Another Pile Gone

Over the past few weeks I have been making quilt blocks,

but not finishing the tops.

Last week one pile was sewn into a top,

which now awaits quilting.

Over the weekend another pile was sewn into a top

and was added to the "needs to be quilted" list.

Another pile is off of my cutting table!

This will be a baby quilt for my niece's 5th child, a girl, due in August.

 

My niece likes different things, which is good!

I usually like making quilts that aren't the

traditional baby quilt.

I want the quilts to be able to grow with the child.

 

This was made with two jelly rolls and was fun to put together.

With all of the yellows and oranges, I'm calling this

"You are My Sunshine!".

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

 

One Pile Gone

In my last post I mentioned how things were getting

out of control in my Hidey Hole.

I had done so well with finishing projects

before starting new ones.

And then the wheels fell off.

Well,

one pile of blocks is off of my cutting table and sewn into a top.

This was a Craftsy kit I purchased last year

after seeing a friends quilt.

 

When I pulled it out this year,

I wondered why I had liked it as much as I did last year.

 

It went together very quickly

and will be given as a graduation gift to a

dear friends' daughter.

 

The quilting shouldn't take long...

I just need to get it started!

 

One pile gone.

Several more to go!

Happy quilting!

You Are My Sunshine

In the beginning of the year,

there was a bit of a lull in the need for

Baby quilts.

I made a couple to donate to my church

and a couple to donate to another charity.

Now,

I need three baby quilts for wee ones being born

this summer.

My niece is having a girl...

her 5th child! 

I've had this roll of Kaffe fabrics for a long time

and bought a roll of white with yellow pin dots last year.

It was time to create something with these.

I sewed two sets of three strips together

and then sewed those sets together,

making a tube.

I used my triangle ruler to cut squares from the tube strips

and ended up with these squares.

I'm still playing with the placement

and will begin sewing these together soon.

In the meantime,

I wanted to play with 

Maisie!

 (She has been cleaned and oiled and sews so smoothly!)

There were scraps left over from these strip sets,

so I cut HST's from those.

Yesterday I made this on Maisie!

It's 16 1/2" square, so I think it will end up being a pillow.

 

These are all of the fabrics used in the baby quilt.

 It will be a sunshine filled quilt (and pillow), for sure!

 

I need to be careful now.

So far this year I have been able to reign in my desire to

keep starting new things without finishing what I've started.

It's beginning to get out of control again.

My cutting table is beginning to groan from the weight of the

blocks and fabrics on it.

This week I am going to sew some of these things

into tops and get a couple of piles off of my table.

Wish me luck!

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

I hope everyone that celebrates Easter had a joyous day yesterday.

Happy Easter!

Happy Quilting!

Meet Maisie!

I have wanted a Featherweight sewing machine for a long time.

Every now and then I'll look on ebay or Craigslist,

but have never seen one that I was interested in enough to

inquire about it.

A dear friend of mine knows that I've wanted one for a while

and has kept her eye out as well.

Well,

to make a long story short,

this dear friend happened to be talking about this to a woman

who is an acquaintance and this woman said

she had a featherweight and would love to give it to me!

How kind is she??!!

We didn't have any information on it...

what kind of shape it was in,

did it work properly, etc.

She told my friend that it had worked the last time she used it.

Here is Maisie!

She's been loved and used and is in need of a good cleaning,

but in pretty good shape!

She was born on November 7, 1949 in Scotland! 

Since she's Scottish, she needed a Scottish name.

:)

  

She came with a tray full of parts and pieces and a case

that has seen better days.

I'm going to try to refurbish the case

and, at least, get it smelling less musty.

I don't know what this piece is called,

but it's beautiful.

She was dropped off at the machine repair shop this morning

and I've already gotten a call about her.

She just needs a good cleaning and a tune up!

We will be good to go soon.

I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with Maisie

and creating some wonderful quilts.

Thank you, Lynn!

Happy Quilting!

Graduation Quilt

A dear friend has a daughter who will be graduating from

high school this year.

Two years ago her sister graduated and I made a quilt for the occasion.

Time to make a quilt for this graduate.

Last year I bought this kit on Craftsy for a deal

and it's been sitting in my cabinet,

waiting for its turn to come out and play.

After making the Escher quilt,

I needed something mindless and easy.

No seam rippers were involved in the creating of these blocks!

There are two small blocks that make up the big blocks for this design.

 If I were to make this quilt again,

I would add more fabrics to the mix.

Actually, what I would do is have a solid fabric in place of the

light fabrics in these blocks.

It's been a challenge to arrange the blocks so that

like fabrics aren't together.

Finally, I said it's done.

There are patches of the same flowers

together in nature,

so I can have like fabrics together in my quilts.

 Hopefully this will be a completed top by the end of the week

and then will go in the

"to be quilted" pile.

(I did just move the block closest to us

so those green pieces aren't lined up together.)

**Edit**

 

This is the 12 1/2" unfinished block that makes up this quilt.

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

Finished Escher Top

Yesterday, while I should have been outside power washing my deck,

I finished the Escher quilt top.

Some things just can't wait.

However, after several hours of power washing this morning,

I have a nice clean deck on which to display the finished top!

 

This quilt was a challenge,

but so much fun to make.

 

It looks so different depending on which way it's displayed.

 

I think it looks cool no matter what, though.

I'm fighting with myself to not start another one.

Maybe later. There are other things that need to be made.

 

 

The quilt in this photo is upside down to me,

but still has the "Escher" feel.

Flipping the photo shows the top the way I like it.

Now to get it quilted!

 I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

"Escher"

I have always been a fan of M.C. Escher's work.

It's fascinating to me to try and figure out

his optical illusions

and to see how he starts with one object

and ends up with something completely different.

His Geometries are even more intriguing to me.

When I saw this pattern

AND

saw it made from Kaffe fabrics,

it was a win/win for me. 

Cutting all of the pieces took some time.

The fabrics had to be organized into

light/medium/dark sets and then cut into strips.

The strips were subcut into parallelogram shaped pieces.

And the sewing began.

And the ripping came shortly there after.

After much sewing and not as much ripping (thank goodness!),

the blocks are finished!

Two different blocks were needed to complete the design...

a left facing triangle and a right facing triangle.

 Once all of the triangles are made,

the pattern gives very good directions on placing them

in the right order so you end up with this!

I could never design something like this,

but I can follow directions!

Blocks will be cut in half to fill in the top and bottom areas.

These blocks aren't sewn into rows yet.

It's going to be a slow process, too,

to make sure they stay in the right order.

This is one of the coolest patterns I've used.

The link to the pattern has one made in black, white and red, too.

I might have to make another one at some point,

but need to finish this one first.

Happy Quilting!