you a happy, happy Fall.!!!

New Rainbow Girl Center

I can't believe I've been working on this quilt on and off for three years.

It's just one of those "creative projects" that evolves as I make it up...

or in this case, remake it as I go. 

The center went from this:

To this:

I sewed the new center right over the old one and once finished, 

just cut the old one away on the back side:

 Now my creative mind is looking at finishing it with a black flower printed border.  A purple prairie point border  between it and the quilt, finishing it with a lime green binding. What do ya think?

I specialize in edge to edge pantographs with over 100 designs to choose from.

Check out my Long-Arm Quilting page for details.

I offer FREE Return Shipping on all quilts in the U.S.A.

Moving it Forward....

The scrappy flowers that I started last month took a turn for the brighter side...

...and will provide some fun stitching this week. I seriously can't wait to show you how I'm going to use them to change the center on my Rainbow Girl quilt later this week.

Until then, I hope your week is off to a great start!!

PS: Like my "new" blog header! ARG! No more free PicMonkey. Need to figure out "now what".

WI specialize in edge to edge pantographs with over 100 designs to choose from.

Check out my Long-Arm Quilting page for details.

I offer FREE Return Shipping on all quilts in the U.S.A.

Scrap Play!

I've continued to enjoy Kate's 15 Minute to Sew Challenge and even finished my Jan. OMG Snowman Jelly Roll into a flimsy. Here's just a peek as I'm hoping to get my long-arm back from some well needed maintenance and actually have it finished by month's end.

I also started a CREATIVE project that I've had in the back of my head:

I've never done strip piecing.

I've been wanting to use text prints against bold, print  for e v e r.

With that said, this makes for the perfect 15 minutes of sewing after a long day at work.

It's going to be fun to watch this project evolve, as right now I have no plan accept to continue having fun creating these scrappy flowers that seem to be quickly blooming from my scrap basket.

 My report this week:

Days with sewing this week:  5 out of 7

Days with sewing this month:  10 out of 14

Days with sewing this year:  10 out of 14

Success rate:  71%

Stay tuned!

I specialize in edge to edge pantographs with over 100 designs to choose from.

Check out my Long-Arm Quilting page for details.

I offer FREE Return Shipping on all quilts in the U.S.A.

Best of 2017 Linky

I like participating in Cheryl's "Best of" Linky Party as it creates the opportunity and motivation for me to look back and see how my year of blogging has been. 

 My "word" for 2017 was JOY. I started out the year with an ambitious list of goals, but quickly realized I'd take a more joyful, laid back approach to my quilting. Our Winter was overwhelming and Fall was filled with family transitions, which as you know, included welcoming our new grand guy. Wierd how much can happen in a year huh. In review, I did finish six quilts and have been thinking about new ways to be creative in my studio and here on the blog. (Stay tuned) It truly has been a joyful blogging year with each of you as my "virtual quilting community". I am grateful for our friendships. Soooo, with that said, here is my best of 2017: 

First up, My MOST VIEWED post coming in with 696 views was my Classroom Quilt Finish.  Wow! Thank you for your continuous support of me as a second grade teacher.

Next, JACKSON'S MOST POPULAR POST with 717 views was when I asked reader's to take a quiz to determine What Dog Breed are You? I enjoyed finding out how many of you have a dog companion and what breed fit your lifestyle.

Next, is our LARGEST TUESDAY ARCHIVES PARTY. It was dated back in September and had 26 links. It was surprisingly our BAG themed party. Thank you for your continued participation in our weekly Tuesday Archives linky. 

We've had 178 linky parties so far...and many still ahead!

1. Each Tuesday I've posted a quilt theme.

2. I appreciate the time and effort you take to search through your quilting archives for old posts to link under the theme.

3. Thank you for visiting eachother.

 And remember you can find all our past themes in our Tuesday Archives: DIRECTORY Plus, I know Tuesday Archives is not your traditional linky party. As I prepared this post, I noticed that our weekly links have decreased by 50% compared to a year ago. I'm not sure if this is due to the rise in instagram and pinterest usage, but if you have any input to offer about our themes...please  email me with your ideas. And if you are new to my blog,  I'll hope you'll stop by on Tuesdays and join us!

And finally, I'll conclude with My Two FAVORITE QUILT Finishes of the year:

The first one is my Bloom QAL, made entirely from my stash!

The second, is my queen size Raw Edged Flowers and Nine PatchQuilt. 

It's always nice to finish a quilt that has been over a year in the creating isn't it. 

So there you have it: The 5 Best of 2017 here at Val's Quilting Studio. I want to thank all of you who have become my blogging friends over the past years.  I also want to welcome you if you are new to my ol' spot here in blogland. Please take a look around, and if ya are even a little bit inspired by what ya see, I hope you'll follow too. In the meantime, happy holidays to you all and thank you Cheryl for hosting this party. Click on the picture below to check out everyone participating and celebrating:

I specialize in edge to edge pantographs with over 100 designs to choose from.

Check out my Long-Arm Quilting page for details.

I offer FREE Return Shipping on all quilts in the U.S.A.

Raw Edged Flowers....Washed!

How did it get to the middle of September already! I haven't been sewing and have only spent a few evenings during the week binding this beauty. I promised I'd post an update once these raw-edged flowers were washed and quite honestly this quilt has quickly become our very favorite! It received it's inaugural washing yesterday and after two rounds in the dryer I finally hung it out in the afternoon sunshine to get the rest of the drying process done.

I really like these scrappy, raveled flowers:

 I surprised my husband with it on our bed when he got home from work. He immediately said: 

"This is my very favorite quilt. I love how it brightens up the room."

Yes, he made my day!

Tuesday Archives Update

I gradually coming out of my September "Back to School Fog". Defined as having to take naps after school with little energy to even stitch once evening rolls around. It takes about a month  to get settled into routine and my energy where I'm now...ready to get going again. I've updated our Tuesday Archives on the sidebar. Thanks for your patience at my lack of consistency lately. 

Some upcoming September projects that I'm looking forward to sharing with you include a self-designed super-hero quilt for our grand guy's upcoming fourth birthday and a quick dinosaur charm pack quilt for our second little guy due to arrive around the end of November. 

(Isn't quilting for little ones the best!) 

 Happily creating and quilting once again....

I specialize in edge to edge pantographs with over 100 designs to choose from.

Check out my Long-Arm Quilting page for details.

I offer FREE Return Shipping on all quilts in the U.S.A.

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A Queen Size Finish!!! My Raw Edged Flowers/Nine-Patch Quilt.

YES!!! My Raw Edged Flowers/Nine-Patch beauty is finished!!

It may have taken a year and two retreats...but here she is all quilted and off the frame.

And as you can see I have just enough backing leftover to create the binding. YAH!

I used a verigated, light golden King Tut top thread called Sheaves (#965) and 

it worked beautifully with my scrappy flowers and nine-patches. (No thread changes needed.)

The Nine-Patches

All of the nine-patches were quilted using cross-hatch ruler work. I truly felt my quilting confidence grow as I worked on these. By the second row I had "found" myself a path and was able to complete an entire nine-patch in one run! I was pretty impressed with myself here. HAHAHA!

When my husband got home from work and commented on how all the lines run together, all I could do was smile at him like a school kid and say: "I know!"  You know what they say: Confidence comes from accomplishing something you didn't think you could do!

The Flowers

I quilted the center layer and the third layer from the center of each flower:

I then stitched-in-the-ditch the perimeter of each flower square and used a wiggly whirlwind of smaller stitches to create a dense backing for each flower. I think they are really going to "pop" once this quilt is washed and I can't wait to see how the flowers ravel! Here's a close-up of one:

The Borders:

Honestly, the borders were the hardest part for me to quilt as without the guide of the nine-patches, my ruler "skills" were definitely challenged as I wanted to continue the cross-hatch quilting into the borders. Hey, I only had a few "redos". Again, I'm so proud! My patient husband listened to me brag.

FINALLY! YES! A Quilt for OUR Bed!!!

Though it still needs it's binding and a trip to the washing machine, I couldn't wait to see how it fit on our the bed! And of course, Jackson followed me upstairs, as if he knew what I was going to do.

I don't use pillow shams and love how the quilt covers our pillows as planned. It's also big enough that once I put our down comforter on come Fall/Winter, the quilt is still long enough on all sides. Which means, NO fighting over covers this year! Yes, Jackson there's even enough room for you!

(I'll update this picture once it's washed...cause you know it's 

going to change and I'm anxious to see that!) 

 I'm so happy and okay, yes proud, to have this one done. 

I can't wait to get the binding done.  

Thanks for stopping by.

I specialize in edge to edge pantographs with over 100 designs to choose from.

Check out my Long-Arm Quilting page for details.

I offer FREE Return Shipping on all quilts in the U.S.A.

WIN quilt batting this summer. Click HERE to read how.

"Bloom" QAL Finished!

The Front:

This finish measures 62"x 72". 

The Quilting:

Yes I broke all the rules and did a Daisy on a String pantograph on this applique quilt...and I love it! 

This is a loose pattern that didn't take away from the applique. I think that was the key.

 Annnddd a peek at the Back:

Another happy finish that was a great stash buster.

Anndd On the Frame This Week...

As I begin this quilting project I'm so very grateful for extra-wide backing!!!

This morning I've been busy getting this queen size pretty on the frame and am anticipating it will take me a good chunk of my last three weeks of summer break to quilt it. I plan to crosshatch the nine-patches and stipple the background of each flower, along with outlining each flower. The song "99 beers " I mean, blocks, is chiming in my head as I prepare for this daunting quilting adventure. 

I'm a little worried as I  haven't even started and I'm already looking forward to having it done. (Hmmmm that might not be a good sign???) But, seriously, after seven years of quilting, I've finally made a quilt for OUR master bed!  I refuse to let this pretty sit and gather dust as a UFO.

 So here we go as I tip-toe through the flowers quilting to the tune of ninty-nine blocks to complete.

Wish me patience and successful ruler skill.

 Click HERE to post and join/rejoin us for this year's 

the Piggy Bank Challenge!

Note: This Linky is open until  August 1st. 
Please feel welcome to grab the code on my sidebar and and help spread the work to all your readers.