Cute Little Hourglasses

Scrap triangles leftover from my Vintage Modern quilt are creating these adorable 2" square hourglass blocks!

So tiny and adorable!  Just had to share :)

Happy Go Lucky - Bead Quilt WIP

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!  

We've been enjoying some unusual weather here in Arizona.  Monsoon season hit early and today we hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit with 30 percent humidity and tomorrow we'll drop to 93 degrees (typically we're at 118-120).

In happier news, I cut into a bit of Bonnie & Camille's Happy Go Lucky yesterday!  The collection totally describes my preferred color scheme.  I don't like all of the patterns, but most of them speak right to my soul.  I grabbed five fat quarters of my favorites and two yards of my absolute favorite for the border and backing.  It will be the perfect amount for a nice baby quilt :)

I'm assembling squares and hour-glass blocks to create a "beaded" look.  I'm sure there is a name for this pattern, but it escapes me now.  It kind of reminds me of a necklace I had when I was girl!

To help keep track of pinning the correct fabric together, I pinned one set and put it on the wall where it "belonged."  I repeated until I had all of the hour glass blocks accounted for and in the correct direction.  Worked like a charm :)

Wish you all a wonderful and safe weekend!

Sea Glass Finished!

Sea Glass is finished!  I wish I lived closer to a beach so that it could have a proper "photo shoot."  So just imagine a beautiful beach with sand dollars, sand castles and waves in the background.  Can you see it?

 

For now, I hope you enjoy the dark-brown stucco of my apartment complex in the background.

My wonderful husband is such a pro at holding quilts!  

Where do you like to photograph your quilts?

Sea Glass Binding

Sea Glass returned from the quilter looking lovelier than ever! 

I celebrated National Quilting Day (Saturday) by working on the binding. Doesn't the Basic Grey's Waves in Seafoam look great?  The backing is from V and Co's Simply Color line, Leafy Stripe in Aqua.

 

Happy Tuesday :) - Kate

Sea Glass: Finished Quilt Top

Here are a few pictures of Sea Glass before it took a nice trip to the quilt shop.

My thanks go to my husband, for picking the color of this quilt's border.  Moda's Bella in Indigo was the perfect solution.  The jury is still out on the color of the binding, but I have some time to figure it out.

Sea Glass measures roughly 40" x 56."  Loving these colors!

Awesome Hour Glass Centers - A Tip

After making 88 plus hour glass blocks, I thought I would share a tip that really helped me keep my corners in line.

If you're interested in making some hour glass blocks I would highly recommend the tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew seen here. 

First you will need to create the "two-halves" of your double hour glass.  Do not iron yet!

Take the first half and pick a side that you will start to press first.  You will not be using open seams and so you will want to start each side from the same fabric.  Below I decided to start on the side with the Kona Oyster.

Press carefully, but not too hard that you stretch your fabric.  Repeat this step with the second half of the block.  Remember to start pressing from the same colored fabric as the other half.

Now you have your two halves of your block.

Because you pressed both halves in the same direction, your seam is now on the same side.  When you go to match your seam / corner, you now have the creases of the fold to help you.

The creases can be pushed together to help you align the center.  Pin and sew the two halves together.

Press the seam either to the side or open, depending on your preference.

Trim the excess and admire your awesome block centers!

Repeat as necessary for your project!

If you have questions or suggestions for improvement, please let me know!

Sea Glass: 88 Blocks Later

Over the past week I've cut, sewn, pressed, sewn, re-pressed, and trimmed over 88 hour glass blocks.  

I initially started with an equal number of all fabrics, but as I started to place the blocks "randomly," I noticed that the navy colors were overpowering the rest.  The results above are promising, although right now I'm noticing a few blocks I need to turn... I was up too late last night playing with the arrangement. 

Fabrics from left to right: Navy floral from stash, Metro Living Circles in Navy, Moda Bella solid in Indigo, Living Lattice in Dusty Blue, Moda Bella in Carribean, Dobby Dot in Aqua, and Waves in Seafoam.