One Last Christmas Quilt Gift

Here is the finished queen sized bed quilt made from Moda's Simplicity charm squares. I gave this to my in-laws for Christmas. I can't say with certainty that she/they love it, but at least I feel good about giving something that is nice.

I gave it a test-run on my bed to see how it fit. My bed is high-posted, so it looks as though the quilt is not long enough on the sides. On a normal bed, it is plenty long.

Here's a closeup of the quilting in the squares...

I knew before it was sent to be quilted that I wanted the scalloped binding. Boy, this was a mistake!! What a big job it was to get all of those inside points hand stitched down well. I'll think twice before doing this type border again :-)

The bobbin thread is a pale yellow. The quilting shows up very nicely from the back. Gotta say it, I hate all those stupid swirls in the sashings. i had no idea there would be so many of them. It is just another difficulty of machine quilting. If I used my local quilter, I could preview what she does. If I use another one somewhere else, I just kind of have to go with her judgement. I also wish that the rose boxes had been outline stitched, but she didn't really want to do this without adding more cost. I can't really complain, the quilting looks fantastic.The machine quilting was done by Carla Riggs, mother of Ginger (aka Paisley & Polkadots). I was somewhat disallusioned with the lack of creativity of the machine quilter I have used that is local to me, so Ginger recommended her mother. She's a blessing, as she also recommended the Amish quilters that hand quilted my mother's quilt.

After receiving the finished quilt on December 1st, I decided I'd make coordinating pillow shams. These were fairly simple (after ordering another charm pack!), and I got to practice my machine quilting. I think that what I did matched the quilt really well.

Copy Cat

Here's a snippet of the back of a quilt in progress, quilted by a talented long-armer.
And here's my attempt to mimic this for a pillow sham. It's actually not too shabby!! You'll have to wait a few weeks to see the fronts of the sham and quilt.

Never Again

...will I think that a scalloped binding will be pretty. It is just a pain in the arse!!! ...all 400 inches of it :-) Cannot say any more as this is someone's Christmas present.

Two ready for the finishing

My two bed quilt tops are finished, for better or worse. There are certainly things I might do differencly, but having them done is much better than having better ideas and bags full of quilt top pieces.
This one looks a little funny on my bed, as it is high and the quilt appears to be short because of the wood footboards on the bed. It is a reasonable length, I assure you. Normally I'd design a quilt for shams, but this pattern yielded a longer top than width ratio so I opted to make it go over the pillows.
Thanks to Ms. Paisley & Polkadots (AKA Ginger) for tipping me off to an Amish hand quilting service. I have used a machine quilter that is local to me twice and I have somewhat mixed feelings about her. Her work is decent quality, I just have not been thrilled with her creativity. Maybe she needs more guidance on patterns, etc. I think my ambivalence also is in part to my love of hand quilting. The quilt on my bed is hand quilted, and I spent 4 years finishing it! It's about another $100-200 to have it hand quilted, but it will be worth it. This blue heart quilt will be sent to be hand quilted this week. It makes me very nervous mailing away my hard work, but this service does come well recommended.

Because this quilt is scrappy, I was able to use hundreds of different fabrics. Here's one of my more unusual ones (the western wagon-pulling frogs!). I know that the recipient will get a kick out of my hidden humor.



There's also some nice Asian parasol girls, and my son's favorite - a pirate ship!
And also some more lovely Kaffe Fassett geranium leaves and Foxgloves in blue. Together, it is all very lovely, and interesting. It keeps the eye traveling from heart to heart.

Here's the Simplicity quilt. Sadly, I have not good enough light to photograph it so it does not look washed out. If I had it to do over again, I'd use a medium dusty wedgewood blue rather than the rose. But that is life -

It is completed, and for someone who does actually like pastels, it will make a nice gift. The borders are rather simple. Come to think of it, the majority of the quilt is simple - 5 charm packs sewn into 20 9-patches, then sliced into disappearing nine-patches, bordered, sashed, and voila...quilt top! Anyhow...the remaining charm squares were cut into the 2" stones I used on the border. I will have it finished with a scalloped edge, and maybe bound in the rose.
This one is going to the machine quilter I use. I plan to have her quilt a feathered heart into each square, and do some scalloped feathers around the border. That is MY plan anyhow!

I don't know if you can read the fabric or not, but there's one fabric in this set (in each color) that has words on it... "love", "family", "hope", "peace", "dance", "wish", "celebrate"...just to name a few. I just love this.

As for the rest of my week's work...
- A trip to the lake today (Oh, that doesn't count, does it!?)
- added 1st border to my round robin piece, after deliberating on this all week. It was a real challenge for me.
- bound the second of my Legacy quilts. Small details until it is completely finished.
- worked a little bit on my next ALQS mini
- And this weekend I plan to pull out my summer quilt that needs border attention! If this sounds scarry, it ought to! Here it is...

A Drowsy Blogger

The last week or so I feel like I have been asleep behind the blogging wheel. I am behind in my personal projects and have felt the stress from that more (despite having my bday block swap blocks done for the next 2 months, and my Miniature Booty quilt finished as well). I have 3 queen size bed quilts in the works, and none is ready for the LA quilter.

So rather than pull out what I really needed to work on (AKA those dreaded quilts), I pulled out my flannel scraps and whipped up a couple relatively simple flannel quilts for Project Linus. These make quilt numbers 9 and 10 for me to bring to a drop off in early October, for which I will receive 3 fat quarters for each quilt. That alone is a great motivator for me to finish another 3 or 4 before then! I'll get pictures up soon.

I staged 2 of my bed quilts this weekend on my bed. Until Sunday, they were still in too many pictures to put onto the bed and get a good visual of the quilt.

This is made mostly from charm squares of Moda Simplicity. I hate how the pastels wash out in the photograph. It does not help that the bedroom is dimly lit either. Sadly I just lost steam on this a few weeks ago. I am just on the fence over the rose borders. It seemed like the right color choice at the time, but in retrospect I wish it was a much softer color. Rather than take it all out (which is a project in a box forever if I go down that road), I am rethinking what to do with the remaining 8" of the border. It will have some of that rose on it, perhaps in swirling quarter inch applique (like stems or filligree). I am tempted to use it for the binding and do a scalloped edge to soften the look of the quilt too. That's the project for the week AFTER I return from here :-) (AKA vacation!!)

This past weekend I also sewed the 12 22" heart blocks together so I could get a good look at this quilt. I was very close to making these into 2 Linus quilts, but with my ambivalence with the Simplicity quilt, I have a reformed love for these blocks, and feel like the initial recipient of these would relate and appreciate this quilt more than the Simplicity. Further, I have another person in mind for Simplicity, who's style is really much more in line with those fabrics. So, with that ambiguity (grins!!) as they may be reading this before Christmas, I'll stop my blathering.

My plan for the hearts??... Add an 11" border. At first I designed up one, and fortunately (and much unlike myself), I made just one of the 14 blocks up last Saturday. I did NOT like it. I was much relieved there was not all 14 before I decided that too! The consensus was that it was not scrappy enough to blend nicely with the scrappy hearts. So I made a small modification and the borders are scrappy like the hearts. Pictures soon, promise. Unfortunately, I used all of my bolder Kaffe Fasset scraps (ones with turquoise), so border does not have those small "punches" of color. It will still look good. And, more importantly, this top will be completed before we depart this weekend. I have 2 of the 3 borders sewn and awaiting squaring and trimming before I attach them to the top. That's progress I can be proud of!

One last little show...Here's Nell's pet block for Kate's bday block swap.
It went into the mail today. Every house ought to have a fat orange cat. I already posted a picture of Anne's mariner's compass.

Oh and a glimpse of what I am sending to someone tomorrow...the center (part of the center) block for the Spring Fling Round Robin 2. In case you are reading and wondering...the fabric I sent with it is the red dotted batik! I call it "Lollalilou", because it reminds me of something out of Dr. Seuss and I think he had a creature named that!

Another Week, Another Stitch

And another power outtage. Once again, I spent half the afternoon by the kitchen window hand appliquing. Good thing I actually LIKE to hand sew!! Fortunately it was only off 2 hours, not 8 like last Friday.

I have been relatively good at making progress on my projects, despite really having much finished to show. As they say, slow and steady wins the race.
My Miniature Booty piece is done except for the label. Pictures will be later, may be after it is received. I like it a lot, which seems to be a common trend in my sewing lately. I really should make things I hate more so it's easier to send them off into the world.

My Simplicity quilt is making good headway too. It is dreadful to photograph - the pastels are wickedly washed out, and the rose inner bordering is much bolder than in reality. It is actually 20 boxes, and now has a 3" border of the corresponding yellow floral (shown next).

I have begun the borders for the top of the quilt (part that drops down the side of the mattress), and hope to have them on by end of next week.

My Project Linus Bear-Blanket quilt is coming out adorable. The top is 90% finished with the MQ. I have done a wavey-swirly tight quilt in white and aqua rayon threads. It has a wonderful shine. The bear blocks are a little different, with accent stitching around the bears, and more lateral stitching as if to mimic the ice and clouds.

The borders on this quilt are 6". That is quite a lot of area to have to figure out how to quilt! I have already used 6 bobbins and 500 yards of thread!!

Pin Wheels, Polka Dots & Pigs in a Blanket

Here's another Project Linus blanket recently finished. I am trying to incorporate (ie., use up!) my many yards of nice novelty fabrics. I got this Huff-n-Puff (the pig border print) last summer, and if were just a little more, I may have used it for Sophie's birthday dress. It is super cute!

The quilt is scrappy and bright. I had red polkadots that my mom gave me. Every summer, my grandmother who has been dead now almost 4 years, came to Maine. She was raised here, but always loved to come visit. On one of her trips in the mid 1990's, she needed to make a clown costume for work. I still cannot envision my 70 year old grandmother dressed as a clown, but then! Anyhow, the red dot is leftover scraps from her costume. I think she'd be tickled that I used it for a piggy kids blanket :-)
Here's the top...about 50" x 50".

And one quickie transformation of the lovely Simplicity squares...next time I'll get better light so you can see how lovely the prints are.

The makings of four 9-patch blocks, arranged with white print canters, more solid prints on the corners and another busier print in between.

Now they are cut...
...and rearranged to place the solids at the center, one of each color.
I need 16 more of these. Then they will get a mini-border of a medium blue that I do not yet have. Then 2" sashings of a pale blue & white print.

...next week's project!

Goodies in the Mail & New Projects

I had my entire week and weekend planned out. I was going to get going on a Project Linus blanket that will be entered in their Book-Blanket Challenge. The blankets need to be turned in by sometime in September or October, and should be designed around a children's book. The book and quilt will be given to children at this hospital between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last year I made the Hungry Caterpillar (and won too!). This year my goals are lower. I will be happy just to get my blanket top finished before we go on vacation next month.

Anywho...so my plan to go full gusto on this quilt top came to a screeching halt when yesterday's mail came. Two squishy packages!! My Moda 3-Sisters Simplicity charm squares and accompanying fabrics came. OOhhh, they are so sweet and romantic. They will make a fantastic present for someone. I just had to piece a "few" of the charm squares together to see how it would look. You'll have to return tomorrow for pictures of that :-)

Here's a question for all you charm pack users. Obviously I did not prewash these before sewing. But should I prewash the yardage I bought before I cut and sew with that? or might it be better to wash the entire quilt top when it is finished? My inquiring mind wants to know what YOU would do :)

Well, back to my book quilt. Here's the book.
I actually found it at a local consignment store in hardbound for $2, brand new. That beats the $30 price tag I saw at Amazon! It's a supersweet tale of a polar bear mama and cub. I have a very small amount, maybe half a yard at most of this fabric too, which I knew when I selected the book. This was used on my son's bed quilt recently.
My plan is to cameo-cut as many of the polar bears as possible, and then design a pieced quilt around that. I have several corresponding blues and light grays in nice nursery prints - polka dots, checks, hearts, etc that look fantastic with the background of the bear fabric. They bring out all of the ocean, ice and sky characters of the fabric. Initially I envisioned appliquing a fleecy bear cub or two onto the border or the quilt, but concept will have to wait until the top is finished. I had much of the piecing cut yesterday before the mail came (and squashed my motivational steam...). Once the little ones were napping, I also started sewing to realize I 'd made a small error and my pieced blocks were coming out the wrong size. Seems I'd mixed up my two piles of squares and used one for the other's purpuse. UGH!.. rather than pick out 12 9-patch blocks, I decided I could afford to make the quilt 6 inches larger with just adding bordering to the bear cameos. My simple plan is still rather simple, just not going together without a little modifications. I still hope to have this top pieced by the end of the weekendso I can get back to the Simplicity quilt.

For all of you Booty Swap lookers...I have actually done a fair bit of that quilt top. It's 90% hand applique. It's another that I'd like to have finished before we go on vacation in August. I think I may hand quilt that one, but I'm not sure. I need advice. If there is anybody that uses (and likes to use) perle cotton threads, please tell me what weight you use and where you find it. Thanks-

My 4-Seasons Beach quilt is entering no-man's land (AKA postal service) - and here's where I begin to hold my breath and pray it arrives where it is destined to go. I hate the thought of lost quilts, especially one of mine.

Anybody that is inquiring about another round of the Spring Fling Round Robin that I host...I am just about to kick off the fall installment of the swap - in just a few days. Keep your eyes peeled here for the signup as it will be limitted to 25, and my awesome quilters from the first session will most definitely get priority.

Have a great week's end!