Self-binding Baby Blanket

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

Mischievous Wife Section 1 and Done!

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

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

Mischievous Wife - Section 2

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

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

Nursing Aides

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

Mystery Quilt blocks 8 and 9

 Blocks 8

Blocks 9

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

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

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

HST Around the World in Tea House Plum

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

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

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

Spider Web table topper finished!

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

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

Can you tell that I'm ready for fall?

Spider Web table topper

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

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

Halloween Heads backing

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

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

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

Halloween Heads quilt

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

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

Mischievous Wife - Section 7

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

Spiders and Webs quilt

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

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

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

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

Jack-o-lantern block

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

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

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

Mystery quilt - Block #7

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

Two Fabric Bargello quilt

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

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

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

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

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

Mischievous Wife quilt - Sections 3 & 4

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

Mystery quilt - Block #6

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

Dragonfly Carnival

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

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

Dream Baby

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

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

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

Mystery Quilt - Block 5

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

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

Watercolor Bluebird

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

Inside the Greenhouse

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

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

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

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.