Vintage Modern Marmalade Baby Quilt

Have you ever gone through a period of time where you want to sew, but nothing you are currently working on excites you? That was me around late-February, early-March this year. I was also feeling like my stash was getting a little stale, so I decided to make a little room by using up two charm packs that I had been holding onto for years: Vintage Modern and Marmalade, both by Bonnie & Camille. Honestly, they coordinate so well, it was like one fabric line was an extension of the other, with is kinda fun.

I wanted something quick and simple that involved controlled scrappiness. Inspired by the “scrap therapy” quilts of teaginny and Emily Cier’s book Scrap Republic, I cut 72 charms in half, then sorted them into color groups. At this point, a design wall would have come in very handy. Initially, I mixed the low volume prints with the neutral prints, but when I sewed together the columns, it just looked all wrong. As a rule, I am loathe to break out the seam ripper, but in this case, it was warranted. I like the end result so much better after I tore it apart and reassembled it with all the low volume prints in the right color group.

Going along with the stash busting theme, I used a coordinating stripe from one of the lines for the binding, and my favorite Pearl Bracelets for the backing. This quilt is roughly 36” by 36” and I only had a yard of the backing. In the end, it worked out, but I  definitely learned why it’s a good idea to allow a few extra inches of backing all around. (The sides of the quilt are just a little skinnier than originally planned, due to some necessary but regrettable trimming.)

For the quilting, I reinforced the horizontal lines of the quilt by quilting ½” from each horizontal seam with my walking foot. I used Aurifil thread #2000, which is slightly off-white. Thanks to the luxury of a sewing day with my mom, I was able to complete the quilting the same day I started!

I finished this quilt at the most recent Seattle Modern Quilt Guild sew-in. Between the stimulating company and the glow of a finish, I feel creatively revitalized, like a garden in springtime.

Double the Luck

I like to make things for my mom, especially quilty things. When I found this cute fabric with blue and green clover made out of hearts, I knew I wanted to make a St. Patty’s Day table topper for her. The yardage languished in my stash for far too long before I came up with a pattern that I liked. This block must have a name, but at the moment it eludes me. Once I started working on mom’s version, I fell in love with it so hard that I had to make one for myself, too.

To make these little cuties, I cut 5” squares out of the focus fabric and my blue and green scraps. Then, I cut some of them into 2.5”x5” rectangles and some into 2.5” squares, so that the focus fabric and scrappy fabrics alternated.

I actually started these quilts in March 2011. It took me so long to hand quilt my mom’s version that I decided to machine quilt mine. I quilted the same pattern on both, as I had never compared the results of the two quilting techniques side-by-side. The hand quilting is homier, but the machine quilting is much faster and cleaner-looking.

Of course, a handmade present called for a handmade gift bag, so I whipped up one of my fabric gift bags, based on a block made by HoosierToni. After I figured out the math from scratch, I realized that there is a tutorial at thought and found.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday at crazy mom quilts.

Flashback Friday #18: Cheery Cherry Mini Quilt

Sometimes you don’t want to work on a big, complicated quilt. Sometimes you need something quick and easy and fun. Enter Cheery Cherry. Back in July 2010, I took a charm pack of Oh Cherry Oh fabric, made a bunch of half-square triangles, sewed them together and had a mini quilt top done in a weekend. It took me three months to hand quilt it and it was finished by the end of October 2010. These days, it brings cheer to my office.

Flashback Friday #17: Summer in the Suburbs Mini Quilt

Ah, the Moda tins. There is just something about cute fabric, a cute pattern, and cute packaging that, taken together, I find hard to resist. My favorite was the Tin Box Sampler for Summer in the City by Urban Chiks. The top came together over a quiet weekend in August 2010, and the whole thing was finished in September 2010. I learned two things from this quilt: I do not like partial seams, and I do like working with 1.5” squares. One of these days, I will tweak this pattern so that I can make a similar quilt without partial seams. This mini quilt is approximately 16” by 16” and now lives with a summery friend.

Flashback Friday #11: Patriotic Breeze

Like so many people, I learned how to quilt from my mom. Even though she has decades more sewing and quilting experience than I do, she still enjoys it when I make quilty things for her. After the Valentine’s Day Table Topper, I decided to make her another holiday quilt, this time for the Fourth of July. I call it Patriotic Breeze, as the pattern is Bay Breeze from the Summer 2008 edition of Quilts and More and the fabric is a charm pack of Red, White and Bold by Sandy Gervais.

Part of the reason I love Patriotic Breeze so much is that it challenged me. It was the first time that I made folded piping and the first time that I worked with 1.5” squares. I love how it turned out, especially with all the blue. I can safely say that it is one of my favorite quilts that I have made. Luckily, I get to visit it at my mom’s house. I also have fabric picked out and set aside for a similar piece for myself, but in a different colorway. Patriotic Breeze was finished in November of 2009.

Check out the Fall 2011 Bloggers' Quilt Festival at Amy’s Creative Side for more inspiration.

Flashback Friday #7: Valentine’s Day Table Topper #2

Last week, I showed you my first Valentine’s Day Table Topper. After proving that the Quilted Quickies Charm School – Lesson Two pattern worked well for my purposes, I made another one, this time for my mom. I really enjoy making more than one quilt with the same pattern and seeing how differently they turn out.

For this one, I used fabric by Sandy Gervais, and added a border. Somehow, I managed to sew the binding on wrong, so it didn’t turn out as flat as the first one. My mom loved it anyways. I also finished this table topper in January 2008.

Flashback Friday #6: Valentine’s Day Table Topper #1

I am a big fan of charm squares. They enable you to play around with all the fabrics in a line and explore different colors and styles without having to spend a lot of money.

I was looking for inspiration for a present for my mom when I picked up a couple charm squares of Valentine’s Day fabric. Using the Quilted Quickies Charm School – Lesson Two pattern, I made a table topper for myself first, to test out the pattern. I am very pleased with the outcome, especially the striped back.

If I remember correctly, the line was by Deb Strain. While this is not my favorite charm square pattern of all time, it worked well for this project, as well as for my mom’s present, which deserves its own blog post. I finished this table topper in January 2008.

Flashback Friday #4: Gentle Art

I learned to quilt from my mom, and we get together every so often to sew. Sometimes we even make the same project! I had a ton of fun making the Gentle Art table topper with her. I made mine out of the Celebrate Spring line by Sandy Gervais for Moda. It was a fun charm pack pattern. This project was finished sometime in the Fall of 2007.

Flashback Friday #3: Seaside Rose Moda Tin

Just before the charm pack craze really exploded, Moda put out a series of charm packs tins. They each came with a charm pack, a pattern and a CD with a larger pattern and information on the fabric line. I loved collecting the tins, but only made up a couple of them. The first one I work on was a gift from a family friend. I started working on it while visiting my parents and finished it in September of 2007. I wanted a quick project and focused more on completion than precision, so the seams don’t all match. Coincidently, it coordinates with the pre-existing paint color in our downstairs bathroom, so that is where I hung it. I would like to use the pattern again someday.