Flowers and Hearts

 

This quilt is a Christmas gift for my elder granddaughter, Lilah.  It is the companion quilt to the one that I made for Maddy.  It uses the other half of the same jellyroll, but on this one I made the outer border slightly wider, using different fabric.  Just like the one for Maddy, I machine quilted it myself in crisscrossed diagonal lines approximately 5 inches apart.   I'm happy with how all of the quilts for the grandchildren turned out.  I hope they enjoy them.

Mint & Gray Rag Quilt

 

I made this rag quilt because I wanted to try out a new quilting template.  It was somewhat successful.  I don't know if it would work better on regular cotton, but the gripper dots didn't hold too well on the flannel, so I had difficulty keeping the template in place.  In fact, I started clipping it to the fabric, then gave up on using it as intended and just traced the design onto the fabric before quilting in order to get finished up.  As difficult as it was to maneuver on something the size of a fat quarter, I can't imagine using it on a whole quilt top - even a baby quilt.

Here is a close up of the template and below is a close up of the quilting. 

The finished product looks nice enough, but it wasn't much fun to use.  

I haven't washed the quilt yet to really rag it out, so to speak.  I haven't decided it I'm going to donate it to charity, like I have with quilts like this in the past, or if I'm going to give it to my grandson.  If I give it to my grandson it will need a label, and I'd want to attach that before I wash it.

Update: I donated it to the Pike Regional Child Advocacy Center on April 24, 2024.

Hearts and Flowers

 

This quilt is a Christmas gift for my younger granddaughter, Maddy.  I machine quilted it myself in crisscrossed diagonal lines approximately 5 inches apart.  It think it worked out nicely and gives the quilt good body without being stiff. 

Adventure Friends

 

I finished this quilt for my grandson Gus a few days ago, but I'm just getting around to posting it. I decided to name it Adventure Friends because the figures on all the different fabric could be companions on imaginary adventures.  In fact, I decided to get him stuffed animals that are represented in each of the fabrics, too.  He's still a little small for imaginary adventures with stuffed animal friends, but maybe it will be fun for him as he grows.

I decided on a straight-line quilting motif that echos the concentric squares of the quilt design.  It was really easy to quilt using the seam lines as guides, sewing about 1/4 inch from each seam on each side.  It made for several threads to bury in the end, but it wasn't bad at all.  The quilt finishes 40 inches square.

Below is a picture of the quilt with the stuffed animals on each corner - a parrot, a monster, a whale, and a dinosaur.  I hope he enjoys it.

A New Quilt for Gus

 This quilt is made from my Four Corners pattern, and it's for my one-year-old grandson.  When his parents were trying to decide on a theme for the nursery they had several that they liked and had trouble choosing.  So I decided to make him a quilt that incorporates all the ideas they mentioned - pirates, ocean, space, and dinosaurs.  While the little monsters aren't necessarily aliens, I thought they seemed kinda space themed.  Also the fabric for the backing has bear astronauts, so I think space is sufficiently covered. 

I think that I have everything I need to finish this one up, so the next thing on my agenda is to quilt this one.  The problem is deciding how to approach the quilting.  I don't know if I want to do diagonal lines, concentric squares, or something else.

As a side note, I'm not 100% sold on this quilt pattern.  I feel like maybe it has a little too much background fabric, but I'm not sure.  I always intended it to have something of a modernist look to it, but it might need a little tweaking.  I'm thinking about it.

Clearly Canadian Quilt

 This is a quilt with something of a long story behind it, or at least a long history in its making.  Way back in 2017 I wrote the directions for making this quilt.  I figured out the fabric requirements, decided on how I wanted the blocks to go together, drafted color diagrams, and got them all typed up.  And then it just sat there for a couple of years.  Life happens, etc. etc. but I had the directions written down, so all was well and I could come back to it whenever I got ready.  

In August of 2019 I decided that I was ready to make this quilt.  I needed olive green, yellow, orange, red-orange, deep red, light brown, dark brown, off-white, and a fall leaf print fabric.  I went to the quilt shop and agonized over the fabric choices, like I almost always do.  After about 2 hours of agonizing, I bought the fabric just like I had figured up and written down.  I brought it home, and it sat in the bag - for a whole year.  Again, oh well, it's there when I get ready to actually sew.

Once the pandemic started in early 2020 I decided to focus on sewing project that I already had all the materials for.  That way I could still sew, but wouldn't have to get out of the house.  When August rolled around again (obviously August makes me really ready for fall to begin) I decided to work on this quilt.  I got out the fabric and I my already typed-up, detailed pattern and got to work.  I made the first leaf block and I hated it.  I thought that the color placement looked good in the drawing, but I really didn't like how it looked in the fabric.  The original color placement looked like this:

In the fabric, the value placements seemed all wrong. The brown near the stem and the red at the point were dark, but the orange and red-orange in the middle were lighter in the actual fabric than in the drawing, so the balance seemed wrong.  Plus, in the original plan, all the leaf blocks were going to be the same, so I just couldn't bring myself to go ahead with it using those fabrics.  I decided that I wanted a little variety in the leaf blocks and came up with two different colorways for them.  I had to go in search of more fabric.  Again, after much deliberation, I decided on new fabric, but kept the old, too.  I added another orange and another brown.  I rearranged the fabric placement and came up with two blocks that I really liked.  

But again, life happens, and the quilt had to be put on hold.  My mother-in-law, who lived 1000 miles away, had a fall, then got sick and finally passed away in January of 2021.  So it wasn't until February of 2021 that I finally got the quilt top finished.  I took it to the quilt shop to be quilted and in my haste to get it there I forgot to take a picture of the completed quilt top, like I usually do. 

I got it back quilted in late June 2021.  I attached the binding strips and started hand-turning the binding, like I almost always do.  Even though I usually do hand work in the car while we are traveling, and we were making multiple trips to work on clearing out my mother-in-law's house and settling her estate, I just wasn't doing much work on binding the quilt.  But finally, on our last trip to Tuscaloosa for our grandson's birthday party, I finished the binding.  This was actually a month ago (August 6), but I'm just getting around to posting it.

In fact, the quilt still needs a label, which I haven't made yet.  But at least I already have a name for it.  I decided to call it Clearly Canadian, because with maple leaves and flying geese it was indeed clearly Canadian. 

When I initially wrote the pattern up I was planning to offer it for sale in my Etsy store.  But now, since it has gone through so many changes in the process of actually making the quilt, many things will need to be changed in the fabric requirements and directions before I could offer it for sale.  Maybe someday I will get around to that.  It seems to be a quilt that inhabits the Augusts of my life, so maybe next August, or the next.  Who knows?

A New Quilt for Lilah

 

After making the quilt top for Maddy, featured in the previous post, I decided to make a few changes.  I constructed the hearts for the heart row just a little differently this time in order to have fewer seams.  I also decided that I wanted the border to be wider.  It may not be obvious between the two pictures, but this border is cut an inch wider than the other one.  I considered going even bigger, but decided that was too much.  I also had a floral fabric picked out for the border, but I decided that it was too busy.  I like the way that the monochromatic fabric in the border calms the quilt down a little bit.  With all those jellyroll strips it is a bit of a busy pattern to begin with, so a calming border seemed like a good idea.

I've written up the directions for this quilt, and updated it as I've made changes.  Once these two are quilted I may make the pattern available in my Etsy shop.  That's down the road still at this point. I've also been thinking about making this pattern with yardage for a less scrappy look, and also modifying it with different blocks in what is now the heart row.  So many fun ideas...

A New Quilt for Maddy

 

Back in January of 2018 I had the idea for this quilt.  It was an alternate take on the larger Heart Strings quilt that I had patterned.  I've been thinking about it off-and-on since then, but could never find exactly the "right" fabric for it.  I finally decided that perfect had become the enemy of good, and so I just chose some fabric that I liked.  It is made with half a jellyroll of Chickadee fabric from Create Joy Project.  The border is from a different fabric line by Create Joy Project, but I forget which one.  I really like the watercolor florals that this designer uses in her fabric lines.

This quilt is for one of my granddaughters for Christmas.  I'm planning to make quilts for all three grandchildren this year.  The other two quilt tops will be posted shortly.  The other granddaughter is getting a quilt in this same pattern and the other half of the same jellyroll.  The grandson is getting something completely different.

More Trick-or-Treat bags

I made a couple more trick-or-treat bags from a different pattern. This pattern is modified from a Japanese Twist bag that was published in Quiltmaker Magazine about 19 years ago, I think. They are smaller than the first two bags.  The outsides of the bags are made from two fat quarters that I won at the quilt shop several years ago.  I really like the twist design, but it does make the bag a little trickier to put together than the first two.

These two are for my grandson and the grandchild that is still on the way. 
 

Trick-or-Treat bags

 

These two bags are made from orphan blocks and fabric from my stash.  My intention is for them to be trick-or-treat bags for my granddaughters, but they are a little large for that.  They are purse-size, or book bag size actually, so they could be used for those purposes if they prefer.  

It feels good to be doing some sewing again.  And I especially like making things for my grand-kids and using stuff from my stash.