Scrappy Hearts

This quilt was also finished on our last trip to New Jersey (Sept. 5), and I didn't take a picture or post about it either.  I've just had too many irons in the fire lately (plus I need a new iron, but that's another story), I guess.  It also still needs a label, and this one also needs an official name.

For the moment I'm calling it Scrappy Hearts, but I don't know if it will be the pattern name or the quilt name.  And I don't know if I would even write up this pattern.  The heart pattern is the same heart from my Heart Strings pattern, but this time with scraps instead of a jelly roll, and obviously in a different configuration.  Hopefully it will at least get a label made for it soon.  I'd hate to forget!

Update: I decided to name this one Piece of My Heart, after the Janis Joplin song.

Felina

I actually finished the binding on this quilt over a month ago (Aug. 29), while we were on our latest trip to New Jersey, but I forgot to post a picture of it.  It is actually still waiting on a label because I have other hand sewing that is getting priority over it, but I wanted to go ahead and post about it before it gets any farther away from it's "finished" date.

The pattern is called Latin Lady, and I was having trouble coming up with a name for the quilt.  One of my sons suggested the name "Felina" - the name of the lady love in the old song El Paso.  We also used to have a cat by that name.  I decided to go with it.  It's as good as any other name, I guess, and Felina was a Latina Lady.

Mischievous Wife top finished - really this time

I ordered some dark, batik, multicolored fabric to add as a border to my Mischievous Wife quilt.  I decided against adding a white inner border.  I'm still not loving it, but the dark border adds a nice frame to it.  I wish it wasn't quite so dark, but hey, you take what you can get. 

The quilt top finishes at 72 x 80 inches, so it's a fairly big quilt.  I have no idea what will become of it once it's quilted and finished.  I can't really imagine using it anywhere.  Maybe one of my granddaughters will like it and want it some day.  Who knows.

Mystery Quilt Blocks 10

At our last guild meeting we got the instructions for the last set of blocks in our mystery quilt.  I sewed these together this afternoon.  Nothing too difficult.  The patches that make up the plus sign in the middle are all rectangles, except in the very center, but that was the only "tricky" thing about it.

I will miss next month's meeting because I will be out of town, but I'll be ready to sew it all together when I get the instructions once I'm back home!

Texas Treasure Baby Quilt

Today I finished the quilt top for my forthcoming granddaughter, due in December.  I tried to match the colors and theme that they are using in the nursery.  Below is a picture my daughter sent me of the decorations they have bought so far.  It may not be exact, but hopefully it's close enough.

I designed this quilt based on the Texas Treasure block found in the Better Homes & Gardens 501 Quilt Blocks book.  That's the only place I've been able to find this block, and in the book it is a 4 inch block.  Obviously I enlarged it.  I also added a couple of borders.  The quilt is 38 inches square.  I've actually made a similar quilt top in the past, but the focus fabric had bigger pictures, so it is done in a different scale and doesn't have the outer border.

This quilt doesn't really fit with my goals for this year, because I bought the fabric this year and I had already made a quilt from this design before, but I figure gifts for grandbabies are sufficient reasons to deviate from the program.  Especially since this grandbaby wasn't even conceived yet when I set my goals for the year.

Whole Wheat Bread

In addition to all the sewing I did today, I also baked a loaf of whole wheat bread!  I got the recipe from King Arthur Flour's website.  I haven't tried it yet, so I have no idea how it actually turned out.  It smelled really good while it was cooking, though.  I used the maple syrup option in the ingredients, so it will theoretically have a hint of maple to the taste.  Fingers crossed!

The plan for the bread, or at least part of it, is to make avocado toast with a fried egg for breakfast in the morning.  It sounds yummy.  Hopefully it actually will be.

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.