True Colors Baby Quilt

The quick story of a fun little quilt!

My postal carrier handed me a package from Julie at Jaybird Quilts filled with these wonderful items.










I instantly cut the charms into 2.5" squares and paired them with some solid white squares.

They were quickly chain pieced....turned into 4 patches and placed on the design wall...

...and before I knew it, a little quilt was born!









I pulled a piece of gray Michael Miller Quarter Dots for the backing and sewed in an inset of text print to make it long enough.

Now it needs to find a home so it can live happily ever after!

Linking up with TGIFF, Richard and Tanya Quilts, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts, Sew Can She and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Triangle Quilt Progress

If you would have asked me last week how far I would get on my Sassy Triangle Quilt, I would have said I'd be lucky to have a single row sewn together!  There has been just so much on my plate lately, I thought it would be unlikely I would get much sewing done. 

But it is amazing what a couple of late night sewing binges can do!

(I apologize for the colors in these photos.  These colors are so difficult to capture and it truly is the wee hours of the morning!)

I think I was initially hung up on trying to come up with a creative layout.  First I tried stars then I spent quite a bit of time trying to come up with a chevron pattern. But every layout had me wanting to pull in more colors or fabrics and I really wanted to use up what I had in front of me.







I finally realized I was making this quilt harder than it needed to be. I quickly pulled the triangles from my design wall and sorted them into two identical stacks. (This is a trick I use to evenly distribute fabrics on a quilt - one stack for the top half and one for the bottom half.) Well, within a few minutes I had the triangles laid out randomly on my design wall.

Worried it would take days and days to sew this up, I thought I had better spend an evening sewing.  Before I knew it, I had all 10 rows sewn up and I'm now ready for the next step. 

The quilt should end up to be about 58 x 65".  I am hoping I can piece together the remaining yardage for the backing.


I will be happy when the top gets sewn up next week so I can get some good outdoor photos of these colors.  It really is a fun quilt with some unexpected colors that really work well together.

I was a little nervous I would have problems sewing the triangles. Did I starch my fabrics? Nope! Did I do any pinning? Not me!

But I was happy to see my vintage Bernina 830 was up to the task and sewed these triangles perfectly! Man I love my sewing machine!

 

 

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday, Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River, and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story

Scrap-A-Palooza! Quilt #4 Part One

It is the start of a new month so that means another scrap quilt!  

Yep!  It is time to get on my party hat and start another Scrap-A-Palooza quilt.  

The inspiration for this quilt came about as I was writing my post for Part Three of last month's quilt.  As I was showing some possible layouts for the Color Block quilt, we discussed possibly setting up the blocks to appear to be weaving in and out of each other.  (I also shared you this quilt that I had done a number of years ago.)

Well, this got me thinking about a stack of cut squares that have been living on my coffee table for a really long time.

I had cut these 4 1/2" squares for a quilt I have been meaning to make but I now want to make in different fabrics.  These squares were cut from leftover fabrics from a couple of previous quilts and I have been wanting to find them a home.

The thought of weaving colors and the need to get these fabrics out of my livingroom gave me an idea.  So...

My vision for this month's quilt is to make a simple patchwork quilt where two colors are woven together.

 If you haven't saved your scraps for long, this project might be a bit difficult to make.  You need to pick two colors with a lot of contrast to them and have enough scraps of each color to cut enough blocks to make a quilt.

I went with 4 1/2" squares as that is the size I already had cut.  You can certainly adjust the size but I would not go too much smaller.  We will be adding a background color like the quilt at the top of the post.  I will be going with white again as I have a nice stock of it in my stash.

How many squares should you cut?  That will depend on how big of a quilt you want.  Once you know what size you will be cutting your squares, figure out a width and length that is divisible by the finished size of that square (Note: it will need to be an odd number).  My finished size is 4" and I want about a 50" square quilt.  13 rows by 13 columns will get me to a 52" quilt.

Now just multiply your number of rows times the number of columns and divide by three.  That is about the number of squares you will need of for each color.  

So for a quilt like mine, you will need about 57 squares of each color.

In previous months, there have been 4 posts on each of the quilts but this month, we will only be needing three.  If this quilt doesn't sound like it fits the scraps you have on hand, remember, you can always look at the Scrap-A-Palooza gallery page for other scrappy inspiration.

  And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me.

Now let's get to cutting!

I will be sharing this with Anything Goes Monday at Stitch by Stitch and Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.  Be sure and check out these blogs for even more quilty inspiration.

Star Light Star Bright Finished!

It is hard to believe that it was the beginning of February, when Melissa of Happy Quilting revealed her next Quilt-A-Long - Star Light Star Bright.  I had joined in on her Star Surround QAL and that quilt turned out to be my favorite quilt of 2013.  So I was very excited to join in on the fun again.

I didn't have any time to shop so I decided to use this pile of fabrics that had been hanging around for a bit with no real project in mind for it.  The fabrics are called Simple Marks by Malka Dubrawsky.

 I was intrigued by how this circle print would work in the quilt.  I always like a challenge!

I decided to go with only 4 blocks but make them big at 28" each.  This would make a finished quilt about 62" square.

As I looked at the pictures Melissa shared, I was really drawn to the sashing/corner stones and the patterns they made.  So I decided to make them out of a seperate background color to accentuate them a bit.















Well, here is my finished quilt!  I have to say I really like how it turned out!

Each block only uses 4 prints but the circle print really makes it look like more.  Both of the background fabrics are an older woven fabric line that Moda used to make.  They have a wonderful texture to them. 
 








Here are some pictures of the quilting while it was loaded on my longarm.  To squeeze it in between customer quilts, I had to work quite a few long days at my machine.

To trick the eye, I always like to come up with quilting designs that create blocks that really aren't there.  I loved the block that formed where the true blocks came together.

It was another very successful Quilt-A-Long.  It did take a few late nights but I was able to keep up with each weeks assignments.









 Thanks Melissa for hosting another great Quilt-Along.  If you haven't already seen the parade of quilts Melissa put together, you can pop over to her blog and check out all the rest of the finished quilts!

Linking up with Pretty Bobbins, TGIFF, Richard and Tanya Quilts, Fabric Frenzy Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts, Sew Can She and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

And as this is another item on my Bloom project list, I will also be linking up with Joanie's Trendy Quilts.

A Lovely Year of Finishes - April Goal

Yesterday I posted my 2nd quarter Finish -Along goals with The Littlest Thistle.  And even though I could combine my goals, because my intent is to get some of these old projects done and dusted, I am making a separate goal for the April's A Lovely Year of Finishes.

Many moons ago, some friends and I took a class with Tonye Belinda Philips.  It was such a fun day!  In the class we needle-turned appliqued these whimsical little birdhouse blocks.  At the end of the class, two of my friends gave me their blocks and I have held onto them all these years.  I have always wanted to make a little memory wallhanging for my sewing room.  As I am dealing with the clutter about my house, these blocks need to come to the top of the pile and get dealt with.

So hopefully by the end of April, I will be sharing what I come up.  Right now, I have no firm ideas so I hope inspiration strikes soon.

Thanks Sew Bittersweet Designs for helping me get these projects to a finished state!

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.

Finish-A-Long 2nd Quarter Goals

March was a really tough month for me!  And it reflected in my level achievement (or lag there of)  in accomplishing my first quarter goals.  Out of the 4 items on my list, I finished up two.  But when I look back at my workload in the first quarter, I am going to be happy with those two!

Last quarter, I was wanting to get the two curtains for the my newly remodeled kitchen finished.  I must have touched this fabric a hundred times moving it out of the way in my sewing room. 

It is staying on the list until they are done!

Speaking of moving things around my sewing room....These old orphan Insanity blocks need to be made into potholders.  Everything is there to complete them and they have been clutter for too long!

And this tub of fabric has been taking up shelf space for too long also!  This was a quilt sample I was making for a LQS but the project was abandoned when pieces started not fitting.  I feel challenged to get this project to go together nicely....then I will pass on the rest of the fabrics to a friend who fell in love with them.  There's well over 10 yards of fabric in here!

And finally, I want to get this old quilt top quilted up.  I think I finished it about the time I bought my longarm.  It has waited in the queue for over 7 years.

Well, there you have it.  Four more items I would love to get off my project list.  Don't worry, there will still be those new projects I want to start or the impulse "great" idea I get late at night for a new scrap design.  You can bet there will be lots of those and I will be sharing everything with you.

Wish me lots of luck this quarter!! I am going to need it!

 

(Thanks Katy at The Littlest Thistle for keeping me focused on these older projects!)

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, and WIP Wednesday with Freshly Pieced. I will also link to this month's Fresh Sewing Day and the 2014 Finish Along with Katy.

Sassy Triangles - Cut!

Did you catch that in a moment of weakness, I joined in on the Triangle Quilt-Along at The Sassy Quilter?  As I was cutting triangles late into the night, I was rethinking my decision a bit but I am sure once I get into the sewing, I will feel much better.  Cutting these specialty shapes are not how I like to spend my time so I am very happy the bulk of them are finished.

Of course I am going with a very scrappy look and came up with some old fabrics I found in my stash.  I have made a quilt or two in the past with these orchids, acid greens, grays and blacks and really liked how they turned out.  I think this pattern will be perfect for these colors too!

I am cutting a larger triangle than Paula suggested and will be selectively cutting more once I get a pattern up on the wall.

One thing I notice about a lot of these specialty rulers is they really slide around on you.  Over the years, I have tried many different notions to help with accuracy and my favorite are the sticky backed sandpaper dots.  They don't obscure the lines much and really help to grip the fabric.  When I can't find my supply of them, in a pinch I have even made my own with a paper punch and some glue.

So many quilters are sewing along so it has been fun seeing everyone's fabric choices.  I think there will be over 100 sites linking up here.  Be sure and check it out if you have a chance!

 

 

Linking up with Anything Goes Mondays at Stitch by Stitch, Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River, and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story