Cyndi Mini

This is another shop sample that I'm piecing for Melanie at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe.  It's hard to tell from the picture, because there is nothing to show scale, but this is a miniature version of the Squares for Cyndi quilt.  It is made with Moda candies (pre-cut 2 1/2 inch squares) and about 1/8 yard of solid color fabric.  This sample is made with an April Showers (by bonnie and camille for moda) candy and Snow Bella Solids by moda fabric.  It finished at just over 13 inches square. 

More Squares for Cyndi

This is another shop sample of the Squares for Cyndi pattern.  This time we used a colored background fabric.  The charm pack is Mixed Bag by Studio M for Moda.  The background fabric is Simply Color by Vanessa Christenson of V and Co. for Moda.  I think it would make a darling little quilt for a baby boy.

Squares for Cyndi

Back during the Iron Quilter challenge, I made a quilt. Some of the ladies at my local quilt shop said that I should write up a pattern for the design. So recently I wrote up the directions and got them printed.  The pattern is named "Squares for Cyndi" because Cyndi, at the quilt shop, really encouraged me to write the pattern and would ask about it most times that she saw me in the shop.  The pattern is now for sale at The Front Porch Quilt Shoppe, as a printed pattern, and at Etsy as a PDF download.

This is a shop sample for the pattern.  It is made with daydream fabric by Kate Spain for Moda.

Butterfly Trails

I finished the baby quilt made from the February Moda blocks (featured here) today.  It finished 38 inches square.  I machine quilted in the ditch between the blocks and through the center of each block in both directions.  I also quilted in the ditch on either side of the white border.  The binding is also done by machine.  It is top-stitched down with a star decorative stitch.  I named it "butterfly trails" because the fabric is butterfly fabric (including the backing fabric) and I thought the pink and blue patches sort of made trails across the quilt.

Pixie Stix

 I finished sewing the binding on this one on Tuesday.  The quilt top is originally featured in this post.  It is the third top that I made from the jelly roll, but I finished it second.  Mostly because the uninterrupted straight-line quilting meant fewer threads to bury than in the second top I finished. 

I decided to name it Pixie Stix after the candy in the paper straws.  One of my sons said that the fabric made him think of candy.  Once I was thinking about candy, the long strips in the pastel colors made me think of Pixie Stix.

I sewed the label on yesterday. For some reason, the date that I put on a quilt is always the date that I finished binding it, even if I don't sew the label on until the next day.  I guess it is because the quilt is finished and usable at that point.  In fact, my grandmother and father don't even put labels on their quilts.  I've told my dad that he should, but he still doesn't.  He has started quilting his initials (and I think maybe the year) into the quilt, so that is something.  My grandmother doesn't quilt anymore (she's 97 years old), so the best I could do is label the quilts of hers that I have.  I may do that, at least with her name.

February blocks in a baby quilt

I really like the pattern that these blocks make when they work together.  I did have to fudge just a little bit on this one.  It is actually the two blocks we got in February for the Moda Size Matters quilt, but it also includes the mirror image of one of the blocks. 

I just used fabric from my stash on this one.  I like the fabric, but the pieces are so small that the butterflies on the fabric doesn't really show up that well.  It probably would have been better in different fabric, but I used what I had.  The fabric that I have for the backing, also from my stash, is multicolored with butterflies on it.  I'm not sure yet how I want to quilt it.

February block - guild quilt

This is my Santa face block for our guild sampler project.  For right now, his eyes are just dots, but they will eventually be buttons.  I'm not adding any embellishments until after it is quilted.

The original pattern that we were given was assembled as 16 squares in a 4 x 4 configuration, but I redrafted it so that it had fewer unnecessary seams.  I had heard that several of the guild members were having trouble with one of the sections (the square where there was background, hat, and hat trim all coming together in one square) so I decided to avoid the problem all together.  Other than the fact that it has fewer seams, the finished block looks the same as the original.

Ellie Ann quilt

When I first saw this fabric, I fell in love with it, but it has given me fits as to what to do with it.  When I bought it, I had a plan of exactly what I was going to do with it.  However, once I had the layer cake in hand, I didn't think it would look right in that pattern, so I went back to the drawing board.

I decided to go with fence rail blocks, but then I wasn't sure about the layout.  For me, the issue is that the variety of colors in the collection are not equal, so it makes it hard to design around.  I think that I'm going to go with the general layout pictured above.  It is mostly symmetrical, so I think it works.  I also considered a layout where the colors moved diagonally across the quilt, but my kids thought the symmetrical layout was better.

Now I need to sew it together and order some fabric for the borders.