Brick Wall Quilt Top

 Happy Easter!

We were able to spend Easter day with our

whole family yesterday!

We drove up to our daughter and SIL's house

and got to hold and snuggle the grands

while enjoying the day.

 

It was the first time my husband and Doodlebug

met the Little Man and they were thrilled.

 

 

 

 

Here are the proud parents, sister and fur brother with the

Little Man. 

And Aunt Doodlebug was especially excited to be holding

her nephew.

 

They are all doing well and getting used to being a family of 4

plus the furry one.

 

 

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After making the Lucky Stars quilt,

I had a lot of rectangle pieces left over.

I was on Pintrest one night and saw this quilt

from Must Love Quilts

and knew it would work well with the leftover pieces.

 

I had to get some more neutral Kaffe prints

and went to work once they arrived.

I used the back of most of the Kaffe prints

to soften them even more.

This went together very quickly and used up 

a fair number of the bricks.

 

 

I'm not sure if this one will be donated or

given as a baby quilt.

There may be enough parts to make another one,

but we shall see where I am led.

I am linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

New Grandson!

 I have a new grandson!

 

Miles Patrick was born 3 weeks early

on April 10th and we are thrilled to pieces.

I had been back and forth to my daughter and SIL's

to help with 15 month old Olivia for the last couple of weeks,

since my daughter was having a few complications.

All is well with her and their beautiful son.

God is good!

 

The nursery theme for Miles is Outer Space.

A few weeks ago in an email from Shabby Fabrics,

they had a kit with a space themed quilt.

I'm not one to use panels, but this kit was really cute.

 I ordered it and have been working on it when I 

was home here and there.

 

Yesterday I finished it and will be able to deliver it on Easter!

 

 

The fabrics are all space related and a lot of fun.

The panel was cut into squares and about

half were used in this quilt.

I'll have to plan something with the other squares.

 

 

A border print was included and cut into strips

for part of the design.

The other fabrics are yardage.

This awesome backing fabric was sold seperately

and was perfect for the finish.

 

It has been washed and dried and is ready for delivery.

 

Welcome to the World, Miles!!

 

Happy Quilting!

Lucky Stars and Smocked Dress

 I have been MIA for a couple of weeks for good reason.

A friend and I spent a week in Florida

celebrating a big birthday for her

and, more importantly,

the end of treatment for her breast cancer.

 We were on Anna Maria Island, which was so beautiful.

It was a wonderfully relaxing week and it was WARM!!

 

While I was in Florida, I smocked a little dress for my granddaughter.

It has been years since I've smocked and, thankfully,

it came back to me quickly.

 

 

My little Love Bug is a redhead,

so these colors will look so nice with her red hair.

 

 

 

The smocking pattern is one I made up as I went along.

I had planned on using a smocking plate pattern,

but kind of went off on my own very quickly.

This will be delivered tomorrow when we get to see her.

I did manage to get the Lucky Star quilt top finished!!

It hasn't been pressed since it was finished,

but all of the blocks are sewn together.

The batiks and Kaffe play so well together.

There are quite a few Kaffe pieces left over,

so I'm going to have to come up with something else to make with these.

I had ordered backing, but am not thrilled with it.

A solid fabric may be used instead.

Happy Quilting!

Fun With Bits and Pieces

 As I have been making the blocks for my

"Lucky Stars" quilt,

I have been saving the triangles cut from the stars.

There was no way I was going to make tiny HST's

with these bits and pieces,

but I couldn't throw them away.

Then the other day I was thinking about a

"Sew Together" bag I want to make for a gift

and got an idea.

What if I stitched all of these little triangles to a background

and used them for the outside of the bag?

Out came a glue stick, some batting and a piece of ugly fabric.

Here is what I have....

First I randomly glued these background triangles to the ugly fabric.

Then I randomly glued the batik triangles on top of the

background pieces.

I just used a little swipe of a glue stick...

just enough to hold the triangle in place.

 

 

 

After I made a quilt sandwich with another piece of ugly fabric and batting

I pulled out a bunch of different color threads

and started stitching straight lines.

I only marked the first line and then

the rest were organic.

Doesn't this look like tissue paper modge podged to something?

I love how the triangles became a little mis-shapened while sewing them down.

I had more than enough triangles to make two outside pieces

for the bag with some pieces left over!

The fun part is done!

Soon I will begin working on these bags

and am excited to see how they look when finished.

Mindless sewing is the best some days!

Happy Quilting!

Kaffe, Batiks and Polka Dots

 This fun and happy quilt is coming along nicely and quickly!

I have five more blocks to make for the twin bed size,

but may add another row on the end.

 

 

 

I love the morning light shining through the windows onto

my design wall.

These are not in any kind of final placement.

I've been putting the blocks up as I finish them

and will rearrange them once I'm finished.

 

**Edit**

Someone emailed who is a No Reply Comment and asked about the

background fabric.

It's Rainbow Sprinkles by Andover.

Doesn't it just make you smile??

 

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday.

Happy Quilting!

A New Quilt

 This past week I started a new quilt!

This one is not from my UFO or kit cabinet,

but is being made of fabrics pulled from my stash.

 

Last year at Quilt Camp we all decided to make the same

pattern with our choice of fabrics

and these quilts will be used on our beds while at quilt camp.

 

The pattern we are using is

"Lucky Stars" by Atkinson Designs.

 

I have wanted to make this quilt for some time

using Kaffe, Batiks and Polka Dots....

my three favorite things in fabric!

 

This is going together quickly and I love the blocks.

 

 

 

 

Most of the batik and polka dot star centers are pieced.

I'm waiting on more of the polka dot fabric.

 

 

I've gone through my Kaffe scraps and pulled

pieces that are large enough to cut into the strips needed.

  

 

I had to make one block to give me inspiration!

This is going to be one happy quilt!

 

 

 

 

Jelly Roll Rug

 I have wanted to make a Jelly Roll Rug for a very long time.

The batting round had been purchased long ago on sale

and the Kaffe Jelly Roll was waiting in my cabinet.

They came out next to play!

I figured this would take me a couple of weeks to make,

but it went together very quickly.

 

 

 

 

Stitching the strips together end to end

and then sewing the whole thing together with

the batting inside went quickly.

It was fun seeing this big ball ready to 

be made into a rug.

 

 

 

 

The other night I put an audio book on and just sewed away.

There are a couple of things I would do differently if I made

another rug, but I'm pleased with the results.

For now it's on the floor in my hidey hole, in front

of the cutting table.

 

 

I just love Kaffe fabrics!!

 

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday.

Happy Quilting!

Ryan's Quilt is Finished

 This past weekend we took a quick trip to Pennsylvania

to visit my brother and his family.

I had not intended on having his quilt finished before we went,

but it was finished.

 

It was delivered and he loved it.

 

 

 

 

The pattern is Windigo, but is no longer

available as a single pattern.

 

 

I quilted the long rows in the ditch and then

quilted around the border with straight lines.

I normally stitch the binding down by hand,

but I needed one more row of stitching on the front

and it stitched the binding down perfectly.

He was thrilled with it and loved the design

and colors.

It looks great in their home, too.

Guess what came out of the "to be made" cabinet next!

 The supplies have been patiently waiting for their turn.

Happy Quilting!

Dragonfly Baby Quilt

 With the arrival of 2022, my quilting mojo really returned.

It feels so good to be clearing out piles of quilt parts and kits.

The latest finished top was a pile of parts I had made

for another baby quilt last year.

For some reason I went to town cutting and sewing the various

pieces and parts and had a lot left over.

Maybe I was going to make the original quilt larger?

Who knows?!?!?

What I do know is another pile is gone and another top

is finished!!

Here is the original quilt.

It's a Robin Pickens Pattern

called Emilia.

 

I loved making this quilt for my grand niece

and then made it again as a Christmas tree skirt for

my niece and her husband.

 

My first thought was to make another quilt just like this one,

but as I was sewing parts together,

other thoughts came into my head.

 

 I sewed the large triangles together with the small ones

and started playing with these blocks.

I like this layout with the pinwheels, but kept moving the blocks around.

 

This layout was fun, too, but I kept playing.

Then I landed on this one.

This is it! 

Now what to do for borders?

At first I was going to use the lime green and 

turquoise I had used in the original quilt,

but they seemed too harsh for this one.

I had a number of HST's leftover and

started to play with those in the border.

 

 

 

Here is the finished top!

It was fun to just play and move parts around

on my design wall.

 

There are several babies coming this year,

so this will get quilted and set aside for one of them.

 

Happy Quilting!

 

 

Teddy's Quilt

 Last year a dear friend of my daughter's was expecting their first child.

My daughter asked if I would make a baby quilt for them

and you know I said "Of course!". 

She told me the nursery theme would be the National Parks

and they were having a boy who would be named Theodore and called

"Teddy". 

Elizabeth Hartman's teddy bear pattern came immediately to mind.

I searched for something to tie in the National Parks theme

and found this panel of one of their favorite parks, since they 

lived in Virginia.

The quilt was well underway when this friend went into labor.

Sadly, Teddy was stillborn.

I put the quilt aside, not being able to finish it at that point.

Recently my daughter had a conversation with her friend

about Teddy and told her I had started a quilt for him.

My daughter asked if she would like it and her friend said

she would at some point.

It would be a nice way to honor and remember Teddy.

The quilt top was finished, but the backing needed to be pieced.

I pulled fabric to enlarge the panel for the backing

and got it ready to quilt last week.

I love the simple grid quilting with this quilt.

The teddy bears didn't need much... they already shine.

My little red headed love bug was helping with the photos

while we were at my daughter's house.

 

 

"Teddy" is ready to gift to Teddy's mama

whenever she is ready.

The happy news is they are expecting again,

so another baby quilt will be made soon.

 

Today I'm linking to Design Wall Monday.

 

Happy Quilting!

Ryan's Quilt

You know that feeling you get when you've finished

the top of a quilt that has been rather difficult

and time consuming to make and breath a sigh of relief?

(This quilt was started in the beginning of last year and then was not touched.)

I had that feeling yesterday.....

until I looked at the photograph I sent to my daughter to show her.

 

 

Does anyone see any issues here?

I'm amazed at how when looking at something on my 

design wall it can look perfect.

Then the photograph shows an error plain as day.

(Lower left corner... yellow and green triangles are switched.)

Then, as I was looking more closely at the photo,

I saw two areas where the wrong color triangles were used.

UGH!!

The areas are circled below.
If you hadn't seen the pattern, you might not have noticed,

but I am VERY familiar with the pattern.

 

 

 

 

The mistakes were fixed and the top is waiting for a good

pressing and the 3" blue borders. 

 

 

 

 

 

I learned something while making this quilt.

I had started pressing the seams open on all of the

triangles and rows and then decided to press them to one side to see if it mattered.

I am MUCH more accurate at matching points when the seams

are pressed to the side.

My obsessive self wanted to redo the first 6 rows because

they are not as accurate,

but instead I ripped the most offensive corners and redid them. 

Hopefully this will be quilted by next weekend when I will be seeing

the brother to whom this will be given.

Happy Quilting!

New Couch Pillows

 When we moved into this house,

we needed to buy some new furniture.

Our old furniture was old and too big for the spaces here.

I had no idea that furniture was backordered

and how long it would take to get it to us.

 

Anyway, when we ordered the couch

I asked if the pillows could be made with different fabric.

Well, of course they could be....

for $200 EACH!!!

I then asked if I could purchase the fabric I had

found in the store to make my own pillows.

Well, of course I could....

for $130 per yard!!!

 

I said a big No Thank You.

 

Thankfully, I can sew.

And I am pretty quick at making pillows.

 

In two afternoons I had four new pillows made for my new couch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were the pillows that came with the couch.

I did not want pillows made from the exact same

fabric as the couch, which is actually a dark navy blue, not gray.

 

 

After a fun couple of hours of sewing,

I had two new pillow covers.

These motifs were just wanting to be quilted,

so I had fun playing with some of the designs.

 

 

This is my new couch with the four pillows I made

for a LOT less than $200 each!

I do have to say... the pillow inserts that came with the couch pillows

are really, really nice.

 

Onto the next project!

 

Happy Quilting!

Progress on PacMan Quilt

 Someone asked me yesterday if I ever sleep.

Well, I was awake a little after 3am today

and decided to get up at 4am to make use of this awake time.

 

In the predawn hours I was able to get the last two sections

of this quilt sewn together.

The blocks had been sewn and trimmed, 

so the rows needed to be made.

 

I've been calling this the PacMan quilt because

the design reminds my husband and me of the old

PacMan game.

I doubt I keep the name, but it is funny.

 

Now the rows need to be sewn together

and the top will be finished.

This is one more kit from my cabinet that will be done!

 

 

After cutting the shapes with my Accuquilt,

I had all of these shaped pieces left. 

(Sorry for the blurry photo... my phone needed

a rest.)

One of my goals this year is to cut down scraps

as soon as I'm finished with a quilt top or project.

Hopefully my scraps won't overwhelm me if I can 

keep doing this.

I now have two piles of 3 1/2" squares to use in another quilt.

I am linking to Design Wall Monday today

Happy Quilting!