Mini Swoon

 When quilts made with the Swoon pattern started popping up on blogs, I decided to use some of the Frolic fabric left over from the pinwheel quilt to make a block for the backing.  During the piecing of the backing, I determined that sewing additional 100+ inch seams just to put the block in wasn't my cup of tea so I left it out.   I added 6 inch borders for about a 36 inch square quilt.

 And I tried a new style of quilting since it was such a small quilt.  An S shape is in the borders and a swirly clover thing is on the block.  I think the clover idea was from one of the Quiltmaker 100 blocks issues.  After getting my machine back from servicing, I discovered that I will need to pay close attention to tension settings while FMQ for awhile since I had eyelash stitches on the initial curves.

 The back was some left over pinwheels that did not make it in the sashing of the king size quilt.  I now wish I had paid more attention and centered them.

I think this quilt will be donated to Project Linus but I haven't figured that out yet.  With the tension issues (and some bobbin issues), I've started investigating how much a new machine would cost.  It isn't going to happen right now.

The Big Zig...sort of

The oranges arrived and while my machine was in the shop, I cut, marked and prepared some flying geese and large HST for my sister's quilt.  I used my mom's temporary machine, a little Elna, and wasn't super successful.  My machine came back from the shop this afternoon and I managed to piece and press all the HST for my scrappy Big Zig from Denyse Schmidt Quilts.  My sister would love the Flock of Triangles quilt, but I'm not quite up to doing that for a quilt.  She'll get a pillow or two with that design.  She sent the following links from Flickr as quilts she liked.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blempgorf/2502570801/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heavenlydays/324966779/in/pool-11875430@N00/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/colfax/3163722483/in/pool-11875430@N00/

I sort of combined the two requests into a scrappy Big Zig.  I think I want to substitute some more of the darker oranges into the right hand zig zag.  I'm hoping she's ok with this plan since when I started quilting she sent me Amanda Jean's tutorial of how to piece zig zags without using triangles.  This is not the final layout of the colors.  I was just postponing the need to trim the HST down to the right size.  I sent her a picture of the fabrics and she said that they did match her expectations of "sunset" colors.

the pillow to be

dark and light oranges in same zig zag mock layout

And I'm actually in a bee.  Leah of Burgundy Buttons posted about it on her blog and it was weird and exciting to see her post in my reader and know that I'm a part of it too.  Yep, I'm really happy to be in a bee and really happy that my sewing machine is back from the shop.  Never would have thought that 4 years ago.

Strong shoulders

It took 3 people two hours to pin baste a king size quilt last night.  Currently 4 squares quilted and 45 more to go.  Quilting a king size quilt on my machine seems slightly easier than I envisioned, but I think my shoulder muscles are going to be much stronger after spending the hours maneuvering it.  I am quilting 4 imperfect flying geese pinwheels in each block and stippling the sashing.  Knowing that it will never be perfect, makes the process a lot easier.  I think I am just fine with it knowing that I will have completed the whole darn thing by myself (with help from my mom with pressing, basting and trimming threads).   If all goes well, I hope to be done with the quilting by January 3rd.  Somebody needs to resume afternoon naps on a reliable basis though for this to be possible.  Binding may wait until April.

If you look carefully, you can see one of the two winter skirts that I made with Flurry.  I'm really not good at remembering to take pictures.  This one goes to my niece.

Melissa at Happy Quilting posted asking for people to respond if they might be interested in being in a bee.  It took a few days but I responded.  I need to be less of a lurker and more of a participant.  It may be full.  I might have waited too long, but at least I attempted, finally.  Now I should attempt to comment on other's blogs more often than I do.  And, start a list of all the quilty, crafty things I want to try to accomplish in 2012.

I asked my sister to trade me a hat for a baby quilt.  Feeling selfish, she decided that she wanted the quilt.  Either a shoulder quilt or one for her bed...After many questions and a few days, she either wants pillow shams or a bed runner.  So now, since her idea was sunset colors (aka oranges) and I don't have many of those, I had to order some fabric...

Quilt for a Smile complete and sent

 Here is the finished quilt for Project Linus.  The outside white border ended up being really wavy thanks to some lovely bias edges so the purple border was added.  The wave isn't quite as noticeable now as it was before but I can still see it.  The purple does help to minimize the yellow solid which was a goal.

 Although I am not wonderful at machine binding, it sure does make the binding process manageable and quick.  I think this has been the best job so far.  It is quilted with loops all over.

The backing was picked up at Fat Quarter Shop during the Black Friday sale.  5.5 yards for half price and it maintains that nearly all of the fabric was from Art Gallery even if it meant buying some of the fabric myself.  I'm glad I had the opportunity to participate as it makes me feel like I might help someone in a similar position as my niece.  The quilt finished at 54x70".  Next time I will figure out something better to deal with the bias edges.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Sherbet Pips quilt top, another lunch bag, borders sewn on Quilt for a Smile (no picture yet and a bit wonky with bias edges), and maybe we should repaint that wall.

Quilt for a Smile top done

Quilt top assembled today although not completely pressed.  Now to decide whether to put a border of white around the outside.  It would make the quilting and binding easier since there are some very small pieces with those lovely 1/4 blocks in the corners.  So since I think I already decided to add a border to make future steps easier, thin or thick.....

And a friend and I sewed two Charm Square Baby Quilts from Oh Fransson's pattern using Little Apples and Sherbet Pips. I didn't take pictures before she took them to baste them.

And my mom and I are making an advent calendar for my sister.  She gets to applique the numbers.  I think I am doing the rest.

Boxed In for a smile

4 blocks completed, 20 some odd to go for my quilt for Quilt for a Smile.  I'm still using this pattern and may make it a bit bigger.  I'm using some of my own fabric since the yellow and blue were a bit overwhelming for me and I needed some negative space to rest my eyes.  I am quite happy to make it bigger and supplement with the Kona Snow.  I am mildly curious if anyone else is adding some solids for sashing, what they are using for binding, as well as what they are using for backing.  The strips are pieced and cut and now it is just a matter of assembling everything.  I'm not sure about a border around the outside or what color for binding.

A bag

Same co-worker that I will help make a quilt for her daughter liked my lunch bag.  Since her birthday was not too long ago, I asked her daughter what her favorite color was and made her a lunch bag using this tutorial.  I'm not sure she'll use it as a lunch bag, but that's ok.  And now more people from work want to learn to quilt.  Should be fun.

And here are the first two blocks that I was going to use for Pat Bravo's Quilt for a Smile.  After cutting and pasting the images in Word, I decided that the yellow was a bit too much so I think I will take off the outer border of color and add Kona Snow instead.  And I think I'll make some blocks with just Snow instead of a color border.  I'll do more organization tomorrow.

Quilts for a Smile

I happened across Pat Bravo's blog a few weeks ago and read that she was offering her scraps to people to make quilts for the Miami chapter of Project Linus.  She started a flickr group, Quilts for a Smile.  The scraps arrived today and I have since ironed and sort of organized them.  I think I will use Jaybird Quilts' Boxed In block from Quiltmaker to make a quilt similar to the one she has designed here.  Now to figure out how many 2.5" strips to cut and hopefully be able to strip piece a bunch of it.  

Other than that, I've quilted a quilt for my mom to give to my cousin.  Off to cut 2.5 inch strips......  And I'm still working on replying to comments from BQF and commenting on more entries.  Perhaps I can win Powerball and be able to quit working soon.

Rainbow procrastination

I'm going to help a co-worker make a quilt for her daughter before April.  She saw the first quilt I made, the black one, and thought that it looked as though it wouldn't matter if her seams didn't match up perfectly.  She hasn't sewn much before and is a bit intimidated by the thought that everything has to match and fit.  I think she thought I had been sewing for a long time, not just two years.

So, instead of getting things done for work that are due on Tuesday morning, I decided to make a practice set of blocks so she could show her oldest daughter what the plan was.  Originally I was going to make only 6 little blocks but decided to make 9 instead because it would balance the colors a bit better.  Then I realized it was a 12.5" block.  That's what I should have made when I made the first quilt rather than piecing together everything in rows and sewing way too many long seams.  Oops.  Just goes to show that I've learned something in the past two years and can pass that on to her.

With this absolute moment of brilliance, I've now decided that perhaps I should make another version of some unknown size.  This evening was spent cutting 4.5x2.5" pieces for the centers.  Now I think I need more Metro Living circles, Oval Elements, various prints in bold colors from Lizzy House's lines, or another rainbow custom bundle from Sew Fresh.  And some PFD white since that is what I used and had only enough for the one block.

And my charms for round 2 of the Color Wheel Charm Swap are already in the SLC mail sorting facility.

Fruitcake Stars, Pretty Little Nightgowns and another skirt

 This will be a short post, but here are pictures of other things I have been working on lately.  I quilted the Charming Stars Fruitcake version and attached the binding.  My mom is going to finish hand sewing it on this week so it is ready to go by Veteran's Day.  I do not take credit for the scrappy binding.  That was all my mother.

I've made three more Pretty Little Dresses from Leila and Ben.  All three have been flannel and there is also a twin version of the butterfly one for my niece.  Since giving them the nightgowns, the two cousins have been dressing as twins every night.  We lengthened the sleeves just a little bit but I think I like the original version better.  I also made another skirt using Rocket Launch Club from Children at Play.  It appears to be in the laundry so no pictures today.

Round 2 of the Color Wheel Charm Swap is underway and I got green.  I chose Dark Green Jewels from Outfoxed and the Daisy circle from Just Dandy.  It wasn't easy to find what I thought would be considered a dark green.  Hopefully I can cut the charms some evening this week and mail them out before the weekend.  Slightly ambitious given Halloween on Monday.

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

My completed Summer Sampler Series quilt is my entry for Bloggers' Quilt Festival.  It is my favorite quilt for the year because I made this quilt with my four year old.  When a new block was posted, we would sit down and she would tell me which colors she wanted on what part.  I'd pull a few fabrics from my stash and she'd choose exactly which one she wanted to use.  She's a little obsessed with blue, rainbows and Mingle Dots.  The quilt replaced her old fuzzy blanket that she had since she was a baby which was way too small.  Since this is twin sized, I no longer have to help her cover her toes at 2am.  She didn't help me sew too often, but she drew diagonals for the HST, snipped threads during chain stitching and helped to put the scary and safety pins in their "beds" during basting and binding.  

  
The back is based on Oh Fransson's Charm Square Baby Quilt pattern with 10 and 5" blocks across the back of the flannel.  Her pattern happened to be re-released right as I was planning out the back and it was perfect.  Her favorite blocks are the Broken Sugar Bowl block on the top row (3rd from the left) and then the Key West Star in the fifth row (3rd from left) perhaps because they are both blue.  It might be because of the name for the Broken Sugar Bowl one.

This was the first quilt that I made without using a collection (after my first one made with  Joann's FQ).  I also am much more comfortable with paper piecing than I was before.  I quilted it with a loopy stitch instead of the normal stipple.  Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the festival.

A Skirt, a dress and some Fruitcake

The weekend started by completing this Twirly Skirt using yardage from Make Life by Sweetwater.  I think I like the Lazy Days Skirt better because there just isn't as much bulk around the waist.  Or, I did the elastic wrong.

 After seeing the dress Angela of Fussy Cut made for her daughter, I bought the pattern for the Leila and Ben Sweet Little Dress.  She picked out some Alexander Henry Freeway Dots  and decided she wanted a nightgown.  Although she didn't wear it last night, she did wear it all day today and also for bed tonight.  The bottom hem isn't as neat and nice and I would like and I twisted the elastic around the neck by mistake.  But, I actually managed to sew something with a sleeve without my mother helping.

Charming Stars from Moda Bake Shop in Fruitcake is a birthday/Christmas present to my sister-in-law.  My mom has done more of the piecing lately.  I did the random arrangement of solids for the star blocks.  I can sew random blocks together without worry.  My mom wants to plan too much.  A 5.5" white border will go around and then I will quilt it.  We're hoping to complete it by November 1st.

My 100 Quilts for Kids quilt will be delivered by the local quilt guild to a charity.  I'm not sure which one but there was only one on their list that I really didn't want to support.  I got some more solid fabric and some flannel to use for backing to make another quilt to donate.  Perhaps that will be my project for the week.  

100 Quilts for Kids and a skirt

I need to contact the Baby Bank to arrange to drop off the quilt, but I figured I should wait until it was finished to do that so I will call them tomorrow.  I like the idea of quilting flowers and leaves, but the execution of it was ok.  It looks very good from the back where the thread matches the fabric color really well.  With a different thread color for the front, I'd like it better.  Lesson learned and I'll try again.  Eva is the fabric and it is bound with Kona Medium Pink.  Purple flannel from my stash is on the back.

And skirt number 2 using the Lazy Days Skirt tutorial by Oliver and S with the same modifications as the previous skirt.  She likes it a lot.

A skirt and a quilt in 24 hours

Since starting the second year or preschool, someone has switched from t-shirts and pants to dresses and skirts.  Since she has 2 dresses and 1 skirt that fit, I decided to attempt a skirt and picked the Oliver and S Lazy Days Skirt.  After a trip to Joann's to pick up the ribbon, it took less than an hour to figure out the elastic and how to best attach the ribbon.  My mom was incredibly helpful with this.  Rather than attaching the ribbon to the back and then topstitching to the front, I turned the bottom under 1/4 of an inch to the front and attached the ribbon only to the front.  And I used 1/2 inch elastic instead of 3/4 because my ability to press one inch and then 7/8 of an inch wasn't so accurate.  But she loves it.  And it was probably cheaper than buying a skirt especially since I now have elastic, more thread colors and ribbon.  I would like to try the Twirly Skirt tutorial too but decided to work on a quilt or two.

Urban Zoologie and Metro Living meet Oh Fransson's Charm Squares Baby Quilt.  I cut lots of extra squares so I will probably make another quilt using the same pattern and donate it.  This was my first time attempting to attach the binding by machine to both sides.  This must be why people have a walking foot for their machine.  I don't.  It isn't perfect and doesn't look horrible, but I need to practice more.  The quilt is for a co-worker of my husband who had their baby at 34 weeks and is in the NICU.  Hopefully they can overlook the new technique used on the binding.  I was going to quilt circles all over but they happen to work for a company that has a circular logo.  Didn't need to remind them of work all the time.  Perhaps for the next one I'll try that.

I may make one more skirt tomorrow but I really need to quilt the 100 Quilts for Kids quilt so the binding can get attached.  

100 Quilts for Kids

I used an Eva charm pack to make the Storytime Squares quilt variation from the 100 Quilts for Kids Quilt Along at Swim Bike Quilt.  I haven't decided how to quilt it but I'll figure that out tomorrow.  My flannel for the back is a bright purple which doesn't quite match with the front but I bought a pink binding fabric that coordinates with both so hopefully it will work.

Completed Summer Sampler Series quilt

The Summer Sampler Series quilt is complete.  From now on it will probably be called the new "Fuzzy" blanket as it is replacing the one that she has slept with for the past 4 years of life.  It is approximately 68 x 90" before washing and quilted in a loopy pattern.  The sashing was 3.5" between the blocks, 5.5" on the sides (to make it wider) and 2.5 on the top and bottom (so I didn't exceed the batting).

I love the back.  I am so glad that I didn't use the blocks leftover due to the math error.  Elizabeth Hartman posted her update to the charm squares baby quilt on the day I was going to piece the back.  When I read her twin sized version, I knew that was a much better idea for the back.  And I love how the fabrics she chose for the back really work well with the fabric on the back.

3 staff members are expecting new babies or grandbabies so I'm excited to work on quilts with a few colleagues.  I loved doing that last year.

Summer Sampler Series top

With the help of my mother working the iron, my Summer Sampler Series quilt top is completed.  I have 5 extra blocks to go on the back.  I seem to have forgotten to take into account the sashing between the rows when I calculated how many blocks I would need.  Oops.  Better too many than not enough.  She came out of quiet time today and danced and hopped around to all her favorite blocks.  That was fun to watch.  Then comes her favorite part of "putting the safety and scary pins in their beds" when basting and attaching the binding.

What I like about the quilt:

• I can paper piece now with relative confidence.
• I love the colors selected.
• It was my first non-collection based quilt.
• Only one block of 29 was significantly not 12.5 inches.  
• Over half of the fabric choices and most of the color choices were made by a 4 year old.

What I wish I did differently:

• The main one was to discover my error before attaching any sashing so I could have made the top and bottom borders equal to the sides.
• Slightly narrower sashing.
• I have five blocks for the back but that means that I won't do my 5 inch rainbow strip at the seam.  I may change my mind and do it instead of the five blocks.  We'll see.  Perhaps I should ask her.

And the final block that was made.  What do you do with leftover flying geese and HST already trimmed?  Make this block.  I didn't have enough geese already made for the center and decided just to go with Kona Snow.  I probably should have put something else there.  Oh well.

Here are the three pillowcases made two weeks ago that I forgot to take pictures of before sending.  The sharks are the favorite.  Hopefully the stitching will withstand lots of washing.

And I've now linked the blog to my flickr account.  I find that a little scary but it's a passive way of letting others see what I am doing and writing if they happen to click on my profile page.  But, if you're reading this, that might be how you got here.

Colorwheel Geese

I had all the measurements but didn't write them down on anything other than the pieces I tore and recycled.  Argh.  4.5 x 4", 7 x 3", 7 x 2.25", 3 x 2.5?, 6.5 x ___, 5.25 x ____.  The 7" might have been 7.5 just to give extra room.   I read somewhere that 3.5" squares cut on the diagonal would work for the geese, but I found that 4" squares worked better for me.  Less stressful.

piecebynumber.com/pastbom/colorwheelpatt.htm

1 more block to go.....



www.quilterscache.com/B/BrokenSugarBowlBlock.html

Not sure whether she picked it because of the name or because the picture was blue. And then I reversed some of the blocks when putting it together. I don't think she'll notice.

And I think I am going to redo the Blazing Arrows. It just is a little too dark.

Rolling Star and Breaking Out

I made Breaking Out using the instructions on Sewn by Leila.  And, although all the rainbow colors are represented, it doesn't scream rainbow.

Rolling Star, on the other hand, screams rainbow.  She did let me make the outer ring purple.  The blue from the binding would have been my next choice but I'm not sure I have enough.  I probably made the fabric pieces bigger than they need to be for paper piecing, but they all worked and I had plenty of room for seam allowances.   The purple along the outside was 5.25 x 2 (but could be thinner).  The inner white (step 8) was 5.5 x 3".  The outer white was 6.75 x 4".  The white between the colors were both 4 x 5".  The color for step 3 was cut at 5.5 x 2.25" and the color for step 4 was 3 x 4.5".   I could have cut less fabric but it was definitely a comfortable amount.  

And here are 26 of the 28 blocks.  The Blazing Arrows all blue and purple one really stands out.  I'll have to see if she wants to keep it, or if I need to make something else.  I'm also debating whether I want to take the square on point from 5 spot and Minnesota to put it in the sashing with the same blue as the binding.  That might be a little excessive.

And my new violet for the Color Wheel Charm Swap.  I used it on the Rolling Star block.  Now what will I do with the yard+ of Heirloom?

Following directions

On to finished blocks.  4 more to go.

www.quilterscache.com/S/SnowblossomsBlock.html

I cut the white at 3x7", the blues at 3.25x4.5, the center green at 3.25x6, and the dark greens using a 5.5" 60 degree triangle.

Kansas Dust Storm.  It was a lot easier than what I thought it would be with the three templates.



My 12 official Summer Sampler Series blocks.  To get it to be about twin size, I am adding 16 blocks and some wide side borders.  I still plan to make four corners, the flying geese paper pieced blocks, possibly Breaking Out, and Checkerboard.  I will try to hyperlink the blocks soon but a nap is more important.

And paper piecing is fun again

I finally got around to cutting the strips for the star.  I thought I'd only finish the strips and then do the rest today but managed to finish it all last night.  I really didn't mind paper piecing this time even though I forgot to shorten my stitch length.  It worked out reasonably well.  Now I just need to finish the Kansas Dust Storm block and 5 other ones and I can start to sash and put it together.  Can it get done before August 27?