Tuesday, April 30, 2013

April accomplishments, May goals

I finished my top three goals for April, and I did it in time.  Hurray!
1. Bind Sarah's quilt.  (This shouldn't take long.)  Done - and it didn't take long. :)

2. Bind I-spy and bury threads.  (There are a lot of threads to bury, but it still shouldn't be too bad.)  Done!  The new owners seem to love it.

3. Finish Interlocking hearts.  (If all goes to plan, I'll have a few extra days before this is due.  Hopefully.) Done!  I did finish this a few days before it was due, but due to tons of rain it was still hard to get some good pictures.  I dropped it off at Hospice as a donation for their fundraising auction.

Since those things were finished in the first part of the month, I also worked on a few other things.
9. Pattern testing of some numbers.  Here are some of the numbers.  I'm working on making a rocket to go with them.

10. Quilt red quilt for mother-in-law. Done!

11. Random triangles. Half way through quilting.  I really like how it's turning out. And the quilting is going really quickly.

12. Fractured quilt.  I have the templates drawn.  I know - it's an exciting picture.

17. April Simply Solids block.  Done!

So here are my goals for May:
1.  Finish HST quilt, ideally before the baby arrives.
2.  Finish countdown and rocket
3.  Piece the individual squares for the fractured quilt.
And the other things that are still hanging around:
4. make the wall hanging for office.
5. pretend to work on scrap quilt.
6. finish green coasters.
7. Aunt's throw. 
8. Pillow for family room.
9. Jeweled floors.
10. Picture quilt (finish by Christmas).
11. Write a pattern for interlocking hearts.
12. Baby boy quilt from jelly roll. (July)
13. May Simply Solids block.
14. Think about another baby quilt (October)
15. One-up mushroom (October)
(late addition)16. T-shirt quilt (September)
Hey, the count went down again!  I'm always happy to see that, but at the same time I'd be sad if there was nothing to work on.
I'll be joining up with Fresh Sewing Day and Just Three as the links become available.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Red Quilt Quilted

Hurray!  My mother-in-law's red quilt has been quilted.


This quilt started out terribly...I could not get my thread to cooperate.  First it kept tangling, then it kept skipping stitches.  I wondered if it was due to the applique on the back of the quilt, and so kept going without too much trouble-shooting.  But then I finished the applique section and it was still skipping stitches.  So I put in a second needle and voila!  Everything worked.  Putting down a row of nicely placed stitches is a great feeling.

The pattern is Atomic Squares from Angela Walters' book.  I probably didn't read the instructions quite right, but I think my spacing could be a little better.  I did a lot of marking on this quilt, so I marked the horizontal line 1" under the lowest line from the section above (the red arrow below).  If I do this design again, I should mark 1" from the bottom of the boxes (green arrow) and bring the top of the boxes up higher so that they nest better.  I think it still looks fine, but that is how I would improve it.  I also marked the horizontal line, the right vertical line on the boxes, and the top of the boxes.  That worked pretty well for me...not everything was marked, but it helped to keep everything under control.

Here's the back.  I like the red thread on the black background

Even though it had a rough start, I was pretty happy with it by the end!  I was especially happy that even without a ruler my straight lines were more or less straight.  (Sure, they're not perfect, but they're also not jumping all over the place.)

Update: I just realized I didn't have any 'full quilt' pictures.  While these still don't fit the bill, there is one more of the front and back...

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Simply Solids - Puce April block

Here's my April block for the bee that I'm in.  It was paper pieced, which isn't my favorite technique but I'll admit that the points came out great!!


In other news, I finally got my sewing machine on the quilting frame working again.  I had to change the needle twice...it was being tricky.  It is so much more fun to quilt when I can do a whole row without having to stop five times for broken thread!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Finished! Interlocking Hearts

After about a year in the making, I've finished the Interlocking Heart quilt!



It is backed in flannel to make it snuggly.

After making quilts for several members of my family, I decided I wanted to make one for my mom.  However, as she passed away many years ago, I decided to donate to a fundraiser at the local Hospice.  My mom was very involved there, so it seemed appropriate.  I dropped it off today and the ladies did a wonderful job of oohing and aahing over it.

We finally had some sun, so I got a few more pictures.

The hearts are a design of my own.  The colors have some meaning too...the white ones are for a loved person. (In my case my mom, but you can pick your favorite person.)  The colored hearts stand for all the other people in their lives. 

This is probably my favorite part.  I like how the blue binding ended up next to the blue heart.

I quilted it with a heart pantograph.  It was a good thing that the quilt wasn't any longer because I was running out of room under the sewing machine.


And I really like the binding too.  I think it nicely sets off the hearts and adds some color.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday, Freemotion by the River, Sew Cute Tuesday, LAFF, Whoop-whoop Friday, and Finish it Up Friday.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Finished!: I-spy/maze/matching quilt

Here is finish number two for the week!  I made an I-spy/maze/matching quilt for a good friend's son.



I had a great time picking out the novelty fabrics.  I normally stay away from them, but some of them are so fun!


So besides the I-spy, people can use it for matching practice.  I fussy cut all the pieces so they're the same.  I tried to make them all exactly the same (note the apples) but there are a few that are slightly different.



And it's a maze!  It does have a start and finish, but I thought it could also be fun to go from one tile to a matching tile.




It's been really rainy, so the photoshoot had to be inside.  My son (and his monkey) helped out.


For quilting, I did squares and rectangles in the blue section, straight lines in the green, and back and forths in the brown.  I love all those designs.



I was a little disappointed that the thread color didn't show up on the back, but I used minky and I love how soft it is.  Since I didn't do any quilting in the maze, you can see it on the back too.

As always, there were a few times I was pretty nervous about how it was going to turn out, but I really like the end result!

Linking up with Whoop-Whoop Friday, LAAF, and Finish It Up Friday.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Random HST

Since I had three finishes this week, I finally started on some of the other things that I want to do.  (Three!!!  Two of the posts will be coming shortly.)  I laid out my random HST quilt today.  (Sorry for the lighting.  It's been a rainy week...another reason the finished quilts haven't been posted about.)



Anyway, I know these are appearing everywhere, but I thought I'd give a shout-out to a the first few that I saw and that inspired me. 

Fresh off the Spool by Danielle Hudson


Play Crafts by Anne


Modern Shopping Bag
She Can Quilt




A Quilter's Table by Debbie

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Sarah's quilt - meandering stars

I sent back Sarah's quilt yesterday.  I quilted it with meandering stars.

It looks a little odd because it is hanging on a banister.  But the quilting was clear.
I thought the brown thread that Sarah picked out looked a little green and was going to look really weird, but it turned out wonderfully!  Her fabrics were also gorgeous...I especially liked quilting on the blue ones.

Here's a shot of the back.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Pattern giveaway

I've had the pleasure of working with Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs over the last year.  She is releasing two new patterns in her etsy store, and wondered if I would like to do a giveaway to help celebrate.  (Of course!  Who doesn't like free stuff??)

Two winners will each win .pdf copies of her two new patterns, Charming and The Quilt in the Hat.  The patterns both include a variety of quilt sizes.  (I'm trying to find enough charms for the Charming quilt...I love it!  The two quilt stores I went to over break didn't have many charms though.  I was rather disappointed.)




Cheryl is also offering a sale on her patterns and offering free shipping on her sewing accessories.  They're cute...you should check them out!

To enter you can do up to two things:
1) Leave a comment.  If you're looking for a topic, how about "What size is the next quilt that you will make?"
2) Visit Meadow Mist Designs and leave an additional comment as to what your favorite item is.

I'll be choosing a winner on April 14.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Almost done!

I'm almost done quilting the interlocking hearts quilt!  I did some things differently with this one...

I did end up using a pantograph, and my laser pointer batteries were giving me problems.  So I used a stylus (kabob skewer).  Still not ideal, but better than buying expensive batteries that don't last very long.  I need to find a different laser pointer.

Someone also asked why I wasn't using any cones, and I didn't really have a good reason.  So I ordered one and it worked really well.  I put some batting scraps on the spindle to help it from jiggling around.

I'm on the last row!