September Moda Blocks

Even though we didn't actually meet for our Moda group in September, we still got our block assignments.  I'm glad that we did because I want to get them finished up.  I finished up the second one today.  Just two more blocks to go.  Woohoo!!

Ripple Effect

This is the latest iteration of my "Squares for Cyndi" pattern.  Instead of using a charm pack, it uses strips of yardage.  I finished it yesterday on the way back from taking my youngest son back to college in Tuscaloosa.  I think it would make a nice wall hanging or a modern baby quilt.

Improved (?) Cascade quilt top

A few months ago I made this quilt top, without the borders.  The more I looked at it, the more I felt like it needed borders.  Plus, I realized that if I added borders to it, it could be big enough to fit a twin sized bed. 

I had not originally ordered enough fabric to make borders, so I had to order more fabric.  I used Kona snow for the small (1-inch) inner border and I used the fabric that I had originally gotten for the backing for the larger (6-inch), outer border.  I'm glad that I put the borders on it, because I think it makes for a more usable size. 

It's still not my favorite quilt that I've made, but it's okay.  I feel like it is just a little too busy.  The center of the quilt is busy, and the outer border is busy fabric.  There is only the really small, inner border to add any calmness to the quilt, and I don't think it is quite enough for my liking.  It actually looks better, to me, on the bed than it did when I had it spread out on the floor of my sewing room.

At this size, I'm definitely planning to have it quilted.  Not sure what pattern yet.  Probably an off-white thread or maybe a soft blue variegated.

August Moda Mini Project

Today I sewed together the top for this month's mini project.  It finishes 15 inches square.  The original pattern was done in red and white, but it was called "Flurry" and to me it looks like a snowflake, so I decided to go with blue and white instead.  I think it turned out really cute.  It will make a nice little table topper or candle mat for wintertime.

I plan to machine quilt it, but I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to go about that just yet.  A decision for another day.

August Moda blocks

Here are my blocks from last month's Moda meeting.  I don't love the way the Tea Leaf block (on left) turned out, but I don't hate it either.  Oh well, it will be fine.  I like the one on the right better.  I forget the name of it, though.

We are getting close to finishing up the blocks.  I'll be glad when it's done.  I hope I have enough fabric to finish it.  Still not sure how I'm going to put them together either.  I think I'm done with sampler quilts for a while.

A Cotton Rose Christmas

I finally finished my guild project quilt.  I had it quilted at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe.  It is an all-over pantograph of poinsettias and holly.  I finished the binding on this one on the way home from our road trip to New Jersey.  I sewed the label on on our trip to Tuscaloosa to move my youngest son into the dorm over the weekend.  Here is a close-up of its label.

Eternally Linked

This is the quilt that I've been working on for my step-daughter and her fiance for a wedding gift.  It is finally all finished.  I had it quilted at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe.  It is an all-over pantograph called "circles."  I finished the binding on a road trip to New Jersey to visit my mother-in-law.  I sewed the label on a week ago at the library.  Here is a close-up of the label.

My first quiche

I decided to try my hand at making quiche a few days ago.  I really like spinach quiche and I'm trying to get more spinach in my diet, so I thought it would be a good thing to try.  I found a recipe at Once Upon A Chef, bought the ingredients, and voila -- spinach quiche.  I used a smoked Gruyere in the recipe and two of my sons thought it had bacon in it, even though it doesn't.  It was really yummy.

July Moda blocks

These are the blocks we got the instructions for this month, so that means that I am finally caught up.  Hurray!  Thankfully, these blocks were not paper pieced, so I could finally start using the directional fabric in the line with a little more ease.  I was reluctant to use much of it with the paper piecing because it is sometimes hard to make sure that the fabric will end up the way you want it in the block.

The cool thing about these two blocks is that they are both made with 16 half-square triangles.  It is just the directionality of the blocks that makes them turn into completely different finished products.  Well, the fabrics are different too, but the real change comes from the directional change.  That is one of the things I love about quilting, there is so much you can do with the same simple units. 

Belated June Moda blocks

This month I didn't finish my blocks in time for our Moda group meeting.  Yikes!  Oh, well.  They are finished now.  They are the last two paper pieced blocks of the project.  And I must say, I'm happy to be finished with paper piecing for a little while.  It is not my favorite piecing technique.

Fireworks!

I actually finished this one in time for the fourth of July, but I'm just now getting around to posting a picture of it.  Things have been so crazy around here.  It is Bento box squares surrounded by a piano key border and two narrow white borders.  It is a good size for the back of the couch, where it is currently living.

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.