When Life Gives You Scraps,,,

Make a Quilt!  Here is my finished little wall-hanging quilt:

I'd say it's pretty cute for just using up some scraps :)  Do you have this panel, too?  I might have some more hiding in one of my boxes - they were really popular way back when....

I tackled another project I had been shuffling around from flat surface to flat surface - you probably know the drill.  I had a charm pack and even some fabric for borders and the back and didn't want to hide it away and forget about it, so I just kept moving it around my sewing room until I would have time to sew it together!  So I started last night and finished the top this afternoon:

Isn't it nice and bright?  I have totally forgotten what line this is, but I love the colors!  This will make a fun lap or baby quilt, I think.  I feel very happy about finally sewing it up, and hope to get it quilted in the next few days - sneaking it in between my wedding dress alterations and a set of drapes I need to finish.  Quilting is always a nice reward for getting my other jobs finished!

Getting back to Jane - D-7

My quilting pal who is also stalled on her Dear Jane quilt and I decided to challenge each other to get back on the project. The challenge is a simple one, just make one block each week before the next quilt guild meeting. I hope this will spur me on toward getting this project finished within the next year or so - at least the top. I think I will want to hand quilt this one, so that part will probably take me a while as well.

This block is D-7 and it was super easy! I made the side triangles by piecing a strip of the blue with the white, then cutting into the triangles. The sides and center were cut in strips, I sewed it up like a 9 patch, the trimmed the corners to the correct size. Woo-hoo! Block 1 for November is done! Now to add the color swatch to the right card and put the block in the envelope for the D row. The next block is hand applique and I have it cut out in a kit, ready to go. So I will work on that through the week and have it done by next Monday!

Happy Sewing!

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!).

Back Talk

Today I had to have a heart to heart with myself about quilt backs. You see, I'm a boring backer. In fact I used to back all my quilts with muslin or white fabric, but that was when I was exclusively hand quilting. When I moved on to machine quilting I started using more prints and colors, but out of all the quilts I have made I can only think of two that did not have a back that was only one fabric. Yes, they are easy, but they are boring.

What brought me to this train of thought is the quilt I am trying to get finished this week. My daughter picked out the fabrics, and I did the cutting and sewing. When I pulled it out to quilt it, I went to the fabric store and bought a beautiful fabric to back it in. Unfortunately, it was too beautiful and in the end I could not bear to use it for the back of a quilt and pulled a bright pink gelato out of my stash. There was just enough (I thought) for the back of this quilt, all I needed to do was cut a strip off the top and piece it to the side of the quilt to make it about 55 inches square.

After I cut and pieced my strip to add the the side I shook out the rest of the fabric, and discovered that an 18" square had been cut out of the other end! Oh, great, now what do I do? I could have gone back to my original plan and used the fabric I purchased, but I remembered having leftovers from the top, one of which I was thinking of using for the binding. Happily, I had not one, but two long strips of green fabrics from the top! I used those with pink strips, making a very lively and appropriate back for the quilt, and the rest of the pink I will use for the binding. And I saved the other print for a future quilt.

Paper Lantern Quilt on the Lennie

This is a sample I've been working on for Threads That Bind. It is a Jason Yenter pattern using fabric designed by Kumiko Sudo. They are beautiful fabrics, not only in their soft pastel colors, but their feel is also wonderful, very soft and silky (got to love quilt shop fabrics, I must say!)

The pattern features 30 of these blocks, but we decided 4 blocks would be perfect because that is how many fabrics we ordered to go with the border and the peachy color sashing! It was fairly easy to make, but I'd most likely get very bored making 30 of these blocks - and all the cutting of small squares to make those lantern points (done in a sew and flip technique).

I finished up the Paper Lantern sample and brought it in to the shop yesterday when I went to work. Sharan suggested that I go and quilt it up on the Lennie since there was nothing much that needed done, so off I went. It's been a while since my lesson, so I had some trouble mounting it, but I did get the job done (though it took quite a while to accomplish it!). The quilting - went all right, but not up to my standards, yet. I think it's going to take quite a bit more practice before I would ever consider doing one for hire on it, but who knows.

We thought clamshells would look nice as it is an oriental quilt. I did a combination of pantograph quilting on the outside border with free-hand quilting for the inner blocks. I think I would have been a little better off had I loaded the quilt the opposite direction of what I did - the clamshells were quilted up-side down, so it was a little different to get the feel of. I also discovered that it's very hard to make a nice diagonal line on a long arm machine! You can go up-down, and you can go side-side, but those diagonals just go wild on you. Sharon says you need to use a ruler for that, so next time I will try it! I did get a better feeling for the stitch regulator, and feel more comfortable with that now, so that is a good thing.

Overall it looks quite nice, though I did miss a spot!