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.

Snowman Gathering quilt top

I finished this quilt top this morning.  I worked on it yesterday, my regular sewing day, and was one seam short of finishing it, so I had to go downstairs and finish it this morning.  I still need to get the backing ready before I can take it down to the quilt shoppe to be quilted.

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.

I'm planning to have it quilted with an all-over pantograph of snowmen.  I'm not sure yet what color thread.  I'm thinking either cream or variegated blues.  I'll decide when I get down there.

Palm Court quilt

I finished this quilt top today.  It is made with a Palm Court layer cake.  It is made using a modified version of MSQC's lattice pattern.  It is available through their online tutorials and in an issue of their Block magazine.  The original pattern calls for a layer cake, but had you cut it into 5-inch squares before cutting the blocks in half and adding the lattice strips.  I modified it by simply halving the 10-inch block and adding the lattice strip.  It is the same effect but with bigger pieces.  The finished size of the quilt top is 65 inches x 74-1/2 inches.

I had really wanted to use a solid aqua or turquoise for the lattice strips.  I looked at my local quilt shop, but couldn't find a solid to match the fabric.  I knew it would be really difficult to match fabric ordering on line, so I just went with the cream.  I think the finished product looks really nice, but I think the colored strips might would have been a bit more striking.  But, then again, who knows.  It might not have worked at all.

Ocean Waves quilt top

I finished another quilt top today.  This one is made with a "Hearty Good Wishes" layer cake.  It actually doesn't use all of the layer cake squares, even though it uses well more than 42 10-inch squares.  For one, the layer cake was not equally divided between blue fabrics and off-white fabrics, so I added 3 extra 10-inch squares in off-whites.  Next, the main body of the quilt only needed 40 10-inch squares, so I took out some of the extra blue 10-inch squares.  The setting triangles are also 10-inch squares, cut in half diagonally, but I wanted them to all be the same fabric.  So in the end, I left out some of the duplicate blue fabrics, but all the fabrics in the line are represented.

The quilt top ended up being 68-1/2 inches square.  The hardest part (aside from deciding what pattern to use in the first place) was knowing what size to cut the borders.  I think it ended up okay, but having the setting triangles with the bias to the outside is not the best idea.  I measures several places across the quilt and came up with an average, but there was a good bit of easing to do to rein in those bias edges.  They looked pretty wavy before I added the border.  Hopefully it will quilt out pretty flat.  Tomorrow it is headed to the quilt shoppe to get quilted.

My Newest Quilt Top

This is my newest quilt top.  I finished it on Tuesday, but I'm just now getting around to posting a picture of it.  It is made with a Color Me Happy layer cake.  It only uses 36 of the 10-inch squares though.  It should finish 64 inches square.  On Wednesday, I took it down to the quilt shop to be quilted.

August Guild Block

The sampler block we got this month for our guild project Christmas quilt was a four-patch Christmas star.  The pattern came from freepatterns.com.  It wasn't necessarily an easy block, but I think it is a really pretty block.  It has several irregularly shaped pieces and therefore uses templates.  So if you decide to download the pattern, make sure that when you print it you choose "print actual size" in the print options.  Otherwise, the templates might print out a little small.

The original pattern was for a candle mat.

August Moda Blocks

These are my blocks for Moda this month. All of them are 12-inch blocks.  There are only 5 more to go, so we are getting close.  It's a good thing, too, because I'm getting low on Sweet Pea fabric.  Hopefully I have enough to get me through.  I'm pretty sure that most of the ones that I still need to make will be 6-inch blocks.

A New Beachy Bag

This is another bag made from a Moda candy.  This one is made from a "Hearty Good Wishes" candy.  Like the last bag, it is not really designed to be a purse.  It has an inner pocket, but no key holder or closure and it has shorter handles.  It has a nice, cool, beachy feel.

Update: It is actually a birthday present for my oldest step-daughter, but I didn't want to say so until after I gave it to her.

From Martha to Michelle

I finally finished my jelly roll race quilt.  I've been working on turning the binding for several weeks now during my group sewing time at the library.  I wouldn't be finished with it yet if it weren't for the fact that I took it on my trip to Monticello, FL when we went to visit my grandmother in the nursing home over the weekend.  I didn't finish it on the trip, but I got within 30 minutes of finishing it, so I finished it today.

Because it was made from a "First Ladies" jelly roll, I decided to name it "From Martha to Michelle."  I figured that "first ladies" cover all the first ladies from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama.  I thought of it, it seemed fitting, so I went with it.

It is machine quilted in the ditch along all of the long seams.  I didn't bother with the short seams within the rows.

Extra Guild block - Take Two

A few weeks ago, I made a block from this pattern for my guild Christmas sampler.  After I made the block, I decided that this block would be a good block to use as the setting squares in the sampler.  Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of the fabric that I had used in making the original block to make 14 more blocks just like it.  I know that I wouldn't be able to get more of the fabric I had used in the center of the original block because it was fabric I had bought at least 7 years ago.  So I bought new fabric and remade the block.  I think it looks really nice with the poinsettia fabric in the center and the red fabric and the green fabric are very similar in hue to the original block.

Woodstock quilt

I finally finished my July mini project.  I machine quilted it in the ditch along each of the vertical and horizontal rows.  I machine turned the binding as well.  I used a simple straight stitch, nothing decorative this time.  It finished approximately 36 x 38-1/2 inches.

Naming it was somewhat difficult.  When my middle son (now married and moved out) saw it, his reaction was the it looked like "square fish . . . swimming in pee."  He has a very creative mind.  Needless to say, I didn't go with that for a title.  The pattern is called "charm pack stones" and the fabric is called "folklore" so I was looking for something that would fit with one or both of those while still fitting with the feel of the quilt itself.  I finally settled on "Woodstock" because the flowers and vivid colors made me think of the 60s hippie movement.  It also made me think of the song "Woodstock" by Crosby, Stills and Nash, so I decided it was the best choice.