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!

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.

 

 

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

 

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!