Need To Make A Christmas Gift, Part 1 - Easy, Fast Quilt with Big Impact

This is Nosegay, very quick to make and easy too! If you are thinking " a quilt would make a nice Christmas gift for Fill-In-Name-Here but how will I ever get it finished in time," this is your solution. It is also the perfect showcase for a large-scale print you love.

I made Nosegay using a pattern called Pennsylvania Pasture, from Endless Mountains Quiltworks. A moderately experienced quilter could make this without a pattern but I fell for the fabric in their booth at a quilt show so bought the pattern and yardage on the spot.

Here's a close-up of the corner. Because I was using a stripe, I mitered the corner of the inner border but you would not need to do that if you used another print. Or, you could place a cornerstone block in the corner.

The scalloped outer border adds a bit of specialness to an otherwise simple design. Binding the scallops is easier than it looks.

Poetry by April Cornell Needs A New Home

I've been a "serious" quilter for about 15 years now and my taste in projects has definitely changed over the years. Of course, part of it is becoming more proficient and being able to tackle more complicated piecing. And a good part of it has to do with the fabrics available. There is so much more variety available now: larger scale prints, more sophisticated colors that match the trends in fashion and home dec, as well as broader fabric lines that make it easier to coordinate a set of prints for a single project.

My earliest quilts used just a few, carefully coordinated fabrics - for example, three in a Double Irish Chain or seven in a Log Cabin quilt. I was not really into the scrappy look, which was good because I did not have a stash yet!

But early on, I was bitten by the Watercolor bug, a technique that required a vast supply of different prints, cut for the most part into 2" squares. I joined a watercolor fabric swap coordinated via email and mailed in USPS Priority Mail envelopes every month. It was the beginning of my stash. Up to that point, the fabric I had on hand was merely leftovers from other projects. My Watercolor projects increased my comfort with using a variety of fabrics, and my other projects began to include a broader range of prints.

I was mentally reflecting on how my taste and interests have changed over my quilting life as I was cleaning out my stash closet. Like all serious quilters, I have a few kits and UFOs that don't really interest me any longer. Maybe they need a new home.



Like this one: April Cornell Poetry Collection kit from Moda. When I bought this at my LQS a couple of years ago, I was really excited about it, loved the colors and paisley and floral prints, thought the basketweave effect of the piecing was fabulous. But I was in the middle of another project so I put it away for a while. And it never came out again. I don't know what happened. I look at this and I like it but I'm not excited. And the colors are not a good match for my home anyway.



So, I'm offering it for sale here. Included are the fabric covered box (12" x 7" x 4" deep) holding the fabric to piece the top and the instruction sheet, plus the yardage I bought to complete the quilt - 3.5 yards of the yellow paisley for backing and 1.5 yards of woven coral stripe for the binding (there is enough to substitute this for the pintucked coral for the inner border). The finished quilt is 52" x 52". Colors are coral pink, yellow, pale green, and aqua.

The price tag is still on the kit (originally $65) and the yardage for the back and binding must have run at least $8 per yard - so over $100 value. But I will send it to a good home for $75, including postage in USA (extra charge for actual cost if going elsewhere). Just leave a comment or email me if you are interested and I will send you an invoice via Paypal.

Some Odds and Ends

I've been working on the strip pieced blocks; 27 completed so only 117 to go! The piecing is easy but I want the quilt to be queen bed size so there are many blocks to make.

While I'm sewing and ironing, I try not to eat too much Halloween candy. Most of it is my daughter's haul. We really do live on Main Street, where there are sidewalks, so we get a lot of kids on Halloween, about 250 this year. All I had left was about 8 Reese's peanut butter cups and only had those because it started raining shortly before 8 pm, putting an end to the trick or treating.

On Sunday, I went to my LQS. They had just received the Rouenneries by French General from Moda. I had seen glimpses of this line online and in blogs and thought it looked good. Well, the actual fabric is even better than I expected - absolutely gorgeous! I'd love to make a quilt with it but resisted for the moment, with intention to plan something then go back to buy the exact yardage I need. I'd appreciate any suggestions for a block or pattern that would look particularly good made up in this line.

Progress on Strip Blocks

Blogs have a been a big source of quilting inspiration for me and I got the idea for my current project after seeing strip-pieced blocks and finished tops around blogland. I am using paper foundations, 8.5" square, with a strip of solid white (Kona Cotton in white) for the center of each block.

I use a glue stick to hold the white strip in place in the center then begin sewing strips to each side of the center strip.

Even very small scraps are useful for the corners. This is what a block looks like after all the strips are attached.

Then I use my 8.5" Creative Grids ruler to trim to size. Having a ruler the exact size of the block is handy. That's one reason I chose to use a 8.5" square. I had the ruler from another proejct and my inner frugal gal likes that the cost is now being amortized over another project!

Here's what it looks like when the blocks are put together.


11 blocks down, 133 to go!

If you would like a more detailed tutorial, you will find one here at FilmInTheFridge.

Friday Find - Towels for Embellishing

I made a stop at HomeGoods on the way home from a client's office. They sometimes stock my china pattern (Portmeirion's Botanic Garden) so it can be worth a look. I didn't find any china but stumbled across a treasure trove of cute towels, crying out to be further embellished with fabric from stash. Oh no, this could become an obsession!

Sometime in November, these will be transformed into one-of-a-kind hostesss and teacher gifts.

Lots of Goodies in the Mail

A few quilting goodies arrived in the mail last week.

First, three yards of white Kona Cotton for my strip project. The white is the only purchase I need to make for this quilt; the rest is scraps and stash! Since I was placing the order and paying for the postage, I threw the little Schnibbles pattern Madeline into my cart. I saw this made up by designer Carrie Nelson on LaVieEnRosie and love it but not sure when I'll get around to making it.




This month's Australian Homespun arrived (actually, the September issue - there is a bit of a delay in getting them all the way from Oz). I'm saving it for later for this week. Then from Amazon.com, the newest from Kaffe Fassett, Quilt Romance.






I love, love, love the quilt on the cover! Quiltsalott, a blogger in Australia, is making this quilt and has some advice on the curved piecing here. I plan to attempt it, once I get a few other projects out of the queue.

Everything's Coming Up Roses - Finished!

I picked up Everything's Coming Up Roses from longarm quilter Karen on Thursday and finished sewing on the binding last evening. I used a pale pink and white stripe for the binding. I'm pleased with the way the quilt turned out. Karen used a swirly feather for the quilting; you can see it better in these close-ups below.

It is a small quilt, 64" by 54" - a good size for a lap quilt when reading!