Sampler Chain Quilt Finish and Fab Tues!

I did it!!  My Block of the Month quilt is entirely finished.  And it makes me really really happy :)  It all started with this lovely stack of Backyard Baby fabrics:

And here it is, quilted, bound and ready to be snuggled with.

Our series was for a year, a block each month with a theme right?  Ie star, hst, pinwheel, etc..  I decided that I wanted to make my quilt a twin, so in the end I doubled the amount of squares and did 12 nine patches to make it a Chain Sampler quilt.  Each square is 15" finished.  It is 68" x 90". 

 

My aunt did the quilting, this was too big for me and not even the time to consider it on my limited machine!  She did wavy lines to show the chains better, stippling throughout the blocks and then each sampler block she did some great custom quilting.  On all of the blocks with trees she'd follow the shape of the tree.  I love how she did it!

I backed it with gray minky and the orange print seemed perfect for the binding.  I actually almost wish I'd used orange in each block, or used it more.

There you have it!  Soon one of my boys will have this on their new extra big boy beds.  Now I'm going to lay under it and watch New Girl. I'm done for the night :)

Heather will be sharing her Block of the Month quilt finish tomorrow so check back!!

Fabric Tuesday!

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Let's see your creations!

Modern Confetti Quilt from St Louis Folk Victorian

Bee quilts are so fun...I love seeing how they come together!  And that's the kind of quilt we're featuring today from Kristy of St. Louis Folk Victorian.  Kristy describers herself and a modern quilter who loves old houses...love it! :)  This confetti quilt turned out oh so cool and modern and I love the collaborative work and how touched Kristy was by her friends effort.  Check out Kristy's blog and some fun tutorials!

You've likely heard me mention the Lou Bee Girls before; but you really don't understand how much I truly adore these Ladies.  It all started with this...

The STLMQG was expanding by leaps and bounds and a few of us decided to start a small quilting bee where we could take turns making blocks for one another; with the hope that at the end of a year's cycle, we each would have a quilt to call our own.

Several "group" names were tossed around including: Sew Saint Lou, St. Louis Seam Ripping Society, Stitch to my Lou, St. Louis Thread Company, etc.  Somehow we decided to agree on "Meet Me In St. Lou"; which because of it's length quickly became "Lou Bee".

To our surprise a few months later, Juli Ann, our resident Artist created this amazing logo.  If you look carefully, you'll see that she intrically added each member's name (Cara, Grace, Jamie,Jessica, Kristy (Me), Juli Ann, Laura, Lynne and Mary Claire).

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In July of 2011, I started off our bee with an Improv Confetti block similiar to what I had seen here. While I had wanted to choose a crazy bold color for the background, the pressure was too much and I decided on two shades of beige...BORING!!!  

Yet, once I added a scrappy mix of fabrics in yellow, orange and red; I was confident in my decision to use beige as the background.

The Lou Bee Ladies didn't disappoint and the following month I received 16 completely unique Improv blocks with the most intricate detail.  I sadly let those blocks sit for 9 months afraid of how I should piece them together.

Finally, at our Sew-In this past April; I was determined to get them pieced together and as you can see...I did.

The quilt top sat like that for another 3 months and finally this past weekend I felt confident enough to finish.  Having limited machine quilting abilities (straight stitch and intentional wonky-stitch), I decided to tackle this with horizontal stitching measuring 1" apart.  

As soon as I finished that last stitch, cut that last thread and pulled it away from my machine, I knew that I had finished something truly magical.  This quilt will be a constant reminder of the women that I am honored to call my Friends.

In the words of writer, Anais Nin:  "Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."

Mary Claire, Lynne, Cara, Laura, Jessica, Juli Ann, Grace and Jamie

Thank You from the bottom of my heart !

Urban Nine Patch from Color Me Quilty

This quilt is so dynamic!! My eye went straight to the tiny thumbnail when Pat from Color Me Quilty linked it up on Fabric Tuesday.  I love the fabrics she chose, the colors work awesome together in this pattern.  And her FMQ is fabulous!!  You can see more of Pat's work in her 2011 finishes, 2012 finishes and tutorials/tips & tricks.

I love it when a plan comes together! Finished up my baby Urban Nine Patch this morning.  My first curved pieced and first all solids (except the back) quilt. I'm really proud that I did this all myself. The FMQ is a little organic (read wobbly), but I don't know how else you learn without actually doing it (over and over again)!

Lots of FMQ

I like how this part of the design looks like a flower.

The back. I really like the orange binding.

I originally set out to do this quilt as part of the FLMQG (Finger Lakes Modern Quilt Guild) solids challenge that we talked about last October. The quilts were supposed to be finished in April. Well, it's July and I think I'm the first one finished, although there was some discussion about it last night on Facebook. The new date is August. Does this mean I'm done a month early??!! ;)

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Patchwork Chevron from Knotted-Thread

Well, according to me at least, you can't go wrong with anything chevron!  Hey that kinda rhymes :)  Jennifer from the Knotted-Thread has a fabulous patchwork chevron finish that we're featuring today.  Love it. Jennifer works with kids and enjoys quilting in her free time.  Check out her 2011 finishes and 2012 finishes for some cute quilts! 

One more to add to the completed list!

Patchwork Chevron

 I posted the completed top here
As some of you may remember I fell in love with the patchwork chevron here
but did not have 4 charm packs to work with so I modified it work with 2 packs.
My process is explained in the previous post

I went with a simple chevron quilting in the solid spaces

I used two of the prints from "Good Fortune" for the backing as well as some 

Kona Medium Gray and a piece of Stars in Shade from the new "Quilt Blocks" line in periwinkle

This quilt is for sale in my etsy shop.

Quilt Stats

Pattern - patchwork chevron modified by me

Size: 54" x 70"

Fabric - Good Fortune by Kate Spain, Kona Medium Gray, Quilt Blocks

Quilted by: me

Boy Quilt from Lilabelle Lane Creations

Sharon from Lilabelle Lane Creations is a mum, quilter and embroiderer among many more things I'm sure!  And it shows in this quilt with the combination of piecing and embroidery.  Such a sweet quilt for a little boy!  Make sure to stop by Lilabelle Lane Creations, see her 2011 finishes, 2012 finishes and Mini Quilts for a treat!  Thanks Sharon for sharing your quilt!

A Boy Story Quilt

This quilt just makes my heart go all warm and fuzzy.

It was a Quilt that I was always going to make ... one day.

Well that day came when I thought my second son was going to need

surgery at Easter and if I was going to be at the hospital then I needed

something to work on.

We left the specialist and went straight to the fabric shop, supplies bought.

Home and then some stitchery's were traced.

I was ready and the journey of this quilt began and the self imposed

deadline was set.  My gorgeous Nephews 3rd birthday - 7th June.

I did it!

 and the matching Pillow

I even put a quilt label on it so it is a real finish!

It has been quilted with an all over Kite Pantograph by Linda at Ladybug Quilting.

Thank you Linda.

- Quilt Stats - 

Pattern 

"A Boys Story" by Annie Downs of

Hatched and Patched

Finished Size

54" x 68" (138cm x 170cm)

Every stitch of this quilt was placed with love for Liam

and Lily has finished it off by filling it with cuddles.

So and Update on Declyn. 

He never had surgery. 

A lot of time had been spent at specialist and physio appointments (still one more Specialist Appt) so the stitchery's were still well timed!  He is allowed to return to sporting activities on the 1st June. He has done no running or anything for over 11 weeks and has just been given the all clear to ride his bike, he still has to get his fitness back up .....

"Really Declyn, do you have to play football this year?"

Arghh ...  boys will be boys

 and on that subject, remember Aiden's little adventure into the 

"knee injury playing field" as well?  

Yes he dislocated is patella (knee cap) and has a small tear in his ACL.

Now boys, you know I love you both but no more Knee injuries OK

 and I know you joke about it now, but really, both of you at the same time?

I'm off now. 

Have to go buy some wrapping paper and a card and get this Quilt ready to mail.

Thank you for sharing the journey of this quilt with me.

Now what ..... something new?

Boys will be Boys Quilt from a maiden hair fern

We featured Linda from a maiden hair fern earlier this month with her Tanner Reunion Quilt.  Lots of times we get features where we know we'll be begging them to do another!! :)  (And to those of you who we've featured before...we most definitely feature twice! Or thrice!  So submit even if you've already been featured.)  Linda is a talented quilter as I mentioned before based on her impressive finishes.  I love this quilt she made for her nephew and the fabulous circle quilting.  Thanks again Linda for sharing!!

Shipped today to my new nephew.  Adapted from Reveille, of "another Bite of Schnibbles", Carrie Nelson's newest book.

 This darling fabric is from the Boys Will Be Boys collection designed by David Walker.  You can still find some on etsy.

UPDATE (5/3/12):  Last week I saw some of this fabric in Corn Wagon Quilt Shop, Springville Utah, if any of you happened to be headed there soon.

I used my new circle rulers for quilting.  They took some getting used to.  And I found that I preferred the 5" and smaller circles, more crinkle after washing.

back

Darling girl's quilt by From Three to Insanity

Julie of From Three to Insanity is such a fun read!! I love when I get features that I read the whole thing without even thinking :)  Super sweet quilt and super sweet room :)  Check out From Three to Insanity, her darling shop and her flickr after reading her feature! :) Thanks Julie!

I'm lucky Sprout's so patient, because I've been working on her quilt for the better part of the year.  It's been 9 months since I first saw the inspiration for it while we were running errands together.   And it was well on it's way 6 full months ago when I made the label for the quilt quilt.  I had hoped to have it done for her 3rd birthday back in July.  Wishful thinking. 

But now, just under the wire for the year, it's done.  The pink and orange combination that I love so much looks perfect in the [very] pink room that she loves so much.  

The quilt is filled with lots of my favorites - AB Full Moon Dots, Swell, Mendocino, FMF, Cake Rock Beach, Tula Pink Ladybugs, and tons of other goodies that I thought would be harder to cut up than they actually were.  It's backed with a Valori Wells flannel that I wouldn't have chosen but that you did, and is bound with these dots that I recently went a little overboard with.  They ended up being perfect. 

  

Finished size after a trip through the dryer is 60" x 83" - it's a bit narrow since she doesn't use a box spring, but it's definitely twin-sized, and is by far the largest quilt I've ever stuffed through the tiny shank on my machine quilted myself.  The quilting is hard to see, but at random intervals I've traced the inside of the squares.  I'd say maybe 60% of them have quilting and the rest do not.  This loose quilting has made for a great drape.

I love it, (and so does Ginko) and I hope that my sweetie-pie girl does, too.

Star Crossed Quilt from Don't Call Me Betsy

Elizabeth from Don't Call Me Betsy is no stranger to us...and probably not to you either...her work is fabulous! We're constantly checking out her cute stuff for inspiration! :)  One of my favorite things Elizabeth has done is her Kaleidoscope QAL...so cute!!!  Make sure to stop by Don't Call Me Betsy and her pattern shop, love this one!!

I am so excited to share the finished quilt with you!  This is definitely one of my favorite finishes in a while, thanks to the fun I had quilting this one and the great texture the quilting created.  I love densely quilted quilts like this one, so I'm quite sure it's going to be one of my favorites for a while to come.

before washing

after washing

A while back, I fell in love with a block I saw in a copy of Jinny Beyer's The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns, on loan from the library, and sketched it out in my sketchbook.  Many months later, back in January, when the fabulously talented Betz White sent me some of her fantastic organic line of fabric for Robert Kaufman, I revisited the sketch and decided to finally make the block.  I called it a Star Crossed block, as it felt like a fab combination of a star and cross block, and I slowly started working on this quilt bit by bit, in between what feels like a zillion other obligations that I can't share yet.

I was super excited to finish this quilt...until I realized that I didn't have a clue how I wanted to quilt it.  Usually, I don't make that decision until after I see the finished quilt top.  When I looked at this quilt top, I just couldn't seem to decide.  I wanted to do something other than my usual smooth stipple, and I thought a pointy stipple would be fun, but rather than mocking it up to see how it would look, I just went for it.  Whoops.  I hated it.  Intensely.  So much so that I ripped it all out.  Note to self: always mock up the quilting.  Always.  (ETA: All I do to mock up my quilts is print out a photo and draw out my FMQ design on it with a highlighter.  It's uber-low-tech and fast.)

before washing

Somehow or another, I got baptist fans on the brain, and just couldn't let go.  So I did them.  And they were really fun to do!  The way I stitched these fans is indeed in a continuous line, with one start at the beginning of each row of fans and one stop at the end.  I'm putting the finishing touches on a tutorial of how I did this quilting to share with you all tomorrow, so stay tuned for that. 

before washing

I'm so happy I went with my gut and ripped out the pointy stipple quilting stitches I started with.  I'm also really glad I tried a new style of quilting, even though I really thought it was going to be either too difficult or too tedious.  Trying something new can be so much fun!

after washing

Thanks again, Betz, for sharing some of your lovely fabrics for this project!

Quilt Stats
Name: Star Crossed Stitch quilt
Block Pattern: Star Crossed block
Size: 34" x 44"
Fabrics: Betz White's Stitch Organic collection for Robert Kaufman along with some coordinating fabrics from Just Dandy, Katie Jump Rope, and So Sophie
Backing: Remants from Betz White's Stitch Organic collection
Quilting: All-over baptist fan free motion quilting (tutorial coming tomrrow!) by yours truly
Binding: Scrappy binding, using remants from Betz White's Stitch Organic collection, hand finished