Saturday, February 28, 2009

Sew What's on Your Bed??

Before "blogville" I had posed this question to my online longarm friends on a couple of lists I belong to. It was well received and fun for everyone to share what's on their bed. The other day Zalty Sews asked the same question and I thought - wow, with blogging we can actually SEE what's on each others' beds...so....Here's my story!

It shouldn't surprise you that my bedroom is purple. This color seems to have taken over my life the past 10 years. Don't know if it's age related or what, but I'm really drawn to this color. About 5 years ago I added lime green to that mix (smile).

Anyway, this is my bedroom. The quilt was pieced and quilted in 2004 when I had started my longarm business on a rented machine. It's held up well with daily use! Wonderful Hobbs Wool batting. The pillows were made about the same time, with the exception of the large body pillow that was just recently covered out of matching fabric from my quilted curtains. The wall hanging was also done in 2004 on a rented machine as was the small lap quilt. Here's a better view of the lap quilt. It was pieced in 2003 as a class sample - I taught beginning piecing classes at Quilts By the Bay in Galveston in 2003 and 2004.



This poor little quilt had very humble beginnings. It was quilted on a rented machine that had very poor tension. In the dark areas I used variegated thread and attempted to do feathers. You can't really see them. But in the light area I also attempted to do feathers. Between the dark thread, the crappy tension, and my newness in attempting to do feathers I actually spent the next 2 years (or more) off and on of course, frogging the quilting. (frogging equals rip it rip it). Then requilted the light area with formal feathers. Here's a close up. You can still see the crappy dark thread in the center area, but at least the feathers are an improvement!




Even though we live in the south, it's still winter here. Generally my 'under covers' get rotated throughout the season but seems I've really been enjoying these two and haven't been as faithful to rotate. Take a peak at what's under the bedspread.


Yes, there are two other quilts! The top quilt is typically removed at night. And depending upon the weather, either both or just one is used for sleeping.



This top quilt was pieced this past summer and finished up on my birthday, so it's my birthday 2008 quilt! (I've been making birthday quilts since 2004) It's a square in a square pattern, custom quilted with wool batting. (For close ups visit my webshots album and look under Personal Quilts 2008) I really love this quilt, especially when the light hits it just right and you can see all the fun feathers! We've had a few cold nights when we've needed this quilt, but generally it's just the next one that is used on a regular basis this winter....




This is my "Dangling Carrot" quilt that was blogged about last fall -- it has fabric exchange blocks from online friends. It's a huge quilt, if you look closely you'll notice there's not a bottom border showing (green, narrow orange, black) that's because it's tucked in under the mattress. This quilt has 50/50 bamboo/cotton batting and is very warm. I prefer to use natural battings and the wool is my favorite. This one is nice but it's heavy, whereas the wool ones are light. On those cold nights (well, Texas cold that is) the combination of the quilts all using natural fibers are very comfortable to sleep under.

So that's what's on my bed....what's on yours??

2 comments:

  1. Thank you Karen for posting what is on your bed!
    I love your purple quilt! You went a step further and and showed what is under your quilt too! I like that you have a matching quilt on the wall and lots of pillows! How pretty! I saw even your picture on the wall matches! I want to make a purple quilt for my guest bedroom :)
    I love all of your quilts! The green and orange quilt is one of my favorites!
    Thank you for showing me the quilts on your bed!
    Happy Sewing!

    Zlaty

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  2. Karen, I enjoyed this posting so much. It is like show and tell in blog land. You have a lot of wonderfull quilts on your bed and they are all so happy and bright. I am not surprised when you showed more than just one quilt on your bed. Thanks for sharing.

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