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.