gracie

This quilt is going to be sent to some friends of mine who recently adopted a little girl. It was a particularly painful process that ended well. I'm so happy for them and I wanted to make a little quilt for the newest member of their family. The mama quilts, so I'm sure that it will be appreciated and used! :)

The top is made from all scraps. It continually amazes me just how far scraps go...even with the absence of sashing. The remainder of the quilt came from my stash. There was no pattern for this quilt, I just designed it as I went along.

I changed binding colors to match the color blocks. I love that detail.

To quilt it, I did a simple stipple in white thread.

The backing couldn't be a better match, could it?

After washing it measures 40" x 53".

I need to remember to make more baby quilts. They are so fun to make and easy to finish up quickly.

my first quilt

Camille and Carrie are having a parade of quilts. Since I've enjoyed seeing so many first quilts, I thought I would join in the fun.

My first quilt was made 9 summers ago. I was pregnant with my first child and I wanted to make a baby quilt for him. Thankfully, a dear friend helped me each step of the way, because I had NO clue about quilting, but I really wanted to learn. I remember having the hardest time rotary cutting. (I was scared to death!) And I also remember having a very hard time sewing a straight quarter inch seam. (That eventually got easier.)

I didn't quilt or bind it. The layers were sewn together, then flipped. It's tied with perle cotton. It measures about 40" square. My son still loves it and after 9 years, it's still in one piece. :)

One of my most recent finishes is the oh cherry oh quilt. (more here.) I quilted this one so heavily that it makes up for the lack of quilting in my first (five) quilts. :)

I've learned so much since my first quilt. A good sewing machine really makes a difference. Quilting is hard at first, the learning curve is steep, but once you get over the hump it's so worth it. Practice really does help. Simple patterns are good. And a fabric addiction is hard to kick.

After making my first quilt, I recall thinking "I can't believe I just made a quilt!" I still get a thrill when finishing each one. It doesn't get old, even after one hundred and some odd times.

grid quilting mini tutorial

I love stippling, there's no doubt about it. But there is life beyond stippling. (There's even a flickr group to prove it. hee hee) I like grid quilting a lot. It's fun, especially on a small piece. I thought I would share a quick tutorial on how I do it...

First, I made a quilt sandwich, using spray adhesive to baste the layers together.


Place a piece of painters tape (or masking tape) on your quilt top on the diagonal. Just eyeball it...no measuring required. The tape shown here is 1" wide. You can use any tape width you would like. On a larger piece, like a baby quilt, 2" wide tape is ideal.



Sew on either side of the tape using a walking foot....



Remove the tape....



Move the tape to the outside of the quilting line. I added another line of tape to help speed up the process. Quilt on the outside of each line of tape. Repeat as many times as necessary. You can re-use the tape between 5-10 times.



Once you are done quilting in one direction, start the process for the other direction. Again, no measuring is required...just eyeball it. Repeat the process as many times as necessary.



And that's it. Easy, right?



I made this little piece for the placemat swap on flickr. (you can see all the wonderful goodies i received in the swap here. jennie is an awesome swap partner!)

I think I might have found a new obsession in maverick stars. They are so much fun!!!

one a day quilt along-assembling the top

Are you all done with your one a day blocks? It's time to assemble your quilt top. Before jumping in, I think it's necessary to state that there are probably a dozen different ways that you can assemble it. This is the way I chose to do it.

You will need about 3.5 yards for the sashing.
All sashing strips are cut 2.5" wide.
(I am using bleached muslin.)
All seam allowances are 1/4".
I chose to press all seams toward the sashing.
Press after each step.

Cut 80 pieces of sashing 2.5" x 6.5".



Attach one piece of sashing to each 9 patch block. (You will have 10 left over.) For this step, I didn't bother pinning. I sewed all 70 at once and then pressed all 70.

Layout in a pleasing arrangement, 7 blocks wide by 10 rows high. It helps to take a digital photo after this step to check for color balance.

Sew the rows together. With the extra 10 sashing strips, add one to each row. Each row should start and end with a sashing piece and it should have 7 blocks in between.

Measure the length of your rows and take an average. For example, I had some rows that measured 58 1/2" and some that measured 59". So I cut all my pieces 58 3/4" long.

Cut 11 pieces.

This is where you will need to pin. And pin. And pin some more.

It is helpful to pin the sashing at each end. Then pin in the middle, then alternate the pinning from side to side. This will help you ease in the extra bulk if there is any and distribute it evenly along the seam.

Attach sashing to each strip. Then attach the strips together.

Next, you will need 142 2.5" blocks. Sew two strips 41 blocks long and two strips 31 blocks long. Attach the side borders first, then attach the top and the bottom borders.

Lastly, cut 4 long sashing strips for the outside and add them to the quilt. (For this step I didn't measure the length, I just sewed them on and pressed, then cut off the excess.)

Step back and admire your pretty new quilt top!
This one measures 66 1/2" x 91". A perfect twin size.

This does take some time to assemble because of all the sashing...it took me about 2 1/2 days. But so worth it!

I've been detaching myself from this quilt ever since I started it, because I have a recipient in mind. But once I added the white sashing, I had to start the detachment process all over again.

another one for my collection

my sweet, sweet friend Linda sent me this quilt for my birthday!!! isn't that so sweet? I LOVE IT!

I'm going to use the upcoming holiday as an excuse to take a little break from the blog. I'm gonna celebrate my birthday with my sis (and the entire country). You know, it sounds fun to have a birthday on a holiday, but in reality most of the time it's kind of a pain. But I'm going to try to make the best of it. :)

Have a great holiday weekend! And THANK YOU so much for all the well wishes for my retreat teaching opportunity. I appreciate it so much!

i'm sooooo excited

well, excited isn't nearly strong enough...i'm ecstatic!!! i will be teaching at a quilting retreat in Colorado in November! i am also going to be putting together a quilt (to be given away at the retreat) from the fabulous fabric shown above. more details about the retreat can be found here. i have to say, that when i started this little old blog i had no idea the opportunities that would come about. it's pretty amazing. and wonderful. :)

and....the winner of the oh cherry oh scraps is Sara. thanks to all of you for playing along!

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today is day 65 of the quilt along, in case you needed a little reminder. :)

scraps

thanks for all the sweet comments on my oh cherry oh quilt!

i can't believe that i'm going to say this, but i have too many fabric scraps. i really do. so i've decided to giving away my oh cherry oh scraps.

leave me a comment with your name, location and what you would do with the scraps if you were to win them.

here's an example: my name is amandajean and i live in wisconsin. if i were to use these scraps i would add them to my spiderweb quilt and would probably make a doll quilt or two.

one comment per person and please make sure that there is a way to contact you in the event that you win.

oh cherrry oh

my 20th quilt of the year is done!

this was my first time using a layer cake (precut squares that measure 10") and a jelly roll (precut strips that are 2.5" wide). it made the quilt top assembly very quick. i used the pattern patchwork rendezvous and the fabric is oh cherry oh from moda.

all the time i saved in assembling the qulit top i made up for quilting it. i used almost 18 bobbins of thread! i still can't believe that i did that much quilting on this baby, but it was so worth it. i love the texture! i was hoping that this might become my signature quilting design, but it's way too labor intensive for all my quilts. i think my arms would fall off.

i used a red polka dot from the sweet line (also from moda) for the binding. i can't get enough red polka dots. I love them!

the backing looks embossed, doesn't it? this fabric is from joann's.

the quilt measures 62" x 76" after washing. it's a nice lap size.

i am so very proud of this one!

the last 10

i finished my 9 patch blocks yesterday for the one a day quilt along!!!!

i haven't had time to lay out all 70 out yet,

so i'm a little nervous...i hope they all can get along. :)

i'm not sure that i should admit this, but i'm already planning my next one...

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today is day 58 of the quilt along.

peaches and cream

I think this quilt will be going to my friend Bonnie, if she wants it. :) I really, really need to become and unselfish quilter again.

For this quilt I pieced the batting using a zig zag stitch that many of your suggested after I posted this. (I have to say thank you for not laughing at me for hand piecing my batting!!!) Machine stitching it together is clearly the way to go. I think I used 9-10 pieces of long skinny batting strips in the process. It's so satisfying to make those ends into something useful. Reclaiming some closet storage space doesn't hurt, either.

I did a simple stipple in cream thread for the quilting. I love how it looks all quilted up.

And I finished it off with a wonderful green polka dot (from JoAnn's) for the backing and binding. I could use yards and yards of this fabric. I just love it.

The quilt measures 49" x 56".

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Edited to add: The pattern for this quilt was based on the snapshots pattern that is found in the book Happy Hour by Atkinson Designs. The block shown here is done at approximately 50% of the large block in the original pattern. (this one finishes at 7") Since this is a published pattern, I am not at liberty to share the measurements or a tutorial for this block.

The fabrics used in this quilt include a few thimbleberries prints, a tracy porter print and a few prints from moda...from the lines waters edge and urban indigo if i recall correctly. there is also one joel dewberry print and one unknown fabric.

oh, and bonnie loved the quilt. :) yay!

new to me quilting

after stumbling upon this post yesterday, i tried branching out-from stippling.

sometimes i shock myself!

i was so pleased with how this quilting looked on my practice piece that i started on my oh cherry oh quilt.

it's going to take awhile.

i have quilted 5 bobbins worth and have just completed 3 blocks.

but i'm loving it!!!

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today is day 53 of the quilt along. my total blocks made...still at 60. :)

summer pace

basting these two quilts was the extent of my quilting yesterday.
our summer vacation pace is going to take some getting used to.
thankfully, stippling is a stress reliever for me.
because boy oh boy do i need it.