Brights on Whites

I picked up two clearanced kits from Connecting Threads a few years ago and combined them to make this queen sized quilt.

The colors were just so cheerful!  The blocks and sashing were unusual and I found the whole thing enchanting.  I left off any outer border and simply extended the sashing stones around the edge for a non-standard binding.

There was so much fabric left over (one of the benefits of buying kits from Connecting Threads) that I could piece a back from it all.  Sadly, I didn't center it as well as I'd hoped, but it's still pretty cute.

Magnifico white thread throughout for the quilting.  Mostly swirls, with the occasional flower to break it up.  No sashing strips were quilted, giving a grid effect more visible on the back than the front.

Binding on the straightaways wasn't too bad, but ugh! all those points!  Well worth it in the long run, but so tedious at the time.

Scrappy Neutral Stars

I must have lugged these blocks back and forth to retreats for two years, but finally, FINALLY, the quilt is done.  Most every scrap of gold and neutral in my stash got sliced up for this one.  Some of the blocks don't really seem to blend, but I'm still learning how to scrappy.

The quilting was kept simple as this one stays home with me.  The trapunto effect would probably have been better if I'd added a layer of poly batting on top of the cotton, but meh.  After a couple of washings it will shrink a bit and look puffier.

Usually the heavier quilting goes in the background, but this time I switched it up and gave the background just a simple geometric design.  

Gotta sign and date 'em.  :)

Happy spring everyone!

Merry Chris Moose

Merry Christmas to all my bloggy friends! 

This quilt started with a panel to which I added random colored nine patch blocks and strip borders.  All the fabrics except one of the reds and one of the browns came from a 2.5" roll of fabrics from the same line as the panel so I can't take credit for the lovely color combinations at all. 

The top and back were pieced a year ago, and just for fun I threw it on Terpsichore and we danced it done in no time just a few days ago.

Binding was just all the scraps.

Most fun part?  Writing "moose moose moose" all along the inner border, which you can see well in person but not so well in these pictures.  here's a shot of a section of the back where the words are visible.

Box of Chocolates

Isn't that sweet!

Or as we say in Texas, "Idn'at swait!"

Found these adorable candies in a ten inch stack a year or so ago.  Had to have 'em and knew what I wanted to make with them by the time I got them home. They didn't want to be cut up; at ten inches there was just enough of each pattern to really show them off, so they were sashed, ribboned, and tied up with a bow.

The bow was way easier than it looks.  

I sketched it out on paper, decided what was foreground (red) and what was background (maroon), then enlarged it on some old packing paper, smoothed the sketch into something nice, and used the packing paper as a template.  Cut it up, pinned it to the appropriate color, cut out the pieces.  Satin stitch got it firmly sewed to the top.

In the chocolate squares the quilting is pretty innocuous as I didn't want to detract from the lushly detailed prints.  

The ribbon got some fairly dense quilting just to show off a little.

There were a few squares left over so they got turned into a pillowcase.  More and more I've turned to using leftovers for a pillowcase to match the quilts I make.  Even if the recipient doesn't want to use the case on their pillow, it makes a handy storage sleeve for the quilt when it isn't being used.

Quilting in the New Year

It's not even going to be about using up my stash this year.  I doubt I'll even see my stash much.  This year I'll be using up my scraps.  2017, the year of the scrap.  Cue Al Stewart.

There are four lawn and leaf bags FULL of scraps in my closet. Not garbage bags, not shopping bags, lawn and leaf bags. This doesn't even count the scraps Beth gave me.  I used some of those to make a quilt and it hardly made a dent in the poundage.  It doesn't count the scribbles everyone gives me at the end of a retreat either.  You know, the little dog ears and squaring up strings and bobbin knots?  They all go into a shopping bag that hangs off the end of my sewing table during retreat.  When I get home I chop those up and add them to a dog bed liner.  When full, they go to local shelters. 

When I square up a back before loading it onto Terpsichore the oddly asymmetrical strip that gets torn off goes in my scrap bag.  It's usually about 3/4" wide at one end and four threads wide at the other.  Every time I make flying geese blocks the old fashioned way I make two seams and cut between them to make sure the waste triangles are sewn into an hst before it gets tossed onto the scrap pile.  After nearly 40 years of quilting, there are lots of those 1 1/2" tails from a WOF strip that didn't get used when cutting 3" squares.  (4" squares, 5" squares, whatever!)  There are a few fussy cut whatnots from various novelty fabrics.  There are a few whole blocks that got built as extras for some quilt or another that it turned out I didn't need or maybe they were faulty in some way.  There's a collection of 18 gingerbread men blocks - I don't even know where these came from!  But they're squared up into 8 1/2" x 7 3/4" rectangles.  Maybe that's why they're in the scrap bag.

I have a basic plan of attack ready.  I'm going to sort by color.  I'm going to make crazy patched fabric from as much of it as I can stand.  I'm going to cut lots and lots of blue hexagons for a project I've been piddling around with for nearly five years.  I'm going to sew hsts from all the corner trimmings.  I'll be making string quilts, crazy quilts, another scrap vortex quilt, and lots of crumb blocks.  I'm sure I'll even attempt a postage stamp quilt, although there's a fair chance I'll pop an aneurysm before I get it finished.

I've delved into scrap bags maybe a couple dozen times in my life to find something that would work just so.  Most of the time I've been lucky enough to be able to go to the fabric store and buy whatever I wanted or needed.  Only twice have I reached into the scrap bag to build an entire quilt.  The first time was way before the internet, and the second time was for this quilt.

2017 isn't going to be a year full of weekly finishes because scrap quilts take way more time to select fabrics for, cut, and assemble unless you're going for a completely random look.

But I bet when 2017 is over I will have one very small bag of scraps left.

Moonlit Garden Strips

Here's the last finish for 2016.  Connecting Threads had this kit on sale for a ridiculous bargain so I purchased two.  (These kits are no longer in stock on their site.)  Together they make a queen sized quilt with plenty of scraps left over.  The piecing was very simple with the trickiest bit being getting all the pseudo rail fence blocks oriented correctly.  The kit as a lovely piece of grey and black fabric for the binding but it didn't seem to match as well as the fabric I used for the back, so a substitution was made.

I always make a couple of extra blocks in case something goes desperately wrong during the assembly process but this time it went flawlessly so the extras were used on the back.  Thank you, OFG for helping me with the photography.

This quilt was saved for last this year because it looks a little like fireworks.  Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Purple Pixelated Quilt

Not the only pixel quilt on the internet by any means, but this one is mine.  Mixing up browns and purples and getting the fade right was more challenging than I thought it would be and would have been impossible without a design wall.

Unless you zoom way in on the picture of the back above you won't be able to see that the quilting changes from dark purple through shades to lavender then neutral also.  Simple curls and swirls made the quilting go by quickly, and the color changes kept it interesting.

The binding isn't even purple!  It's blue with pink squares and metallic gold accents.

Gotta sign 'em.  :)

Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy Holiday Season!

Cozy Cuddle Quilt

Someone gave these home dec strips away a few years back at a guild meeting I attended and who am I to say no?  The top sat around for quite some time while I quilted for customers, grandchildren, and friends.

I added a few fabrics from my stash for simple blocks and threw the little end cuts together in some pinwheels and quarter squares to add a bit of visual interest.

The backing fabric had been waiting in my stash for a long time too.  It just didn't realize this was the quilt it was going to back.

Don't you just love the story that this elephant tells?

One of the pinks I threw in for the little squares on the front worked well for the binding too.  Now we just have to find the kid whose quilt this is so it can be handed over.

Two-Thirds Rail Fence

I found an inexpensive jelly roll at a variety store  last November.  The colors were interesting but I wasn't in the mood for fancy piecing.  A friend pointed out this pattern to me and it seemed appropriate for these fabrics.

WHOOSH!  the top went together in no time.

I have a pretty extensive stash that goes fairly far back in time, but even still i was surprised when i found this perfect border fabric right there in the stash.  A tiny bit of planning made the repeats come out very nicely.

A sunburst design with variegated polyester thread made short work of the quilting, which can be seen well from either side of the quilt.

Yellow and orange striped binding also came from the stash and was OFG's idea.

Spring time quilting at it's most fun.  Thanks for stopping by!

Hunter's Star Finished

Originally inspired by this picture, this hunter's star quilt took about a year to make. The pieces were cut last winter and the top finished in the summer. Quilting didn't get moving until around Christmas 2015 and the binding was finished only a week or so ago.

I tried to make the frost shimmer with Magnifico (a Superior threads shiny polyester thread).  Up close it works great.  I still can't photograph stuff like that well.  I love love love the way that thread handles.  You take one look at the shininess and start sweating, thinking it's going to break every seven stitches, but I had no trouble at all with it.  Marvelous stuff.

Small pieces cut on the bias made these blocks challenging to work with, but a little starch and a little patience paid off.

Don't ask me why the dark star.

This quilt was sold before it was finished and will be winging it's way to the Windy City next week.  Sometimes it's hard to let them go.