Fandango Charming Stars

I've finished quilting Charming Stars with straight lines and outlining around the stars. I backed it with a daffodil coloured print from a LQS. I haven't decided yet on a fabric for the binding.

The pattern comes from the Moda Bake Shop site, and is called Charming Stars. It used 3 charm packs of Fandango by Kate Spain and some Bella Snow. I had a charm pack of Bella Snow and used those for the centres of the stars. However, I had 4 charm packs and used the remaining charms cut in half to make a scrappy border rather than one from yardage as in the pattern.

Little Apples Baby Quilt

And another baby quilt. This one I made with a charm pack of Little Apples by Aneela Hoey/Moda. The white is from my LQS, sorry, couldn't tell you the colour or anything. Stippled with a few "eyelashes" on the back I didn't notice until I was all done. I use a Bernina Stitch Regulator and sometimes the default tension is perfect at 4.0 and other times I need to set the bottom tension all the way up to 8.0 to make it look right. I'm not sure what that means. Anyways, I dove in without checking tension after pausing in the quilting for a couple of days and it was off. Hopefully it will look a bit better when washed up, because I'm too lazy to pull out the quilting. Maybe it will fall apart and I will have to anyways. It isn't too bad so we'll see.

Minecraft Quilt

I haven't shared this quilt on this blog yet, but it happens to be my most popular quilt on Flickr! I give you the Minecraft Quilt:



If you don't know, Minecraft is a computer game which happens to have very pixelated graphics (is that correct grammar?) much like the Ninetendo games were of my youth. My older sons were dreaming up quilt ideas last year when I got into quilting and offered to make them quilts. Initially they had complex plans for "map" quilts with plenty of appliqué and fancy stitches... yikes, I thought. When I watched them playing Minecraft I suddenly saw quilts! And the idea was born. It was relatively simple to design with Kona solids (thank goodness for my colour card) and some graph paper. It changed as we went along and put it up on the design wall. But it came together and we think it looks pretty neat. (I also sewed this before I learned about pressing seams to the side and nesting them together! Ai yi yi... how did I manage to match up the corners? Well, often I didn't!!)



The other day my son had the idea to google "minecraft quilt"! I was shocked to see my pictures on Flickr linked on many minecraft blogs and sites! (It felt good to have my son look at me with a bit of awe, his mother being "found" on the internet). Anyways. Don't ask me for a pattern or to make you one, though! It wasn't something I care to repeat right now, as fun as it was. I found another lady's interpretation of minecraft in a quilt and was wowed, she did some things I'd like to try. In fact, I DO have a slightly minecraft quilt in the works right now for my other son. I just keep putting it aside for "prettier" things! Ooops.

Oh! And speaking of "pixelated" quilts! Have you seen this book coming out by Emily Cier? I love her quilts and was inspired partly by her work to try the minecraft quilt! I love the quilt with the roads she gave us a peek of on her blog. What a brilliant idea! My little sons already use patterns on my quilts as roads for their cars and landscapes, etc! Must make one with real roads and forests and lakes...

More Baby Quilts?

No, I can't stop. It might be their small size, the satisfaction of a job done quickly, the opportunity to practice skills on something not daunting. I am addicted. Here are a couple more I am working up, practicing pinwheels. My points are getting pointier! Amazing what a difference it makes to press seams the right direction!

Maybe one of these days I'll have a finished baby quilt to show! These ones are made with Chrysalis charm packs from Moda and Bella Snow.

Baby Quilts with Solids and Charms

More baby quilt tops! So quick and easy with some Kona Solid yardage and some charm packs!

The yellow squares are made with Kona Daffodil and Wee Woodland charms from Moda. The blue triangles are Kona Lake with Scoot charms from Riley Blake. (Anyone else notice that Riley Blake charms are *quite* exact? No problems with the Moda ones, though!)

A Ruby Tuesday

Today I am enjoying the hope of spring in the air and working with cheerful Ruby fabric by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. I've paired it with Kona Snow and am sewing up happy pinwheels for a baby quilt. How can I not smile?

Rural Jardin Stars Done!

I finished binding this last night with Kona Cotton Solid in China Red. Washed it up and dried it this morning and convinced my biggest boy to come out and photograph it with me!

The pattern is of my own design, using a pattern for a sawtooth star. I made the pinwheels with my scraps from the sawtooth stars. I used up a jelly roll and most of a charm pack, plus about half a yard of the blue yardage from the same line. All these fabrics but the binding come from Moda's designers French General and their line Rural Jardin. Completed size is 70 inches by 70 inches.

This quilt is going to my friend this Friday when I visit her for the weekend. When I told her I wanted to make her a quilt and showed her some pictures in a few pattern books I had, she asked for a traditional quilt that will stand the test of time in deep blues and reds. Hope this fits the bill!

Binding Rural Jardin Stars Quilt

Up late tonight to finish binding my Rural Jardin Stars quilt:


Some pictures will follow when the quilt is washed and dried, at least by Thursday!

Rural Jardin Stars Quilt

I have been so in love with this quilt since I first laid eyes on the fabric. It's been one of the ones that is taking me the longest to finish. The top was finished last fall. Perhaps I want to keep it around as long as I can since it is intended to give to a friend.

My dear friend lives about 4 hours away and invited me to come visit next weekend! It's the first time I will see her since I finished the quilt top, and the second time I'll see her since I told her I was making her a quilt. How can I come empty handed? I definitely want to give it to her in person.

So today I got a backing at my local quilt shop and cleared the living room floor to baste it. (And caress it...) Then stare at it and try to decide how to quilt it!

I'm taking a break and resting my aching shoulders now while I blog. Here is a picture of what I decided to do. Something different again for me, and I really like it! Here's a peek:


I'm quilting "in the ditch" around each star. Tedious and tiring wrestling it on my little machine (the quilt is 70 inches by 70 inches) but really fun. Wish me luck to get it done by Friday!!

Central Park Zigzag Baby Quilt

This is what I was quilting today! Look! No straight lines!



However, I must, must, MUST learn to pull up my bobbin thread (especially when my top thread breaks and I have to restart) when stippling, because THIS happened more than once:



Guess what else I did for, like, the first time? Sewed through my finger. Yup, I was wondering when that was going to happen. Sounds like it is most commonly done while free motioning. I can see why! Wow. Multiple things happening at once! Guess I need a bit more practice?

Quilts at Work!

Some quilts in my house doing what they do best, being loved and used. Here they are made into a tent by my 6 year old for my 2 year old to play in.

Fox Trails Charm Quilt

Working on a simple, simple charm baby quilt from cute, cute Fox Trails fabrics from Riley Blake.  I can't stop straight line quilting a quarter inch from the seams.  It's my favourite way to quilt, what can I say?

William Morris King Size Charm Quilt

This quilt I finished last year, but haven't yet shared it.

I love the designer William Morris, and when I discovered last year that Moda had produced reproductions of his prints, I immediately had to have them. However, at that time, about the only thing I could find was charm squares left of the lines Morris Tapestry, The Morris Workshop, and a little bit of yardage from a Morris Garden. These lines were all designed by Barbara Brackman, whose work I love.



Since the prints are quite busy and so many different colours, I didn't think they looked right when put against each other. So I decided to sash each square in Kona Espresso. The next question was how to quilt a huge king size on my little Bernina. So I divided the quilt in 4 parts and used a "Quilt as you Go" method to put the 4 pieces together. It worked perfectly with my design since it had so much sashing.



I backed it in a coffee coloured flannel sheet and bound it with some blue yardage from the Morris Workshop line found on Etsy.

PS. Barbara Brackman and Moda have produced another line of Morris reproductions called Morris and Company which is available now in yardage and pre cuts and it's BEAUTIFUL!