Poseidon's Garden Fence

Let me just start off by saying that I love, love, love this quilt!

Back before Thanksgiving, my dad got hit with a nasty virus that made him extremely sick. After a week of becoming severely dehydrated, he decided to go to the hospital. While there, they found gallstones. After being in the hospital for nearly a week, he was discharged and ended up in need of a hospital bed.

My plan to make my parents a king-sized quilt changed into needing to make two twin-sized quilts instead. I thought this was good though because then my dad could have a quilt in any colors he wanted - and I wouldn't have to quilt a beastly-sized king. He told me he'd love something blue. I'd been wanting to make another solids quilt since I made this, so I ordered a Poseidon fat quarter pack and set to work.

I altered Cindy's Garden Fence quilt pattern by omitting the outer white border/sashing on each block. I really like the look of the multi-colored blue plus signs created by the lack of additional fabric between the blocks.

I needed the quilt to be a titch larger so I added a thin, maybe 1.5 inch border in Kona stone, which I think frames the quilt quite nicely.



For the back, I used a twin-sized sheet since that's my M.O. for backings these days. I love the color of it.



The binding on this quilt is definitely my most favorite by far - ever! I can't emphasize enough how much I love the binding. I used the leftover fat quarters, so each different color strip is only 18-21 inches long. I think it gives the binding a variegated look around the quilt.



It was so great to see my dad's reaction to it on Christmas morning.



For my mom's quilt, she wanted totally different fabrics, so I'm going to do another variation of the Garden Fence quilt to tie the two together. I've started cutting the fabric for hers and hope to finish it soon.

Quilt Tops Become Finished Quilts

A few months ago as I was preparing for my baby's arrival, I was really getting annoyed with all the projects in my sewing space that were in various stages of incompletion. I think it was part of my nesting phase. So, once the baby was born, I set out to turn all the quilt tops I had laying around into finished quilts. I finally finished the last one just before Christmas (which was sitting around without binding for several weeks).

First up is the zigzag quilt I made for one of my sisters. I started it some time in 2010, finished the top in July, and finished the quilt in November (?) so I could finally give it to her for Christmas. I used a charm pack of Blush by Basic Grey, a charm pack of Bella snow, and some Blush fat quarters. I densely quilted the white zigzags with free motion meandering loops, regular loops in the first border, and then large meandering loops in the outer border.



As I was trying to a) finish these quilts as fast as possible and b) use fabric from my stash, I used a single print from the Panache line (can't remember the designer). It was a hair too small to cover the whole back so I added a little strip of some green solid. The back doesn't look as nice as I would have preferred, but it works.



Next up is the quilt that I started way back in 2007 (my first quilt block ever!). I finished this top sometime in July too and decided to finish it up to give to one of my nieces for Christmas. With the exception of the solid blue (a Kona cotton), all the fabrics came from Hancocks and Joanns. I bought them all several years ago when I didn't think fabric quality mattered. You can really feel the difference when you compare this quilt to another made from quilt-shop quality fabrics.



I alternated between straight lines one-inch apart and meandering loops for the quilting on this one.



This one didn't get finished before my baby was born like I wanted it to, but we've been able to get good use out of it since I finished it. It makes me happy to see my sweet baby with it.



I quilted loops in the white sections and then flowers, swirls, and snails in the Freebird sections. I used a brown and cream dot from the Freebird line for the binding.



My first quilt-along, in 2010, was for a jellyroll sampler. The mister's aunt is like another grandma to my kids so I wanted to finish this quilt up so I could give it to her for Christmas. It was well-received as she now considers herself part of the family. =)



I quilted meandering loops in a red thread for this one and really like the contrast it adds to the quilt. The binding is smaller than what I normally do, so I struggled a bit with it. But, I wanted to use the leftover jellyroll strips, which are 2.5 inches. My usual binding width is 3.25, which I'm much more comfortable working with.



Next up is my final quilt of 2011. I love it so much that I almost had a hard time giving it away. Good thing I love my dad so much.

2011 Sewing: Year in Review

The year is nearly over and I can't believe how much I got done despite being pregnant for three-fourths of it! As I looked back over the year, I was surprised to see that nine of the fourteen quilts I made I finished in the last four months!



In addition to fourteen quilts, here are some of the other things I made:



These are the blocks I made for the girls in the Sew Beautiful Bee.



And here are the swap items I received during the year plus the blocks I made for both the 4x5 Bee and the La Beeda Loca Bee.



I looked over the list of goals I set for myself for 2011 as well and found that I met about half of them:

1. Cathedral Windows Quilt - Nope
2. Sew Beautiful Bee Quilt - Blocks received, but not pieced into a top yet
3. Goldfish Quilt - Done!
4. New quilt for my bed - Done, but not photographed yet
5. & 6. Quilts for two of my sisters - I finished one, but still need to work on the other
7. Quilt for my parents' bed - Halfway done on this one
8. Colorbrick Quilt - Nope
9. Car and Truck Quilt - Nope
10. Figgy Pudding Christmas Quilt - I bought the Swoon pattern and plan to make this quilt for next Christmas.
11. Finish quilt tops - Done!
12. Swaps - Done!

I'm still mulling over my sewing goals for 2012, so stay tuned!

Christmas Sewing 2011

I can't believe it's been just about a month since my last post. Going back to work has totally kicked my butt and taken away ALL of my free time.

My dad has been having some health problems, so that's brought added stress to my already-maxed-out stress level. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to get up and enjoy the Christmas tree in their living room, so my brother brought over a little tree for my dad to have in his room. We needed some ornaments for it, so I made a couple yesterday. These were so simple and quick to whip up. I'm tempted to make some more as gift tags.

I used photo fabric, batting, fabric scraps, and decorative string. I printed out some family photos in black and white, then layered the photo fabric with the batting and scraps. Then I used pinking shears to trim the edges and sewed in the string for hanging on the tree. I think they turned out pretty cute, and I'm sure my dad will love being able to see his progeny's faces smiling back at him.



I only made eight ornaments so not all of my family is represented. I come from a family of six kids. There are 35 of us, including my siblings and their spouses, 18 grandkids, plus four great-grandkids. Looks like I'll need to make more for next year.





Also for this year, I made an advent calendar. I had one growing up and I wanted to continue the tradition with my little family. I bought this Sherri Beri (sp?) fabric a year and a half ago. The vintage feel of it reminds me of my sweet Grandma Cole, who passed away when I was 16. This advent calendar was made in her memory.

I bought a panel of whatever this line is called. I asked the mister's grandma to embroider the numbers 1-25 on each square. Then I cut them out, backed them with interfacing, added fabric for the pocket tops/trims, and zig zag stitched them to some solid white. Then I added a border to the top and bottom because it made it look more like a calendar to me.



On the back, I just sewed strips from the other fabrics in the line that I bought. I added a little slot for a dowel to slide into for hanging it on the wall. I quilted dense straight lines between the pockets horizontally and vertically. The binding is scrappy from leftover pieces. And I tied a ribbon to the dowel for hanging. I think I'll need to do something else next year because the calendar was so heavy with little goodies in each pocket that the ribbon got pretty stretched out now that Christmas is only a couple days away.



Anyway, that's it for me. I'll be back after Christmas to review the year and show you what I made for gifts this year. I hope you all have/had a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, and joyous Kwanza!

White board case and bee blocks

This post is gonna be quick and dirty. Since I have to return to work next week, I'm trying to spend my time sewing rather than blogging about what I've sewn.

Here are a couple bee blocks for Amber in our local quilt guild bee, La Beeda Loca. Amber asked for blocks to mimic Denyse Schmidt's cheater print. She gave us a variety of prints from Denyse's Joann's lines.





I found these dual-sided white boards with crayons at Target. Since I'll be gifting one for Christmas, I thought it could use a fun case. I adapted Faith's iPad case tutorial to fit the white board. It was such a great tutorial; I'm planning on making another white board case for my daughter as well as a case for my iPad.









I made a little crayon roll to hold the white board crayons too.





Well folks, that's it. For those of you in the states, I hope you have a very safe and happy Thanksgiving tomorrow.

WIP Wednesday - 1st Anniversary

I haven't done a WIP Wednesday post for a while, but boy have I been busy this week! Documenting my progress will help me see where I'm at and how much I want to accomplish before going back to work in three weeks.

Quilting
I made a goal to finish the quilt tops that I had lying around before starting any new quilts. While I didn't totally stick to that goal (you gotta be flexible, right?), I am this close to meeting that goal. This week I spent time quilting four of the five quilts that I basted a couple weeks ago. I tried to be more conscientious with the quilting. While I did an all-over loopy pattern on one, the others have straight lines, loops, flowers, swirls, snails, and a decorative stitch.



Baby Sewing
One of the downsides to not finding out the gender of our baby when I was pregnant was that I didn't want to do any sewing projects and make something gender neutral. I saw this tutorial for a sleep sack on Make It and Love It and decided to run to Joann's to get some fleece that was on sale.

This one is the prototype. I didn't need to add a seam allowances for the neck and arm holes, so it sits too high and the arm holes are not as loose as I wanted them to be.



This one turned out much better, although there are still some improvements to be made. This picture makes it look funny too, but it actually fits my daughter really well. Sewing with fleece isn't my forte, but it keeps my baby warm at night. I'm debating whether I want to try making another one or not.



I'm not sure if all Joann's have the same merchandise, but I noticed something new since the last time I was there. They have an aisle dedicated to making your own cloth diapers. I was SO HAPPY to see this aisle. I cloth diapered my two older kids and am bummed that I won't be able to cloth diaper my baby. This is kind of a lame excuse, but with working outside the home now, I have absolutely no time for diaper laundry. While I was perusing the aisle at Joann's, looking through the diaper-making books, I decided to grab some PUL (polyurethane laminate, which prevents leaks) to make some changing pads. I used PUL on one side and soft fleece on the other. One down, four more to go.



Rotary Cutting
I spent time last night cutting the charms for round 2 of the Color Wheel Charm Swap. I also cut 10" squares for a swap for the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild meeting this month. My local quilt shop moved locations and had a grand opening this past weekend. Their sale fabric was 75% off and I was able to get a couple yards of this Neptune print by Tula Pink for about $3.50! Talk about a screamin' deal.


To-Do Before Going Back to Work

• Finish quilting Swirling Stars quilt
  
• Make bindings for the quilts in progress
  
• Finish the three changing pads I've cut out
  
• Make five pairs of PJ pants for my family for Christmas Eve
  
• Make gifts for the cousins whose names my kids drew for Christmas

I'm sure I have more to do since I have a tendency to start new projects all the time. But I have to admit that it feels so good getting all these quilt tops quilted and turned into finished quilts. It's this huge weight off my shoulders.

Bee Blocks and Other Stuff

November is Lee's month in the Sew Beautiful Bee. I got her fabric on Halloween and since I hadn't yet mailed back Katie's block, I thought I should hurry and make Lee's so I only had to go to the post office once.

Lee asked for trees of any kind. I really like making these ones. I made my first tree when Cara asked for house blocks, so I thought a little forest for Lee would be good. She sent an assortment of green, yellow, orange, and brown fabric with Essex linen, which she wanted us to use for the background (LOVE it!). Can you tell that the brown fabric on the left side is a closeup of a tree trunk? That's what I was going for there, but I'm not sure I pulled it off.



A few of us in the SLC Modern Quilt Guild are in a little bee for our guild. Kati asked for string blocks for this month. This is my first time making these string blocks (gasp!), and I totally loved it. I was so tempted to forget my goal of not starting any new projects and cut up some fabric for new throw pillows for my couch.



Kati sent blue, green, yellow, orange, and gray fabric and asked that we not trim the tails or square up the blocks. These are 12.5 inches so Kati will have some nice sized finished blocks when she puts her quilt together.



I'm also participating in the second round of Kati's Color Wheel Charm Swap. This round is focusing on lights and darks of our assigned color. My color is orange.

Click the photos below (images courtesy Hawthorne Threads) for the make and model of these fabrics.





Looks like I've got a bunch of fabric to cut. I better get to it.

Also, see the post below for my Blogger's Quilt Festival entry.

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Goldfish Quilt

For this year's Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival, I wanted to share my newly-finished Goldfish Quilt.

Front:


Back:


While this quilt's design is nothing to shout about, what makes this quilt special is that it came together with other people's help.

My friend, Leigh, learned of my love for Heather Ross' Goldfish in Bags fabric at the end of last year. Since I came onto the quilting scene well after the fabric was out of print, I didn't have any. Leigh was amazing and swapped some of her other Heather Ross fabric to get me a fat quarter of these little fishies! Totally blew me away!



I wanted to make the most of the fabric so I fussy cut the fish and framed them in white and blue and orange fabric.



For the border, I used a stripe fabric from the same Lightning Bugs and Other Mysteries line that I won in a giveaway from Rae earlier in the year.

It's nice to have this quilt finally done.

Finished Color Beads Quilt

I finished this quilt last week. I used my Accuquilt GO! baby fabric cutter and thought I'd show you how I did it. The good news is that you can make this quilt even if you don't have a GO! baby because I used my 5-inch square die.



This necklace served as the inspiration for the quilt.



I've been wanting to play around with the color wheel for a while, so I took out one of my fabric drawers and my scrap bin and tried to find fabric that would work for every color. (I was low on purple, but I think I found a fabric that worked well enough as it had red and blue dots.)



Here are some of the fabrics I pulled.



I wanted the quilt to be simple so the color would be the focus. I pulled out my GO! baby and my 5-inch square die and went to work.



With the help of my two oldest kiddos, we had 28 charms cut in no time.



I arranged the squares and then pieced them into two rows of six and two rows of seven.



I then measured the rows of six charms and cut a piece of Kona white that was that dimension squared. In this case, it was about 27 inches. After piecing the charms to the white center square, I added 15-inch borders to all sides of the quilt, making it about 65 inches square.



For the binding, I used a black and white striped fabric from the Dr. Seuss line that I had on hand. I was about a strip short so I added a couple strips from a fat quarter with the primary colors on it.



I went with a solid Kona yellow for the backing. Note to self: make sure to position the label far enough into the backing so you don't cut it off when you square up your quilt. At least only one line of the label got chopped when I removed the excess backing and batting, and it wasn't really important for the quilt anyway.

I quilted it with wavy straight lines, like on this quilt, but about 2-3 inches apart.



I was happy that all this fabric came from my stash, except the Kona yellow. It feels good to use what I have. I think I'll do it more often.