More projects in work

Continuing on from my previous post... Here's more of what I've been working on...

Here's the bowtie quilt top. I noticed after I took the picture that my paper "1" was still pinned to the top... I typically put a little paper number pinned to the first block of each row when laying out the top and sewing it. At this point, it doesn't matter which corner is first to anyone...except me. I've taken it off after these pictures...

 Here's a closer shot of the top. All of these blocks are scraps that I cut into 2.5 inch squares. I have TONS of squares now so expect to see more quilts with that size blocks...

 I'm working on the back which of course is taking twice as long to get together - sheesh!!

Now, here's a project thats been in work for a long, long time... I took tons of scraps and pieced them into 8 inch squares. I had bought a bolt of muslin that I just didn't like the quality. I've been using it as foundation and that's what I pieced the blocks on. I hated the blocks and was not going to piece them into a quilt. Then I decided that I could cut them into shapes and I decided I'm make a heart. So here's those pieced blocks, cut into a heart shape (using a freezer paper template and pinking shears) on black and white 10 inch blocks.

 Cute, huh? Here's a closer shot of the inside blocks.

 The blocks are stitched with white thread just sewn on the insite. Not sure yet what I'm going to do - if that's it or something else. Plus I'm trying to figure out if I need more or a border and what that would be. A friend gave me a bunch of black and white prints which may become a border of some sort. I love this quilt so far...I think it'll be a table topper size for February...

I have so many scraps and after the bow ties and the hearts, I had a ton of long lengths of black and blue. I started on the next blocks...I have 12 of them so far and think I'll stop this combination at 16...and no, I haven't decided what is coming next yet...

 I also had a ton of 2.5 squares of Chargers fabric. I'm thinking of recovering a smaller pillow for football season. Here's the start of the charger blocks for the pillow case...

Think I have enough stuff in work?  It has been really fun using my stash!!!

Updates to lots of projects

We had a *fun* 24 hours. We're in San Diego CA - north county and our power along with 6 million other people - was out from 3:30 until 11:00pm yesterday. We lost a box of refrigerated food - but nothing from the freezer. We only spent an additional 5-10 minutes on the commute home. Overall, we had a pleasant experience if you could call it pleasant...

Now onto the quilts...

This order will be weird... it's the way they came off the directory I had loaded...and I'm being lazy today and not changing the order. First up, this is a hexagon table topper made from the leftover 60 degree blocks I had. Cute, huh?

Next are a bunch of runners I made with border fabric. An earlier post has the pattern and the beginning of the purple runner. I saw the fall fabric runner at a quilt shop in northern MN and loved it as did my cousin. I made a few and two of them will be going back to MN. I made two purple runners and one of them goes back to my sister that originally bought the fabric for a quilt. You can also see the little hexie topper in this picture... See the lanterns on the side? They are candle lanterns and we lit them last night and ate dinner outside and then sat outside in the dark with them lit - the cast beautiful light!

 

Next is the finished "white" quilt. It reminds me of the big plastic beads we had as kids that you could make into necklages, bracelets, etc. The quilting is beautiful.

 

Here's a close up of the quilting. Yep, those are feather wreaths in the big white squares. The LAQ did them without asking and they are just what the quilt needed. I actually washed this one (don't normally) as I poked too many holes in my finders binding it and had blood spots on the binding and back. Now it's nice and clean and pretty!

 

Here's the back...using up my scrap stash for backings - love it by why does it take so long to piece???

 

Here's a close up of the back - love the quilting here too!

 

 Here's the beginning of blocks for a red/white/blue bowtie quilt. I kept the pairs connected and here's the process for ironing them which I thought was very cool... So here, two blocks are still connected with sewing and I've offset them for ironing. (color is a little off on these as it was at night...)

 Ironing while closed to set the seam.

 Flipping open the blocks in one direction and leaving the other direction...

 Half of the blocks pressed...

 Now pressing the other half of the blocks open...

 All pressed open. You see how they are going to be sewed together and I don't have to take time and match up the pairs.

 See? All ready to take back to sew together. The tricky part was figuring out when to cut the center seam connecting them. I did it two different ways and didn't like either.

I forgot to take pictures of the blocks after this point, but believe me, they were much easier to sew together. I also forgot to take pictures of the top, so I'll get that done and do another post...

Projects this weekend

I'm working on some bowtie blocks. I need to pull out the "original" bow tie quilt I did years ago...and now I'm working on another one but with a little different style of construction AND a smaller size block. I don't have pictures yet...maybe at the end of the weekend.

I just got this quilt back from the quilter:

She did an amazing job - as usual. I'll get a picture posted after I add the binding. She did some beautiful feathered wreaths in the white blocks. I can't wait to get the binding on - it should be fun!
Tomorrow a friend is coming over and we're having sewing day. I love having time with friends to sew together. We'll have a great time and I'll get LOTS done!

3 tops at the quilter

I almost forgot about these... After vacation, I also spent time making backings for three quits. Tell me this tho...how come I can make a top in a day but a back takes 5 times longer???!! Goes to show how fast you can get something done when you like what you're doing... Anyway, here's the three tops previously posted that are now with the talented Wendy Knight for quilting.

Black/white/red: This is a top that I made up. I had used a black and white check fabric for something and I had these strips leftover with what I thought was a cool design...

I love the black and white quilts with a pop of color, so I added some red to this one.

Park Avenue Happy Quilter QAL: This was an online quilt along that I saw the quilt tops online and loved how they turned out. So I printed the pattern and used some Park Avenue charm packs I had AND I then bought some yardage. Here's the results

OK, the picture only shows quarter of the results...but still. I'm waiting until it comes back and then I'm going to buy more yardage for the binding. Yep, I made the mistake of using up all of the scraps for the backing and now I have maybe a 5 inch square left of two fabrics. Sigh, I have to buy more fabrics...darn!!

White & scrappy: I have to find out if I made this one up or saw it somewhere...I just don't remember as I pieced it so long ago:

Again, it's made of pre-cut 2.5 inch squares. I loved it and didn't feel like it needed a border to finish it. I love quilts with white backgrounds. I think they look so fresh!

Now, I'm caught up!! Well, at least online.

Lots of projects

Wow, it's been over a month since my last post. It's been a busy month! I had a couple of projects to finish before vacation. Then went on a nearly two week vacation with my family. I came back to home/work and a very busy schedule. I bought a ton of cute kits on vacation...and had some commitments to get done before doing "fun" sewing. I did get a quilt back from the quilter and bound during the first week back. Then I made a baby quilt (baby shower is tomorrow) in about 2 weeks start to finish. Then I sewed two runners and a quilt top. Let's get to some pictures of all of my projects...

I call this "4-patch". It's really called Knickerbocker Glory from the book Jelly Roll Inspirations by Pam and Nicky Lintott:

and yep, I made so many blocks, I have enough to make another quilt. I just have to decide what the outer fabric will be and get that ironed and cut... I love these series of books. I've made a couple of quilts from this book and have a couple more of their books to work from...

Baby quilt: this is based on a bedding group the proud, happy grandmother showed me. I have a set of applique/embroidery zoo animals from Embroidery Library that are really, really cute and I've used them a ton. This time, I only used the one animal:

Monkeys!! The back of this one was made making a "disappearing 9-patch" block. It was super easy! I think I did the back in about 3 hours total... It's worth a photo also:

I like to bind baby quilts with the satin blanket binding. It's harder to get on the quilt, but I love the finished look and feel. My kids loved satin borders on their blankets when they were young.

This runner was made from a fabric kit I picked up in MN during vacation. The pattern is from the book Sizzlin' Sixties by Heather Mulder Peterson/Anka's Treasures:

I loved everything about this! The kit is 2010 MN quilt run fabric kitted by The Quilt Parlour Quilt Shop in Jenkins, MN. I pre-paid for a couple of yards of material from this year's run at the same time as the run starts this Friday...almost a month after we were there...

I also bought the border fabric for this runner. I have the pattern (previous post - Easy Striped Table Runner from The Quilt Company). My cousin liked the fabric so I'm making a runner for his table as a thank you for hosting us. Here's the runner so far (top only):

I did buy enough of this to make myself one too. I love this pattern! It's very easy. I love this fabric too! It's even better in person!

Lastly, I made this quilt top:

It's the same quilt as one that I made and donated to a friend's silent auction to benefit her daughter's high school choir. I loved this quilt. The pattern is Tropical Dreams and was in the February 2011 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting (one of my favorite magazines). I've been making 2.5 inch squares out of scraps and this quilt was made just with those scraps...plus the black marble background. I still have TONS of squares so I'm still looking for more patterns. The cool thing is ...since I had the squares pre-cut, this quilt was started Sunday afternoon and I finished it tonight (Monday)...and I only did an hours worth of work today!! I did stop at the 2.5 inch border as I like how that finishes this version off vs the additional border in the pattern. At this size, I can use it on my round table at work...

Now back to sewing. So much to do, so little time...

1 more top and a finish - 14 years later

I hadn't posted in awhile and wanted to get something online. I must be pretty tired as I wrote this...and put  myself to sleep. Maybe next post will be more exciting. For now, here's what I've done lately.

I saw this quilt on a blog and I loved the layout. The directions were posted and were very easy. My fabric is a charm pack and yardage of "Park Avenue" by Moda (love this fabric!). The beige is a Moda Marble (my favorite to use instead of solids!). The top went together very quickly ... and I plan on using my leftover yardage for the backing.

Here's the 14 year finish... This was a quilt top inherited from my mom when she passed away. My goal this year is to get at least 2 quilt tops made into finished quilts this year. I have 6 quilt tops left... So, this is the first quilt for this year, the 2nd total from mom's unfinished projects. (An earlier posting will have the first quilt - Tree of Life.)

Wendy Knight, long-arm quilter goddess, made the feathered wreaths in between the tulips in vases.  This quilt still needs to be laundered as there are spots on it - hope they come out!

And yep, it needs a name... I'll work on that this summer so I can get the back labeled too...

2 more finishes...

My friend Jim bought a bulit top at a yard sale for a buck. Yes, a buck! My fabulous long arm quilter quilted feathers everywhere and I did the easy part by binding it. The quilt is gorgeous - but it does need a bath! Total cost for material and services under $200!

At the same time that quilt was dropped off for long arm quilting, I also brought in a quilt top made by my mom - I think. It's a great scrappy applique quilt. The same talented quilter did feather wreaths in the blank squares and stippling around the tulip vases. I did a simple off white backing and border. This is the 2nd top inherited from my mom that I've completed. I hope to talk with her quilting pal and find out more information about the top...