Big Bed Quilt Done!

I finished binding my big bed quilt this week and even got the label on it. I was so happy to have it done, I didn't even wash it before putting on the bed. I am happy it's done, but also, I love it. I have to give great thanks to Rachel at Stitched in Color for the push to finish this quilt.

Last summer I won some fat quarts of Improv by Amy Friend. When I received them, they were even prettier than their pictures. So I ordered some more that I didn't have and I added to it from my stash to make this big bed quilt. I pieced it in October and then folded it up and let it sit.

 I love all the colors and the way they look together. The pattern is Cobblestones, I think a free pattern from Fat Quarter Shop. I didn't know what to do next.

 And then Rachel spurred me to action with the Big Bed QAL in February. I had the top, but I needed the back and wasn't sure how to do that. One of her sponsors, Pineapple Quilts, sells some of the most beautiful wide backing fabrics. Once I knew that, I had a plan.

 I was thinking of quilting it in continuous eights, and Rachel confirmed that for me with her suggestion and a few tips on the width I could use for them. I quilted this over about a week and a half, using 2-3 rows as my limit for a session. It was big and heavy, and I didn't want to get worn out or discouraged. That worked rather well.

 I used leftover backing fabric to make the binding and I love the border it provides. The top thread was a Superior Threads variegated thread which I loved on the spool, but wasn't sure about on the quilt top until I saw a big chunk of it and then I knew it was right. It adds so much interest to the quilt.

I hope the next time I need a new big bed quilt I can afford to have it long arm quilted. I know just the person to quilt it for me. Happy weekend everyone. Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts.

A Three Year Finish

I know we all have them. Those quilts we start, we love and then they get lost along the way. Back in the winter of 2015, while I was at home going through chemotherapy, Rachel, from Stitched In Color had a Clambake quilt along. I had always wanted to make one, but it seemed too difficult to me. Rachel's method was a quilt as you go method. That I could do, I thought. This was before the fatigue got really bad, so I started the process.

I cut out all the clam shells I would need. It was to be a neutral row and then a colorful row. I went completely scrappy. I did get all the clam shells traced and cut. I think it took about a week. Then I chose my backing and started sewing. I think I got 3 rows done out of 34 rows needed. I tried to keep going, but I just didn't want to do it. I didn't want to do anything.

Fast forward to 2018. I decided to make this the year that quilt got finished. I pressed the edges with starch and then pinned each row and sewed them on. It took 3-4 weeks but now I am proud to say it's done.

 I was able to use so many fun and favorite pieces of fabric. I used some 5 inch charm squares.

 Here is the whole thing. It is a nice lap size quilt. I made the binding from the leftover pieces of the backing that I trimmed off when it was done.

 And this is the back. I don't remember the name of this fabric, but I love the shade of blue.

Not the most perfect stitching lines, but who cares, it's just for me. This makes me feel so happy to see it done. It reminds me that I came through to the other side.

Now my next project to quilt is a queen size bed quilt. I am trying to decide how I want to quilt it, so I hung it on the design wall to look at for awhile. I bought an extra wide backing fabric from Pineapple quilts. They have the biggest selection of wide backing fabrics I have seen yet. It arrived today, so now I can pin baste it as soon as I decide how to quilt it.

This is the top, on my bed. It is the free Cobblestone pattern I got from Fat Quarter Shop. So, linear quilting or curves? I think not too dense, to keep it soft and because I want to get it done this year. I am willing to entertain any ideas you have.
Talk to you soon.

Some Friday Finishes

I sew. A lot. But I also like to crochet. I do not knit, but my daughter does. In fact, my first finish is an afghan she knit for me.

 I had bought her a kit for this from Knit Picks about 4 years ago for Christmas. She knit it up and then, I liked it so well, she bought the yarn to make another for me as a Christmas gift. It was all done except the crocheted edge when I went to visit her in August, so I offered to bring it home and crochet the black edge. And now its done. Beautiful.

 This second afghan I crocheted. I began it in 2014 right after I was diagnosed with cancer. I thought I could work on it while I underwent treatment. The pattern is from Lucy at Attic 24 blog. It's called Neat Ripple. It was easy to get started, but hard to keep going and finish. I used Blue Sky cotton yarn.

It's a bit heavier than some other yarns, but I love it and now it is finished too. Hope it cools off soon so we can use them.
My other  finishes for this week are sewing finishes. First, I finished piecing the Cobblestone quilt for my queen size bed.

 I used mostly Improv fabrics by Amy Friend. I love the colors and the basic patterns. I added a couple of other fabrics to the mix just to fill it out.

 It went together pretty quickly, and now I just have to find a backing and figure out how to quilt the thing. There is lots of wide open space here, and I am thinking something with curves.

 Then there is this little cutie. This is the Lucy Tunic by Shwin Designs. This is such a cute pattern and so easy to make. It probably took me about 4 hours to stitch it up. It is designed to be worn over a pair of pants, or shorts, or leggings. You could even pair it with a skirt or dress. Add a long sleeve tee shirt and there you go!

 It criss crosses in the front and is awaiting two button holes and buttons. The cap sleeves have two tiny pleats which help it be eased in, but also add a bit of style to it.

 This is the inside. You can make this as a lined tunic, or you can make it reversible. I am choosing reversible, because two for one? yes please! Also, one thing you can't see is the pockets in the side seams. On both sides and for both fabrics so even if you turn it inside out, you have pockets!

I think Miss N will look sassy in this. She already has a pair of navy leggings and a navy long sleeved tee shirt. Got one more of these in the works too. Next week another big box of goodies is going out, this time to my middle daughter. Once she gets it I will share everything here. Have a great weekend! Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Color Play

I know it's been awhile and yes, I have been very busy sewing. As soon as the box reaches its recipients, I will share all the goodies that went into it. But for now, something else.

I spent today, and yes, all day almost, cutting out pieces for a new quilt. I won a bundle of Amy Friend's Improv this summer and immediately bought some more to go with it. I absolutely love it. I wanted to find a pattern to use all of it in a quilt. I knew that when the right pattern came up, I would know it. And it did. Fat Quarter Shop had a fat quarter Cobblestone quilt pattern for free!

 Here is the whole queen sized quilt in pieces. I am looking forward to starting this one. I need to figure out my color placement.

 So what do you do when you get done cutting out a whole quilt, and it's too late to begin sewing on it? You play with all the delicious scraps! They were lying on my cutting mat, just calling to me.

 So I started grouping them together and sewing a few small groups together. I really love these colors.

 I do have a couple of bigger scraps like this grey, that I might cut up to add to this little project. I don't even know what to call it yet. I thought about making some pin cushions.

But then, I laid it all out on my ironing board and now, I'm kind of thinking about maybe a small wall hanging style quilt. I think I'll sleep on it and see what develops.
Talk to you soon.

Fabric Pull

How do you do a fabric pull? Do you start with a focus fabric, or a specific line of fabrics? I have done things both ways, or just a couple of favorites that look good together and then I try to flesh it out. I am wanting to make another large bed size quilt for my queen size bed...because I am crazy. I haven't chosen a pattern yet, so maybe that's going to mess me up here. The one thing I know is that I want to use a particular line of fabric, Improv by Amy Friend.

I won a fat quarter bundle of some of the fabrics from Benartex a couple of months ago and as soon as it arrived, I got on line and ordered some of the other prints in the collection. I don't have the whole collection, but there were some prints I truly didn't like as well as others.

This is the original collection that I started with. The colors here are pretty true. It's a very sunny day so I tried to stay out of the sun so they wouldn't wash out. Some of these are fat quarters and the ones I bought are half yards.

Now the fun...I tried to pull from my stash some things to go with these beauties. Tell me what you think:

 Here they are all lined up together. I think with these additions there is plenty for a queen size quilt.

 I love this dark plum color with the pale pink daisies right next to the raspberry colored fabrics. The centers of the daisies are almost the color of the raspberry fabric.

 Next, I added in the green-ish with dots, the golden tan squares and the grey gingham with the tiny dots. In this picture the first fabric looks much more green than it is and the squares look a bit washed out. So hard to get true colors sometimes.

 The other fabric I would like to use, but it may be too bold for this, is the text fabric. It is black print on cream. What do you think?

So here is the whole line up. Now I need a pattern to show these off to their best advantage. Please tell me in the comments what you think of the additions to the original line. Also, I would love to have any suggestions you might have for a pattern. Thanks in advance for your help.

Let Them Eat Cake

As the storm swirls around us here, not too bad, I want to share my weekend finish with you.  Remember these?

I pieced these for the Texting While Sewing contest that Amy Friend hosted this summer.  Well, I finally quilted and bound them and I want to show you how nice they turned out.  I made them into two wall hangings.

 The tiered cake is one hanging all by itself.  I added two more borders to the original one and binding was Kona pink...can't recall the exact color.

 I pebble quilted the white background and stitched in the ditch around the cake and the stand, as well as around the borders.  I love the way the pebble quilting mimics the dots on the cake.

 The other two blocks, I paired up for this wall hanging.  I gave it the same treatment, two more borders, this time using a lighter Kona pink for the border and the binding.

 Keeping with the theme of the background quilting mimicking the cake, I did roses on this one...

and straight lines on this one.  More stitching in the ditch around the cakes, stands and borders too.

I am so pleased with how they turned out.  I hope you like them.  They are going to go live on the dining room wall at my daughter's house.  She was the one who came up with the concept originally, so they kind of need to go to her.  I can go visit them.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Texting While Sewing #3

This is my third and final entry for Amy Friend's During Quiet Time Texting While Sewing Contest.  It is number 3 in a set of blocks that will become a wall hanging.

 This one is made using Bonnie and Camille's Vintage Modern.  I had a layer cake of it (pun not intended) and thought the stripe in a gentle pink made a perfect cake.  I used the same Make Life and Sunkissed fabrics for the cake stand and the frame so that all three would look like a set when put together.

The topper of this cake is a tiny fussy cut strip of what I think look like strawberries, again from the Vintage Modern fabric layer cake.  This whole cake looks sleek and modern to me.

So in case you missed the other two, here they are again:

I want to thank Amy for this great idea she had.  This was so much fun to do and really made me work outside my comfort zone.  I loved making these.  And thanks to my daughter who helped me with the idea and the initial sketches of these cakes.  As a baker, it should have been an obvious choice, but she pointed me in the right direction.

Texting While Sewing #2

This is the second cake block I made for Amy Friend of During Quiet Time, Texting While Sewing contest.

This is actually the first one I made. 

Here is a closer look.  I like this one too.  I used a soft pink floral for the cake and the same Sweetwater Make Life print for the cake stand.  I also framed it with the same Sunkissed text fabric.  I feel like each cake got better than the one before it.

Texting While Sewing #1

Amy Friend of During Quiet Time  is hosting Texting While Sewing this week.  I love some text fabric.  I knew I wanted to play along.  Some of these are really cool.  I ended up doing three as a set.  This one is my first and most favorite.

 I used Riley Blake Ombre Dots for the cake.  I love the look of the gentle fading from layer to layer.

 The cake stand is made from Sweetwater's Make Life fabric line.  I thought it was perfect for this.

The "frame" of the picture is Sweetwater's Sunkissed line text fabric in grey and pink.  I tried to mimic the lightly drawn flowers as the topper of the cake.  As I said, this block is my favorite.  But in other posts, I will show you the other two, as this turned out to be a set of three which will be wall hangings.