My Ragged Squares Quilt

Ever since I saw the ragged squares quilt on Crazy Mom Quilts, I wanted to make one.  I saved the link and looked at it occasionally, waiting for the day when I would be inspired by the right fabric to make one.  When I made Noodlehead's divided basket last fall, I had some little 3 inch squares of Laurie Wisbrun's Perfectly Perched left over.  Not throwing these away, I thought. I kept looking at them and then it hit me...the ragged squares quilt!

And finally, here it is all done. I used the Perfectly Perched for the center and dug through my stash for the rest.  I think I bought one or two additional fabrics to finish it up.  And then it hung on a hanger in my sewing room for a few months.  My summer goal to finish some of the things that are languishing in there made me buy batting when I bought the batting for Baby B's birthday quilt.

 I love the colors in this quilt. It is so bright and cheerful. Kinda girly, but I'm okay with that.

 You can see how after even one trip through the wash, The edges are getting ragged and soft.

 For the back I found 2 yards of the most beautiful pale yellow with pale green and raspberry stripe running through it to make a sort of plaid pattern.  I bought that fabric at least 10 years ago, waiting for the perfect use for it. It is from Maywood studios.

 You can see the color a bit better here.  The stripe for the binding was a quarter yard I got in one of the traveling stash boxes.  I think it's perfect.  For the quilting, I stitched in the ditch horizontally and vertically on the largest squares, and to further anchor things and add some interest, I stitched a flower  in each of the small squares. The hidden bonus is how cute it looks on the back of the quilt.

 I took one selvedge and stuck it into a seam just for kicks.  The P raveled off in the wash.  Ooops.

Pretty pleased with Perfectly Perched Ragged Squares.  Oh, and this is my 195th post.  I'm going do a giveaway when I hit 200 posts. I want to think of something really great to give away though.  Keep watching.  Have a great week.

June...Birthdays and Blueberries

There are two grandchildren with birthdays this month. First up is baby B.  He is 1 year old today! Happy birthday sweet boy. I wanted to make him a quilt for his birthday. No surprise there.

 I got this great Zoofari fabric at half off from Fat Quarter Shop on a Friday sale.  Loved the monkeys.  I haven't made pinwheels in years, so I of course jumped right in to HST making.

 My hubby helped me figure out the best arrangement for the blocks once they were made.  I quilted it in a swirl pattern in each block to give it some motion.

 I made a bias binding so I could make rounded corners. This is only the second quilt I have ever made with rounded corners. After I washed and dried it, I noticed the binding had not covered the back of the quilt edges well enough in a few spots and it raveled.  So I patched it up with those little strips you see here.

 I used an extra block and all the rest of the yardage to piece the back.  I love the look.

 And I fancied up my little label with a scrap of the striped material. 

 One more shot of the rounded corners.  Oh, and the blueberries in the post title?  Bought 2 cases at an amazing sale and we had blueberries in B's yellow birthday cake and now this little rustic tart.

More blueberry baking to come.  Mmmmmmmmmm.
Have a great week.

My Best Blank-o-let

When my oldest grandson was a toddler, he had two almost identical baby blankets in blue, with the silky blanket binding.  They were so close to identical, but one was just a bit thinner. We made sure there were two, to avoid unpleasantness on wash day or if one got left behind somewhere. But V knew the difference between the two from a very early age.

 And when he could speak relatively well, he pronounced that the slightly thicker of the two was his "best blank-o-let".  Whenever he was going anywhere, it was "Where is my best blank-o-let?'

 He is almost 7 now and he still calls it his "best blank-o-let".  When I finally finished this light weight summer throw that I started last year, and I cuddled up under it the first night, I though "my best blank-o-let"!

 It's about 52x58 inches. It is made from Maturi Lawn that I bought from Connecting Threads last year.  Crazy Mom did a quilt with it, although she used it mixed with quilting cottons I believe.  I did what I often do, no real plan, just start cutting. I wanted to keep the pieces big so they would go together easily.

 It is a slippery fabric to work with, but oh, so soft! I didn't use batting, I went to my LQS and bought a couple of yards of quilter's flannel in white.  I pin basted it, then I turned the edges to the inside by 1/4 inch and hand basted them in place.

 I did some stitch in the ditch in big blocks and then did a zigzag around the edges to finish it off.  The back is kind of wrinkly. I have been sleeping with it since I finished it.  I haven't washed it yet either.

 It is the perfect weight for summer, when the ceiling fan makes me a little chilly in the middle of the night, but a quilt is too much.  You know what I mean, right?

 And it is so soft. I can't get over how great it feels.  I don't know if I will ever make another one, but I do have some Little Folks Voile in my stash...hmmmm.  I might have to think about that.

 But for now, I am just going to enjoy my best blank-o-let.
Talk to you soon.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

It is that fun time again, for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, hosted by Amy Ellis from Amy's Creative Side.  This is such a great opportunity to share tons of great quilts made by quilters around the world. I love seeing all the creativity.  So without further ado, here is my submission:

It all started with the book, Sunday Morning Quilts. That book really struck me in a way no other quilting book has in a long time. I read it and reread it many times thinking how wonderful to make some of these quilts. Then, I thought even better, get some help from others by starting a Bee. I asked Cheryl and Amanda Jean for permission to name the Bee, Sunday Morning Quilts Bee. They were very gracious and said yes. This quilt is from the blocks made during round one of our bee. (SMQ bee is now in round 2)

For round one we made slabs in a particular colorway and swapped with each other until we all had all the colors of the rainbow, plus pink.  All made from scraps.  I took my 14 blocks and made 2 more in aqua for an even 16.  I worked to find a pleasing arrangement and bordered it with Kona white.

The back is a two fabrics from a Benartex line called Floralicious that I bought quite some time ago. I was originally going to make curtains from it, but when I need a back for this colorful quilt, I knew this was it.

I quilted it all over with flowers in the style of the backing print. It was such fun! The borders have pebbles in 3 corners with wavy lines representing water, running in between. The 4th corner has clouds and rain drops falling from them. Just a bit more fun for me.

I chose to enter in the Bee category, since all my blocks were made by my Bee mates.  I hope you enjoy it.  The statistics: Made mostly by me, quilted by me, approximately 58x58.

Bees Helping Bees...A Public Service Announcement

I know many of us in this wonderful on line community participate in virtual bees. Many wonderful creations come from those bees. Sometimes, though, we don't get all the blocks we are supposed to for one reason or another. Life happens and people drop out of the bee. So what do you do with the blocks you have? Are they destined to be orphans forever? Not any more!

Hailey (hope I spelled that correctly) of Mrs. Pickles Garden has started a flickr group called Bees Helping Bees. You can join this group and post if you have a need for some blocks to finish up a quilt. So far there are 31 members and we have helped 2 quilters to get enough blocks to finish their quilts.



There are no recriminations here ladies. Only help in getting those blocks done and into your quilts. 



If you need help, stop by and join. Right now there are no blocks needed so we are ready and waiting.

Happy Sunday to you.             

Today, It's for the Birds

I have been so enjoying this blog hop. I really wanted to be a part of it, as I just love birds. We have lots of bird feeders in our yard and I can just sit and watch for hours.  A great big THANK YOU to Madame Samm for coming up with this great idea and another to Mary for being such a great cheerleader and helping us to stay organized.

When I first though of my idea for a project, it just popped into my head, pretty much the way it turned out.

 I knew I wanted to do raw edge applique birds and I wanted them to be 4 different ones, sitting on a branch. I drew templates for the birds and just free cut the branches. They sat that way on my table for days while I tried to decide what else to do with them.

 I love the cardinal and the bluebird. I had never seen a bluebird until I move to NC. The color of them is indescribable. We have lots of cardinals in our yard as well.

 The little grey is my attempt at a robin and the yellow one reminds me of the finches that come to one of our feeders. So bright and beautiful. After I got the details on the birds, I decided to add a few leaves to the branches. Then I quilted all over swirls.

 The back is a last chunk of a leaf print I bought about 8 years ago. Perfect! I wasn't sure this was such a great effort, but the more I look at it, the more I like it. I am going to California in a few weeks to visit my sisters and I think this is a perfect gift for my youngest sister. She paints beautiful birdhouses. So to my other sis who reads this blog: Sshhhhhh, it's a surprise.

Thank you for stopping by today. Now fly off to visit all the other wonderful ladies and see their projects. I know you will love them all.

Friday, May 10

http://ssparrowinflight.blogspot.com

http://Hillvalleyquilter.blogspot.se

http://mcsqrd.blogspot.com

http://loveitsewit.blogspot.com

http://piecepeacenc.blogspot.com

http://grammieq.blogspot.com

http://meadowbrook-Kristen.blogspot.com

http://scrapbook-ChickADoodle.blogspot.com

www.craftyshenanigans.blogspot.co.uk

http://Stitchingbythebeach.blogspot.com

www.thebusybeequiltshop.blogspot.com

http://morestarsincomanche.blogspot.com

http://lesquilts.blogspot.ca

http://suebeesworld.blogspot.com

http://mtnmommy2.blogspot.com

www.thatlookslikeitneedsstitches.blogspot.com

http://www.freshcutquilts.com

Have a great day!

Rain, Rain, Rain

We have had so many grey, rainy days here. My daughter in Portland has seen more sun the last couple of weeks!  This will be a quick post, as I will be back here with the blog hop "It's for the Birds" on Friday.  Today, a finished quilt top and some happy mail.

 This is the quilt top for a new quilt for Baby B. I caught a special sale at Fat Quarter Shop, and got enough for the top and back for $25. It measures 51x51.

And happy mail from Carol at Just Let Me Quilt from a recent blog hop giveaway.
Well, it's raining again. Gotta go.  See you Friday!