Quick picture post

Day job :) Still full of thread, but not as fun as quilting.

Post-Christmas Recap and January Goal

 Hi there :)  Things have been quite here over the holiday, mainly because I was working on Christmas presents which I couldn't show on the blog.  One set of quilt-y presents is in transit currently to its recipients but the other I can show.  This is also my January goal to finish by the end of the month for the Lovely Year of Finishes challenge.

The basted quilt spread out on the floor at my Grandpa's house being admired.

This is another of the quilts made from my uncle's old clothes.  (See the others here and here.)  The others have been made for my cousin, but this one is for my mom.  I've had these old, high-school football jerseys of his for a year, but been mostly just staring at them trying to figure out how to make a pretty quilt centered around football jerseys.  I was also stuck with maroon and grey as two of my primary colors, but eventually inspiration struck.

 I decided to use a palette of maroon, grey, brown, cream, and blue and to make some stars to mix with the jerseys. Fortunately, this is quite a popular combination at the moment.  I bought a charm pack and some yardage of Double Chocolate as well as a little French General.  I wasn't able to get the quilt done by Christmas, but I got it basted before we traveled to visit out family two states over.

A star with some of my beginner FMQ

I took the basted quilt with us on the trip and one evening, after dinner as everyone was settled in the living room over coffee, I surprised mom with the partially finished quilt wrapped in Christmas paper.  I knew that this would be a very emotional quilt for my mom and I wanted to be able to give it to her surrounded by her family.

Quilt-parazzi taking pictures to put on Facebook

Mom loved the quilt! And so did everyone else, it was exciting for them to see those jerseys again.  I had the classic problem of being worried that the quilt would be too small for a sofa quilt and instead ending up with a queen size bed quilt.  Oh well, Dad's already looking forward to putting this on their bed :)

Beginner feathers

 I've been using a mix of straightline quilting and my beginning free motion skill to slowly quilt the monster. Mom won't mind if the quilting is less than perfect, I'm sure she's just ready for me to give it to her for real, so she can put it on her bed and enjoy it.

Honestly, after the first hellish afternoon battling tension issues, FMQ has been not so bad.  I have a long way to go before I'm happy with my technique, but I feel like I'm on the right road. 

Spread on my full size bed. Such a big quilt!

I hope everyone's Christmas and New Year were happy.  I'm looking forward to a quilt-y 2013 ;)

 (edited to add: A Lovely Year of Finishes)

Quick picture post

Once again regretting my decision to make such a large quilt. Little by little...

Quick picture post

Sometimes creativity is messy.

(Humming "Auld Lang Syne")

Well, it's that time of year again. I normally don't make New Years Resolutions... I don't know why. I guess I tackle new challenges throughout the year whenever they come up.

That being said, I have decided that 2013 will be the year I learn to free motion quilt. It's time. And I'm starting by turning my piles of small batik scraps into an improv pieced, quilt-as-you-go practice quilt. Hopefully by the time I have enough pieces for a quilt I'll have graduated to decent FMQ. I feel like this challenge needs some theme music, a la "Mission Impossible." Let's do this :)

Fly South! A charm pack quilt

 I'm a total sucker for Basic Grey's lines for Moda. I don't know what it is about their designs, but I just can't resist them.  The "Little Peeks" quilt and wall hanging were made from an "Origins" charm pack and this Christmas it was the "Blitzen" line that I had my eye on.  I finally caved and bought a charm pack.

I was stumped for a few days with the usual charm pack dilemma: how to use the charms to make a decent sized throw, keeping them in large pieces but not just doing a boring grid.  Eventually I came up with this design I'm calling "Fly South".

 I turned my charm pack into flying geese, yielding 2 geese per charm, and arranged them into Dutchman's Puzzle blocks.  Unfortunately I only had enough geese to make 10 blocks, and even set on point that didn't make a very big quilt.  So, I improvised and thinned out the blocks, expanding the design.  I fiddled with it for a few days on the design wall and in the end it just worked.  I like how the geese are less dense at the edges of the "flock", as if some of them are breaking away. 

 If you'll notice, at the bottom of the quilt there are three geese which break the Dutchman's Puzzle block pattern escaping and flying South, hence the name :)  One of the geese is pieced in, the other two are 3D geese with a cathedral window-esque rolled edge.

 It's hard to tell, but these are actually sewn across the rolled bottom and tacked down at the nose, if that makes sense.  I can put my whole finger under the body of the goose.

I backed the quilt with double sided Christmas themed minky and decided to skip on the batting. Instead I added a layer of white flannel to keep the minky from showing through the white background.  Because there was no batting only minimal quilting was needed, and this throw was brightening up our family room in no time.  It just big enough to put over the back of the sofa or keep your toes warm.

I have a pattern for this about half way done and plan to finish it in the next few days.  If anyone is interested in testing it out for me, please send me an email!

I'm linking up to Sarah's Can I get a Whoop Whoop and Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.

"Bird's Nest" Finished and for Sale!

This quilt is for sale in my Etsy shop here.

"Bird's Nest" is finished! That's what I decided to call the top I sewed up Sunday after finishing the monstrous Ocean Waves top.  Things have been quiet on the blog for the past week, but it isn't because I haven't been sewing. I just haven't had a chance to get out and take pictures as I've finished things. 

I LOVE the colors in this quilt! And I love that it is such a girly quilt without being pink and purple! Because there are some little girls (and some grown-up little girls who are now mommies) who just aren't "in to" pink and purple.  I was never a pink-and-purple girl myself.  The colors scheme for the scraps I chose came completely from the focus fabric.  It's a great mix of blues, turquoise, greens, reds, oranges, and yellows on a modern white background.

I decided to quilt this using large overlapping circles.  It didn't take to long to do and the effect is so cool. Wherever the circles overlap they make a flower shape. Perfect for a little girl quilt. When I washed and dried the quilt it krinkled, but didn't lose its softness.

The backing in another orange and teal flower print, again, totally girly and totally NOT pink.  To stretch it far enough to cover the back I mixed in some of the same orange shot-cotten that appears in the front.  The binding is a stripe that has most of the colors of quilt in it, from orange to green. I cut it on the bias and machine stitched it down to the front and back.

This is the first quilt I've ever put a label on and I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

The quilt measures 54" square, just the right size for a toddler bed or just for snuggling with.  If you are interested in owning this quilt please check out its Etsy listing and convo me if you have any questions!