A Bright Corner

Saturday

2012-02-13T06:43:00.001-07:00

My Saturday project was finishing quilting this:

Waaaaaayyyyy back in September 2009 I joined a red/aqua Disappearing Nine Patch swap. This was one of the stacks of fabric I bought to use for the swap:

It was a fairly straightforward swap. Each participant makes 25 nine patch blocks like this:

Then we cut each nine patch in half once vertically and once horizontally to create four blocks:

We mailed our cut blocks in to Jane. She (somehow) shuffled all of the hundreds and hundreds of blocks up and then mailed us each back 100 blocks. It was fun to get my stack in the mail and look through all of the interesting fabrics. It took me a long time to decide just how I wanted to use my blocks. For a traditional disappearing nine patch, you take the four blocks and swap two of them (top left and bottom right in this case).

Then you sew them back together to create a larger block that looks something like this:

You can create all sorts of interesting blocks depending on the placement of fabrics in the original nine patch block, and how you arrange the cut blocks in the last step. I created a gallery in flickr to show some other disappearing nine patch quilts. I also found a disappearing nine patch tutorial that uses the oh-so-convenient charm squares.

I chose to arrange my blocks in a different way. I’ll show you the finished quilt soon. I just need to recruit someone to hold it for me so I can get a decent photo. My kids have no patience for quilt photography sessions. Bribing them with chocolate doesn’t help.

Up Next

2012-02-09T11:26:00.001-07:00

1 Ruby Jelly Roll, 1 Ruby Charm pack and 420 little 2.5” squares. Yes, 420. (I think I'm crazy.) A new quilt being designed and a new pattern in the works!

Wednesday’s Color Card

2012-02-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

This week’s color inspiration comes from a photo of a quilt that I pinned yesterday. I actually had two of this quilter’s work pinned and I didn’t even realize it! Her name is Concha Cabral and she lives across the sea in England.

I love these colors – they are so calming. The green grass is particularly appealing to me right now too, since nearly everything outside my house is either gray or brown. Winter is too long.

You really must go and see some of Concha’s work. Her photography is beautiful! Here is a link to her Flickr stream, and her blog.

Hometown Healing

2012-02-06T06:52:00.002-07:00

Several weeks ago my niece had foot surgery. While she was in the hospital someone brought her a lap quilt. She was so touched by that. This same niece just last year made her own lap sized quilt from a charm pack. That was her very first quilting experience and she did a great job! So when she was given this quilt in the hospital she had a good idea of just how much work goes into a quilt.

Later that day I stopped by to visit her and she showed me the quilt. I was not surprised at all to find a small tag on the back that said it was given to her from Project Linus.

I have heard of Project Linus and had always meant to send them a quilt or two, but never got around to it. After seeing how happy my niece was to get such a thoughtful gift during a stressful time, I decided that now was the time to send in a quilt.

I mentioned in my last post how I had used the bits and pieces from my Right Turn Only quilt. Here is the finished quilt:

And here is the first photo taken. My little helper knows that when I set my tripod up that this is his chance to get into a couple of photos. He just can’t resist it.

I called this quilt Hometown Healing. The fabric line used here is Hometown by Sweetwater for Moda. I still just really love this fabric.

The backing is a yellow print that reads more like a solid. It is lovely, soft and I have no idea what it is. Sorry! The binding is one of the only prints from the Hometown line that I could find in our LQS. It is disappearing quickly. If you want some, go and get it now! I know you can still find the jelly roll and charm pack here, as well as many (if not all) of the prints.

Linking up to Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations

Tutorial: Strip Tube Quilt

2012-02-04T15:01:00.008-07:00

I’ve had several requests for the pattern I used for my Right Turn Only quilt so I thought I would write up a tutorial showing what I did. First of all, I would recommend viewing this. That’s how I learned.

Secondly, don’t think that you absolutely need a special strip tube ruler. I used one for this quilt and it was great - but since then I have found a similar ruler that works as well. I DID look for a strip tube ruler at a few local quilt shops but none carried it. I could have ordered one online, but then I’d have to wait for it to arrive. I’m not good at waiting, so I bought a similar ruler that I found at my favorite shop. It is an EZ Quilting Companion Angle ruler and it works great! What you’re looking for are the horizontal lines that will help you line up your ruler with the edge of your strip.

Ok – now on to the tutorial!

(I used a jelly roll for this quilt, but you can certainly cut your own 2.5” strips.)

Step 1:

For each set of jelly roll strips, you’ll need one strip of background fabric cut at 4.5” x width of fabric.

Step 2:

Step 3:

Now for this step, I was supposed to line up the 5 1/2” mark on the ruler with the stitching line there along the bottom. Instead I chose to line up the 6” line with the bottom edge of the tube. As long as your top point is below the seam line, and as long as you are consistent with each tube you cut it should be fine!

Step 4:

Keep that end piece. I’ll show you later what you can do with those!

Step 5:

Step 6:

Take your blocks and arrange them as desired. I chose this layout:

I had some extra squares that didn’t have a match (like in step 6) so I kept them:

I ended up adding in the bits leftover from step 4.

I enjoyed making these quilts and using the strip tube process. My blocks came together quickly and I love the final quilt! To see another option for strip tube blocks watch this.

Any questions? Leave me a comment and I’ll clarify anything that needs it!

Greens and Purples

2012-02-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

This quilt is coming along! I really am loving the purples and greens together. I haven’t seen much of this color combination in awhile. I hope it’s not gone for good. It’s so… lovely!

The quilt is being quilted this afternoon. It’s so petite that I’m sure it will take me longer to pin it to the leaders than it will to actually quilt it.

I have gotten some questions about the bins I use to store my scraps. I found them a couple of years ago at our local Walmart (side note: I hate that place.) The bins are Sterilite brand and measure 16.5” (depth) x 11.5” (height) x 9.75” (width). At the time they only had white lids as an option. Maybe by now they have some other fun colors to choose from.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Wednesday’s Color Card

2012-02-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

Here’s a little mid-week color inspiration. I think I’m going to start doing more of these – I enjoy making them!

Crayon Commute

2012-01-31T17:23:00.003-07:00

Remember this stack of fabric?

Last week it was turned into this:

This quilt is a copy of this one that I made back in 2010:

I called this one Train Tracks and I have no idea why it never appeared on my blog!

Both of these little quilts are inspired by this one that I spotted over at Bijou Lovely. I love the simplicity of the pattern and how it lets the fabrics take center stage.

The cute gray fabric in this quilt is called Crayon Commute and it is by Alexander Henry. The light blue is a Riley Blake blender fabric (color: Robin). The red (binding too) is American Banner Rose from Moda and the yellow is from the Moda line Charlevoix. I added in a Kona solid (Navy) and some white Kona for the sashing.

I used more of that buttery-soft yellow fabric on the back and added in a strip of stacked coins (one of my most favorite ways to piece a quilt back!)

Crayon Commute is listed in the shop!

linking up:

Working From the Stash

2012-01-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

First of all, the winner of the pincushion giveaway is…

Di! Di I’ll be sending you an email this afternoon. Congratulations. And thank you to all of you for your nice comments and emails!

This weekend I was able to complete several WIPs and get another one started. This latest one is one that comes completely from my stash. It always feels good to be able to construct a whole quilt without having to visit a shop. This one will be quite small – probably about 40” x 45".

I’ve been reading along with Jodi’s Sew Scraps Along. She’s been talking about all-things-scrap this month and it’s been fun to see the creative projects that are out there. Honestly I don’t dip into my scrap bins very much.

I’m thinking that I need to start using up my scraps. My green bin and blue bin are getting quite full. I love the look of these Scraptacular Picnic Quilts. I’m still debating, but right now I’m leaning towards making one of my own.

This photo of my green bin was taken a couple of weeks ago. It’s now overflowing and the lid barely clicks back on.

I use these tall bins to keep most of my scraps. I love them because they have secure lids and the bins just happen to be the perfect height for the top shelf of my closet:

As you can see, I sort my scraps by color, but very generally – Reds, Oranges/Yellows, Greens, Blues, Pinks and Purples are together. On the far right I also have bins for multi-colored scraps, one for browns/blacks/grays, and one final bin that keeps all of the whites.

I also have one bin that I’ve been using to store selvedges. Obviously that one needs to be bigger. Either that or I need to get rid of some of my selvedges.

To get my scrappy-quilt ideas flowing, I created a gallery over on flickr. There are definitely several that are my favorites!

If you’ve seen (or created) any fabulous scrappy quilts, I’d be interested in seeing them! Leave a comment with the link or email it to me.

Pincushion Jar Tutorial

2012-01-27T05:29:00.002-07:00

Today I have a pincushion tutorial over at the Riley Blake Cutting Corners College – go and check it out!

I was really in need of a new pincushion. When I am working on hand sewing a quilt binding, I carry this mug around. It holds everything I need:

The only problem is that it tends to tip over. Often. Plus…it’s a mug. Mugs are for hot chocolate. Not binding clips.

This new pincushion jar is perfect. Everything fits so nicely inside: scissors, thread, binding clips, thimble.

Plus, it’s quick to make. Gotta love that.

I happen to have an extra pincushion – would you like one? I’m giving this one away:

It’s made with Riley Blake's Love Birds Dot Stripe on Blue and it has a cheery red grosgrain needle holder.

::giveaway is closed! Thank you!::

To enter the giveaway just leave me a comment on this post. Any ol’ comment will do! I’ll randomly draw a winner on Monday at noon. Sorry, but I’m afraid I’ll have to limit this giveaway to those in the US and Canada.

Thanks for stopping by!
--Andy

Lucky Nines

2012-01-23T22:08:00.001-07:00

Remember my nameless WIP? She’s done and she has a name: Lucky Nines. Thank you for all of the suggestions in your comments and emails!

Like I mentioned before, I have had these 3.5” squares sitting on my table for months and when I had a few minutes I would sew them into nine patch blocks. And when I say “a few minutes” I mean a FEW minutes. I quickly figured out that each nine patch took me about 4 minutes to make. That’s about how long it takes a toddler to use the potty. And since he always needs his “pwrivacy,” I could use those few minutes to make a block. How’s that for efficient!

Once the blocks were done, I considered making two matching baby-size quilts. Wouldn’t they be sweet for two twin boys? I had just enough blocks to make two little quilts that would be about 45” x 45". I chose instead to make one toddler bed-sized quilt. The deciding factor was simply that I needed to get this project off my table so I could make room for the next few! This is a great size though – the finished quilt measures 56” x 67”

For the backing I used this green print from the Hooty Hoot line. I was hoping to be able to find the Blue Jacks print for the back and the blue and brown stripe for the binding, but the green is my second favorite and ended up working just as well.

Lucky Nines is in the shop!

linking up

A Little Inspiration

2012-01-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

I’ve decided that I need a new quilt for myself. I have become a bit enamored with this fabric and *I think* I’ve decided to use this as the jump off point for my quilt. A plus: the mister just walked in, saw the above pic and proclaimed “wow! I love it!”

The fabric is from the Long Live Vintage line by Adornit. Not sure of the name of this particular print. I DO know that at my LQS there is only about 2 yards left on the bolt. I’d better get down there and grab the rest of it tomorrow!

(original photo of fabric from here)

Currently Working On…

2012-01-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

My current project (well, ONE of my current projects) is an advent calendar. It was a custom order through etsy. I really thought that it would be challenging to work on a Christmasy project right after Christmas. Instead, I am finding it… fun.

All 24 of the little felt ornaments are done, as well as all of the applique numbers. Honestly, those parts were the ones I was dreading. Now that they’re done the rest will be a breeze. I love getting the dreaded parts over with first, don’t you?

Crayon Commute

2012-01-10T15:38:00.002-07:00

On my last trip to my local quilt shop I discovered this adorable fabric:

The bolt was wedged in with some other transportation themed fabric, but this one just jumped out at me. It’s called (rather appropriately) Crayon Commute and it’s by Alexander Henry.

It didn’t take me long to find some coordinating solids. I found a blue Riley Blake blender fabric (color: Robin), the red is American Banner Rose from Moda and the yellow is from the Moda line Charlevoix. That yellow fabric is the most beautiful yellow color, and it’s buttery-soft. I’m not a yellow fan, but just the feel of that fabric makes me want to find an excuse to use it again.

And speaking of using things again…

I’m still a huge fan of the Hometown line.

This quilt top is created with all of the leftovers from my Right Turn Only quilt. This one is small – about 42” x 46” or so. I’ll show more of it soon – once it is quilted and bound.

linking up:

On A Roll

2012-01-06T22:06:00.004-07:00

This has been a great week for finishing things. Feels good!

This was one of the things I completed. The quilt top was finished back at the beginning of December. I’m calling this one Stars Abound 2. (The original Stars Abound can be seen here.)

The fabrics are from the Tidbits and Treasures line by Piece O’ Cake Designs (Robert Kaufman) and I used Kona White for the background. I love the bright and happy colors!

It took me a little bit to decide what to do for the backing. In the end I decided on a lovely yellow print that reads more as a solid. It’s warm and buttery and just makes me long for the warm sunshine.

The binding is done in (what else?) a cheerful red dot. For my bindings, I use this tutorial. I always machine stitch the binding to the front of the quilt, and about 90% of the time I hand stitch the back. I love how the invisible stitching looks. Such a clean look.

Stars Abound 2 is currently looking for a new home. ~~She’s~~ listed in the shop! (sold)

I'm linking up to Finish It Up Friday

and

A Nameless WIP

2012-01-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I know immediately what I’m going to name a quilt. Sometimes I have no idea. Why does a quilt need a name, anyway? I feel they do. Not sure why. This quilt currently has no name. I’m open for suggestions.

This is a quilt that I’ve been working on here and there over the past few months. The little stack of 3.5” squares stayed on my table and when I had a few spare minutes I would make a 9-patch block and add it to the pile.

I was able to finish up all of the blocks and get them pieced together over New Year’s weekend.

The quilt top is done, and I already have the backing and the binding. I’m just waiting (not so patiently) for an order of Warm & White to arrive in the mail so I can finish this!

Finally Finished!

2012-01-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

My latest pattern is finally listed in the shop. I owe a big THANK YOU to my fabulous pattern proof-reader! You rock.

You can find Jack’s Blocks listed here. (The sample quilt for Jack’s Blocks is finished as well and will be listed in the shop soon.)

Now on to other things! I’m a new member of the Do. Good Stitches online bee. Our group is the IMAGINE group. We just started this month and we were asked to create two sawtooth star blocks using reds, pinks, whites and grays.

Each month our group’s completed quilt will be sent to the wonderful people at Threading Hope. My month will be April and I’m pretty sure it will take me until then to decide on ONE idea.

Working Away…

2011-12-26T01:55:00.000-07:00

We had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas day. How ‘bout you?

Santa brought me a new chair for my computer desk and I’ve been trying it out tonight. I’ve been working away on this next pattern and it is a beast!

It’s already up to seven pages and it will most likely end up at around nine pages. That’s just for the one size of quilt. Here’s a screen shot of what I’m working with:

Here you can see the seven pages laid out. Underneath I keep notes and other reference material.
Because of how this quilt is designed and constructed, the pattern needs plenty of full-color, detailed illustrations. It’s not a difficult quilt to put together, but the block placement and row alignment are key here.

I’ve had a lot of questions about this pattern – I’m close to finishing and hope to have it available in a few days.

Thanks for stopping by!

Up To My Elbows

2011-12-06T15:30:00.001-07:00

Anyone else up to their elbows in projects right now? Sheesh! At least this is one that I can cross off. Last night I finished piecing the top to my second Stars Abound quilt. I still need to decide on a backing and binding fabric for this one, but that will have to wait.

I have to say that while it’s cold and blustery outside, it was delightful to be working with such vibrant fabrics.

Now on to the next thing! ‘Tis the season, I suppose.

linking up to Finish it Up Friday

and

They’re here!

2011-11-22T17:48:00.001-07:00

Remember these? They arrived yesterday (can you say FAST shipping? Holy Cow!)

I love them even more in person. Love when that happens.

I spent last night cutting them all up into little 4.5” and 2.5” squares. Then just because I couldn’t wait, I made one little star before heading to bed.

Two fabrics in the stack didn’t make the cut. Literally. I swapped them out for some yellow fabric that I had and it works much better. I’m sure these will find a project of their own at some point.

This afternoon I got another 6 or 7 stars done. 26 more to go!

The Planning Stage

2011-11-19T07:04:00.002-07:00

Tonight I spent an hour or so in the planning stage of a new quilt. I love this part – pure creativity. I open Adobe Illustrator and just mess around in it for awhile. I knew I wanted to try another version of this quilt – with white background fabric and a little more openness. This is what I ended up with tonight:

Each star block is finished at 8.5” just like in the first version.

Version 2 has the same number of stars as the version 1 quilt:

…but with the stars spread out a little, it makes a toddler size quilt into a throw size. Perfect!

Usually at this point I do all of the math to figure out how much fabric I need. Then I print out the “sketch” of the quilt, along with the fabric requirements list and put it in a folder. Then the folder and I head to the fabric store to find some inspiration. This time I found what I needed online – awesome.

I found these fabrics on sale – a great sale too! [here] Now I just have to wait for it all to arrive in the mail!

The quilt will eventually end up in the shop. As I work on it, I’ll post photos of it’s progress and (of course) the completed quilt before it finds a new home.

Almost

2011-11-17T22:00:00.006-07:00

It’s (almost) the most wonderful time of the year!

I’m one of those people who refrains from breaking out the Christmas music until black Friday. You?

I have no corresponding rule when it comes to sewing for Christmas. Honestly, if I waited until after Thanksgiving to start any Christmas project, then nothing would get done in time.

Last night I sifted through a stack of Christmas fabrics and found a few coordinating fat quarters. I brainstormed for a few minutes and decided to make a table runner using some raw edge applique. I’ve never tried it before. Ever. Guess what? It’s easy.

I spent about an hour last night tracing stars onto the Heat n’ Bond lite, ironing those stars onto the fabric and then cutting the stars out. This afternoon during my son’s two hour nap time, I ironed the stars onto the background fabric, stitched each of them down, basted the layers (backing, batting and top), machine quilted the layers, made the binding and sewed it on. Add one more hour in there to hand stitch the binding and It’s all done!

I like the end result of the raw edge applique, and I love that this was a quick and easy project. It’s a nice change from doing large quilts over several weeks!

I have about a 1/4 yard of Heat n’ Bond left. I feel another Christmas project coming on….

~~Oh, and the table runner is in the shop :)~~ Sorry, the table runner is sold!

edited to add: For the stars I just created a template in Illustrator. I saved it off as a pdf and uploaded it to here. You can download it and print it to use.

linking up:

Stars Abound

2011-11-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

I recently had the chance to make the most adorable little quilt. The mom sent me this photo and wanted a toddler-sized quilt just like it:

Photo from here (I love this little bed – especially the sock monkey!)

And here’s my version:

The finished quilt measured 44 x 58 (before washing)

It’s machine quilted in navy – a basic meandering pattern with a few little loopies mixed in – one of my favorites.

The backing is this sweet little flower print from Henry Glass (Cottage Shirtings designed by Little Quilts for Henry Glass & Co.). It’s SO wonderfully soft!

The binding is the same light blue that’s used on the quilt front. I love how it turned out!

Soon after completing this quilt, I spotted this photo on Pinterest:

Isn't it just sweet? I think now I’m going to have to use my same pattern and create a ‘Stars Abound’ quilt with some fun brights and a white background! [Photo from here]

Charmed to Pieces

2011-11-02T16:21:00.000-06:00

I finished this quilt last Summer and never got around to photographing it and adding it to my completed quilts list over on the sidebar. It’s one of my all-time favorites though!

I wrote a short post about the back of the quilt way back in July of 2010, and I talked a little about how this was designed, but I never showed the completed quilt. I had (and still HAVE) intentions of writing it up as a tutorial. It was fairly simple, and quick to piece together. It uses two charm packs (hence the name of the quilt) and some 2.5” strips of solid white.

See the shoes? Ya, that’s me. I had my 10 year old take these photos while I held up the quilt (my favorite quilt-holder is still at work.)

The finished quilt measures 60” x 67” (that’s after washing and drying)

So why is this one of my favorite quilts? Several reasons. First of all, it was the first time I ever did anything somewhat creative with a charm pack. Secondly, I tried a new machine quilting design for the first time on this quilt:

Can you see the little flower? Not perfect, but I loved doing something other than the usual meandering quilting. Among the flowers I did do some meandering and I added some small loops here and there as well. Love the result. See – it pays to be brave and try new things!

The third reason I love this quilt is the back. Once I got the quilt top completed, I went back and forth between a few ideas for the back.

In the end I settled on these 12.5” squares. I really do consider this quilt to be reversible. I use the “back” as the “front” about 50% of the time.

There you have it – the completed “Charmed to Pieces" -- Now back to writing this:

Boy is this one taking me a LONG time!

also linking to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story and WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

WIP Wednesday

2011-10-12T15:48:00.001-06:00

Sad to say, not a lot to SHOW for what I’ve been working on this week. I’ve gotten a tremendous amount of work DONE, but there’s just not much to show for it. This quilt from last week now has it’s binding sewn on. It’s waiting now to be hand sewn to the back and then it’s read for a glamor shot (that’s what I now call the photo shoots I have for the quilts that will eventually end up in the shop.)

I really, really cannot wait to see this quilt finished. I’m debating keeping this one for my youngest son. It’s been a joy to work on – I just love it.

This is one whopper of a pattern to write. It’s about half done – just the cutting instructions alone were one night’s worth of work. Sheesh. I do have the pattern cover done though. Wanna peek?

This week I also finished my Dino Fractals pattern and it’s listed in the shop now.

Oh and I did some actual SEWING this week too! Here and there I’ve had just a few minutes to sit and add to my pile of nine-patch blocks. I first started this project back in mid-September. I love that this quilt doesn’t have a deadline – it’s just for fun and I can just work on it here and there when I have a minute.

I’m linking up

A New Pattern

2011-10-11T22:36:00.000-06:00

My newest pattern made it’s way to the shop (finally) late last night!

I created the original quilt waaaay back in January and finally got around to writing the pattern. I called it Dino Fractals. The inspiration for this quilt is a strange one (for me, anyway.) You can read more about it here. I really love this dinosaur fabric (Dino Dudes from Michael Miller) by the way.

The pattern includes instructions for three sizes of quilts: 54x54 (a generous baby-size), 54x72 (throw size), and 72x90 (twin size).

I love pdf patterns. I love them because I don’t even have to print them out. I open the pdf on my laptop and just refer to that as I work. So nice! Of course, there was one pattern that I did print because I wanted to make some notes on it. I’m thinking that in the future I’ll add a “notes” section to each of my patterns. Whaddaya think?

A Pattern WIP

2011-10-05T20:34:00.000-06:00

My WIP this week is a new pattern! I’ve had several requests for the pattern for this quilt and I’m finally getting around to it. When I created Jack’s quilt, I just used a diagram and a couple of pages of scribbled notes. Last week when I pulled out my notes to start drafting the pattern, I had vague recollections of some of my measurements being off somewhere. Of course, I couldn’t exactly remember though. Grrrr.

Just so I could be confident that my measurements were all correct, I decided to make another quilt – this time using fabrics from the Going Coastal line designed by Emily Herrick. Love this line.

These two prints caught my eye immediately and I built the quilt around them.

The quilt is all pieced and this afternoon I finished quilting it. Tonight I begin writing up the pattern, and tomorrow the quilt will get it’s binding.

I’m linking up:

Now and Later

2011-09-26T21:53:00.002-06:00

I was doing some blog-cleaning and realized that this little quilt never made an appearance here. I’m calling it “Now and Later” because I first used the fabrics on this zig-zag quilt and then later they became part of this square-in-square quilt.

The quilt measures 34” x 34” which is the size I love for baby quilts. Sometimes quilts get too big and bulky to actually use with a baby – they drag all over the place and are just too big to fold up and take with you.

The quilting for this quilt is all straight-line quilting. I love the look of it, but it’s not my favorite thing to actually DO.

I do love how the quilting creates a secondary pattern on the back!

Now and Later is in the shop!

linking up:

A Decade in the Making

2011-09-23T06:34:00.003-06:00

Remember this post? Well, I’m pleased to say that my ten-year-quilt is FINISHED! Almost exactly ten years after it was begun. How do I know? Well, because I remember exactly where and when I saw the quilt that inspired me to attempt this beast.

We had only been married for 6 months, and we went to the Springville Museum of Art on a date. Lo and behold, there was a fabulous quilt show going on that day. (Every Autumn they hold an amazing quilt show – this year was the 38th annual!) Right there in the lobby, behind the front desk, hung a star quilt. It was gorgeous – reds, blues, stars… oh my. I was quite smitten by it. So much so that I went home, grabbed some graph paper (yeah, I ‘m a nerd – I keep it laying around like that) and sketched up what I wanted mine to look like. The next day I headed to JoAnns (I didn’t know any better) and bought the fabric I needed.

Ten years later, it’s finished. It’s not perfect – I didn’t know anything about half square triangles – and it’s not necessarily my FIRST quilt that I’ve made, but it is the first one that has any complexity to it. The quilts I did before this were simple squares.

For the backing I used what was leftover and pieced it as strips – nice and quick. There was no way I was going to let the backing take me another decade. Sheesh!

I quilted it in a meandering pattern with some loops thrown in here and there. The binding was also part of the leftover fabric – so glad I had enough!

The finished quilt is a twin size and I am so, so, so very happy that it is done!

I'm linking up!

Hexing Around Block

2011-09-21T14:20:00.004-06:00

One of my latest projects was to give this tutorial a try. I pulled out my scrap bin and found some strips that would work (they range between 1.25” and 2” wide). I had a bit of grey solid left over from the Unlinked quilt and I used that as a background.

I love this block – it’s fast and impressive once it’s finished. If you try it, I advise you to use the 60-degree angle lines on your ruler the way the tutorial says to. I tried one scrappy block before this one thinking that I could just eye-ball the cutting and by the time I finished the block it was just all outa whack.
I made this quilted pillow out of my second block and it’s my new favorite reading pillow. Love it.

Linking up to Fingerprintsonthefridge.com

and

Unlinked

2011-09-20T14:50:00.000-06:00

My latest pattern has finally made it’s appearance in the shop. It’s called Unlinked and it includes instructions to make three different sizes: Baby (45” x 45), Throw (45” x 60”) and Twin (75” x 90”).

The quilt pictured here is the throw size, made from Kona cotton (Snow, I think) and six fat quarters that I had on hand. I love the bright, fun colors and how they pop against the crisp white.

I also created one using a Kona Ash as the background – this one is the twin size (and is also for sale in the shop).

The other prints are from these lines:

Central Park by Kate Spain for Moda
Happier by Deena Rutter for Riley Blake
Penny Lane by Deena Rutter for Riley Blake
and
Ready, Set, Snow by Me & My Sister Designs for Moda

…and of course I’m a sucker for a stripey binding. This one is from the Happier line (Riley Blake) as well.

The pattern is a beginner level and is a fairly quick quilt to assemble. If you’re interested in a different size, or perhaps a quilt done in other colors, I do take custom orders through my etsy shop.

A Little Bit of nine-patching

2011-09-15T14:25:00.000-06:00

I have this little stack of 3.5” squares…

...patiently waiting for me to turn them into some nine-patch blocks.

Every day I make one or two little blocks before I tackle a larger project I have on my table. Right now I get to go organize my linen (and medicine, and kid's craft) closet. Lucky me.

Right Turn Only, part 2

2011-09-14T00:53:00.003-06:00

Remember this post? I could not wait for the yardage to arrive in stores, so I found a jelly roll for sale in one of my new favorite online shops: The Sproutz Store. I spent the next few days trying to decide what to do with the jelly roll, and then a friend provided an answer for me. She emailed me this link and then dropped off the ruler I needed. I loved it. I immediately began sewing. Once the blocks were made I had fun arranging and re-arranging (and re-arranging, and re-arranging…) them on the design wall. This was what I eventually decided on:

It’s a version of the flying geese block. I suppose you could call them stuffed geese? Or maybe there’s already a name for this block. If you know, please enlighten me.

Once the quilt top was completed I had some of the stuffed geese leftover. They became a strip for the back. This is where the quilt gets it’s name: Right Turn Only. It just reminds me of the signs that are all over these round-a-bouts that we have here.

I really, really love this color combo. I love this almost-pinkish-red and the lighter blue. And oh the yellow and the gray together!

I machine quilted it in just a gentle meandering pattern and then bound it in my favorite red print from this line of fabric. The finished quilt measures 54” x 65” which in my opinion is a great throw-size quilt – big enough to cover you and keep you warm, but not so large that you can lose the remote control in it. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?

This one is listed in the shop! (Edited to add: quilt is now sold, but if you would like one I do take custom orders)

I'm linking up to Sew & Tell over at amylouwho.com!

Right Turn Only

2011-09-08T22:34:00.002-06:00

This is what became of the blocks that I mentioned in my last post. Today it was on the quilter. Tonight it’s getting a nice red binding. The name of this quilt is “Right Turn Only.” (It’ll make more sense when I can show you the back.)

I’m really, really wishing this quilt was a lot bigger. Like, queen-size bigger. Oh well.

Nap Time Plans

2011-09-01T10:55:00.002-06:00

A friend of mine let me borrow her Strip Tube Ruler and I’ve been having fun playing around with what it can do. I think I finally settled on ONE idea and today at nap time (not MY nap time silly) I’ll be piecing this stack of blocks together. Love these fabrics.

Zoo Dwellers quilt for Charlie

2011-08-31T07:55:00.002-06:00

This quilt has been done for a couple of months now, but I’ve been waiting to write a post about it until I finished the tutorial for the Zoo Dwellers pattern.

This is a twin-size version of that pattern, made for my little nephew Charlie. It uses the same fabrics as his brother’s quilt (Jack’s Blocks).

I enjoyed taking one stack of fabrics and creating two separate quilts – a little bit the same and a little bit different. Just like these boys!

This quilt finished at around 62” x 72” (if I remember correctly!)

Zoo Dwellers Quilt Tutorial

2011-08-30T13:45:00.000-06:00

I have a quilt tutorial over at the Riley Blake Cutting Corners College site – go check it out!

I just love these colors. I am going to name this color group my “colors of Summer 2011.” They are so bright and cheery and my eyes can’t get enough of them. I guess that would explain why they’re all over my house. Mostly.

Sweet Baby Boy (version 1 and 2)

2011-08-28T06:37:00.000-06:00

Back in December-ish I created this quilt which I called “sweet baby boy.” (The finished quilt measured about 45” x 45”) I listed it in my shop but apparently failed to blog about it – which is no big deal until I want to write a blog post that refers BACK to this quilt… which didn’t exist on my blog. Y’all with me still?

Fast forward to August 2011. I was digging through my closet and found some leftover blocks from the Sweet Baby Boy quilt. There were maybe 10 or so blocks, and then a stack of scraps as well. I was able to piece the scraps together to get a few more blocks, add some Kona snow as sashing and came up with this:

I know it doesn’t photograph well – it really looks SO much better in person. This second quilt measures about 45” x 60” – yes…. bigger than the original quilt. A yard or so of solid fabric can do amazing things when you combine it with a pile of scraps. (side note: Please don’t throw out your scraps. If you don’t care to hang on to them, send them to me and I’ll put them to good use!)

This second quilt is going to find a new home at the Center for Women and Children in Crisis.

Ribbons v.2

2011-08-26T19:37:00.000-06:00

This is another quilt made from my Ribbons pattern. This time it’s done in greens, blues and browns and it is the baby-size: 45” x 45”

I used fabrics from the Hooty Hoot line by Riley Blake and a Kona solid for the back.

Can I just say that I think this is one of my all-time favorite color combos? I have my flash-in-the-pan favorites (pink & light blue in the ‘90s, magenta & navy blue in 2000, and green, orange and aqua in 2011—to name just a few) but there’s just something about blue and green together that makes it timeless. Or is it just me?

This quilt is listed in the shop as is the pattern!

Ribbons

2011-08-25T22:25:00.001-06:00

What was I just saying in my last post? Something about not having a lot of pink around our house? Well this stack of fabrics didn’t stay long. When I spotted the Sunkissed line by Sweetwater (Moda) I fell in love with the pinks and grays.

I used them to create the throw-size quilt using my Ribbons pattern. It measures 58” x 70”

…and it is on it’s way to a new owner. See, I told you it didn’t stay long. I think that pink fabric just gets the vibe that it’s not welcome around here or something.

A Lotta Bit of Purple

2011-08-17T00:15:00.000-06:00

In our family the opposite of “a little bit” is “a lotta bit.” This newest quilt has more purple in it than exists in my entire home. We’re not really purple people. Or pink.

The whirlygig block was one that I had always wanted to try. I made one block for a swap once and I was surprised at how easy it was. So out came all of the lovely purple fabrics from my stash. I really don’t ever work with purple but I have to say that I genuinely enjoyed it. It just a pretty color. I love it against the white background.

I found the perfect spot to photograph this quilt- with some help from my son (such a good sport!) Can you believe this little house? How cute is that? It has a little porch, a little front door and a little walk leading up to it. It’s all just oozing with charm. What an appropriate place to photograph a little quilt.

The quilt measures 40” x 40” The backing is not a pieced backing like I usually do, but instead I used a single print fabric. You can see it peeking out in the photo below.

This quilt is listed in my shop.

yawn

2011-08-11T01:16:00.000-06:00

After several late nights sitting at my computer, I think I finally have some patterns ready for the shop. Three to be exact. This quilt is one of them – Unlinked, throw size. Just a sneak peak for tonight. It’s already 1am so I’m off to bed!

The Treasure in a Ziplock Bag

2011-07-29T22:13:00.000-06:00

A couple of years ago I was the recipient of my mother-in-law’s fabric stash. Some of it I used immediately and some of it sat patiently in my closet.

Last week I pulled out a ziplock bag full of fabric and sorted through it. It turned out to be the leftover bits from a project my MIL finished years ago. I wasn’t sure it would be enough to make an entire quilt but once I got started I was pleasantly surprised- There were enough blocks and strips to make a twin sized quilt! Quite a treasure.

I had to visit the quilt shop to find a matching binding and backing – and even that went well. You know how sometimes you have an idea of what you’re looking for and it’s just not there? This binding that I found was just what I imagined for this quilt. And I found it within minutes. And it was on the clearance rack.

This was a nice, quick, weekend project. It is on it’s way to the LDS Humanitarian Center. (They are still in need of full and twin sized quilts.)

I'm linking up to Sew and Tell Friday:

I {heart} Sweetwater

2011-07-20T23:06:00.001-06:00

It is not often that I actually look forward to the arrival of a fabric line. In fact I usually don’t pay any attention to what is “coming soon.” This one however, has caught my eye and I cannot wait to see it in person. I mean – just look at it!

(Photo from their Etsy site)

Anyone know of a good pattern that uses Jelly Rolls? I need a reason to buy one of these babies to appease me until the yardage is available.

Silly Mental Games

2011-07-14T15:59:00.001-06:00

I read on someone’s blog not too long ago that she doesn’t bother rolling up her bindings. Why do I roll mine? The short answer is that it’s a mental game I play with myself.

Binding a quilt is probably my least favorite part. (Spray basting USED to be my least favorite part, until I got this.) To make the binding of a quilt less miserable for me, I now cut and create the binding FIRST. Yep. First. As I am cutting all of the other fabric for the quilt top, I go ahead and cut the binding. I get it sewn up, folded and pressed. Then to keep it from getting tangled and super wrinkled from being wadded up somewhere, I roll it up and put it on my shelf.

It really does help. When I pull a quilt off of the frame I know that the binding is sitting right there so heck- why not take a minute to stitch it on? Weird I know. I guess the only exception to this little game is when I am still hunting for the right fabric for the binding. Then I have to wait and create the binding at the end as I marinate in misery. No, it's not quite that bad.

edited to add:
hah! I just noticed that the watermark on the photo is from my food blog. Oops. I recently re-installed Windows Live Writer (how I write most of my posts) and I bet my settings were a little mixed up that day.

Map of the States

2011-07-13T06:45:00.000-06:00

This quilt has been finished (and in use) for quite some time, but I never did write a post about it. (I did show two photos of the unquilted top here.)

Many moons (okay about a year) ago I was a member of the A Piece of Work quilting bee. For my month I chose to do a quilt using the Map of the States block tutorial written by Elizabeth - who blogs over at Oh Fransson. (Cool blog. You should go and visit.)

I loved the look of the greens and grays that she chose to use in the tutorial. I went a similar route, but also added a bit of orange just to keep things interesting. (Aren’t I edgy?)

I asked the group members to make me any size of block, rectangle or square, and then frame them in a thin black strip. After I received the blocks I sashed them all with some Kona Ash.

For the backing I used this gorgeous green and gray print from Kate Spain. I believe it is from her Verna line.

The quilt is quilted in your basic meandering pattern. I thought about doing some straight line quilting, but I felt that all of the angular lines of the blocks needed some softening. I love the end result. You know, it never ceases to amaze me what the quilting step of quilt construction can do for the overall look of a quilt.

Binding can also have an impact and it does in this quilt. For some of my projects I prefer to have the binding visually melt into the quilt top. For this one, I wanted a nice black frame for my quilt – to compete with the frames that are around each block. The fabric I used for the binding is from the Haunted Mansion line by Sanae.

The finished quilt measures 58” x 67” and it is currently folded over the back of my favorite reading chair. A big thank you goes out to all of the women of the APOWA Bee that helped create one of my favorite quilts!

Thank you Harry Potter

2011-07-11T15:40:00.000-06:00

This quilt was designed and created for one of my little nephews. His sister received her quilt over a month ago and I hear he has been patiently waiting for his. (which reminds me… I never photographed his sister’s quilt.)

My sis-in-law chose the fabrics (love them!) and found an inspiration quilt for me to use. I really love how this quilt turned out. I hope Jack does!

And why did I title this post “Thank you Harry Potter” you ask? Because this quilt has been waiting for it’s binding for a few weeks. I had the binding machine stitched to the front of the quilt but I didn’t have the time to sit and do the hand stitching to the back… that is until my son decided to re-watch all of the Harry Potter movies. We are eagerly awaiting the final movie and I thought his Harry Potter movie festival idea was a good one. So I sat and finished this binding while watching The Sorcerer’s Stone.

Thank you Harry Potter. I have a feeling you will be helping me finish several quilt bindings in the next week.

The quilt’s finished size is 62” x 72” It is all washed and ready for delivery!

Paper Crafting

2011-07-01T17:18:00.000-06:00

I came across these two really great 4th of July projects and decided to take a break from working with fabric.

This first one is a 3D star garland. I found it as a kit at one of our local scrapbook supply shops. It was super-simple, taking me about 30 minutes to complete. The stars were all cut out for me – I just paired them up and stitched right down the center of each. I left about a 1/2 inch of thread between each pair of stars as I chain pieced them together. I also left 12”- 18” of thread on each end of the garland to help with hanging. The next step was to fold each individual star in half to make it stand out 3D style. Capeesh?

30 minutes later I had my one and only 4th of July decoration! Maybe next year I’ll add to it. Possibly something like this.

The next project I did was originally found here. My 9 year old and I thought that these would be fun to bring to our annual Cul-de-sac of Fire Celebration.

The original rocket instructions want you to just print out the body and cone but I thought it would be more fun to find my own patriotic papers to use. I also made our rockets a little longer to accommodate the particular type of candy we put inside. (I can’t be more specific or I’ll give away the surprise!)

My son helped me make these – he did a lot of the work – the folding, the taping, the filling… and then I did the hot-gluing. It took us a little more than an hour to make 14 rockets.

They were fun to make and now we get to enjoy them on our bannister for a couple of days.
(Martha has several other good (and quick) ideas to spruce up your Independence Day celebration.)

Happy 4th everyone!

Elf Hats block tutorial

2011-06-09T16:32:00.001-06:00

I’ve had a few requests for a how-to on how I created the blocks for my Elf Hats quilt so I thought I would just do a quick tutorial.

For these blocks I created my own paper piecing pattern. If you’d like a pdf of mine, send me an email (abrightcorner (at) gmail (dot) com ) and I’ll email it to you. If you would like to just create your own, here are the measurements:

The outer rectangle measures 7.5” x 9.5”
The inner rectangle measures 7” x 9”
Then I found the center on the top line and drew the lines for the triangle from that point down to the bottom corner of the INNER rectangle.

For the numbers it doesn’t matter where #2 and #3 go, but #1 does need to be in the triangle.

Any questions? Really – just email me and I’ll send you a pdf. No problem. Edited to add: I uploaded the pdf file to here. From this link you can download and print it. Or you can still email me :)

Now make as many copies of this pattern as the number of hat blocks you’ll need. For my quilt I needed 80 blocks.

For each block you’ll need a piece of fabric that is roughly the size of the triangle (piece #1) PLUS at least 1/4 inch. To make sure it’s big enough, put the fabric over the triangle and then hold it up to the light. You’ll immediately be able to tell if it’s big enough.

Flip the paper pattern over so that the printed side is facing down. You’ll still be able to see the lines faintly through the back – they just don’t show up in the photos. Now take a glue stick, put a couple of stripes of glue in spot #1 on the paper and place your fabric over it. Press gently with your hand to get it to stick a bit. Hold it up to the light one more time to make sure it covers the lines plus about 1/4”.

Ok now you need a piece of white fabric. See the piece I’m using in this photo? It’s too big. That’s okay! We’ll trim it later. Place it on your fabric triangle RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER.

Your sewing line for this piece is the line that is between #1 and #3 on the pattern. Before sewing however, we need to check a couple of things.

First of all, we need to make sure that we have enough seam allowance. Holding the white fabric in place, carefully hold the pattern up to the light. See how you can see where the white fabric is placed in the photo below? You want the white fabric to overlap that stitching line by about 1/4”. It can overlap more than that, but not less.

Now we also need to check to make sure the white fabric is big enough to cover spot #3 on the paper. Hold the white fabric in place (or you can pin it) along the stitching line and fold it back along that stitching line. Make sure it will cover the area all the way out to the OUTSIDE rectangle.

Now you’re ready to sew. Carefully move your pattern to the sewing machine and place it fabric-side-down and printed-side-up under your presser foot. Make your stitch length tiny – about 12-18 stitches per inch. That will help when it’s time to tear the paper off.

You will start stitching a little bit outside of the corner of the INSIDE rectangle. I know it’s tough to see in this photo.

When you reach the end of this stitching line, you will want to stitch a little past it – even to that outer rectangle if you want. Backstitch just a little at the beginning and end of each seam.

Good job! Now before you press it, we need to trim that seam allowance. As you make more of these blocks you’ll get better at naturally keeping your seam allowances about 1/4”. You could leave the seam allowance longer, but it will create bulk later on so I like to trim them up.

Carefully fold back the paper pattern and make sure the fabric piece you just added is also folded back out of the way. Place your ruler about 1/4” away from the stitching line and trim.

Here is another reason to trim your seam allowances- In the photo below can you see how my striped fabric shows through my white fabric? That’s before I trimmed it.

In this next photo I’ve trimmed it and it no longer shows through. Much nicer. Press it open and admire your work.

Now you’re going to repeat all of that for the other side:

Take your second piece of white fabric, hold it in place (right sides together) and check to see if you have enough seam allowance and enough fabric to cover the area. Stitch it in place. Trim seam allowance.

Press it open.

Now you’re ready to trim. Flip the pattern over so you can see the printed lines.

Using your ruler, trim blocks (trim paper and fabric) along the OUTER rectangle.

Flip your block over and gently tear away paper. Because your stitch length was tiny, the paper should be quite perforated and should tear away easily. Once you get your blocks all pieced they are ready to stich together into rows. You can see in the photo below that there is a 1/4” seam allowance at the top and bottom corners of the block. As you stitch the blocks together just be aware of the top points of each hat.

This really was a hastily-written tutorial so if you have questions or need something clarified just ask. It was a fun quilt to make and I really enjoyed putting some creativity into the hat variations I did. (see the original post to see the variations.)

If you would like to try paper piecing with a different pattern, try this one.

2011-05-17T00:02:00.000-06:00

Designed, cut, stitched, pressed, quilted and now waiting for binding.

What’s next? I’m writing the pattern! Not an easy task. All of my patterns are currently just a bunch of chicken-scratch, diagrams and hastily written notes. Not for long though. One by one they will each make their way to official pattern-hood.

I love this line of fabric by the way. A lot.

Bright Triangles

2011-05-03T15:10:00.000-06:00

This quilt came from a Turnover pack of Mary Engelbreit’s Basket of Flowers line. (I hear Moda is no longer going to make turnovers – is that true?)

I don’t usually work with pre-cuts, and these turnovers were a first for me. I paired each triangle up with some Kona Snow and I love how the bright colors play off of the solid white. So fresh looking – I love it!

For the binding I really, really had my heart set on the red checked fabric from this line, but I couldn’t track it down. The blue was my second choice though, and I think it works great. It’s probably a little less in-your-face than the red would have been.

Picnic anyone?

Bright Triangles is listed in my shop

Modern Day Quilts

2011-04-29T15:39:00.002-06:00

Have you visited Modern Day Quilts yet? It’s my kind of blog – all eye candy. One lovely quilt each day. Creamsicles was featured there a couple of days ago and boy was I flattered. Thanks Heather!

Patience

2011-04-28T22:22:00.000-06:00

I realized something about my hobby today. One reason I enjoy quilting is because quilts are patient.

I was a scrapbooker for awhile, but I found that once I started a layout or a photobook I needed to finish it in one sitting or I would loose my vision of what I was creating. It was hard to dive back in to a project that was started more than a week before.

With quilting, I can set aside a quilt and leave it for quite a bit of time and then come back to it without missing a beat - I can pick up right where I left off. Why is that? I have a quilt it my closet that I started YEARS ago. There it sits – patiently waiting for it’s turn to be quilted.

With as crazy as life can get sometimes, it’s nice to have a patient hobby.

April Showers

2011-04-18T06:34:00.002-06:00

This year we’ve had our fill of April showers. Thank you very much. I’m SO ready for May flowers. So. Very. Ready.

After the terrifically damp weather we’ve had, I had no problems coming up with a name for this quilt: April Showers

Remember this quilt? Well after playing around with the layout a little, I finally decided on layout #2.

I’m really happy with the end result. Originally I thought I wanted more gray in the front of the quilt, but I found that I liked it better as the backing. Oh, I LOVE the back.

For the quilting I did some sweet little loopies – its one of my favorite ways to quilt. It just flows so gracefully and it’s just charming I think.

The binding is a coordinating print from the same Riley Blake line (Rainy Days and Mondays.) I didn’t include any of it in the quilt itself – I saved it all for the binding and I’m glad I did! The finished quilt measures 38 x 40, and it’s listed in the shop!

Creamsicles

2011-04-16T22:08:00.001-06:00

So this is technically not a recently finished quilt. It’s been done for months, but I haven’t listed it in my shop because I have struggled to get some photos that I’m satisfied with. It's caused me quite a bit of trouble, really. I’m not quite sure why this quilt in particular was so much more challenging. The front of the quilt always came out quite florescent looking (ew) and the back just the opposite. I'm hoping all of you photography pros will just tell me that orange is a difficult color to photograph and then I can move on.

Last week I tried again and finally got some great photos (despite the wind).

[This is me laughing because of the trouble the wind was causing.]

My inspiration for this quilt came from my favorite summertime treat – creamsicles. Around here they’re called creamies. Orange on the outside, creamy vanilla in the center – so delicious!

The back is my favorite – so lovely and simple.

I went for a simple binding as well – just the solid orange. Is that orange? Or would you call it peach? It’s not salmon…. I’m not even sure what to call that. It’s delightful. That’s what that is.

Creamsicles is now listed for sale in the shop!

[edited to add]

I had a request for a full-view photo of this quilt. Here you go!

Progress Report

2011-04-15T11:57:00.000-06:00

One on the wall:

Another one ready to cut:

And one ready for quilting:

Border Troubles

2011-03-30T23:19:00.000-06:00

Do you ever have problems with wavy borders? That Crazy Quilty Girl steps you through a great way to add borders to your quilt. I'm going to try it her way on my next quilt. I've never had really obvious problems, but my last quilt had a bit of extra fabric along the right edge - I had to ease that in as I quilted. I was lucky that I was able to do it without any dreaded puckers!

[sorry, no photos tonight. I'm supposed to be working on a little photoshop project, but got distracted by looking at awesome quilts. Ok. Back to work.]

My Little Trick

2011-03-25T06:30:00.001-06:00

I’ve had this quilt in my “favorites” for awhile now, and today I pulled some fabric from my stash to make a similar quilt. The squares are cut at 6” and the rectangles are cut at 3” x 6”.

I got everything cut out rather quickly, but then started to worry about the gray squares I had added. I put it up on the design wall and stood back to look at it. Still not sure about it.

[quilt layout option #1]

So I replaced the gray squares with the umbrella print and (again) stood back to take a look. I had mixed feelings about them both. So then I pulled out my camera. This is a little trick I use when I can’t decide about a quilt layout - I take photos of the quilt on the design wall and then go and look at them on my computer. There’s something about doing it that way that helps give a bit of perspective or something. It helps me to step back and get a good look at how everything is working (or not working!) together.

[quilt layout option #2]

After photographing both layout options and then viewing them on my computer I have a definite favorite. I won’t say which one, because I’m curious if any of you have a preference? Any thoughts?

Oh and FYI, where you see white (from my wall) that will be white fabric.

Mad for Plaid

2011-03-21T06:06:00.002-06:00

All finished!

Last Summer I spotted this stack of green plaid fabrics at a garage sale. I was able to cut many, (MANY!) 8-inch squares from that stack and thought they would look great paired with some Kona Khaki.

This quilt finished at a large twin size – almost a full. It was the first official quilt I quilted on my new Grace Pinnacle frame and I’m super happy with how it turned out. No more crawling on the floor to baste quilts! hooray!

One of my big concerns was having the green fabrics bleed onto the khaki in the wash, but it did great! The backing is solid Khaki – so boring that I didn’t bother photographing it. The binding is a green plaid as well. This quilt is on it’s way to my church’s Humanitarian Center. I saw here that they are need of quilts – and that’s one thing I can do!

A New Toy

2011-03-20T07:27:00.000-06:00

She’s finally up and running! After some trial and error regarding thread (a lot of breaking threads, and me nearly tearing my hair out) I am finally able to use my new quilting frame.

I’m absolutely in love with my sewing machine. For years I’ve been using a small-ish Brother that I bought from Costco. It worked beautifully and did nearly everything I pushed it to do. All of my quilts up to this point were sewn AND quilted on that little workhorse. She’s been put out to pasture now though, only to be called upon for a random button hole or two.

I’ve moved up to the Juki TL-2010Q and the speed is amazing. The first time stitched at full speed I laughed out loud. I think my kids thought I had gone insane. Yes, it was THAT kind of laugh.
Just in case anyone else has thread breakage issues with their Juki – the thread I found that worked the best is Signature. One local quilt shop recommended Star brand but it was the worst of all of them. So I guess I’m a Signature girl now!

Robots

2011-03-19T15:52:00.001-06:00

Boy #2 moved to a big boy bed no too long ago and was in need of a big boy quilt. I bought this robot fabric a LONG time ago and held on to it, hoping that I could use it in his quilt at some point.

The fabric was originally part of a quilt kit that I purchased from American Quilting (is this one of your kits Amy?). The kit was for a crib size, so I added a bit more to make it a twin size. I had to add in the greens so it would somewhat match what was already in his bedroom, and then I also changed the stripey binding to a stripe that had some green in it. (I really do have a weakness for a nice striped fabric.)

I love the robots, but I think my son likes the rocket ships more!

For the backing I used up what was left from the robots & rockets fabric and then added stripes of some Kona solids I had in my stash. I have to say it’s not my favorite backing that I’ve done!

Now my not-so-little boy has his own big boy quilt. I think that two of the most rewarding quilts I’ve created are the two I’ve done for my boys. There’s just something about seeing them snuggle up in it while they sleep.

WIPS

2011-02-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

Two quilts “in progress”…

This one has been basted, quilted and is in the binding stage. My two year old can’t hardly wait for it to be done.

This one is on the design wall. I acquired these green plaids last year at a garage sale and got a killer deal - free! With all of the different plaids and shades of green, I thought I would keep this quilt fairly straightforward by keeping them in large blocks and sashing them in a Kona Khaki. So far, not too bad. Not really my style though.

I’m a little worried about how this will wash up once it’s finished. There’s a variety of fabrics – some homespuns, a few obviously cheapo fabrics (those are always trouble for me) and then some better quality cottons. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, and definitely using a color catcher or two.

Workshop in Progress - January 19

2011-01-19T11:04:00.001-07:00

Last August was my month in one of my online quilting bees (Sew Bee It) and I chose to do Mondrian blocks. It was fun to create my own block, and I love the blocks I've gotten back from the other members! When I first had the idea, I thought I knew how I wanted the finished quilt to look. Now I'm no so sure. Every week or so I put all the blocks up, arrange them, rearrange them.... and then take them down. I can't decide!

My original idea was to just join the blocks with the same 1 inch black sashing. Now that the blocks are on the design wall I think they might need more breathing space between them. What do you think? Or do you have another idea??

Jack’s Blocks

2011-01-17T23:17:00.000-07:00

My little nephew Jack gets this one. The top is done, the back will be done tomorrow afternoon. At first I wasn’t sure how this one was going to turn out, but I love, love, love it. I might not be able to part with it.

I didn’t have a pattern for this quilt – I just played in Illustrator for a bit and came up with a sketch to follow as I pieced. If you turn the sketch 90 degrees clockwise, you can see how the sketch matches up with the finished top. I didn’t follow my plan exactly – there were a few adjustments made – but for the most part it’s the same.

Catching Up

2011-01-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

Just catching up on my December bee blocks (and one for January!)

[Sew Bee It for December]

[Bee Pieceful for December]

[Bee Pieceful for January]

Christmas Stockings

2011-01-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

We've had a sad hodge podge of store-bought stockings for too many years now. I searched a few stores last year, hoping to find some that met our very few requirements:

not too fussy

well made - would hold up for at least 5 years

matched our existing decor (no magenta and gold please)

Aparently that was too much to ask. Mostly any stockings I found were lacking in the "well-made" category. So this year I decided to just make our stockings. I figured I could just make up my own pattern, but when I sat down to make the stockings (at 11:30 at night) my brain was in no shape to do any thinking. A quick search online brought me to a great tutorial. Why re-invent the wheel, right?

I loved that the stockings were lined and had a cuff - exactly what I was imagining our stockings would end up like.

Thanks, Fabricworm for the well-written tutorial!

Ignoring My To-Do List

2011-01-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

Naptime. There's 4 or 5 other things I really SHOULD be doing.

But I'm ignoring them all and basting a quilt instead. Not just any quilt. This quilt is just for me.

And I can't wait to see it finished and upstairs where it belongs.

Nerdy Inspiration

2011-01-04T14:38:00.003-07:00

A few months ago I found this cute dinosaur print and thought that it would make a great set of baby bibs. Once the bibs were made, I paired what was left of the dino fabric with some fabrics from my closet and decided to write a new pattern.

I arranged and rearranged the fabrics, made sketches on some graph paper and never really liked the result. Then one night I was watching an episode of Nova (about fractals) and saw the solution! It looked something like this:

I loved the look of the larger squares surrounded by the smaller squares. I quickly grabbed a paper and drew up the idea. Then I finished watching the show (not sure I understood a whole lot of it). The next day I worked with the idea a little in illustrator and then started on the actual quilt.

The finished quilt is a large crib size / lap size: 51" x 51"

I love the large dot fabric I found for the backing. It's from the All Star 2 line by Riley Blake. The dinosaur fabric is Dino Dudes from Michael Miller, the cute orange ABC fabric is AlphaBuddies from Andover Fabrics, and the brown dotty binding is Riley Blake (I think from the original All Star line.)

The ~~quilt is for sale in the shop~~ [sold]
The pattern for this quilt is now available!

I'm linking up:

Small Bits n’ Pieces Bag Tutorial

2010-12-13T17:01:00.003-07:00

In my church bag I keep a couple of these little elastic-close bags filled with small toys to keep my little one reverent. One bag holds a few farm animals, another holds a couple of small cars.

This bag would also be great to help contain the marbles in the bottom of the toy bin, and a bigger version would be perfect to hold those dominoes that never stay in the flimsy cardboard box.

I’ve seen other versions of this bag that uses a button flap opening, or even a drawstring. When I first made this bag I was planning on using a drawstring, but discovered I was out of ribbon and was too lazy to go to the store. I had a spare hair elastic sitting on my sewing table and had a sudden bit of inspiration – why not use that? Thirty minutes later the Bits n’ Pieces Bag was born!

Makes one bag measuring about 5 1/2” x 7”

You’ll need:
two pieces of fabric 6” x 15”
one hair elastic
coordinating thread

STEP ONE:

Cut two rectangles of fabric measuring 6” x 15”
For my bag I used a flannel for the outside (the blue dinosaurs) and a quilting cotton for the liner (red dots).

STEP TWO:

Fold each rectangle in half and using a 1/4” seam, stitch up each side, making sure to backstitch at each end.

STEP THREE:

Take just the liner fabric bag and turn it right-side-out. Now put the liner bag inside of the main fabric bag so you now have fabrics right-sides-together.

STEP FOUR:

With the liner bag inside of the main bag, line up side seams and pin in place.

STEP FIVE:

Leaving about a 3” opening, stitch around the top of the bag. Be sure to back stitch at the beginning and end of stitching. You will be turning the bag right-side-out through that little opening and you don’t want it to rip.

STEP SIX:

Carefully turn liner and main bag right-sides-out through the opening.

STEP SEVEN:

Stuff bag liner inside of main bag. Press around the top of bag including the 3” opening where you turned the bag. Top stitch along top of bag to close that opening and give the bag a finished look.

STEP EIGHT:

About 1 1/4” down from top, along side seam, attach hair elastic. ( I just used a straight stitch and sewed back and forth over the elastic about 4 times.)

All done! Fill it with your kid’s favorite bits n’ pieces!

I'm linking up!

One down, one to go

2010-12-06T15:07:00.003-07:00

Last November I decided that I wanted to make an advent calendar for my family. When I was a kid my family had one and we all enjoyed taking that day’s ornament and placing it on the tree. (We also argued about which ornaments went where on the tree, but that’s a whole other blog post.)

I did a search to find some photos of what I wanted my advent calendar to look like and it actually caused more problems – I found too many advent calendars that I liked and I couldn’t decide which one to make.I spent the last part of November and the first week of December trying to decide what to do and then finally realized that it was too late and would have to wait until next year.

Fast forward to November 2010. I did another search to find some sample calendars – I even created a gallery on flickr. I sat down and drew out a sample using the parts of each calendar that I liked the best (quilting from one, colors from another, using buttons as hangars, etc.)

I foraged through my fabric stash and my craft bin and found most of what I already needed. I knew that my sister also wanted an advent calendar and conveniently enough her birthday was right around the corner so I decided to make two calendars. At first I did both calendars at the same time, but then time got short and I needed to finish Kristi’s first. Right now mine is still needing 24 white buttons and some binding, but an hour or so tonight will fix that problem.

Here are some pics of my sister’s finished calendar:

decorated and then undecorated with the ornaments in their little pockets:

Here are some close ups of the little ornaments. The pockets each measure about 2” deep and 3” wide so the ornaments are all a bit smaller than that. I used tiny green ribbon for the hangars and all of the ornaments are made with cheap-o felts and a glue gun – worked beautifully!

I stumbled on this blog post which has a printable page full of ornament templates – it saved me a whole lotta time!

Here are the ornaments all tucked away in their pockets…

I went back and forth on how to hang the calendar. In the end I went for simple: I sewed two pockets on the top corners of each calendar (on the back.) A wood stick slips right in there and then can hang on a nail or two tacks.

I’m super happy with how the calendars have turned out, and boy is it nice to have them done! (oh and happy birthday Kris!)

I’m linking up:

Counting Down

2010-12-05T13:37:00.001-07:00

My family and I just returned from a trip to the happiest place on earth (and I want to go back!)

For the months leading up to our trip we planned and planned….and counted down! When we got down to about two weeks before the trip, my son and I wanted to make a countdown calendar. We happened to be at Home Depot getting some paint samples (I’m currently trying to decide on a new color for our upstairs) when we spotted these:

…perfect for a countdown calendar! I chose a variety of colors, punched the holes and tied them together with some tiny ribbon I had on hand. The kids tore off one mickey mouse for each day.

We put the black Mickey ears at the top for the last day. The kids loved it and it was a simple and very visual way to help us count down to our trip!

Progress Report

2010-11-24T15:37:00.001-07:00

Remember this?

I found the perfect binding (stripey of course)…

The table topper is now quilted and semi-bound. In other words, the binding is machine stitched to the front and it is patiently waiting to be hand stitched to the back. We’ve had some uber-cold temperatures today and I’m thinking a movie night & some hand quilting sounds delightful.

A Whole Lotta Pink

2010-11-19T13:12:00.001-07:00

I don’t sew with pink often. We’re more of a blue/green/brown house (it’s inevitable - with two sons and 21 nephews…go figure!) So when I do get to sew with pink, it’s a delight!

When I began this quilt, I called it “baby brellas” because it uses that cute umbrella fabric by Riley Blake. However, I quickly realized that because of the size of the stripes, you couldn’t actually SEE the umbrellas. So I changed it to “baby stripes” and I’m saving “baby brellas” for my next project. I have enough of the umbrella fabric (from the Rainy Days and Mondays line) leftover to do another baby sized quilt – this time I’ll fussy cut some umbrellas and feature them inside some wonky blocks.

The finished quilt measures 44” x 44” and is machine quilted in a meandering pattern. I added a few loopies here and there throughout the quilting – to make it just a bit more girly. (Like the pink doesn’t already add enough, right?)

I love just the touch of gray with all of the cute pinks. For the back I used a kona solid (I think it’s Petal) and I had three little blocks leftover from the front – they found a home on the back.

The binding I went back and forth on. I originally had another print chosen – one with some gray in it. But it just didn’t have the pop of this stripe fabric. This cute stripe is another Riley Blake fabric (can you tell what section of the quilt shop I am drawn to?) and it frames the quilt up so nicely!

“Baby Stripes” is now listed in my shop!

I’m linking up:

More Bee Blocks

2010-11-18T23:10:00.001-07:00

There's always more bee blocks....

For this first one, Jazziesmom sent us several shades of purple, all cut into strips. She said we could do any block we wanted, as long as it finished at 12". I chose to do a Box Block. The pattern is here:
www.quilterscache.com/B/BoxQuiltBlock.html

I really like how it turned out and I think it would be stunning as a whole quilt. I love blocks like this that allow me to really play with color.

These are my blocks for Millions of Thoughts. She sent fabric from her stash, and requested non-wonky rectangles in rectangles. Love the fabric and can't wait to see the finished wall hanging!

And for this last one Mary requested string blocks. I almost had enough strips! See that little bare corner down there.... sorry Mary!

Blogger’s Quilt Festival 2010

2010-11-05T23:20:00.000-06:00

I (like most others I’m sure) had a hard time deciding which quilt to choose for the Blogger’s Quilt Festival. I finally settled on my Jeans & a Tshirt quilt that I made for my son. I chose this one because for this quilt I did two new-to-me things: a fleece back and a pieced, scrappy binding.

My oldest son has never showed much of an interest in the quilts I’m making while they’re in the piecing stage. Once I lay them out for basting though, he comes right over to see. After making a few comments or maybe asking a question or two about it, he inevitably asks when I’m going to make HIM a quilt. I put it off thinking he was just being nice, but then I got a great idea for a quilt that would fit my boy to a T.

I called it “Jeans and Tshirt.” In my stash I had a big stack of blue scraps that were given to me from my MIL and when paired with white, they reminded me of jeans and a nice clean white tshirt. (my boy’s favorite school-day outfit.)

I added just a touch of red to add a little bit of unexpectedness…

When we went to the fabric store to choose the backing, my son insisted on fleece. I was really nervous about quilting on it – I had heard that I would stretch and warp pretty badly.

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the fleece back. I really thought it would pucker as I quilted it, but it worked beautifully! I did use my usual batting as well as the fleece. I basted it as normal and quilted it as I usually do. Really the only difference was just in how much more bulk there was to work around as I quilted. In the end I do really love the weight of the quilt.

The finished quilt measures 55x72

October's Bee Blocks

2010-11-03T00:35:00.001-06:00

This one was for Bee Crazy. She sent the fabrics and the specific block pattern she wanted us to use. At first I was a little worried because it looked so intricate, but she had done all of the cutting for us and the pattern was really easy to follow.

These little houses were for my Bee Pieceful online bee (where do they come up with these names anyway?) Sweetteamom sent scraps of her favorite fabrics and asked for houses of any kind. I have seen house quilts all over flickr but they never appealed to me. I had read other people comment that these little houses were addicting to create and now I agree. Once I figured out the first little house the other two were really fun to make. [want to see more little houses? There's a whole flickr group dedicated to them. Who knew?]

These four blocks were for my Sew Bee It group. Rebecca wanted some wonky square-in-square blocks. This style has quickly become my favorite to create. I love these colors together. I can't get enough of grey lately. It goes with everything.

A Hidden Gem

2010-11-01T23:04:00.000-06:00

This afternoon I was looking through my closet for some red scraps and I found a stack of strips:

This was a table topper I had started last year and wasn’t able to finish it before Christmas. I had stacked the strips in order and carefully rolled them up.

Lucky me, I found them today. I laid them out, stitched them up and 10 minutes later I had myself a quilt top. I even found enough kona snow for the backing. Now I just need a piece (about 36x45) of batting and I’m ready to finish this thing. I figure my chances are pretty good this year considering it’s only November 1st.

Bring on the holidays!

Two for Romania

2010-10-31T22:44:00.002-06:00

I just came across some photos that ended up on my flickr account but not here on my blog.

This summer the ladies from one of my online quilting bees helped to make two quilts to send to Romania with Green Fairy Quilts. We used the tutorial from Film In The Fridge, called a Modified Bento Box. We chose to do two quilts: red/yellow/orange and blue/green. Each person (who wanted to) used their own fabrics and made as many blocks as they wanted. I collected them, quartered them and pieced them back together.

It was so fun to get each block, cut it and then arrange and rearrange (and rearrange, and rearrange…) the top to see the fun combinations!
I still can’t decide if I like the reds or the blues better!

Another Finish

2010-10-28T00:03:00.001-06:00

I’m working on a little (ok, not so little) project. I was hoping to have it done by Nov 1st. We’ll see if I make my self-imposed deadline. Meanwhile….

One of my latest….Creamsicles. Bound, washed, folded, waiting for a photo.

Also, you HAVE to try these. There will be a post about them Friday morning on my other blog.

10 bobbins later…

2010-10-21T22:21:00.001-06:00

Little Lottie’s quilt is quilted and waiting for the binding. Her brother Jack is getting a quilt as well. I’ve been cutting and cutting and cutting…. You know, I am pretty sure that I would not be a quilter at all if rotary cutters had never been invented.

The Ten Year Quilt

2010-10-15T21:29:00.001-06:00

This has got to break some kind of WIP record! I began this quilt top ten years ago. That’s right folks – a decade. This last week I got the top pieced and then the back pieced. Now it’s just waiting to be basted. I’m hoping it doesn’t take me another ten years to get it quilted.

The sad part of it is, that the quilt USED to match my living room. Now there’s nothing in my house that are these colors. Nothing. It’s a nice big twin size quilt too. I guess when it’s finished it will go in the closet for when guests come to visit!

Fakie Hexies

2010-10-05T13:41:00.000-06:00

I suspect that a “fakie-hexie” is some sort of snowboarding move, but since this is clearly NOT a sports related blog I’m not worried about misleading anyone when I say I’m doing a tutorial on fakie-hexies.

The hexagon craze has taken the modern quilting world by storm. They’re everywhere. Look for a minute on flickr and you can spot plenty of hexagons – on quilts, throws, burp cloths, pillows, aprons, in little stacks waiting to be added to a project….

I’ll just say right up front that I don’t have the patience to sit and make such little bitty things. That would just about drive me nuts. However, I like the look of them. A few months ago I spotted a quilt made from fakie hexagons and I realized that would be my solution. I can’t even remember where I saw the quilt (I’m thinking it was my local quilt shop, or mabye JoAnns. I was out and about somewhere…) so I have no idea who to credit for this idea. I do acknowledge that this is not my original idea. Now that I have made my own fakie-hexie quilt, I have had questions about it’s construction so I thought I would do a mini-tutorial to explain.

First a little about fabric requirements:

This quilt has a finished size of 45”x58”. The finished quilt contains 176 hexagons. You’ll need 1/3 yard of 11 different fabrics or 176 charm squares. From each 1/3 yard, cut 16 5” squares.

Then I cut the squares in half (so now I had 2.5” by 5” rectangles)

Stack the rectangles (I did two at a time, and I suggest doing no more than 4 at a time – for accuracy reasons)

Now you’re ready to arrange the pieces into hexagons.

You’ll be assembling this in long vertical columns so keep that in mind when you’re placing pieces. (This next photo shows one isolated column, just to help you see more clearly how the top is assembled)

Time to piece! (Use a 1/4 inch seam) Work with one column at a time to help keep thing organized. When you’re piecing two blocks together, you want to line them up like this:

with a very scant 1/4 inch tip overlapping on each side. It may feel wrong at first, but if you do that then your blocks will line up nicely like so:

Continue assembling the blocks until you complete a column. Press all seams in one direction. For the next column, press seams in the opposite direction. (This will help your seams to nest beautifully in the next step)

As I completed and pressed each column, I laid it out on the floor to help keep everything in order. It’s coming together! This part of the process is always so satisfying.

Now it’s time to sew the columns together. As you sew, take the time to make sure each seams nests together like this:

Taking time to match up those seams will insure pretty points and matching seams: (totally worth it!)

Once all columns are sewn together, press seams open.

Now your quilt top is assembled! At this point you can trim off the points along the top and bottom so you have a nice straight edge. (I did that step after the quilting was done so I could trim up the backing, batting and top all at the same time.)

Let me know if you have any questions, and if you make a fakie-hexie quilt let me know. I would love to see what this would look like with other fabrics!

Lincoln’s Wheels

2010-10-04T13:54:00.005-06:00

When I first spotted this line of fabric (from Riley Blake) I fell in love. I wanted to find a reason to sew something with it, so I was delighted when my sister chose these fabrics for her new baby’s nursery. I quickly volunteered to make a quilt for my new nephew.
Earlier this Spring I saw a quilt made from fake hexagons (I really wish I could remember where I spotted it!) and wanted to try it out. Since finishing this quilt I’ve had a lot of questions about how it was assembled, so I’ve written a tutorial for fakie-hexagons (I’ll post it tomorrow).
{edited to add link to tutorial}

The finished quilt size is 45” x 58”. Most of the fabrics in the quilt come from the Wheels line; I think the only exception is the solid green fabric that I added.

The back is pieced using more of the solid green, bits leftover from the hexagons, and a piece of that great cars fabric. This quilt just screams “boy” to me!

I'm linking this up to Sew & Tell Fridays over at amylouwho. I love visiting each Friday to see what others around the sewing universe have completed each week.

Just Thinking

2010-09-30T07:34:00.001-06:00

A woman in our neighborhood had a big fabric “garage” sale a few weeks ago. I did pretty well, and only bought two bundles of fabric: one small-ish bundle of yellows and a larger bundle of green plaids (you’ll see more of that soon.) I thought for a few days about that pile of yellows. It’s not really my color, but after seeing this and this I think I have decided on a plan. I cut them all into strips and sewed a few test blocks for the wall. I like the addition of the aqua solid. I think this might work. Now all I need is time. Where can I buy that?

September’s Bee Blocks

2010-09-28T22:20:00.002-06:00

I finally finished my bee blocks for September and they’re in the mail!

It was Sawtooth Stars for Bee Crazy…

For Bee Pieceful we received some strips of Mary Engelbreit fabric to make three string blocks:

For Sew Bee It she requested a square-in-square design and set up an inspiration gallery for us (I love when they do this.)

Zig Zag for Davis

2010-08-17T14:30:00.007-06:00

A few years ago I was pregnant with our second son and began the search for the fabric that would dictate the colors of the baby's room. I knew I wanted green and aqua so when I spotted these fabrics I quickly snatched them up. As they sat in the empty crib however I decided they weren't quite what I wanted. They seemed too grown up somehow. So into the closet they went; I knew I would find a use for them eventually.

Cue 2010. A few months ago I discovered the small stack of fabric on the bottom shelf of my closet and immediately thought of my nephew Davis. He lives far away from us in a beautiful part of Oregon. We don't know each other well, but I recently got to spend some time with him at a family reunion. Davis has got to be the coolest 4 year old I know.

As luck (or bad-luck) would have it, my quilt arrived at his house last week, shortly before he fell and broke his arm. I hear that when he got home he wrapped himself in the quilt and took a little rest. Davis, I do the same thing when I'm not feeling well. (oh and by the way... did you notice the little butterflies in the fabric? They're hiding!)

Finished quilt size: 50x65

How Does This Happen?

2010-07-19T00:25:00.005-06:00

How is it that this quilt back has become almost as cool as the front? It started out innocently enough....a few scraps, some Kona Snow....

Avert Your Eyes

2010-07-13T16:20:00.003-06:00

I have this stack in my sewing room. It is sitting on the end of my cutting table, smack-dab in the way of everything. I leave it there not as a reminder to work on it, but just simply because it is beautiful. Some days however (like today) it is difficult to avoid - I want to put aside my current project (the back for this quilt) and begin my next project. Must.....resist....................and.......avoid....eye....contact.....

For Brielle

2010-07-07T16:30:00.004-06:00

Since you turned all of your fabric over to me, I thought you'd like to be able to show John what you bought. If you click on each image, you can see a biggie-size version. I love what you chose!

Jack's QuiltLottie's Quilt

The Creative Process

2010-06-30T16:06:00.006-06:00

I really never thought anyone would find the process of making a quit interesting, but I have been getting more and more questions (such as, "how did you think to do that?" and "how do you know to put those fabrics together?" and "that looks hard to do - is it?") So I decided to join a whole host of other bloggers and I took the Process Pledge.

So you will start to see more photos and explanations of not just my completed quilts, but quilts in the making. I suppose if you are one of those people who do not find it interesting, then don't bother reading - just look at the photos and move along!

I just recently completed two quilts, and have two smaller quilts up on my design wall (two charity quilts that one of my virtual quilting bees are helping me with. If you want to see what I'm talking about, click on the "flickr" tab above. It will take you to my flickr photostream.) Even with all of that going on and since there was room on my cutting table, I figured I could start on another quilt. Why not, right?

I bought two charm packs several months ago (Freebird by Momo for Moda) and had a hard time deciding quite what to do with them. They've been up on my design wall in various arrangements and I never was happy with what I saw. For awhile I was thinking of making a new table runner, then maybe just some new pillows. Then I came across this Stepping Stones quilt and knew what I wanted from those unassuming little charm packs:

After scribbling away in what I refer to as my "magic notebook" (I really do call it that!) I created a sketch in Illustrator to see if I like the color distribution, the ratio of color to white and to determine about what the finished size would be. It shows promise!

I started it last night and it's coming together quickly. Last night I got all of the cutting done and during my toddler's nap time I was able to start piecing.

Once the kiddos are asleep tonight I'll be able to start sewing the long strips together. Oooh I love a fast quilt.

Basement Blocks

2010-06-21T10:54:00.007-06:00

Months ago I visited one of our local libraries and checked out a very tall stack of quilting books. One of them (I wish I could remember which one!) was all about the stack n' whack method of quilting. Since the cutting process of quilt-making is my least favorite part, I thought I'd give it a try. I went for simple the first time around - squares in squares.

The verdict? Love stack n' whack. Love aqua & brown together. Love the look of straight line quilting (takes forever though). Love having someone tall around to hold up my quilts for photographing!

The fabric is from the Blush line by Moda. It's a perfect match for our basement - this is a photo from last year that shows the color of our basement walls:

I did simple pieced back, using up some of the scraps leftover from the front. The brown fabric is one of the Grunge Basics, and I have to say that I'm not a fan of that grunge look.

The quilt is meant to be a tv-watching quilt for our downstairs tv room (hence the quilt's name: Basement Blocks) and measures 51x67.

Blogger’s Quilt Festival 2010

2010-05-27T15:44:00.002-06:00

When it comes to choosing a favorite quilt, I have to say that usually it’s the quilt I’m currently working on. Apologies to my older (and well-loved) quilts, but you guys are no longer my favorites.

However, I can’t exactly submit an unfinished quilt to the Blogger’s Quilt Festival, so here is the one I chose:

I feel fairly confident in saying that this project is the biggest one I have ever worked on – not in size, but in time.

I started it almost a year ago and slowly worked on it between other projects. Right in the middle of the project, I also had to pack up my sewing “area” and move everything down to my new sewing ROOM! So the quilt was set aside for several months while I got everything in order.

Here’s a view of the back:

The back is mostly the green fabric with the little ladybugs – but I did add some pieced squares to use up what few strips I had left. Instead of a traditional quilt label, this time I opted for some applique lettering and I really like the effect.

It’s the perfect picnic blanket size: 58x68. It’s not so big and bulky that it’s awkward to fold and carry, but it is just big enough to fit all four of us and our food (and then big enough for an after-picnic nap.)

Right at the time that I had my sewing room all boxed up, I took a trip home to visit my family. At this point in the progress of the quilt, I was getting pretty tired of paper piecing all of those string blocks. It just started to seem so monotonous and uber-repetitive and I was in a slump. While I was visiting home I spotted one of my grandma’s old quilts and I knew I had to pull it out and photograph it:

After laying the quilt out, photographing it and admiring it, I acquired a new appreciation for my little picnic blanket project. I really couldn’t complain anymore about how long it was taking me! First of all, grandma’s quilt is bigger. Much bigger. It’s also hand quilted and I’m pretty sure it’s hand pieced. Her choices of fabric didn’t come in tidy little fat quarter stacks, they were collected over the years from worn out pieces of clothing.

To top it all off, grandma’s quilt has survived at least 30 years of use by me and my siblings. Sure it has some rips and tears and some of the fabric is wearing thin, but in those flaws I just see the love. Thanks for the inspiration grandma!

At some point I really would like to create my own version of grandma’s wagon wheels. I’d keep the blocks the same size, maybe keep that great orange color there, and modernize the rest of it. For now, that quilt is on the drawing board. Maybe that will be my submission for next year’s quilt festival!

Nearly There

2010-05-27T13:46:00.002-06:00

I have the top all pieced now and I’m just getting the back done. I’m still debating how I will quilt it….. straight lines maybe? It would be something different for me!

Originally I had more fabrics included in this quilt, but it just wasn’t working for me. I pulled out two of the prints and added more of the aqua dots and green solid. By doing that I feel like it tightened it all up a little more. It’s not quite so all-over-the-place. Know what I mean?

Jeans and T Shirt

2010-05-14T14:21:00.007-06:00

My oldest son has never showed much of an interest in the quilts I’m making while they’re in the piecing stage. Once I lay them out for basting though, he comes right over to see. After making a few comments or maybe asking a question or two about it, he inevitably asks when I’m going to make HIM a quilt. I put it off thinking he was just being nice, but then I got a great idea for a quilt that would fit my boy to a T.

I called it “Jeans and Tshirt.” In my stash I had a big stack of blue scraps that were given to me from my MIL and when paired with white, they reminded me of jeans and a nice clean white tshirt. (my boy’s favorite school-day outfit.)
I added just a touch of red to add a little bit of unexpectedness…

…my son chose a nice soft fleece for the backing….

…and I added a scrappy binding (using up the last bits of blues from that same stack from my MIL.)

The blocks were made using some fairly simple paper piecing and then sashed in white with just a bit of wonkiness. I have more photos of how I made the blocks and I’ll post a pseudo-tutorial on that tomorrow.

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the fleece back. I really thought it would pucker as I quilted it, but it worked beautifully! I did use my usual batting as well as the fleece. I basted it as normal and quilted it as I usually do. Really the only difference was just in how much more bulk there was to work around as I quilted.
The finished quilt is only 55x72 (my son has a loft bed with a railing so his quilts can’t “hang” too much.) and he absolutely loves it. The biggest complement to me was not so much the words he said, but the fact that he carries it downstairs to watch cartoons in the morning!

A Trip to the Post Office

2010-05-13T10:06:00.002-06:00

I’ve been playing catch up on some of my virtual bee blocks. Here are the last few that will get mailed out this morning! To see more details (and find out which block goes with which bee) head to my flickr page.

Finally Finished!

2010-05-03T22:27:00.004-06:00

I'm adding this post in to Amy Lou Who's Sew & Tell. Go and check it out!

I feel fairly confident in saying that this project is the biggest one I have ever worked on – not in size, but in time.
I started it almost a year ago and slowly worked on it between other projects.

It felt so good to fold it up, throw it in the trunk and take it to the park today. There really is nothing better than using a handmade quilt for the first time.
It’s perfect picnic blanket size: 58x68. It’s not so big and bulky that it’s awkward to fold and carry, but it is just big enough to fit all four of us and our food (and then big enough for an after-picnic nap.)

The back is mostly the green fabric with the little ladybugs – but I did add some pieced squares to use up what few strips I had left.

Now that we’re (maybe) finally getting some picnic-worthy weather, I’ll be able to use this even more!

progress

2010-04-29T22:39:00.002-06:00

I love this Wheels fabric – I was so happy to hear that it was to be a part of my new little nephew’s room.

This quilt is slowly coming together. I originally had two more fabrics on the design wall, but something wasn’t working. So out they came and I like it much better now. Just a few more fakey-hexagons to cut and place and I’m ready to piece.

what?

2010-04-28T09:21:00.003-06:00

Has it really been months since I added a post here? Sheesh. I have been busy - even though my blogs don't show it. Here are some of the blocks I've done recently for the virtual bees I'm involved in.

Quick Update

2010-02-21T12:08:00.004-07:00

This is February's block for one of the virtual bees I'm in. She sent the pattern as well as all of the Christmas fabrics. I think it will be a great quilt when it's all put together!

Now I'm on to the next project - finishing this:

I've played with all of the blocks on my design wall, and I think I've decided that I like this layout the best. I think a few of the blocks need to be moved around a little, but for the most part it's great! It should end up being a lap sized quilt - about 60x72. There will be some thin white sashing between the blocks. I'm still not sure about the backing or the binding. I'll have to take a look through the fabric closet and see what I can dig up.

(note: these blocks are from the red/aqua Disappearing 9 Patch swap I joined last Fall)

Sew & Tell Friday

2010-01-22T14:31:00.001-07:00

For one day this week I had to take a break from all of the red, black and green that I've been working with! I made myself one more shopping bag using the pattern found here:

Morsbags

It's a quick pattern and you can use just about anything - an old sheet, pillowcase, or in my case - fabric scraps!

The bottom of the bag is double layered just to add a bit more strength. I love that the pattern has you use french seams. It makes the inside nice and tidy - and of course stronger too!

Then, just on a whim, I used the leftover scraps, along with some netting to make a produce bag. It does the job, but it's not a perfect pattern yet. I'm still tweaking it.

So, what have you finished this week? Visit Amylouwho and join in!

A Bright Corner

Saturday

Up Next

Wednesday’s Color Card

Hometown Healing

Tutorial: Strip Tube Quilt

Greens and Purples

Wednesday’s Color Card

Crayon Commute

Working From the Stash

Pincushion Jar Tutorial

Lucky Nines

A Little Inspiration

Currently Working On…

Crayon Commute

On A Roll

A Nameless WIP

Finally Finished!

Working Away…

Up To My Elbows

They’re here!

The Planning Stage

Almost

Stars Abound

Charmed to Pieces

WIP Wednesday

A New Pattern

A Pattern WIP

Now and Later

A Decade in the Making

Hexing Around Block

Unlinked

A Little Bit of nine-patching

Right Turn Only, part 2

Right Turn Only

Nap Time Plans

Zoo Dwellers quilt for Charlie

Zoo Dwellers Quilt Tutorial

Sweet Baby Boy (version 1 and 2)

Ribbons v.2

Ribbons

A Lotta Bit of Purple

*yawn*

The Treasure in a Ziplock Bag

I {heart} Sweetwater

Silly Mental Games

Map of the States

Thank you Harry Potter

Paper Crafting

Elf Hats block tutorial

Next

Bright Triangles

Modern Day Quilts

Patience

April Showers

Creamsicles

Progress Report

Border Troubles

My Little Trick

Mad for Plaid

A New Toy

Robots

WIPS

Workshop in Progress - January 19

Jack’s Blocks

Catching Up

Christmas Stockings

Ignoring My To-Do List

Nerdy Inspiration

Small Bits n’ Pieces Bag Tutorial

One down, one to go

Counting Down

Progress Report

A Whole Lotta Pink

More Bee Blocks

Blogger’s Quilt Festival 2010

October's Bee Blocks

A Hidden Gem

Two for Romania

Another Finish

yawn