Sea Monster Baby Quilt

It has been awhile since I shared the flimsy for this baby boy quilt. I usually quilt up my finished tops right away. July was crazy so this one was folded up and neatly stashed away until everything calmed down a bit around here. I'm not quite ready to bid farewell to summer just yet though... then again we do have football to look forward to!  This quilt was featured at My Quilt Infatuation Blossom Heart Quilts and Quilt Story!!

I used a tutorial by cluck cluck sew called Scrappy Summer. I have seen this pattern referred to Penny Patch as well.

It was a great scrap busting project and I made it a little larger than I usually make my baby quilts because these blocks were fun to do and before I knew it I had a few too many! I used a palette of orange, navy, blue, grey and mustard along with Kona White for the the four-patch blocks. I love when I don't have to buy anything new to finish a quilt! Not that I mind buying fabric!

I quilted it in a meandering pattern using a variegated light grey thread from my Tula Pink Aurifil collection. Then bound it all together with a spotty mustard and white binding. I don't always wash my quilts after they are finished but I couldn't help but want to see this one all crinkled up! The crinkle factor is one of the main reason I love to use meandering even though meandering is tricky for my brain. I love how fluffy and snuggly it turned out. The backing was just the right choice so thanks to those who shared opinions in my last post about this quilt!

The constellation fabric above glows in the dark! I didn't have a particular little guy in mind for this quilt but I do remember my own kiddo loving glow in the dark anything! Just to be sure it worked I did take this into a closet and 'oooh and aaahh' over the glowing fabric yesterday! Plus there are monsters - sea monsters!!

I would absolutely use this baby quilt pattern again. My finished quilt is around 37x48 and is available in my etsy shop for some sea creature, outer space loving little guy or little guy at heart!

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Up Parasol Sherbet Baby Quilt

Oh jelly roll, how you get to me every time... I know I'm not the only one who finds it tricky to use jelly rolls but they keep me on my toes that's for sure! I had a bunch of leftover strips from when I made my rainbow burst mini quilt from a jelly roll of Up Parasol by Heather Bailey. I love the large scale prints in this line but it's hard to showcase them when they've been cut into 2.5 inch strips.

I added in some odds and ends from the Birds and Berries collection by Jessi and Lauren Jung. These two bird loving fabric lines went together just perfectly! The sweet oranges, pinks, greens and teals meshed so well! I could not help but think of sherbet ice cream the entire time I was working on this quilt!

With my deep affection for teal and orange fabrics it's no wonder that I drawn to the two of these collections. I'm so glad I was able to pull them together into one baby quilt! And use up part of my jelly roll.... although I still have a bunch of strips leftover so more jelly roll pondering in my future.

I didn't wash it but I can imagine it with all its crinkly quilty goodness. That pop of hot pink gets me every time!  And darn it, I do love plaid, I was just telling my hubby that I need more good plaid in my life... err, stash.

With all of the busy prints in this quilt I chose a solid binding from Art Gallery Elements.  The backing is by Kate Spain's Joy collection in Mint - although it was part of a holiday collection, it goes perfectly with this spring baby quilt!

I've been a meandering machine lately and again did a meandering quilting pattern.  I'm still perfecting my meandering - the pattern is so quick and universal that I just want to do it over and over!!

If you are wanting to make your own jelly roll squares quilt the center squares are 2.5 inches, followed by 6.5 strips and then 10.5 strips. It does require 'squaring up' after each square is complete. This baby quilt measures 40x40 and goes together super fast!

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Promise Circle Finished Quilt

I've finished my first do.Good Stitches quilt with the amazing Promise Circle! This quilt was featured at My Quilt Infatuation Needle and Thread Thursday!!

Do you see the green grass up there - spring is really, really here, finally! My month to be the quilter was February; I selected improv log cabins in hot pink, navy, teal, white, mustard and mint.  I'm thinking I may need to do another quilt in these colors soon.

I love doing improv log cabins; sometimes randomness is just the thing!

It was such fun to see the different fabrics and variations of the block from the rest of the Circle.

I quilted in a meandering pattern, my practicing has been paying off! For the binding I selected a textured solid in mustard from Andover, I think the actual color is called Hay Stack which is fitting.

I pieced a backing from solid mint and hot pink flowers with tiny lime colored centers, all from my stash. It feels so good to finish a quilt without buying anything! Just another one of the good things about do.Good Stitches - stash management.

The blocks were 12.5 inches unfinished, some contained one large log cabin and some made up of four small log cabins. The finished quilt measures around 50x68. do.Good Stitches is an online charity quilting bee; this finished quilt will be heading to Enchanted Makeovers. One more indoors shot - these bright colors were tough to capture... probably needed to push more buttons on my camera... which ones though?!?

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Wonky Rainbow Burst Mini Quilt

I could not be any further behind with my blogging!! I'm here and sewing... although sewing lots of things that I've already shared here before. I am finally caught up with custom order requests and even managed to squeak in a Caribbean vacation this month with the hubby. Back in December I mentioned joining a rainbow mini quilt swap on Instagram. It was my first swap and so much fun! This quilt was featured at Richard and Tanya Quilts!

I made this mini quilt over winter break. My partner mentioned that she liked Heather Bailey and low volume fabrics. I had a jelly roll of Up Parasol by Heather Bailey and a bunch of prints from my stash that played really well together.

Thankfully my partner also likes wonky and since I've been head over heels in love with Greenleaf Goods wonky pinwheel tutorial for awhile it was a chance to try the pattern on a mini scale and a fresh layout similar to Wavelengths by Lee at Freshly Pieced. If anyone is wanting to see detailed construction on this mini let me know I'd be happy to put a tutorial!!

Capturing the rainbow was the trickiest part of the mini but this layout finally won me over! I had the perfect backing for a quilting enthusiast. The swap required a label, which is something I never do, but it does make it special doesn't it?! Plus I got to use my 'fancy stitches' on my Pfaff to attach the label, something I almost never get to do while quilting. I should make more labels I think...

 I quilted the mini in one big concentric circle. I started at the teal center and did a free motion circle until I reached the edge of the quilt and then I switched over to my regular walking foot to quilt the rest, restarting at the end of each arch. I changed thread colors with the rainbow.

On the theme of rainbows I added a rainbow binding too

I sent my mini to Australia several weeks ago and recently received my swap package; head on over to instagram to check out the amazing mini package I received!  Can't wait to join a new swap now that I'm finally caught up with almost everything.... except blogging!

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Free Motion Quilting

At February's modern quilt guild meeting last week I brought home a charity quilt top that needed quilting. Members can take home blocks to be pieced, quilt tops to be quilted, and/or quilts to be bound. The finished quilts will be donated to a local charity. I'm in need of some serious free motion quilting practice so I chose a quilt top that needed quilting.

This charity quilt is made up of 15 large squares in different shades of grey with pops of bright colors. I selected an Aurifil thread in a very light blue/grey which goes well with all of the blocks. I'm planning to quilt it using motifs that I've never put on a quilt before. It was just me and Angela Walters Free Motion for Beginners this weekend. So far I have practiced concentric circles (the type that are supposed to touch), pebbles, flowers, loopys, and paisleys. I have to say that some of these seem to look much better in photos than in person! So far the most difficult for me is the paisley. My thread kept breaking on this fmq design, likely because of my inconsistent speed and/or wild changing of direction while quilting. It's also easy to get trapped in a place that you can't get out of with this pattern. I ended up missing a few big areas and had to go back fill in later too. That said, I can see using this in small spaces again because it does look pretty good.

I started with the pebbles in one of the wonky star blocks. Pebbles take forever! I can't imagine doing pebbles in that scale all over on a large quilt - if I decide to do that on an entire quilt its going to be stones or large rocks for me! On the plus side they look good and were pretty easy to do for a beginner. The one motif that I really want to perfect is the concentric circle. For me it isn't easy to get those circles to touch... and I never quite get close enough to the edge so I have big gaps that I end up filling in later... and usually in a strange way. I also have several enormous circles... how'd that happen?! I'm thinking each row will need a few circles because I'd like to add that to my list of 'go to' free motion quilting patterns.

I think I perfected the flower pattern. I could see using this design on a large quilt. It's easily the most fun pattern so far. 

And the current 'easiest' free motion quilting pattern so far is loopys. I've seen this fmq pattern on many full size quilts and wanted to use it for awhile but never had just the right quilt top for it. I would use this pattern again, its quick and effective. I imagine it will be even better once its washed and crinkly.  

I have eight blocks finished so far. One of the things I noticed after an afternoon of quilting my muscles started to fatigue, once that happened most of my control went out the window... my lines were shaky, I couldn't stay within the boundaries, round things were square, square things were round, you get the idea... even though I had more energy mentally, my muscles were done and I had to take a break. 

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Silly String Quilt In Progress

Just before the New Year I started a 'leader and ender' project using up a few pink and teal strips from other projects.

After a lot of hmming and hawing and moving pieces around I finally decided on a layout. An original design, yay! I shall call it Silly String. Just because.

I selected a cute print from Life is Tweet by Stephanie Marrot, for the backing and basted it. These polka dot feathers are so cute! The lime and purple give the quilt a little more color too.

And then wouldn't ya' know I couldn't make up my mind how to quilt it. At all! I even took to instagram to get some insta-feedback! Still nothing. I've never had a quilt sit and sit just starting at me for days before....  Phht. Last night I had a few minutes and thought darn it, I'm just going to meander this thing and get it off my floor.... I seriously need some meandering practice anyways!

Not too bad - hardly any square loops this time! I had purchased a Supreme Slider from Amazon and used it for the first time on this quilt. Wow, I have been missing out - no wonder I had square loops, I haven't been able to move my fabric very well. It's hard to know the difference until you quilt with it and without it. I had initially bought the Supreme Slider for quilting with minky which is a little harder to move than cotton fabric. Hope it works this well for minky too! Maybe I can even tackle the pebble or bubble quilting someone had mentioned!

Now onto the binding... which I had selected quite awhile ago while I pondered the quilting. I was thinking of a teal with white pin dot - same fabric in the quilt top.  Although now seeing the backing with the front I'm wondering if lime or purple might work and bring it all together.... Or if that would just be strange?!  I might need to hold an instagram binding audition.

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The Bella Chica

I'm sure everyone is nearly tired of me yacking about my latest dog quilts but what can I say - that's what I've been working on! Plus they all have a story to capture and if I don't do it here I'll probably forget! The Bella Chica is my latest finish. This dog quilt is for an apricot colored mini poodle. She's a new puppy gift/memorial gift for a spa owner in Arizona.

The Bella Chica was done in deep purples and bright pinks with pops of lime. The house, letters and binding are all by Art Gallery. Two different batik fabrics were used for her head, ears and paws. I managed to find just the right shade of pink minky dot for the backing. When I'm quilting with minky I try to stick to 'easier' free motion quilting patterns like the meander. Even though meandering isn't that easy for me - I always struggle with keeping the pattern moving and not getting stuck in doing a repeat of the same bubble over and over. I noticed that one of the issues when quilting with minky is that it is a little harder to move freely while fmq and I feel myself really pushing and pulling the fabric and sometimes getting stuck which results in slightly squared off meanders, yuck! The Supreme Slider was recommended by one of my lqs to help with that issue. I ordered one on Amazon the other day since I have two more minky backed quilts coming up and I'll see if that makes a difference. 

The Bella Chica has been shipped off to sunny Arizona and I'm onto the next dog quilt, a bichon frise in pink on pink (and more pink!)! I also took out my remaining teal and pink strips from my Gumballs quilt and pillow and have been sewing them together... we'll see what comes out this time! 

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What's In a Name

I had a tiny handful of WIPs unfinished in 2014 and my name tag for my guild meetings was one of them. I did manage to finish it up just in time for our January meeting!

I didn't have much of a plan in creating this. I started with a small white rectangle of Kona white, apx 3.5x5, and just added my favorite scraps until I was happy with how they looked. I moved the whole mess onto a piece of scrap batting and backing. I free motion quilted the little scraps in place starting with those closest to the back. There was a little deconstructing and reconstructing involved with that. I free motion embroidered my name to the dark teal solid with a piece of stabilizer behind it and then attached it to the top of all the other scraps using the special stitch, which reminds me of bird footsteps, along the bottom and straight stitch around the top and sides. That was my second attempt at my name... the first attempt had a better R at the end but messier is other places. Hope its legible! Or close enough! I mean really, its the fun colors and prints that matters the most isn't it!?

And look, there's that design wall I was yacking about awhile back. Seems like a good place to hang it up so I don't forget to take it along... we'll see if that works anyways! Sort of brightens up the space too!

I don't think the Kona white was entirely necessary but it forced me to stay within my limitations otherwise I would have just making it bigger and bigger - I had lots of other 'favorite' scraps waiting in the wings. As it is I'm already going to need a bigger chest to display this beauty! I didn't think to measure that...

I backed it with more little birds and attached a scrap piece of teal binding... always love a teal binding!

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Quilty Christmas Haul and Finishes

Whew Christmas is over - we survived again! Although it was a busy time I did have some sewing time that allowed me to finish three quilts, two minis and another dog quilt!

This little pup was an orphan block from a past dog quilt; it's been on my design wall long enough so I just bound it in Dear Stella peony confetti dot and did tiny loopy loo quilting. In all honesty I wanted to practice the tiny loopy loos on this block before using it for the dog quilt I finished this week. The backing of the mini has teal polka dot bursts on white.

I'm calling this a throw back version as I have made this quilt using these exact fabrics earlier this year. Well almost, this time I used Kona Bone instead of a bright white on white print for the background fabric. I think it softened up the look a little. The rest of the fabrics were all from Coquette by Chez Moi from Moda. I'm nearly out of these great fabrics - I will miss them when they are gone. Over Christmas we had nothing but cloudy days and rain, no snow for Christmas... hardly ever happens in Wisconsin, we always have snow! The rain and clouds are no good for picture taking.

I also turned the little heart balloon block into a mini quilt- another orphan. I love this tiny quilt, I did put it in my etsy shop but I might have to keep it all for me! The backing is hot pink with great big white polka dots. Heart was appliqued and free motion embroidered. I love this technique and hope to do it again soon.

Aside from these finishes this week I also have a couple of WIPs that have my attention, my mini for the rainbow mini swap on IG and my wonky pinwheel quilt in navy and teal. As if that wasn't enough to work on my hubby gave me several quilty gifts this Christmas that are really tugging at my attention!

Pretty threads and much wanted Swoon patterns in mini and full size! Yay! These really aren't the best gifts of all; he also made me a thread holder. It's so amazing and it's deserving of its own post... another day, after it gets put up in my sewing room!

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RnB Finish

The Ruby and The Benny are all done! In addition to finishing these two fun pet quilts I also attended my first Madison modern quilt guild meeting last week, yay! There were so many ladies showing off some amazing skills.

The Ruby and The Benny were ordered for a pair of dog siblings, a red king charles cavalier and blond golden retriever. I added a heart balloon applique to Ruby's quilt. I practiced it beforehand on this little block

Easy peasy. I just drew and cut the heart using Wonder Under and attached it to the white square. I then drew the string with my sewline pencil. Once I had the heart and string ready I attached my free motion foot, loaded up some black thread and outlined the heart applique and followed by pencil line. I went over everything three times which was key as it didn't look that great after only twice. Oh, I did use a piece of stabilizer behind the heart and string before the free motion embroidery otherwise I think there would have been issues. I just trimmed the stabilizer back after I was done.

I'm glad I practiced the heart balloon before putting it on the quilt. It's a little like using permanent marker to write on your quilt, the pressure! See it floating in the sky.

I did free motion quilting throughout both quilts. The binding and backing on The Ruby were both from Girly Girl by Pat Bravo; I'm super crazy about this fabric for the binding!

The blond golden retriever fabric was from Marmalade by Moda. It's tricky to do a light colored dog!

I think these are my last two finishes for 2014! I'm not sure, there might be time to finish one more quilt by the end of the year! This was also my fourth and fifth of these custom dog quilts this year; they are putzy to make but my Mr. P is still sleeping on his quilt every single night!

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