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!

Quilting in Watercolor

Over the weekend I decided to try my hand at some watercolor painting again.  I wanted to combine quilting with painting, so I drew a Storm at Sea block for the background and then put a silhouette of sailboat in the foreground.

I think it turned out okay for a first attempt of this type.  I was definitely too heavy handed with the paint.  I'm still learning what to do and not to do with watercolor paints, but practice is how you learn, right?

Crazy Ann block - Mischievous Wife quilt

Today I worked on my next "section" of the Mischievous Wife quilt.  This is section 5, but it only consists of one block.  I was actually excited to work on it, because I had to do half-rectangle triangles. 

I had to figure out how to make the half-rectangle triangles using the rectangles that I had already cut at 2-1/2 x 4-1/2 inches.  I'm not sure what my plan was when I cut the fabric.  I might have been planning to use the Recs Tool that I have from EZ quilting, but I kinda doubt it, because it seems like I would have told myself to cut a strip instead of individual rectangles.  I really don't know what I was thinking or if I had a plan at that point. 

The method that I used worked out really well.  It was a little more work than using the Recs Tool, but it was very accurate.  I measured in 1/4 inch from the left side and bottom and marked it with a dot on the wrong side of the fabric.  Then I did the same on the top right.  I drew a line to connect the dots.  Then I cut 1/4 inch from the line to the right of the line.  I did this with the purple rectangles and the white rectangles.  Then I matched a purple and a white, right sides together, and used pins to match the dots.  I sewed them together with 1/4 inch seams and then when I opened them out, they were perfect.  I only had to trim off the dogears. 

I'm really happy with how the block turned out.  It is more accurate than the Nurse's Cross block that I did last time.

Polka Dot fabric

Today I bought some fabric for the first time in a while.  But I'm still sticking with my goals for this year, because this fabric will be the backing for my Scrappy Hearts baby quilt.  I also picked up a quilt from the long-armer today and dropped another one off to be quilted.  I think that still has me at 14 unquilted tops because I found one from last year that wasn't in the original 18.  It's the one I dropped off today to be quilted.

Nurse's Cross - Mischievous Wife section 6

If you're familiar with the Gypsy Wife quilt - the quilt my Mischievous Wife quilt is a simplification of - then you know that section 6 is the biggest section in the quilt.  Not so much for my quilt.  My "Section 6" is only this one block.  When I divided mine into sections, I tried keep the same focus blocks in the same sections as the original quilt.  As it turned out, the only focus block I used from the original Section 6 was the Nurse's Cross and it was placed in the quilt in an area where the sections are only 12 inches.  Therefore it is a section unto itself.

I don't actually have the pattern for the gypsy wife, so I don't know how the author intends for you to make the Nurse's Cross block.  I found it to be a challenging block to figure out.  The center involved some piecing with rectangles, triangles, and a center square that were then trimmed down into a square.  (It was supposed to trim to 6-1/2 inches, but I guess my seams were a little big so it was only 6-1/4 to 6-3/8, but it worked out okay.  I should have cut my patches bigger since I was trimming it down anyway.)  I then added the yellow triangles.  Then I paper pieced the corners with the red and orange rectangles, and then attached them to the rest of the block.

It took me 2-1/2 hours to sew the one 12 inch (finished) block.  I had already pre-cut all of the pieces so there was only trimming down of sewn units in terms of cutting.  I can't say that I enjoyed it.  I really don't care that much for paper piecing, and I wish I had cut my patches a bit larger in areas where I was going to be paper piecing or where I was going to be trimming down the sewn unit.  But at least it is finished and I like the way the finished block looks.

Bandana Dress

On Friday, my husband and I were babysitting our one year old granddaughter while my son and daughter-in-law went out to dinner and to the movies.  While we had her, she had a total diaper blow-out - shirt, pants, high-chair, nothing was spared.  When I went to change her, I realized that the diaper bag they left with us had a spare pair of pants, but no clean shirt. 

It was a warm day and all, but we were planning to go for a stroll after dinner and I didn't want her out without some kind of shirt on.  I scoured the house for something to use and came across an old bandana that I was planning to donate.  I quickly made a make-shift bandana top for her to wear. It was really a little too small, had raw edges at the arm holes, and used cut-away selvage strips for the drawstrings - nothing to keep or use going forward.  Although she is extremely adorable wearing it.

But that really gave me the fever to make her a little bandana dress.  Something that would be cute and usable for real.  So today I went to Wal-Mart and bought 2 matching bandanas and some coordinating ribbon and made her a real bandana dress.  She loves dogs so I thought the paws and bones print was perfect for her.  I figure we can keep it here at our house for emergencies.  Bandana dresses are extremely versatile in terms of size.  As she gets bigger it just becomes a shorter dress or a blouse.  In fact, I tried it on and I can wear it as a blouse - I'd want it a little bigger if it were for me, but she can definitely use it for years to come if the necessity arises.

Heartline pillowcase

This is a pillowcase I made a several days ago, I forget when exactly, and I forgot to take a picture of it.  It is made from leftover fabric from the Heartlines quilt.  Once I get the quilt back from the quilt shop, where it is currently serving as the shop sample for the Heart Strings pattern, I will keep it in the pillowcase.  If I give the quilt away, I will give the pillowcase with it.

2018 Goals Update - 4 months in

Since my last update on my goals in late January, I have still stayed pretty well on track.

As for getting existing quilt tops quilted, I have completely finished 2 quilts from the original 18 unquilted tops.  I have 2 more that are quilted but the binding isn't done yet; and I have one quilt that is currently with the long arm quilter to be quilted.  So that brings me to 14 unquilted tops - definitely moving in the right directions here.

I have not started any new quilt tops since my last update.  However, I'm thinking that I need to treat myself to something new soon, because I'm getting a bit tired of working only on binding and year-long projects.  I did, however, make a pillowcase from fabric that I had left over from one of the quilts I finished.

The only fabric that I have bought since my update in January was some more batik fabrics for my 2018 Moda project (Mischievous Wife quilt) and backing for my guild project (2018 Mystery quilt).

All-in-all I'd say I'm doing pretty good on my goals this year.  Definitely better than in years past.

Mystery quilt - blocks #4

Today I finished my blocks for this month for quilt guild.  This is our 4th set of instructions toward our mystery quilt.  This month the blocks were simple to construct, in theory.  It was all half-square triangles.  The problem came in with keeping the angles going in the correct direction.  I did good - no seam ripping this time!

Lemon Lavender quilt

Today I finished sewing the label onto this quilt.  I finished the binding back on April 4th, but I was in a hurry to move onto the Heart Strings quilt so I put off labeling this one.  I actually finished the quilt top back in September 2013, so I figured a few more weeks of waiting for a label wouldn't hurt, right?

It was machine quilted at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe in Ozark with an all-over daisy pantograph.

I decided to name this one Lemon Lavender after one of my favorite Yankee Candle scents.  I still have no idea what I'm going to do with the quilt.

Heart Strings quilt

I finished the quilt for my newest pattern.  The pattern is called "Heart Strings" and it is available for sale at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe in Ozark, AL.  I will probably be adding it as PDF download in my Etsy store soon as well. 

The finished quilt measures 64 inches by 70 inches.  The original here is made in Surrounded by Love fabric, an older line from Moda fabrics.  It is machine pieced and machine quilted.  The name for the quilt itself is "Heartlines" (because I always like to give individual quilts a name that is different from the name of pattern).  Using one of my common naming conventions, it is named after a song by Florence + the Machine.

Section 8 of Mischievous Wife quilt

Today I finished up what I need to have done for my next Moda group meeting.  Since my quilt is different from everyone else's, I try to at least show the same blocks as was in the original assignment.  I tried to group my sections so as to include the assigned blocks, but sometimes it just didn't work out that way.  So this month I have my section that includes the star block, plus the heart block as an extra.  The heart block will ultimately be in the center of the quilt, but I wanted to sew it and show it with section 8.

Section 9 - Mischievous Wife quilt

Here is my latest progress on my Mischievous Wife quilt (aka a simplified version of the Gypsy Wife quilt).  I'm really glad that I didn't have to do the actual section 9 of the Gypsy Wife for this meeting.  I totally wouldn't have had the time.  I just did get this one finished and it's due on Wednesday.  Yard work and babysitting my adorable granddaughter have limited my sewing time this month.

Mystery Blocks #3

I'm a little ahead of the game on my guild blocks this month.  I had to present the blocks because our normal teacher (the one who actually knows what the finished quilt will look like) wasn't able to be at the meeting.  Since I already had the pieces cut out and partially assembled for one block, I went ahead and finished it.  I decided to do the other one too, while I was in that gear.  So here are my blocks that aren't actually due until April.  Go me!

Mystery Blocks #2

Here are my two newest blocks for our guild mystery quilt.  I really don't like them as much as last month's blocks.  I don't know if it is my fabric choices or the block design itself, but to me they are just sorta blah.  Oh well, at least they are done.

Black & Gray Pot Holder

This is one of my UFO for this year.  The pieces are pretty small and I originally intended it to be more of an artsy piece, but then I really wasn't feeling it as art, so I made it into a pot holder.  It has both regular batting and insulated batting.  It is machine quilted in-the-ditch-ish around each of the little hourglass blocks.

Lots of little pieces, carefully sewn together to form a light to dark fade, now something to set hot dishes on.  Oh well, at least it is finished!

Mischievous Wife quilt - part one

This year my Moda quilt group at the quilt shoppe is doing the "Gypsy Wife" quilt.  I don't particularly like the Gypsy Wife quilt.  It's not really my style and it looks extremely complicated - lots of small pieces, partial seams, confusing directions, etc.  So, I decided that I'm not doing the Gypsy Wife, I'm doing the Mischievous Wife.  She's not as free and uninhibited as a gypsy, but she's still a little mischievous. 

I used nine of the focus blocks from the Gypsy Wife, and made them all 12 inches.  I used several of the filler blocks and made them either 4 inches or 6 inches.  All of my strips are 2 inches wide (finished) so that I can use jelly roll strips, and none of the placement requires partial seaming.  The focus blocks are in a symmetrical layout, but the filler blocks add some asymmetry and mischief. 

The group is doing one section of the quilt at a time.  The first assignment was Section 10.  I divided my quilt into 10 section, coordinating them to the sections of Gypsy Wife based on the focus blocks used in each section, as much as possible.

My plan for the quilt is to use all batiks.  The stripes alternate between white and light pastels.  The filler blocks are a shade darker.  Then the focus blocks are the darkest, brightest fabrics.

Mountain Sunset

This is my delectable mountains quilt from one of our guild projects last year.  I used a split complimentary color scheme - blue with shades of orange, red and yellow.  I was going for a look of mountains at sunset.  I had it machine quilted at Front Porch Quilt Shoppe in an all-over swirl pattern to somewhat mimic a wind motif.  I think it makes for a really striking quilt.

First two blocks - Guild Mystery Quilt 2018

This year in my quilt guild we are doing a mystery quilt.  Each month we will get directions for a block.  We are then supposed to make two blocks in that same pattern but with different fabrics in each.  These are my first two blocks.

Chubby Charmer

I finished this bag today.  It is made from a pattern called Chubby Charmer by Penny Sturges of Quilts Illustrated.  The pattern calls for 48 charm squares and 1-1/2 yards of fabric for the handles, lining, and pockets.  The charm pack is Mill Book Series c. 1852, one of Moda's Collections for a Cause (purchased in 2014).  I also used 1/2 a yard of fabric from that same line (purchased at the same time) for the handles and to cut some extra charm squares.  And I used some yardage from my stash for the lining and pockets.

Now I will have a bag that is large enough to carry a quilt in that isn't a reusable Walmart shopping bag.  I got teased about that recently.  This one is big enough to carry a 9x13 casserole dish in the bottom.  It says so right on the pattern!  The bottom is 9x18.

Goals for 2018

This year my sewing goals are more general than specific.  I want to try to focus on finishing things I've already started and using what I already have. 

So here are the goals spelled out:

1. Finish the year with fewer unquilted quilt tops than I started the year with (I started with 18, oops, make that 19, I just found another one). Updated 5/15/18)
2. If I start new projects, use fabrics that I already have on hand.
3. If I buy new fabric, it should be to finish an existing project or complete a project I've previously designed.

So far, I'm basically on track, but it is still early.  For my Moda project, I'm using a charm pack and a jelly roll that I already had.  For my guild project, I'm using a fat quarter bundle that I already had.

I've made a quilt top from a design I made last year and from a jelly roll I already had. And I made a bag from a charm pack I already had and fabric from my stash.

The new fabric I've bought so far was backing for the previously mentioned quilt top, and background fabric to go with a fat quarter bundle that I already had to make my guild project quilt.

And although I have made another quilt top since the first of the year, I've dropped 2 off to be quilted, so that more than balances out.

2017 in Review

Looking back at my sewing projects from last year, I found that I was a bit busier than the year before.  I finished 6 quilts, made 4 bags, 2 pillowcases, 2 pot holders, 2 matching place mats, 1 cat toy, and several cloth wipes (for my granddaughter).  That makes for 17 completed projects.  Not too bad.

I also completed 9 quilt tops that didn't get finished.  At least a couple of them I plan to quilt myself, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.  One I know I plan to have quilted, but I haven't bought backing yet.  And one of them is quilted, but not yet bound.

It seems like the UFOs are starting to pile up a bit again.  I guess I should get to work on that this year.  But I also have several designs that I've dreamed up that I haven't made yet, so those are calling to me, too.  Somehow piecing almost always wins out over finishing. . .

Hearts and Stripes

This is my newest creation.  I just finished the quilt top this morning.  I designed it myself and I am calling the pattern Hearts and Stripes.  Not too creative a name, I know, but it's accurately descriptive.  It uses one "Surrounded by Love" jelly roll (purchased in 2017) and some yardage for the background and borders.  It finishes 64 inches by 70 inches.

I like the way that the vertical stripes in the hearts bisect the horizontal stripes in the rest of the quilt. 

Christmas Joy

This will be the last quilt that I finish this year.  I'm calling it "Christmas Joy".  It was a gift for my 8 month old granddaughter.  I machine quilted it myself.  I hope that someday she will enjoy having a Christmas quilt from her Grandmommy.  I know she will grow out of it size-wise, but it could be wall-hanging later on if she wants.  I haven't decided if I'm going to make getting a Christmas quilt into a tradition or not.  We'll see what next year brings.

Blue Lagoon

I actually finished binding this quilt the day before Thanksgiving, but I got so busy that I forgot to post it or even take a picture of it.  I gave it to my youngest son for Christmas.  It was going to be a "housewarming" gift for his new apartment, but since it was so close to Christmas I just decided to wait.  I named it "Blue Lagoon" after the fabric line that the 2-1/2 inch strips came from.

My cat, Dusty, is photo-bombing the picture.

Little Quilt for my Cats

I have two cats.  One is solid gray and the other is a black tortie.  They both like to camouflage themselves in matching blankets and covers.  Earlier this year I had my black and gray fabrics out in a heap on the loveseat in my sewing room.  The cats LOVED to get on the pile of fabric and nap, so I decided to use some of those fabrics and make a quilt for them.  I thought a simple 'puss in the corner' block repeated would make a good cat quilt.

They have an old shipping box that they like to lay in like a cat bed, so I'm going to drape this in the box.  It might make the box a little more comfy for them, and it should definitely make it look less like I just have an old Amazon box sitting around on the floor for no reason.  Hopefully it will be a win-win situation.

2017 Moda Project - Finished Quilt Top

So this year our Moda group decided to the Quilter's Patch quilt as our project.  I did a few blocks and decided that I didn't really like it that much, hated making the blocks, and didn't want to finish the quilt as patterned.  So I came up with my own design to use the blocks that I had made, and made a few more that I liked to go with them.  This is the finished top.  The original quilt had a greenhouse in the center, so I am calling mine "Inside the Greenhouse".  It is approximately 42 x 50 inches.

A New Purse for Camryn

My youngest son (who is 20 years old, btw) told my that his girlfriend said that she needed a new a purse.  I was wanting to make something for her, so I volunteered to make one for her. As far as I know it will be a surprise for her.  Her favorite color is green and she wears a lot of dark colors.  My son says that she will love it.  I hope so. 

New Cat toy

I made this cat toy a few months ago out of some scraps of left over quilted material.  You know, the edge that gets quilted by the long-armer that is just backing and batting.  I sewed it into a tube and stuffed it with plastic Walmart bags.  It took Cleopatra a while to warm up to it (as is the case with a lot of cat toys), but now she pounces on it, grabs it, and kicks it like crazy, which is exactly what I intended her do with it.

Autumn flowers

This year I signed up for the Flower Guild at my church.  That is the group that arranges the flowers that are on the altar.  I had never really learned to arrange flowers, but I have always wanted to learn. My friend Harriett said that the Flower Guild really needed some more people and she would teach me.  We arranged the flowers together several times and now it is time for me to start doing it on my own.  My first time will be in mid-November, so I am doing a little practicing at home.  I really like how these turned out.

Butterfly blocks for Moda

Our blocks for this month were butterfly blocks.  I didn't really like the butterfly block that was in the book, so I decided to make my own.  There are 8 inch blocks, just like the ones in the book, but they look very different.  These are the last blocks I plan to make for the quilt before I start assembling the quilt top.  Almost done with this quilt that I wish I had never started.  Hurray!

Scrappy Heart Quilt

This is a quilt top I made using some of the left over fabric from last year's Moda quilt.  I had an idea for a quilt made from a jelly roll that involves stripes and hearts.  I wanted to try out the heart block first on some scrap fabric before I started on the actual project with my jelly roll.  The project will use all of the jelly roll strips so there is really no room for trial and error there.  This isn't the same pattern as the hearts and stripes quilt, but it uses the same heart block.  Because, you know, once I had made the trial run heart block, I had to use it in something.

"Baby Blocks" Christmas Star

Here is the finished quilt top from the previous post.  I made a slightly narrower border than what the pattern called for, because it fit the width of my fabric better.  I didn't want seams in my border and the border fabric I was using was not 42-1/2 inches wide, it was only 41 inches (not including selvages).

The quilt top is 40-1/2 inches square.  Plus it will fit better onto the backing fabric as well.  I will still have a problem if I decide to have it long arm quilted, but I will probably quilt it myself, either on my regular machine or by hand.  I'm still deciding on that part.

Scrappy pot holder

I needed something to work on today, so I made this scrappy little pot holder.  It is made from cut-away corners on my Moda quilt from last year.

I saved a lot of cut off corners from that quilt.  I'm not sure what all I will end up doing with the rest of them.

Christmas Baby Quilt

I decided to make a Christmas quilt for my baby granddaughter for her first Christmas.  I saw the "Baby Blocks" quilt in the most recent issue of BLOCK magazine, from Missouri Star Quilt Company, and decided to give it a try. 

My problem with the pattern, as it is presented in both the magazine and the tutorial, is that the directions that they give don't actually produce the quilt that they show in the pictures.  The instructions say to use 4 jellyroll (2-1/2 inch) strips of fabrics to make one single strip set.  Cut 16 2-1/2 inch strips from the strip set and use them to create the four blocks that make up the center of the star.  The pictures used in the magazine and on the tutorial use way more than just 4 fabrics in the center.  That makes for a different look in the finished quilt. 

I decided to make the quilt following the actual directions given.  I used two red fabrics and two green fabrics to make the strip set, alternating the red and green in the strip set.  The pictures below show the basic options I came up with for the center of the star using the blocks that one strip set would actually create.  (I am sure there are a few others that I didn't think of.)

 Four blocks with green corners oriented toward the center.

 Four blocks with each block oriented in the same direction.

Four blocks with the red corners oriented toward the center.

I like the look of the red corners oriented toward the center, so that is the layout that I decided to go with.  I am still working on getting it sewn together, and it still needs a border, but I thought I would share these layouts in case anyone else was interested in what it would look like actually following the directions.

Layers of Charm - Moda Extra Project

This month our extra project for the Moda group was the Layers of Charm Quilt Pattern from Fat Quarter Shop.  I used a layer cake that I bought a few years ago called Healing Hearts.  I picked out a nice red to coordinate with the fabrics.  I wanted a color that was in the fabric, but would also give a good contrast to all the fabrics.  It is a super simple project.  You just add a five inch flippy corner to 36 of the fabrics in a layer cake, then sew them together in such a way as to create the diamonds.  No border or anything.  Of course you could add one if you wanted to, but the pattern doesn't call for it.  It finishes 57-1/2 inches square, a nice lap-sized quilt.

Dance of the Dragonflies fabric quilt

When I went to visit my mother-in-law in New Jersey last month, I visited a quilt shop up there.  I bought some jelly roll strips and fat quarters in the Dance of the Dragonflies fabric line.  In the past, when I buy fabric while I'm out of town, I never actually make anything with it.  So this time, I wanted to go ahead and make something out of it.  There were 12 jelly roll strips, 4 FQs, 1/2 yard of one fabric and 1 yard of another fabric.  This quilt was the result.

A few more Moda blocks

This year our project for the Moda group was the Quilter's Patch quilt by Edyta Sitar.  I did a few blocks and then decided that I really didn't like making the quilt.  The instructions were bad, the pieces were small, the flower blocks didn't really look that great, etc. etc.  So, I quit making them. 

But since I had already made three of the flower blocks (delphinium, cosmo, and daylily) and the cat block, I wanted to do something with the blocks I had already made.  I dreamed up a much smaller quilt that will use the blocks that I have already made (some of them slightly deconstructed) and a few more blocks thrown in as well. 

This month we were supposed to make 3 flower pot blocks and the segments of the watering can that go in the border.  My alternate quilt design uses 8 flower pots and the watering can as a complete block, so I made them to show at the next meeting.  We were also supposed to do part of the rake and one other flower block, but I don't need them, so I didn't do them.  The only other blocks I need are the butterfly blocks.  I don't like the ones in the book, so I plan to make different ones, but I will wait until the butterflies are assigned before I make them. 

Once I picked the book back up to make these blocks I remembered exactly why I stopped making them in the first place.  As far as I'm concerned, this is an awful book.  I will never buy another book or pattern by Edyta Sitar again.

Scrappy Mountain Majesty

Our guild project for July was the Scrappy Mountain Majesty quilt by Bonnie Hunter.  I didn't finish it in time to show at guild this month, but at least I will have it for next month.  The original was done all in scraps, as you can imagine from a Bonnie Hunter quilt, but I decided to do mine a little less scrappy.  The blue is all one fabric and the yellows and oranges are 7 different fabrics, a quarter yard of each.

On the night of the guild meeting when we were given the project, my husband and I took a walk after the meeting and there was a really beautiful sunset.  It gave me the idea to do the quilt in sunset colors.  The dark blue and the sunset colors formed a split complimentary color scheme, that I thought would work out well for a little color theory practice, as well.  I got my trusty Color Play book by Joan Wolfrom, and headed to the quilt shop to pick the fabrics.  I wanted to be as true as I could to the split complimentary color palate. I picked tone-on-tone fabrics in blue, and orange through yellow and went to work.

I originally intended to use a different layout for the blocks. My first thought was to do the layout that she calls "Mirror Image Mountains", but when I laid the blocks out in that design it seemed too busy.  I rearranged them into this layout, "Zigzag Mountains", and I liked it a lot better.  Keeping the blue fabric together seemed better to me.  It looks a little less like mountains at sunset, maybe, but I still like it better this way.  My son, the graphic designer, says that it makes him think of the sunset reflected on water ripples, like on the ocean.  Sounds good to me.

I think it turned out pretty nice.  It is not the sort of thing that I normally do, but I am happy with it none the less.  I'm not sure yet what color thread I want it quilted in or what design.  But at least the top is finished.

Patriotic bag

I know that it is after the 4th of July, but I wanted to go ahead and make this bag anyway.  I figured that I can use it until the end of July at least.  I actually got the idea for the bag around the 4th of July, and I went ahead and ordered the fabric.  I didn't want to wait about making it, because I was afraid I would forget about it by the time next summer rolled around.  I tend to do that with projects, I buy the fabric, don't work on it right away, and then either forget about it or lose interest in making it.  I didn't want that to happen this time, so here it is, my new patriotic bag!

On the Go

I finished the binding on this quilt on our trip home from New Jersey.  It is the finished product of our "Little Apples" Moda extra project from a few months back.  I decided to call it "On the Go" because of the fabric with the roads and vehicles.  I plan to donate it to my church's blanket drive this year.  We give the donated blankets to the Child Advocacy Center here in town.

Charm Square Star baby quilt

This is a quilt design that I came up with to use the rest of my charm squares from the Checkerboard and Diamonds baby quilt.  It is a very simple star-in-a-star design using half square triangles (made from charm squares) and from charm squares trimmed down to 4-1/2 inch squares.  I think it will make a nice baby quilt for a little girl.  My cat, Dusty, is photo-bombing the picture.

The pattern is available here for free.  Enjoy.

Cascades pillowcase

I made this pillowcase from the leftover fabric from my Cascades quilt. I was going through my sewing room, trying to find project boxes to put my upcoming projects in.  I found that the leftover fabric from my Cascades quilt was still boxed up and hadn't been put into the main stash yet.  I saw that I had plenty of fabric left over to make a pillowcase, and since the quilt is a twin-size bed quilt, I thought it would be nice to have a matching pillowcase.  So today, I stitched one up really quick. 

I think that in the future I will try to remember to always buy enough fabric to make a matching pillowcase or two when I am making a bed quilt.  I think it looks really nice to have matching pillowcases on top of the quilt.  The trick will be remembering...

Jellyroll heart block

My latest quilt design idea involves jellyroll strips and heart blocks.  I wanted to test out my heart block design and sewing instructions on some scrap fabric before I cut into my jellyroll, so I made this sample.  I think it turned out really well.  The piecing went together quickly and easily, so I think the project is a go.

Moda Quilt Matching Pillowcase

I made a pillowcase to match my 2016 Moda quilt, Finding Mickey.  Ironically, I guess, the pillowcase doesn't have a Mickey Mouse to find.  It is made from the same fabrics as the backing and both borders, none of which was Mickey Mouse fabric.  I guess I should have used the Mickey Mouse fabric for the accent piece or the outer band, but I don't know if I had enough fabric for that anyway.  Oh well, it is a matching pillowcase, none the less.

Moda Extra Project - Latin Lady

Our extra project for our Moda class this month was the Latin Lady quilt by Villa Rosa Designs.  (It is also our guild project for next month.) I decided to do mine in Kansas Troubles fabrics.  It uses the majority of two charm packs.  I used two different charm packs - Favorites and Aunt Purdy's Parlor.  The yardage was from a different Kansas Troubles collection, but I don't even know which one.

I plan to piece the backing from 9 different Kansas Troubles fabrics and then quilt it myself on my home sewing machine.  I plan to use this quilt as an everyday sofa quilt to cuddle under.  I think it will be a good size for that at 51 x 64 inches.

Checkerboard and Diamonds

This is my latest design creations.  I am currently calling it "checkerboard and diamonds" because the center is like a checkerboard and it is surrounded by diamond-esque squares on point.  The center is made from a Moda candy (or mini-charm pack) of 2-1/2 inch squares alternated with white 2-1/2 inch squares.  The squares on point are charm squares, set on point with white half-square triangles.  The border is from yardage.  All the print fabric is from the Colette line by Chez Moi.

New quilted bag

I made this bag from fabric that I had in my stash.  It uses the same pattern as my Not Quite Giant Jellyroll Bag, except this time it is not giant and it doesn't even use 2-1/2 inch strips.  I also added a flap and button closure to make it more like a purse, which is my intended use for it.  I have to stop making bags with this pattern.  It really isn't fun.  I'm not sure why I decided to do it again.  Oh well, at least I have a new purse!

Pot holder swap

For our May meeting, my quilt quilt is having a pot holder swap.  Everyone is supposed to bring a homemade pot holder, and we are going to have some sort of creative way to swap them, not sure what that is going to entail.  I made mine out of an orphan block I had laying around.  It has a layer of regular quilt batting and a layer or Insul-bright inside to make it heat proof.

One of my quilting friends found a cute little picture on pinterest that says that there are no mistakes in quilting - only pot holders.  I think that is good idea!