Roll Play in dots

I made this quilt a few months ago and looking through my blog posts, I never documented it! I'm going to list it for sale in my etsy shop, but before that, I'm going to write a little post about it here.


I did a quilt shop hop -- I think it was during the summer -- and each shop gave away a fat quarter of a polka dot fabric. As I was finishing up a bunch of table runners, I found a Pieced Tree pattern called Roll Play which looked perfect for these fabrics... and here it is:

(sorry for the shadow...that's my Christmas tree! My photo space is pretty limited right now - and it happened to be raining outside!)


Isn't it cute? It's 35.5 inches square. It has a crease in the middle as I've had it thrown over the back of my sewing chair since I finished it. I had the polka dot in navy that I used for the binding in my stash...otherwise, all of the fabrics are from the shop hop. Here's a close up:

I did some simple straight line quilting - end to end - following 1/4 inch from some of the seams.


I made the backing with some of my 2.5 inch squares - I cut up any left overs into this size and have used them for a variety of things.

I used Bonnie Hunter's free pattern "Scrappy Trips" to make the blocks...and then added to them to make the backing bigger. (Link to the pattern Quiltville-ScrappyTrips)  Here's a little close up:

wow - I just noticed the quilting looks pretty good even from the back! If you're interested in purchasing, I'll have it in my etsy shop in a short time!

New Etsy shop

I've decided to sell some of my quilts. I'm overflowing my storage space...and still want to create new quilts. My etsy shop is here:


https://www.etsy.com/shop/LivingInMyCraftRoom?ref=hdr_shop_menu


Yes, I've opened it today with just one post - I'll be adding more as I photograph and measure them.


I do have at least 1 quilt that I've finished and haven't documented on this blog...and I'll be putting one up for sale too.

Shamrock Quilt

This is a little quilt I made from some fabrics I bought at a quilt run. I think they had the quilt and I made one similar...I don't think I bought the pattern. It was very fast to piece...just too me forever to quilt...for no good reason.

The last photo is of the back...I quilted using one single circular design radiating out of the back...

Circle Quilts

I saw this quilt online and found some directions. I loved the look and bought a couple of different fabrics to test it out. I meant to make one big quilt, but ended up with these two smaller quilted and I love them.

The top quilt is a teal fabric with a zig zag. The second fabric is a stripe...different placement of the stripes make the circles different. The quilting is different on each as I was playing/practicing my quilting.

The teal circles has 4 circles quilted each radiating from the center of each block.

The multi color quilt, I did some straight lines that followed each of the spokes... it looks really cool. These quilts are smaller table top sized.

Aloha Table Runner

I saw this quilt during a quilt run and had to make it. The shop had a kit that I purchased and got the pattern for free.

There is a really cool method for making the blocks. I quilted it myself with multiple colors of thread...

Here's two shots of the back with the quilting...The first picture is how the fabric really looks - black. The second shows off the quilting a little bit better because of the last of contrast.

This was a fun quilt to make and I'd probably make another if I could find similar fabrics...

Sizzlin' 60s Table Runner

Seems like it takes me a month between posts...and since I did the last post on all of the Pieced Tree table runner kits I completed, I thought I'd do one more post about one more table runner...

I bought the fabric kit at a different quilt shop in Pine River, MN (I think it was in a shop in PR that has since closed). I saw the fabrics and the sample and bought the kit. I didn't read the sign which stated the kit did not include the pattern...but I didn't realize that until I was showing the kit to my cousin and realized I didn't have the pattern! At that point, my DD spoke up and said "yeah, it wasn't included, you had to buy the book"...so, darn, we had to go back to the quilt shop!

There's more to the story, but first, here's a picture of the runner:

The pattern comes from an Anka's Treasure's book called "Sizzlin' 60s". All of the fabrics were part of the MN quilt shop hop that year. They are all winter themes. The kit came with all of the fabric for the top, backing and binding. It was hard to not break up that fabric as some of it I wanted to use for other quilts...but I couldn't bring myself to break up the kit. I'm so glad, as the runner looks great!

 The backing is this great paisley print:

Here's a closer view so that you can see I just outlined around the hexies, on both edges of the "border" strips. Then, I quilted straight lines through the background and made them look like pie pieces...You can see the two different "blocks" here...

Here's a little closer view of the blocks (and one with that same paisley print!):

The book Sizzlin 60s by Ankas Treasures is by Heather Mulder Peterson. Great book, great technique to do these hexies with no set in piecing...all straight lines! You make strip sets, cut those into triangles, piece half hexies and sew those together in rows...and then sew the rows together. If you want to make hexies, I recommend this book. She makes things super easy! I've used the book and made a few other quilts. I've even bought a couple of her books and made other quilts...and finished all of them before this first runner. Ironic, huh? She's got a new book and ruler out where the pieced triangle has some different angles of make some really interesting patterns. It's on my list of things I want - the ruler and the book.

Pieced Tree Table Runners

A few years ago, I bought some table runner kits from a quilt shop in Jensen, MN (near Pine River). All of the kits were made with a Pieced Tree pattern (they are laminated little cards, with punch holes so you can keep them on a ring) and typically had 2 fabrics for the top and contained most everything (some had backings and some didn't). The shop had samples made of the kits and the shop owner even let me take pictures of them.

The next New Years eve, I pieced quite a few of them as they were really quick to piece (great instructions/patterns) and the fabric selections were so great (and generous in amount). It had been awhile, so I'm glad that I had the photos of the shop samples!

After that, I paired them with backings (the ones that didn't some with one), cut the bindings, and put them all into a clear plastic bag. They sat there, and sat there...and sat there.

I didn't want to ruin them by quilting them myself as I'm not that good in that part of the process...but I also didn't want to take them to a LAQ. I've moved them a couple of times while cleaning for different occasions... I've added things to the bags and then taken those out and had them quilted and finished...and still those table runners sat. I even added more runner of different patterns and sizes...and they all sat.

Last year, one of my quilting goals was to do more machine quilting myself. I've done lots of mug rugs and placemats. This year, I'd even done a couple of small quilts. Well, this year, I finally shamed myself info finishing those runners. In alphabetical order by pattern name, here they are:

This is called "Churnover":

 Love the fabric combo! Here's a closer  view:

Churn dash blocks with just two fabrics. Super cute, huh? I did straight lines 1/4" inside and outside of the blocks. The back looks really cool too:

 OK, bad lighting...this is really the same dark brown fabric as the top!

Great pattern, huh?

Next up is "In The Middle" - love, love, love the fabric choices on this one!

 I did straight lines about 1/4" to 1/2" apart and stopped when it got too hard. Closer detail shot showing off the back:

 Here's an even closer shot of the front:

It's funny how many of my table runner kits have either brown or green (or both) colors in the fabrics!

Next pattern, "Nifty Nines". This one has Christmas prints on the fabrics and some gold sparkles:

 I again did just some straight lines inside and outside the blocks and carried those lines through the setting triangles. Here's a close up of one of the 9-patches:

 Again, this made a neat pattern on the back:

I'm not really sure which order I really quilted these in, but I did get more and more confident as I went through them!

Next up, "Something Fishy". This one, I bought with my DH in mind...

 FISH! Going in either direction! CUTE!

 Love, love, love the fabrics! I think I did this one first. I bought a variegated green thread (at WalMart, Coats & Clark brand) and I used a wavy line stitch on my machine. I made it as wide and high as I could... I love the way it looks! Here's a close up of a fish:

 Here's the back:

This fabric is one I bought for my very first quilt. I had bought it as a background to use in my sampler quilt we made in a beginning quilting class. I ended up having to buy a bolt of it as it was a Christmas fabric, a few years old, and I couldn't find it anywhere.I ended up needing 4 or more yards to be able to make the quilt big enough for our queen sized bed and since I bought a bolt, the backing is made of the same fabric. Since then, and since a bolt is 15 yards, I've used this fabric a lot - I think this is the last big piece of it - the rest I cut into 2.5" squares so I may have a little more...

And there you go - those are all Pieced Tree patterns. The little pattern cards are addictive - and cheap...and many people collect them. If you find a shop that has them - and makes kits, I recommend the kits - especially if they have such great fabric selections as I had!!

Hawaiian Shirt Quilt for My Dear Husband

Last summer, my DH and I redid our master closet. Or was that a year ago? As part of the redo, my DH went through his clothes and got rid of some things. He doesn't typically get rid of anything, so I was very excited.

Part of his "discard" pile were old Hawaiian style shirts. They were old in the sense that parts of them were falling apart and he was no longer able to wear them to work. As we looked at them, I noticed they were 100% cotton...and we both thought - why not make a quilt???!!

So, I found a pattern that I thought would work well with lots of different patterns - his shirts were a mixture of fish/fishing related and cars... I made some test blocks with a red accent color but the red really was the focal point which was not what I (we) wanted. I tried a gray and that worked perfectly. The quilt went together quickly and I showed a lot of people the "in progress" quilt.

Here's the finish:

It's lap sized (66 x 77) and we think good for watching tv. The only problem? The cat LOVES it and it's already full of cat hair and so my DH won't use it. It's ok - I know he will eventually and he could always wash it too...here's a close up of the center portion:

See? Cars and fish (or sharks in this case)!

The back is a quilt I was working on called "Scrappy Many Trips Around the World" or something like that. It's a free pattern from Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville. She has lots of great free patterns on her website...and I have a couple of her books. She does tons of scrap quilts. Anyway....so here's the back:

The quilting is called "water" (I think). Here's a close up of the back and quilting:

After trimming and binding this quilt, I kept the "scraps" of the back. I've used them as backings for other things afterwards and I actually have a couple of pieces that I'm going to make into a larger piece for a small table topper quilt I'm working on.

Courthouse Steps Table Runner

I've always love the courthouse steps block. I had a huge number of strips leftover from Costa Maya, so I used Electric Quilt software to print out a paper pieced block. The block itself finished at 6 inches...so I think the strips are less than 1" finished...

I quilted this one myself. I used a squiggly pattern on my machine and made it as big as possible, both length and width. I think sewed down the middle of each "log" in both directions. I love the way it turned out. Here's a close up of the top:

For the back, I took extra fabric I had from all of my "Doug" projects, cut some bigger squares- I think 5" - and pieced them together. I like the way it turned out...he could potentially even use it this way too!

This runner measures 12 1/2 by 48 1/2. I hope he likes it!

That's all of the finished projects I'm posting for today. time to get some dinner and start on the next projects!

Horses, Lap Size Quilt

While in northern MN a couple of years ago for a family reunion, we took a little trip to the quilt shop. My DH actually found a line of fabric with horses that we all loved...so I bought yardage. Some yardage was all they had of a certain pattern. One of the patterns had large "blocks" so I used that as a jumping off point and designed this quilt top myself. Here's the top:

and a close up of the top...

For the back, I had some left over blocks from the first king size quilt I made him. The color palette for that was blue and brown. I added to the blocks to get a backing:

The quilting done is called "water" or something like that. I think the thread is a gray with hints of blue in tone.

The quilt measures 62 x 80. My cousin converted his garage into a bar and the intent of this quilt is to go into the bar. We'll see what he does with it!

Costa Maya, King Size Quilt

This quilt is made from a pattern called Costa Maya, Snow Day Designs, published by QuiltWoman.com. My cousin Doug picked out the pattern and the color palette nearly 2 years ago. Good thing he's patient! It took me the first year to find fabrics that reflected the palette he wanted and worked with the pattern. Here's the top of Costa Maya.

The quilting is a loop and swirl type of pattern. I forget the thread color... I love the quilting on this one!

The back was made with leftovers - some blocks, some fabrics, some tiny scraps. I tried a couple of different techniques for the "trees". Then, I just mashed it all together in big sections until I had a back that fit. I think the back took way longer to piece than the front!

(it's really upside down in my opinion...I didn't want to tell my helpers tho!)

The pattern finishes at 72 x 72. The quilt measures 95 x 106 (a  little bit bigger as I fold things in 1/2 to measure). It's an inch wider than the previous quilt I made him and hopefully will fit his huge kind size bed.

This quilt was finished in May 2015.