Showing posts with label quilts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quilts. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Beyond Neutral

I am so excited to finally be able to share this with you! Last spring I sewed up a sample for John Adam's new book Beyond Neutral. Well, the book is out, and I can finally show you what I made!



I can't wait to see all of the other patterns in the book - from the sneak peaks I've seen, they look awesome! See more peeks on John's blog!

Thursday, November 07, 2013

A Commissioned Quilt

One of my friends asked me at the end of last year to make a quilt for her son's big boy bed. She wanted something that would show off a wide variety of prints and wasn't too fussy. We decided on a plus quilt design, and she chose a bunch of fabric, raided her mom's stash for some other prints, and let her son choose some.

Plus Quilt

We laid it out together to make sure it was harmonious (and what she wanted!), and I started sewing.

I quilted straight horizontal lines 1/4" away from each seam in light grey thread. We backed it with Kona Coal to tone down the busyness of the front. He loves it, and loves looking for things on it. It is almost queen sized, and I was finishing it while pregnant with Henry - I was glad when I had finished it!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Ellie's Quilt - Finish it up Friday!

I am so glad to have this quilt finished! I started this way back in the spring, and basted it after the baby was born. I actually quilted it a few weeks ago and it has just been waiting for binding!

Ellie's quilt

I used a fat eighths bundle of Posy, but that wasn't quite enough fabric, so I took the bundle with me to MadTosh and matched solid Konas to the colors in Posy. I ended up with six solids, and I really like the way they coordinate with the prints.

Ellie's quilt

I used a print from JoAnn's for the backing that coordinates perfectly, and a tiny chevron for the binding (also from JoAnn's).

Ellie's quilt

Now to buy her big girl bed so we can put this on it!

Friday, May 31, 2013

Hunter's Race Car Quilt

My nephew recently turned three, and moved into a big boy bed. I asked my sister if he needed a big boy quilt to go along with that bed and we got our wheels turning. Literally! He is big into race cars, and Lightning specifically. My sister found this quilt and another like it on Pinterest and asked if I could make something like that. Turns out they used a pattern from Denyse Schmidt Quilts, and I had the book! Hubby blew up the template pieces for me at work, and my sister ordered a bunch of fabric with race cars on it. We used a Michael Miller black and white pindot for the road, and a big rainbow dot print for the back.

hunters

This was my first time making a template with curves. I found it difficult to cut them out without cutting the template. After too many nicks in the template, I finally decided to trace all the pieces and cut them out with scissors. It definitely took longer, but was less stressful in the long run.

photo 1

It took much longer to pin all the curves together than it did to sew them together, but all the pinning was worth it! They came out great and laid flat with no clipping and very very few puckers (that were entirely my fault).

When I trimmed the blocks down I did find that some parts of my road no longer matched up - the large corner curves didn't always match the 'straight' curves. I couldn't finagle them to fit either - the blocks are so large that moving one enough to make the road match meant that it didn't match up to the next side.

close up car quilt

With hubby's help, we figured out how to lay out the blocks so that it was one continuous road. I had to make two more corner pieces for it to work, but that was no big deal! I quilted it with a wavy stitch to mimic the curves of the road.

photo 3

I made a label using a Sublime Stitching transfer and put his and my names on it, with the year. I hope he loves it, and that my sister doesn't blame me when he is up past his bedtime driving cars on his bed! :)

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Charity Quilts

As part of the FWMQG, we are collecting quilts for the kids at the YWCA daycare to use as napmats. Many of the children who participate in their daycare are homeless, and this is a nice way for them to have something handmade, with love, to rest upon. They are currently napping on towels, so I am so excited for us to be giving these to them!

I made two quilts - I had the girl quilt top done, then my mom of boys guilt got to me, and I had to make one for boys to use too!

girlcharity

The girls quilt features a number of leftover prints from Samantha's big girl quilt, and a lot of other scraps I thought were 'girly.'  I cut squares into different widths - 2", 3" and 4", and sewed vertical rows together. I quilted it using vertical straight lines.

boycharity

The boy's quilt features a number of leftover prints from making Samantha's best friend's quilt (which I finally have a picture of - hopefully I will get a post up about that one this week!), and some other scraps leftover from taggies and burp cloths from my etsy shop. I trimmed all the blocks to the same height, and sewed rows together. I quilted this one with horizontal straight lines.

Both quilts measure about 24"x36". We had to machine sew the binding on for extra sturdiness, and it was good practice for me! I am glad to have these checked off my to do list!

Friday, April 05, 2013

Finished Quilt - Pastel Pinwheels

First, I love this quilt! I got my idea from a quilt I had pinned, that links to a no-longer-active Flickr account. I made my own measurements and chose six Kona solids.

Pastel Pinwheels

Each pinwheel measures 4.25" (each HST is 2.5" finished), and there are two columns of each color, off set with white squares. Each column is sixteen squares/pinwheels high.

Pastel Pinwheels back

I quilted diagonally in both directions through the white squares. The backing fabrics are the leftover solids, plus a strip of Kona Ash, and a purple print that I also used for the binding.

I'm really pleased with the way this one turned out - so fresh and springy!

Friday, March 15, 2013

Shoo Fly Quilt

A dear friend of ours and his wife are expecting their first child this spring. I planned to make them a quilt, but wasn't sure what fabric to choose, or design to use. They like vintage things, so I ended up using some American Jane prints and an enlarged Shoo Fly block for a vintage feel.

Shoo Fly Quilt


I really like the way it turned out! I used some stashed fabrics for the backing, and had just enough left over brown binding from other projects to fit!

Back of Shoo Fly quilt

I hope they like it!

Friday, March 08, 2013

FO Friday: Modern Maples

I am so excited to have this quilt finished! I started it back in the fall, and then it was put aside while I made Christmas gifts. Cleaning up the sewing room after the holidays I came across it and wanted to finish it. I had the perfect backing and binding fabric in my stash too - it was kismet!  (And just enough batting to get it done without buying more!)

Modern Maples

The pattern is by Amanda and appears in Pretty in Patchwork Holidays (which is a great book!). I modified the pattern to have the leaves come out smaller - I didn't have quite enough of some of the prints I wanted to use and I was trying to use things from my stash. My leaves finished at 9 1/2" instead of 12 1/2". I had to have my engineer brother-in-law help me do the math for the stem bit, but we got it figured out!

There are a lot of Denyse Schmidt prints in this quilt - she has such great oranges! I tried to keep to a fall color scheme, and I don't have really any red or yellow prints in my stash (I'm getting more!), so orange and brown with a bit of green it was. Some of my favorite prints are in here - and I used up almost all of them!

Back of Modern Maples

The backing is dots from Moda's Sweetwater Make Life collection from a few years ago. I had bought several yards when my LQS was moving and having a big sale, and I've been hoarding it since then! The chevron stripe and binding are leftovers from a custom order I made in December and I love them with the dots. (The chevron is Riley Blake).

I love this fall quilt - fall is my favorite season and this is a great reminder of that!

Friday, March 01, 2013

Finish it up Friday!

I finished this quilt a few weeks ago, but haven't gotten around to blogging about it!

Zig zag quilt

I used this tutorial as my inspiration and starting point, but I didn't want a quilt quite that big, so I cut my squares at 3.5" instead of 5". This made my nine patches smaller (9.5"), so I cut my white squares to match.

I used a selection of pink, aqua and yellow fabrics that I purchased at MadTosh and Kona Snow.

Back of zig zag quilt

For the backing I went through my stash and pieced together three large pieces of fabric I had originally bought to make clothes for the girls, but I ended up not loving. They worked perfectly for this and I'm glad they were useful!

I quilted simple lines on either side of the zigzag 'seam'. I didn't want to distract from the prints and colors. I bound it using leftover pink binding (Kona something!) and a smidge of yellow from other quilts!

Such a cheerful and bright quilt!

Linking up with Amanda Jean!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Patchwork Heart

I had hoped to get this post up last week for Valentine's day, but life seemed to get in the way. But love is an every day thing, right? So it's OK to make one of these anytime!

Patchwork Heart

I originally had the idea for this heart from a similar one I had seen on pinterest. Sadly, I don't think the link still works (it was to flickr, and the user is no longer active). However, it was easy enough to recreate my own version!

I cut my squares at 2.5 inches and my HST's at 3 and trimmed them down after joining into HSTs. If you want to make your own heart, I don't have a tutorial (I forgot to take pictures while I was sewing this up!), but it is fairly self explanatory.

You'll need 5 3" white squares and 5 3" red or pink squares. Make HSTs however you would like. Trim down to 2.5".

Next you'll need 14 2.5" pink or red squares and 6 2.5" white (or your choice of background color) squares.

Lay out your heart by following the picture. Ignore the border at this time - ie: don't start each row with a white square - you won't have enough!

Join your squares into rows, press, and then join your  rows into the block.

After your block is completed, choose the size border you would like (I went with 2.5" again), and sew it onto the sides and top and bottom (measure your finished size of the block - it should be about 12.5" wide by 10.5" high).

Patchwork Heart

Back, Baste and Quilt as desired! I quilted straight lines about 1/4" away from the seams using light pink thread.

If you want pockets in the corner to hang your heart, attach them before (or during) you sew on your binding. I forgot, so I'll be adding a sleeve later.

I was excited to use all scraps from my stash for this project! The backing is left over from the girls' valenteine's dresses, and the pinks and reds came from the scrap basket. I even had just enough of the dark pink binding left over from another project. It was nice to make something without a trip to the store! :)


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

WIP Wednesday

I feel like I've had these same WIPs for weeks-but I really have, from the planning, cutting and now the piecing. More pressing and trimming to come, but fingers crossed these are quilt tops by next week! :)
Linking up with Lee!





Thursday, February 07, 2013

Madrona Road Challenge

Our local quilt guild took part in the MQG's Madrona Road Challenge this winter. We were each given a stack of prints from the Madrona Road collection, and our guidelines were that we could add more of the Madrona Road prints, and up to three solids.

Madrona Road challenge

I used Ashley's tutorial to make my blocks. I made 30 blocks and sashed the blocks with 1.5" strips. I added 3" borders. My background print was Kona Snow.

For the backing I really wanted to use the cute truck/donkey print from the line. One of my local quilt shops had it in stock, so I couldn't resist. I mimicked the front block formation by inserting sashing of Kona Coal down the middle and across one side.

Madrona Road challenge back

I quilted inside each block. I bound it with Kona Medium Grey. Used all three of my solids! :) I really like the way this one turned out! Now to decide who to gift it to!

Friday, January 25, 2013

Sampler Quilt

When I joined my local Modern Quilt Guild last spring, they were in the midst of working through the Sew Mama Sew Modern Block of the Month. I decided that I needed to join in and grabbed some Kona solids one day to use. (I didn't realize until I got home that they were sort of Mardi Gras colors - totally unintentional). I started doing the blocks in order, and quickly found some frustrations. I didn't like all the tiny cutting for each block - it was difficult to do from yardage of the fabric. Also, one of the first blocks is an improv block, and I have not had a lot of experience doing that. I also am a big lover of geometry, symmetry and clean lines - so this block made me twitch a bit!

I stalled out for a while, but was determined to finish (I can have 20 million knitting projects, but don't like lingering sewing projects - I'm strange).  I thought it would go well in my brother and sister-in-law's living room, and they like modern and vintage things.

sms sampler

I sashed the blocks with Kona White and used the leftover yardage of the gold and purple for the backing (I bought two yards of each color and I still have leftovers!) This was one I was glad to be finished with! I did enjoy some of the individual blocks and may make them again for different projects. Also, if I had really done one block a month, instead of four or five at a time, I might have enjoyed the process more!

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Grellow Garden Fence

Several months ago I pinned the link to this tutorial. A few months later, while perusing my quilt board for inspiration, I noticed that my sister had commented "Make me this!" on that pin (I don't always pay attention to pin comments - I will now!). I had happened to have just ordered a grey and yellow fat quarter bundle, so I set to work cutting it up.

ems quilt

I used Kona Snow for the 'paths' and the sashing. There was a lot of sewing, pressing, sewing, pressing, etc. in this quilt, but I think it turned out great.

closeup ems

I quilted 1/4" inside the big and small squares. At first I was trying to turn the beast under my machine at each corner, but I decided to do rows/columns and back stitch at the beginning and end of blocks. I'm sure that's probably 'not correct', but it worked!

binding ems

For the backing and binding I used two prints that I purchased on separate trips to JoAnn's that coordinated perfectly! I was so excited that the looked so well together and with the quilt top.

She loves it, and I really love the way it turned out!

Friday, November 02, 2012

Christmas Circles Quilt

A few weeks ago, I saw this pin and I knew what I wanted to make for Ellie's Christmas quilt. I had been wanting to use some of Ann Kelle's Jingle line and wanted a design that would show off the relatively large prints. (You can see progress on this quilt here and here).

Christmas Circles Quilt

I finished it up about a week and half ago. I quilted lines 1/4" away from the seams on both sides. Nice and simple to not distract from the circles! I bound it using a blue and white snowflake print that I found in the remnant bin at JoAnn's. I don't have a picture of the backing, but I used a large print that has Christmas lights on it and some scraps to bring it up to size (penguins and wreaths). One of the scraps is actually a vintage print that I inherited somehow. The white background is Kona White.

It turned out pretty cute and every kid who sees it has fun 'finding' all the cute prints on it.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Blogger's Quilt Festival

It is time for the fall Blogger's Quilt Festival! Hosted by Amy Ellis, this twice-yearly link up of our favorite quilts is something I look forward to every year! I always see such beautiful quilts and am so inspired!

For my entry this fall I chose my recently completed Triangles Quilt.

Triangles Quilt

This quilt was a collaboration between my hubby and I. I had purchased these colors of Robert Kaufman's Quilter's Linen, and I knew I wanted to do something to make them the focus of the quilt. I was also inspired by Rita at Red Pepper Quilts' use of linen in her quilts. I love linen - I think it is so soft, but I was wary of trying to use it in a quilt. However, I prewashed it to allow for shrinking, and I had no problems with it! I can't wait to use it again!

triangle quilt

I knew I wanted to use triangles, but not half-square triangles. I decided to use isosceles triangles and spent a lot of time laying them out until we had an arrangement we both liked. I liked all the colored triangles pointing up, so we alternated them with linen triangles. Of course, each 'big' triangle is made up of 4 small triangles.

close up of triangles

I had a few issues when I got started with not chopping off the points of the triangles, but with practice I found that it went very well!

I quilted outside each large colored triangle in diagonal lines, and across the bottom of the colored triangles. I didn't want too much quilting to distract from the texture of the linen.

orange corner

I backed it with a multicolored print from the DS line at JoAnn's (it was on super-mega-clearance too!). I liked that it featured several of the colors I used on the front. I also stuck in one orange corner (I seem to be having a trend with having a block of color in the corners of my quilts lately). The binding is Kona Coal, one of my longtime favorites. I wanted to use a dark neutral to frame the quilt.

triangle quilt

(Is it just me, or do the groupings of colored triangles look like little gnomes?)

Blogger's Quilt Festival Stats:

Finished size: 60x 56
Quilted by me
Categories: Throw quilt, home machine quilted, ROYGBIV quilt.


Thanks for stopping by to see my new favorite quilt!

Friday, September 28, 2012

Flashback Friday

I have quite a backlog of projects that I never blogged, so I thought I'd bring some out here every once in a while. Today's is one of my all-time favorite projects.

One of our very good friends was married last spring, one day after our babies were born. Obviously, we were unable to attend the wedding. I knew that we probably wouldn't get to go based on my due date, so I wanted to make them an extra special gift. A quilt was my immediate thought, but what kind? What colors? They don't live very close and we don't get to see them often, so I wasn't sure exactly what their tastes were. However, some snooping on their wedding registry revealed that they were registering for Fiestaware - one setting each in a variety of colors. I grabbed my smartphone and headed to the Kona section at JoAnn's. I chose 8 colors and Kona Snow.

Scott's wedding quilt

I used this great pattern from Fat Quarterly, and whipped up this baby! I had some trouble with the strips biasing, so I wasn't able to get the requiste number of strips out of my piecing, but I don't think it made a huge difference. If I made it again I think I'd just piece the squares - which I really enjoy doing. I had trouble wrangling the strips on my cutting mat as well, so piecing the squares would be much easier!

I quilted it with straight lines .25" away from each seam. Scott is a musician, so I incorporated that into the label.

Label for Scott's quilt

They loved the quilt - they said that they had gotten another quilt that they were fighting over, so they were glad to have two!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

WIP Wednesday: The Quilt top Edition!

I have finished three quilt tops in the past few weeks! This is highly unlike me - I usually finish one quilt before starting on the next. Part of this unusual behavior is due to the basting and now, hand quilting of my modern crosses quilt. Most of my basting pins are in use! An additional part was that I borrowed a friends Go! Baby circle die, so I wanted to get that top finished as soon as I cut all those circles! Here they are, waiting for basting:

Wonky Stars Quilt Top

Wonky Stars

I finally decided on backing fabric for this one, so I can get it basted now (as soon as the pins are free!). But I have no idea how to quilt it. I haven't done FMQ yet, so it will probably be some kind of straight lines.

Jingle Circles Quilt

Jingle Circles Quilt

I have the backing fabric for this, so now I just need to get it basted! I'll probably baste and quilt this one next, as it isn't as big as the others, so it won't take as many pins!

Triangles Quilt

Triangles Quilt

This one I just finished today! This one was a labor of love and collaboration with my hubby (the math teacher). There was a lot of seam ripping at the beginning, but I figured out fairly quickly how to not lose my points. I wasn't sure about it at first, but I think I really like it now!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced. What have you been working on this week?

Friday, September 14, 2012

Modern Crosses Quilt

I showed a tiny bit of this quilt on Wednesday, but I realized I hadn't shown you the whole quilt top! I finished the top right before we went on our trip last month, so it slipped between the blog cracks, as it were.


Modern Crosses Quilt

I started this quilt back in June, I think. I received the book Modern Log Cabin Quilting for Christmas last year, and I loved it, but wasn't immediately inspired (although I LOVED the cover quilt). So, back in June, when I was 'between projects' and looking for something to take to the guild sewing Saturday, I pulled out my books for new inspiration. I decided to use a long hoarded jelly roll of Happy Daisy, and some Kona Snow. I changed my block size to use the jelly roll (the pattern calls for 2" strips and I wasn't going to trim down the jelly roll), and I ended up needing a lot more of my solid fabric than the pattern called for because of that. (I tried to do accurate math so that I would have enough, but I just didn't get it figured out correctly this time!).

I only wanted to use each strip of the jelly roll once, and since my blocks were bigger, I made fewer blocks than the pattern calls for. I felt like the chain piecing and trimming down of the blocks was time consuming, but in the end, I'm sure it was probably a bit faster than precutting everything. 

I really like how this one is turning out. The pattern calls for tying the quilt with buttons in the center of each cross, but I was worried that that wouldn't be enough since my blocks were bigger, so I'm hand quilting around each cross with yellow, blue, green and red perle cotton. I do think I'll dig through my vintage button stash and add the buttons too - I just love the idea of the buttons!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Snapshots Quilt

A few years ago I bought a FQ bundle of Full Moon Modern. I loved the black and white prints, and knew I wanted to make a black and white quilt. I debated for a long time about what to use, and finally settled on Elizabeth Hartman's Snapshots pattern from The Practical Guide to Patchwork.

Snapshots Quilt

I did not strip piece my blocks, instead I cut each one (I actually like cutting small pieces!). I used a large piece from my stash (that I originally bought to make a skirt for me out of, but didn't account for the directional print of the fabric!), and a small amount of yellow. I bound it in Kona Pomenegrante. I quilted x's through the white squares, allowing the prints squares to pop.

Snapshots quilt back

I really like the way this quilt turned out!