A Finish: Swoon Sailboat Quilt

Sailing Away! Swoon Sailboat Quilt is finished!

 

I love this quilt, especially the classic color combination of red, white and blue!  I was lucky enough to send this quilt to be quilted by Crinkle Love using the Baptist fan motif.  I love how the quilting makes it look like the waves of the ocean.  Doesn't it make you want to sail away?

See previous post here about the mini swoon block and it's transformation into the sailboat if you're curious.

Plus, if you're still curious... I had a few outtakes from the quilt photo shoot in our new backyard (that needs some lovin').  I have to say that one of my favorite hashtags is "#husbandsholdingquilts" Check it out on social media! 

What's in a Name: Finished Quilt

Each year we rotate names for our Christmas gift exchange.  This last year I got my teenage brother who is a goofy, sweet ham. 

We love him dearly.

So what do you give a teenage boy?  I bet a quilt was at the top of your list, right? 

So all kidding aside, I really did want to make my brother a quilt and so I brainstormed a few ideas of what I could do.  In August I started pulling fabrics: navy blues, royal blues, and greys.  I continued to cultivate great "gender neutral" prints through out the process.

After struggling for a bit with the design, I decided I wanted to make a word quilt.  All of the words would be about my brother and inside jokes.  The entire quilt would be made out of words.  Awesome!  I grabbed From Blank Page's First Alphabet pattern (link to etsy store here) and brainstormed words.

Then in September I started to paper-piece all of the words...

Then around mid November, I panicked!  Only 7 words done! (I blame all of nicknames that start with "R").  - Admittedly, it was my first time doing foundation paper piecing and if you look closely, you can probably spot where I started and where I finished :) It took me a while to get a hang of the tiny pieces. -  With only 7 words done, I decided to scale back and do a combination of words and brick layout.

Words: Bubba, Brother, Ryno, Reynaldo, Ryguy, Hickman, Moatboat, Suppin It Up, and Ryan.

And here is the finished quilt, all hand-quilted:



Herringbone Quilt Finish!

and..... a finish!

The herringbone quilt is now finished.  See prior post here about the adventure of creating the top.

The quilt consists of scraps from my own stash as well as a few scrap packs from some fellow quilters that I snatched online. Score!

Seriously, one of my favorite recommendations for fabric stash building is to snag a quilter's scrap pack that pop up on instagram and flickr.  Be sure you like the person's taste (as indicated by their IG account).

Finished Dimensions:

Binding: Kona Curry

Backing: Happy Go Lucky, Moda, Bonnie & Camille (my favorite print!)

I'm very anxious to use this quilt!  I've even considered turning the air  conditioning so that I could snuggle it in the middle of the summer.

Happily this will get great use... in the mild Arizona winters.

Modern Miss: A Finished Quilt!

Do you ever worry so much about the quilting design that it freezes your creativity module?  Yep, this happened to me and truth be told, I'm not happy with the design I chose.  I think it's too much and does not compliment the quilt at all.  A lesson learned?  Yes.  Did I want to learn it on this quilt?  No.

Here's the pretty "before" picture:

Here's the quilting "after" picture:

At least it's still pretty, right?

I think a circular quilting design would have been better.  The angles were just "too much" for this quilt top.

The quilting design is called Square dance and I picked a gray "dolphin" color for the thread.

A big thanks to the husband for being my prop master.

Samurai Star: Finished Quilt

There are times when an idea strikes and then things just slide into place.  This was one of those projects.

Like some of you, I sometimes struggle with making "boy" quilts.  I've had some success with Jeni Baker's Modern Plus Quilt tutorial (see mine here), but wanted to try a new pattern.  I jumped over to my Pinterest page and remembered the Samurai Star tutorial from Amanda of A Crafty Fox (and Westwood Acres fabric shop).  As I went through my fabric stash, I remembered a bundle of fabric I bought from Jack and Lulu's London Calling line.  For me, the pattern and fabric were a great combination, though a bit busier than my usual taste.

The back of the quilt features some scraps of the front fabrics.  I think this is one of my favorite details to add to a quilt.  The quilting was kept simple with some hand-quilting around each of the stars.  I used the turn over edge of the backing for the binding which was hand-sewn.

I finished the quilt while vacationing in Utah and loved getting some pictures with greenery in the background.  Special thanks goes to the husband for helping me take pictures!

 

The quilt made it's way home to one of my nephews and I know it will be well loved!  Isn't that the point?

Plus, it's also very flattering to have the designer comment on your finished project.

Red Cross Inspired: Finished Quilt

Back in June I volunteered as a Girls Camp Director for a five day camping trip with 21 teenage girls from my church.  It was a fun, crazy, hormone-filled adventure with plenty of amazing moments. 

Each year we have a theme and this year it was centered around medical professionals.  A Red Cross flag was hung at the main gathering area as one of the ways to reinforce the theme. Our fearless leader planned the entire week to be full of great activities including archery, hiking, crafts and skits for over 150 young women.  She is an adored leader who shares her spunky, caring, contagious personality and her heart with us.  For all of her efforts, I decided to make her a quilt!

I used a combination of reds from my stash, including some of my beloved Happy Go Lucky to create the red cross and then used a basket-weave pattern of creamy low volume prints for the background - I love how this turned out!  The border is a muddled red from my LQS with the binding from Bonnie & Camille's Marmalade collection.

I again went with the champagne bubbles for the quilting with a parchment colored thread.  Quilting by my local quilt shop, Cutting Edge Quilts.

My favorite part is all of the reds and how they play off each other.  By far, fabrics are my favorite part of quilting.  What's your favorite part of quilting?

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!)

And the race is on... Kentucky Derby Quilt Finish!

They're coming down the back stretch it's Odin's Hammer with Grease Lightning and Southern Drawl right on his tail...Now Odin's Hammer and Southern Drawl are neck and neck, but wait here comes Lucky Charm out of nowhere it looks like it could be a photo finish folks... and the winner is Lucky Charm!

Ok, thank you for the crazy introduction.  As you can tell I'm so excited that I finished my Kentucky Derby Quilt.  It's been a long journey (you can read about how I messed up my math here).  I've had this quilt ready to be bound for nearly six months.  It was a quilt without a deadline and the math errors still haunt me, in a good way.  I measure six times and then cut once these days.

It is by no means a perfect quilt, but I am so grateful for the lessons that it has taught me.
1. There's no harm in trying something even if you don't have a pattern!
2. Measure twice (at least!)
3. Enjoy the process

My grandparents grew up in a small town and every year there is a family reunion that includes a trip to the County Horse Races.  My grandfather gloats about how my grandmother was the Dairy District Derby Queen.  We also place quarter bets on the horses and (much to the chagrin of my mother) win "a bunch of money." This is according to my then five year old sister who announced this at church one Sunday.

Quilt features the horse panel print from Joann's that was found in the remnant section and with the rest of the fabrics coming from my stash

Quilt measures: 56" x 56"
Pattern: Classic Star Block with an additional inside border.

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!" ;)

Simple & Effective: Wee Wander Quilt

Here is my simple, yet effective Wee Wander Quilt that I made for my 8 year-old niece.

I love the simple design because it alternates between 6" strips of patterned fabric and 2" strips of Kona White. I love how this let's the colors and patterns of the fabric shine.

I hand-quilted this little number with some coral-colored pearl cotton.  It can be pretty tough to hand sew through minky, so quilter beware :)

This quilt is simple in design and effective because of how it lets the fabric be the star of the show.  It was also simple and effective because while making this quilt I needed something simple. 

All in all, the most important thing is that my niece loves it!

Thank you all for your kind comments and emails about my quilting anxiety in the last post.  You've all offered some great advice and I've started to implement a few of your suggestions.  For example, I don't check my blog feed every night (trying the suggestion to just read on Fridays/Saturdays) and I've skimmed back on my participation in blog link parties.

I've slowly started to re-enter blogging and emailing.  If you follow me on Instagram you'll see that I've started quilting/sewing more frequently, usually in small 1/2 hour bursts on the weekends.

Finished: April Showers Plus Quilt

Yes!  It's finished!

It features fabric from Bonnie & Camille's April Showers line and several low volume prints (including my coveted chicken wire fabric).  The circular quilting compliments (at least I think so!) all of the right angles in the quilt.

Backing is a crossword print I found on clearance!  Yay for cute backings that are awesome!

I was tempted to wait for yardage so that I could get the navy bias stripe for the binding, but the solid navy stole my heart.  Love how it gives an edge to the quilt.

Quilt measures roughly 52" x 60".  Quilting done by my LQS, Cutting Edge Quilts and the quilting design is called "Champagne Bubbles"

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Best, Kate

PS.  Anyone else use PicMonkey?  I love it, but it no longer supports my browser... and I didn't feel like upgrading tonight... please don't steal my pictures :)

Finish: Granny Square Quilt

Armed with my Wonder Clips, I sat down Wednesday night and finished my Granny Square Quilt.  I love how the magenta binding just seems to pop off the border and bring the whole quilt together.  This isn't a combination that I would typically use, but it felt right!

Quilt measures roughly 35" x 40"
Binding: PBJ Textiles
Border: Legacy Studios polka dot print
Granny Squares: Kona White and various prints from stash (2" squares)
Pattern: Blue Elephant Stitches (who is AMAZING)
Quilting: Local Quilt Shop (Cutting Edge Quilts)

Thanks for the encouragement from everyone on the last post!  See, I finished a WIP with your help.  Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Central Park Dresden Quilt: A Finish

I am so happy to share this finish with you!  This dresden quilt is one of the largest quilts I've made.  Luckily he week of Christmas was spent on the beach in California and I took advantage of the scenery to shoot the pictures.

I fell in love with Kate Spain's Central Park Line right from the beginning and was itching to get my hands on some.  I found a half yard bundle for a steal and then took months to figure out which pattern I wanted.  After seeing some beautiful Dresden plates from Alison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew and Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter, I was inspired.

With one minor alteration, I used Oh Frannson's tutorial for the Dresden plate.  I felt the center was a bit bigger than I desired and so used one my kitchen bowls to create a smaller template.

The plates are appliqued on Kona White and the border is a Moda Bella solid (can't remember the name - must start to label solids!).  I used the extra pieces of Central Park to piece the border.  I couldn't help myself and took the plunge to use the cobblestone print for both the backing (in light brown) and binding (yellow).

Once again, my LQS provided the quilting services and did a fabulous job!

I snagged a picture just as I finished the binding :)

As a part of the festivities, this quilt was raffled off to my in-laws and my brother-in-law won it!

Oh, and just because I didn't have enough WIPs, I decided to join The 2014 Sugar Block Club from Stitchery Dickory Dock. 

Anyone care to join me?

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts' Finish it Up Friday.

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.