Nautical Lone Star Quilt

Guess What??? I finished my lone star quilt!!  That is right!  The quilt I've been wanting to make ever since I started quilting, 11 years later, here it is :)

I used the pattern by Minick & Simpson, for their American Banner Rose fabric collection.  I just did the stars, no extra borders or anything.  It'll fit above my bed perfectly.  Yes, I am hanging it on the wall for awhile.

(American Banner Rose Quilt Pattern by Minick and Simpson)

I avoided making this quilt because of Y-Seams. They really are hard, I don't care what all of the ladies on the Youtube videos said, I ended up figuring out how to do them on my practice block.  You can see the earlier POST HERE on that.  So, I had figured it out, but was not looking forward to making 4 blocks with 8 Y-Seams each on them.  A lovely blog reader, Dolly, left a comment saying:

"I can't remember where, but the other day I ran across a blog post where the person had split the corner square into 2 triangles, so that they could sew a triangle onto each side of a diamond point, and thereby avoid doing a y-seam, she split the triangle between two diamonds that way"

Dolly, thank you!  I love having a blog, it is fantastic!!  I managed to find some information on it, and made my quilt blocks in record time!  

I had the cutest ship fabric for the backing!

I used a light gray solid for the background, I thought it really made the colors *POP*

I fussy cut a starfish for the center sashing *so cute*

And yes, I decided to hand quilt it using a light gray thread.  I really love hand quilting!  I think I'll be doing it more often now. (this quilt was a lot of firsts for me!)

Thanks for modeling my quilt for me Jessie!

And a fun shot for you.  We have a real full size teepee set up in our backyard for the summer, the kids love to play in it.  Mark's mom made this (yes I said she MADE IT.  Who makes a teepee?) back in the 70's and he inherited it!  Isn't it so much fun??  It's huge!  It also cracks me up that I have a teepee in my backyard.  LOL!  Have a great week everybody!!

Tote & Book Swap

While blog surfing awhile back, I came across a post on Bonnie's blog: Pink Stitches.  She was starting a Tote & Book swap.  I signed up right away.  I love making tote bags, and books... well who doesn't like a good book?  I was given Ros at Sew Delicious as a partner.  Ros and I have a lot in common, we are the same age, have two kids, love to read the same books, and both love fabric.  How great is that??  I enjoyed making this tote for Ros.  She loves Echino fabrics, and since they are a sturdy linen, they work perfectly for tote bags.

I used my favorite tote bag pattern, the Summer Madras Tote tutorial by Noodlehead.  I've made a dozen of these bags now... LOVE them!

(Model, I am not, LOL!  My daughter was taking the pictures and I was trying not to crack up)

(The back of the tote, love that deer!)

After I sewed up the bag, I thought the linen pocket on the front was bare.  I kicked myself for not stitching something on it, DUH.  Anyways, I whipped out my book Make it Sew Modern by V&Co.  The little flower you see there on the cover of the book?  I had to make one for this tote.  It was so fun to make, I will be whipping up more of them for sure.

The book I bought for Ros was by one of my favorite authors, Shannon Hale. She writes young adult fantasy type stories.  They are really good.  So, I chose The Book of a Thousand Days for her.  I loved this book, I wanted to buy her all of Shannon Hale's books, but held back, shipping 10 books to Australia wasn't in my budget... 

Have you read any books by Shannon Hale?  What have been your favorite summer reads?

Senior Quilt Projects

I have been working with the youth (girls ages 12-18) in our church for over a year now, and have really enjoyed it.  One of the girls is heading off to college to start her new life this fall, and we had to make her a quilt to remember us by.  We had all of the girls in the group help us make the quilt, which was fantastic!

Jessilyn went online and chose fabrics she liked, and of course Tula Pink was found.  She then researched quilt patterns, and found this link. Two Rectangle Squares.  So, I cut out the fabric and brought it to Barbara's home so the girls could start making the 42 blocks required.  Barbara teaches sewing classes out of her home, and has a SWEET setup in her loft.

The girls did SO well with it!  We were really proud of them.  It took two - two hour sessions to get them all done, but they stuck with it.  I then brought it home and put the top together.  Barbara quilted it on her longarm, and I put on the binding.  It was a combined effort, and I know Jessilyn loves it!

We had one more senior off to college.  Barbara helped her choose her fabrics, and I wrote up a simple pattern for her, just a square in a square.  She had minimal help from Barbara and pieced the quilt all by herself, and again, Barbara quilted it on her longarm, and then showed her the basics for binding, and she did that herself too!  I was so proud of her, that is awesome!  The pictures aren't as good, I only had a minute to snap a few photos.

I LOVE her color choices. 

Good luck at college girls!!  We love ya.

WIP Wednesday

Another Wednesday is here already!  I have been trying to figure out what I want to work on next, besides starting new projects of course.

This week was super productive.  I have been working on a quilt for one of the girls that are in my church group, she is on her way to college next week, and we finished a quilt for her so she can have it when she starts on her new journey.  (I'll do a full post on this soon)

I made another scripture tote for one of the girls in my church group as well, she loves pink and purple. What more could a girl want?

Since I started my lonestar quilt last week, it has been my main focus.  I've got the blocks all pieced and now I am hand quilting it!  I've never hand quilted a quilt before, so I am just full of ambition on this project, and had to give it a go.  So far, so good!

I found a way to get around doing a Y-Seam, I'll share more with you about that journey, phew!  I am glad that is over.

This next week I want to keep on hand quilting my lonestar quilt, and start working on my warm/cool quilt-along quilt that I've been putting off for far too long.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday

Trying new things... can be difficult

I am always wanting to try new things.  A Lonestar quilt has been on my list of "quilts to make someday, when I am brave enough" list.  I love how they look, how the way you place colors can make it different.

Well, I got a bee in my bonnet yesterday and decided it was time to do this!

I pulled out fabrics, I knew I wanted it nautical themed, because that is just how I roll.  I love anything nautical, as you all know.  The pattern I am using calls for four lonestar blocks, they aren't very big.  I decided that every block should be a bit different.  Here are the fabrics I pulled, along with the start of each block.

Block #1

Block #2

Block #3

Block #4

Well, that was fun, now comes the HARD part.  Y-Seams.  You all heard me.  I have tried Y-Seams once, like 8 years ago, and they sucked.  So.... I looked up Youtube videos, pulled out books, and of course, read the instructions on the pattern I am using.  They all tell you something a bit different, but have one common theme.  Mark your 1/4" points.  I made a "test block" to see if I could figure it out.

From far away this block looks decent... let's zoom in shall we?

Hey, look at this disaster of a corner!

Oh, and this one too!

My mom called me while I was in the middle of this, and she seemed concerned for my well being.  I told her I'd call her when I figured it out, and so she'd know I wasn't going to lose my mind.

Finally, FINALLY, I had a successful seam.

And one more!

I am going to conquer this, I know it!  However, if you don't hear from me in a week, please come find me... I'll be clutching my seam ripper and hiding in a corner LOL!!

Ocean Boardwalk Quilt

This quilt reminds me of a boardwalk at the beach.  So, I kinda named it Ocean Boardwalk.  I love this quilt, like A LOT!  I know, I always say that, but this one, it really has won me over as one of my all time favorites for sure.

The pattern is used it City Green, from the book City Quilts.  The book City Quilts is exclusively solid fabric quilts, which I have never done.  This was a new thing for me.  I bought all of this fabric and the book at The Stitchin' Post in Sisters, Oregon last summer while I was there for the Sisters Quilt Show.

  The fabric is all Kaffe Fasset Shot Cottons, so the fabric is a bit two-toned.  The warp and weft are each a different color.  Some of the fabrics really seem to shimmer.  It's so pretty!

For the backing, my daughter Jessie and I went through my stash and pulled out any that matched, cut 10" squares and 2" sashing and pieced the back.  It was a good way to use up some stash, and it gives the quilt some personality. 

I straight line quilted it on my sewing machine using turquoise thread. 

I have had this quilt half way finished for months now, I finally pulled it out last week with the intention to get it finished.  I am proud of myself for sticking with it and getting it done.

Now... onto the next Work in Progress!!