A Cotton Rose Christmas

I finally finished my guild project quilt.  I had it quilted at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe.  It is an all-over pantograph of poinsettias and holly.  I finished the binding on this one on the way home from our road trip to New Jersey.  I sewed the label on on our trip to Tuscaloosa to move my youngest son into the dorm over the weekend.  Here is a close-up of its label.

Eternally Linked

This is the quilt that I've been working on for my step-daughter and her fiance for a wedding gift.  It is finally all finished.  I had it quilted at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe.  It is an all-over pantograph called "circles."  I finished the binding on a road trip to New Jersey to visit my mother-in-law.  I sewed the label on a week ago at the library.  Here is a close-up of the label.

My first quiche

I decided to try my hand at making quiche a few days ago.  I really like spinach quiche and I'm trying to get more spinach in my diet, so I thought it would be a good thing to try.  I found a recipe at Once Upon A Chef, bought the ingredients, and voila -- spinach quiche.  I used a smoked Gruyere in the recipe and two of my sons thought it had bacon in it, even though it doesn't.  It was really yummy.

July Moda blocks

These are the blocks we got the instructions for this month, so that means that I am finally caught up.  Hurray!  Thankfully, these blocks were not paper pieced, so I could finally start using the directional fabric in the line with a little more ease.  I was reluctant to use much of it with the paper piecing because it is sometimes hard to make sure that the fabric will end up the way you want it in the block.

The cool thing about these two blocks is that they are both made with 16 half-square triangles.  It is just the directionality of the blocks that makes them turn into completely different finished products.  Well, the fabrics are different too, but the real change comes from the directional change.  That is one of the things I love about quilting, there is so much you can do with the same simple units. 

Belated June Moda blocks

This month I didn't finish my blocks in time for our Moda group meeting.  Yikes!  Oh, well.  They are finished now.  They are the last two paper pieced blocks of the project.  And I must say, I'm happy to be finished with paper piecing for a little while.  It is not my favorite piecing technique.

Fireworks!

I actually finished this one in time for the fourth of July, but I'm just now getting around to posting a picture of it.  Things have been so crazy around here.  It is Bento box squares surrounded by a piano key border and two narrow white borders.  It is a good size for the back of the couch, where it is currently living.

For Catie and Blake

My youngest step-daughter is getting married in September and I'm working on a quilt for her and her fiance as a wedding gift.  They picked out the pattern and the fabric.  The pattern is "Chain Linked" by Amy Smart.  The fabric in the charm squares is Coraline from Camelot Cottons, and the solids are Kona white and Kona nautical.

I think it makes a very bold and striking modern quilt.  I'm not sure yet how to get it quilted.  The original (in the pattern picture) was quilted with swirls.  I'm thinking that circles might look good.  I'm just not sure yet, but I'm pretty sure it will be done with white thread no matter what panograph I choose.

May Moda Blocks

I've clearly been remiss on blogging lately.  I actually made these blocks back on the 25th of May (according to my camera), but I hadn't even moved the pics to my computer.  So here they are, my latest blocks for my Vintage Quilt Revival quilt.  Enjoy!

Peaches & Cream

This is my latest finished project, and I'm calling it Peaches and Cream.   I've been working on it (off and on) for quite a while.  In fact, I finished making the quilt top back in January.  When I made the top, I pressed some of the seams open to reduce bulk where multiple seams came together.  Most often, when I quilt something myself, I quilt in the ditch.  You can't really do that when you've pressed seams open or else you are just quilting over the stitches and not into actual fabric.  So I had to figure out how I wanted to quilt it.

I thought about outline quilting, but that would have made a lot of threads to bury and I would have had to decide what, exactly, need to be outlined.  I also considered quilting diagonal lines, in both directions, across the quilt, but that would have meant so much marking.  I hate marking, so I opted against that, too.

Then, back in February, I was reading an article in an issue of Quiltmaker magazine about quilting with decorative stitches.  I thought that would be a good solution for my dilemma with this quilt, because the decorative stitch could follow the seam lines, like with stitching in the ditch, but it would spread out and not just be in the ditch, so it would work.  Great!  But then my sewing machine didn't want to sew the decorative stitches.

I tried a new needle and I tried different thread, but my machine kept dropping stitches when I tried to do the decorative stitches on my machine.  Finally I decided that I was going to have to take the machine in and have it looked at.  I wasn't happy with the place I had taken it to before, so I had to find a new place.  I quilting friend suggested a place and I took it there.  He was really good and pretty quick, too.  So finally, the problems were solved.  Then the work had to begin again.

I used a decorative stitch and quilted a line from the middle of the center 4-patch in the second row to the middle of the center 4-patch in the third row.  Then I quilted rectangles around that center line that followed the seam lines of the quilt.  I used the decorative stitch for whole quilt center and then used a straight stitch for the seam where the border is added on (it wasn't pressed open) and in the center of the border.

Now after attaching the binding, turning it by hand, and attaching a label, the quilt is finally done.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it.  It was originally intended for a baby that was due back in March, so I ended up giving her a different quilt instead.  Oh well, it never hurts to have extra baby quilts on hand, right?

Update January 2020:  This quilt is being given as a gift to Kinsley Porter at her baptism on Feb. 2, 2020 by the Blanket Guild at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Troy, AL.

Cascade quilt top

This is the newest design I've been working on.  It is made with a charm pack and a jelly roll of Serena fabric from Another Point of View for Windham fabrics.  I'm calling the pattern Cascade.  I finished making the top on Thursday.  I haven't decided for sure yet if I'm going to quilt it myself or have it quilted.

Squares for Cyndi in Gypsy fabric

This is my latest work in progress.  I wanted to see what my Squares for Cyndi pattern would look like if I used a single fabric for each round where the charm pack fabrics go in the original design.  I really like how it turned out.  Looks kinda "modern" to me.

Kansas Trouble table runner

This is a table runner that I made from the left over fabric from my Moda project last year (Dust Bowl Symphony).  We got the pattern a couple of months ago at our Moda meeting and I originally wasn't going to make one, but I decided that I would if I could use fabric that I already had.  I figured that since it would match the quilt that was on the back of the couch, it would make a good table runner for the coffee table.  I finally finished turning the binding on it today.

April Moda blocks

Today I made my blocks for the Moda class that I go to every month at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe.  I think I did a pretty good job of matching my seams this time.  I probably should have used a different fabric for the center of the spinning star block, but I'm sure it will be fine.

Gray-scale mini

I decided to try my hand at something that was more legitimately a miniature quilt.  It measures 7-1/2 inches by 9-1/4 inches, unfinished.  It is made with black fabric and gray ombre fabric, to get the gradation effect.  I still need to quilt it and bind it.  I'm thinking about framing it when it's done.

Turkey Time

 I finally finished binding my appliqued turkey quilt.  I decided to name it "Turkey Time".  Here is a close up of the turkey.

It was quilted at Front Porch Quilt Shoppe, with the Deb's feather's all-over panograph.  I figured a turkey quilt had to be quilted with feather, right?  I think it looks good.

Cyndi thinks that I should write a pattern for this one too.  I've been working on it, but I'm just not sure if I can do it, with the directions, templates and layout diagram, and have it be cost effective to print.  I haven't given up on it yet, though.

March Moda Blocks (2015)

I got my sewing machine back from being fixed and decided to start by finishing my Moda blocks.  These are my blocks for our Moda group this month. 

I reversed the values on the one on the left.  The original block had white where the blue is and cream where the lighter brown is.  The patches that are cream here were multiple different colors in the original.  Since I'm working with just shades of brown and blues, I thought it would work better the way I did it.  I'm sure it could have been done using the original value placement, but I opted for this way instead. 

The one on the right was supposed to be paper pieced, but I did it with "flippy corners" instead of paper piecing.

So far, the machine is working fine, but I haven't really put it to the test yet.  It was sewing straight stitches fine before I took it in.  The problem was with decorative stitches.  I'll probably be testing those out next.

February Moda Blocks 2015

Our blocks for this month at Moda U were "rolling squares" (on left) and "red cross" (on right).  The directions for both blocks had paper-piecing components.  The rolling squares blocks had paper-pieced square-in-a-square units, and the red cross block was completely paper-pieced. 

They went together pretty easily.  My points match pretty well, but they aren't exactly perfect.  For me, they are definitely good enough.

Last embellishments

I finally decided what I wanted to put on my "tag" on my present block.  I considered my name, or "from Santa", or some Christmas-y word.  I decided to just go with the year.  That seemed simple enough and would show up pretty well, too.

Finishing Touches

There were a couple of my Christmas blocks for our guild Christmas sampler that needed some embellishments.  My original plan was to add buttons and beads after it was quilted, but I decided that I didn't want to wrestle with that.  I decided to add applique and embroidery instead.  Here are the finished blocks.  (Original pics can be found here and here.)  The Santa looks sooo much better with eyes.  The snowman looks about the same because I had basted on buttons and beads in the original picture.

Bubble Gum and Penny Candy

I finished this little quilt a couple of weeks ago, but somehow I forgot to post a picture of it.  This is the finished quilt from the 30s Playtime fabric.  It is machine quilted and hand bound.  The quilting follows the stitching line, but continues on into the border and through the sashings, to make an all-over grid pattern.

I decided to name it "Bubble Gum and Penny Candy" because of the bubble gum pink border and sashings and the fact that it was made from a Moda candy.

February Guild Block

This is the last of our Christmas blocks for our guild project.  The pattern was called, for no discernible reason, pigs in a blanket.  It did say, however, that it was called poinsettia when made in Christmas colors.  We are encouraged to have the top finished for our next meeting.

My original plan for putting the blocks together was to alternate them with another block.  Actually, one of the blocks we were supposed to make, but repeated 15 times.  I made the extra blocks, got them all laid out, and then I really didn't like it.  It was too busy.  So, now I have 15 identical blocks that I don't need for this project.  But I've already got a plan for them, so it's all good.

There are a total of 16 blocks for the quilt.  I really don't want to just do a 4 x 4 layout.  I've come up with a layout that I think might work. 

The plan is to sew the four blocks in the center together and sew a thin dark border around them.  The setting triangles will be a light colored fabric.  The corners will also be filled in with a light background print fabric.  Maybe a border around that, I'm not sure.

January Moda Blocks - Vintage Quilt Revival

This year our Moda group, at The Front Porch Quilt Shoppe, is doing the blocks from the book Vintage Quilt Revival by Katie Clark Blakesley, Lee Heinrich, and Faith Jones.  In January we were given the Riviera and Dakota Star blocks to do.  In the original instruction, in the book, the blocks are done in multiple colors, but I decided to do mine in all blues, browns, and creams.  I bought a fat quarter bundle of Piecemakers fabric by Kathy Schmitz from Moda, and some yardage of one of the cream fabrics in that line.  Hopefully I'll have enough to make all the blocks. 

The book gives 3 different layouts for the blocks once they are all finished, but I'm not sure that I'm going to use any of those 3 layouts exactly.  At this point, I've decided to wait until all the blocks are finished and see what speaks to me.

Dust Bowl Symphony

This is my finished quilt from last year's (2014) Moda Friendship group/class, whatever you want to call it.  It is made from the 27 blocks in the Moda "size matters" quilt-along.  I made 15 of the blocks 12-inches and 12 of the blocks 6-inches.   There is one inch sashing around all of the blocks and some accent fabric, the same as the border, between the 6-inch blocks.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out. 

My original drawing for the layout is featured in the post Size Matters Blocks - January.

30s Playtime miniature

Last year/earlier this year, I made a quilt that was adapted from the Easy as 10 pattern by Me & My Sister designs.  The quilt top and completed quilt were featured in previous posts.  When I took the quilt for show and tell at the Moda quilt group earlier this month, Melanie (the shop owner) suggested that I should make a miniature version using a Moda candy instead of a charm pack. 

I really liked the idea, so I bought a candy, in 30s Playtime fabric, and got started.  It went together really quickly and easily.  The top finished about 25 inches by 35 inches.  I still need to quilt and bind it.  It should make a really nice baby or doll quilt.  Or it could be a baby quilt that becomes a doll quilt for one of the little girl's dolls once she outgrows it.

January (2015) Guild block - Angel block

This is our next-to-last block for the Christmas Sampler quilt that our guild has been working on for the past year and a half or so.  The block is a pieced angel with setting triangles and a border.  The head is hand appliqued.  The block, like all the rest, makes a 12-inch finished square.

I'm looking forward to getting this one finished.  Once I finish it, it will be the first quilt I've made for a queen sized bed.

My latest project

I finished this little quilt top yesterday.  I'm making it as gift for one of my husband's colleagues who is having a baby girl in March. 

It is made with two Moda candies.  One is "Mirabelle" and the other is "Honeysweet", both by Fig Tree & Co.  The original pattern comes from Happy Zombie but I added a border to mine to make it bigger.  The border is 4 inches (finished) so the final size of the quilt is 32 x 40 inches. 

I haven't decided yet how I'm going to quilt it.  I often quilt in the ditch, but I pressed several of these seams open, so quilting in the ditch is not recommendable.  I figure I will end up doing some outline quilting, but I'm not sure yet what I will outline.

10 Little Things quilt

This is my most recent finished project.  I actually finished it over a week ago, I just forgot to post it.  It is made with half of a "10 Little Things" layer cake.  It is machine pieced, machine quilted, and machine bound.  I bound it using the binding flange technique that seems to be popular right now.  It was a learning experience, and I think I would cut my binding a little wider if I tried it again, but it turned out okay, I think. 

It was made to give to the Methodist Church where our guild used to meet.  They give quilts to babies when they are baptized and they needed some "baby boy" quilts, so a few members volunteered to make some.

January Friends

The pattern was adapted from the "Easy as 10" pattern in the book, Simple Quilts from Me and My Sister Designs: Easy as 1, 2, 3.  The original quilt didn't use the whole charm pack and didn't have the side borders.  I wanted something a bit bigger, so I improvised.  The top is 54 inches by 72-1/2 inches. - See more at: http://the-creative-side-of-me.blogspot.com/search/label/work%20in%20progress#sthash.jF5S0EoV.dpuf

I finished the binding on this quilt on the way back home from New Jersey after Christmas. The pattern was adapted from the "Easy as 10" pattern in the book, Simple Quilts from Me and My Sister Designs: Easy as 1, 2, 3. The original quilt didn't use the whole charm pack and didn't have the side borders. I wanted something a bit bigger, so I improvised. The finished size is 54 inches by 72-1/2 inches.

The quilting design is "snow bunnies" done with shades of gray thread.  I thought it was a little plain with so much white, so I wanted the quilting to really show up and add some color and interest to the negative space in the design.

New Year's Resolutions - sort of

I'm not sure if these really count as resolutions, so much, or if they are just a "to do" list of sorts for the year.  Last year I wanted to complete at least 3 of my UFOs, and I did that.  So this year I thought I'd make a list of the quilting goals I'd like to accomplish and see if I can complete them before the end of the year.  So here goes. . .

1. Hand quilt something
2. Make a batik quilt  Pieced Watermelon Tourmaline quilt in pink and green batik fabrics 12/13/16
3. Make at least one project from the books I got for Christmas  Pieced Andouille quilt from Jelly Roll Jambalaya book 7/2/16 (not actually finished, but I'm counting it anyway)
4. Donate at least one quilt to charity   Sent quilt to Project Linus on 4/17/15
5. Make a quilt for my bed   Finished Christmas Garden quilt for my bed 7/26/16

Okay, I think that is plenty.  I don't want to over do it.  I'll try to remember to come back and strike through the ones I accomplish as I finish them.

Jacobean Garden Trellis

This quilt was finished on Dec. 23, which is a good thing since it is a Christmas present for my daughter-in-law.  She doesn't know that she's getting a quilt for Christmas.  In fact, she asked for an electric heated blanket.  She's getting that too.  I guess it will be the Christmas for getting warm.

The quilting is an all-over panograph of paisley done by the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe in "reeds" thread from King Tut.  I pre-washed the quilt and the black wash out into the light fabric in the lattice so that it looks like a light gray now.  I used a color grabber sheet in the wash but apparently it wasn't enough to catch it all.  I think it still looks fine, but it is a little disappointing that the color bled so much.

You may also notice that my cat, Tiger, decided to make an appearance in the picture.  I think he matches the quilt nicely.

Thank you!

Thank you, Barbara Oakley, whoever and wherever you are. 

Today I received an unexpected package from Amazon.  Inside was a gift - a Doctor Who fleece throw - and the enclosed note said "A gift from Barbara Oakley."  The item wasn't on my wishlist and I don't know anyone named Barbara Oakley. 

So I just wanted to take a minute to say thank you, and this is the only way that I know how to do so.

At the Shore

This is my most recent finished project.  I decided to call it "At the Shore" because it reminded me more of the Atlantic coast (i.e., the shore) than it did of the Gulf coast (i.e., the beach).  It is made with half-square triangles set in an Oceans Waves setting, and machine quilted with an all-over panograph of seashells.  The quilting was done by the girls at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe.  The binding was hand turned.  It is now labeled and ready to go.

Again, it is not really a bed quilt, even though it is photographed, at the top, on a bed.  It just covers the top of the bed with very little overhang.  The bottom photograph is on a small loveseat.

Feelin' Groovy

I decided to name this one "Feelin' Groovy" after the Simon Garfunkel hit of the same name.  I've found that I like to name quilts after songs.  But I suppose that fits with my personality and love of music.  I thought the fabric had a groovy, funky feel about it.  Although it is displayed on a bed, it is not really intended to be a bed quilt.  It is 64 inches square and fits nicely on the top of a full size bed, but it has almost no overhang.  It is intended to be used to cuddle under on the sofa while watching tv.

The quilt was machine pieced, using my own original design.  It was machine quilted at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe using the "retro flowers" pantograph.  The binding was hand turned.  It still needs it label, but other than that, it is completed.  It was actually finished on Nov. 29, but I was waiting to post about it until I came up with a name.

Boy baby quilt

As I've mentioned before, my guild makes baby quilts for the church where we used to meet.  They requested a baby quilt for a boy and I volunteered to make one.  This is the resulting quilt top.  It is made with half of a layer cake (21 - 10 inch squares).  The layer cake is called Ten Little Things. 

The pattern is one I made up for a previous quilt (that one used almost the whole layer cake).  After making that one, which was a trial and error experience, I decided to adjust the pattern to use all of the layer cake pieces, by adding a pieced border.  Then I decided it would make a quick and easy baby quilt if I used only half of the layer cake squares.  And thus, this quilt top was born.  Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to quilt it.  There isn't time to have it quilted, so I've got to come up with something I can do myself.

November Guild block - Mittens

This month our Christmas block for our guild project was an applique block with 4 mittens on it.  It was based on the S'mittens quilt block pattern from McCall's Quilting.  Since it was mittens, I decided to go with snowflake fabrics in both the mitten fabrics and the background.  I decided on a green border because I noticed that my other blocks with borders were red, so I thought I'd change it up.

Thanksgiving quilt top

Today I finished the quilt top for my Thanksgiving quilt.  The turkey is machine appliqued using Allure fabric and Hello Fall fabric.  The charms are all Allure fabric, two charm packs less one square.  So are the two borders.  The backing will also be in Allure fabric, but the binding will be in Hello Fall.  It is some of the same chevron fabric used in the turkey feathers.  However, since I plan to have it long-armed, it won't be ready for use this Thanksgiving.

Dancing Ribbons

 I finished this quilt on Nov. 1, but I just got around to taking a picture of it today.  This is another one of my UFOs that I finished this year.  I think my goal was to finish 3 UFOs this year.  If so, then this one completes the goal.  The other two were Hearts on a Chain and Christmas Kittens.

The quilt is machine pieced, machine quilted, and hand bound.  The quilting is an all-over meander pantograph done in variegated thread.  It was done by the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe.  The quilt finished 46" x 66", which seems like a nice size for a quilt to snuggle under on the couch.

Here is a picture of the label.

I'm contemplating putting this one up for sale, but I haven't decided yet.

Turkey Applique

The project that I'm currently working on is a charm quilt with a turkey applique as its focal point.  I got the idea from the Big Charm Star Quilt tutorial over at Missouri Star Quilt Company.  In the tutorial she mentions that it would be great quilt to showcase any large block.  My son suggested that we needed a Thanksgiving quilt, so I thought that a charm quilt with a giant appliqued turkey would be just the thing to do.

I drafted the turkey applique myself, and I think it turned out pretty nice.  The appliqued block will finish 22-1/2 inches.  It is then surrounded by charm squares.  It takes two charm packs.  I'm using Allure by Sanae from Moda.  I thought the colors were nice and fall-like.  Plus some of the fabric made me think of turkey tails.

Size Matters Quilt Top

Here is my finished quilt top for the Size Matters quilt.  It has fifteen 12-inch blocks and twelve 6-inch blocks, put together in columns instead of rows.  The 12-inch blocks have 1-inch sashing between them.  The 6-inch blocks have 1-inch sashing on the top and bottom with two inches of the focus fabric in between them and a 3-inch piece of focus fabric at the top and bottom of each column.  The columns are divided by 1-inch sashing strips.  The inner border is one inch like the sashing and the border is three inches of the focus fabric.  The top measures 60-1/2 inches by 72-1/2 inches.

I'm happy with the design that I came up with for the odd number of blocks and the two different sizes of blocks.  I think it makes a nice sampler quilt and will be a good size for using on the sofa.

Oops, I just realized that I forgot to take a picture of the September blocks individually.  Well, I guess it's too late now.  They are all 6-inch blocks.  They are the second and third blocks from the top in the left-hand column and the second one from the bottom in the right-hand column.

October Moda blocks

These are the last of my blocks for the Size Matters quilt that our Moda Friendship group was doing this year.  The two 12-inch blocks are for my quilt and the six inch block on the left is actually for the shop quilt.  I finished them yesterday and started putting the top together.

Sept guild block - Hexi Wreath

I finished the applique on my hexi wreath block today.  I decided to machine applique it using a blanket stitch.  It was pretty quick and easy since it was all straight lines.  The hardest part was the little red hexi berries.  They are just so small.  I really don't mind applique so much when it is straight lines done on the sewing machine.

Wish Upon A Star

I finally finished my Storybook Star quilt.  I finished the binding on our trip to Memphis (Oct. 13), but I just got the label sewed on yesterday.  I had trouble coming up with a name for it.  I finally settled on "Wish Upon A Star", because I figured that work whether it was used as wall hanging, lap quilt, or baby blanket.

It was machine quilted at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe with a pantograph called Pretty Daisies.  I really like the quilting pattern, however, if I used it again, I might get them to enlarge it a bit.  It makes for really close quilting.  I was thinking I might post this one for sale on my Etsy shop.  I haven't decided for sure yet.

Today's efforts

Today I worked on getting caught up on my monthly blocks.  Since I knew that I was going to be out of town on the day of my October quilt guild meeting, I put off working on the block that was due in October.  I had several quilt tops that I needed to get finished and delivered to the machine quilter before the Nov. 1 deadline so I worked on them instead. 

Today I worked on, but still didn't finish the block that was due in October.  It is the one on the left with the hexagon wreath.  I still need to do the applique.  It is just basted and pinned in place at the moment.  If I machine applique it, I will need to find some matching thread, and if I hand applique it, it will take more time.  Either way, I knew I wasn't going to finish it today.  So I got it to the point of doing the applique and then moved on the block that is due in November.  I got that one finished.  It is, obviously, the star in a star block on the right.

In case you are wondering what would make me be out of town and miss my guild meeting (and my Moda meeting!), it was something that was definitely worth missing them for: a Pearl Jam concert in Memphis, TN!  It was awesome!!

A Bed of Roses

I finally finished the twin bed quilt with the Ellie Ann layer cake.  It's been a pretty long road on this quilt from design to finished product.  Not that it was a hard quilt to make, there were just several design changes, and therefore lots of decisions to make, along the way.  From buying the fabric, to changing away from my original design idea, to arranging the blocks, to finishing the quilt top, to deciding on the backing fabric, it just seemed like the quilt that would never be.

I think it makes a nice quilt for a twin sized bed.  It is 67 x 92 inches.  It was machine quilted in a pantograph of butterflies and flowers by the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe in Ozark.  The binding is the same dark blue fabric as the narrow borders and was hand turned.  I made the label from pieces of the two left-over blocks that didn't get used with this layout.

Hopefully someday I'll have a granddaughter who will want to sleep under it.  If not, I guess it would look nice on the bed it is photographed on, once my son, who currently sleeps there, moves out.  I'm sure he doesn't want to sleep under a floral quilt.  He's happy with the quilt he has already.