Heidi's wedding quilt

The wedding quilt is finished!

It's large and therefore hard to get a picture of.  However, it wasn't too large for my quilter, so that was awesome.  The pattern is from the July/Aug '19 issue of Quiltmaker and designed by Sylvia Schaefer.  (The official name is Glow Tiles.)  I'll admit, I didn't like the pattern in the magazine.  It's one of the first patterns I've made from a magazine, so they might all be this way.  There were a few details that were missing so I had to do a lot of flipping the page and using the process of elimination.

I also don't love the quilt.  This also has a few reasons...I'm used to working on smaller quilts and I think I just got bored.  I had some significant problems with the quilter also really threw a damper on things, although by the end of the quilt they were mostly fixed.  There are also a few mistakes in the quilt that I just really don't like.  I'm not sure anyone will ever notice, but...they're there.

Ok, enough of the negative.  Let's talk about the things I do like.  I do like how I quilted this.  In the glow tile part I did a dense stipple, which really made the glow tiles pop.  Outside of that I did some zig-zags, but also added some thread fireworks to make things a bit interesting.  I like using thread so that it stands out from the fabric, but it's a bit nerve-wracking too.  The fireworks on the bottom should be on the bottom side of the mattress and not on the top.

The colors that were used were Kona's Teal Blue, Dark violet, Violet, Orchid, Gold, Curry, and Mustard.

I backed it with minky.  As always.  Because adults love the softness too.

Linking up with Q4 Finish-A-Long (#1)

Baby girl quilt

My mother-in-law finished this quilt for a friend.  I really like how it turned out.

I put loops in the white sashing parts.  I was going to do more on the colored fabrics, but then I saw how they popped and kept it to a minimum.  I'll admit, the quilting that I did end up doing on the colored parts isn't what I envisioned in my head.  I was trying to imitate the design on the white fabric (see two pictures below), and instead ended up with a circuit board component.  Not bad enough to take out, but if I got to do it again I'd do it differently.

HST offset: finished

My best friend growing up recently had her second baby.  I was a bit slow getting the quilt out, but not too bad.

I still had some left over HSTs from the wedding quilt a while ago.  I used some in a different baby blanket, and finished them up here.  Since this one is for a girl, I did add in some pink.  Just a touch.  I also offset the HST rows by half a block.  I'm not sure that I've seen anyone do this before, although I'm sure someone has, and I was curious as to how the final outcome would look.  I didn't want to try and make a specific design because I wasn't actually making the HSTs.

I also added some borders because it felt a bit too small otherwise. 

The quilting is Swirly Whirly from 180 Doodle Quilting Designs.  I used the triangle and strip options, which is one of the first times I've used this nice feature in the book.  I think the quilting came out ok, but I probably could have used some more practice with it.

It's backed with Minky and bound in sateen.  This time I just used a sateen ribbon instead of the special stuff by the quilting aisle.  I thought it worked very well.  (Although I'll admit, I did it on accident.  I was ordering it on Amazon instead of going in person to pick it up and didn't realize that it was normal ribbon.  It explains the huge price difference though.)

Linking up with Q4 Finish-A-Long (#2) 

Star quilt

My mother-in-law "needed" a quick turn around on this quilt.  She had made a girl's quilt, not knowing the gender, and then the baby ended up being a boy.

 

I put loops in the grey and random triangles in the colored section.  Nothing too special, but with different colors and different quilting motifs it comes out special.

Q4 FAL

1. Heidi's Wedding Quilt: I just finished piecing and pressing it.  (I did not enjoy the pressing part!)  I need to trim a bit on the top but it's almost ready for quilting.  I just need to get the new dryer installed so I can prep the backing.  (I'm hoping to finish this within the month.  It's already cold out...)

2. Baby girl quilt (BHS).  I added some pink and put this together with leftover HSTs from another quilt.  The quilting is about half way finished and going quickly.

(The remaining items are hold overs from last quarter.  I did finish [or remove or consolidate] several items though, so I'm down six items!  This is the smallest number on my list in quite some time, and I'm hoping it gets a bit smaller this quarter too!)

3. Meshing solid HSTs: This needs to be quilted.  Densely, so the grey variations aren't so prominent.

4. Stash Bee: All the blocks are here, I just need to put them together.

5.  Scrap bee blocks 2017: This got all put together and now needs to be quilted.  I also want a scrap backing, so that needs to be pieced.

6. Temperature quilt.  I need to quilt this.  It's from 2017, so it's rather low on the priority list.

7. Rainbow Log Cabin.  I need to decide what to do with this.  I was thinking of making it reversible.  If I don't want to do that, I need to just finish it up!

8. Scrap quilt. Surprise, surprise, it needs to be quilted.

9. Winter quilt.  I have the fabric and an idea for the pattern.  It involves triangles and a sketch is somewhere on the blog.

10. Pillow with green/purple fabric.  I just want to make an easy pillow.  I just need to do it.

11. Black scrap quilt.  This is so close to being finished.  I want to square it up before binding, and the task seems daunting.

12. Green stripes.  This isn't square.  I don't really know how to square it up well (or easily), so it's been sitting around for a long time.

13. Quilt for Ryan.  I found a Bargello quilt pattern that I can scale down to a mini-quilt.  I'll just be using solid scraps for it.

Things that don't count for the Finish-a-long but I want to remember them:
14. Jeweled floors
15. Trying to fit in - left over triangles
16. Fabric from Christmas

Joining the Q4 FAL.

Lego Bricks and Bear

I recently finished a quilt that I designed.  It's been a while since I've designed a quilt from scratch...lately I've seen something that I like and then I adapt it to suit my desires.

Anyway, behold, a Lego Bear surrounded by Lego bricks.

I took the initial pictures and realized I had forgotten to add the mouth as I was looking at the pictures and comparing it to the Lego bear.  It looks a lot better with a mouth.

The bear was used because the baby announcements were Lego scenes.  Both of them had this bear in it... (picture link).  The parents recognized the bear right away, so that was a relief.

This was my first time doing circles.  I don't know what the official term is for what I did, but I folded the fabric over and then zig-zag stitched the circles on.  They weren't perfect by any means, but not too bad.  The colors I used were Kona key lime, corn yellow, citrus, coral, chartreuse, mocha, charcoal, steel, med grey, malibu, straw, pacific, and tomato.

I went with a maze design on the Lego bricks in a matching thread color.  For the teddy bear I put in loops as I thought imitates the fuzziness of stuffed animals.

This was a larger baby quilt than I normally make, and so the backing I got wasn't large enough.  I added some green around the plaid I had originally chosen.

(Part of the Q3 FAL)

Ovals and Diamonds

My mother-in-law brought over this cute little quilt for me to quilt.  She didn't love it so I was tempted to do a really fast all-over design, but decided to practice my ruler skills instead.

I put a plus of ovals in between each set of diamonds, and then a ghost diamond in the middle of the ovals.  The seams were in just the right place, so this is was and easy to line up the rulers to make sure I was centered or going to the right place.   Most of the ovals came out pretty good, but I need to remember to not try and take the bottom turn without changing my hand position first.  There are also a few diamonds that are a little bigger because I went to the wrong intersection, but I decided to leave them.

Finished: running around Mama's cottage

I finished the top for this baby quilt a while ago.  It took me the birth of a baby girl (and an empty quilter) to finally get it finished.

The pattern is on Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  (Although I'll admit I figured out my own instructions to get the size that I wanted.)  I used a random charm pack that I had gotten for purchasing "too much" fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop.  It is called Mama's Cottage.

I added some solids to it to help balance out the colors and tone down the emphasis on pinks.  (It is pretty balanced, but some times I like to balance away from pink for girls quilts.)  I did use a pink and grey minky for the back, so there is still plenty of pink in the quilt.

My quilt holder isn't quite big enough yet.  He tried really hard to hold it up and straight and flat, but needs a few more inches on his arms.

This is the first family that I've given three baby quilts to.  I thought for a while it was the first family to receive three quilts from me, but then I realized I've given four to my brother (phew).

I quilted it with double loops in a very light pink thread.  The quilting went really quickly...either I've been doing a lot of custom work lately or the sewing machine didn't give me many problems or I've gotten a bit better at this whole quilting thing. 

(Part of the Q3 FAL)

Table Runners

I met someone on the other side of our little lake that is also a quilter.  She wanted some table runners done, and so I did them for her.

Number One.  This one was done with leaves: white thread in the white parts and variegated green/brown in the leaves.

Number Two: same threads, but a stipple instead.

It was nice to find a new quilting friend.  It was also nice to have a white backing because I could see the quilting so well.

Q3 FAL

Q3

Here we go!  I made some good progress last quarter, even if I didn't work on many items.

1. Lego quilt (M): This is all made and the quilting is up next!  I'm not sure how I'm going to do the bear yet.  His stomach is two different variations of Kona straw (frowny face) so it needs to be semi-dense.  Also, ironically, I had to take the picture outside because the floor I normally take pictures on was too full of Legos.

2. Heidi's Wedding Quilt: I have a pattern and fabrics...this is the next item I will be piecing.

3. Stash Bee: I'm queen bee in July, so I have made my block and more are coming in!

The rest are hold overs from last quarter and I didn't work on them at all...
4. baby girl quilt: This is made but needs to be quilted.

5. Meshing solid HSTs: This needs to be quilted.  Densely, so the grey variations aren't so prominent.

6.  Scrap bee blocks 2017: This got all put together and now needs to be quilted.  I also want a scrap backing, so that needs to be pieced.

7. Temperature quilt.  I need to quilt this.  It's from 2017, so it's rather low on the priority list.

8. Rainbow Log Cabin.  I need to decide what to do with this.  I was thinking of making it reversible.  If I don't want to do that, I need to just finish it up!

9. Scrap quilt. Surprise, surprise, it needs to be quilted.

10. Winter quilt.  I have the fabric and an idea for the pattern.  It involves triangles and a sketch is somewhere on the blog.

11. Pillow with green/purple fabric.  I just want to make an easy pillow.  I just need to do it.

12. Black scrap quilt.  This is so close to being finished.  I want to square it up before binding, and the task seems daunting.

13. Wedding quilt left over HST II (JNK).  While I don't have a pattern in mind yet, finding one for HSTs will be pretty easy.  I was considering adding in some pink to have a pre-made girl baby blanket.

14. Green stripes.  This isn't square.  I don't really know how to square it up well (or easily), so it's been sitting around for a long time.

Things that don't count for the Finish-a-long but I want to remember them:

15. Jeweled floors
16. Wedding quilt pillows
17. Quilt for Ryan  
18. Trying to fit in - left over triangles
19. Fabric from Christmas 

20. baby quilt (BHS)
21. Christen's mom's quilt
22. Quilting some table runners

Joining the Q3 FAL.