Merry Christmas 2018 quilt

Merry Christmas 2018 is all that I put on this quilt's label.  Since it is being donated to the Salvation Army I didn't want to put my name on the label.  That's probably silly, but I don't know if the kids think these gifts come from Santa Claus or what, so I just went with Merry Christmas and the year.  I used a simple zig-zag stitch to turn the binding.  I wouldn't want to do all of my quilt binding this way, but I think it turned out nice, and it was soooo much faster than doing it by hand.  I would have felt rushed trying to get it finished before Sunday.

I really hope that the child who gets this quilt will like it.  It is such a simple quilt, but when I was in middle school I loved hot pink!  I really like the way that the quilt feels too.  The diagonal quilting makes for crossed quilting lines every 4-1/4 inches.  That seems like a really good distance to give the quilt body, but also be supple and soft.  I'm really irrationally happy with how it turned out. 

Charitable Giving

This year at Christmas my church is collecting gifts for the Salvation Army.  One of the requested items was blankets, so I decided that I would make a quick and easy quilt.  Here is a picture of the finished top.  It is made completely from my stash.  I liked the idea of using 6 inch (finished) orphan blocks mixed in with print fabric squares.  I didn't have any orphan blocks that matched the color scheme I was going with, so I made a few simple blocks to jazz it up a little bit.  The top is 42-1/2 x 54-1/2 inches.

I plan to machine quilt it myself on my home sewing machine using diagonal line edge to edge quilting.  That way there won't be any threads to bury, unless I run out of bobbin mid-seam!  I'm also planning to machine stitch the binding, which I don't usually do, but there is limited time to get it finished, so I figure that's the safest option at this point.

Foxy Baby Quilt

I finished the burying of threads and binding on this quilt a few days ago, and I realized that I hadn't taken a picture of it or posted about it yet.  It's for my soon-to-be granddaughter.  It doesn't actually have a name yet, because she doesn't have a name yet.  She's due in 4 weeks and her parents haven't settled on a name yet.  Once they do, I'll come up with a name for the quilt that includes her name.  The label will have to wait, too, because I will put her birth date on it.  Other than those things, it's done now.  Yay!

Broken Shells

Today I finished this quilt top.  I'm calling it Broken Shells because it is made with Broken Dishes blocks, but I wanted it to have a beachy feel to it.  It is intentionally low contrast with a sand colored background and light pastel batiks for the blocks.  The lighting isn't great in this picture, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.  It's just want I had imagined when I was designing it. 

Here is different picture with slightly better lighting, but not as good an angle and a lot more junk.

The quilt finishes 58 inches square, so it should make a nice quilt to decorate the back of my sofa in the summertime.

Mermaid Whirlpool

Yesterday I finished this quilt top that I designed for my granddaughter, Lilah.  When I saw the fabric with the mermaids on it in the quilt shop it made me think of Lilah, because she loves water so much. 

I've been wanting to do a simple quilt like this for some time now.  The idea was to use a large piece of fabric on top, a smaller cut of fabric on the bottom, and then have a single row of pieced blocks in between the two.  I decided to go with the snail's trail block because it reminds me of an ocean wave (and the symbol for a hurricane, actually).  I like the way that the spiraling effect of the snail's trail block makes it look like the fabric from the top, bottom, and sides are being pulled in like a whirlpool. 

I just wish that I had made the border just a couple of inches wider.  I felt like 48 inches by 58 inches was a good size for a sofa throw, but I think I would have liked the look of a 6 inch border better than the look of the 4 inch border.  And 52 x 62 would have worked just as well.  I'll keep that in mind if I do one again in the future.

Guild Mystery Quilt - Sisters Ten Sampler quilt

Here is my mystery quilt top all put together by the instructions we were given.  It is the Sisters Ten Sampler quilt.  I actually knew what it was going to look like from the beginning, and I thought I would be okay with it, but it turns out that I really don't like it now that it's done.  It looks fine in pictures, but in person there is too much blank space for a quilt of this size.  When you lay it on a bed, almost all the piecing hangs off the edges or would be under the pillows.

As you can see in this picture, the blocks on the top row would be under the pillows, and the cat almost covers the ones that would be visible on top of the bed in that section.  The angle of the camera doesn't show much of the blocks at the bottom, but again it would just be three with the others hanging off.  It leaves A LOT of blank space on the top of the bed.  Not really my idea of a successful quilt design.

My plan is to show it to the group "as is" and then reuse the blocks in a different configuration for my final quilt.  I really hate the idea of spending almost a whole year on a quilt that I'm then not happy with and have no use for.

Headstone Flowers

I bought some headstone saddles at Michael's and arranged flowers for my grandparents' graves.  On my father's side, both grandparents have passed.  On my mother's side, only my grandfather has passed.  But in both cases they have a common tombstone, so I made two arrangements.

I had them all arranged and then redid them.  In the original arrangement, the foam base was exposed.  In this arrangement I tried to use the flowers to hide the base.  I feel like I was more successful with one than the other, but it's not too bad for a first attempt.  My plan is to make another set for Christmas.

These flowers were very expensive because I bought them at Michael's.  Even on clearance they were expensive.  I plan to check Walmart and the dollar stores for artificial flowers before I arrange any more.

Here are pictures of them in place on the headstones.

Candy and Cobwebs

I finally got the binding finished on my Spiders and Webs quilt.  I was hoping to finish it yesterday so that it could be out a full week before Halloween, but it wasn't meant to be.  At least it's done and on display now.

I decided to name this one "Candy and Cobwebs", because some of the fabric has candy corn on it and makes a spider web design.  It, too, still needs a label.  At some point soon I really need to get caught up in the department.

Halloween Heads quilt finished!

One down, one to go!  As you may remember, I made two quilt tops that are Halloween themed this year.  Today I finished binding the first one.  I started with the smaller of the two in order to be able to finish one as quickly as possible.  I'm putting off making and attaching a label on this one (like in my last post) so I can focus on finishing the other one before Halloween, too.

I'm really happy with how it turned out.  The machine quilting is an all-over scattered bats design done in a light gray.  The binding fabric is orange and black.  I think it makes a nice accent to the finished quilt.

Scrappy Hearts

This quilt was also finished on our last trip to New Jersey (Sept. 5), and I didn't take a picture or post about it either.  I've just had too many irons in the fire lately (plus I need a new iron, but that's another story), I guess.  It also still needs a label, and this one also needs an official name.

For the moment I'm calling it Scrappy Hearts, but I don't know if it will be the pattern name or the quilt name.  And I don't know if I would even write up this pattern.  The heart pattern is the same heart from my Heart Strings pattern, but this time with scraps instead of a jelly roll, and obviously in a different configuration.  Hopefully it will at least get a label made for it soon.  I'd hate to forget!

Update: I decided to name this one Piece of My Heart, after the Janis Joplin song.

Felina

I actually finished the binding on this quilt over a month ago (Aug. 29), while we were on our latest trip to New Jersey, but I forgot to post a picture of it.  It is actually still waiting on a label because I have other hand sewing that is getting priority over it, but I wanted to go ahead and post about it before it gets any farther away from it's "finished" date.

The pattern is called Latin Lady, and I was having trouble coming up with a name for the quilt.  One of my sons suggested the name "Felina" - the name of the lady love in the old song El Paso.  We also used to have a cat by that name.  I decided to go with it.  It's as good as any other name, I guess, and Felina was a Latina Lady.

Mischievous Wife top finished - really this time

I ordered some dark, batik, multicolored fabric to add as a border to my Mischievous Wife quilt.  I decided against adding a white inner border.  I'm still not loving it, but the dark border adds a nice frame to it.  I wish it wasn't quite so dark, but hey, you take what you can get. 

The quilt top finishes at 72 x 80 inches, so it's a fairly big quilt.  I have no idea what will become of it once it's quilted and finished.  I can't really imagine using it anywhere.  Maybe one of my granddaughters will like it and want it some day.  Who knows.

Mystery Quilt Blocks 10

At our last guild meeting we got the instructions for the last set of blocks in our mystery quilt.  I sewed these together this afternoon.  Nothing too difficult.  The patches that make up the plus sign in the middle are all rectangles, except in the very center, but that was the only "tricky" thing about it.

I will miss next month's meeting because I will be out of town, but I'll be ready to sew it all together when I get the instructions once I'm back home!

Texas Treasure Baby Quilt

Today I finished the quilt top for my forthcoming granddaughter, due in December.  I tried to match the colors and theme that they are using in the nursery.  Below is a picture my daughter sent me of the decorations they have bought so far.  It may not be exact, but hopefully it's close enough.

I designed this quilt based on the Texas Treasure block found in the Better Homes & Gardens 501 Quilt Blocks book.  That's the only place I've been able to find this block, and in the book it is a 4 inch block.  Obviously I enlarged it.  I also added a couple of borders.  The quilt is 38 inches square.  I've actually made a similar quilt top in the past, but the focus fabric had bigger pictures, so it is done in a different scale and doesn't have the outer border.

This quilt doesn't really fit with my goals for this year, because I bought the fabric this year and I had already made a quilt from this design before, but I figure gifts for grandbabies are sufficient reasons to deviate from the program.  Especially since this grandbaby wasn't even conceived yet when I set my goals for the year.

Whole Wheat Bread

In addition to all the sewing I did today, I also baked a loaf of whole wheat bread!  I got the recipe from King Arthur Flour's website.  I haven't tried it yet, so I have no idea how it actually turned out.  It smelled really good while it was cooking, though.  I used the maple syrup option in the ingredients, so it will theoretically have a hint of maple to the taste.  Fingers crossed!

The plan for the bread, or at least part of it, is to make avocado toast with a fried egg for breakfast in the morning.  It sounds yummy.  Hopefully it actually will be.

Self-binding Baby Blanket

Today I made a blanket for my granddaughter that is due to be born in December.  I followed the tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company, and I ordered the fabric from there as well.  Thanks to a screw-up with the USPS it took a side trip to Hawaii before the fabric made it to me, but at least I got it.  The fabric is just well traveled, that's all.  And I guess it has more traveling to do, because the baby will be born in Washington state.  Oh the places we will go...

Mischievous Wife Section 1 and Done!

I decided not to wait any longer to finish my Mischievous Wife quilt.  Several other members who are actually doing the Gypsy Wife quilt have already finished and shown their completed tops, so I figured that I might as well too.  I mean, what's the point in being Mischievous if you can't break a few rules, right?  So above is my finished Section 1 and below is my completed quilt top.

I say it's completed, but I might still add a border.  I didn't originally intend for it to have a border, but it might need one.  I'll have to see if I can find fabric that I like for the border or not.  I could maybe see a narrow, white inner border and then a multi-color, wider outer border.  We'll see.

Mischievous Wife - Section 2

We are finally coming into the home stretch on this year's Moda project.  The only section left after this one is Section 1, and for me that is strips and a 6 inch square that add up to a 12 inch section.  I may even go ahead and do that one tomorrow.  I just want it all done!

But for now, here is Section 2.  It consists of one 12 inch Pershing block, two 4 inch square-in-a-square blocks, and strips.  The section adds up to 24 inches square.  The Pershing block went together pretty easily, so I was happy about that.  I had one little screw-up sewing the section above the Pershing block together and had to take out a couple of seams, but at least I noticed it before it was all done.

Nursing Aides

My daughter is expecting a baby in December.  She is planning to breastfeed and asked me to make her something called Nurselets.  I had never heard of them before, but she sent me a link to what they look like.  They were really easy to make.  I just used 2-1/2 inch strips of fabric, heavy interfacing, and sew-in Velcro.  The idea is that they hold your shirt up out of baby's face while she's nursing.  When not in use, you can wear them around your wrist.  Pretty cool little invention.

Mystery Quilt blocks 8 and 9

 Blocks 8

Blocks 9

Last month we were given directions for 2 sets of blocks instead of just one.  The original plan was to get directions for a set of blocks each month January thru October, and then get the directions for putting the quilt together in November.  However, the project leader decided that it would be a good idea to finish up a month early, so that maybe we would be finished with it before the holidays.  We will at least have the option to be finished before then, anyways.

I'm pretty happy with how the blocks turned out.  I really like the block 8 with the fussy-cut flower in the center.  Block 8 took more time than block 9, but I'm not exactly sure why.  Probably just more pieces and smaller pieces I'd guess.

One more set of blocks and this one will be ready to sew together.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it all looks in the end.

HST Around the World in Tea House Plum

Today I finished the top for my Half Square Triangles Around the World quilt. It is a pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Company that I got from the Summer volume of Block Magazine.  I really don't like it as much as the one pictured in the pattern.  The fabric that I used was just a bit busier than what they used in the one pictured, and the busyness bothers me some.  I made the quilt symmetrical to try to minimize the busyness, but it only went so far.  Also, I wish the border stood out more.  Again, it's because of the busyness that it blends in as much as it does.

I was using a layer cake and yardage that I bought 4 years ago, so I just used what I had.  I guess I could look for a different fabric for the border, but at this point I think I'm just going to call it done and have it quilted.  I imagine it will be a quilt that I will use for snuggling more that for decoration, so it's all good.

Afterthought: I might look for a less busy fabric to add to it for a second border.  That might calm it down a little bit. 

Spider Web table topper finished!

My little Spider Web table topper is all quilted, bound, and ready for Halloween!  Unfortunately that's still a couple of months away. 

It's not that I'm a huge Halloween fan or anything.  It's just that here in southeast Alabama, school is starting back and it seems like summer should be ending.  However, around here summer is like that friend that doesn't know when it's time to leave and overstays it's welcome.  Summer would be nice if it wasn't quite so hot and humid and only lasted 3 months, but that's not the case here.  When I get to actually put this little guy out for a seasonal decoration I'll probably still be wearing short and tank tops or short sleeves, just like I am today. *sigh*

Can you tell that I'm ready for fall?

Spider Web table topper

When I made the Spiders and Webs quilt I had some triangles left over.  The original pattern said to use the leftover pieces to make a web to use on the back of the quilt, but I didn't want to use mine there.  I decided that I could add a strip of black fabric to the top and bottom and make it into a neat little (well, about 19 inches) square.  As it turns out, it is just the perfect size for the top of my living room end tables, so it will ultimately be a cat napping spot I'm sure. LOL!

My plan is to quilt it as a trial run for deciding if I want to quilt the quilt myself or have it long arm quilted.

Halloween Heads backing

As promised, the backing for my Halloween Heads quilt.  It is made from the left over jelly roll strips that I didn't use on the front of the quilt, and two yards of yardage.  The yardage is from the same fabric line as the jelly roll and it has lightning bolts all over it. 

I wanted something with a black background to be in keeping with the background fabric on the front of the quilt.  Of the fabrics that I could find to order, this was the least busy fabric with a black background.  I did find one store with the green grunge fabric from this line, but I really didn't want green for the back. 

I'm happy with how it looks at this point.  Hopefully it will look nice once it is quilted.

Halloween Heads quilt

My working title for this quilt is Halloween Heads because the focus is obviously Halloween related heads or faces, and head alliterates.  It is made with an Eerie jellyroll from Basic Grey fabrics.  I had to add some yardage in order to get grunge fabric for all the faces and for the background fabric.  Everything is cut from 2-1/2 inch strips though.

The back of the quilt is going to be yardage (not cut into 2-1/2 strips) and the remainder of the 2-1/2 inch strips cut into 10-1/2 inch pieces and stacked.  It will be 3 columns of yardage and 2 columns of strips.  I'll post of picture of it once it's finished, but I had to order the yardage for it.  I'm happy I could find any to order since the fabric line is 4 years old!

Mischievous Wife - Section 7

Today I did my assignment for my Moda class that is due August 15th.  This is section 7.  We had previously skipped over section 7 and are now coming back to it.  Mine, as usual, is much simpler than everyone else's.  Theirs had more blocks and a couple of partial seams.  Mine was just 2 blocks and no partial seams.  Still very happy with my choice to do my own thing here.  Also still looking forward to being finished with the project.

Spiders and Webs quilt

Today I finished making this quilt top.  It is made from a tutorial at Moda Bake Shop called Spiders and Webs.  I didn't follow the "recipe" exactly though.  The original quilt was designed using a jelly roll of Trick-or-Treat by Deb Strain, and the directions given are specific to the strips found in that jelly roll.  That made it a little tricky to translate into different fabric simply because it says things like "Separate the orange candy corn to the side for the binding." but doesn't tell you how many strips that actually was.  She then says to sew the remaining strips together into sets of four and "You will have several lovely rectangles!!"  Again, only helpful if you have an actual number.  She did say how many triangles you needed to cut, so I was able to figure it out, but it was more work than it should have been to follow a pattern.

I had originally purchased a jelly roll of similarly colored fabrics to use to make the quilt, but I decided that I wanted mine to be less scrappy than a jelly roll quilt.  I decided to use the jelly roll for a different quilt and I bought yardage and cut my own 2.5 inch strips for this quilt.  I also cut my borders an inch wider than the original.  Other than that, the quilt it pretty much the same.

The other way that I varied from the "recipe" was that I bought a Creative Grids 60 degree triangle ruler/template to cut my triangles (She explained how to cut them with your 60 degree mark on your straight ruler).  I really liked using the template.  This was my first equilateral triangle quilt and I was a little nervous about sewing it together.  But having the blunted corner on the template made it so much easier.  I used it to trim all three corners on the triangles and it made lining up the pieces a breeze.  In fact, I'm already planning another equilateral triangle to quilt so that I can use it again.

I really had a lot of fun making this quilt.  It's actually the first project that I've genuinely enjoyed working on in a long time.  And I'm probably irrationally happy about how it turned out, but I really do like it a lot.

Jack-o-lantern block

I've been working on designing a Halloween quilt that will use a jelly roll that I've had for several years now.  The plan is to include a jack-o-lantern, a ghost, and a monster/ghoul thing.  I designed this jack-o-lantern block (the one on top) and pieced a sample to try out the design.  I like the way that it turned out, but the piecing is a little tricky to make the points at the bottom of the mouth line up properly. 

In the bottom picture I just covered up the bottom points to see how it would look without them.  I really think it looks fine without them and it would be MUCH easier to piece, so I think I will probably use the bottom design in the actual quilt. 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this practice block.  For now it goes in the orphan block pile.

Mystery quilt - Block #7

Here are my latest two blocks for our guild mystery quilt.  I like the block on the left the best, but I like them both.  Originally I had a lighter fabric in the center of the block on the right, but it looked out of place.  I think it looks better this way.

Two Fabric Bargello quilt

I've been wanting to make a two fabric bargello quilt ever since I first saw one on Pinterest and I finally got the opportunity.  My local quilt shop got in some really nice ombre fabrics, and even though I'm not really supposed to be starting new projects from new fabrics, I bought some. 

But in an effort to keep it from being yet another UFO, I plowed straight ahead and made the quilt top.  My intention is to drop it off to be quilted this month.  I still need to buy backing fabric first.  I considered buying some when I bought the fabric for the top, but I wasn't 100% sure how much I  needed because I hadn't finalized my design yet. 

While there is a pattern available for purchase online - designed by Susie Weaver - I wanted to figure out how to do it on my own and make my own design.  (It is really similar to her Lightning Bolt layout, but not exactly the same.)  I figured it out on paper first.  Then I decided that I didn't want my strips to be quite as small as I originally figured.  Then I redesigned it on the computer. 

Here are my strips all cut, laid out, and ready to sew.  It's amazing how much width you lose by sewing it together.  (Of course, I allowed for that, but it's still amazing to see the difference.)  It's also interesting to see how different it looks with the borders added. 

You may also notice in the picture above that I carefully numbered all of my strips.  I didn't remove any of the numbers until the center was completely sewn together.  Also, to keep it from going wonky, I sewed the strips together in alternate directions.  First I sewed together pairs, sewing from top to bottom.  Then I sewed the pairs together from bottom to top.  It came out really smooth and straight that way.

Mischievous Wife quilt - Sections 3 & 4

This month our instructions were to do both section 3 & 4 of the Gypsy Wife quilt.  Obviously, I'm not doing Gypsy Wife but I still did both sections 3 & 4.  There are only 3 more sections left to be done - sections 1, 2, and 7.  I'm looking forward to getting finished with this one too.  But I know I'm glad that I didn't actually do the Gypsy Wife quilt.  I'd be totally hating life at this point if I had.

Mystery quilt - Block #6

I missed my last quilt guild meeting, but I still got the directions for the next set of blocks.  Again, it is a fairly simple and straight-forward traditional block.  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.  I'm still really looking forward to this project being over, though. I believe we have 4 more sets of directions yet to come.  I hope it looks nice when it's finished. 

Dragonfly Carnival

This is the other quilt that I finished binding on our New Jersey trip.  I finished this one on the drive home (June 15).  It is made from fabric that I bought on our last summer trip to New Jersey.  The fabric line is called Dance of the Dragonflies, and the main motif is, of course, dragonflies.

I also had trouble coming up with a name for this one.  Clearly I haven't been too inspired in the naming department lately.  I asked my son and my husband for help in the naming process.  My son said that the colors of the quilt made him think of Mardi Gras.  I decided to go with Dragonfly Carnival, since Mardi Gras is the culmination of Carnival season.

Dream Baby

I do a lot of hand sewing, specifically turning quilt binding, when my husband and I take long car trips (defined as an hour or longer).  We recent drove to New Jersey and back to visit his mother, so I had plenty of time to finish up some projects.  I finished the binding on this quilt on the way up to New Jersey (June 6th).

I had trouble coming up with a name for this one.  It is a baby quilt made from the Happy Flappers fabric line.  The most prominent motifs in the fabric are flowers and owls.  At first my instinct was to go with something owl-related for the name - something with Hoot or Who in it.  But I decided to go with a much more subtle reference. 

I often name quilts after songs, so I started looking at songs recorded by Hootie and the Blowfish.  I considered "Not even the Trees", which is a Hootie and the Blowfish original, but decided against it in favor of "Dream Baby".  It's originally a Roy Orbison song, but Hootie and the Blowfish covered it on their Scattered, Smothered, and Covered album, so in my book it counts.  Plus, for a baby quilt, I thought it was appropriate.

Mystery Quilt - Block 5

These are my two quilt blocks for the guild mystery quilt for this month.  I won't actually be able to attend the meeting next week, but at least I have the blocks finished! 

I'll be happy when the whole project is finished.  I'm really starting to wish that I had used this fat quarter bundle for a different project.  I think part of the problem is that I'm getting tired to working in monochrome on a year-long project.  Or maybe I'm just tired of year-long projects. . .

Watercolor Bluebird

I decided to try again with my watercolor paints.  I am a lot happier with the results this time.  It's still far from perfect, of course, but I think I'm getting more of a feel for the process.  My favorite part of the painting is actually the branch and the feet.

Inside the Greenhouse

Today I attached the label to last year's Moda project quilt.  I'm calling it "Inside the Greenhouse".  The original quilt had a greenhouse in the center, but I decided  not to make the whole quilt.  I decided that mine was just the plants, in pots, waiting in the greenhouse to be planted.  And, of course, the cat knocked over one of the plants.  What else would she do. . .

And speaking of cats, it seems like the best way to get the attention of cats, shy of giving them food, is to lay a quilt on the floor to try to take a picture of it. 

I thought one was asleep and I had no idea where the other one was until I laid the quilt on the floor.  Then they both showed up before I could even pull out my phone and take a picture.  Thus the transition to the wall-based photo above.  LOL!