star quilt along, week 8

Welcome to week 8 of the star quilt along!


cut 4 rectangles 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" from a dark fabric

cut 4 squares 2 1/2" from a medium fabric

cut 4 squares 2 7/8" from a medium fabric

cut all 4 squares that measure 2 7/8" in half on the diagonal once to make half square triangles
(for a total of 8 triangles)

cut one square 4 1/2" from the medium fabric

cut 4 rectangles 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" from the background fabric
cut 4 squares 2 1/2" from the background fabric

cut one square 5 1/4" from the background fabric

cut it in half twice on the diagonal to make 4 quarter square triangles

layout as shown

sew together





and square up to 12.5".

Any questions, I'll try to answer them in the comments.

Thanks for quilting along with me!

simple is good

This quilt was so easy to make. I pieced the top in a few hours (if that), and the stippling was very easy, due to the lack of seams in the majority of the quilt. I used light blue thread to stipple the aqua parts, then I switched to white thread to quilt the strip of patchwork. I think the hardest part was trying to square it up after it was quilted.

I love the aqua solid fabric, which I bought at my local Mill End Textiles store. I wish I had another bolt of the stuff. It's the perfect color.

I backed it with one of my favorite fabrics of all time, (the cherry print) which is called Dainties, by Robert Kaufman. (I bought the rest of the bolt, also at Mill End Textiles.)

The red gingham bias binding is the perfect finishing touch, I think. I did not use my bias tape maker on this, I made traditional double fold binding. Working with bias strips is not my cup of tea, but I am glad that I went through the trouble this time.

The final size is about 68" x 76". It makes the perfect napping quilt. :)

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I LOVE this quilt.

a new dress

I sewed a new dress for my little girl.

I really really love it, as you can see by the plethora of photos. There are about 25 more that I'm not posting. :)

It was my first time making a ruffle, which was a little tricky, but definitely worth it.

Is there anything better than a gingham ruffle?

Maybe polka dot trim?

The dress is pretty baggy, so there is plenty of room for her to move, which I like. I may take it in under the arms to help define the shape just a bit more.

I used my new bias tape maker, which I could use a few tips or hints about if you have any to share. I thought this little tool was going to solve all my problems. Ha! I wish.

This is what it looks like when it is ironed. Does it supposed to gap this much? Do you supposed to fold it in half and iron it flat at this point? I'm so confused. This is one reason why I usually don't mess with bias tape.

Anyway, back to the dress. I added snaps on the straps instead of the ties that I used last time.

The white floral fabric came from Lera. The pink and green came from my stash.

The pattern was pretty much made up on the fly.

I do love the vintage-y feel of this dress. If only I could make a version that would look this cute on me.

pink

This quilt is so very pink. I LOVE it. 

It is for my monochromatic quilt series, which has been so much fun. You can see more of the series here. Still to come in the series: red, orange, purple, and brown.

It is all scraps, randomly pieced. 

The pieced back is from my stash. I had bought a green polka dot for the backing, but I changed my mind at the last minute and came up with this instead. I like it because it matches the scrappy feel of the front. Someday, though, I am going to try a contrasting (but coordinating) color for the back of a quilt.

Look at all that random pink goodness. It makes me giddy.

I used the from back to front quilting technique on this. 

Overall, it went very well. I didn't have tension issues using this technique except for one time, and that time was so bad that I would have had to rip out whether it was on the back or the front. I felt like it was easier to quilt it randomly, which was what I was after. Sometimes I think I subconsciously follow the seam lines on the front, and it is hard to keep it random. The one thing that was a little tricky was the bottom (which is the front of the quilt) got puckered a few times along the edges because it was smaller than the top. So I had to do a bit of stitch ripping and then I ended up quilting it from the reverse side. And just a few times there were a few ridges of seams that hung up a bit in the face plate of my machine, but it was pretty minor.

All in all, it was a good experiment and I am glad that I tried it. 

star quilt along, week 7

Welcome to week 7 of the quilt along. This marks the half way point of the star blocks!

cut 4 squares 4 1/2" from the background fabric
cut 1 square 5 1/4" from the background fabric

cut one square 4 1/2" from a dark fabric
cut 2 squares 5 1/4" from a dark fabric

cut one square 5 1/4" from a medium fabric

cut all the squares that measure 5 1/4" into quarter square triangles

layout as shown

(this is a good time to trim the ends off the triangles)

Once the block is all sewn together, square up to 12.5".

Any questions, I'll answer in the comments.

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My little guy is done with first grade, and it's our first day of summer vacation. It's going to be interesting. :) It's going to take us a while to get into a groove, but once we do, I have a feeling that it's going to be great.

My husband started a longer commute today, also. They moved the location of his office to downtown Minneapolis. Thankfully he is carpooling, and his job is great, so we aren't complaining. He gets to work from home on Fridays, and that's only a half day. It sure beats last year, when at this time he was starting his new job (here), I was alone with our 3 kids trying to sell a house (in Michigan). Now that was stressful.

Hope you have a happy Monday!

swap and a question

Jacquie and I did a swap a few weeks ago.

I sent her this quilt (top only)...

and she sent me this lovely pile of fabric.

What a fun way to slash my in progress list and add to my stash at the same time. I couldn't think of anything better! By the way, Jacquie is having a 100th post giveaway, so go check it out.
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Now, I have a question for all you quilters....

Have you ever quilted a quilt from back to front? I know there is a book about it that I perused a few years ago, but I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this type of quilting. After quilting this quilt, which was so incredibly easy because there were so few seams to quilt over, it got me thinking about trying the back to front technique for this pink quilt, which has an insane amount of seams. (I'm planning on stippling it.)

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions?
I'd love to hear them.

to do

Today's to do list:



1. handstitch the binding on this quilt (I normally detest bias binding, but sometimes it's necessary...I'm glad I didn't wimp out this time!)

2. relax.

Yep, that's seriously my to do list for today. And after the past few weeks, boy, do I need it!

What's on your "to do" list for today?

star quilt along, week 6

Welcome to week 6 of the quilt along.


Just out of curiosity, how many of you are caught up?
cut one square 7 1/4" from the background fabric

cut in half on the diagonal twice, to make 4 quarter square triangles

cut one square 6.5" from the background fabric

cut 4 squares 3 1/2" from the background fabric

cut 2 squares 4 1/4" from a dark print

cut each square in half, twice, on the diagonal, to make a total of 8 quarter square triangles

cut 2 squares 4 1/4" from a medium print fabric

cut each square in half, twice, on the diagonal, to make a total of 8 quarter square triangles

layout as shown


if you are using a striped fabric, as I did here, make sure to place the stripes carefully so they all go the same direction.

sew together




and square up the block to 12.5".


Isn't it pretty? I really like this block. And fairly simple after the star in week 5.


Any questions, I'll attempt to answer them in the comments.


Also, there is a nifty tip here, on how to center your triangles for a square in a square block, thanks to the bear creek quilter. (Especially helpful for the block from week 5.)