Amazingly Quick Quilt

 Combine a wonderful book and clearance fabric already pre-cut into blocks, add a Mom visiting for the weekend and you will have a wonderful quilt in four days! This was my first dip into Modern Quilting and I am in love...



My biggest worry about machine quilting was that I would get bunches of wrinkles and tucks and spend more time ripping out stitches than sewing. I would rather pick pills off all my sweaters before ripping stitches out of an entire quilt. So I ironed the pieced top three times, I should note as I sewed the top together in strips I ironed it so all the seams lay in one direction. I also ironed the batting and the backing, to keep it smooth!

Unfortunately or maybe it was fortune, I made this quilt during a snowstorm which meant the light in the house was just terrible for picture taking. I had to wait two days until the storm was over so I could drag my blankie around the great outdoors for a photo shoot.

Incidently I think the yellow was a great choice of color to work with during a dark and cold winter week. I just love the backing of the quilt, don't you? All the ironing did pay off, as well as a lot of pins to hold it together, although I would recommend safety pins as my hands were really scratched up and bleeding my the time I was done.

My great idea to hang the quilt from the tree branch didn't work so well as the wind kept blowing it down. I was trying to capture the look of how I placed the blocks so the gray faded into yellow on a diagonal. When I started quilting, I chose a block in the middle and sewed out from there, that way any wrinkles that came up, I could hopefully smooth them out. As far as I know, there weren't any major wrinkles, but I haven't wanted to look at the back too closely.

Into the wash it went after that ordeal, my fingers were completely numb and my face was aching from the below zero wind chill. Oh what we do for a good quilt...

 

 

Crazy Cat Placemats

Sometimes fabric just jumps out at you to be taken home, even if you don't know what you are going make. When I saw this bundle of hilarious kitty prints, I knew I needed to make something for my aunt, uncle and their family of cats.

It was also a nice small project to try out modern quilting as I was inspired by the book "Sunday Morning Quilts" by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cherly Arkinson.

I love the color saturations she uses and the very geometric shapes, also the concept that the quilt is not made up of little blocks, its more like they are pieces of a big painting. When you quilt with this thought in mind, I think you are more able to study the fabric and work With it rather then snip it up and turn it into something different.

After feeling the inspiration build for a few weeks, I began playing with fabric and folding it into shapes that fit together, sewing as I went. I chose one fabric that I wanted as the focal point for each placemat and went from there. Yes, I did tear out some as I went but thats ok.

It didn't take long to have a placemat! I made four in all and trimmed them up to be the same size...relatively. When I put the batting and backing together with the top I then decided to be even more daring and learn about machine quilting. I am very hands on, so instead of reading up about dropping your feed-dog or adjusting the tension, I just started sewing. Since this was a small project it turned out great. I did learn later on a big quilt that it helps to make some adjustments.

Instead of adding a seperate binding, my sister suggested I simply fold the backing up and around the top of the quilt. It was a good idea since a placemat will be washed a dried a lot more than a quilt and less pieces to come apart.

Ready for dinner to be served... Fun idea, if you make some placemats you can stitch a pocket on one side to the silverware in. I like how each placemat turned out differently but they all go well together.

Kate's Quilt

I found these fabrics bundles on clearance, already matched up and ready to be a quilt. I love clearance shopping don't you? The brightness and contrasts immediately brought to mind my sister-in-law Kate, and what a good time to make her a quilt as she graduates this year.

My sister came for the weekend and helped me cut and piece the whole thing, because I have found that you need to piece a quilt all together in a few days. That way you don't lose motivation and also when the quilt pieces are put away and then brought back out, they just don't go together the same way again. Don't ask me how that works, I just know now that you have to do it ASAP!

So thanks to my sister, another sister can be warm and happy this winter! We stayed up into the wee small hours getting it finished, but it was worth it.

The pattern was a little difficult with some odd shaped pieces, its always nice to have a patient sister on hand. The pattern was from Better Homes and Garden's American Patchwork & Quilting, February 2008 issue #90 Windy By the Lake.

I love the texture of a quilt when its hand-quilted and then washed & dried. It gets little "rumply" as Mom says. 

And don't you love the fun paisley backing I chose? I think  a quilt is nice when you can reverse it for a comforter as well.

 

Here's a link to a great website that has a tool where you can look up quilt stores as you travel. It's how I discovered Neff's Country Loft in Ohio.

 

http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/

Mom's Log Cabin Quilt

 Is your closet stuffed with half-finished quilts, unraveling knitting projects, pieces of Christmas crafts, not-yet started gifts or just something cute that was on sale? This year I have pledged to use them up, finish them or get rid of them. Not my stash entirely, just the extra bags I constantly shuffle around and say "What is this?" Freshly motivated by this thought, I ignored my own closet and poked around in my Mom's and found a small quilt top that needed one more row of blocks and it would be the perfect wall-hanging. My Mom was thrilled that I would finish this and I was excited to work on a project that I haven't been shuffling around for four years. I think this in an idea we should all work with, I will finish your stuff and you finish mine, after all its like starting a new project, all the excitement and thrill, only it is finished sooner and we are a little more organized!

 As you can see I love to hand quilt while watching a musical or something where I can listen more than watch. This quilt was entertained by Andy Griffith and Mary Tyler Moore, Doris Day, Perry Mason, Gilligan and the Crew. It took me about six weeks to complete the quilting and now my quilting finger has re-developed its callous so I need to find something else to quilt soon before it disappears.  And in case you were wondering, the safety pins are the preferred method of a no-sew basting, take them out as you go to smooth out wrinkles and admire your handiwork! I truly believe all quilts should have a fabulous backing, just in case you want to flip it over for a comforter look and admire the texture of the stitches. Or in this case, this quilt will hang on the wall and just have a splendid secret.

 And the confession is: I did not do a good job of matching the last row, if you look closely the top pieces are thinner, but hey its finished!