Winner's Bouquet, Finished At Last

I managed to squeeze one last finish into 2010.  This is the quilt I'm calling Cider Mill, made using the pattern Winner's Bouquet by Terry Atkinson.  I finished the binding while relaxing before dinner on Christmas day.

I started this quilt in 2009, got it to the finished-flimsy stage, then put it away.  I sent it off to be quilted at the end of August and, oh, what a difference the quilting made!  In fact, the quilting makes this quilt.  Kari Ruedisale quilted this for me, along with my quilt Christmas Day, and she did a fabulous job.

The pieces in the pattern are quite large, but the quilting in those spaces gives it more dimension.  I just love the way it looks now. 

Don't be dismayed by the curved pieces in Winner's Bouquet; it is much easier than it looks.  First, the pattern includes plexiglass templates that make it a cinch to cut out with your rotary cutter.  I found that the pieces fit together very easily and were not at all difficult to sew.  (It would be more difficult if they were smaller.)

The pattern is written for fatquarters and yardage for the background and borders, but I used a layer cake (Patisserie by Fig Tree for Moda) with a couple of additional FQs.  While this worked fine, it was not very efficient use of the fabric and I have a lot of scraps left over.  But they fit well with my other scraps from various Fig Tree fabric collections.  I'm sure I'll manage to use them for something-or-other in the future.

Miss Rosie's Brand New Day Quilt - Finished In The Nick Of Time!

Yes, I finished the binding on my version of Brand New Day, which I'm calling Christmas Day. 

Miss Main Street was standing on a chair, holding up the quilt for me to take the photo, but her armspan is not quite as wide as the quilt itself.  But that is the best picture I could get.

I'm really happy with how this quilt turned out.  If you recall, I was doing the piecing in July, during my Christmas in July project immersion.  I used my hoarded collection of Robyn Pandolph fabrics, probably 5+ years old so impossible to obtain additional matching yardage and I had to work with what I had on hand.  So had to make a little modification to the pattern, which has you using the same fabric for both the border and unpieced blocks.  But what's a quilting project without a little "modification" to the pattern directions!

The star blocks are a variation on Ohio Star and I really like them.  I'll probably use them again in another quilt sometime.  Here, you can see how the quilter handled the star blocks.  The unpieced blocks are quilted with a different motif, a sort of star/wreath combo, but I could not get a good photo because of the busy-ness of the fabric print.  

Kari Ruedisale did the quilting; I am delighted with her work.  I learned about Kari on Minick and Simpson's blog.  I figured if Kari was quilting for a professional, quilts that are seen by the universe of quilting professionals at Quilt Market, she must be good, so I contacted her about doing something for me.  In fact, Kari squeezed two of my quilts into her schedule and you will be seeing the other one soon.

Christmas Day is now part of our Christmas season decorating, ready for a snuggle in the living room.  But I am thinking of putting it on the guest room bed for my mother's arrival. 

Aging Gracefully

Back from the quilter, bound, and labeled - Aging Gracefully. 

I was using a different name when this one was a work in progress.  The fabrics have an antique look, like they have aged, and I wanted to get that into the name.  Suddenly, it came to me, and Aging Gracefully it is.  I used a Bonnie Blue Quilts pattern called Second Hand Clothes.  Bonnie Blue Quilts showed this design in their booth at one of the quilt shows I went to last year and I admired it so much.  I did not want to buy the kit because I already had the Legacy layer cake and some yardage.  So I bought a small fat quarter bundle of complementary fabrics that BBQ was selling, along with the pattern, then ordered the solid khaki and aqua fabrics to finish it off.    This will go nicely on our tan couch in the family room.

That's Miss Main Street holding up the quilt.  She had to stand on a chair and stretch her arms out as far as they would go.  Although she is 15, she's still my little girl at only 5'2".

Summer Romance - Finished

Summer Romance is finished - quilted, bound, labeled, and...

...on the bed.  I've very happy with it and it adds a bit of cheer to our bedroom in the midst of all our gloomy, cold weather. 

Here's a close-up of the quilting, a swirly feather pattern.  In case you missed my earlier posts on this project, I string-pieced (or strip pieced) the blocks on paper foundations.  I used stash fabrics, cut in random widths of 1.25 inches to 2.5 inches and put a strip of solid white down the diagonal center of each block for some uniformity.

I have an idea for some coordinating pillowcases.  They're on my to-do list so check back in a bit for more on that.

My Last Quilt Finish For 2009

Shasta Daisy, quilted, bound, and labeled!

I finished it yesterday so I am certain this is my last finish of 2009.  I started this quilt back in April but just got it back from the long-arm quilter a couple of weeks ago.  I really like what she did - outlined the daisies, meandering in the background, and a leafy vine on the white sashing.

I used a printed yellow and white gingham for the binding.  That's an American Jane print on the back.

This quilt will be a throw for the spare bed in my sewing room.  It will be a bit of sunny brightness to look at during the winter months.  It is snowing here now, a good day to stay inside and sew some more. 

Talk to you in the new year.  I hope it is a happy and healthy one for all!

My Christmas Log Cabin Quilt

This is Holly and Ivy, aka the Christmas Log Cabin quilt.

I made this a few years ago, thinking it would deplete my overly extensive stash of Christmas fabric. Ha! Despite being about 80" by 60" it hardly made a dent in the red-and-green stash. I've since learned this is often the case; whenever I make a quilt from stash, it doesn't use nearly as much fabric as I think it will.

I've made several log cabin quilts, using two different construction techniques. For method A, one cuts all the logs before sewing, cutting each the exact length to fit its position in the block. Method B might be called sew-and-whack; you cut strips of fabric the correct width and sew them to the block, trimming each to fit before adding the next log. I think Eleanor Burns Quilt-In-A-Day log cabin uses this latter method. I generally prefer this method but have found you have to measure and trim very accurately after sewing each strip on or your blocks can come out all different sizes. And different sizes makes putting them together in the quilt top very tricky!

Here's a close-up that shows the quilting. This was one of the first quilts I had quilted by a professional long-armer. She used a holly leaves and vine pantograph with red and green varigated thread. I think it is very effective for this quilt.

Holly and Ivy gets out of storage and into our living space for about a month each year. It is currently over the back of a chair in the living room, waiting for me to curl up with a book. Maybe later this afternoon.

Finished Flimsy

I finished the blue and gold quilt top yesterday but had to wait until today's more cooperative weather to take the photos. I was trying to keep this a secret from Miss Main Street but she burst in me during the layout so she knows about it and thinks it is "cool."

I used a t-shirt purchased at the school store for the center. I backed the t-shirt with very lightweight fusible interfacing then cut out, centering the school name and falcon logo. I added some strips to get it to the right size to fit the blocks. There wasn't enough fabric between the logo and the neck of the shirt to cut it full size and still center the logo - there would have been a lot of blank t-shirt fabric at the bottom of the block.

The hardest thing about this quilt was coming up with the design. It had to combine the two high contrast colors yet be simple enough that the piecing would not fight the t-shirt block for attention. I think it came out pretty well and was easy and fast to piece, especially when I got on the hour-a-day plan. The top is 61" by 82".

I just have to piece the back then it will go off to the longarm quilter.

Some Work On A New Project

You might recall mention here of my plan to make my daughter a quilt in the colors of the high school she will attend beginning in the fall. Well, last night was the 8th grade promotion from middle school ceremony (very well done, 375 kids on their best behavior, marching in and out in a dignified manner and sitting attentively during the speeches - in short, better behaved than many parents sitting in the bleachers), so time to get started.

I originally planned to use the French Kiss pattern from Fig Tree but I want to use a school t-shirt for the center block and it turned out that would not work with the diamond shape of French Kiss. So I hatched another plan, did much of the cutting, and just began the piecing. There will be some pieced blocks and sashing surrounding a larger block made from a school t-shirt. The quilt will unveil here over the next few weeks.


I must get this finished, quited, and bound by Sept. 5.

Ta Da! A Finished Quilt!

Mon Petit Chou - quilted, bound, and labeled! I got it back from my long-arm quilter, Karen, last week and finished binding it on Saturday. This close-up shows the quilting.



I wanted it somewhat densely quilted, thinking that would help soften the vertical lines formed by the seams of the half-hexagons and it does help when viewed from a distance, though the seams are very obvious in this close-up shot.


The fabrics are the Plum & Fig line from Moda, designed by Fig Tree & Co. I started with a jelly roll then added yardage for the borders, backing, and binding. (I used the large floral print on cream for backing and the polka dots on green for binding.) There was something about this grouping of fabrics that attracted me when I saw them. The colors are unusual and don't go with anything in my house but it makes a good snuggle quilt on the khaki/beige family room couch.

Finished Quilt Top

I finished Daisy this afternoon. Well, not quite finished but the top is done. I like it and it is a departure from my usual style - more contemporary and brighter. I used the blanket stitch on my new Bernina for the applique, which made it go pretty fast. The quilt is kind of a sampler for what the Bernina can do that my old machine can't - my old machine doesn't have a blanket stitch (just zig zag). I'm intending to quilt this myself, but first I have to get some fabric for backing.

My current quilting project

My current project – my primary project – is Christmas Pickle from Home for the Holidays by Lynda Milligan and Nancy Smith. I think this book is out-of-print but a separate pattern for Christmas Pickle is available – you can see it here.

I’ve made several quilts from the book and had been meaning to make this one for some time. My LQS was offering a class, which I saw as the perfect inducement to get the quilt made as well as a way to pick up some new skills. This quilt has curved piecing and paper piecing. I’ve done both before but was never formally taught. The class was about four weeks ago and was great for tips and techniques but we barely got a start on the quilt top, despite the class being six hours long. This quilt is very time consuming, but I am enjoying it. I have the entire thing cut out now so it is a matter of sticking with it. I work on the pinwheel blocks (there are 120 of them!) in spare moments and am piecing the arcs when I have longer blocks of time.

Something else really satisfying about this project – I am making it entirely from stash! So far, I haven’t bought any fabric specifically for it though will probably have to purchase fabric for the back.