heather and i are at it again

quilt blocks-11" unfinished

this time we are collaborating to make an auction quilt for our boys' school.
original inspiration quilt here.
many thanks to marie' for providing me with the measurements for the large scale blocks.

i have a feeling we are going to have a hard time letting this one go.

custom order

this was made for my friend Darcy to give to her mom for Christmas.
the fabric is from a Moda Charisma charm pack.
it veers from my normal style, but i think i like it anyway.

flea market fancy 2

Boy, it's been awhile since I finished a pink quilt. I've been slacking!!!

I love the pink line of flea market fancy fabric, and I had several large pieces of it in my stash. The only problem is that they don't match many of my other pink fabrics. Weird, I know! So I put all these pretties into one quilt. There is a little bit of Heather Bailey's Freshcut fabric and an Alexander Henry print in the mix, too.

I'm fairly happy with the results, although looking at the photos of the quilt, I see that I should have used more contrasting fabrics.

I love how the muslin crinkles after it's washed.

I used a bias stripe fabric from Moda to bind it. The print is on the diagonal, so you can cut the strips salvage to salvage, but still get the fancy looking diagonal stripes. It's perfect for binding.

For the back, I cut 11" squares and joined them into a strip, then used muslin for the rest. I love a pieced back. The nice thing about this one is it came together quickly. I liked using the large blocks a lot.

All the materials for this quilt came from my stash. That being said, I'm hoping that I can actually notice a dent in the stash sometime soon.

snippets

quilt top, measures 32" x 47"

made from 100% scraps, even the background fabric!
tutorial here
destined to be a wall hanging for my front entry way
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for those of you who asked, there is a stippling tutorial here.
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one more thing...it's Roxanne's 30th birthday, so why don't you stop by and wish her a Happy Birthday. she is the happy recipient of the first flea market fancy quilt. yay!

odds 'n ends

have you seen this blog??? i feel like i hit the jackpot when i found this site.
today i am trying out the taco soup recipe.
more crock pot use=more quilting time!!!
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several of you had asked if i could pick a favorite quilt from 2008. no, i can't. my least favorite was the green quilt. it turned out ok, but i don't LOVE it.
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in my new year's post i said i was going to make fewer lap quilts, since i have 20. did you know that all 20 of them are in use throughtout my home at this time? none are sitting in my quilt cupboard. not one. granted, my boys have 5 or 6 quilts each on their bed right now. they love quilts, just like their mama. (insert large cheesy grin here.) i just might toss out that goal...
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my daughter (2) has been calling me "sir" the last few days. she cracks me up. it makes me think that she's been watching too much Charlie Brown lately.
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and did you know...I LOVE TO STIPPLE????


i really, REALLY do.

flea market fancy 2

here's another flea market fancy quilt top.

tutorial here.

original quilt here.

as you can see, i'm not doing well with any of my goals for this year (slowing down, making something other than lap quilts, making quilts for others....). but hey, i am using my stash, so that has to count for something. i guess if they were easy, they wouldn't be called goals, right?

new wip

based on this quilt (i love this quilt!)
inspired by this color scheme (love this one, too!)

scrap rug

knit scrap rug--30" x 19"

i finally finished the knit rug that i started back in october. i first posted about it here.

materials used:

scraps leftover from cutting quilt pieces, including some selvages. ALL pieces used in this rug were originally destined for the trash can. pieces varied in width from about 1/3" -1" and were various lengths as well. (the longer the better.)
what i did:

cast on 65 stitches on size 17 needles, knitting in a simple garter stitch throughout the rug. i joined new strings as i was knitting, knotting them end to end as i went.

i am pretty happy with the result. it is very satisfying to use up every last bit of fabric. this rug is currently in one of our bathrooms. i'm going to see how it wears before starting another one. i do love the results-it feels great under bare feet. and it will match ANY color that we choose to paint our bathroom. :)

quilts of 2008

2008 was a big quilting year for me. I finished 34 quilts.

My goals for last year were:

1. Make more charity quilts.

I donated 6 quilts to the Linus Connection yesterday. I also donated two for silent auctions earlier in the year-one for a family in crisis and one to my church.

2. I have a few friends that I have known for a long, long time that don't have an Amanda-made quilt, so that needs to be remedied.

One went to Linda.
And one to Nancy. (those were the two i was hoping to cover last year.)

3. Finish the 4 quilts that I currently have in progress.

I think I did.

4. Make more quilts with triangles in them.

I made 4.

5. Make another 2 color quilt.

I was pretty close with this quilt.

6. Beyond that, I just plan to do more of the same quilting that I have been doing...scrap quilts, improvisational piecing and pretty much quilting like crazy. And working on my list.

Yes, I can safely say that I DID quilt like crazy. And it was great.
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Now, looking ahead to 2009...

I hope to make my in-laws quilts this year. Only my MIL has a quilt made by me. I think the rest of the family could use some quilts, too!

I would like to donate at least two quilts to Quilts of Valor, which is an organization that gives quilts to wounded soldiers. I found out about this program through one of my local quilt shops. What a great cause to quilt for!

I need to start making more quilts that fit beds and make fewer lap quilts. Last time I counted, I have 20 lap quilts in my house. That's a great plenty. I want to make more quilts for our beds so I can change them out with the seasons...but I'll start with changing them out twice a year. I have such a hard time committing to a color scheme and design for bed quilts, though.

And I hate to say this, but I really, really need to slow down. My arms hurt. I have been in a lot of pain due to my obsessive quilting. It scares me. I'm only 33, and I really, really don't want to have to give up this hobby of mine.

I don't really want to end this post on a down note...I am excited for the year ahead. I have given myself some time off over the holiday and am anxious to start all kinds of new quilts. I have a feeling this will be a big year for me...I'm looking forward to good things.

Happy New Year, friends.

an experiment

Mama Urchin and I arranged a little swap a few months back. She is making me hand knit socks(!!!) and in return, I am quilting a baby quilt for her. She wanted it backed in chenille, and I wasn't sure how quilting that would work out. She wanted the crinkly quilt look with a chenille back. And in this experiment we achieved both. (This idea was inspired by Oh Fransson.)

Here's what I did....

I basted, and quilted as normal...(with batting + backing)

Then I sewed around the perimeter of the quilt (twice) with my walking foot to make sure all the edges were tacked down.

Then I threw it in the washer, unbound.
I threw the chenille in the same load, since it wasn't pre-washed.
And I held my breath.

All was fine after the wash cycle. Phew.
I popped everything into the dryer.


I laid out the quilt (again) with the chenille on the back this time.
I used my walking foot and sewed around the perimeter of the quilt.

And here it is...one crinkly quilt with chenille backing.
It's warm. And snuggly.
I'd definitely try this again.

edited to clarify:
the quilt layers are as such:

quilt top
batting
backing
chenille

the chenille is not connected anywhere else on the quilt-just the edges.
the quilt will be bound just like any normal quilt with traditional binding.

stacks

outgoing quilts.

6 to the linus connection

2 for gifts

this one was already gifted before i took the photo.

mitts for gifts.

i let my friends have their pick, rather than to try to guess what color would suit them best.

new fabric.

from my favorite local quilt shop. i ALMOST made it to the end of the year without buying more. i figure i was close enough.

from my library.

i rarely buy craft books, but i heavily rely upon my local library and their great inter-library loan system. i LOVE my library.

(from top to bottom: one skein by leigh radford, last minute patchwork + quilted gifts by joelle hoverson, alterknits by leigh radford, bend the rules sewing by amy karol, liberated string quilts by gwen marston, and Better Homes and Gardens Two Color Quilts.)

not pictured: stacks of laundry and dirty dishes.

both are too frightening to reveal.

flea market fancy quilt

Over the weekend I was able to finish this quilt. Trying to take a decent photo of it was pretty challenging. (To say my normal spot is snow-covered would be an understatement!)

So here's one half...

and here's the other.

I love how the white thread shows up subtly on the grey in this block.

And here's the pieced back. Normally I wouldn't use quite so much white on the back, but I was determined to work from my stash. I LOVE the patchwork strip. I really really love the entire backing-it's actually 2 quilts in one. And those wrinkles at the top, those are just from the dryer.

The quilt measured about 65" x 80" before quilting. After quilting, washing and drying it shrunk up to 61" x 75". I think it's because of all the muslin. The quilt will have that just-out-of -the-dryer crinkled effect all the time. Which isn't a bad thing. At all.

Here's the time breakdown for making the entire quilt:

5 hours to piece top

1 hr 15 minutes to piece the back

35 minutes to pin baste

3 hrs 30 minutes to quilt

55 minutes to make and attach binding

3 hrs 50 min to hand stitch binding

25 minutes to make and attach label

for a grand total of 15 hours and 30 minutes.

If you would like to make a quilt similar to this, you can find the measurements here.

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On a completely different note, Christmas vacation is kicking my butt. Yes, it is the first day. If you think I'm exaggerating, you can ask my sister. She came to visit me today and got taste of the lunacy going on around here. She'll back up my story, I'm quite sure of it. :)