A Quilting Bee - Yipee

I am so excited, I joined a quilting bee!!! Starting in January, myself and 11 talented quilters will each make a block a month and at the end of the year we will have 12 very unique quilts. I am a bit nervous though, my fabric stash seems a little out of date and I have no idea what block I want to do. I have until May until it is my month, so I have plenty of time to ponder my options.

I also joined a group making blocks for quilts that will be auctioned off to benefit Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. What a great cause, just click on the link in my sidebar to join the fun. We are making our blocks based on the tutorials at the Block Party, which is where all of this great fun started.

Have a great week!

Hushabye Quilt all Done

I really like the way this turned out. I used Minkee on the back. The Minkee is so very soft and quilts really nice, but hand sewing the binding on was a bit difficult. Not sure I will try this again, but I do love the softness. These pictures are a little better that the ones I posted last, but they still do not capture the loveliness of the quilt. I quilted this using a beautiful pink and brown variegated thread using a simple loopy meander.

Happy Veterns Day

Thanks to all to have served our country so that we can enjoy our freedom.

In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. –Mark Twain, Notebook, 1935

Hushabye Quilt

I Love to make half square triangles, I find it kind of relaxing. I usually make them in the evening, I set up my cutting mat on the kitchen counter so there is not too much bending over involved and I can see the TV. This time I have taken it one step further and made quarter square triangles. I am using charm packs from Moda's Hushabye collection by Tula Pink; it really is a gorgeous collection of fabrics. I also purchased some yardage of the tone on tone brown from the collection. First I made half square triangles, then sewed them together to make quarter square triangles. Guess I should have taken more pictures of my progress, I just get so excited by what I am doing sometimes I forget to stop and take pictures. Once the quarter squares triangles were all made, trimmed and pressed I put them up on the design wall. I then randomly placed a few charm squares throughout the quilt. I loved the way it looked, sorry the picture does not do it justice.

The brown fabric was also intended to be the border, so I thought maybe I needed another border to break up the brown a bit. I did not want to purchase any more fabric, so I decided to cut up some of the left over charm squares and sew them together. Initially I thought I would just make 1.5 X 5 inch sections, but I did not like the way that looked, so I ended up making 1.5 x 2.5 inch sections.

Finally, the borders were added, I decided on 5 inch borders. I am thrilled with the final product, again the picture in quite bad, the actual quilt top is much prettier that portrayed here. Once it is quilted I will try to take a better picture.

Fall Table Runners

The fabric collection Gobble Gobble by Sandy Gervais is so full of rich fall colors. Using a pattern by Heather Mulder Peterson, a Jelly Roll and a bit of yardage I made this table topper. The back is pieced, so both sides can be used. Can't you just see a bowl of gourds on top of this?

The quilting was done with a variegated orange thread, I love the look of the thread and the fabric together here is the close up .

I made another, but not with the same pattern. For this one I cut a bunch of light fabrics into 2.5 inch squares and the darker fabrics into 4.5 inch rectangles and this is what I came up with. So easy and fast using pre-cut strips.

Catching Up

It has been awhile, since my last post, I have really been busy lately, but nothing much to show for it. I have several projects in various stages of completion. And I completed one more Holiday quilt for my Etsy Shop. This quilt was made from a kit I purchased many years ago using Thimberries Home for the Holidays fabric.

I also started this quilt.

The fabrics are definitely more spring that fall, but I could not resist the beautiful bright colors which seem ideal for this pattern I found by Heather Mulder Petterson. I am a bit frustrated with this one though, it is not going together as easily as I would like. I sewed two rows together and discovered that the blocks were not the correct size, so I took the rows apart and re-sized the blocks, and now the seams are not matching. I can see this one going into the UFO pile until a rainy day!

Finally, just for fun I put these together.

They are destined to be pot holders/hot pads as soon as I have time to quilt them.

Figgy Pudding - continued

It was a gorgeous day in San Diego today, the heat has passed and there is a hint of Fall in the air. Of course this can change at any minute due to off shore winds, but today I opened all the windows and enjoyed the fresh air and the smell of Fall.

I finished quilting and binding the Figgy Pudding Quilt and the quilting for the polygon table topper is complete, I just need to hand stitch the binding to the back. I am thrilled with the way the quilting in these have turned out. For the quilt I freehand quilted stars and loops, look at how nice it turned out.


Here is the table topper, I did a pretty dense meander, not sure how to get it any denser that this, but I know it can be done.

The close up picture of the quilting did not turn out so well, but you get the idea.