Saturday, June 20, 2015

Black Diamond Quilt Finish

This quilt was such a fun one to make.  First of all, I have to say that when my friend Becky and I saw this quilt hanging at Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe about 5 years ago, we fell in love with it.  It is beautiful!  They had kits made with everything you needed to make one.  We both ended up buying a kit.  We couldn't resist.

Sandy Klop is one of my favorite quilters, she designed this quilt called Black Diamond, using two Jelly Rolls, and some yardage.  It goes together easily, it's just BIG, so it took a long time to put together.

The quilt uses two Jelly Rolls designed my Sandy Klop (American Jane) called Recess.  Here it is 5 years later, complete.  It's one of the biggest quilts I've ever made.

I love the patterns in it, the stars and cubes make it so interesting to look at.  I quilted it on my friend's longarm in a big loop pattern.

Saturday, March 07, 2015

Hydrangea Quilt: Part Two

Back in 2010 I made a quilt for Nan, my wonderful daycare provider.  She loved hydrangeas.
Here is the original one:  Hydrangea Garden Quilt
I had an inquiry to make another one as a wedding gift.  So, we used the same pattern and came up with colors that matched the wedding.  I really enjoyed using that pattern again.
I tried some new free motion quilting techniques on this one, it was so fun!
It's always fun to revisit patterns and make them new again.
The pattern is called Victorian Garden in the Fons & Porter magazine Jan/Feb 2008.

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Quilt Night: Show and Tell

A large group of us met at the church to have a quilt trunk show.  It was so fun to see what everybody had made, it always inspires us to go home and keep making those quilts!  Enjoy the show!
It's so fun to see all of the different styles, and patterns.  
Doesn't it make you want to get sewing?

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Whirligig Quilt

This quilt is a labor of love.  Some quilts we make take a long time to do, and we are okay with it.  Really taking your time and enjoying the process of creating something beautiful is so fulfilling.  I agonized over this quilt, choosing the right fabrics, and really learning how to applique correctly was important to me.  I enjoyed every minute of it!

It took over two years to make this.  It is all hand appliqued, and hand quilted.  The pattern is called Whirligig, by Sarah Fielke.  It is in the book Quilting: The Little Things.

It took lots of scraps to make the leaves, and tabs around the border.
I used my favorite scraps, so cute!  Anything went, I wanted bright and happy.
I used Perle cotton thread for the hand quilting.  It's big and fun.
I hand quilted around the leaves, and stems.
I also hand quilted around the yellow flowers.

I'm now on the hunt for my next hand applique project!  I'm loving this quilt, it was just too fun to make.  If you like handwork, try applique, I'm sure you'll love it.


Saturday, January 17, 2015

Minecraft Quilt

My 13 year old son is obsessed with Minecraft, I know many of your kids are as well!  He has been talking for well over a year now about making a quilt for himself that was all Minecraft.  My friend Carla and her son made a fabulous quilt, you can see here: Minecraft Quilt  Thanks for the inspiration Carla!!

I made it big enough to fit his twin size bed, and it turned out pretty fun I think!  He was pretty happy with it, and has been using it ever since he got it for Christmas.  I wrote all about the process of making it below.

Curren loved their quilt!  I told him we could make one similar to it, but he wanted to add his character to it as well.  So, he spent lots of time choosing the exact colors using a Kona color card.
Here is his Minecraft character
Here is our layout, pretty simple!

We then went on a trip to Fabric Depot to get all of the fabric, he filled that cart right up!
I then cut out lots of 2" squares, and we started laying out the design.  To make perfect squares, and to make the piecing a bit easier I bought fusible interfacing with a 2" grid on it, this helped to make it look a lot better, and to keep my seams straight.
I made it in 10 x 10 sections, it helped a lot.  Here is the "dirt" section.
And now the tree trunk, body and sky....
I then put these two sections together, so it was halfway done.  
I then started the rest of it, I was already really tired by this point haha!  The things we do for our kids.
Here is the top almost done, I just needed to add the two borders.  
This Minecraft quilt was a labor of love.  It took a long time to make, and wasn't the easiest thing to do, but I am so glad I did.  Curren loves it, and it was so fun to work with him in making it.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Liberty of London Quilt

I've been hoarding fabric again, this time it was Liberty of London tana lawns.  They are beautiful, colorful, and soft.  Since the fabric is pretty spendy, I have collected small pieces, and joined in on a swap, where we all bought one yard, cut it into fat eighths, and traded them, so we all got lots of different pieces.  It was a good way to do it!

So, after all of that, I decided on a quilt pattern.  This pattern was perfect for small pieces, and the overall design has a big impact.  The pattern is from a book by Sarah Fielke called Hand Quilted with Love.  I'm a huge fan of Sarah's patterns!  This went together so well.
Along with the Liberty of London fabric, I needed a neutral.  I decided on Robert Kaufman Essex Linen in Natural.  It is linen, so it's somewhat rough feeling, and I liked the difference in the feel of them.  It gives it lots of texture.
My friend Christina who blogs at The Sometimes Crafter, quilted it for me.  I love her feathers, and she did a beautiful job, thanks Christina!
I am keeping this quilt for me, I love it!  Do you have some Liberty of London fabric, what are you doing with it??


Thursday, November 20, 2014

Modern Arizona Baby Quilt

This fabric has been calling my name for awhile, I finally made a quilt using it!  The fabric is called Arizona, by Art Gallery fabrics.  Art Gallery has really been drawing me in lately.  Whenever I go to Fabric Depot, I can't get out of that section.  Their fabric is really soft to the touch, and the colors are awesome!  Go check them out if you haven't already.
I cut 6" strips from yardage, and used a 60 degree triangle to get my large triangles.  It went together fast.  And it's so pretty!
I used a mint colored fabric from Cotton + Steel for the back and binding.  It matched perfectly.  This quilt is for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Quilted Halloween Table Runner

My friend Barbara and I had a sewing day where we made Halloween tablerunners.  It was so much fun!  This was very simple to make.

I used one charm pack and made two table runners from them.  Those 5" squares go a long way!  I used the fabric line The Boo Crew by Moda.  I had some other fabric yardage for the borders.  I made one for me and one for my mom.

The fabric for the back is so cool, the skeletons glow in the dark!
It's all about the fabric, am I right?
Happy Halloween!