A Charmed Project

I love Charm packs. I buy them to get a good look at all the fabrics in a line I am interested in. I buy them because they are not too expensive. And I have also swapped them. So I have lots of charms.  What do you do with all of those charms?  Well, patchwork of course. And what do you do with all that patchwork? Cushion covers!

These old cushions for my dining room chairs were really worn and ugly. I forgot to get a picture before I striped them bare. I have had them on the to do list for at least 2 years. Yesterday, I started on them with my charm squares. Here is where I am after 3 are finished:

 This is the first one, covered in Road 15 from Sweetwater. I added some poly fill to puff it up a bit. They tend to get flatter over time.

 This one is also Road 15 in another colorway. I had a whole charm pack of this to use. I used 12 charms for each cushion. The strip around the side is made from fat quarters of Reunion and Noteworthy, cut into strips and pieced.

Before you get to thinking they are all going to be the same, the next one is a bunch of text charms from a swap. I did use the last of the strips of Reunion and Noteworthy on it.  The last two are not done, but I have the charms picked out. One is some Fig Tree prints from California Girl and a couple from a newer Fig Tree line that I can't recall the name of. The other one is just an assortment of charms from another swap I did about 3 years ago, so no telling what they are. After that, I have to buy one more foam form, as I have always been lacking one. Such a slacker! Talk to you soon.

Sunday Stash #12...and a winner!

 So I was at my LQS and picked up these three half yards in bright, lovely fall colors for a quilt.

 This is the pattern on all of them and they come in a large range of colors and make great blenders to add a bit of interest to any quilt. I have used them before.

And here is the name of the designer and the manufacturer. Look for them in your LQS. Mine keeps them with all the Kona Solids and other background fabrics that are now standards.

 I got them to go with these Kona colors: Coffee, Earth, Orange, Canary Yellow and Lipstick Red.

These are all destined to be this quilt, for my daughter and her new husband. Can't wait to get this one started.
And now, the winner of my Nancy Zeiman book giveaway: number 5, Heather! I will be emailing Heather for her address. Thanks to all who played along. Another note: I am very close to 300 posts and when I get there, there will be a celebratory giveaway! Talk to you soon. Linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash.

Getting Zen With It

The title of this post comes from a conversation with my Hubby this morning. I have to go to work at 1 on Saturdays and I always try to get an hour or two of sewing in before I go. I am in the home stretch of this quilt top:

I hope you're not tired of seeing this one yet, because not only am I almost done, I am making another one just like it in Rocket Age by Riley Blake Designs. Here's a look at that:

 This is the yardage I bought, based on how much it has taken to make the Sasparilla quilt top.

 And yesterday, in about 90 minutes, after installing a new blade in my rotary cutter so I could cut multiple layers at once, I had this.

All the pieces of the second quilt top are cut. This was not how the first one went. As I was figuring out the design, I cut a few, then sewed and then cut a few more. Now, I have the necessary pattern drawn out.

This is the whole stack for a quilt top. It doesn't look like enough, does it? Well anyway, back to Zen.
So I have lots and lots of HSTs to stitch together for the final border of the first quilt, even though I would really rather work with the newly cut fabrics.  So I put on some music and tried to find my Sewjo and become one with the fabric triangles.

Chain piecing

Trim to 4" squares

Half way there

Still to go

So, back to the machine to hopefully finish this part up. Sooooo close. Have a great Saturday. Linking up with Kim at My Go Go Life for Sewjo Saturday.

It's Here!

So on Sunday I posted some pics to Sunday Stash for a quilt I am planning and today it's here!  Wanna see?

I am making this quilt:

 And now, I am going to make another just like it in this fabric. This is going to be so cool!

There will be updates soon. Don't forget my giveaway here. Talk to you soon. Linking up with Fort Worth Fabrics Fabric Frenzy Friday.

WIP Wednesday with a Giveaway

I saw this adorable goldfish fabric on Cluck Cluck Sew a few weeks back and I knew that it was the perfect focus fabric for a baby quilt. I had been wanting something just like this. So I went on line and found it.  I did my fabric pull, but then waited for inspiration. I love Allison's Juice Boxes Quilt, but I didn't want to just copy it. (She has a pattern available for it.) Then, it finally came to me...Economy Quilt Blocks.

 I decided to put the goldfish in the center of all the blocks to make it cohesive. I added a couple of greys to tone it down a bit. I will need 25 of these to make my quilt. They finish at about 8 inches.

 I got the specific measurements from Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts. I wanted the blocks to be big enough to really see the goldfish.

 I am happy to finally use a bit of this print from the Going Coastal line that I have had like forever. I had forgotten how much I loved it.

 This is going to be a great baby quilt. And I love making these block so much, I might just have to make another one in some other fabrics when this is done.

                                          I love this one...

And this one...the Squared Elements are navy, although they look almost black here. When I get the top together I can take it outside and get a better picture in natural light.

Now, about that giveaway...I have a book that I loved reading that I would really like to share with someone.  A few weeks ago I won a copy of this...

I have enjoyed it immensely, but I am not one to keep a book that I wouldn't read again. And I do love to share a good read.  So if you would like to win this very gently used copy of Nancy Zieman's book, just leave me a comment and tell me to put your name in the draw. That's it. I will pick a winner next Sunday, March 30. Due to postage rates this is only open to US readers this time.  Hope you all have a great week. Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced. Also linking to Fort Worth Fabric Frenzy Friday.

This Quilter's Journey-My Very First Quilt

I had thought it was gone forever, but when I happened to mention it to my oldest daughter, she said "Oh, I have it." So here today, I am going to show it to you. Before I do, I want to remind you that I made this quilt in about 1979, and when I did, I knew less than nothing about quilting. I made it from scraps leftover from sewing garments. Okay...ready?

 This is the patchwork side, all cut with scissors and hand sewn together. The denim around the outside was recycled jeans.

 It's lumpy as heck with polyester batting that has shifted since it is tied, and not too close together.

And this is the front. All stained, wrinkles and yuk! I am almost embarrassed to be showing this.

 Embroidery block with a very wrinkled ribbon on it. There was a popular set of sheets with a similar print back then and I tried to copy it, sort of.

 My philodendron plant that was in my livingroom.  All the leaves were hand appliqued by me with no fusibles. Heck, I don't know if we even had those back then. lol

 Another plant, this time with embroidered stems. I loved these two plant blocks. Still kinda like them.

                           A boat, once I decided it was going to be a baby quilt.

 Ewwwww, so stained...don't look. No, just kidding. All fabric scraps I saved for years.

 A cute little heart and some ribbon trim. The reason the applique is hand done is that my singer featherweight sews only a straight stitch.

And the odd orange gingham teddy bear.  Now I made this over the course of about 2-3 years, working off and on. I finally finished it when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter. It graced the bottom of our playpen (a perfect fit) through three babies.  Now my daughter brought it to me so I could photograph it for sharing here, but she doesn't want it back. I'm not sure what I will do with it. But anyway, that is how I started on my quilting journey some 35 years ago.  Hope you enjoyed the story. Talk to you soon.

Sunday Stash #11

So this week wasn't as full with sewing as I would have liked. Lots of life got in the way, but then that happens to all of us. I was wondering what I would talk about with my Sunday Stash post this week since the only thing I got was 3 yards of Kona white that I bought last week on sale from Canton Village Quiltworks. Nice, sure, but doesn't make for the most exciting photos. Then I remembered that I had ordered some fabric for a quilt, so I went to the site and borrowed the pics to show you here.

These fabrics are all from the Rocket Age collection by October Afternoon for Riley Blake. I had to go to two different on line shops to get all of them. I found some at Hawthorne Threads and the rest I procured at Lemon Tree Fabrics.

My daughter requested that I make a quilt for V in the same pattern as B's quilt since the boys share a room. B's is the wonderful Sasparilla fabrics, also Riley Blake. She says that with cowboys on one and spaceships on the other it will be like Woody and Buzz. To infinity and beyond!
Linking up with Sunday Stash at Work in Progress Girl.

Sasparilla-WIP Wednesday

I am actually working on several things right now. Big Shock, right? But the main thing I have been working on and making great strides at, my Sasparilla quilt for little B. This is a Riley Blake line and I love the 1950's feel of it. In this colorway, I think it looks amazing.

 I finally got all the little HSTs put together, pressed and trimmed. I now have to finish attaching them to each other to create the small blocks.

 I am doing lots of chain piecing with this one and it does help it to go a bit faster. I am using Aufifil 50 weight thread for all this piecing. It also saves so much on thread when there are so many blocks to piece.

 This is what I have so far. Now that I am this far into it, I have found that I actually have enough fabric to make it bigger, as I originally planned. So I will be cutting more pieces next and seeing how big it will get.

 The goal is a twin size for a future  big boy bed for little B. The little HST blocks across the top are probably not going to stay there. Just trying them out. I think they need something to separate them from the others. Not sure yet.

Here is a bit of a close up. I love the way this is looking. I did not realize the big X effect that the fabrics were creating. This quilt is having so much movement when you stare at it for a bit. I hope you are having a great sewing week too. Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced. Talk to you soon.