A Quilty Look Back...

...at some of the things I made in 2013.  This is by far only a fraction of the beauty and happiness that was a part of my 2013.  But since this is just a quilt blog, here are the quilty bits of my year at a glance!

Hope you have a lovely holiday celebration this winter and a beautiful new year. Thanks for visiting my blog and for all the kindness and prettiness you have added to my year!

A Jelly Roll Quilt!

I finally finished off this quilt what's been hanging around for a year or so!

I love Lauren and Jessi Jung, the pair that designed this fabric line (called Flora) for Moda. One of my all time favourite lines of theirs is Hideaway, it's so cute. Here is a quilt I made with a bunch from that line last year (don't you love those little swiss houses?):

This one I just finished is made with a jelly roll in a very simple pattern that goes together fast. I just sewed groups of 4 jelly roll strips together, cut those strip sets into squares, arranged, and sewed together with the two borders. The quilting took me the longest (no, that's not right...just deciding what to do with the jelly roll first, and deciding how to quilt it came in a close second for longest stage!)

I decided on an all over free motion swirly, whirly... umm... loopy design. I did feel a little out of control at times, not quite sure which way I was going, and do I now swirl right...or left?? Oh well, I love it anyways. And it turned out much softer than I expected, even with the stitches crossing over themselves so many times. I do love a drape-y quilt.

The backing is half of an Ikea duvet cover I ripped apart. I bound it in some more Flora, a lovely binding print with all those little leaves. As usual, I pieced and quilted it all with Aurifil in a 50 wt., this time in an Ivory.

The final dimensions are 56" by 71", a great size from just one jelly roll plus about a yard and a half for the borders.

Maybe you even have time to whip one up for a Christmas gift!  Here is one I made from this same pattern, last year at Christmas, in a Reunion from Sweetwater jelly roll:

 

Christmas Dresden Plate Pillow

Overcome with the urge to create something Christmassy, and quilty... (because frankly, much of thinking about other aspects of Christmas is far too overwhelming right now)... this Dresden Plate Pillow was created.

 

I used up a bunch of scraps from making the quilt you see behind the pillow a couple of years ago, and some table runners for family members last year. The scraps are pretty much all from Basic Grey's lines Blitzen and Fruitcake.

I hand quilted it with my favourite Aurifil thread in a nice heavy 12 wt. A thoroughly enjoyable experience, as always.



After it has a little wash, I'm sure it will fit the pillow form nicely, right?

So.... are you Christmas quilting?

Giveaway Winner!

My first giveaway is now over, so I got to figure out how to make one of these nifty random number generators for the first time.  It tells me that comment number 55 is the winner of the Les Amis fat quarter bundle!

So the winner is Angela Smith!!  I will be contacting Angela and getting her bundle to her from Double Decker Fabric.  Thanks everyone for entering and for visiting Double Decker Fabric online!

A Little Triangle Baby Quilt

I had some trouble with photographing this today...it's minus 30 Celsius outside, so the one photo I got that is actually in focus is angled.  I promise, the quilt is square!  Oh well, I was feeling the need to share so this is what you get!

I made this with a variety of triangles, obviously, and varying shades of aqua, Kona solids as a background. Clever observers may recognize this quilt as being inspired by an Anthropologie quilt that made the rounds in blogland a bit ago.

I really do want to be original some day. But for now, as I said above, this is what you get!  The binding, since we are looking at it, is an Anna Maria Horner print...

The backing is my favourite! Anna Maria Horner VOILE! It is so very, very soft and snuggly. And so pretty too!

I quilted it in straight lines on my machine with pale gray Aurifil in 50 wt.  It finishes at about 35" by 41" and the batting is Warm & Natural.

So there it is! Have to run and put another log in the woodstove!  And wrap up in a quilt.  And make some tea... hope it's warmer where you are, but maybe not.  It *is* rather cozy in here :)

Yay! A Giveaway!

Hello friends! A couple months ago, I stumbled upon a Pinterest board by fellow Canadian Sheryl Sylvester at Thread Riding Hood. She listed a plethora of CANADIAN online quilt shops, several of which I was familiar with, several which were new to me, and a couple of those which really stood out. Double Decker Fabric was one of them.

With Dorienne's carefully curated collection of super fun and modern prints, there is something for everyone - whether you are a quilter or a sewist who sticks to home decor, children's projects, bags or clothes, there are some really cute fabrics you need to check out at Double Decker.

And my Canadian friends in particular understand, we really would rather spend our money on fabric than on postage from the US.  Dorienne's flat rate is 5 bucks anywhere in Canada.  FREE if you order $100.

Ok. Let's talk about the fabric. I am particularly fond of these geeky, but very trendy prints from Riley Blake's Geekly Chic line:

Mixtape!! And these glasses!!

Dorienne also carries 100% organic fabrics by the wonderful Birch designers (who we also know as Fabricworm! One of the first places I ever ordered modern fabric!) Aren't these elephants adorable?

She also has solids!! There is more in the store to look at, but let's not get too distracted because... 

I am very excited to announce my very first GIVEAWAY, right here on my little blog! Dorienne of Double Decker Fabric is offering this lovely fat quarter bundle of fabrics from the Les Amis Line by Patty Sloniger for Michael Miller Fabrics.  Don't you love those little forest foxes and owls?

 

The bundle includes one fat quarter each (as shown above) of: 

Forest Friends 

Owlies 

Ripples 

Faux Bois 

Socks the Fox

and Turtle Parade 

To win, all you have to do is comment on this post and you will be entered in the giveaway. You can click over and like Double Decker Fabric on Facebook, too! There's no extra entry for that, but I know Dorienne would appreciate it if you stopped by.

The giveaway will close at 12 midnight Mountain Time on Saturday, November 24, 2013.  Thanks for visiting and entering!

Edited to add:  Please be sure you are not a no-reply person on Blogger,  or there will be no way for me to contact you if you win!  Right now there are 7 people entered who are no-reply, meaning I do not have your email address to contact you :(   Click on the button below to learn more:

Edited: November 24, 2013 midnight  

COMMENTS CLOSED - Thanks for entering!

I Survived! (and I Quilted!)

Hey there!  It's been quiet from me for a bit.  I was single mothering for almost 10 days while all the mature male members of my collection were away to Orlando.  My older sons are very talented Minecraft artists and went (with my husband as chaperone) to Minecon, a Minecraft convention/trade show.  And took in the fun sights of Florida, too!

I stayed home with the younger boys and tried to keep my head above water by quilting late into the night.  Wait, I do that anyways.  Well, it was harder this time!

I finished this:

There are a few things going on in this quilt that I shall comment on.  One, I machine quilted most of it with Aurifil 50 wt, in beige on the bottom (bobbin) and ivory on the top.  Then I hand quilted the "snowballs" around the insides (roughtly 1/4 inch in) with various colours of heavier Aurifil and DMC threads (8 and 12 wts).

You know how when you quilt something different on the border than you do in the middle, there is a reckoning that has to happen between the two motifs where they meet?  Well, my motifs were weird about it.  I did straight lines following the diagonal in the middle and then a cross hatch following the plaid on the border.  Sometimes I ended up sewing over the same lines twice and sometimes I left a blank spot on the back of that border/middle seam line.  It just depended on what my crazy brain was doing and where I thought it made sense to sew.  Well... on the back it looked weird.  So my solution was to go over the whole thing with a thick decorative machine stitch that looks like a blanket stitch.  You can see it in this picture: 

The quilt came out to 54" by 71".   All the fabrics are American Jane, from the lines ABC 123 and School Days.  I should mention that I used an Ikea sheet on the back of this one as well.

And the other thing I did was to attempt some swirly, whirly loops on this quilt here.  Slow, slow going as this one is making me pull my shoulders up to my ears and I need to take frequent breaks to un-knot.   But I'm learning, so "yay!".

I'm on a ROYGBIV Roll!

This is what happens when you re-organize your fabric shelves and see what you all have there.  I love to organize by colour.  This quilt emerged when I sorted my scrap strings.  And this one when I sorted all my fat quarters and larger scraps!

It was so fun, fun, fun to make! I have referenced it before and I will reference it again, because it is such a great tutorial. Go see Jeni Baker at In Color Order and her Plus Quilt Tutorial.

I backed this one with some snuggly flannel from Riley Blake in a lovely bright red. I quilted it using the "wavy" stitch on my Bernina (stretched as wide as it could go and at length "3") and my walking foot. It was so easy peasy and so satisfying because a little wiggle is totally unnoticeable, unlike with straight line quilting. I'm so happy with the results.

The binding is a fun orange Pezzy Print from American Jane. All pieced with Aurifil in 50 wt of course. I used Aurifil in a light gray for the top quilting and a rainbow variegated for the bobbin, to add colour to the reverse side. Dimensions are 36" by 52".

As much as I love it, it is a little small for the growing members of my family and even for me.  It will soon be up in my Etsy shop!

ETA:  I completely forgot to give credit to Becca at Bryan House Quilts!  Her Rainbow Plus Quilt has been such a part of my quilting subconscious for a while now I barely realized it was not from my own brain!  Becca's, however, is a sophisticated and grown up version which is absolutely breathtaking.  Go look!!

 

Blogger's Quilt Festival, ROYGBIV Category Quilt Entry

Welcome to my blog, and my Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry in the ROYGBIV Quilt category!

This scrappy quilt top emerged from my machine last spring after colour sorting all my string sized scraps!

 You can find the tutorial I used to construct the string blocks over at Film in the Fridge. Or, a similar method is shown in Elizabeth Hartman's book, Practical Guide to Patchwork, under the quilt "Valentine".

 

The backing I finally chose is simple a turquoise sheet from Ikea, the binding is called Itty Bitty RicRac by Lakehouse Designs. I pieced it all and quilted it all with Aurifil thread, using a rainbow variegated thread on the back, which I love. The quilting is an all-over grid done on my machine, diamond-y like the blocks.

Quilt Stats: Dimensions: 59" by 71" 

Fabrics: scrap strings 2" and less, centre strips are made with Habitat Dandelions by Michelle D'Amore for Bernatex. Binding is Itty Bitty Ric Rac by LakeHouse Designs. Backing, Ikea sheet. 

Batting: Warm & Natural 

Thread: Aurifil 50wt for piecing and quilting 

Completed August 2013

  Thanks so much for visiting and enjoy looking around the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Welcome to my Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry in the Baby Quilt Category!

I made this little quilt this summer for my Etsy shop. It was purely a therapeutic exercise, beginning with a pretty charm pack (Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille), some coordinating solids (a white and Bella's Robin's Egg Blue), and then.... I just went from there. I saw stars, then I saw pinwheels, and then I saw stitches. It might sound like I hit my head, but I guess I saw this quilt!

I decided to round the corners of the quilt, and thusly got an education in making bias binding. Thanks to Jona Giammalva! So that was fun. The binding fabric is one of my favourites, a print from Silent Cinema by Jenean Morrison.

The stitches I envisioned were big, colourful hand stitches in thick Aurifil thread - in both 12 wt and 28 wt. These I added to the top and bottom borders.

And here are the stats in a nutshell:

Dimensions:  31" by 36"

Fabrics: Happy Go Lucky, by Bonnie and Camille

Robin Egg Blue, Moda Bella Solid

Winter White, Free Spirit Solid

Silent Cinema, by Jenean Morrison (binding)

Hello Pilgrim, by Lizzy House (backing)

Batting: Warm & Natural

Thread: Aurifil 50 wt (piecing) and Aurifil 12 wt and 28 wt (hand quilting)

Completed June 2013

So that's it for me here!  Hope you enjoy the Quilt Festival and have fun looking around at all the pretty!

Previous Quilt Festival Entries: 

SPRING 2013

FALL 2012