Owls and Trucks for Oliver Finished!

I finished a commissioned quilt today for my friend's little boy!  I'm really happy with how it turned out, especially with my first experience machine binding a bed sized quilt!  I always believed in the nobility of my walking foot, and used that to sew my binding to the front of quilts and I hand sewed to the back.  However, I have noticed that here is where a thread is often likely to pop.  And especially with a quilt that will undergo use by a little boy, I thought I should entertain the idea of machine binding some of my quilts.  I had seen a post somewhere about a dual feed edge stitch foot and the benefits of using one on machine binding.  I do have an edge stitch foot, but was afraid of losing the feeding action of the walking foot.  Well, I tried it and am happy to report that it worked BRILLIANTLY.  I couldn't be happier (or have finished faster!) with my new little best friend.  I still like the look of hand sewn, but this is a great method and one I have confidence in for a quilt I am sending out to someone!



Here is my little friend in action.


And here is her work. The blue fabrics are on the back and the yellow is on the front.

 

There are several tutorials on the internet of how to machine bind a quilt, this one by Crazy Mom Quilts describes exactly the method I used for mine. And here is the back of the quilt!



I wonder what my friend will say when I tell her I've decided to keep the quilt for myself? ;)

Preserving History for Tomorrow

If you are an Alberta quilter, I encourage you to participate in the Alberta Quilt Project.  Curator Lucie Heins has earlier this year lectured on her findings about what quilters are doing in Alberta today, but she is still collecting data.  You can participate by filling out a questionnaire and your contribution to the culture of quilting will be documented and help this amazing project.  Go to the link HERE and scroll down to Alberta Quilt Project to learn more.  I just completed my questionnaire today, having learned of the project last weekend and I'm excited about doing my little part.

A La Maison 9 Patch - Now With Texture!

Last night I #talknt 'd, pin basted this quilt and watched Downton Abbey :) I'd call that an excellent evening.

This afternoon, I quilted it! I am starting to get that "I am one with my machine" feeling while free motioning... pretty cool.

Tonight, while watching the Season 2 finale of Downton, I shall bury threads!

A La Maison 9 Patch Quilt Top

I finished this quilt top yesterday. It's just a simple pattern of my own design from a jelly roll. The fabric is from Robert Kaufman and the line is called "A La Maison". I was drawn to the blues and browns in it and the coral reds/pinks. It is quite elegant with the scrollwork and pinstripes, yet sweet with tiny bees and dragonflies in the fabric. The sashing is Bella Snow and the cornerstones are made with Kona Delft. I was at a LQS (1 1/4 hours away from me) on the weekend in combination with a quilt show. The shop had some amazing sales, including a 7-11 sale, where one metre was $7, 2 from the same bolt was $11 and the prices just went down from there! I got a lot of fabric from this sale that I will be using for backgrounds, etc. Including this one I used for the border. It is a reproduction from RJR and Thimbleberries called Sunshine and Shadow. I am loving reproduction fabrics more and more :) Lucky me since that seems to be what my local LQS specializes in. (Yes, I said local local quilt shop, since it is 15 min away).

Granny Squares Continued....

 Just wanted to share a sweet Granny Square made from scraps of Verna fabrics by Kate Spain. The scraps are from a quilt I finished last year I called Emma's Garden. It was made for none other than Oliver's older sister!

 

Owls and Trucks for Oliver!

This quilt top I finished this morning!  I have done this pattern a couple of times before, so I was able to go pretty quickly!

 

It is colourful and fun, and I hope the little boy who it's meant for likes looking at the trucks and cute little owls it frames.  There is nothing sweeter than tucking a little child under a homemade quilt in bed.  I hope he feels the love from his mama when he snuggles under it.  Can't wait to quilt it and send it off!

The fabrics are from Moda, the Ten Little Things collection by Jenn Ski.  I mixed it with some Bella Solids, also from Moda, in Blue Raspberry, Betty's Red, Leaf, Earth, Sea, Lemon, and Orange.

More Granny Squares

I completed some more Granny Squares today, enough for a baby boy quilt. These are scraps from quilts I had made from Riley Blake's Hooty Hoot line and Fox Trails. I have some scraps from a quilt I made last year in Kate Spain's Verna line that will soon become a little girl Granny Square quilt. Looking forward to sewing up that sweet one!

Ruby Tuesday: Part Two

Ruby Tuesday Part One coincidentally fell on a Tuesday with Ruby fabrics, and Ruby Tuesday Part Two has also come on a Tuesday with Ruby fabrics times two! Confused yet?

I had two Ruby charm packs from Moda and so made two sweet baby girl quilts with cheery spring pinwheels. It was snowing this morning, so these quilts are as bright as it gets around here today. I stippled one, and straight line quilted the other. They are both backed with a pink flannel from Valori Wells I found at my LQS on sale. Still need to bind them! I have some solid pink from Kona that will be nice, I think.


It's neat to see the different quilty qualities that show up depending on how the quilt is quilted. YKWIM? Hope your Tuesday is terrific!

A Quilt Makeover

This quilt was already made and shown on this blog once before. However, the binding wasn't making me happy. And, since this quilt is in the heavily used category in my home, it was already starting to fall apart. Notice that my quilting was very sparse. Those long, lonely, lines of stitching pop quilt easily, I discovered, as I heard that tell tale sound more than once when this quilt was tugged and pulled by my boys (and me).

So I ripped off the binding. And picked out all the quilting. And re-did it along all the seam lines. And here she is again.



The fabric is Fox Trails from Riley Blake and binding is Kona Solid in Lake. The backing is flannel, an argyle print from Riley Blake as well in blue. The pattern is one of my favourites: Small Plates from Elizabeth Hartman's book, Practical Guide to Patchwork.

Jumping on the Granny Square Bandwagon

I was sorting through my 2.5 inch scraps and realized I had a bunch of coordinating ones that might make a fun baby quilt! So I decided to try the Granny Square Block that has been so popular on Flickr! lately. These are fun to make!

Hexies!

I am so addicted to sewing and I NEEDED something to do when I am not able to be at my sewing machine, like when my family wants to watch a movie together, or we're travelling... or... So I had to start english paper piecing! I HAD to. So here are my first hexagon flowers. And I don't think I'm going to stop anytime soon, either!

Hope Valley Table Runner

A little finish today with some scraps! Made from 2 inch strips and squares I had left over from my Hope Valley Quilt, and 2 inch strips of Essex Linen in Putty I pulled from my 2 inch strip bin. I also was able to bind it in 2.5 inch strips I had left over from binding my Swoon Quilt way back in the fall. It's a woodgrain print from Timeless Treasures, I think. The backing was from an old sheet!



I have been using Bonnie Hunter's system for storing my scraps and I really love it. Whenever I am done a project, I cut the scraps into useable pieces: 1.5 inches (strips and squares), 2 inches, 2.5 inches or charms. Then they are ready to go for whatever I want to make. Like this postage stamp table runner!

Farmer's Wifing and a Cutie

Hey, did I mention I am doing the Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long? Well, I am not so much quilting along as I am doing it whenever I feel like it. Here is my latest completion:


I am actually up to block number 62 in the book, but this one was skipped...I was not feeling into teeny tiny triangles at the point I encountered that one first. I have tackled it however. These colours are my mom's colours, and it will eventually be a king sized quilt for her and my dad.

And a cutie picture and comment for you too:


He looks happy snuggled on the couch here, but since this picture was taken, he got sick with a stomach flu. There has been a lot of quilt and couch snuggling going on... and quilt washing going on here. One day he was snuggling up with me watching me doing some hand sewing. I stopped because I ran out of thread and didn't want to get up. He waited for a bit and then chirped out "Poke dat quiwt, Mom!" Yes, darling, I will. I do love to poke quilts.

Fandango Charming Stars Finished

With one sick child and just two littles at home, I was able to put up my feet and watch "Fly Away Home," (sob), and sew on binding this morning!

All finished!

I chose Kona solid in Sable, which I had in my stash.

Edited: August 17, 2012 This quilt has gone to its new home this summer. A final shot from the spring, which I think shows its colours the most accurately. Thanks for everyone's interest in this quilt. Here again is the link to the pattern at Moda Bake Shop.

William Morris Pillows!

Since I made my William Morris Charm Quilt last fall, I have been decorating it on my bed with plain beige pillow shams. Disgraceful, I know, for someone with as much beautiful fabric as I have. Today I finished some new shams with the leftover charms from the quilt! I have wanted to try a "value quilt" for a while, so this is what I came up with: