Monday, April 27, 2020

Sunflowers

Again, I'm behind the times on posting.  I finished this quilt on April 17 and mailed it to it's recipient a week ago.  It is a graduation gift for a friend who is graduating from the University of Alabama this semester.  I had to mail it because the actual graduation ceremony has been cancelled due to COVID-19 social distancing and gathering size limits. 

Kudos to the US Postal Service.  I mailed it on Monday and she received it the next day, which really surprised me (She lives 3 hours away).  And I'm happy to report that she seems to really like the quilt.  She's so thoughtful.  She already sent me a thank you card.

Half-square Triangle quilt

I bought the fabric to make this half-square triangle quilt back in 2014.  The quilt shoppe had gotten in some charm packs of "Fancy" (by Lily Ashbury for Moda fabrics) and I bought one.  She was anticipating getting some yardage that never came, so I ordered some yardage of the blue bandana-looking fabric for the border and some polka-dot fabric ("My Sunshine" by Zoe Pearn for Riley Blake fabric) to be the background fabric from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I knew exactly what I wanted to make, but for some reason I would never get around to making it, but now I have.  I actually finished the top on April 13, but I just haven't been inspired to set down and document things. 

I had originally planned to quilt this myself and use the polka dot fabric that is used in the half-square triangles as the backing fabric.  I'm not 100% sure that I'm still going to go that route.  If I have it long-arm quilted I'll definitely need more fabric.  I might need more either way.  I think it is pretty touch-and-go in that area.  Once the quilt shoppe is open for in-person shopping I may have to see if they have something that will work for alternate backing. But for now I'm happy that it is a completed quilt top instead of a box full of fabric.

The pattern is available here for free.  Enjoy.

Monday, April 06, 2020

Fabric Face Masks

One of the ladies in my quilt guild works at a nearby hospital.  She requested that our guild make fabric face masks for use at the hospital.  I'm honestly not sure if it is for the staff or the patients, but either way, I'm happy to help any way I can.  Mostly I've tried to do my part by staying home and sheltering in place, but it's nice to have some little way of helping that feels tangible.  I hope that these will actually do some good.  It is so hard to know.

Four Corners Quilt top

I made this quilt top about a week and a half ago, but I'm just getting around to posting a picture of it.  It is a pattern that I designed a few years ago, but never got around to making.  I had written out directions for it and bought fabric, but I just hadn't sat down and sewed it together yet.  But now I have.

I didn't really care much for the way I had written the directions, and there were only a couple of illustrations, so the directions will need some work before they get published (if they ever do).  But I like how the top turned out.  It is made with Frolic! fabric from Me and My Sister by Moda.  The line is a couple years old now, so it's probably not readily available anymore.  But it uses 4 fat quarters for the four corners and one yard for the background fabric.  The finished quilt will be 40 inches square.  That seems like a nice sized baby quilt.