Military Quilt Completed!

I have finally completed my husband's military quilt. I think I may have mentioned in a previous post  how overwhelmed I felt in trying to make the quilt for him. I wanted it to be perfect or as perfect as my current skill level would allow. My husband served in the US Navy and was active in Desert Storm. Just listening to all of the experiences that he has had during his tour (both good and bad) makes me really appreciate, honor, and respect our servicemen and women. Their sacrifices has not gone unnoticed. Making this quilt has given me a whole new admiration for the men and women who serve in all branches of the US military.

I have decided to make more quilts to donate to the local veteran shelters in my area. I still have a lot of military fabric that I will use to make quilts for donation. I will add a page to this blog where I will post completed projects and other details pertaining to my donation efforts.

Here is a picture of my husband's quilt. I must admit that I had the most difficult time designing it but I think it turned out pretty good. What do you guys think?

Five Hour Quilt?

Hey guys, it's Veronica again with Ophelia's Quilts. First, I'd like to wish you all a very happy holiday season. I've been so busy preparing for out-of-towners that I haven't been able to drop in on you guys.

Okay, I have to make this short and to the point. I have been planning on making my daughter an Auburn quilt for a Christmas gift. I've bought the fabric and all the fixings but here it is at 5:25pm Christmas Eve and I haven't cut not one square. I don't know how time got away from me! But I am determined to make her quilt. I know I'll have to cut some corners so there will not be any fancy stitching or quilt patterns. That's right, Stitch-In-The-Ditch time! So, do you guys think it's possible to make a 40 x 60-ish sized quilt in 5 or so hours? I certainly hope so. I'll let you guys know when I finish and will definitely post pictures. Now I'm curious, what type of time crunch have you guys been in and had to make a quilt or wall hanging on the fly? 

Wish me luck!

Until next time my friends.......Happy quilting!

And The Winner Is . . . . . .

Congratulations to Tammy of Tammy's Sew N Life! You are the winner of the Giving - Thanks Blog Hop party!

I have really enjoyed this blog hop and I will definitely be participating in the next one.

Until next time my friends . . . . . . .Happy quilting.

Giving Thanks - Blog Hop Party

Hi guys,

It's Veronica with Ophelia's Quilts. I'm so excited to announce to you guys that I will be participating in this year's Quilter's Blog Hop Party with Give Aways - Giving Thanks. You can check out the rules and find out other information on how to participate on the Quilting Gallery's site. Just click on the link provided and you will be directed to the site's page with the blog party's information.


Okay, let's get down and dirty. For this give away, I will be giving Moda's Bobbins and Bits by Pat Sloan. This charm pack comes with 42 - 5" beautiful squares just waiting for someone to turn it into a lovely quilt or whatever your heart desires. In addition, I will be giving away two whimsical fat quarters that I purchased from a quilt show this summer.

But that's not all folks! I will also be giving away yardage! Yes, you read that correctly. Bright Stripes by Spring Creative and V.I.P by Cranston. I will be giving one yard of each of these fabrics! I can only imagine the beautiful quilts that the lucky winner will be able to make.

And there you have it folks. In order to enter to win this little stash, just follow my blog and like my facebook page. That's it! A winner will be drawn at random and announced on my blog as well as on my facebook page. I will also send you a personal email notification as well.

ADDENDUM:  If you do not have a Facebook page, that's okay! Just follow my blog and comment below. I want everyone to have a chance to win!

Well, there you have it! Good luck everyone and Happy Hopping!

Quiltmaker Shuffle

Hi guys,

It's Veronica again with Ophelia's Quilts. I was doing my usual perusing YouTube for quilting tips and tricks when I stumbled across this video of the Quiltmaker Shuffle. It is so cute! I actually got up and started doing this shuffle with the video. My husband just shook his head and left the room. Ha ha, but I was having fun. I would have loved to have been at this quilt show, they really seemed to have had a good time. So, I have attached the video for you guys to take a look and maybe you'll even do the Quiltmaker Shuffle with them too.

Well, until next time my friends. . . . .happy quilting!

Blog Hop Party

Hi guys,

It's Veronica with Ophelia's Quilts. Some of you may have noticed that my give-away blog is no longer active. I am participating but I just got my confirmation which requested not to post the freebies until November 21st. However, I am so excited to be participating and will put the post back up immediately at the start of the party.

Until next time my friends.......Happy Quilting!

Fabric By The Pound?

Hey Guys,

It's Veronica with Ophelia's Quilts. I recently went to Orange Beach, AL for a mini-vacation to just get away from the daily hustle and bustle.  So, one day my hubby and I were cruising down Hwy 59. I'm relaxing looking out the window when he taps me on the shoulder. I turn to see what landmark he found interesting. My eyes followed the direction in which his finger was pointing. It lead to an unbelievable find. There was this gigantic store called Fabric By The Pound! It was literally a warehouse! So, naturally we did the only reasonable thing and made a U-turn, of course! I was so excited and nervous to go into this store. Now, why nervousness, I don't know but I cannot deny the feeling was definitely there. So, like any responsible quilter would do, I immediately grabbed my iPhone and pulled up my checking account. How much expendable cash do I have to spend in this wonderfully amazing store? Well, with a firm budget in mind, I took a deep breath and went into the store.

The store is a quilter's dream. From wall-to-wall, all you could see was fabric! There were some fabric for upholstery but mostly cotton fabrics geared toward quilting. I was so happy. So, the store pretty much had all the quilting fabrics on sale for $7.99 per yard with a minimum half yard cut. Now, since I'm only trying to build up my stash, I decided to buy only one yard of each fabric that tickled my fancy. How exciting, right? There were so many rows of fabric I just nearly fainted. My sweet little husband immediately found a small seating area which, for some odd reason, appeared to be put there for spouses. I know it sounds silly, but there were car magazines and more manly type of reading material. So, he smiled and said, "Looks like I'm not the only man to ever get dragged in here". I was so tickled at him but he brought this on himself. He wanted me to check out that store because he is the one who showed it to me. So, since my husband had made himself comfortable, I didn't have any reason to rush. I could just take my time. Wonderful, right? Oh my dear sweet quilting friends, . . . . . . this store was amazing. And the name is literal. The quilting fabrics were mostly priced but the upholstery and some quilting fabrics were available to purchase by the pound. One lady purchased three pounds of fabric for like $10.00. Yes, I was totally being nosey to see what type of deal she could get. Anyway, I took my time and walked down each and every single isle picking out fabrics that I thought would go well in my stash. There were so much to choose from that it was somewhat overwhelming. This was also the sentiment of a fellow quilter who was shopping in the store. Unfortunately, I did not get her name but she did say that she was there on vacation from Huntsville, AL. So, for the purpose of my story, we'll just call her Huntsville. So, Huntsville and I pretty much walked around the store together looking at fabrics and chit-chatting about our projects. A local came in who was working on making a baby quilt for someone. She purchased the cutest baby fabrics. Anyway, she pretty much gave us the "lay of the land" and even talked about the owner, who she called Richard, and how she and other local quilters had talked to him to get him to put more cotton fabrics in the store over the years. Well, needless to say, Huntsville and I were both very thankful to her and the other quilters in the area because the selection was amazing. 

The picture above is just a small section of the store you guys. There were multiple isles packed full of fabric! So, I walked around picking up bolts and carrying them around with me. Then putting down those bolts to pick up other bolts. Uh, this just went on and on and on . . . . My dear hubby was so patient. He definitely wins the "Big Guy" award of the year. Not a single complaint from him about the time I spent looking for fabric. So, when it was all over, I had myself a nice little stash.

So, guys, if you are ever traveling through Orange Beach, AL for any reason, definitely drop in on the guys at Fabrics By The Pound. They were so friendly and helpful. I really enjoyed my shopping experience. I can't wait to show you guys what designs I come up with using my amazing fabric finds! 

The store is actually in Foley, AL but it's right next to Orange Beach. It does come up on Google but unfortunately, they do not have a website. Can you believe that? Now for my disclaimer. I am not in any way endorsing this fabric company per se. I am merely telling you guys of my wonderful experience and suggest that you all swing by to have that same type of experience should you ever be traveling through that area.

Well, until next time my friends. . . . . . . . . Happy Quilting!!

Iron Quilter II

Hi guys,

It's Veronica again with Ophelia's Quilts. My charm pack has arrived from MSQC for the Iron Quilter II Challenge. I'm really excited about this competition but I'm running a little behind in coming up with a design. The deadline is November 30th so I really need to get with it. You guys may recall from my last post that I recently made a baby quilt for a friend of mine. It was very stressful and I was absolutely consumed with trying to do a good job. When I completed the quilt, I relaxed away from quilting for about two days before I started longing for more quality time with Marcello (my amazing sewing machine and best friend). I've given myself three days to come up with an original design for this competition. It's my first time participating in any type of competition so I'm just really excited to be a part of it. I'm not concerned about placing, I just want to enjoy the experience. I really cannot wait to see what amazing creations you guys, my fellow quilters, will produce. Here is a picture of the charm pack that must be used in the challenge. I do love the purple. I will post snippets of my progress.

 

Well, until next time my friends. . . . . . . happy quilting. 

 

 

 

Time With Marcello

Hi Guys,

It's Veronica again with Ophelia's Quilts. I realized that it has been nearly a week since I've spent any quality time with Marcello.  Oh, we have this amazing love affair, Marcello and I. I'm always thinking of new things that we can try out together. Marcello loves bright, brilliant colors and I tend to like the subdued blues and pale grays. But somehow, we make it work and I am finding that together, we create beautiful things. We have this special project that we are collaborating on and its main colors are the usual browns, creams, and various shades of blues but Marcello says, "Why not spice this up with some yellow?" I mentally and physically cringed at the thought. I'm not a fan of 'yellow'. Too cheery, too bright, too . . . much! But I decided to give it a try. In order to have a successful relationship, one must be able to compromise, right? So, I pulled out my trusty iPad and opened the Quilt Wizard (I think that's the name of the app). I took pictures of my project fabric and uploaded them into the app and created a sample of the quilt we plan on making. I was so surprised because Marcello was absolutely right. That yellow, really made the quilt pop. But, he's usually right. Now that we have our "blueprint" for our new project, we will be spending an awful lot of time together and I'm so excited. If you haven't realized it yet, Marcello is my Singer Quilter's Confidence machine. Well, I better get started. This project has a deadline but I will be posting some teaser pics of the project as it comes along.

So, until next time friends. . . . happy quilting.

Baby Quilt

Hi Guys,

It's Veronica with Ophelia's Quilts. My second quilting endeavor was to make my nephew a quilt. I found the cutest airplane fabric and paired it up with solid hunter green and solid navy blue. I cut out his initials and stitched it in the center of the quilt. Now, remember, this was my second quilt so it was "rough around the edges" so to speak. But, I was really glad the way it turned out. What do you guys think?

Well, until next time my friends . . . . .Happy Quilting!

Why I Started Quilting

Hi Guys,

It's Veronica with Ophelia's Quilts. I am fairly new to the quilting community. Actually, I've only been quilting since January this year. For some reason, my hubby was looking at quilts on eBay. Of course, me being the concerned wife that I am, asked him why he was looking at "blankets". He tells me that he wants a quilt like his grandmother made for him when he was a child. So, I flippantly told him that I could make him a quilt. How hard could be, right? At this time, I had never used a sewing machine. Well, that's not exactly true. When I was in seventh grade, I took a home economics class and for the first half of the semester, we sewed. I made the ugliest pair of shorts! I wish I had a picture to show you guys. Okay, so back to my story. The husband was really excited about my offer to make him a quilt. So for Christmas 2012, I got a Singer Quilters Confidence machine. So, I bought some fabric and turned to my favorite training tool, YouTube! I found Jeannie at Missouri Star Quilt Company. I watched her video on how to make a baby quilt using 5 inch blocks. Easy right? Oh my gosh! I quickly became overwhelmed with quarter inch seams, cutting on the bias, batting, basting, binding, YIKES! I was totally in love! I've been quilting ever since. I soon discovered Leah Day who taught me how to modify my darning foot to stop that horrible loud noise when free motion quilting. Then I found Kaye Wood who had long videos of tips and tricks to making various types of blocks. She taught me how to make the Y-Seam used in my latest Disney Princess quilt that I just completed yesterday. So far, I have made five quilts that I have given away as gifts, one completed baby quilt that is going to my new grandniece tomorrow (that's the Disney Princess quilt), and two finished quilt tops with batting and backing intact, waiting to be quilted. I've been kicking the quilts out. It's funny because my favorite quilt is the first one I ever made. It's absolutely terrible! Oh my gosh! No quarter inch seams, no even or accurately squared blocks, and totally crazy sewing! But I love this quilt, it is so special to me. I believe I'm going to hang it up somewhere in my house for display. Now, I'm yet to make the hubby's quilt. I don't know why but I always seem to draw a blank when it comes to his quilt. I've purchased some really nice Navy fabric (he's a Navy guy) with some nice solids and prints to match but I just am not sure how to put it all together or even what type of block design I will use. But, after I finish quilting the two quilts that are waiting, I'm really going to buckle down and design his quilt. I just want his quilt to be close to perfect. And I think that really has me running scared. But, it must be done. I may even toss the idea of doing a Navy military quilt, that was my idea, not his; and go for something simple and blue (his favorite color). We'll just have to see.

So here are a few pics of my very first quilt:

If you look closely in this last pic, you can see the seam that I sewed right on the top of the quilt. I'm not sure how that happened. LOL! But, this is Rainbow.

Well, until next time my friends..... Happy Quilting!