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!

WIP Wednesday and the Final quilt of 2013

Happy New Year!  Can't believe 2013 is gone and it's a new year - have to practice writing 2014 on my checks....always the first challenge of the new year :)

My last effort of 2013 was to finish a project I've been procrastinating on for way to long.  My husband requested a special quilt for a friend of our family and it's been really hard for me to get it going for some darn reason.  I intended to have it done before Christmas, but missed the mark by a few days.  The jockey was the worst part - those sleeves were making me really worried!  I finally decided I didn't need to make two sleeves, so I just used stitching to define the front sleeve and it worked out perfectly.  Those squares are 3/8 inch finished squares - I strip pieced those and it came out well.  The fusible doesn't work well to hold down all the layers with the seams, so the satin stitching was needed - but looks just fine and defines the sleeves quite well.  The hands, cuffs and pom-pom are all teeny pieces, held on with fusible web and topstitched like the rest of the larger pieces are.  Challenging, but doable.  The goggles are stitched with a heavy weight thread to show up well.

The blinkers were done with the same checkerboard as the sleeves of the jockey.

 

The tail was a spontaneous idea.  I used the same heavyweight thread that I used for the goggles, wound a ton of it around my fingers, then cut in half, stitched down the center where the tail belongs, then folded down and top stitched 1/8 inch from the first stitching!  I was very pleased with the result!

Here is most of the quilt.  The horses legs are blackened with threadwork.  I was happy overall with the quilting I did, I think the horse came out quite well!  I'm happy to cross this one off my list, and it makes a good final finish for 2013.

This quilt will be my first finish for 2014.  This is a custom order for a queen size quilt made out of baby clothes.  It's really heavy, but will be a wonderful keepsake!  I plan to do some echo quilting to bring out the circular patterns in the piecing.  The white square will have a bird and nest applique - should be quite cute when finished!   Here's to many more finished projects in 2014!

Check out the Quiltsy team blog for more WIPs by the talented quilters on Etsy!

Catching up and Giving Away!

****The Giveaway has ended and the winner is Piroska Blanchette!  Congratulations, Piroska, I have e-mailed the patterns to you!****

Well, I have been as busy as usual, I'm working on a quilt that is taking me quite a bit longer than I had planned on, so I have been working petal to the metal all week long.  It's coming along and I see light at the end of the tunnel, so hopefully I'll have something interesting to blog about soon!

I didn't want to miss Giveaway day - I've had so much fun participating in the past!  It's always hard to decide what to use for a Giveaway, but this year I thought I would send the winner a set of all 5 Charm Square table runner patterns that I have designed!  Since I will e-mail these as a set of PDF files anyone in the world is eligible to win, all you need is an e-mail address (so make sure you are not a no-reply blogger so I can get the prize to you easily!)

I will choose a random number from the comments on this post - just let me know which one of my Charm Square patterns is your favorite by December 13, and I'll announce the winner by the 15th!


My favorite one is Windmills, I just love this version that I made using a Fandango charm pack.  I have a charm pack of Bobbins and Bits that I plan to use to make a table runner with this pattern, I really think it will be pretty as well!  All of my charm square table runners are fun projects that go together quickly, so even if you are a beginner sewer I am confident that you can create a beautiful project with any of them - plus, if you want to make table runners for sale with my patterns, I have no problem with that (though I love when you give me credit for the design!)

I have some more ideas for projects using charm packs, but as you are likely to hear me say - "Too many projects, not enough time"!  Oh, well, I do make notes, so eventually I think I will have time, at least for some of them.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks again for joining me on my giveaway - go check out the SewMamaSew blog for lots more opportunities to win!  For supplies go here, and for handmade items check here.