Friday, November 11, 2011

Fall Season

I have not been as busy posting here as I have in the past.  Here are a few items I've worked on in recent months.

A quilt for American Heroes.  I have one more quilt left in the pile, and should probably do that today, being Veteran's Day.

Halloween costume for myself as Mrs. Annabelle Bransford (from the movie "Maverick").  I made it from a pattern that I bought at the local fabric store, although it wasn't technically finished when I wore it.  I ran out of fabric (and time) to make the bustle and couldn't find the boning for the back to add rigidity around the lacing, but it was wearable.  I loved the red taffeta--it sewed up really well and wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought it would be.  I hope to finish up the costume so that all the seams are finished and it's fully wearable.  What you can't see is that I made the petticoat and under-trousers to go with it.  I'd like to make a Civil War Southern belle dress, too.  There are some really great patterns for those available, and I plan on picking one up soon. 


My darling husband's Halloween costume, Brett Maverick (from the movie, "Maverick").  I wanted to make it out of some kind of tapestry or decorator fabric, but had to settle for quilting cotton in a Civil War reproduction.  When it was lined with muslin, it worked just fine, although I think if I were to run it through the washer, it would probably not look quite as nice.  I will likely open up the sides and add some interfacing to stiffen it up.  Again, if I were to make this for something other than a Halloween costume, I would have put a little more effort into it.

I also made two vests for little girls to dress up as Medieval saints for All Saints Day.  They both dressed as St. Margaret Ward, a woman who smuggled a rope into a prison to help a priest escape.  They knew she had helped him (she was his only visitor).  She was tortured and killed for refusing to tell where he was and for not attending Protestant services.  The skirts were identical, made out of cotton broadcloth I had sitting in my stash, the undertunic is unbleached cotton muslin. 


My friend, Tyrssen, lives in the Midwest and commissioned some tunics from me.  I made three and have one more to finish.  This is the red one...
And the yellow one...

On the quilting end, I quilted up this baby quilt for Susie in July.


I quilted up this little thing for Donna's mom, who entered it in the fair as her First Quilt, and she won second place for her age category!  I think she just turned 82!
Next here is a little quilt I made for our guild's "Celebration" challenge.  I just used scraps to make these "presents" and made candles as the loops to hold it, and 3-D ribbons adorn the boxes.  I didn't win, but it was fun!

Val handed me this quilt top to quilt up for her.  She won the $50 gift certificate that I donated to the Christmas raffle.  This cute top of printed mooses among stars has echo quilting around the mooses and stars quilted in the yellow stars.

Violet brought over this giant quilt top that she is finishing for her daughter.  It measures 108" square!  My machine maxes out at about 110", so it was just big enough to fit on there.  If I had more room in my quilting space, I would get longer rods to put on my machine frame so I can quilt up even larger quilts (up to 120" with room on the sides to easily change bobbin thread, etc.).  Although I can put a top on there that is up to 120", I cannot quilt the five inches on either side and changing bobbins becomes quite difficult. 

 Michele gave me three quilt tops to finish for her for Christmas.  This is one of them.  It has holly leaves quilted across the green parts, and veins quilted into the leaves.  

There are several more quilts in line, including two Green Bay Packer quilts for my sister Tara, three other Friendship quilts she also finished recently, and the first three of seven antiques that Tina gave to me to finish that her Grandmother made.  She plans to distribute them to her family members as heirlooms.  I have a few things on the list now...it should make for a busy month!