Spools Mini

Last Saturday I had a lovely sew-in date with my friend Christina. We decided to make the Spools mini quilt by Thimble and Blossoms. Camille does design some lovely patterns!

I was lucky enough to win a Fat Quarter Shop gift certificate from A Lovely Year of Finishes for my November goal which I splurged and bought the Heather Bailey True Colors charm pack with. I am so glad I did because I love, LOVE the colors so much and the prints are super pretty too!

I decided to be brave and practice my free motion quilting skills. I wanted to try pebbling and since this quilt is only 14” by 16” I thought it was a perfect practice size. It is not perfect and I did get some shifting but I am okay with that. I am super happy that I tried something “scary” and plus it is for my sewing room wall so I can deal with its imperfections ;) I quilted it Aurifil 50wt in a light dove gray (color #2600) which I have to say is one of my favorite Aurifil thread colors so far. It is almost gone. Sad face.

I took the binding fabric from my daughters quilt fabric stack, shhhhh. I was going to use this fabric to bind her quilt but the running stitch print and color was just too perfect not to steal from her stack to bind this sweet quilt. I will find something else for her I am sure.

There are so many lovely versions of this quilt popping up. It looks so different depending on the fabrics you use. I think that if I make it again I would maybe make a scrappy version or perhaps a rainbow. Next up perhaps a mini Swoon or Puddle Jumping mini. Did you see that Jaybird Quilts is working on minis too?! Fun! She posted a sneak peek on Flickr!

Linking to Needle and Thread Thursday and Finish it up Friday

Mr. Fox

I was lucky to be able to take part in the Flickr Doll Quilt Swap round 14. I had so much fun being snoopy and trying to figure out what my partner would like. I was inspired and decided to with a design that was a little more fun than serious.

I was inspired by Pile O’Fabrics cross stitch block tutorial. This little block could be turned into so many cute designs. I had a vision of a little fox made with all different orange fabrics. I had one problem though there was no way I had 39 different orange prints. Luckily some lovely ladies (locally and not so locally) donated some of their orange scraps to my vision which helped me to create the most handsome Mr.Fox ever! Okay maybe I am bias. He also has 10 different low volume prints and 4 text prints mixed in with those 39 prints, that is a lot of fabric for a little quilt.

 

You might notice that my blocks are a little smaller than the tutorial. I used 1.5” squares and 4ish” by 1.5” strip. The linen was about 1.75 (I left it the original size in the tutorial). I squared them off to 2 3/8” so sewn they are approx 1.75”. This quilt ended up being 20” by 19.5”  for some reason it isn’t quite square. Oh well.

I decided to hand quilt because I didn’t want the quilting to take away from the design. I used an Aurifil orange variegated thread in 28wt. 

I even made my very first ever label. Sure it was just with a Sharpie and Heat n Bond but I am proud of myself, lol.

 

This quilt will be heading to its new home in a little bit. I have loved making it. I hope he makes you smile :) Everything came together so nicely and I really really hope my partner loves him!

Linking to Needle and Thread Thursday and Finish it up Friday

My Dad’s Quilt

Back in July my Dad was in a pretty bad motorcycle accident. Luckily he is alive but sadly he is still a bit broken and still not back at work. After his accident he would basically make me feel guilty every time I saw him by asking me where his quilt was since my Mom had gotten one while she was in the hospital only a few months prior. (you can read see hers here if you want.) Anyhow every time I would respond with oh sure Dad I will make you a 6” quilt to keep your toes warm. We would tease each other that is just how we roll in our family. In October I finally decided I would make my Dad his quilt after he landed himself in the hospital for a unwelcomed stay once again. Now he even had more leverage being there twice I guess. My brother pitched in a little cash and I went fabric shopping!

So I made him his quilt for Christmas. He didn’t know about it. We surprised him!  Well at first he unwrapped a blu-ray telling him to go to the laundry room where his 6” quilt was waiting for him…

He started laughing so hard. He was thrilled with his little mug rug. He even said that would have been good enough but wasn’t willing to give his actual quilt up to my brother. Afterwards I unrolled his big quilt for him. I used the Vintage pattern from the Simply Retro by Camille Roskelley book. I did not add the additional borders (My Dad is not the tallest guy, ssshhhhh). This quilt measures at approx. 60” by 80”.

My Dad has a thing for sailboats. So I had to add a sailboat block. I think that it turned out well. I used the lovely Tula Pink Salt Water line in the blue color way with a few Kona solids thrown in. I paired it was Kona ash and the binding is the anchor print. I couldn’t really make a block with that print because it blended so much but luckily I found yardage on sale for binding! I quilted it on the angle stopping at the sailboat block. I stitched around the sailboat which was easier said than done with my sewing machine.

 

Needless to say my Dad is very happy with his quilt! I am super glad that I made the time to make it for him even though Miss L thought I should be making her quilt instead. Hers is on the list.

 

Happy New Year to all my lovely blog friends! I hope we all have a few fun me projects planned for the new year!

Swoon Pillow

It is so nice to be inspired by those around you. I saw this lovely Christmas swoon pillow on Instagram and thought it was the perfect way to test the block. I have a stack of fabric just waiting to made into a swoon quilt but I was a little nervous. I was given a little push and encouragement to make a pillow. Since I was done my Christmas sewing for others I thought I would make a little something for me!

I did a little digging in “my fabric” and found some lovely Amy Butler Daisy Chain FQs I recently got from a destash on IG. I paired it with Kona snow hopefully dirty fingers will keep their distance! I love how pretty it is :)

I have to say that the block itself is easy to make it just takes forever!!!! (so the that stack will become a swoon quilt eventually! Yay!) This pillow is reduced in size from the original pattern by Thimble and Blossom. The pillow measures at about 18” with the border. I had a small spool of pink variegated Aurifil thread in Mako 12 weight so I decided to do a little hand quilting.  The fussy cut of the medallion print makes me happy!

I love how it turned out! The colors even look perfect with my new chairs that we recently bought for our living room. Yes we finally bought a couch and chairs. The couch is still being made but I am super excited about it!

linking to finish it up friday

My Lilly Belle Quilt

Well I have to say that I am still in shock that I actually completed this quilt! I only started it almost 7 months ago… I was on a mission to not take any unfinished projects with me as we move. Trust me I have a list of projects that I want to start but they will have to wait!

I finished this quilt top back in January but really really wanted to Free Motion Quilt it. I decided to do a few smaller projects and practice. As I practiced I received some tips and encouragement.

First tip I got was from Krista over at Poppyprint. She directed me over to her tutorial on Flickr for spray basting. She said it was easier to FMQ with out having to worry about pins and the stress of the quilt shifting. I am totally sold on this method although I still pick and choose which projects to use the can of 505 on since it is not cheap.

Second tip was to wear gloves. At first I wasn’t a believer but then I tried and trust me it helped big time especially with a big quilt.

Third tip put music on. It will help you get into the flow of it.

Fourth check your set up. Are you too high? Too low? I was complaining about sore wrists and the lovely Felicity over at Felicity Quilts advised me to check my set up. (She has awesome FMQ skills) I have to say after tucking a few pillows under my bum it was sooooo much better.

I have to say my FMQ skills are not perfect by any means but I am super proud of this quilt.

This is my handsome and adorable quilt holding assistant. He was complaining about the size of this quilt while demonstrating how he had to hold it up… I love him. I am glad he supports me in my crazy sewing projects.

This is as straight as it got… Sadly the last quilt in front of this old shed… Happy to be moving soon though.

I used the Belle Wave quilt pattern by Faith over as Fresh Lemon Quilts. Yes I know I copied her down to the fabric but I was lucky enough to win this FQ bundle and I wanted a quilt! Although I made a few extra blocks six to be exact because I made an oops. I think it was the best oops because now I have a big quilt to snuggle under. I also changed the directions of the waves.

This quilt measures at about 60” by 75”. There are 8 prints from the Lilly Belle collection by Bari J. plus one Tula Pink called Sprout from Parisville and one Amy Butler called Martini in mustard from Midwest Modern. The solid is Kona Bone from Pink Castle fabrics. It is quilted in Aurifil #2026 which matches perfectly! The binding is Joel Dewberry’s herringbone print. Backing is a Henry Glass quilt backing print.

Linking to Let’s Get Acquainted at June and Plum and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story and Sew Cute Tuesday at Better off Thread also Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

My brother is better than yours…

…well it is true. I have the sweetest and most awesome brother who spoils me once and a while. He bought me fabric for my birthday that was in April. Not just any fabric a Fat Quarter bundle of 12 Anna Maria Horner Field Study prints! Plus some 1/2 yards of Amy Butler Alchemy prints. He loves me! I should really start on his quilt I plan on making him I have all the supplies…

Anyhow my FQ bundle came and I had to make something with it ASAP! I happened to buy some AMH Field Study yardage plus a Bari J print from her Splendor 1920 line that went perfectly for my birthday as part of my bday gift from my husband. So I had 13 prints to play with and went on a search for a pattern.

I found a pattern on Cluck, Cluck, Sew called Squares and Strips. A patchwork quilt! I have never done a 16 patch or a framed patch so I decided that this was perfect. Quick, easy, and something that I could use my FQ bundle with. Perfect!

This top only took me a few days to complete but then I was on a stand still until I found the perfect thread to quilt with. Well I found it at the quilt show last weekend! Aurifil #5022 came to the rescue. I had brought my pouch that Miss L had made with me to color match.

I quilted it with curves most of them with a curved frame excepted for the framed blocks those ones got an orange peel type petal. I used my walking foot and I didn’t mark where I was quilting so it is far from perfect but I am not too worried about it.

I am in love with this quilt and I love the fact that there is a quilt in this house that finally belongs to me!!!!!!

With the yardage I even had enough for the backing and binding! This truly is a birthday fabric quilt!

Okay I will stop with the pictures already… Hope everyone has a great week!

linking to

Let’s Get Acquainted at Quilts in the Queue

Fresh Sewing Day at Lily’s Quilts

Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story