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...

Pickle Dish, Starstruck, Aloha

I've finished up the backings for quilt tops from last year. They are now awaiting a call from my LAQ... When I have some finished quilts to bind, I'll bring over that many more for her to complete. I also have a FULL bag of runners and small quilts for me to quilt...I hope to do that in August and September.

For now, I've been working on some NEW quilt tops and I thought I'd share them since 2 of them I just finished...

The first is a Pickle Dish quilt. The pattern is from the book Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Romance. I like the way these are made into a square block that makes it easier to put together. Here's the top so far:

and a closer view of some of the blocks:

Cool, huh? Almost everything is from my stash...I did have to add some additional white fabric, but all of the colored fans are stash.

Next, here's some of the "Starstruck" blocks. I think that's what I'm calling it - maybe not:

You see the Pickle Dish at the top as I was working on both blocks at the same time. These are the bottom blocks...and they are so much easier that the Pickle Dish! The Pickle Dish is paper pieced and I  learned a couple of things from it. The Star burst (huh maybe that's better?) blocks are just cut using a 15 degree ruler and are very easy... I did a pieced white/pattern/white blade with a pure white blade...cool, huh? I also bought some red/white/blue fabric to do a patriot version. The thing I need to figure out is...when I made these, I cut from the bottom of the ruler and it all came together in the middle...to the point where I trimmed it out and am going to applique a middle back on - too many seams! So, for the red/white/blue version, I'm going to start at either 1 inch or 2 inch line and see what happens.

I went to a couple of shops during a shop hop - didn't do the entire thing as it was 30-40 shops from LA to Palm Springs to Chula Vista. It was too hot and I wasn't in the mood to run for two weeks, so I did a couple of the local shops that I like. One shop, Cozy Quilt Shop in El Cajon, is well known for a few different things... I bought this kit from them:

 The pattern was free with the purchase of the book "Layer 'em Up" by Sharyn Craig. I bought the kit also, so I got a 2nd copy of the pattern for free... The entire top took just a few hours ... it was very, very fast - which is what Cozy specializes in. I'm making this for a Christmas gift for a coworker...I'm going to buttonhole stitch the letters down and then do some very basic quilting to finish this by myself... The kit was great as it had the blocks precut and TONS of fabric for the letters and center - I bet I could make another center panel from the left overs!...

So, that's what I've been working on lately. Of course, I have more potential projects than time - but these have been fun to work on over the past couple of months.

BTW, if you read Quilter's Newsletter Monthly magazine, my LAQ has a quilt showcased as a ribbon winner at Denver International quilt show. She has the samurai quilt...it's so very impressive in person!

 

4 ready to go...one left!

I finished making backs for 2 more tops. I have one last top without a back... AND with my using a top as a back...I'm 1/2 way there...I figure if I square up the quilt that is on point, and then insert 3 vertical panels and one horizontal panel...I'll have a back!

I have a whole stack of runners and small quilts that are ready to be quilted by me... I have 2 tops that will need backs and batting...and then every top I have will really be part of a kit...ready for quilting. YEAH!!!

I am working on a challenge quilt...and bought fabric for another experiment. My challenge quilt is a pickle dish from the book Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Romance. It's paper pieced but with a twist in that you end up with blocks to sew together which is awesome! I'm using fabric that look almost solid...in rainbow colors.

I bought fabric to make another quilt that hsd Dresden fans...that are turned into blocks and sewn together...instead of having to applique the circles.  I've got  some neat fabrics that should make some cool designs...

And both blocks/quilts have lots and lots of WHITE for the background...which should be fun too!  Pictures coming soon!

Two more down...two more going soon

I went through the remaining tops and noticed that one could make a decent back for the other if it was bigger... So I increased the number of blocks and rows by one in each direction and then added on a border...and I have another quilt sandwich to have quilted! I have two more tops that I can do the same thing to...I just have to add in some borders to one to make it bigger as a backing...

After that I'll have two more complete tops to make backs for and then I'm up to date with the big quilts that need to go out for quilting. I then can start on the stack of smaller quilts and runners that I think I can quilt on my own...and that's a big pile too!

Pictures will come at some point. Just nothing too thrilling at this point to post!