Apple Row

This is my finished row for the apple quilt in our guild row swap. It is 6 blocks that finish 6 inches each. The block is a King's Crown block with apple fabric in the center and in the corners. The green fabric is the "must use" fabric for this quilt. I thought that the red fabric was a good compliment to the green and a good match to the red in the center apple fabric. I hope she likes it. Below is a picture of my row with the original row.

Kitty in a pumpkin

I made this little block this evening after dinner.  It will finish 6 inches square.  I found the pattern at http://www.caroldoak.com/free-quilt-patterns.php and I thought it was irresistible.  I didn't actually download the pattern, and I'm not even sure what size block the pattern there makes.  I just looked at the picture and drafted out the foundation pieces from that.  I'm planning to make a Halloween wall hanging with several different pumpkin blocks arranged in a nine-patch layout.  This is the first one and I'm thinking it will probably go right in the center of the nine-patch.

Daffodil block

This is a daffodil block that I made for a group project my guild is working on.  It measures 9 1/2 inches square (to finish 9 inches square).  The pattern is a modification of a block from a Quiltmaker quilt, "Daffodils" from the Mar/Apr 2001 issue.  The blocks in that quilt range in size from 6" x 10" to 6" x 14".  I had to scale it down, which meant redrafting the foundations to match the new size.  I also left out the center applique circle and just made a (proportionally) larger yo-yo.  I made the yo-yo the traditional way,  not the way described in the pattern instructions. 

Tree of Life Row

I finally got my row for the row swap finished.  As you can see, it is 3 Tree of Life blocks set on point using setting triangles in a fall leaf fabric.  It technically measures a little wider than 36 1/2 inches, because I am not super consistent with my 1/4 seam, but it should be fine.  I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

I hope it doesn't take me as long to do the rows for other people's quilts as it did for me to do mine.  Anyway, it should be fun and I'm really looking forward to seeing what everybody's rows look like on Tuesday.

Tree of Life block

My guild is starting a row swap next month and I chose "fall" for my theme.  Today I worked on the first step of my row for my row swap quilt.  I really went around and around in my head on what to do for my row.  I thought about leaves, and I thought about pumpkins, but I finally decided to go with trees.  This is my first tree, which has green and yellow leaves on the tree.  I will need to make 2 more tree blocks to complete my row.  The plan is to make one tree that has yellow and orange "leaves" and one that has orange and red "leaves".  To set the trees on point I plan to put fall leaf fabric in corners to square it up.  I haven't decided if I'm going to use the same fabric to square up all three blocks or if I'm going to mix and match.  But at least I have a start.

The tree block itself finishes 8 inches, but once I put the corners on to set it on point it will finish out at 12 inches square.  Three of them will make a 36 inch row, which is what the row is supposed to be.

Minecraft Zombie Pillow

Here is the second installment of my Minecraft pillow trio, the Zombie face. It is not quite as striking as the Creeper face, but it still reads like a Minecraft Zombie to me.  Below is a picture of the actual face from the minecraft wiki.

Below is a picture of the face on my "design wall", which is actually just some quilt batting pinned to the wall. The zombie face was actually much more difficult to design than I thought it would be. The different colors and shades of green were so hard to choose between. I bought several colors of green and cut out way more 2 inch squares than I needed, but I think it finally turned out pretty good. It makes me wonder if the skeleton is worth trying. I'll have to give it some serious thought before I dive into it.

Creeper Pillow

This is the first in a series of pillows that I plan to make.  If you are familiar with the computer video game Minecraft, I'm sure you will recognize the iconic Creeper face.  I also plan to make a Zombie face and a Skeleton face pillow to complete the set.  The graphics of the game are intentionally highly pixelated, so it translates very well to quilting/sewing.

The pillow is 14 inches square.  The face itself is a 12 inch square and a 1 inch border, of the pillow's back fabric, was added all the way around the face.

So far the Creeper pillow has been a big hit with my three sons.  But I must confess, the pillows were actually my idea.  All those pixels were just begging to become a quilt square.

This is a picture of the creeper face it is based on in case you aren't familiar with the game.

Bow Tie Cat Pillow

This is a little throw pillow that I made for the living room. I have made a few pillow covers for this pillow insert that are seasonal, but I wanted one that could be used for those times of year when I don't have a seasonal cover to match. The pillow is 14 inches square. The cat square in the center is a 12 inch square. I made the block from a combination of two cat blocks that I had in a quilting book, "501 Quilt Blocks".  The basic shape of the cat came from one pattern and the face came from a different one.  The back of the pillow is a split back to easily remove the pillow insert.

Pillowcases

My latest project was inspired by Memorial Day. I wanted to do something for soldiers/veterans on Memorial Day to celebrate the spirit of the day. I decided to make some pillowcases (pattern from Quiltmaker July/Aug '06) to be donated. I woman in my quilt guild is collecting them to donate to either active soldier or veteran, I'm not sure which. I didn't get too far into the process on Memorial Day proper. I bought and washed the fabric that day. I've worked on them when I had time between then and now. I just finished them today (with much complaining from my sewing machine). The guild meets tomorrow so they should be ready to donate then.

Patchwork Pillow

This is a pillow that I made to donate to a silent auction. The pillow is 12 inches square and features a "Crazy Ann" block from the 1930s. The pillow ended up going to a little girl who fell in love with it as soon as she saw it. Her mom bid on it for her. I'm glad that it went to someone who would really be happy to have it.

Pinwheel Pin Cushion

This is a little pin cushion that I made the other day (probably 2 weeks ago at this point).  I got the pattern at my monthly quilt guild meeting.  I thought it would be a fun little quick project.  It was pretty quick to make, but it was a little more difficult than it looks.  The center pinwheel is actually somewhat dimensional, as it is formed by layering a folded 2 inch square on top of another 2 inch square. 
That creates a lot of bulk in that center seam.  In fact, it was so difficult to sew through that I broke the needle on my sewing machine and had to sew the very center of the pin cushion top by hand.  I think it turned out really cute though.  I like the fabric and I love that color of blue.

Valentine

This is the valentine that I made for my husband for Valentine's Day. I designed it myself. I'm a little disappointed in how the binding turned out. It didn't fully cover the 1/4 inch that it was supposed to, so the hearts ended up a little misshapen in places. But my hubby was happy with it. He was actually quite surprised.

The finished size was about 4x6. It is machine pieced, using paper piecing, and machine quilted. I also made the envelope, which is the red fabric that the card is laying on in the picture.

Snowmen on Parade

This is my most recent project. I finished it last night. My husband actually suggested the name, "Snowmen on Parade". When I was describing it to him, I said that it wasn't really made of blocks, it was just strips of snowman fabric. Then he said, "oh, so it just snowmen on parade." I thought that would be a cute name for it, so I went with it.

The quilt is machine pieced and hand quilted in simple straight lines. The batting is a high loft batting, so the quilting is kind of far apart, but within the manufacturers recommendations (between 2" and 4"). The finished size is 36 x 42.5 inches.

I made it to donate to Project Linus for make a blanket day. I need to get it in the mail on Monday. Although it doesn't really matter too much on the timing. Project Linus accepts blankets year round, if I'm not mistaken.

Crocheted Afghan

This is a baby afghan that I crocheted several months ago. I forgot to take a picture of it when I finished it. It is made by simply chaining a long row then making a row of double crochets back into that chain. Then you chain up to the next row and make another row of double crochets. Then you just repeat until it is as long as you want it to be. It is made from Bernat Baby's Breath yarn. The finished afghan is 29 inches by 34 inches. I entered it in the Pike County Fair, too, and it also won a blue ribbon.

Froggie in the Tulips

I finished this quilt just in time to enter it in the Pike County Fair. I didn't even take a picture of it before I entered it. I just picked it up from the fair today and it won a blue ribbon.

I found the frog and tulip fabric at the quilt shop and I just fell in love with it. I decided to put tulip blocks in the corners and a frog block in the center of a large nine patch design. I didn't have a frog pattern so a drafted one based on a picture of the frog block from the "by the pond" pattern that Quiltmaker published several years ago before I started subscribing. The frog block is paper pieced and so are the stem and leaf sections of the tulip blocks. The quilt finished 36 inches square and is machine pieced and hand quilted. The eyes of the frog are large buttons that I sewed onto the finished quilt.

Charity Quilt

I just finished this one today. The blocks are printed pillow panels and the sashing is 4 inch strips of a coordinating fabric. The cornerstones are cut from the border strips on the edges of the pillow panel fabric. It's finished size is 44 x 64 inches.

It was done completely on the machine, which is extremely unusual for me. The machine that I have has a walking foot, but it doesn't work very well, so I seldom use it. However, the blankets are due this Sunday and I really wanted to make a quilt to donate. I knew that I didn't have time to hand quilt it and I was afraid that I wouldn't have time to hand turn the binding, so I just did it all by machine. It will be donated to the child advocacy center along with the fleece blankets featured in the post below.

Fleece Blankets!

My project this summer has been to make fleece blankets. The women's group at my church decided to make blankets to donate to the Child Advocacy Center. Walmart had their fleece marked down so I bought a whole bunch and started making blankets. There are ten blankets in all. Six of them have a fringed hem and four of them have a braided hem. I was going to do it 5 & 5, but I accidentally cut the sixth one with a 3 inch cut (to make the fringe) instead of a 2 inch cut (to make the braid). No big deal either way. I think both ways looks nice.

Sisters Quilt Show

I actually got a chance to go to the annual outdoor quilt show in Sisters, Oregon this year. This is a picture of me with my quilt. It is the same quilt that is featured in this post. I was afraid that we were never going to find it. There were so many beautiful quilts there. We finally found mine hanging on a house close to the edge of town. It didn't sell, but it was fun to have a quilt in the show. Maybe next year I'll enter one of the contests. We'll see.

The Finished Product

I finally finished the quilt in the post below. I actually finished it several days ago (April 5th, I think), but have just gotten around to posting the pictures. The quilt finished 40 inches square. It was machine pieced and hand quilted in a house top motif. I decided to call it "Jungle Babies" because of the focus fabric.

Baby Quilt in Progress

This is my current project in progress (in the quilting frame). It is a baby quilt for my cousin and his wife's new baby that is due this month. I had to make it gender neutral because they are not finding out the sex of the baby ahead of time. She said she was doing the nursery in elephants so I thought these baby jungle animals would be prefect. Green and yellow were as gender neutral as I could think of.

Amongst the Waves

Here is a picture of my most recent finished quilt project. I made it for my youngest son's bed. Below is a picture of him on the bed with the quilt. It was made from a storm at sea pattern. I used the Marti Michell Storm at Sea template set to cut the patches for the diamond blocks, using the 12" block cutting directions. The quilt finished approximately 71" x 95".

My son picked out the fabric; I cut out the patches, pieced the top and sewed on the binding; and my dad hand quilted it. It was multi-generational family project.



We had a little difficulty coming up with a name for the quilt. We wanted something to reflect the wave-like feeling that the pattern creates. At first my son just kept making a "woosh" sound and doing what we called a "crab-walk, jazz-hands hula", which we decided could be the subtitle for the quilt. For the "official" name we decided on "Amongst the Waves", which comes from the title of a song by Pearl Jam.

My First Fabric Postcard

This year I decided to try to entry a quilt in the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon. I noticed that at the quilt show they also have a postcard auction and sale for charity. Anyone can donate fabric postcards to the sale, so I thought I would try my hand at making one to possibly donate. Yesterday morning I sat down and made this little postcard. It was fun and I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt at postcard making. I got the directions from Red Shoe Ramblings. The directions were easy to follow and had great picture illustrations.

Pinwheels in Autumn

I made this quilt using the same pattern I used for my last Project Linus quilt. This time I used deer fabric with a fall theme. The fabric matches my living room furniture very well. This one I'm calling a lap quilt instead of a baby quilt, even though they are the same size. The fabric is a little less juvenile, but it could still work as a toddler quilt.

Here is a close up of the quilting. I quilted it the same way as the Linus quilt: outlining the gold triangles, down the center of the rust border, outlining and going down the center of the print border, and making a grid in the center panel.


I entered the quilt in the Pike County Fair last week, and it won a Blue Ribbon!

Flower Cross Pillow

This is a pillow that I made for the silent auction at the Alabama State Homemakers' Club meeting. (That's not their official name anymore, but I forget what the official name is these days.)

The pillow is 11 inches x 14 inches. The center of the cross is a folded flower. I just quilted in the ditch around the cross and around the border. It has a split back to insert the pillow form. The back of the pillow is made from the floral material that the cross is made from.

I made the pillow from start to finish in about 8 hours.

Up, Up & Away

I actually finished this baby quilt on March 2, but it has taken me this long to get it posted. The photo below is a close up of the quilting.


The balloons are foundation pieced from a pattern I made myself. The large balloons are 5" by 8" and the small balloons are 2.5" by 4".

It was machine pieced and hand quilted. The balloons are quilted in the ditch around the outside of the balloon and then quilted through the balloon to indicate the lines that a hot-air balloon has. To mimic the cloud motif in the background I decided to quilt a seashell pattern. To make the seashell pattern easier to hand quilt, I cut several scallops out of sticky-backed labels (left over from an old political campaign) and stuck them to the quilt, then quilted around them.

It took a long time and it is the most intricately quilted quilt I have made so far. The finished quilt is about 37" by 53".

Update: I entered the quilt in the Pike County Fair last week and it won a Red Ribbon!

Trip Pictures

I've uploaded most of our trip pictures from our trip to New England and Niagara Falls to Webshots. There is a permanent link to my albums over in the side bar, but here is a link to the new album. Here are just a few to get you started. Enjoy.

American Falls at Niagara

Nubble Lighthouse

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse

Getting ready for a trip

We will soon be leaving for our annual summer trip to visit my mother-in-law in New Jersey. Luckily this time we are extending the trip to include a family vacation up to New England and Maine's Acadia National Park. So anyway, I always like to take some hand sewing when I go on long car trips to give me something to do.

This time I'm planning some applique and possibly some hand piecing. I've gotten some fabric ready for an appliqued Little Mittens quilt from an old issue of Quiltmaker (Nov/Dec '00 I believe). I'm thinking I'll use it as my project Linus quilt for next year.

I'm also thinking about taking some fabric along for the Captive Beauty quilt that is in that same issue of Quiltmaker. It has a lot of set in pieces so I thought it would be a good hand piecing project. If I get all the mittens appliqued then I'll move on to the hand piecing. We'll see how it goes.

Fluttering Free

This is my latest finished project.



It is a baby quilt that I made for one of my husband's colleagues who just had a baby. It was her first. She decided to decorate the nursery in pinks and browns. At first I wasn't sure how to approach a pink a brown quilt, but with a lot of help from Melanie at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe, we came up with a pattern and some great fabrics. After I finished sewing the pieced part of the quilt I thought that it needed a little something more, so I decided to add the butterfly applique.

I was having trouble deciding how to quilt it once the top was all finished. My husband suggested the diamond pattern and I thought that would be just perfect. I didn't quilt the straight lines through the butterfly, though. I quilted up to the butterfly and then quilted all the way around it. The quilting really shows up well in the picture, too.

I hope the new mom likes it.

Patriotic Mini Quilt

This is a little patriotic mini quilt that I finished a couple of days ago. I gave it the very unimaginative name of "54-40 or fight". But it seemed appropriate because it is, of course, the name of the block that it is made from, and that was an old presidential campaign slogan back in the day so it seemed patriotic. It is yet another UFO that I've brought out of storage to finish lately. It is a 54-40 or fight block that I added a couple of borders to and quilted. It is machine pieced and hand quilted. It's finished size is about 20 inches square.

The quilt's in the mail

I finally got around to mailing my little quilt (for the quilt swap - see pictures in the post below). I finished it a little while ago, but I was so busy with my son's graduation and college orientation that I just finally made it to the post office to send it.

So anyway, it is in the mail and out of my hands. I hope my partner likes it.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

This is my finished mini quilt for the Spring Blooms Mini Quilt Swap. (The color in the photo doesn't seem quite true, but it was the best I could get.)

The quilting was somewhat improvisational (my husband calls it "jazz quilting"). I couldn't decide on a quilting pattern ahead of time so I just put it in the frame and started quilting. First I quilted the diagonal lines from corner to corner. Then I decided to quilt the center cross. Then I quilted around the inside and outside of the blue inner border. Next I thought that the green strips needed some quilting so I quilted the outside of the strips. Then I thought that the inside needed quilting, too. Then I just kind of echoed the lines of the quilting into the border of the quilt. I think it worked out pretty well.

I hope my partner likes it.

Finished Mini Quilt Top

I have my quilt top finished for the Spring Blooms Mini Quilt Swap, but I haven't decided how I want to quilt it yet. I'm a hand quilter, so I need to decide soon so I'll have time to get it done by the June 21st deadline.

Soccer Balls at Sea

This is my latest UFO that I finally got around to finishing. It is a soccer themed quilt that I plan to use on those cold fall nights at the soccer field while I watch my youngest play soccer.

The quilt is 47 inches wide by 64 inches long. It is made from six 16 inch storm at sea blocks. And surrounded by a border made from soccer ball fabric with appliqued corner stones. The quilt is machine pieced, hand appliqued, and hand quilted.

I've always liked the storm at sea block and I thought that way the block imitates a pieced circle was reminiscent of a soccer ball. I'm not sure that the circle idea shows up as much as I would have liked in the finished product, but I'm happy with it.

A long over-due window cover

At my husband's office he has a long narrow window in this door that he wanted to cover up. A few years ago I started making this fall themed hanging to cover the window, but never could decide how I wanted to quilt it, so I just set it aside.

I finally finished it, back on March 10th, we took it to his office and hung it on the door. I even took a picture of it hanging on the door, but then I forgot to post it here. Yesterday was my middle son's birthday (and of course Mother's Day) so I was going through my camera to make some room for new pictures when I saw the picture in the camera.

So anyway, the long over-due window cover, that was long over-due in the making and in the posting, is finally made and finally posted.

Mini Quilt Swap

I've just joined this mini quilt swap hosted by Quilting Blogger. It sounds like fun and I'm interested to see where the quilt will come from. You can sign up through May 4th. Follow the link above and give it try.

My 2009 Project Linus quilt

I always intend to make a quilt for Project Linus every year. I did good for a while, but then I started back to graduate school and got out of the habit. It was not unusual for me to START a quilt for Project Linus, but I seldom actually finished them. But now I am finished with graduate school and getting settled into a teaching routine, so I have more time. Plus, I've moved into a new house where I have an actual sewing room so I have more space as well. So here is this year's Project Linus quilt - completely finished and ready to deliver.

The material was left over from the last baby quilt that I made (featured in the previous post), but this one is pieced in a different design. Because the messages on the novelty print were so cut up on the last quilt, I wanted to have a larger panel of the material featured in this quilt, so I designed this pattern to showcase the center fabric. This way you can read all of the wonderful messages. I think the design would work well with any large scale novelty print and you could alter it to use different 6 inch blocks for the inner border if it seemed more suited to the fabric design.

This quilt is machine pieced and hand quilted and measures 42 inches by 48 inches.

Shooflies in the Snow

This is a baby quilt that I made for an old friend of mine from high school who just had a baby right before Christmas. I designed the pattern myself. I started with a snowball block then added cornerstones and sashings around the squares. This made a secondary pattern of shooflies emerge from the intersection of the blocks with the sashings. I decided that I had to complete the shooflies around the edges so I added a narrow pieced border, and then I added a 4 inch border all the way around in the same fabric as the centers of the snowball blocks. The snowball blocks are 6 inches square, finished, and the sashing is 2 inches wide, finished. The final quilt is 38 inches square.

It is machine pieced and hand quilted. The snowballs and sashes are outline quilted a quarter of an inch from the seams. And I quilted a sun motif in the center of each snowball block and quilted the border in straight lines two inches from the edge of the quilt.

Sampler quilt squares

A lady that goes to church with my parents is making a sampler quilt and asked all the quilters in the church to make two blocks for it. She is going to donate the quilt or raffle it off or something, I'm not really sure. But anyway, I decided to make a couple of blocks to donate and here they are. I think they turned out rather nice. The one on the left is an Ohio star. I'm not really sure what the name of the other one is.

Pokemon quilt

This is a sofa-sized quilt that I started years ago, I don't even remember how many years at this point. In fact, the child I was originally making it for will be going off to college this fall. However, his younger brother is happy to have it.

It is made from pre-printed pokemon panels with red sashing and blue borders added. The quilting is diagonal lines from corner to corner in the upper and lower squares that extend into the border and chevrons in the middle blocks that also extend out into the border. The backing fabric is white with pokemon all over.

Chocolate Twist Bag

I finally made some pictures of the bag I made almost two weeks ago. You know, it is hard to sell things online if you don't find the time to take pictures of them. LOL!

Oh well, I'm about to go post it for sale at my etsy store. If you are interested, come on by and check it out.

Kim's pillow

I made this pillow for my son's girlfriend as part of her graduation present from the family. The pillow is 14 inches square and is made from a 12 inch "54-40 or fight" block surrounded by a one inch border. The back of the pillow and the binding are the same purple fabric as the squares in the block. It has an envelop opening in the back to insert the pillow-form. Purple and green are her favorite colors and the walls in her room are off white. Plus she loves pillows!

My new etsy shop

I finally decided to try to sell some of the things I make instead of always just giving them away. I opened a shop at etsy.com. Here is a link to the shop if you are interested. I've only got one item listed right now, my cathedral windows wallhanging featured here. But I plan to add more things as I finish them. Hopefully I will have some purses for sale soon. Wish me luck!

My Renaissance Costume

My mother and I made this lovely dress for the Renaissance wedding I went to yesterday at the Georgia Renaissance Festival. It was made from Simplicity pattern 4488 with a few alterations here and there. I may use some of the left over fabric to make a bodice to either sell or have for a future trip to the Faire.

A Wedding Gift

This is a small quilted wall hanging (15 inches square) with foundation pieced hearts set in an alternating pattern with simple 9-patch blocks and surrounded by 3 borders. It is machine pieced and hand quilted. I made it as a wedding gift for a friend of mine from college who is getting married next weekend. It is a Renaissance wedding. My mom and I are currently working on a costume for me to wear to the wedding; it should be fun. I'll post a pic of the dress when it is all finished too.