First quilt finished in 2014

I am really glad to finally have this quilt finished!  I had hoped it would be done earlier, but I'm happy to at least have it done this week.  All of the center is made out of baby clothes!  Lots of stretchy knits, cuddly velours, not to mention cotton prints, corduroys and fleece.  I ended up having to foundation piece it because of the crazy stretchiness of it all, not to mention the various thickness of the different fabrics.  I think it came out beautiful, though and am very happy with the results.  I used a cute soft flannel for the border, and this

quilt is queen size, and very heavy.  It will be nice and warm, not to mention cuddly and soft!

I used a cute little hat to make a nest and appliqued a couple of birds in the blank white square.  I did this because we wanted to feature some birds in the quilt.  They are a little primitive looking, but cute!

I also added a bird to the bottom right border.  This picture shows the backing fabric as well.  I thought it was pretty with the front.  

This shows it on my bed for size.  Nice and large!  I am happy to have it done, and pleased with the results as well!  Here's to more gratifying finishes in 2014!

Fall is In the Air

After a beautiful summer we are definitely full on into fall.  Cold, rainy weather has taken over, I keep telling myself there are definitely some lovely Autumn days coming, at least I hope!  We had some good storms come through over the weekend and lost some shingles off our roof - not a good sign for the coming winter, for sure.

I kept busy in September and finished several quilts.  I had three quilts in my quilt guild's show - no ribbons this year.  It makes me really want to work on some projects like my Crazy Jane and get them finished!

 I quilted this top that was made as a shop sample last year.  Love the fabrics in this.  I ended up deciding to do a simple meander on this, but it could have been really pretty with a nice custom quilting.  Not a lot would have shown since the fabrics are pretty busy, though.

 I got this bed runner back from the quilt shop as well.  I had to re quilt some of it because I had some tension issues.  I'm much happier with it now!

Love the way this one came out!  I quilted this with an allover swirl design.  Another quilt with busy fabrics - seems like simple quilting just works out best for these.  I have another finish to show, but need to take some better pictures.  Hopefully I can keep it up next month.  I would love to make a big dent in my overly full drawers and turn some UFO's into Quilts!!!

Week Four - 52 Week Challenge

When I saw the title on this quilt pattern, I just had to make it. Crosswalks in Paris? Mais, oui, mon amie!

What a fun quilt to make! It's a strip pattern, just two pages of instructions and super simple to put together. You just make strips, 4-patches, and turn some more strips into flying geese by sewing squares onto rectangles. Oh yeah, now I've got another set of left-over triangles to play with!

My new favorite spot for taking quilt pictures! They come out fairly well, even on overcast days! The only downside is the clutter that sneaks into the edges of my shots - but I am working on that issue. Baby steps, you know!

I quilted it in pink thread with loops and hearts. I could have done something jazzy in those squares, though. I liked making this so much I just might try another one. We'll see.

And a sleek band of black binding to finish it off. Sweet. Yes, I pieced another back - I bought this pink ribbon fabric one day, thinking I would do something different with it, but realized that I was never going to get to that project. There wasn't quite enough for this, though. Then I thought about using just the white for the back, but I really don't much like a plain white backing. Isn't it pretty with the pink, though? I'm happy, and this quilt is now strutting her stuff at the quilt shop, tempting everyone in sight to sign up for my Strip class in two weeks. And to buy some jelly rolls so I can bring her back home and enjoy snuggling on the couch. This one might be a keeper! We'll see!

For more of the 52 week challenge check out Fabric Fascination!

Au Revoir!

Pamela

Week Three

I am so much enjoying this 52 week challenge, and feel pretty good to have actually finished something 3 weeks in a row - thanks, Kym!


I always say there is nothing like a little positive attention to get a person going, and the nice comments on my leftover triangle quilt really inspired me to go ahead and finish that up. After laying out all of my blocks and fussing over what was too close to what for a good while I just piled them all up and started to sew pairs. I knew I had an odd number of columns so I saved out 6 single blocks for that and just started sewing. If I didn't like two together, I just grabbed the next one and kept sewing. After I had the pairs done I sewed those into 4 patches. Then I started the laying out process once again and it was much easier - just six of the 4 patches, then the six singles, so a lot fewer choices to make!

After getting the blocks together and the border on it was tempting to just fold it up and put it in the drawer with all the other UFO's, but then I realized that this would be the perfect project to finish up for the 52 week challenge! Plus that, it gives me another frugal quilting topic for later this week - but you will have to wait for the details on that one :)


I decided to just do a meander all over this as the quilt is so busy that the quilting itself doesn't really show. I chose a dark blue thread, and in an afternoon had a finished quilt to show - pretty nice! One of my favorite things is that everything for this quilt came out of my stash - no running to the quilt shop for anything at all. I will be adding this beauty to my Etsy shop later today, think I will call it Waste Not, Want Not! Thanks for the encouragement to finish this up!

Yours in Scraps!

Pamela

The Last Quilt of 2010?

I can't absolutely promise, but I think it quite likely that this will be the last quilt I finish in 2010. Next year I plan to be better about keeping track of how many quilts I actually finish in a year - I know there where quite a few this year, but I'm not sure if I can actually number them all. Maybe over the next couple of days I will see if I can backtrack and figure it out!

For the next couple of days I am going to spend some time cleaning up and organizing in my sewing room. I want to make a list of UFOs to finish, as well as a plan for working on some of the other projects that aren't even started yet, but I have purchased supplies for. I hope to be able to finish quite a few of these this year and clean out some breathing room in my space - I'm pretty tired of all the clutter and mess that I seem to deal with on a daily basis.

Back to the quilt - I think I am going to call it Dragonfly Dance. It is about 42 inches square and is made from the leftover pieces from another quilt. I actually had some good sized pieces of yardage, plenty to make this quilt top and have a bit of the bright green-blue left for my stash! I put the top together back in October, but hadn't found the right backing for it. I had in mind using some green or blue fabric, but wasn't having any luck finding what I had in mind. Tonight I felt like doing some simple quilting, so decided to look through my stash again and see what I might find, since organizing and clearing out the closet. I immediately spotted a tone on tone black print which was perfect. And there was plenty of it! So, a quick press, baste and I was in business quilting away. I even had a lovely green variegated thread that looks super on the top! Instant gratification, and one more off my list - definitely a pleasant evening!

Hopefully I can get a lot of cleaning done tomorrow, then I can do some more quilting - but at least I'm happy getting this one done!

In stitches,

Pamela

Crossing the Finish Line!

Yes, I have crossed the finish line, picture me - hands upraised, chest out, in full stride with a jubilant smile on my face - victorious! Now that my quilting jobs are done for this season I can start into holiday mode, and I think it will be a lovely one this year, especially being with all of my children - definitely the best gift of all.

Autumn Winds is finished and ready to be sent off to her new home. I really love this quilt and it was so much fun to work on. I may work with this theme more in the new year, we will see - my original plan was to create one of these for each month of the year, so I might actually do that this year, then put them all together into one quilt. That could be very fun. (Not in this large size, though!)

And Snail's Trail 2 is done also! These were fun to work on also, I loved the bright colors, ijt really is a pick me up during these short winter days to work with bright colors.

So, now, my main goal is to get my sewing room cleaned up. I can see some free-cycle posts in my future as well as a few Salvation Army runs. I am asking myself if I really want to work on all of the projects I have piled up. And if I really WILL work on them in the near future. I have a drawer full of tops to quilt, a drawer full of fabric waiting to be made into tops, and piles of fabric waiting for an idea to strike. Not to mention the bin of strips for string blocks. I suppose most of us quilters are like this, too many projects, not enough time!

So with that deep thought I am off for the day, I am looking forward to entertaining some friends later this morning and showing my work space to them. (They are non-quilters, but all are creative so they know how the projects pile up!) I am grateful for sunshine today, for friends, and for finished projects and some free time!

In stitches!

Pamela

Another Rescued Project

As you know, I have a hard time resisting something for free. It's hard to turn someone down when they want to give you something for nothing - but I am learning! But this particular project was before those days, and it is one of many partially done projects that I am determined to finish, even if they didn't start in my own sewing room.

I had a set of six finished blocks, and a couple small pieces of yardage with a few strips thrown in for good measure. I decided the blocks just needed a simple setting with sashing, then bordered with the same brown. There was just enough of the yellow to make the binding. The leftover strips were enough to make hanging tags which I thought looked quite nice.

I thought all the hand-painted faces on the kitties were adorable, and I love that hungry looking one looking down at the mouse!

The bells were also on the package, so I added them with a touch of blue embroidery floss tied with a little bow. A couple of the cats had ears that were pressed down, but I pressed them back up because I liked them better that way. All in all a very cute quilt, and better a finished quilt than a baggie of bits and pieces!

Complete Joy!

Nothing like finishing a project to put a smile on my face. Especially one that has languished in a pile for far too long a time. Many months ago I took an oriental panel and some coordinating fat quartes intending to create a small wall hanging to showcase the panel. I also purchased a ruler and a book on Piping hot Binding to go with this project. I got the fan blocks for the corners paper pieced some time ago, but since then it's just been sitting.

I was asked to do a demonstration on piping at the quilt show, so I decided to use this project as my demonstration piece (since I have never actually made a quilt with piping on it!). I used narrow piping around the panel, and the edges of the fans. I finished the top last week, and as I have a sample at the shop that's ready to go home, decided to quilt this one and bring it in so I can have the other one! I just did some stitch in the ditch in the seams, and did some free-motion to outline the details in the panel. I think I'm going to add a few gold beads for stars in the sky tonight, and I will take it in tomorrow.

So, in celebration of finishing a project I've been working on the quilt I am making for my bed. Some of those Midas touch fabrics are pretty wild, so we'll have to see how this one comes out! I've change my idea of how I want to put the stars together several times, and have returned to my original scrappy star idea! Some quilts just have a mind of their own (and some quilters are loosing theirs!).