HST Sample Quilt: Finished!

Confession: I have a bundle of "Quilts to be Bound" stuffed neatly next to my bed.  During a recent cleaning episode, I decided that I wanted to clean up that space and proceeded to prepare bindings.  First to complete was the Kentucky Derby Quilt and then I moved on to my HST Sampler quilt.

The bright colors inspired by (ahem*) my favorite pajama bottoms yielded this bright beauty.  I chose a aqua teal for the border and then chose to use a lipstick pink (Kona) for the backing and binding.

Question: Even though I thoroughly washed the fabric, I'm still a little leery of giving away this quilt.  The main print comes from a pair of "well-loved" and in great condition pajama pants.  Would a quilt made from someone's pajama pants be gross or weird?  Or is it just like when people made quilts from old clothes?

Finished size: 55" x 55"
Quilting by: Cutting Edge Quilts
Quilting Pattern: Floral Chain in thread color Parchment

If you would like to read more about the construction of this quilt you can read the following posts:

HST Sampler Finished Quilt Top
HST Sampler Pinwheel Block
HST Sampler Star Flower Block
HST Sampler Bowtie Block


(I feel like I keep saying that I'm addicted to blue, but I keep presenting finished quilts that are outside my addiction.  I still "struggle" with my blue addiction, but lately I've been committed to finishing my WIPS.  Shhhh... I have two blue quilts ready to be cut!)

Finish It Friday: Marmalade HST Quilt

Over Christmas vacation I took some time to teach my amazing sister in laws how to make half square triangles.  Since we were all traveling to sunny California, I safely packed my Singer Featherweight and two charm packs for the journey.  (One charm pack of Bonnie & Camille's Marmalade line and the other of Bella Solids White)

During my hiatus from blogging, I took some time to bind this beautiful quilt.  The result:

Love how this came together and the bright binding.  I found the border and backing on sale at my local quilt shop (LQS) and am happy that it all works together so well.  Quilting pattern is "Chain of Daisies" from my LQS.  Binding is a Kona green, I think it's "Grass."

This quilt is destined for the next baby girl born on this side of the family.  How awesome would it be to have a quilt that all of your Aunts worked on?

Another finish for Finish it Friday!

What are you working on?  Here's a little encouragement from me: "You can do it!  Finish that quilt!" ;)

WIP Wednesday: Marmalade HSTs

First of all, I love my Singer 221 Featherweight sewing machine.  We were lucky that our holiday travels only involved a few hours of driving and the featherweight traveled well.  

During the drive, Howie helped me bind a quilt for one of my nephews.

I brought with me a charm pack of Bonnie & Camille's Marmalade and 42 5" Kona White squares.  My sister-in-laws enjoyed learning how to make half square triangles using this method from Cluck Cluck Sew.

Howie enjoyed playing with the HSTs while I was squaring them.

This past weekend I spent some time and am about half way through putting together the Marmalade HST quilt top.  The current plan is that this will serve as a quilt for the next niece born in the family.  I'm excited that the girl will have a quilt that all of her aunts (and mom!) made.

Oh and in case you were wondering, the San Diego Zoo is fabulous!  My husband and I enjoyed all of the animals, especially the leopard statue.

And the koalas were active!  When we went a few years ago for our honeymoon, the koalas were sleeping.  But this time...

I caught one leaping from the branches.

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday!

Green with Envy Finished!

I cannot express how excited I am to have finished the Green with Envy quilt!  It's headed to a well-deserving home of a family member to one of the Granite Mountain Hotshots who lost their life in the wildfire near Prescott, Arizona earlier this year.

The quilt measures roughly 44" x 66" and features various green fabrics from my stash, including some vintage sheets, and Kona Bone as the solid.

I hand quilted along the diagonal and was once again reminded why I love taking the time to hand-quilt.  There's something very satisfying about it.

I came across Layers of Hope, Quilting 911 through one of my blogging networks and found there was a need for donated quilts.  At the time, I knew my plate was full, but I wanted to help out nonetheless and am so glad that I did! Layers of Hope is a group dedicated to First Responders in emergencies.  In doing so, they are able to focus on individuals and know where the quilts are going.

If you're interested in helping out or learning more about Layers of Hope, Quilting 911 you can visit their Facebook page here or blog here.

So many of you donate of your time, quilts and materials to great causes.   I am so grateful to be a part of a community that is so giving and generous.  Thank you all for your efforts.

Pay It Forward: A Give-Away

First, a little WIP update:

I completed the HST Green with Envy Top.  Now to quilt it!  I am donating this and have decided to hand-quilt it with some simple straight line stitching.

I have other WIP updates, but I think you all are curious as to the give-away so without further ado...

Last week I received an email congratulating me on winning a gift certificate from Pink Chalk Fabrics!  This is the first blogging give-away that I have ever won.  Super excited!  Now... what to buy?!?  I should probably stay away from blue (see post about blue obsession here)...

While I figure that out, I've decided to pay my good fortune forward to a lucky person.  Typically I don't ask anything of my participants... but this time, if you could either "follow me" or like Quarter Mile Quilts on Facebook, it would be very helpful!  And to make it fun, please tell me the strangest place you have ever sewn in your comment!  I'll probably use the random number generator, but, strangest place may win!

Here's the prize:

1/2 yard of Melody Miller Ruby Star Polka Dot Patchwork Green and Navy and four coordinating fat quarters!

In summary, to be eligible to win this fabric bundle giveaway you need leave me a comment telling me the strangest place you've ever sewn! (If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave me your email address or you can't win - bummer!).  Closes at Friday, October 25th at midnight PST.

#payitforward

Kentucky Derby Progress - WIP

Do you remember this oops from a few months ago?  It's taken me some time to get up the courage to tackle it again.

The fabrics are from a purchase I made almost 10 years ago (eeek! has it really been that long?) when one of my favorite quilt shops was closing.  I was in high school at the time and very low on experience in picking out fabric.  You may notice that two of the fabrics are the same print but different colors. 

The colors are more traditional than my current tastes, but all in all, I am pleased with how things are progressing.  Plus, I love the opportunity to use my "stash" and have it work out well.  Anyone else have the tendency to buy a favorite fabric, hoard it, and then realize you don't have anything to go with it?  Happens to me ALL THE TIME.  It's a wonderful bad habit that gives me an excuse to buy more fabric.

Also, who couldn't use more practice piecing HSTs?  I know I could!

Linking up to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday here.

HST Sampler Top Finished!

Today I finished the HST Sampler top!  It measures roughly 58" x 58".

It's hard to see in the pictures, I used small squares of the polka dot fabric at the corners.  As with all my quilts, I debated on the colors for the border.  The ladies at the local quilt shop were kind enough to lend me their expertise.  Only 30 minutes later and we had our favorite: teal.  I'm so happy with the results.

I tried editing the photo above with my "basic" camera software, but I'm not sure if I like the results...

However, I know that I do like the person holding the quilt in the pictures... in fact, I love him.

We're celebrating our anniversary this week, time has flown!

Giveaway: Happy Go Lucky Hexagons & more HST Sampler Blocks

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED - Thanks for participating and stopping by!

Recently I added my blog to:

And wanted to thank them for the increased "visits" to my blog by hosting a small give-away: 

A hexagon pack of Moda's happy-go-lucky by Bonnie & Camille.  It includes the hexagons, template and directions for sewing them together.

If you would like to enter the give-away, just leave a comment. 

Feel free to "follow" me if you would like, but it's not required :)

Give-away closes May 9th at 11:59PM (PST).

Also, I put together more of the HST Sampler Blocks:

Yay!  Now I'm working on putting together the quilt top... thinking a small white border, then adding a border in the solid teal color.  Any thoughts?

Thanks for stopping by!

Kate

HST Sampler: Block 4 Star Flower

Here she is in all her brightness! Loved how this star flower block turned out.

If you haven't been following along, you can check out block one, two, or three.

At first I made each block for each meeting.  Then this weekend I got a wild hair and decided to work on a few of the sampler blocks.  You'll be seeing them in a post coming soon.

HST Sampler: Block 3

Our quilt group is working on a half square triangle sampler quilt and here is the next block, No. 3.  Is there a name for this block?

But may favorite part is the...

So happy that I could incorporate a pocket into one of the blocks.

If you want to see some of the other blocks, I've linked block one here and block two here.

Our Quilt Group met last week and I'll post some pictures soon!

Conversion Rates: Kentucky Derby

Like most everyone, I have several works in progress at various stages of development.  Most start out the same way; I tend to find pieces of fabric that I love, and then spend the next several months gathering coordinating prints until I have enough for a quilt.

This quilt, Kentucky Derby as I call it, started when I found the horse print in a remnant section.  As soon as I saw it, I thought of one of my sister in laws.  She trains with horses and even competes in tournaments.

While reading through some online quilt blogs, I came across this star block from A Quilting Life.  It's great tutorial, except it was the wrong size of block.  I wanted to use larger center squares to highlight the horses.  So I figured I could easily convert it to fit a 7" center square, it couldn't be that hard, I thought.  And then this happened...

My measurements were off and I ended up with a nice 1-1/2" gap all the way around the square.  Instead of trying to cut down the HST to fit the center block, I chose to add a nice contrasting border.  My husband suggested the navy and it works wonderfully!

Now I have to decide, should I have navy borders on all of my blocks?  Or should I alternate navy borders with yellow star points, and yellow borders with navy star points?

Also, thank you for all of the comments at the give-away.  The input is greatly appreciated as I continue to develop Quarter Mile Quilts and myself. 

HST Sampler: Bow Tie Block

Our quilt group is working on a half square triangle sampler quilt and this upcoming meeting we're working on the bow tie block.   I went back and forth on whether I would make each bow tie out of the same fabric, or if I would make it look more "patchwork."  The jury is still out on the results...

What do you think?

Since I'm limited on the amount of polka dot fabric (ahem, forgive the reference to pajama pants), I am alternating using it every other block.  I think it will help keep it from getting "too busy."

I'll be honest, the jewel/bright tones are not always my style, but I am loving it!

HST Sampler: Pinwheel Block

Recently I demonstrated how to make half square triangles (HST) to my local quilt group.  They were all excited to practice and so we decided to make HST sampler quilts.  Before each meeting, I will prepare a sample block to share with the group.  Our first block is the classic pinwheel block.

Below are the colors I selected to use for the "sample" HST sampler quilt.  The color palette is inspired by the multi-colored polka dot fabric.  I love this print!  It is from an old pair of pajama pants that I wore out and would not give up.  

Today I spent a good, productive hour organizing the fabric for each HST sampler block.  It can be tricky to find the right balance of color through out a quilt, especially when you're using strong colors.  To ensure I didn't mix up all of my hard work, I simply pinned a labeled piece of paper to each stack.

This fabric organization helps me keep the blocks in order and the color in balance.

HST Bowtie block is scheduled for our next meeting!

Hope you're having a great weekend! - Kate