Pillows and Patio Gardens

I’m still working on the third quilt from my Coquette fat eighth bundle but I did manage to complete a small triangle baby quilt and a zig zag quilted pillow! How much fabric has been stuffed in these little bundles?!

I used only the blues from the collection along with a bit of Kona white for the pillow top. I installed a blue invisible zipper and backed the pillow with white minky dot – minky is my go-to when I can’t decide what else to use.  Something with this blue… I just don’t have anything in my stash that ‘goes’ with it. Hard to believe I know! Tons of navy and tons of teal but blue is in short supply at my place.

The second quilt from my Coquette bundle is this baby quilt, smaller than the crib quilt I shared last week this measures quilt measures a square 31x31. 

Instead of quilting every seam I did only the diagonals which made a pretty cool diamond pattern on the back.

I’m a little in love with this purple lace fabric and I especially like that the white in this fabric line is not bright white rather a soft cream.

Three finished projects from the bundle so far. I still have quilt number three on my design wall….  And happily working on other projects at the moment! 

Patio Garden 

I still can’t believe it has been over four years since we moved to this area; but what I really can’t believe is that this is the first year that we’ve had a garden… a patio garden!  We used to have a huge garden with every vegetable you could imagine at our old place – I miss that. This year my hubby and I put together a patio garden with pots and containers of little tomatoes, jalapenos, lettuce, basil and cucumbers!  We have gotten a ton of rain and had a few warm days so everything is really taking off this week. Patio gardens are pretty simple to start and maintain. We spent half a day shopping for plants and planters and did the planting in a couple of hours – a weekend project. Now we, and by we I mean my hubby, just make sure that the pots are watered, no weeding required! Next year I’m hoping to add some zucchini and full size tomatoes.

And I couldn’t help take a photo of Peanut, our parti-color cocker spaniel. He’s getting very sleepy while he patiently waits for me to take photos this morning.  He has to stay awake so that he doesn’t miss a thing! After all, there could be opportunities for barking (!) at any minute... 

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Grow Your Blog

Hi and thanks for stopping by while working your way through the Grow Your Blog tour! I haven't attended the party before so hope I don't trip going down the steps or something....

I started my blog late last summer after being a 'blog stalker' for years... I had never even commented on a blog before if you can believe it! I mostly blog about quilts and quilting. After living in Northern Wisconsin all our lives my hubby and I moved to Madison in late 2010 leaving all our friends and family behind. I had been sewing on and off for years but was finding the time to sew a lot! I was spending more time on blogs, pinterist and flickr lurking so I felt it was about time that I join in - and I did! It's great to be able to connect with people who have similar interests. I have learned a ton and have been having a great time getting to know other folks.

Last year I finished 25 quilts. I'm calling 2014 the year of the dog quilt because 8 of those were dog related! The rest of my 2014 quilty finishes can be seen here.

Thankfully I like dogs... enough to include a dog reference in my blog name. The parti in Modern Parti Quilts is a nod to our oldest pup Peanut, aka Mr. P, he's a studly parti-colored cocker spaniel. In just a few days he will be having his 11th anniversary with us; we adopted him January 28 in 2004 when he was a young pup who had been found wandering around in the freezing cold.

One of my favorite accomplishments from 2014 was entering the Bloggers Quilt Festival. My rainbow herringbone quilt was selected as part of the Viewer's Choice!

Anyways, hope you've enjoyed my quick ramblings about my blog! Super big thanks to 2 Bags Full for hosting the Grow your Blog event again!

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! 

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to crazy mom quilts, Richard and Tanya Quilts Val's Quilting Studio and Whoop Whoop Friday 

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!

Link Parti's 

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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!

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to My Quilt Infatuation Richard and Tanya Quilts Show Off Saturday Vals Quilting Studio and Whoop Whoop Friday 

The Hildy

She’s finished! One down, two to go! I was able to send this quilt off to her new home this week, well almost home, she is a Christmas gift. She needs to make a stop for wrapping and inspection first. I hope she passes! This quilt was featured on Richard and Tanya's Link a Friday Finish!!

I did free motion quilting throughout using three different patterns, one for each section of the quilt. Tiny loopy loos for the white background, Moda Bella White.

Meandering in the sky because it sometimes reminds me of poufy clouds! Meandering is not my favorite fmq pattern, but it works here.

And swirls with great big flowers for the grass. Love!

The plaid binding fabric is by Denyse Schmidt, it was so perfect for this quilt. The oat colored backing is from Marmalade by Bonnie and Camille and was just the thing to pull it all together and was selected by her new owners along. Wouldn't you know I ended up with an adjoining piece of binding right at the corner, agh! At least it was only one corner on this quilt. I've had quilts where every corner was tricky because of the extra fabric. Maybe I should roughly lay out the binding before I start attaching to prevent that problem in the future?! I say with a chuckle, I’ll never learn!

A final head shot! The eyes are always tricky on this quilt but I think I've gotten it down. Basically 2 white jelly beans layered with 2 smaller brown jelly beans. Instead of free motion quilting them in place this time like with the Jake quilt I slowly did a straight stitch around the outside of the white and black in coordinating thread.

Link Parti's 

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Holiday Mini Improv Quilts and Dog Progress

Lots of catching up this week after the holiday last week! I've made quite a bit of progress on one of my dog quilts. The grass and sky have been pieced. I've cut all of the applique pieces using Wonder Under 805 which I have used since Steam a Seam II disappeared earlier this year although it looks to be back now; if anyone has given the new stuff a try I'd love to hear about it. I have just a few applique pieces left to attach including the eyes which are the most difficult to place. Temporarily I'm using scotch tape to attach them... and hoping I don't run over the tape with the iron!

This gal had some pretty floppy ears with the left one laying flat and the right one flipping out a little. I decided to give the right one a little dimension and added some fluff between the layers. I had worried about the batik dog fabric as I don't use a lot of batik but I think it really works here.

I do my applique with my Pfaff (love her!). It can be a slow process especially on rounded corners where the fabric needs turned every couple of stitches. Maybe I won't do such round-y letters next time!?! I'm using both Mettler and Aurifil threads to do the applique.

This will be my third time making this quilt. So far I'm really liking the 'Hildy' version!

Holiday Mini Improv Quilts

Just before Halloween I did a custom set of mini Ghastlies quilts for a client. Now there is a matching set of Christmas Ghastlies mini quilts! 

I love doing improv with the Ghastlies; you don't really know where you're going until you've arrived. They are all different but coordinate well together. They have been shipped off just in time for the holidays! I can't get over the gold polka dot fabric by Dear Stella; I lucked out and had a few large scraps of the gold and red snowflake fabric that went really well the the gold polka dots too.

Link Parti's 

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Fabric Watchers

In addition to having a great Thanksgiving with family I was also able to get some sewing in with our niece who was visiting from Indiana. Together we made an American Girl doll quilt and pillow for her American Girl doll. She picked out the fabrics all by herself and I think she did a great job!

The backing fabric matched the fun white fabric on the little pillow we made. The white fabric was from JoAnns. She also chose fabrics from Riley Blake and Art Gallery. We did some free motion quilting with loopy loos and little flowers. He dog Sophie even got in on the free-motion action – I can say that I wasn't expecting that!! She stuffed her little pillow perfectly! 

Fabric Watchers

No, not like weight watchers for fabric addicts although I could totally use that! I was able to snap a couple of photos of my fabric watchers, Laci and Peanut, while shooting pictures for my fabric inventory just before Thanksgiving. This is Laci, the little princess of the house. 

And Peanut. As you can see, they take fabric watching very seriously!

They may actually have been watching these little birds! I guess they won't be getting paid for fabric watching this week... 

WIP

Speaking of dogs, I’m in the middle of more dog quilts! I've had a run on custom dog quilts for the holidays this week. Here are a couple of the fabric pulls for a pair of ‘dog siblings’

Hers. Art Gallery fabrics including Girly Girl, Rapture, Nouvelle, Nature Elements and Oval Elements Collections plus the pink heart fabric from Sandy Gervais Flirt by Moda.

His. More Art Gallery Oval Elements, Nature Elements, Modern Affair Collections, plus the cute plaid from Denyse Schmidt which goes perfectly with these! The light blue paisley is from Noteworthy by Moda. 

An Unrelated Dog. This particular quilt is actually a memorial pet quilt that will be gifted for Christmas. Fabrics from the Noteworthy line by Sweetwater from Moda. Plus the blue batik. These should probably keep me busy in between baking, shopping and decorating for Christmas! 

Link Parti's 

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It's A-Bark Time

I managed to finish my latest dog quilt this weekend! I pondered and pondered over the fabric choices for the bases. And then pondered some more for the borders and binding fabrics, good grief. Working in the dark hasn’t been helpful. I initially thought I was going to use the coral solid I auditioned in my last post about this quilt. After I cut the coral strips it wasn’t right so I plunged ahead with the teal solid. I blame the short days. By the time I get home from work it is already dark, stuff just looks better in the dark!

Once all of the bases were attached I reviewed about a thousand – ok a dozen (felt like a thousand though) – different combinations for the inner and outer borders and couldn't get that to come together either, ugh. Ever have ‘one of those’ quilts, jee whiz?! I finally decided to nix the inner border altogether and increase the size of the outer border so that the quilt ended up the same size but only has one border. Since this quilt is destined to hang in a dog rescue I went with this Moda Summersville print by Lucie Summers that features different animals included dogs for the border. The larger sized border allowed for plenty of space to show off those animals too!

I had not forgotten about that solid coral! I did a peek out binding using the solid coral and teal. I'm wondering if there is a name for this type of binding? I recently discovered a two color binding strip in a $5 scrap bag I purchased from my LQS, Patches and Petals. Serious, make your own scrap bag for $5! After deconstructing the scrap binding I figured that I could probably manage making one! To create the two color binding I just cut a 1.5in strip of teal aka the outer binding color and a 1.75in strip of the peek out color which was coral on this quilt, sewed the two pieces together and pressed in half. Done! It’s a little fussy because the binding does need to be pressed exactly in half or the peeking color ends up wavy but this is going to look super cute hanging up so totally worth it! It is just the right amount of that amazing coral which is by Art Gallery Pure Elements. The teal solid is Kona Azul. 

I attach my bindings front and back by machine. I use a 2 3/4in binding folded in half, the extra ¼ inch gives me just a little breathing room... I attach the binding to the back of the quilt first. This time I sewed the back binding a little narrower than usual by moving the needle to the right a couple of hairs (1.0 on my machine – it was either 3 or 4 hairs). Making the back binding a little smaller allowed me to stitch along the front directly on the crease where the teal and coral meet without sewing over the back binding accidentally.

Side track: Did you notice the dog butt with chicken head, yikes!

Oh the quilting! This time around I top stitched each dog in coordinating thread. The simple quilting should allow the dogs to shine without distraction at the rescue.

And

Too rainy for a good outside photo but here are all the dogs! I did add in the coral with flowers in the upper right and solid mustard dogs... because they were too awesome not to.  Both are Art Gallery fabrics, but don't they look great with the Simply Style line!

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to Stitch by Stitch Sew Fresh Quilts Richard and Tanya Quilts Persimon Dreams crazy mom quilts and Quilt Story