Two Finishes

If you are looking for the giveaway go here. :-)

I've gotten a bit more quilting done today, but nothing yet to show. However, I realized I never showed you the completed Fun and Feminine and Merry and Masculine quilts. Fun&Feminine measures 26.5"x34.5"and Merry&Masculine is 31"x35.5". I finished the binding of one during my family reunion and managed to get the binding of the other done during a couple youth football games while I sat and watched my sister cheer. I love having something to do with my hands during times where I only need to use my eyes or mouth. Hopefully I'll get some of my Christmas quilts ready to bind during some of my favorite tv shows this fall!

Memory Scraps Quilt

On Monday afternoon, I found out I was one of the winners of a Memory Scraps charm pack over at Just Ramblin'. Thanks to the amazingly fast U.S.P.S. the package traveled half way across the country and arrived in my mailbox yesterday. How can anyone not like the mailman when they bring treats like this...
I happened to have the fabric pictured at the bottom, which I think coordinates with the charms quite perfectly, in my stash. There should be enough to use for backing plus some.
Combined with these scraps from the magical box of squares and scraps I've been digging into lately, I should have enough for another charm square baby quilt.
I have quite a few other quilts that really should come ahead of this one, but the ease of piecing the pre-cut squares is almost too much to resist. We'll see how long I can hold out.

Merry and Masculine

Wanting another quick finish, I went ahead and made a boy version of the Fun and Feminine quilt.
These charms came from the same box of fabric in my stash which is turning out to be one of my best fabric finds!
Precuts make piecing a breeze. I will say though that I'm learning the importance of precise cutting. Not all the squares in either of these quilts were an exact 5x5. It is much more difficult to get things to line up when they aren't. It is also difficult to get an accurate 1/4" seam when there are wonky edges on both pieces you are sewing. I didn't feel like trimming every square though since I was going for something fast.Now to get that quilt of mine basted and quilted...

Fun and Feminine

With the remaining purple and green striped squares along with some other precuts from my box I put this together over the past two days.I know it is just a little thing, but it was fast and it was fun which gets me motivated to make time for more quilting. My mom and sisters think it is great. They are loving the quilting on the back.Usually I lean toward bright and bold colors, but something about these muted colors is just speaking to me right now. I think it is great how feminine it looks with the pinks, purples, and florals.
I'll set it aside to do the binding as a car or tv project in the near future. I like having something to keep my hands busy during such times. Maybe I can get a few more somethings ready for that final stage of the process. Hopefully soon!

Disappearing Nine Patch Complete!

The pink and purple disappearing nine patch is all done! I had plenty of sitting time this weekend while I worked a garage sale and visited with family so I decided it was a good time to handstitch the binding. Slow and steady gets the job done. It took me three days of stitching on and off for short amounts of time, but its so beautiful how could I complain? Also, two finishes so close together feel so rewarding! Gets me motivated to have some more real soon.

The quilt measures 34"x41 1/2" before washing (there is a backup on laundry here preventing quilts from entering the washing machine). For now it will remain in my stash of finished projects until a new little person comes along needing a quilt. Since I'm usually not quick at getting quilts done, I'd like to have a couple on hand for friends and family having babies. No more episodes like last week :-)

Back to binding...Friday after I machine bound Colt's quilt, I decided I really liked the feel of machine binding better than hand stitched. I almost decided to do the disappearing nine patch one by machine too, but thought since I had the time I would go ahead and do it by hand. I'm really glad I did. After finishing this one I realized how wrong I was about the machine binding being better. The way this looks and feels is much nicer. I think there is a time and place for machine binding, but I'll probably stick to hand stitching most of my bindings down.

One Night Wonder

About two weeks ago I offered to my mom and sister that I would make a quilt for their friend's new little one. At the time they didn't think much of the idea. They just sort of ignored it and said they'd go get a gift later. Fastforward to Thursday night when they still didn't have a baby gift that they needed for Friday. All of the sudden they liked the quilt suggestion. My sister and I ran out to Joann Fabrics and spent what felt like forever looking for fabrics. We finally found some sports fabrics after about five runs through the store.

Front

We got back from the store around dinner time and before I went to sleep that night, I had everything pieced, basted, quilted, and the binding was attached. It was nearly two in the morning (I'd had some other non-quilting things I had to accomplish that night also) and I had to be up at seven so I decided to machine stitch the binding down. I'd never tried it before, but I know my handstitching can be a little slow and didn't know how much time I would have the next day to finish it. I attached the first side and then let myself get some sleep, feeling that my work would be a bit cleaner after I rested.

Back

The quilt is pretty simple, but I put the baby's name in the center for an added touch. I liked the idea initially, but only decided it was possible once I heard the baby's name: Colt. Since it was only four letters long and I could spell it out with all straight lines, the idea got to come to fruition. It measures 41" by 43" before washing. Fabrics are sports and school colors - a perfect combo for the new little family.

Close-up

I was busy most of the day Friday, but finished the binding up before my twenty-four hours were up. I got the quilt packaged and ready to go, only to find out the baby and parents were out of town and wouldn't be back until today. I wasn't happy that I had rushed, since there are a couple little things that could have been slightly cleaner if I wasn't rushing, but oh well, no regrets, and I am happy its done.

Packaged and ready to go! And in a matching tiger striped bag :-)

My family thinks the quilt is wonderful and I hope the recipients like it as well. My mom was amazed I could make a quilt so quickly since all of the others I've made have taken some time to finish. The difference is that I just do a little bit every day most of the time, between everything else in life I need to do. For this quilt, I put everything else aside and powered through. Plus this design was quite easy. Hopefully she doesn't take advantage of the possibility again in the future. I prefer taking a little more than a night to make a quilt.

Success!

1)Make and attach binding to disappearing nine patch. - done
2)Iron and cut Camelot fabric. - done

3)Piece Camelot top and back. - done front

back
Close-up of back

4)Make Camelot binding. - done bindings for Camelot and Princess quilt

5)Iron and cut Princess fabric. - done

6)Piece Princess front and back. - done front
back
7)Make Princess binding. - done

Just a little bit of work most every day and I've managed to complete my goal list pretty quickly. My prize is to go fabric shopping. I got an e-mail from my LQS a few days ago about a sale they are having this month called a date matching sale. On certain days in June you get a percentage off all regularly priced merchandise equal to the date. I have plans to go on the 25 so I'll get 25% off my bill. Can't wait to see what I'll find!

Much Progress

I have had a very productive couple of days. In addition to cleaning, studying, cooking, babysitting, and other such activities, I managed to get two items from my goal list checked off. First, I attached the binding on the disappearing nine patch. I am now setting this aside for when I need a car project or will otherwise be sitting for awhile without anything to do.

I finished the ironing and cutting for my Camelot Squared quilt. The ironing took forever and what felt like a gallon of water. There were so many wrinkles! I did some chain piecing and the top has come together quite quickly. I just need to sew the rows together and the top will be done.
After getting all that done, I still wasn't tired last night. I decided to put together a few more string blocks to add to the stack. I still need so many more though. I had no idea what a daunting task I had taken on when I began.
And finally, I whipped up this adorable little skirt from this tutorial this morning. I don't even know how I happened upon it, but I am so happy I did. All the materials came from my stash. It was exciting to realize I could actually make something entirely from what I already have on hand. When I figured out the cost, the whole thing ended up only costing about a dollar. And look...its reversible! I made it for a little girl that I babysit. I've spent hours and hours with her the last week and a half, but now that I have this I don't think I'll be seeing her for a couple weeks. Oh well, I'll get it to her eventually.Just looking at this makes me smile. I think I might have to make up a couple more.

Camelot Squares

Got some ironing and cutting done today. Part of me wishes I hadn't cut the squares so small so I could preserve more of the overall design. There are still cute parts on most all the squares though, and, luckily, I have two more FQs of the castle background fabric to use on something else.

Let's Make a Deal

I want more fabric. I love all the beautiful designs, colors, and textures I find when fabric shopping. I happen to know myself though and know that I tend to buy and hoard things and never end up using them. So I negotiated a deal with myself. I would set a goal and when I reached it I could buy more fabric. Then came the difficult part of setting a reasonable goal. Something not too hard to reach, but also not too easy just because I wanted to go shopping. I've thought about it for a couple of days and here is what I have come up with:
1)Make and attach binding to disappearing nine patch.
2)Iron and cut Camelot fabric.
3)Piece Camelot top and back.
4)Make Camelot binding.
5)Iron and cut Princess fabric.
6)Piece Princess front and back.
7)Make Princess binding.

Its sort of a lot to do, but I don't think it is unreasonable. I'm hoping to work on ironing and cutting this week which should be a good start.

A Couple Little Problems

Bit by bit I managed to get the disappearing nine patch quilted over the past couple days. I absolutely love the texture the diagonal quilting adds to the quilt.
Although I think my quilting has improved a tiny bit from the last quilt, there were a couple little problems I discovered. First...
in two places I got these loops of thread. I think it had to do with the tension on my machine. I'm going to rip these sections out and re-do them next week.
Second... these little folds in the quilting. It didn't happen in too many places, thankfully. I'm not re-doing these areas. I believe it has to do with my basting and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Maybe I need more pins?

Overall, I'm quite happy. I'm crossing my fingers that with more experience I'll be able to eliminate these problems.

Hopefully I'll be able to find some space this week for the cutting table and ironing board so I can get the binding ready to complete this quilt.

Re-basting

While taping my disappearing nine patch for straight line quilting, I noticed that the basting was full of puckers around the safety pins on the back. Not wanting so many puckers in the finished product, I took it all apart and tried again tonight. I am happy to report that I don't see anymore puckers in the basting. Hopefully I'll get a chance to quilt this pretty little thing later this week.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Oh my...it has been nearly three weeks since I last posted! In that time I have accomplished many things, though few are quilting related. First of all, I finished school. Then I moved. Then I helped my sister's boyfriend move. Then I helped a friend with her move. Finally, this...
Graduation day. On Sunday I graduated with my Master's degree. I can't tell you how happy I am to finally have it completed.

Amidst all the papers, boxes, and hours in the car I was able to get a little quilting done. My red and black string quilt is coming along.
Some in progress blocks:
And some of the completed ones:
And I managed to baste the disappearing nine patch yesterday.

Oh! And when I arrived at my new address this was waiting for me...
My winnings from Robin. So many pretty fabrics and a great pattern she wrote herself.

I'm anxious to get some more done, but have a lot more boxes to unpack and commitments to fulfill before I'll have time to make much progress. We'll see what I can squeeze in here and there in the next few weeks.

My Original Princess Quilt

I finally have the time to share the story I promised here and here. My first attempt at quilting...

A lot of my weekends during my junior and senior years of high school were spent babysitting for three little girls that I absolutely adored. The two older girls, ages 3 and 2, shared a Disney princess themed bedroom and one day while out at the store I found a panel print of Disney princesses. Having wanted to quilt for a number of years, I thought I would make quilts for the girls to put on their beds. I purchased two panels and some matching calico fabrics and solids to put together the backs.Having no idea what I was doing, I randomly cut into the fabric and pieced together a rectangle that was the same size as the panel for the back. I knew it wasn't perfect, but I was quite happy with my first attempt at piecing. I sandwiched the panel, some batting, and the pieced back together, basted with a few safety pins and attempted to free motion quilt it all together. Knowing nothing about what I was doing, I had the feed dogs up and was using a presser foot. The result:I tried to move the quilt back and forth to create the wavy lines I had seen on other quilts, but it was hard. I was upset that I had a couple spots where the fabric folded over the quilting, but was otherwise somewhat happy with what I had put together.I couldn't figure out how to fix the problem though so I decided to just bind it. Mind you, I had no concept of quilting. I was just looking at a quilt my parents had had made for me in middle school and trying to copy what I appeared to be looking at. To me, the binding looked like a tube of fabric so that is what I did next. I cut long strips of fabric and sewed them into tubes, turned them right side out, folded them over the raw edges of the quilt and pinned them down. Each side of the quilt had a separate piece of binding and I just folded the ends under so the raw edge wouldn't hang out.When I finished sewing down the one side, there were several places the binding wasn't attached to the quilt. This was the last straw for me. I was so frustrated that I quit. I didn't know where to turn to learn what I needed to to fix the quilts since I didn't know anyone who quilted or really even people who sewed much at the time.
I've learned so much since this first attempt. Luckily, I thought to look online for help when I next attempted quilting. Between what I read online and some critical thinking, I've figured out what I'm doing now.

I still have this mangled mess of fabric, batting, and thread. My mom thinks I should keep it as a reminder of my first attempt at quilting. I'm thinking about throwing it away. I still have the fabric that I had planned to use for the matching quilt plus these pictures so I'm not sure I need to keep this unusable mess. We'll see.

Parade of Projects 3

Fabrics: Disney Princess Panel with coordinating calico and solid fabrics
Pattern: Pieced square border surrounding the panel
Size: Baby sized
Backing: Pieced but I haven't decided on a design
Binding: Hopefully the purple, but if there isn't enough than the blue

This fabric was purchased six or more years ago to make two matching quilts for a couple of little girls I used to babysit for. The story of the first quilt will come, complete with picture, later this week...

Parade of Projects

Since I can't be working on the actual piecing and quilting of my projects, I have been planning out my projects for the upcoming months. I love planning and organizing most anything - events, meetings, projects, groups, etc - so I've actually been having quite a bit of fun with this. Over the next week or so I will be sharing my project plans (in no particular order). I'd love to hear any suggestions or thoughts you have on any of them.

Project A
Fabrics: Camelot fabrics and red, blue, and green solids
Pattern: Alternating four patch blocks of 2 blue, 1 red, and 1 green square with 5" blocks of the prints
Size: Baby sized though exact dimensions I don't know
Backing: Pieced from leftover fabrics
Binding: Green