Finished BIL and SIL Quilts

Every year for Christmas on the mister's side, we draw names for a gift exchange. Each grandchild gives to another grandchild and then the adult children/siblings give to each other. Last year, we had the mister's sister and I made her this Color Beads quilt. I decided then that I want to make a quilt for each adult whose name(s) we draw. So this year, we had the mister's twin brother and his wife for Christmas. As an extended family, we've set a limited dollar amount for gifts, but a friend was getting rid of some fabric that just happened to be the perfect colors for my sister-in-law, so I was able to make both my brother- and sister-in-law quilts.

First up, my brother-in-law. He's really smart. Like super high IQ and even back in high school, I remember him liking chess. I wanted to use a charm pack of this Cloud 9 fabric that we got at Sewing Summit, but since there weren't very many charms, I added some charms of Kona white and gave it a chess/checker board feel by alternating the print fabric and the white charms. To keep within our dollar limit, I offset the center patchwork with a bright blue sheet that I had on-hand as the border.

I backed it with a fleece throw that I got Black Friday shopping. I also wanted to experiment a little since I'd never used this as a backing before. I didn't add any batting and it really gave this quilt more of a blanket feel to it.

For my sister-in-law, I used these various purple, green, and cream fabrics to make large 16" finished string blocks. I played around with the layout and liked this one the best.

I added batting to her quilt and while it made the quilt really heavy during the quilting process, I prefer the added weight. It made it feel like the quilt had substance while my brother-in-law's felt a bit flimsier.

I also used her quilt to practice some new free-motion quilting techniques. I did a different design in each block. Some turned out great. Others a little meh. I used the same fleece throw for the backing and it really shows off the quilting nicely.

In the border, I quilted these big loops. I really liked how the border turned out.

In this block, I free-motion quilted a bunch of words about family and love as well as her full name and the names of her husband and kids. This was a first for me, and I was really pleased with the result. (Since the quilting showed up so much better on the back, that's what the picture is of. Unfortunately, the writing is in reverse.)

In this block, I did a little pebble quilting, basing the size of the pebbles on the width of the strips I was quilting. I really like the varying sizes all together on the diagonal like this.

Both quilts were well-received. It will be fun to continue this tradition next year with another set of siblings-in-law. Hopefully the mister's remaining brother and sister are okay getting quilts from us for the next couple years.

Two More Finished Baby Quilts (one of them made by the mister!)

A couple years ago, the mister thought it would be fun to try teaching me some photography tips. He has a passion for photography and I thought it couldn't hurt to learn how to take better pictures of my sewing and quilting projects. While he was teaching me about his hobby, he thought it'd be fun to learn how to make a quilt. So, we looked through my fabric (he picked Arcadia by Sanae) and then found a tutorial he thought would be fun (Jacquie Gehring's Wonky Log Cabin tutorial). I showed him how to use the rotary cutter appropriately and then he came up with his own cutting/sewing/pressing station, which pretty much meant that the cutting mat, ironing board, and sewing machine were all set up on our living room floor so he could go from one station to the next with only rotating his torso. He used his knee to push down the pedal as he sewed. I wish I would have taken a picture because it was quite the sight!

These are the four blocks he made during the first couple sewing sessions.

After making those blocks, he got busy and distracted by other things and they were put aside for a couple years. However, two of his coworkers got married to each other a couple months ago and are expecting their first child. The mister wanted to pull out the blocks and finish a baby quilt to give to his friends. As the first few blocks took a bit of time to make, he wanted to switch gears and use a design that he could make in an evening. So, I helped by cutting the fabric and he sewed them into strips. He did all the piecing and pressing. He even spray basted the quilt, straight-line quilted it, and attached the first side of the binding.

He did such a great job and I'm so proud of him. He took the quilt to work a couple days later (I had to show it off at the SLMQG meeting of course) and gave it to the husband/soon-to-be-dad in the break room. I wish I could have seen it! The mister said his face turned all red as he handed over the quilt to his coworker in a room full of people. Priceless!

Earlier that day, I was working on this baby quilt. When my partner sent me the pillow she made for me in round 7 of the Pillow Talk Swap, she included an extra purple string, paper-pieced star that didn't end up fitting into her pillow design. I used that as the focal point of this quilt.

I don't have a lot of purple in my stash, which is strange because I love purple for clothes, but I guess I just haven't been a big user of it in quilts. Anyway, I managed to find some purples that worked well with the star as well as the solid that I picked up from Joann's: Kate Spain's Central Park, Lizzy House's 1001 Peeps, and Joel Dewberry's Heirloom. I used strips from each of those prints to make the binding as well. (That darn breeze wouldn't let me get a flat picture of the quilt!)

On the back, I just pieced a simple improv block using some of the scraps from the front and then offset it with the purple solid.

I also tried a new thread on this quilt. First, I used my typical piecing and quilting thread (but in gray instead of white), which is a 100% cotton machine quilting thread from Joann's. I'm not sure the brand, but it comes in a hefty size on the spool. I also wanted to try out Superior thread so I ordered a sampler pack a few weeks ago and one of the spools they sent me happened to be a dark purple that matched the purple solid in this quilt perfectly. And, just like in my last post, I tried some more new-to-me quilting designs. They're not even or consistent or great to say the least, but I kind of like them. They're "homey" and give the quilt a handmade feel that I like. Plus, practice makes perfect, right?

This quilt will be finding a home with a new little baby soon-to-be born.

Pillow Talk Swap 7 Received

Look at this amazing pillow that came in the mail on Friday!



I was so happy to open the mail box and see a package sitting there for me. Val seriously hit the nail on the head with this one. In my mosaic, which served as inspiration for the swap, I had a lot of images of stars, strings, and rainbows. This pillow incorporates them all!



She made a purple star that didn't end up fitting in with the design, but she sent it along anyway. I'm so excited to use this block and make another pillow or wall hanging out of it.



She also included a bag full of scraps for me. There are some great fabrics in there and I can definitely put them to good use!



Thanks again, Val!

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.