Not Quite What we Planned

This is the second broken chevron that was requested by a customer.  It wasn't what they expected, they picked the fabric and pattern. I was frustrated and didn't get more than one picture, oops. Neither of us could  get into the project.

They picked Pearl Bracelet in rainbow colors.  The colors appeared real dark for a baby quilt.  They decided they didn't want it and then decided they would take after all.  I took the liberty of choosing a striped binding, that I thought tied it together and lighten it up a little,  they hated it.  They claimed it made to the quilt too babyish. Each to their own opinion.  I love stripes as bindings, and even have them on the two lap quilt Richard made me.

We now see why people charge a deposit on quilts on etsy when making a custom order.  Have you ever made a custom quilt for someone and they backed out?  How did you deal with this?  We are making a second quilt at cost, eating labor for them to be happy. Not our easiest customer so far.

It is funny we wrote this post months ago and hated the quilt so bad (well the experience with this customer) that I never posted it.  It is time.  It must be shown.

What's On the Quilting Table #4

Last time on WOQT, we were piecing the reunion Simple Squares Quilt.  Today we get to show you the completed tops for the first 2 quilts out of Reunion.

I can't decide which I like better, the darker one on top of the lighter one just above this text.  Well ok, maybe I do have a preference I think the lighter one is better.  What do you think?

I like pieced backs and so above you can see me making one of the 2 backs.  I did make 2 though, only took pictures of one back.

As I said earlier I had some left overs so what did I do? Yes, I made the center of a third quilt.

I did take some time off from my reunion quilt tops to sew some borders on this center of a Baby Bricks Quilt. The center was made months ago and set aside.  It is almost funny to see how many half quilted projects I have.  I do think this will be a cute quilt when finished.

Angry Bird Rag Quilt

 This another rag quilt that will be added to our Etsy store. It is made of Angry Bird fabric and a black and silver polka dot fabric. The back is gray.

This quilt was completed by Tanya, she really enjoys making the rag quilt and picking out the material for them.  I think this one will be popular.

What's on the Quilting Table #3

Today is a continuation of my "What's on the Quilting Table" Posts.  I figured it might be fun to see how and why the quilts I make happen as they do and show you the order they are done in.  These pictures and posts will all be done in the order that I do them.

Today starts with working on a Simple Squares quilt.  Instead of working on one quilt, I work on multiple at a time.  I have tons of Reunion its a line by Sweet Water.  I love this line and as such I have bought 2 fat quarter bundles of it and then since those were running out and I could not find another I then bought half yard cuts of it.  Any way I have 3 large bags full of it.

This quilt takes 12 rows of 10 3 1/2 inch squares.  I took my pile of Reunion and cut a single strip from each of my half yard and other scraps and cut them up and stuffed them in a bag months ago. Today I pulled them out and started to sew them together.

It might not look like it, but this is the center of 2 different quilts.  I assumed I would only have enough for 2, but it seems I have a 3rd worth of left over 3 1/2 inch squares which we might see later some time.

So after completing the 2 centers its time to start putting the borders on.  Tanya picked a gray with words and a gray with jack's for the inner borders.  Hope you enjoyed today's WOQT, Check back in later, to see what is next on the table.

Almost forgot to share this!

To start off with I want to apologize for the crappy quality of these pictures they were taken with my cell phone.  Why are my finishes taken when my cell phone?  Great question.  Its because I almost forgot to take the pictures.

Each year my family picks some families and we do the 12 days of Christmas for them.  My wife had a very giving father and when he passed away this year, he gave some inheritance to his kids.  To celebrate that, we upped our giving game with Secret Santa.

When we started we were giving 1 family the 12 days.  Then we increased to 2 families and finally to 3 families We called it a limit, as it takes a lot of work to get the gifts and deliver them each year.  This year we wanted to give more and picked 6 families.

Each day we gave gifts some were small and simple and some were more complex.  As the 12th day we hand deliver (we try to deliver the first 11 on the sly) and we gave each family some hot pads along with some other goodies.  Yes that is why we have 5 sets of hot pads listed on this page.

Wait a sec I said we had 6 families?  Oh ya the first family we delivered our gifts jumped in the car and then realize we totally forgot to take any pictures (they were orange by the way). As we delivered our presents we took pictures (on the seat of the van) as the pictures go on they get darker i ran out of light.

Any way this is what my family does for fun for Christmas we give to others.  I am always in need of great gift ideas or traditions to add to our Christmas traditions.  If you have suggestions please leave them here.

Tanya put together many of the tops for these hot pads and I (Richard) quilted and bound them.  I hate binding hot pads, because of the little tails sticking out and I think after 6 sets of hot pads I got pretty good at it.

Like all things we do though, we did not stop at 6 hot pads we made them for family also.  I will share those another day as I actually took good pictures of most of them.

Any way I hope that you enjoy viewing all these hot pads.