At the Sea Applique

 It has been a very long time since I have done any applique.

I used to do a fair amount of it and really enjoyed it,

but for some reason I got out of doing it.

A while ago I found two patterns that I really liked

and decided to combine them and put them on one quilt

to be used as a wall hanging.

I have been a needle turn applique person in the past,

but decided to try the starch method this time.

I have to say that I'm not a huge fan of this method.

Some of the pieces needed to be redone because I couldn't

get smooth turns on them.

I was also surprised at how much rust needed to be knocked

off of my stitching!

It took a while to get back into the groove.

Anyway,

the top is finished and ready for trimming.

 

 

This has not been trimmed or pressed yet,

but the applique stitching is finished.

 

 

There are a few spots that I'm not thrilled with,

but over all I'm pretty pleased with the results.

 

 

Most of the fabrics I used are batiks,

which I prefer for applique.

They don't fray!

 

 

Hopefully the quilting will add some more detail

and will go quickly.

 

In making this little wall hanging (it will be 24" square when finished)

I realized that I have missed applique.

Now I need to find another project to do.

 

 

**************************

 

A while ago I bought a Cricut machine and have had fun

playing with it. There is a pretty big learning curve

for me with this, but I have a dear friend who is

the Cricut whiz!

 

This past week I finished up some Christmas gifts!

Four of these cute trays were made and put away

for Christmas.

:) 

(This design can be found on Cricut Access.)

 

 

   

 

 

Today I'm linking to Design Wall Monday.

 

Happy Quilting!

Tulip Wallhanging Finish

 A couple of months ago I made some tulip blocks

for one of my Gridster Bee Mates

using the directions in this link

and really enjoyed making them.

They went together so quickly and easily,

so I decided to make a little wall hanging for myself. 

    

I pulled the fabrics for the tulips and leaves from my stash,

but ordered Robin Pickens "Tulip Tango" for the border.

Thankfully the tulip fabrics went well with the border fabric!

 

 

This is quilted and ready to hang for next spring.

I may see a larger quilt made with these blocks in my future. 

They are bright and cheerful for sure.

 

 

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

 

Happy Quilting!

 

PacMan is Finished!!

 This quilt top was finished some time ago and I debated on

what to do about getting it quilted.

The person I've used to quilt my things here didn't respond to my

emails, so I'm not sure if she's still quilting for others.

Then I had a wonderful thought.....

I'll see if Rebecca Grace of Rebecca Grace Quilting

can and will quilt it for me!

I LOVE what she has done for other clients of hers

and was thrilled when she said she would quilt my PacMan quilt.

Off it went to her studio and back it came a few weeks ago.

It took me a while to get the binding sewn on

and then I was out of town,

but I'm FINALLY blogging about this fun finish.

I just love this design and the fabrics are so much fun.

It reminds me so much of the old PacMan games from

my college days, so hence the name.

Rebecca Grace sent several suggestions for quilting designs,

and I loved this geometric design with the curves in the blocks.

 

 

The thread doesn't show up well in the photos,

but it's a variegated thread and looks great with the

various colors.

 

 

This quilt was claimed by my younger daughter

and went home with her this weekend.

Thank you, Rebecca Grace, for finishing my quilt in STYLE!!

 

 

Today I'm linking to Design Wall Monday.

Happy Quilting!

Ombre Ribbon Baby Quilt Top Finished

 Over the weekend I was able to finish this

Ombre Ribbon baby quilt top

and add it to the pile to be quilted.

 

As I mentioned in my previous post,

I have had these ombre fabrics for  a while

and could not find a pattern that I wanted to use with them.

The latest American Patchwork and Quilter magazine

had this quilt on the cover and I really liked it.

 

 

 

These blocks show off the ombre in a fun way

and went together quickly.

Once all of my blocks were done,

I decided they needed sashing and cornerstones

in between them.  Plus, the way the pattern says

to press the blocks doesn't allow for nesting of the seams.

Sashing made for less bulk.

 

 

I cut enough strips to make another nine blocks,

but I'm going to wait for a while to see if

that's what I want to do with them.

 

 

 Hopefully this will be quilted soon and ready

for the baby to arrive.

Today I'm linking to Design Wall Monday.

Happy Quilting!

Butterfly Finish and Two Starts

 The panel and fabrics that have been in my "to do" cabinet

are all sewn together, quilted and bound.

This wall hanging will be given to my niece who loves butterflies.

I'm pleased to have another UFO finished and ready to gift.

In quilting this wallhanging, I got out a couple

of my rulers I had purchased over the years

and have a little fun with this one.

 

I was able to quilt the swirls in the border with the rulers.

This is something I need to make myself do more often. 

There are many fewer UFO's on my shelf since I started

focusing on these in January.  Hopefully by December the shelf

will be empty!

So then I decided to make some more tulip blocks 

using the pattern one of my Gridster Bee mates asked us

to make for her and make a little wallhanging.

 

 

 

Maybe I shouldn't be sewing so early in the morning??

 

This is better!

The pattern for these tulips is from Center Street Quilts

and was so fun to make. 

After I finished the butterfly wallhanging,

I pulled another pile of fabrics from my "To Do" cabinet.

I had purchased some of these fun ombre prints

a while ago and couldn't decide what to make with them.

Last month I saw the American Patchwork and Quilting

magazine and really liked the quilt on the front.

Usually I don't totally copy quilts I see,

but I really liked this one with the ombre fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These blocks went together pretty quickly and look so cool

with the ombre fabrics.

I'm making yet another baby quilt, so nine blocks will be enough.

 

 

 

 

I cut enough strips to make another nine blocks,

so may make another baby quilt to have on hand

or to donate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully these blocks will be sewn together into a top soon

and become a finished quilt. 

Happy Quilting!

Dragonfly Baby Quilt Finish

 This top has been waiting patiently for me to quilt it.

I don't have a long arm and quilt smaller quilts on my

domestic machine.

It isn't something that I love to do and really need to be

in the mood before I begin quilting.

 

Yesterday was the day for this quilt.

Unfortunately, I was awake before 5am today

(thank you carpal tunnel syndrome!), 

so got up and finished this little quilt.

 

 

 

This is one I designed with leftover parts from another quilt.

The colors are all washed out in this photo,

but more true in the next photo.

I had fun quilting little dragonflies in the middle

and feathers along the edge.

One never knows how the feathers will look

from one day to the next,

but yesterday was a good day!

A backing was pieced from some leftover squares...

something I really dislike doing,

but does give it more interest.

 

 

This baby quilt is going to a dear friend of my daughters

who is due soon.

 

 

Happy Quilting!

Butterfly Panel

 It's been a while since I've pulled something out of my

"cabinet of kits" to work on, so this week something else

came off of the shelf.

I can't tell you when I bought this butterfly panel,

but it's been a while ago.

One of my nieces loves butterflies and I bought this

to make a quilted wall hanging for her.

Thankfully, this panel was pretty square

and I didn't have to mess with it too much.

 

 

 

Borders were added to the panel, after some finagling and using math! 

 

 

The butterflies and dragonfly are so pretty in these colors. 

 

 

 

 

The inner border is part of the panel.

I added the dark blue and pieced borders and had planned on 

adding a last border, but it doesn't need another one.

 

The backing is made and will be quilted soon, I hope!

*******************

Guess what I got back from Rebecca Grace this week??!!

I sent my PacMan quilt to her to quilt and it arrived

back home on Monday.

The binding is being stitched down now and will be done soon.

I can't wait to see it finished!

 

 

 

I just love the pattern and thread she used.

 

More soon!

 

Happy Quilting!

 

Brick Wall Finish

 I was procrastinating the other day and decided to

start quilting the Brick Wall quilt top

I had finished a bit ago.

 

It's not a big quilt, so I knew it wouldn't take me long

to quilt some swirls on it.

 After a few sessions of quilting and I have a quilted top.

 

 

I couldn't find a thread color that worked in both areas,

so I used a silver in the light area and a darker gray in the dark area.

 

 

Nothing fancy was quilted here...

just a lot of swirls and loops.

 

 

My least favorite part of quilting is piecing a backing,

but this fun text fabric was just not wide enough.

I have a pile of the bricks left and decided to add a strip

down the back.

The binding is another Kaffe print.

This quilt will be donated soon.

 

 

The words on here are so nice

and will, hopefully, make someone smile.

 

 

Happy Quilting!

Finished Oriana Quilt Top

 Well, I never thought I would be posting about a finished

Oriana Quilt top this week.

The way I was struggling with this quilt at the beginning of the

week made me wonder if it would ever be done.

The fabric placement was quite a challenge,

but it finally came together and the

sewing part went very quickly.

 

 

This is the finished top!

(With the sides a bit cut off by the photographer!)

Oriana is a quilt pattern by Alison Glass

and measures 60x60" finished.

 

 

This quilt is made with strip sets and curved piecing.

Getting the curves to match and make a near perfect circle 

was also a challenge.

My seam ripper and I spent some quality time together!

 

 

I just love the Tula Pink Fairy Dust fabric as the background.

This one is ready to send off to my LAQ

and the fabric below will be the backing.

I had it in my stash, after purchasing it for another quilt.

It didn't go with that quilt when I put them together,

but it will look nice with Oriana.

Now I'll be sewing the binding down on my brick wall quilt.

Happy Quilting!

Oriana Quilt

 Last week an email came from a local quilt shop

listing a class for a quilt I have wanted to make for some time.

I was available both Saturdays for the class,

so I signed up to take it.

Off to the quilt shop I went to choose the fabrics for this quilt.

This past Saturday was the first class and, while

I usually don't need a class to make a quilt,

the instructions for this quilt were vague

and confusing to me.

Little did I know that would be the least of my problems!!

The class is for the Oriana Quilt by Allison Glass.

I just love this quilt and have seen it made with several different

fabric selections.

I didn't know what color palette I wanted to use

and told myself it would NOT be turquoise!

The rainbow quilt really spoke to me,

so I started picking out fabrics.

That was the easy part!

The first step of the quilt is to make strip sets with

six fabrics each.

Wow!

This was very challenging!

Where do I want the various colors?

What colors should I place together?

Do I want each strip set to be a different blend of colors

or all the same color?

Finally, this is what I ended up with for my strip sets.

This is my starting point, at least.

I normally don't have an issue with choosing fabrics

and placement, but this is hard for me!

We shall see where it ends up.

 

 

This will be my background fabric... all the background pieces will be the same.

Wish me luck!!

Happy Quilting!

Hank's Bucilla Stocking

 Do you ever have let one little thing keep you from finishing a project?

The one thing I dislike about making these Bucilla kits

is making the cording that is used in some of them.

I can never get it to look right,

so therefore put off doing it.

 

I've had the felt part of this stocking done for about a month,

all except the cording used as the reins for the reindeer.

 Yesterday I finally decided it needed to get done.

 

Before I made the cording,

I made the quilted stocking to which the

felted front would be stitched.

 

For those who may be new, here is how I make the quilted stocking.

 

 

First I make a quilt sandwich large enough for two stocking pieces.

Then I use the felt backing that comes in the kit as a pattern.

I cut about 3/8-1/2" around the felt piece.

 

 

When using the same fabric for the inside and outside

of the stocking, it doesn't matter how I lay the felt piece

on the quilt sandwich.

Once both sides are cut out, I stitch around the outside

of the stocking, leaving the top open.

 

 

Binding strips are cut on the bias and pressed in half.

(I cut my binding strips at 2 1/2", but they could be cut at 2 1/4".)

I then sew the binding strips around the body of the stocking and

turn the binding to the back and stitch it finished before binding the top.

 

 

The top is bound and finished like you would finish

the binding on a quilt.

I push the sides of the stocking toward the back

and smooth it as much as possible.

With a piece of left over binding,

I press it in quarters length-wise,

fold in the ends and top stitch around the 

entire piece for a hanger.

I stitch this to the stocking just to the back of the

side binding.

You can make this to the length of your choosing.

Once the stocking is done,

I stitch the felted piece to the front

using small applique like stitches.

 Voila!  The stocking is finished and

ready to fill to the brim!!

This stocking is for my god-grandson and will 

be delivered on Tuesday... in plenty of time for

Christmas!

Happy Quilting!