Thursday, August 28, 2008

A woman possessed.....

An online friend of mine is having a craft along on our Yahoo list. She asked us to choose some Autumn or Halloween projects to work on in September. I decided that my projects would be two things ~ to finish the hand quilting on a tablerunner I am working on and to start completing an autumn UFO. Well, yesterday instead of listing my intentions on the group mail, I became a woman possessed. *grins*


Back in 2006, I led a SAL (Stitch Along) for the then new Prairie Schooler Autumn Leaves. Everyone finished their stitching and many completed this adorable design into wallhangings. I decided I wanted to turn mine into the center of a quilt. I started using my scraps and fabric stash.


Once I completed the patchwork around the stitching, I never went any farther. The season had passed and I thought I could wait until the next autumn. But autumn 2007 rolled around and I was so busy with my quilt group that I never got it back out to start quilting it. Now I have a huge amount of UFOs! I need to compromise with myself if I am to get as many UFOs done this year as possible. When I pulled this off the hanger yesterday, I thought to myself it was time to sit down at my sewing machine and machine quilt this to get it done and enjoy now. To me, machine quilting is foreign territory. I have done very little machine quilting and enjoy the process of hand quilting. But a girl only has so much time and I really wanted to enjoy this now as autumn starts. I told myself to get over my fears of working it on the machine and voila! I have a finished quilt now the next morning.


I always say a quilt is truly finished when it has a label so I made the label this morning and sewed it on. I am very happy with how this has turned out. You can click any of the photos to enlarge them for more detail.


Quilt size: 18-1/2 inches (47cm) x 24-1/2 inches (62cm)

33 comments:

Erica said...

This is just gorgeous!

diane said...

WOW!! I remember this and didn't even realize you did not finish-finish it! It is tremendous, I love all the color combo's and adore the fabric on the back! Also, your label reflects a few more of your talents! Congrats on a beautiful finish!

Anonymous said...

Heidi it is so beautiful! And the "machinequilting" is very good. Now you can finish more UFO's on the sewingmachine in a short time.
Groetjes

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

That is simply gorgeous :)

Teresa said...

What a great finish!! I love the combination of cross stitch and quilting.

Nancy said...

That is great. I love it. Very nice and you would never know it was machine quilted because you did it to perfection as usual. I could never get mine to turn that well. The fabric you chose is so pretty. It is already fall weather here, I cannot believe it.
The trees are turning and leaves are falling.
Love you, Mom

Françoise said...

gorgeous!!!!!!perfect like always
hugs
françoise

Robin C said...

Heidi,
what a beautiful wall hanging. You did a wonderful job on it.

thanks for the inspiration

Robin in Virginia USA

Anonymous said...

Wat een mooie kleuren Heidi,en de label op de achterzijde,heel apart.
Waar haal je toch de tijd vandaan,ik kan je niet bijhouden.
Joke

Jane O' said...

This is my first visit to your blog. I loved roaming through the posts. I don't have any quilting friends and so I hold back on going to quilts shows alone. So this was really fun. I'm going to put you on my Google Reader so I can keep up.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today. As I go through the house tour I will show some of the quilts I have made. Some have already been featured on Thyme for Herbs but I'll post them again on Happenstance House.
Your quilts are wonderful. It's nice to meet a fellow hand quilter.

Linda said...

Heidi...PS is one of my favorite designers and this piece is so pretty (love the sentiment). I like the combination of the stitching and quilting. Your fabric is so rich and I love the colors...I've never machnine quilted but this looks great.

I did see you scissor frog and loved it...I'm going to be a copycat:)....and I did find the chocolate shoppe pin keep, loved it too. Hugs, Linda

Heidi said...

Wow Heidi! the things you do when you are possessed! This quilt turned out just fabulous, bravo!!
The colors are so lovely and with Fall just around the corner it just makes me want to "cocoon"

hugs,
heidi

Carolien said...

Congratulations on another finish, Heidi! It looks gorgeous ... I love your label as well,, with these lovely leaves falling down.
Tada, you did it! :)

Hugs, Carolien

Rhonda said...

Heidi, this is so nice! and you will really enjoy having it to decorate with this fall.

You do such nice work, your machine quilting is probably nicer than some people's hand quilting.

Is it fall weather yet in Holland?
it is still summer here in Oklahoma, 98 degrees today.

Brigitte said...

Oh Heidi, this is so, so beautiful. What a great finishing idea. The colours of the fabric scraps you used don't distract the eye from the stitched center but they somehow lead the eye to the stitching (if you know what I mean). Great!!

Tammy said...

Just lovely, Heidi. Doesn't it feel good to have one more UFO crossed off the list? :o)
We're having a little hint of Autumn here, too. Yea!

Suzann said...

Simply beautiful! I love it.

Lelia said...

WOW!! So very beautiful : ) Job well done

Terri said...

It's beautiful Heidi! Really lovely!

Meari said...

THAT is beautiful!! Well done.

Joanne said...

Heidi ~ I LOVE the way your Autumn Leaves quilt turned out, and I'm so happy that our craft-along inspired you :) Now, I need to follow in your footsteps and get mine finished.
Hugs, Joanne

Teri said...

Gorgeous! What a beautiful, beautiful quilt!!!

Karen said...

Heidi that piece is ADORABLE. I'm glad you took the leap and machine quilted it so that you don't have to wait one more year to enjoy it. It's a shame to have that tucked away. When I see those cross stitch pieces it makes me want to work on one - no no no I must refrain, LOL. How in the world will I ever get everything done I want to do, LOL.

Have a wonderful weekend dear friend.

Hugs - Karen

Anonymous said...

Wat is je UFO mooi geworden!Leuk idee om je borduurwerk zo af te werken...Ik heb toevallig net een patroon van The Prairie Schooler gekocht:Thanksgiving comes again...
En,hebben jullie lekker gegeten en een gezellige avond gehad?

Saskia said...

So it's youre first machine quilted quilt.
Wow, i thought that you knew everything (an did) about quilting.
Great job!
I don't know were to work on first.
The centennial blocks or the medallion quilt. (and i bought a book of Maeve Binchy 690 pages..)
Wednesday is comming to soon.
enjoy the weekend
hugs

Saskia said...

Hij, forgot to mention it.
My blog has a new name.
http://dutchgirlquilting.blogspot.com/

mainely stitching said...

This is incredible! WOW!

Anonymous said...

Bravo!very good idea,very beautiful Martine

Pondside said...

Those are beautiful projects, Heidi - I'll bet you can just feel the crispness of a new autumn when you look at that quilt. Autumn is my favorite season - I love to bring out the deeper coloured accents for the house, but I hadn't thought about an autumn quilt.

Sweetie said...

You have truly created a work of art!
/sweetie

Anonymous said...

Your Autumn Leaves wall quilt is BEAUTIFUL! I just started stitching Autumn Leaves last week and I'm already more than half done (I'm on a mission LOL). This has inspired me to keep the pace.

Just a gorgeous finish Heidi.

Clare said...

Heidi your quilt and stitching are beautiful, I especially like the fabric you have chosen as your backing. Well done on completeing another UFO.

Pat said...

I love how you finished your cross stitch picture. You did a wonderful job on the quilting. A great finish!