She Said No More Quilts

My oldest daughter told me awhile back that she needed no more quilts. Now, that's just crazy talk, I thought. But for awhile, I made her and her family no quilts. I sewed clothing instead and I did enjoy that a lot. But then, one day I saw this on line and I was a goner.

This is Front Yard by Sandra Clemons for Michael Miller. Now there was a bundle on sale and so I bought it, along with a bit of extra yardage of two prints, knowing that this was destined to be a quilt for Miss N. She is the youngest grand baby and only has a few baby quilts to her name as well as one bed size quilt. And she is a purple girl too.

I wasn't sure what to make exactly, but I knew I would fussy cut these birds for the center of the blocks. Then, Allison of Cluck Cluck Sew shared a pattern for no pointed stars and I knew that was the one. This is such an easy quilt block to make. I decided to make 30 blocks originally, but then found I didn't have quite enough fabric for 30, so 5 x 5 blocks it was for a total of 25.

This is a shot of most of the blocks. My design wall isn't quite wide enough to fit them all. I just put them up there as I went, and this is not the final arrangement, but you get the idea. I knew I wanted to add sashing of some sort, but what?

 In an effort not to waste the scraps, which I often just toss in the trash, I sewed all of the cut HSTs that were trimmed away. This went pretty quickly, despite the fact that there were, 200 pairs of them. Chain piecing is your friend here.

 Then I pressed all the seams open, to reduce the bulk in them since they were so small.

And of course I had to clip off all the little flags that were hanging off at the opposite corners. So happy this part is behind me now.

 Now I have begun sewing them together in strips like the orange one above. My plan is to use them as sashing between the blocks. Before I do that, I need to get all the blocks squared up at 12.5 inches and get all my sashing strips sewn together.

This is approximately how it will look. I have a dark grey that I will use for the corner pieces in between the sashing strips. I don't think I have enough to go around the outside edge of the blocks, so that will be another adventure to figure out, once I get to that point. The goal is to get this done ad quilted by spring break when I go to visit so I can take it with me and give it to her.

Have a great weekend and I will see you back here soon. Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts. Finishing 25 blocks and 200 HSTs qualifies as a finish in my book.

I'm on a Roll Here

Back again with another finish to show you.  I finished this quilt top and showed it off here awhile ago, but now, here it is in all it's crinkly goodness.

 I. LOVE. THIS. QUILT.  I cannot get over how much I love the colors and the quilting and the crinkles since I washed it. The colors are so vibrant. 

 I started this quilt back in February and was just going to make it like all the others I saw on line, with 16 different color flowers. Then, I changed direction.  To a rainbow quilt. I am so glad I did.

 I had trouble deciding on the binding. I could have used almost any color. I went with an orange print from V and Co. Simply Color for the two sides of cool colors and the green raindrops from Laurie Wisbrun's Jack and Jenny line for the warm color sides.  I am pleased with this as well.

 For the back, I use a large chunk of this wonderful flower print. I bought a couple of yards of this several years ago and was debating on how to best use it. It is Honey Meadow by Michael Miller. I was just a little short, so hence, the yellow corner.

                                                Isn't it pretty?

                                                    One more look.

And the pretty binding. I think this is getting a hanging sleeve and going up on a wall in the living room. That's Mr. GQ's idea.  Then I can look at it all day long!
Talk to you soon.
Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts finish it Friday.

A Friday Finish

I have been sew busy this week. I have finally finished quilting my sister's quilt. It took 16 hours at the machine. But it is not bound yet, so that is not the finish I am going to show you today.  This is the finish for today:

 My new tablecloth!  I know, not as spectacular as a new quilt, but I love it! I have made several tablecloths and I know that since most quilting cottons are not wide enough, they need to have borders added to them.

 I fell in love with this print and bought two yards of it. It reminds me of a tablecloth my sister has that she bought in France.  The colors are much brighter in this fabric, but I still adore it.

 I found some blue and a pale yellowish green in my stash. They match the green and the blue in the fabric pretty closely. I only had fat quarters of them, so I ended up making narrow strips out of them and then adding a wider red border.

I took the pictures outside on the picnic table. Better light out there and my dining area is a mess right now anyway. So happy to have this. I think I will save it for the holidays.  Hope you have a great weekend.
Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts finish it up Friday.

WIP Wednesday

Lots of things in progress here at GrammieQ's place. I have only one week to sew my fingers to the bone before I go back to work. With the top to my MSBHQAL finished and waiting to be able to get some fabric for the back, it is full speed ahead with other projects.  Here we go:

 I put together another set of the HSTs that I have and am loving the way this is looking. There are only going to be enough for a large pillow, so that is the direction I am going. This is two of the four sections done. Any extra few I have I will work into the back of the pillow design.

 This hunk of loveliness is called Floral Fancy by Swirly Girls for Michael Miller. I saw it in the Hancocks of Paducah catalog. I ended up going on line and getting it elsewhere, since I am not happy with Hancocks service. I am making a table cloth from it. My sister has a beautiful table cloth and napkins that she bought in Italy, and this design, while brighter, reminds me so much of that one. What do you think, sis?

 This lovely AMH flannel has been sitting in my sewing room for almost 2 years waiting for me to make some PJ bottoms for my oldest daughter. I finally cut them out, using a tracing I did of some existing PJ pants.  I think I will sew up the seams and have her come for a fitting before I finish them off.

 This is the biggest project of the week. A quilt for my sister K. I had a quilting plan for it, but when I sat down and started on it, I felt like it wanted so much more quilting. Has that ever happened to you?

 So I am giving it what it wants and I am very thrilled with the results so far.  I have about 9 hours of quilting into this now. and I'm not sure how long to finish. I think I am more than half way there, though.

It's going to be a beauty, I think. The most quilting I have ever put into so small a quilt. I think it's around 60 x 60.  So that's what I am up to. How about you?
Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

What the World Needs Now is Love

Someone needs love, or comfort, a hug or all of these things. As quilters, we respond by making quilts. We sew love into every stitch. I know we have all done it. So when I saw a friend who I felt had a need. I jumped in.  There is a little girl who is almost 5 who needed a quilt. Details aren't important and it isn't my story to share.  But I have been collecting pink fabrics for a while now, in the hopes of making a girly girl quilt, if not for someone else, then for myself.  My husband laughed when I told him what I was doing. "You've just been dying to do that, haven't you?"  Well...yes.  And here it is...

 One hundred forty four 5 inch squares. Some from charm packs or charm swaps, some from my scrap bins and some cut from yardage in my stash. All had been waiting for this moment.

 And pink, because she is a girly girl, purple, because she is a girly girl. The crown, because she likes princesses. I don't really do princesses, but I liked this touch. Two layers of yellow Kona (don't know what shade) and batting, then stitched to the top after the letters were appliqued on.  5 yellow buttons completed it.

 The backing is purple. I could not get it to look purple no matter what. It is a Michael Miller cotton couture. It is the softest cotton fabric I have ever felt. I got it from the Fat Quarter Shop on a 40% off sale last week.  The color is crocus.

 And it fits this quilt perfectly. I quilted it in a dark pink Aurifil thread 1/4 inch from the seems on either side.  I love the look.

 It's soft, girly cuddly and pink and purple.  Everything I was told she liked.  I hope she loves it and soaks up all the Grammie love I put into it, just for her.

 And like every good fairy tale, may she live happily ever after.  The End.

Really Random Monday

I've got lots of different stuff to show you today.  This was my only sewing since early last week, so I tried to cram lots in.  Ready?  Here we go:

 First of all, here is my red mini ticker tape all finished and bound in a soft blue green.  I am so loving making these.  It's like a story of past quilts, revisited.  Fun to look at all those scraps again.

 Next, I received some very happy mail from Aunt Marti at 52 Weeks, 52 Quilts.  I won her giveaway last week and this is what I got.  Yes, those are some Kate Spain note cards, note pad, journal and emery boards.  How cool is that?

      The cute pink polka dot box holds these lovelies.  Sew cute!!

 And how about these?  Yes, pink snips with white polka dots on the handles.  Love them!!

 And some awesome polka dot fabrics.  I love both of them.  I really need to make something using all the different dots I have.

 And to top it off, this lovely thank you card, for being a follower of her blog.  Marti, it is my pleasure.  You should go check her out too.

 Next, I spread out all the blocks I have received so far from my Bee mates in the Sunday Morning Quilts Bee.  I wanted to look at them all together, and I am already thinking: sashing, or no sashing?

 Here is a bit of a peak at my Ombre Dots project.  I can't wait to finish this one up and show it to you.  I decided to pin baste it this morning and had no idea how to quilt it, but as I was pinning, it came to me.  Has that ever happened to you?

And I also decided to use a similar quilting pattern on this one.  I got it all quilted, just need to bind it.  I am thinking of trying bias binding for the first time.  I am trying to push myself to learn new tricks.
Since I had such success with these, maybe I will get some batting and go ahead and baste my Swoon quilt. Maybe a quilting pattern will come to me on that one too.  I have waited a long time.
Have a great week and I hope to see you soon.

Another Baby Quilt

I bought this fabric before Baby B was born, right when we first new he was a boy.

I love this.  It's Michael Miller and I thought it would be great as a back for a baby boy quilt.  But I could never come up with an idea that I liked.  Then, this week I felt a need to go with it.  I pulled a bunch of dots from a 10 inch square swap of dots and solids I had recently done and some from a layer cake and a few prints and I had this:

 I include just a few squares of the boy prints.  There are also some puppies from Sherbet Pips and some that are also Michael Miller that match the boy print.

 I am so happy with the way it turned out.  And it was very fast.  It took about 5-6 hours total from start to finish.  These pictures are before I put it through the washer and dryer to crinkle it nicely.

 The  binding is also Michael Miller...Dumb Dots blue with grey dots.  I do love all the dots going on here.

 Here is a shot of some of the puppies.  I only had a small bit of these fabrics.  I also didn't use any really small dots on this patchwork.

Quilt measures approx. 40 x 42.  Have a great weekend.

More Pillows!

Don't you just love pillows?  I love that they are smaller than a quilt, so quicker to make, and yet can be just as creative to design and sew.  I made a couple more this past week, just finishing one yesterday.  It was a rainy day, so perfect for sewing.  Warning: Lots of pictures coming folks.

I have had two rather large pieces of fabric for quite some time now.  One I know I've had for about 3 years.  I loved it so much and I bought 3 yards of it on sale.  I have never been able to figure out how to use it.

 This is the pillow.  It is raining again today, so no good lighting for pictures, sorry.  The dark brown strip is pleated.  The back has a zipper for easy inserting of the pillow form.

This fabric is Honey Meadow from Michael Miller.  I bought 3 yards of it, but could never decide what to do with it.  Last week, I decided to make a pillow, so I could at least enjoy looking at this beautiful fabric all the time.  I still have 2 1/2 yards left to put into another project.

The next pillow is made from this and it is my favorite.  I bought 2 yards of this Anna Maria Horner Lou Lou Thi print.  I love the bold floral design.  I have been trying to make myself cut into it.  I kept thinking I wanted to do something to show case the print and maybe embellish it a bit.  Then, the pillow bug bit me.

 Here is the completed pillow.  it too has a 16 inch zipper in the back.  I wanted to center the blue flowers, as they are my favorites.  Then I got out my embroidery floss and went to stitching.  Just take a look at the pictures:

I tried not to over do the embroidery, but to spread it out over the print.  I didn't want to put French knots in all the little pink and brown buds, for example.  I am in love with this pillow!

And lastly, a little happy mail.  I have been pretty good not buying fabric this summer, but I have been waiting for this one for a long time.  I judiciously chose these 6 prints.

Perfectly Perched by Laurie Wisbrun.  Hope you have a great Monday, even if it's raining where you are.