Creeper Pillow

This is the first in a series of pillows that I plan to make.  If you are familiar with the computer video game Minecraft, I'm sure you will recognize the iconic Creeper face.  I also plan to make a Zombie face and a Skeleton face pillow to complete the set.  The graphics of the game are intentionally highly pixelated, so it translates very well to quilting/sewing.

The pillow is 14 inches square.  The face itself is a 12 inch square and a 1 inch border, of the pillow's back fabric, was added all the way around the face.

So far the Creeper pillow has been a big hit with my three sons.  But I must confess, the pillows were actually my idea.  All those pixels were just begging to become a quilt square.

This is a picture of the creeper face it is based on in case you aren't familiar with the game.

Bow Tie Cat Pillow

This is a little throw pillow that I made for the living room. I have made a few pillow covers for this pillow insert that are seasonal, but I wanted one that could be used for those times of year when I don't have a seasonal cover to match. The pillow is 14 inches square. The cat square in the center is a 12 inch square. I made the block from a combination of two cat blocks that I had in a quilting book, "501 Quilt Blocks".  The basic shape of the cat came from one pattern and the face came from a different one.  The back of the pillow is a split back to easily remove the pillow insert.

Pillowcases

My latest project was inspired by Memorial Day. I wanted to do something for soldiers/veterans on Memorial Day to celebrate the spirit of the day. I decided to make some pillowcases (pattern from Quiltmaker July/Aug '06) to be donated. I woman in my quilt guild is collecting them to donate to either active soldier or veteran, I'm not sure which. I didn't get too far into the process on Memorial Day proper. I bought and washed the fabric that day. I've worked on them when I had time between then and now. I just finished them today (with much complaining from my sewing machine). The guild meets tomorrow so they should be ready to donate then.

Patchwork Pillow

This is a pillow that I made to donate to a silent auction. The pillow is 12 inches square and features a "Crazy Ann" block from the 1930s. The pillow ended up going to a little girl who fell in love with it as soon as she saw it. Her mom bid on it for her. I'm glad that it went to someone who would really be happy to have it.

Pinwheel Pin Cushion

This is a little pin cushion that I made the other day (probably 2 weeks ago at this point).  I got the pattern at my monthly quilt guild meeting.  I thought it would be a fun little quick project.  It was pretty quick to make, but it was a little more difficult than it looks.  The center pinwheel is actually somewhat dimensional, as it is formed by layering a folded 2 inch square on top of another 2 inch square. 
That creates a lot of bulk in that center seam.  In fact, it was so difficult to sew through that I broke the needle on my sewing machine and had to sew the very center of the pin cushion top by hand.  I think it turned out really cute though.  I like the fabric and I love that color of blue.

Valentine

This is the valentine that I made for my husband for Valentine's Day. I designed it myself. I'm a little disappointed in how the binding turned out. It didn't fully cover the 1/4 inch that it was supposed to, so the hearts ended up a little misshapen in places. But my hubby was happy with it. He was actually quite surprised.

The finished size was about 4x6. It is machine pieced, using paper piecing, and machine quilted. I also made the envelope, which is the red fabric that the card is laying on in the picture.

Snowmen on Parade

This is my most recent project. I finished it last night. My husband actually suggested the name, "Snowmen on Parade". When I was describing it to him, I said that it wasn't really made of blocks, it was just strips of snowman fabric. Then he said, "oh, so it just snowmen on parade." I thought that would be a cute name for it, so I went with it.

The quilt is machine pieced and hand quilted in simple straight lines. The batting is a high loft batting, so the quilting is kind of far apart, but within the manufacturers recommendations (between 2" and 4"). The finished size is 36 x 42.5 inches.

I made it to donate to Project Linus for make a blanket day. I need to get it in the mail on Monday. Although it doesn't really matter too much on the timing. Project Linus accepts blankets year round, if I'm not mistaken.

Crocheted Afghan

This is a baby afghan that I crocheted several months ago. I forgot to take a picture of it when I finished it. It is made by simply chaining a long row then making a row of double crochets back into that chain. Then you chain up to the next row and make another row of double crochets. Then you just repeat until it is as long as you want it to be. It is made from Bernat Baby's Breath yarn. The finished afghan is 29 inches by 34 inches. I entered it in the Pike County Fair, too, and it also won a blue ribbon.

Froggie in the Tulips

I finished this quilt just in time to enter it in the Pike County Fair. I didn't even take a picture of it before I entered it. I just picked it up from the fair today and it won a blue ribbon.

I found the frog and tulip fabric at the quilt shop and I just fell in love with it. I decided to put tulip blocks in the corners and a frog block in the center of a large nine patch design. I didn't have a frog pattern so a drafted one based on a picture of the frog block from the "by the pond" pattern that Quiltmaker published several years ago before I started subscribing. The frog block is paper pieced and so are the stem and leaf sections of the tulip blocks. The quilt finished 36 inches square and is machine pieced and hand quilted. The eyes of the frog are large buttons that I sewed onto the finished quilt.

Charity Quilt

I just finished this one today. The blocks are printed pillow panels and the sashing is 4 inch strips of a coordinating fabric. The cornerstones are cut from the border strips on the edges of the pillow panel fabric. It's finished size is 44 x 64 inches.

It was done completely on the machine, which is extremely unusual for me. The machine that I have has a walking foot, but it doesn't work very well, so I seldom use it. However, the blankets are due this Sunday and I really wanted to make a quilt to donate. I knew that I didn't have time to hand quilt it and I was afraid that I wouldn't have time to hand turn the binding, so I just did it all by machine. It will be donated to the child advocacy center along with the fleece blankets featured in the post below.

Fleece Blankets!

My project this summer has been to make fleece blankets. The women's group at my church decided to make blankets to donate to the Child Advocacy Center. Walmart had their fleece marked down so I bought a whole bunch and started making blankets. There are ten blankets in all. Six of them have a fringed hem and four of them have a braided hem. I was going to do it 5 & 5, but I accidentally cut the sixth one with a 3 inch cut (to make the fringe) instead of a 2 inch cut (to make the braid). No big deal either way. I think both ways looks nice.

Sisters Quilt Show

I actually got a chance to go to the annual outdoor quilt show in Sisters, Oregon this year. This is a picture of me with my quilt. It is the same quilt that is featured in this post. I was afraid that we were never going to find it. There were so many beautiful quilts there. We finally found mine hanging on a house close to the edge of town. It didn't sell, but it was fun to have a quilt in the show. Maybe next year I'll enter one of the contests. We'll see.

The Finished Product

I finally finished the quilt in the post below. I actually finished it several days ago (April 5th, I think), but have just gotten around to posting the pictures. The quilt finished 40 inches square. It was machine pieced and hand quilted in a house top motif. I decided to call it "Jungle Babies" because of the focus fabric.

Baby Quilt in Progress

This is my current project in progress (in the quilting frame). It is a baby quilt for my cousin and his wife's new baby that is due this month. I had to make it gender neutral because they are not finding out the sex of the baby ahead of time. She said she was doing the nursery in elephants so I thought these baby jungle animals would be prefect. Green and yellow were as gender neutral as I could think of.

Amongst the Waves

Here is a picture of my most recent finished quilt project. I made it for my youngest son's bed. Below is a picture of him on the bed with the quilt. It was made from a storm at sea pattern. I used the Marti Michell Storm at Sea template set to cut the patches for the diamond blocks, using the 12" block cutting directions. The quilt finished approximately 71" x 95".

My son picked out the fabric; I cut out the patches, pieced the top and sewed on the binding; and my dad hand quilted it. It was multi-generational family project.



We had a little difficulty coming up with a name for the quilt. We wanted something to reflect the wave-like feeling that the pattern creates. At first my son just kept making a "woosh" sound and doing what we called a "crab-walk, jazz-hands hula", which we decided could be the subtitle for the quilt. For the "official" name we decided on "Amongst the Waves", which comes from the title of a song by Pearl Jam.

My First Fabric Postcard

This year I decided to try to entry a quilt in the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon. I noticed that at the quilt show they also have a postcard auction and sale for charity. Anyone can donate fabric postcards to the sale, so I thought I would try my hand at making one to possibly donate. Yesterday morning I sat down and made this little postcard. It was fun and I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt at postcard making. I got the directions from Red Shoe Ramblings. The directions were easy to follow and had great picture illustrations.

Pinwheels in Autumn

I made this quilt using the same pattern I used for my last Project Linus quilt. This time I used deer fabric with a fall theme. The fabric matches my living room furniture very well. This one I'm calling a lap quilt instead of a baby quilt, even though they are the same size. The fabric is a little less juvenile, but it could still work as a toddler quilt.

Here is a close up of the quilting. I quilted it the same way as the Linus quilt: outlining the gold triangles, down the center of the rust border, outlining and going down the center of the print border, and making a grid in the center panel.


I entered the quilt in the Pike County Fair last week, and it won a Blue Ribbon!

Flower Cross Pillow

This is a pillow that I made for the silent auction at the Alabama State Homemakers' Club meeting. (That's not their official name anymore, but I forget what the official name is these days.)

The pillow is 11 inches x 14 inches. The center of the cross is a folded flower. I just quilted in the ditch around the cross and around the border. It has a split back to insert the pillow form. The back of the pillow is made from the floral material that the cross is made from.

I made the pillow from start to finish in about 8 hours.

Up, Up & Away

I actually finished this baby quilt on March 2, but it has taken me this long to get it posted. The photo below is a close up of the quilting.


The balloons are foundation pieced from a pattern I made myself. The large balloons are 5" by 8" and the small balloons are 2.5" by 4".

It was machine pieced and hand quilted. The balloons are quilted in the ditch around the outside of the balloon and then quilted through the balloon to indicate the lines that a hot-air balloon has. To mimic the cloud motif in the background I decided to quilt a seashell pattern. To make the seashell pattern easier to hand quilt, I cut several scallops out of sticky-backed labels (left over from an old political campaign) and stuck them to the quilt, then quilted around them.

It took a long time and it is the most intricately quilted quilt I have made so far. The finished quilt is about 37" by 53".

Update: I entered the quilt in the Pike County Fair last week and it won a Red Ribbon!

Trip Pictures

I've uploaded most of our trip pictures from our trip to New England and Niagara Falls to Webshots. There is a permanent link to my albums over in the side bar, but here is a link to the new album. Here are just a few to get you started. Enjoy.

American Falls at Niagara

Nubble Lighthouse

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse