The Carpenter's Star Wall-Hanging and a few Pictures of Appalachia

A Mountain home in Appalachia (on top of East River Mountain)

NOTE: click on all the photos to make them full sized for better viewing

Well, y'all will have to forgive me (I hope you do) because I've forgotten to post the most recent quilting I've completed! But I'm not TOO late, so here are some photos of a wallhanging called The Carpenter's Star. I've included some of the progress, and then the finished pieced top. My husband has since quilted it in the pattern "popcorn" but I won't post a photo of it until it is bound as well. We had to send off for more fabric, sadly, as the pattern was misleading and we didn't buy enough!

This is the middle, the actual star. It looks 3D in person.

This was a corner of it with the second border. I used all batiks to make the star, and then used the same fabrics to make a pieced border. Then I used this Japanese fabric which will also be the same used on the border (because the store ran out of the last border, which is what I wanted to use orginally)

This is the middle border fabric that I will also use for the binding.

This is the final, widest border, also a Japanese fabric. This is the fabric that the store ran out of (we got it at Quilting Essentials in Salem, VA where Pat and Bernie are the VERY friendly owners! Visit them if you get a chance) You can tell why they ran out -- very pretty. It, like the previous fabric, has gold accents.

The border, sewn on and ready to be quilted.

Completed! YAY! And David said it was perfectly square on the machine. YAY again!

And here are a few late autumn Appalachian photos taken from our area,

 for your enjoyment :)

This was the area in which the Lassie movie made in the 1990's was filmed

Look how green the grass is? It stays brilliant like this- beautiful!

This one was taken through our front door (Ignore the doggie nose prints, please!). I made the quilt on the rocker, as well.

David and I have matching rockers we got this summer and LOVE them

Proof of using Quilts to decorate! This is covering a window that opens onto our porch. Because of its location, we have always kept the blind shut. We have the quilt (Jacob's Ladder, my very first quilt ever) hanging over the blind. It has significantly cut down on the cold air that comes through the window panes as well as adds interest to the room.

Thanks for reading and looking at my pictures!

A New Blog!

It's true, I've joined the Blogging world. I've had an online journal for many years, but I've decided it was time to have a quilting blog, where I can keep track of the quilts I've done and share them with others.

My husband and I both are professional quilters, though I generally quilt for my own enjoyment (gifts and for our own household). My husband, on the other hand, is what is commonly known as a Long Arm (LA) Quilter (even though our machine is an old workhorse short arm with absolutely NO bells or whistles!). He takes in quilt tops from people in the area as well from all over the country. I'll be sharing photos of both of our work.

I am currently working on a Carpenter's Star wall hanging. I have two more borders to add. Here is what I'm working on (you can enlarge all pictures by clicking on them)

The "star" is made of batik fabric, which I love! I have joined the craze for batiks, and not far from our area is the Sew What store. That's where http://www.batiks.com/  is located, so I am a lucky girl! However, I don't get to visit there very often.

You see, I am disabled and not able to leave my house very often because I am in need of a ramp for my motorized chair. Sadly, it will cost $16,000 to build it on this steep mountainside, so that won't happen very soon, I'm afraid. But I got the fabric for this wall hanging at Quilting Essentials in Salem, VA during a trip during the summer.

This is the fabric for the thin border (1.25") that went on next. I love this fabric!

Here it is after I put it on.

My husband just finished quilting a top for one of his co-workers. I don't know what the quilt top pattern is called, though I know it is all piecing. Here is a photo of the quilt:

The pattern that he used (a pantograph) is called "popcorn" and it is one of my very favorites. It is especially great if the fabric isn't pre-washed (I never pre-wash) and the quilt is washed when finished. It looks so old fashioned!

Close up of the front

Close up of the back.

Hope you'll come back and check on me here. I'll be quilting.... and adding photos of quilts I've already finished as well as new ones as I go along. So glad you were here to visit. Do let me know you were here by leaving a comment!