Star Surround QAL - Top finished!

I finished my top today! It turned out so awesome! Here's a photo:

The top finished at 48.5 inches square... All of the fabrics are from my stash and I'm loving every one of them. I don't know if I'll be able to quilt this one myself, or take it to my LAQ and put it in rotation. I am going to try some machine quilting during this long weekend as I have lots of little projects that I can work on... I've done a lot of straight line or follow the shape quilting...but I'm sure this one would look great with something else...not sure what yet, but since it's on my design wall I can look at it for awhile and maybe inspiration will come!

I do have a couple of other projects to piece...which means lot of ironing---I'm so thankful for AC as it was 100 degrees on my back patio today...Hello fall - hahaha.

One More Baby Quilt for September

I have a coworker who became a grandma a couple of years ago. Her granddaughter is so cute! I made her a quilt for the baby shower we had at work. I've been feeling guilty as she's expecting a grandson at the beginning of September - yes Labor Day weekend to be exact.

Anyway, I've been feeling guilty and uninspired and hadn't made a quilt. When I was in MN they were having their quilt shop hop. We were in northern MN and the only shop in the area, Mother's Originals Quilt Shop in Pequot Lakes, participated in the shop hop. I was at the shop afterwards by a day. The lady who owns/runs the shop puts together the cutest kits - I bought 4 table runner patterns back in 2010 (still need to quilt and bind those) - and I asked her if she had any kits. Since the run had just ended, pickings were slim but there was one kit for a baby quilt. The kits are typically made around a Pieced Tree Pattern (you know, the cute little black and white laminated  patterns that are kinda cute/simple/easy). The shop owner has the best eye for putting together kits and this one was no exception. How could I not buy it? Here's the top:

The pattern is TINY75 "Doing the Twist". I mixed up the blue and gray fabrics in the border and didn't have enough to be able to correct the mistake. I think I'm the only one to know how it really should be... All of the left over fabric is going for the backing. The kit came with all fabrics for the top and binding - but I used the binding fabric for the back as I like to use the satin blanket binding for binding baby quilts... I'm dropping this one off at the LAQ tomorrow and should be done pretty quickly as I had some other quilts there that can slide in getting finished. Should be a fun quilt when completed.

This one was fun too as I started and finished piecing the top on Saturday. The backing was done that day too...so it was a quilt in a day (HAHAHA). The quilt is about 41 inches square. I do love these little Pieced Tree patterns. I bought a handful of them while in MN...you know, to add to my collection.

2 Finishes

I used to be so organized. I'd start a quilt and start a paper record of my start date, important dates in the project and the cost of making the quilt or project... Now I'm lucky if I get a picture and sometimes I fill out my online book so that I have the information on record. I have been trying to blog about all of my quilt projects and that way I can go back and fill out my records...

My big fail is that I delivered a completed quilt to a lifelong friend and didn't take one single picture. Not of the fabric. Not of the top in progress or even completed. And definitely not of the completed quilt ... crazy! I was so excited that my LAQ had finished the quilt before vacation. I sewed on the binding before leaving and packed the rest of my binding supplies so that I could hand finish the back. I did finish the back while on vacation and delivered the quilt the last morning in MN. Yep, not one picture of the actual quilt. It was a "Cindy Lou Who" quilt from a Schnibbles pattern...very similar to this quilt:

The quilt was made with two "Sweet Treat" fat quarter bundles from the Pincushion Boutique. I bought them at the Houston International Quilt Show in November. The two bundles were "Love That Panda" and Pandarama II". They had panda fabric that had red and green backgrounds... go figure! I also used white and black in the quilt and put a final border of a black and white print fabric, which was also used as the binding. Leftover Panda fabric purchased online was used for the backing...The quilt was approximately 47.5 square.  The quilt was given to my friend who loves Pandas and has a December birthday. She loved it!

 

My second quilt finish is for a friend who is anticipating the birth of her 2nd child, a girl, in a week or so. When asked by her father (also a friend of mine) what the nursery colors were going to be, I was told pink, gray, white and the theme would be woodland creatures. I had made a quilt for her 1st born son with some cute embroidered woodland creatures. I had to look online to find some fabric choices but found the fabric close to home at Rosies Calico Cupboard (a must stop quilt store if you're in the San Diego area). Here's the finished quilt:

The pattern is from Anka's Treasure Livin' Large book. The pattern is called "Pretty in Pink" - I modified it a bit and left off the applique... Here's a close up of the "focus" fabric:

Can you see the woodland creatures? They are a bit modern, but I like them and the quilt. The quilting has loops and leaves and other freehand creations! This quilt measures about 42 x 45 and is in a box ready to take to the post office tomorrow.

Star Surround QAL

I tried to catch up today... Two weeks ago when the block centers came out, I didn't have enough time to sew them before going on vacation. And then vacation just ended Tuesday...and I went to work both Wednesday and Thursday. Friday was spent on campus with my daughter getting her ready for her JUNIOR year at SDSU (woop woop). Saturday was laundry day which finally was finished today. I'm not complaining about that one as more than half of the loads were new fabric I bought (what can I say...except a few more projects are going to be in work this year!). I had done some of the sewing last night but got too tired/frustrated and went to bed. I had pieced a different quilt too yesterday which I need to get done in the next two weeks...

So, here's where I am...

very close, huh? I just do not have the small corner blocks sewn. I could have done them and did have one set done...but then moved the block around as I didn't like the combination. I'm not thrilled with some of the pairing in the corners as they are too much the same. I did match the fabrics with the centers, but I think I may move them around still...

Oh and three of the centers I want to rip out and resew. I didn't like the way they turned out when I pressed them. I tried to press them open, but I had a harder time of that then if I had pressed them to the side and locked them. That's what I did on the other 6 and it was a lot easier!

 I'll let it sit until tomorrow and then I'll look at it again. I do like it better in miniature online!

Star Surround Geese!

Here are my lovely 9 piles of 12 each geese blocks.

There were so easy following the directions!

And yes, behind are all of my 1/2 square triangles! I'm excited to get the next step directions tomorrow and start piecing blocks together!! At least, that's what I'm hoping is next!!

I have two quilts back from my LAQ and are working on binding them. I hope to share that in the next week to so!

Star Surround Quilt A Long

I saw this great quilt at the Happy Quilter blog. I've made some of her other quilts, but typically after the fact. When I saw one of the color palettes and thought about my stash, I decided to try and quilt a long... So, I took 9 blue and green fabrics from my stash, plus a few whites for the background...

 The next week, was cutting. Here are my stacks. The stack in the very back are the leftovers...

 And finally this weekend, I caught up. Here are my 9 stacks of 1/2 square triangles. I used the little .5 inch square ruler to square them up. This week, I'm going to try and not wait until the last minute to do the step...

And here' the rest of the cut squares ready for whatever comes next...