Sarah Learns to Quilt

At the beginning of December, my little sister, Sarah started to drop hints that she wanted to learn how to quilt.  After a family get together, I took Sarah to the local quilt shop (Cutting Edge Quilts) and she picked out her own set of charm squares and complimenting border fabric.  All of the ladies in the shop were great with her and told her that she needed to return with the finished quilt.  She picked an adorable charm pack from Bonnie and Camille's Marmalade collection.  Once she had fabric in her hands she was anxious to get started.  With the holidays and travel to a wedding, Sarah's excitement had to be put on hold.

On New Years Day, I came over to the house and helped Sarah with her first quilt.  We initially started on our mom's Featherweight machine, but the machine was feeling tempermental.  We then switched over to my machine and enjoyed some smoothing sewing. 

It was great to help teach someone who was so excited to learn. Within the next few days, Sarah had completed the whole top of the quilt on her own. Way to go Sarah-Bear!  Now, to teach her how to hand-quilt... maybe Mom can help her with this one.

Dinosaur and Modern Mix Quilts Finished

This was one of the best reactions I have ever received to a quilt gift.  My niece and nephew were thrilled to receive their quilt gifts and immediately requested to be put into "brittos" or made into burritos.  We wrapped them up and they proceeded to crawl around like little worms. Then my niece danced around the living room with her quilt.  Yes, these kids are good at receiving gifts.

My nephew received a dinosaur print themed quilt, which was squares bordered with alternating colors of red, green, orange, and blue. To keep it less "predictable," I only repeated the blue every other time in the pattern and I liked the overall effect.

My niece received the modern quilt I attempted a year or so back and she loved all of the fabrics, especially the floral.

Fabric: various sources (stash!) and patterns: original. Machine quilting by Cutting Edge Quilt Shop, meander pattern.

I Spy Quilt Finished!

The I-Spy quilt took a little longer than expected since I decided to hand-quilt it.  I've thoroughly enjoyed the ability to piece a quilt and then hand it over to someone else to quilt it. However, it was good to stitch again.

I decided to quilt diagonal lines on the solid brown squares and then around the edges of the outside squares and the white trim border.  I love the look it gives the quilt.  

I used a sage green backing with dark brown polka dots.  For the binding, I chose to carry over the backing to bind it and sewed it on with my machine.

Skip's Scramble Quilt Finished

While watching the second season of The Office last night, I finished binding the Skip's Scramble quilt.  Among other things, Justus and I have decided that buying The Office on dvd was one of our best investments.  Our apartment complex includes cable in our rent and there's no way to "cancel" it or else we would be doing something like Netflix.  As a result, we watch most of our favorite television series on dvd (to avoid commercials).

I love that with binding, I can sit in front of the television and enjoy an episode or two (or even three).  I usually start my quilts by cutting all of the fabric while watching a movie or tv, or listening to some music.  (I think I just love "being productive" while doing something unproductive - they cancel each other out, right?).

I'm very excited to give this quilt to my co-worker who is a die hard Arizona Cardinals fan.  Justus thinks I should tell him about the "eggs and bacon" (see previous post here), but I'm afraid it will ruin his perception of the quilt.  I had the talented quilters over at The Cutting Edge long arm quilt this one with a pattern called "sprung."  The lady in the shop thought that was very fitting as the Cardinals seem to need an extra spring in their step.

Pink Chevron Finished

Finished binding the pink chevron quilt a few weeks ago, but with scattered clouds and long days at work I never managed to get any nice pictures during the day.  I shot a few photos today, with a little bit better weather, and help from Justus.

I hand quilted this top along the edge of the zig-zag to emphasize the movement.  The back is a Kona pink (bubblegum?)  and the binding is a darker pink I found at JoAnn Fabrics.  White is Kona Snow and the zig zag fabric is from one of my favorite designers, Amy Butler.  Lisa gave me this fabric for Christmas last year and I was so excited to use it!

Modern Pear Quilt

 

 

The other day, I splurgged on some fabric (I know, BIG surprise - sarcasm).  One of my favorite online shops offers "mystery bags" of scraps for $7.00.  It's not the best price, but for $7.00, it makes it pretty easy to impulse buy.  The result was lots of fabric strips featuring a few Robert Kaufman favorites.  The pear fabric and the pale green fabric were some of the treasures.  With the help of a few stash fabrics, I was able to make the blocks from one of my favorite blogger's books. 

 

 

 

The Practical Guide to Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman (see book here) is great.  I bought mine from Amazon.com for half price during a sale.  It's a little below my skill level as it is geared towards beginners without any knowledge of quilting.  However, each project is beautiful.  This one was quick and easy through the use of sewing long strips together and then rotary cutting them into smaller blocks.

I Spy Quilt Top - Finished

While experiencing Quilter's block on my Kate Spain Dresden plate quilt, I re-focused my quilting energy on other works in progress.  I started to bind the Amy Butler Chevron quilt and added borders to another.

Here is the crib sized I-spy quilt.  On a whim, I let myself by the kit of squares from one of the bloggers I follow.  I love all of the retro prints and colors; there's even a cactus print!

Source: I-Spy squares kit from Diary of a Quilter.  Joann Fabrics for brown square, Kona white for border, and a random banners print from Joann Fabrics for the outside border.

Sorry for the cell phone pictures, I got lazy and did not want to take good pictures outside in 106 degree weather.  That's what we call fall in Arizona.

Now I just have to quilt it...

Skip's Scramble Quilt

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've had a friend request an Arizona Cardinal's quilt.  Rather than succombing to the urge to use the licensed NFL print fabric on the top, I've opted to just use the team colors on the front.  The Cardinal's fabric will be used for the backing.

So with that in mind I took a trip down to a fabric store and looked for black, red/maroon, and yellow prints.  Inspiration came in the form of log cabin block pattern.  For those of you who don't know, I often use microsoft's excel to lay out my quilt ideas before I start.  Here are the results:

Does that remind anyone else of bacon and eggs?  I love the look, but it's also making me want some breakfast.  In honor of the "bacon and eggs" look, I've named it the Skip's Scramble.  "Skip's Scramble" is in a reference to an awesome television series "Arrested Development." 

The Skip's Scramble is an egg dish full that contains everything on the menu.  At one point a waitress sues the restaurant because she claims she got fat from the Skips Scramble...  The narrator of the show says "don't order the Skips Scramble"... the family orders it to celebrate... etc.

 

 

So in honor of "Arrested Development" this quilt is named Skip's Scramble.

 

Dresden Plate Progress

I LOVE the Dresden plate block.  It is fairly easy to do, but it is time consuming like no other block I have done. 

It's my first template quilt (I typically like to stick to straight lines and easy math) and I am enjoying the process.  It helps that I am using this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew.  Above is block one of a total nine.  Only eight more to go!  The plates are all stitched together and I am slowing sewing them each onto their background square.  I feel like I can see the light at the end of the Dresden tunnel.

Fabric: Kate Spain's Central Park on Kona White


P.S. Any recommendations for a NFL Cardinal's themed quilt that's been requested?  I'm thinking of using the Cardinal licensed fabric for the backing and using the Cardinal's colors for the front inspiration.  Thoughts?

12 Days of Christmas - Kate Spain Quilt

My 12 Days of Christmas quilt top is finished!  The fabric is from Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas collection.  The numbered squares came from a panel that I feel in love with.  The border fabric comes from the same collection and two fat quarters I found at JoAnn Fabrics.  To break up the red and green I pulled out the light blue that is used in some of the squares as an accent color.  Turned out great, no?  It's off at the shop to get quilted by some lovely ladies at the Cutting Edge Quilt Shop.

Now, I can officially sing the Twelves Days of Christmas without forgetting that it's 12 drummers drumming instead of 12 lords a leaping.

Plus, Justus got to use the camera and decided he needed a picture of me.  Naturally, I obliged with a goofy smile.  Love you, Justus!

First Attempt at Modern Quilting

Lately I've been inspired by some of the Modern / Contemporary quilt blogs out in blogland.  Below is my first attempt at Modern Quilting:

The blocks are intentionally off-center and some are slightly askew.  I cannot begin to even explain how hard it was to have these "blocks" not line up.  (I am a perfectionist with slight OCD tendencies.)  Also, I'm not quit sure I like the layout of the blocks either and I think I made the white borders too wide.  All in all, not my favorite quilt project, but it's fun to try a new "technique."  What color border should I choose?  I'm leaning towards yellow, or maybe even a pink.

Please ignore the messy storage closet behind me (I should have been like the Wizard of Oz and had a curtain up!)

Dress Pattern Quilt Finished

I (finally!) finished quilting the dress pattern quilt that I have been slowly hand-quilting for more than a year.  It measures roughly 50" x 60".  My favorite fabrics are the center squares which feature vintage dress patterns and the small yellow print which features red, green and yellow dress shoes!  I have someone very special in mind for this quilt and I hope she loves it!


I bought the fabric back in 2003 and cannot remember who to credit for on the fabric.  Pattern "Frosty Squares" by Karen DuMont featured in Quick Quilts Winter 2010 issue.  Please forgive me for the apartment balcony photos, they're not the prettiest.

The envelope, please

Just before Thanksgiving I finished the NYC Subway quilt inspired by Oh Fransson's Tokyo Subway Quilt (here).  

I was so excited to share it with all of the family.  In the past we have drawn names for Christmas, but this year we decided to do something different.   We held a drawing, each family had their name put in a paper which was folded and placed into a piece of paper.  When Justus drew the name, we are all pleasantly surprised to learn that my father-in-law, Paul won!

Brown and Blue Log Cabin Quilt

For the last few months my mom and I have discussed putting together a quilt for my maternal Grandfather. 
I have always loved the log cabin pattern, in fact, I learned how to quilt with this pattern (with the exception of a basic square pattern).  The block in very versitile and can be laid out to create many different effects.  I am sure that there are many great tutorials on how to put together a log cabin block, but if anyone is interested, I'll put together a quick tutorial and post it here.

Back to the quilt at hand... My mom picked these fabrics out at Hobby Lobby and combined them with a few that she had in her awesome stash.  We're excited to see how this quilt comes together.  I'm planning to rotate the colors, currently I've got it going from light to dark and I'll slowly alternate the colors through the blocks so that it will go from dark to light.  To help keep it consistent, we'll keep the polka-dot fabric in the center and we've got a cool blue and brown striped fabric for the borders.  The strips are 2" wide, and measure roughly 1.5" once sewn, so all together this block measures 15" square.  We're thinking of doing a lap-sized quilt of 3x3 blocks or 3x4 blocks.

It's a good thing I love to piece and my mom loves to hand-quilt.  We compliment each other very nicely.

Subway Quilt Ironing

This is what last weekend looked like... lots of ironing and tiny 2.5" squares....

but PROGRESS, so much progress on the NYC Subway Quilt.

Subway Quilt Progress

There are days I wish I could move quilting up on my list of priorities. For now, here's the progress I've made this week: I made rough drafts of my lettering to play with the size of letters. I like the scale of the letters, but not sure about the font...

Work in Progress - NYC Subway Quilt

A few months ago I wrote about my plans to design a quilt inspired by the NYC subway. Here is a quick look at the work in progress. Hopefully I will have it finished by Christmas!

Blue, Green, and Yellow Double Hour Glass Quilt

I've done it again. I've pieced another quilt top before I finished hand-quilting the lattice twin quilt. Oh well, what can I say? I love to piece and struggle with the hand-quilting part. I'm starting to get the courage to buy a walking foot for my machine so that I can try machine quilting...

For now here is the debut of the double-hour glass quilt made from scraps. The scraps are from different collections that I've had long enough for me to forget where I bought them. I got the inspiration from the Cluck Cluck Sew blog. The tutorial is here (click). The designer uses white as the common solid and so a lot of other people who have tried it used white as well. I decided to be different and use brown (I know, I'm such a rebel - strong hint of sarcasm). It's a fun quilt, but if you're a perfectionist, this method is hard to have all of the corners match up. Overall, it is one of my favorites. Hopefully the person I have it in mind for will love it as well.

P.S. Sorry for the cell phone picture. It's all that I've got for now.

Kate Spain - Central Park Fabric

My mom and I share a few hobbies and interests. One of them is a love for fabric. We love to collect and use fabric, especially when you can feel the quality of it.

For the past few months I've been eyeing a line of fabric designed by Kate Spain. It's called Central Park and not surprisingly is inspired by the beauty and character of the park. I love Central Park for so many reasons and always make Justus take a stroll with me whenever we visit family. I'll admit the name caught my attention, but the designs are what kept it. I don't let myself buy designer fabric very often, but found a great deal to buy this set of 6 half-yard cuttings. Oh, I will definitely be checking the mail often this week! Now all I have to do is decide which pattern to use...

NYC Subway Map Quilt

I find my inspiration for quilts from many sources. Most of the time I find inspiration from the fabric itself. I've had the idea to piece together a quilt top using the New York City subway map as a guide since I first started dating Justus. Recently a quilting blog featured a quilt design inspired by a Tokyo subway map. Initially I reviewed a copy of the subway map and decided that I didn't want to do all of it. By focusing on the island of Manhattan I feel like I'm able to get good coverage without having to make the squares difficult with which to work. I've started to collect fabrics, but have let myself have some fun with my spreadsheet program. This is the first draft of perhaps many drafts, but I'm really liking it so far. What do you think?