Christmas Kittens

 This is my newest completed project.  It is throw/sofa size quilt for Christmas time.  It has Christmas present blocks set alternately with squares of fabric that has kittens in Santa hats and Christmas stockings.  The backing fabric is beige with white snowflakes.  The machine quilting is also a snowflake design.

I sent this one off to be machine quilted at the Missouri Star Quilt Company.   I wish that the top and the backing had been stretched equally when they were quilting it.  The back of the quilt is nice and smooth, but the top is not smooth at all, really.  Basically the top side looks like I've washed it even though I haven't.  Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't be that a big of a deal. In this case, it is disappointing because I had wanted to be able to let my kids write their names on the present "tags" after it was quilted, but I'm afraid it will be too poofy for people to be able to write on it.  I know, I should have done that first, but if the top were as smooth as the backing it wouldn't have been a problem.  We've done it with quilts quilted at my local quilt shop before with no problem.  I guess you live and learn.

This is a close up of the label on the back.

My June blocks - guild and Moda

Today I worked on my blocks for both of my quilt groups, quilt guild and Moda Friendship. I actually got started relatively early in the day, which was good thing, because if I hadn't I probably wouldn't have finished them today. A strong thunderstorm came up this afternoon so I had to stop sewing a little earlier than usual. When it is stormy I usually don't sew because the dog comes into the sewing room (from outside) and I like to unplug my sewing machine for fear of lightning damage. So here they are, my blocks for this month.

Here is my snowman for quilt guild.  The original pattern was featured in blue and white, I went with red and green to match the blocks I've already made.  The embellishments are just basted in place.  I didn't want to permanently attach them, because I'm probably going to have the quilt long-armed, but I wanted to see how they would look.  The original also had embroidered stick arms, but because my background fabric is pretty busy, I'm thinking I will leave those off.

These are my Moda blocks, two 12-inch blocks and one 6-inch blocks.  I'm really happy with how they turned out.  I was thinking that I would take a picture of all the blocks I've made so far, but when the storm came up I had to hurry and so I didn't take a picture of all of them.  Maybe next time.

Rail Fence quilt in Ellie Ann fabric

After many, many months of deliberation, the quilt top is finally finished.  It is made from the first layer cake that I ever bought, back in August of last year.  As I mentioned previously, I had a pattern in mind when I bought the layer cake, but once I had it in hand I decided against that pattern.  I went around and around trying to figure out what to do with it.  Back in March I thought I had it figured out, but I decided against that layout, too.  After looking at the picture for a while I decided that I didn't like the dark green in the center of the quilt like that.  So I opted for the diagonal color pattern over the diamond color pattern layout, even though my kids had picked it as their favorite.  Oh well, it's my quilt, I'm the one who has to like it, right?

So, anyway, the finished quilt top measures about 67 inches by 92 inches.  It is shown here on a queen size bed, but it is intended to be used on a twin size bed.  The border is supposed to mimic the rail fence design in the blocks.  It is a little hard to see in the picture because the outer border hangs off of the bed, but you can see it at the bottom if you look for it.  Now to get the backing fabric figured out and off to the quilt shoppe it will go to get long-armed.

Echoes of Laughter

This quilt is also from the second edition of the Squares for Cyndi pattern.  It is the original pattern with a 3 inch border added to make it finish approximately 40 inches square. 

It is machine pieced, machine quilted, and hand bound.  The hand binding on this one was also done our recent car trip.  I started it on the way to New Jersey, and I finished it on the trip back home to Alabama.  I made and attached the label today.

Candy Coins

 I finally finished the pink coin quilt that I started many months ago.  It is machine pieced, machine quilted, and hand bound.  After quilting the other coin quilt that I made from the same jelly roll, I was hesitant to quilt this one in the way.  I had quilted in the ditch around all the coins, but did not sew through the sashing strips, and that made for a lot of starting and stopping.  Which in turn, made for a lot of thread ends to bury.  But I just couldn't decide on another way to quilt it that I thought I would be pleased with.  So finally I just gave in and quilted it just like the last one.  I figured that since we were going on a long car trip, it would give me something to do in the car, and it did.

On the way to Illinois, I finished burying the threads and started hand turning the binding.  On the trip from Illinois to New Jersey, I finished turning the binding.  I actually finished it while traveling on I-695 East around Baltimore, MD.  Watching traffic makes me nervous, so I like to have something else to focus on, but burying all those thread ends was still quite annoying.  If I ever do another one with this pattern, I might opt for a nice, all-over pantograph design instead.

I made and attached the label today.

Update: This quilt was given as a baptismal gift to a baby in my church.

Another Shop Sample

Here is a picture of the larger version of the Squares for Cyndi pattern, made with a layer cake instead of a charm pack.  I'm hoping to have the second edition of the pattern, which will include this size along with the other sizes, ready next week.  When it is all finished it will be available at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe and at my Etsy shop. 

May block from Moda

These are my blocks from the directions we got at our last meeting of Moda Friendship.  Very simple and straight forward blocks.  Really the only choices were about which fabrics to use, except for the variable star block.  With the variable star, we were given the option of doing a star in a star.  I considered it, but decided against it.  I think it is a really neat idea, and I really like the effect when you use the background of the inner star as the star points for the outer star.  Like this.

But ultimately, I decided to go with the most basic star.  I thought that it would blend better with the other blocks and look better in the quilt as a whole, since they are all basic blocks. Plus, I'm really going for an old-fashioned country look in this quilt.

I would like to try the technique at some point, though.  I think it could make a really cute big block baby quilt.  I may try it if I have time before the next meeting.

Shop sample all finished

When I went down to the quilt shop for the Moda Friendship meeting yesterday, the two shop samples (featured in these posts - Squares for Cyndi and More Squares for Cyndi) for my original Squares for Cyndi pattern were all finished.  Don't they look so cute.  I think that they make adorable little baby quilts.  The pattern is available for sale at The Front Porch Quilt Shoppe in Ozark, and at my shop, Covered with Love on Etsy.

May guild block

This month our block was a simple quilt square (from Sew Big Quilts) done in Christmas fabrics.  I'm not 100% sure that I'm going to leave it "as is".  I'm just not sure how I feel about the bottom corner fabric.  To some degree, I feel like it doesn't really fit with the other fabrics, in terms of style - the colors are fine.  But I feel like, based on the fabrics I have, that my only other option would be to use a smaller piece of the focus fabric, and I'm afraid that might make it look too busy.  I'm just not sure.  But it is made for now, I can always change it later if I want.

Hearts on a Chain

This year I decided that I wanted to finish at least three of my old UFOs.  This is my first, and it is probably over 10 years old, but I can't be sure.  Several years ago, I saw a picture of a quilt that looked very similar to this one in either a magazine or catalog.  I didn't order a pattern or anything, I just looked at the picture and figured it out.  Today I spent a good part of the day trying to find that old picture, so that I could get a better ballpark date on when I started this quilt.  I looked through years and years of Quiltmakers (2000-2007) but couldn't find it.  I also looked through some Quilter's World and Quick and Easy Quilting issues that I had from that time period, but still no luck.  I finally just gave up finding the original inspiration. 

Once I gave up on finding the print picture, I decided to try doing a Google image search.  I have no idea what the original pattern name was, but I searched for "heart Irish chain quilt" and "heart quilt" with no real luck.  I found one quilt that had the same pieced heart, but not the Irish chain setting.  So if anyone knows the name of the original pattern, or where it might have come from, let me know.

So anyway, years ago I saw the pattern and thought it would make a nice seasonal sofa throw for Valentine's Day.  It was super easy to make with nice, big pieces.  I made the top, but never quilted it.  I know that at the time that I made it I didn't have a dedicated sewing room and had difficulty finding the space to set up the quilting frame for larger projects.  Even once we moved to the new house, and I had a sewing room, I never got around to quilting it.  I didn't know how I wanted to quilt it either, so it just sat. 

Finally, this year, I decided that I would have it machine quilted.  I thought that a pantograph of hearts would look nice, so that is what I went with.  The backing fabric that I had bought all those years ago was not big enough to accommodate long-arm quilting, so I purchased some new fabric for it, too.

When I got it back from the quilter, it was past February, so I figured there was no hurry in getting it bound.  I've been working on it at the library, during our sewing time, for several weeks.  I've also worked on it some on car trips, because I like to work on hand sewing in the car.  I finally finished it last Friday on the way home from the Radney Foster concert in Atlanta (well actually Duluth, GA).  So after many years, and many miles, this UFO is finally finished.

Jelly roll race

Today's effort was a variation on the jelly roll race (jelly roll 1600) quilt.  Instead of sewing the strip together with a diagonal seam, I cut two of the strips into 2-1/2 inch squares and cut four 2-1/2 inch squares from a third strip.  I used the 2-1/2 inch squares between each of the strips.  It probably would have been a bit more striking if the squares had all been the same fabric, but this jelly roll didn't have triples of any of the fabric.  The fabric is "First Ladies" from Windham fabrics.

April Guild Block - Appliqued Ornaments

The guild block for April was appliqued ornaments.  It has taken me quite a while to finish it.  First of all, I had trouble deciding what fabric to use as a background.  The directions called for a light colored background, but I wanted to use something darker - something that would read more like a Christmas tree.  Then I couldn't decide what fabric to use for the ornaments.  I wanted to fussy-cut motifs for the ornaments, but the non-round ornaments looked odd to me cut that way.  So I finally decided to put fussy-cut circles (and one oval) inside all the ornaments, and I liked the look of that a lot better.  Unfortunately that meant I had to applique 12 shapes instead of just 6 shapes.  Plus, I hand appliqued it, so it took me quite a while.  But now it is finally done, and I think it looks nice.

SOQS block contest entry

Again this year I decided to order a kit from the Sisters' Outdoor Quilt Show for their block contest.  You send them $10 and they send you 6 small pieces of fabric (one 10 inch square of read as solid, and five 6 inch squares of patterned fabric) that you then have to make a 9-1/2 inch (raw edge to raw edge) square block out of.  All the blocks that are entered are displayed at the quilt show in July.

I know I won't win, because the winning block is basically always appliqued and embellished.  But there needs to be losing blocks too.  The winner gets a monetary prize and some of the losing blocks to make a quilt.  The runners-up also get some of the other losing blocks.  So I think it will make a nice addition to one of the quilts made by the winner or runner up, if they chose to actually make one.  It is just fun to enter and be part of the show.  Even though I won't get to be at the show, at least my block will.

Squares for Cyndi, with a border

I've been playing around some more with my pattern, and I came up with a few ideas for borders.  This top has a 3 inch (finished size) border around the outside of the last round.  That makes it finish at about 40 inches square.

It is made with My Sunshine fabric from Riley Blake.  Much of it was left over from the jelly roll strips from the coin baby quilts and jelly roll race baby quilt that I made earlier this year.  It took about 21 charm squares along with the left over pieces of strips.  Some of the leftover pieces are smaller than 5 inches long, but that's no big deal, really.

I also have a plan, and the fabric, to make one with a border that will set the original design on point. It will be made from Happy Tones fabric by Michael Miller.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how that works out.  It should finish at about 48 inches square.

April Moda Blocks

Here are the blocks that I made from the patterns we got on Wednesday at the Moda Friendship meeting.  Two are 6-inch blocks and one is a 12-inch block.  They were super easy to make, and it's a good thing.  After the day I had today, I'm glad I was able to get something accomplished. 

I had planned to work on my guild block today, but it just wasn't working for me.  I just couldn't decide on fabrics and nothing that I tried seemed to be quite right.  Maybe I'll have better luck with it tomorrow.

Cyndi mini all finished

Here is a picture of the miniature version of the Squares for Cyndi quilt all quilted and bound.  I think Melanie did a great job with it.  The quilted circles are such a good contrast to the squares in the pattern, and the red binding really pops.  The little mini quilt is photographed resting on the basket that the patterns are displayed in.

From the Candy left overs

This is the little project that I made from the left over fabric after I finished the March Candy Project.  The main part of the mini quilt is made mostly from the cut-aways from the flippy corners.   Four of the squares were made from the two left over candies that weren't called for in the original project.  The border, binding, and backing are all left over from their matching component in the original mini quilt.

The finished product measures about 12-1/2 inches x 14 inches.  I think it would work well as a burp cloth or lap pad for a baby.  Like the original project, it is machine pieced, machine quilted, and machine bound, with a straight stitch.  I figured anything that was designed to have a baby throw up on it didn't need any fine hand work.

A Bag for Spring

Remember that spring bag that I mentioned yesterday?  The one that I was going to make from the "Chance of Flowers" fabric I bought yesterday.  Well, here it is.  That must be some sort of land speed record for me.  I don't think I've ever picked out fabric in less than 5 minutes and then used that fabric the very next day.  Wow, that was fast.

It really is a good feeling, though.  So often I have an idea of something that I want to make, and I buy the fabric for it, but the fabric just ends up lying around in my sewing room.  It feels good to have an idea and be able to act on it almost immediately.  And finishing a project on the day that I start it is always nice, too.

March Candy Project - Finished!

Every month at our Moda Friendship meeting, we are given a pattern for a small project made with a Moda candy.  If we finish the project by the next meeting, and bring it in and show it, we get a free fat quarter.  I didn't do the ones from January or February, because I didn't really know what I would do with them if I made them.  But this past month I decided to go for it anyway.  I've been wanting to do something with the Giggles fabric line ever since I saw it, and this seemed like a good project for it (The sample was done it "Hubba Hubba" fabric, from the same designer).

The little quilt finished at 19 x 22 inches.  It is machine pieced, machine quilted, and machine bound.  I quilted in the ditch between the rows and between the piecing and the border.  I outline quilted inside the white hexagons and on both sides of the border.  The binding is sewn down with a straight stitch, nothing decorative this time. 

I thought it would make a nice little changing pad for a baby.  I don't have anyone to give it to at the moment, but baby showers will probably be in my future at some point.  I may make a little burp cloth out of the left over fabric to go with it.

A new bag - from a Moda candy!

I finished this one today.  I've been wanting to make myself a new bag that could be used on an everyday basis, not just season specific.  This one was made from a Sweet Pea candy.  It uses a half a yard of fabric in addition to the candy for the exterior of the bag, and another half yard of fabric for the lining.

When I went to the quilt shop today, I bought another candy and more yardage so that I can make another bag, this one spring themed.  It is from the "Chance of Flowers" fabric line.  I think it will be really cute.

March Moda Blocks

In March we got three blocks at our Moda Friendship meeting.  I've been busy with other projects, so just finished them a couple of days ago.  I really like the Greek Cross block.  I've made it before and it is simple but still interesting visually.

This month I didn't even try to figure out a combination for the blocks.  It might could have been done, but I was just so busy working on the shop samples that I didn't even try.

March Guild Block - Poinsettia

This is our guild block from March.  It is a pieced poinsettia block with appliqued stems and leaves.  I finished it today.  I did the piecing a couple weeks ago, but I just couldn't make myself do the applique.  I don't enjoy doing applique and I had several other projects that I wanted get finished first, as well. 

I did the applique with a machine blanket stitch.  As far as I can remember, I've never machine appliqued before.  I might have done some in high school for home ec. class, but I don't really remember doing any.  I think it turned out pretty good for a first effort.  There are a few stray stitches on the first leaf that I appliqued, because I was just getting accustomed to how the stitch worked, but all in all I think it looks nice.  But I'm also very glad that it is all finished.  However, I've already been told that this month's block will be applique as well. . .

Squares for Cyndi, sofa sized

At the request of Melanie, the shop owner at Front Porch Quilt Shoppe, I made a larger version of the Squares for Cyndi quilt.  This top measures 74 inches square. 

I've also figured the measurements for a really jumbo sized one - 100 inches square.  That should fit a king sized bed.  I've already written up the directions for the two larger sizes together in one pattern.  Once this one is quilted and photographed, I can print up the patterns for sale.

Cyndi Mini

This is another shop sample that I'm piecing for Melanie at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe.  It's hard to tell from the picture, because there is nothing to show scale, but this is a miniature version of the Squares for Cyndi quilt.  It is made with Moda candies (pre-cut 2 1/2 inch squares) and about 1/8 yard of solid color fabric.  This sample is made with an April Showers (by bonnie and camille for moda) candy and Snow Bella Solids by moda fabric.  It finished at just over 13 inches square. 

More Squares for Cyndi

This is another shop sample of the Squares for Cyndi pattern.  This time we used a colored background fabric.  The charm pack is Mixed Bag by Studio M for Moda.  The background fabric is Simply Color by Vanessa Christenson of V and Co. for Moda.  I think it would make a darling little quilt for a baby boy.

Squares for Cyndi

Back during the Iron Quilter challenge, I made a quilt. Some of the ladies at my local quilt shop said that I should write up a pattern for the design. So recently I wrote up the directions and got them printed.  The pattern is named "Squares for Cyndi" because Cyndi, at the quilt shop, really encouraged me to write the pattern and would ask about it most times that she saw me in the shop.  The pattern is now for sale at The Front Porch Quilt Shoppe, as a printed pattern, and at Etsy as a PDF download.

This is a shop sample for the pattern.  It is made with daydream fabric by Kate Spain for Moda.

Butterfly Trails

I finished the baby quilt made from the February Moda blocks (featured here) today.  It finished 38 inches square.  I machine quilted in the ditch between the blocks and through the center of each block in both directions.  I also quilted in the ditch on either side of the white border.  The binding is also done by machine.  It is top-stitched down with a star decorative stitch.  I named it "butterfly trails" because the fabric is butterfly fabric (including the backing fabric) and I thought the pink and blue patches sort of made trails across the quilt.

Pixie Stix

 I finished sewing the binding on this one on Tuesday.  The quilt top is originally featured in this post.  It is the third top that I made from the jelly roll, but I finished it second.  Mostly because the uninterrupted straight-line quilting meant fewer threads to bury than in the second top I finished. 

I decided to name it Pixie Stix after the candy in the paper straws.  One of my sons said that the fabric made him think of candy.  Once I was thinking about candy, the long strips in the pastel colors made me think of Pixie Stix.

I sewed the label on yesterday. For some reason, the date that I put on a quilt is always the date that I finished binding it, even if I don't sew the label on until the next day.  I guess it is because the quilt is finished and usable at that point.  In fact, my grandmother and father don't even put labels on their quilts.  I've told my dad that he should, but he still doesn't.  He has started quilting his initials (and I think maybe the year) into the quilt, so that is something.  My grandmother doesn't quilt anymore (she's 97 years old), so the best I could do is label the quilts of hers that I have.  I may do that, at least with her name.

February blocks in a baby quilt

I really like the pattern that these blocks make when they work together.  I did have to fudge just a little bit on this one.  It is actually the two blocks we got in February for the Moda Size Matters quilt, but it also includes the mirror image of one of the blocks. 

I just used fabric from my stash on this one.  I like the fabric, but the pieces are so small that the butterflies on the fabric doesn't really show up that well.  It probably would have been better in different fabric, but I used what I had.  The fabric that I have for the backing, also from my stash, is multicolored with butterflies on it.  I'm not sure yet how I want to quilt it.

February block - guild quilt

This is my Santa face block for our guild sampler project.  For right now, his eyes are just dots, but they will eventually be buttons.  I'm not adding any embellishments until after it is quilted.

The original pattern that we were given was assembled as 16 squares in a 4 x 4 configuration, but I redrafted it so that it had fewer unnecessary seams.  I had heard that several of the guild members were having trouble with one of the sections (the square where there was background, hat, and hat trim all coming together in one square) so I decided to avoid the problem all together.  Other than the fact that it has fewer seams, the finished block looks the same as the original.

Ellie Ann quilt

When I first saw this fabric, I fell in love with it, but it has given me fits as to what to do with it.  When I bought it, I had a plan of exactly what I was going to do with it.  However, once I had the layer cake in hand, I didn't think it would look right in that pattern, so I went back to the drawing board.

I decided to go with fence rail blocks, but then I wasn't sure about the layout.  For me, the issue is that the variety of colors in the collection are not equal, so it makes it hard to design around.  I think that I'm going to go with the general layout pictured above.  It is mostly symmetrical, so I think it works.  I also considered a layout where the colors moved diagonally across the quilt, but my kids thought the symmetrical layout was better.

Now I need to sew it together and order some fabric for the borders.

A New Bag

I made this bag as a gift for my daughter-in-law.  Her birthday was on Sunday, but I just made the bag today.  Her purchased gift didn't arrive until today either, so she can get her gift in a homemade gift bag. :)

The bag is made from some of the left over fabric from the wedding gift quilt.  This time I decided to try using 2 1/2 inch strips instead of 5 inch squares to make the bag.  The dimensions turn out a little different, but it is basically the same as the other bags I've made recently.  I hope she likes it.

February blocks - Size Matters

Here are my blocks from February's meeting of the Moda Friendship group at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe.  I did them both as 12-inch blocks this time.  I really like the block on the left.  It is a simple block, but it has good motion in it.

I haven't come up with neat combination for these blocks yet.  But I'm still working on it.

Autumn Splendor

I finally finished my row swap quilt from last year's guild project.  I got it back from the long-armer last month, I finished sewing the binding on Tuesday, and I made and attached the label last night.  It is made for a twin size bed, but it is shown here on a queen size bed.  You can see the whole quilt better on the queen sized bed because almost none of it hangs off.

Even though all the rows were made by different people, it really blends together very well.  I really enjoyed working on the row swap project.  And, it is nice to have a quilt that was made by the combined efforts of so many friends.  It is a good memory to cherish.

Bear Hug

It's finished with time to spare.  Last night I finished sewing the binding on it, and this morning I made and attached the label.  I decided to name it "Bear Hug" because of the bear paw blocks in the corners and the circle (the Hug of Xs and Os) in the center.  I also thought hugs were appropriate for the Valentine theme of the fabric.

It finished 20 inches square and is machine pieced and machine quilted.  I quilted it in the ditch around the main elements of the blocks - the bear paws, the diamonds (including the line across), and the circle in the center.

January blocks in a wall hanging

I was playing around with the Moda blocks that we got directions for in January (see previous post) and I came up with a design using just those three blocks.  I really liked the design, but I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  I considered using 12-inch blocks and making a baby quilt out of it.  I considered using 3-inch blocks and just making a 9-inch block out of it that I would then use as part of a larger quilt. 

However, after looking around at the fabric at the quilt shop, I finally decided on some cute Valentine fabric from Basic Grey by Moda (Kissing Booth, I think).  I thought it would work best as a small wall-hanging.  I used 6-inch blocks and then put a 1-inch strip of border around the outside.

I'm hoping to get it quilted and bound before Valentine's Day, so that I can hang it up this year.  I really need to plan these things further in advance.

Size Matters blocks - January

This year I decided to join the Moda U (I think that's what it's called. Update: apparently if is officially called Moda Friendship) group at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe down in Ozark.  We will be doing the Size Matters blocks from the Moda blog-hop back in the fall.  Each month we will be getting the directions for two or three of the blocks and making them in whatever size we like.

There are 27 blocks in the series and I only wanted to use each block once, which creates something of a challenge.  I also liked the idea of using more than one size of block, since we would be getting directions for multiple sizes.  After much consideration, and much sketching, I came up with a layout and a size that I liked and figured up how much fabric to buy.

I went down to the quilt shop and wandered through the various fabric collections.  I had originally considered something bright and spring-like, but couldn't settle on anything that I liked well enough for the design I had chosen.  I finally decided to ditch the bright/spring idea and went with a layer cake of "Sweet Pea" fabric from Kansas Troubles.  They have great lights and darks in the collection.  However, I ended up getting my background fabric from the "Icicle Kisses" line, also by Kansas Trouble.  I really think that anything from Kansas Troubles would work well in the quilt, and I plan to pick up a few fat quarters from some of the other KT lines the next time I'm in the shop.

Here is a picture of the blocks I made from the January instructions.

Two are six inch blocks and one is a 12 inch block.  As the diagram above indicates, I will be making 15 blocks in the larger size and 12 blocks in the smaller size.  After making these blocks, I'm thinking that one layer cake may not be enough fabric for the blocks anyway, so I'm really likely to need those extra fat quarters before all is said and done.  And, of course, making blocks that I'm not happy with and starting over doesn't help matters any either.

I liked the idea of using a dark and a medium fabric on this block instead of a dark and a light.  I thought that having the lighter colored background in the fabric would give enough contrast, but I just wasn't happy with it.  It is much more striking in the dark and light fabrics.

January block - Guild Quilt

Our block for January was a Christmas Tree block.  I used four different green fabrics for the tree, graduating in value from darkest at bottom to brightest at the top.  I haven't decided yet if I'm going to put any embellishments on it.  If I do, it won't be until after it is quilted, most likely.  If I decide to have it quilted, I would have to take the embellishments off first anyway.

Sunshine & Flowers

Last night, I finally finished the first of the stacked coins baby quilts that I made from the Riley Blake jelly roll.  I decided to name it "Sunshine & Flowers" because the fabric line is called "my sunshine" and the main fabric of the quilt has flowers on it.

I machine quilted it in the ditch around all of the "coins".  As it turns out, that makes for a lot of thread ends to bury.  I may try to come up with a different plan before I quilt the other stacked coins baby quilt.  I really pleased with how the quilting turned out, though.  No puckers at all.  The combination of a new sewing machine, with a good walking foot, and spray basting adhesive really worked out well.

I also machine bound it.  I used green thread to match the border and binding fabric and used a feather stitch to sew it down.  It is not as neat as if it were hand turned, but it looks okay and it should be very sturdy for regular use.

The final measurements on the quilt were 38 x 38 inches square.

A race to the finish

This is the final baby quilt top from that Riley Blake - My Sunshine jelly roll that I ordered from Missouri Star Quilt Co.  Instead of doing stacked coins, I made this one into a race quilt, which had actually been the intention for all three quilts in the beginning.  This one measures 40 inches square.  I think that this one would also make a nice little quilt for a baby girl.  So many tops, so few finished quilts. . .

Stacked Coins in Pink

This little quilt top is made from the same jelly roll as the last quilt top.  (There is a third one yet to come.)  It measures approximately 38 inches x 38 inches and uses 13 jelly roll strips, just like the last one.  I'm not sure yet which baby girl will be getting this quilt once it is finished.  I have two cousins expecting baby girls and there is a new baby girl at our church.  I guess only time will tell.