At long last, the photoshoot...

I made this quilt top at least two years ago and it has been sitting waiting patiently until I got up the nerve to quilt something so large on my tiny machine. Well that day never came, but instead I caved and decided a completed quilt was more important to me than my previous feelings about having to quilt everything myself. I took this quilt to a longarmer. I am still working with my feelings on this topic, but honestly, it was so nice to send it out and have it come back completed all but the binding.

I worked about 2 hours in the quilt shop trying to pick out fabrics that all went together and that I liked, as this is not made from all one collection as most of my newer quilts are. Now I just save myself the 2 hours and pick a favorite collection and go with it! I like things that match perfectly, I can't help it. But now that the whole thing is together, I think I like it, though I had some doubts during the process.

I picked the windiest day ever to photograph it on my neighbor's clothesline, so here is an action shot! Gotta get me one of those clotheslines.

I could never have done anything like this with my machine!

One of Four

Part One of Four: the quilts made from the fat quarter bundles I bought compulsively and then had to find patterns to use the fabric

This quilt pattern is called Coming Soon... by Camille Roskelley. I love her fabric and her patterns, she has a lovely sense of style. I also am so excited for her new line called Ruby which has a soft grey colorway that is making me drool. 

The fabric is Botany. I have lots more fat quarters. So I made the backing scrappy like this:

I also added little tabs when sewing on the binding strips so I could hang it on a curtain rod above the bed in my guest room which I painted BRIGHT yellow in a moment of insanity when I first moved into this all-white house in a neighborhood of beige. Surrounded by a desert of essentially more beige. It's hard to sleep in there because the yellow has burned your retinas. 

I also must say that this project completes an item on my to-make list, my first wall hanging quilt!

I love the idea of decorating with modern quilts on my walls!

I am thinking with the rest of this fabric I will make one of those end of the bed runners, like they put on your bed at a hotel. I still have about 10 quilts in line to be made though!! Sheesh!

Hopscotch Shirt

Pattern: Hopscotch Skirt and Shirt by Oliver + S

Fabric: City Weekend by Oliver +S in Turquoise Park Ramble in Interlock Knits

This shirt goes with this skirt from my previous post, it just took me quite a while to get the second half completed! Part of this was because I was intimidated by working with knits, the other part was because I needed non-woven interfacing for knits and I had to order that from somewhere else and let's face it, I just lost momentum after that adorable skirt was done! But here they are together at last!

I have to say the pattern for the top is so easy, but working with knits is not for beginners, I found it to be a little bit difficult. But I am proud of myself for making the attempt and I would certainly do it again, especially working with interlock knits as high quality as these are. This shirt is super cute and it looks like something your kid would actually want to wear... which is always good. :)
The best part is how great this came out:

Love it.

K's Quilt

This quilt is for the new baby in our squadron, Miss KMR5. The pattern is Hugs and Kisses from the Park which was featured on Moda Bake Shop. The fabric is Central Park by Kate Spain. I bought the kit from Burgundy Buttons which comes with enough fabric for two. The chance that I will ever make two of the same quilt or even one remotely similar is slim to none. I will make something else with the rest of the jelly roll.

The pattern suggested writting "hugs and kisses" in appliqued letters across the back, but I opted for the baby's name and date of birth to make it a little more personal. 

Some of the more technical stuff:
I accidentally bought hi-loft batting when I went to get pure white. I usually get cotton or bamboo, but I didn't want it to dull the look of the white fabric. But the hi-loft was crazy to quilt with, it's so puffy! The end result feels a little more like a comforter than a quilt. But I think it will be good for tummy time.
I didn't know how to quilt it, since it needed to match and look good on the back and the front, so I just did some diagonal lines 6 inches apart.
I'm liking it to far. Just hoping little miss K will feel the same!

Half-way done

This quilt is close to being half done. I should say that half the blocks are done and they are all attached to one another, so to me that counts as about half done. I'm liking it a bit better. My taste certainly still runs more towards greens, blues and brights, but this is starting to work for me.

I do need to note, and this may be adjusted when I finish the quilt, but the fabric requirements are not correct on the MBS pattern. If you want to cut 9 strips of binding and one strip of the center blocks you will need 2/3 of a yard, not 1/2 however, maybe 9 was a typo and you might only need the 7 that I was able to cut from a 1/2 yard, we will see when it is done. But if you are ordering for this quilt I would play it safe and get 2/3 yard if you don't want to wait for me to finish to find out if you will need it.

Also - this quilt calls for 3 charm packs. By definition a charm pack contains 42 squares (so three makes a total of 126), and this has 16 blocks made up of 8 squares each which means you need 128, which leaves you 2 squares short, assuming that you use every single square in the pack, which I do not intend to do because two in each pack are the same fabric that I am using for the center stars.  So at the end I should be short a few squares. I am still unsure what I will do about this.

I have been using and loving for this quilt these new pins which I bought on amazon:

They are called fork pins and they allow you to do this:

With just one pin and they are so easy to pull out as you sew. I think they were worth the couple dollars I spend to get nice matched up seams so easily!

Also, in big news this week, the new Oliver + S book is out, and wouldn't you know I came home from a long exhausting shift Friday night and there were two packages sitting on my coffee table. One was the copy I bought myself the second I found out it was ready to ship, and the other was the copy my husband had bought me way back at Christmas before it was released! So now I have two copies. Yay me!

Since I was already gushing about Liesl Gibson's patterns after making the hopscotch skirt I won't say all that stuff again, but I think this book would also make a very good "learn to sew" book for someone looking to branch out from quilting, or just to practice some pattern following and apparel sewing. Like me :)

Hopscotch Skirt

Pattern: Hopscotch Skirt by Oliver + S

Fabric: City Weekend by Oliver + S for Moda in Bistro Red Roundabout Dots

Sometime last year or so in my blog reading I came across Oliver + S, a company that makes beautiful patterns for children's clothes in classic but modern styles. If you really want to learn how to sew you must buy some Oliver + S patterns because the instructions are so easy to understand and the techniques are often more advanced, but they are explained so simply that you can learn new ways of making clothes. The designs seem very professional and the end project feels like a very well-made high quality garment.

I love love love this skirt. I am so proud of myself. 

I love the pockets.

I love the buttons and the buttonholes that I sewed on my new machine. 

 

I love that it is a size 2T and it actually looks like it would fit a 2 year old. That is actually the best part. 

Cathedral Window

Does it ever happen to you when you try something for the first time that you weren't sure you could do, and it turns out perfectly.... you have this sudden feeling that you are a genius. Yes, there were directions. Yes, I followed the directions and none of the actions required any real skill at all. But yet I feel somehow that I am amazing because I made this:

For those of you who are not familiar with this type of quilting, it is a Cathedral Window block, which I have been drooling over since this post.

Look at that beautiful stitching.....

(Not so?) Charming Stars Quilt

This next quilt is a combination of two good ideas that might end up as one blah idea.
The pattern I loved, from Moda Bake Shop Blog called Charming Stars.
The fabric my sister liked because it had the "European Farmhouse" look to it that she wanted. I never guessed she would have gone with something so what I would call "French Country" but none the less Maison de Garance was her choice of fabrics. And I could see how it could work with a nice modern pattern, but I think I chose the wrong one. The Charming Stars quilt done in fandango looks very modern, but I'm afraid my version is starting to look a little too country and not enough modern.
Well anyway, here is the first row:

The block looks like this:

It's very cute and I am realizing how nice it is to use sashing!
The only thing that annoys me is that I can't seem to get the star perfectly laid out so that seems are perfectly even.
Sometimes the points are too wide for the center:

And sometimes they are too small:

Overall, it doesn't ruin the look, it just bothers my desire for perfection.
We will see what the end result is. If Meghan doesn't like it someone else will, and I have plenty of time to make her a different one. I think what I really need is to wait for Moda to make the perfect fabric line for her. I think this one is maybe just a tiny bit too formal, and not modern enough, but the colors are good.

More when it's done....

Handmade Christmas Gifts (or, frantic sewing followed by overpriced overnight shipping)

Story of my life - I get a good idea for a handmade Christmas gift, I plan and start it way in advance, then loose interest because let's face it - there are two more months until Christmas.  Then four days before Christmas I am frantically stitching away in my living room where I have temporarily set up camp despite having a perfectly good and much bigger sewing room right across the hall, but it sadly lacks a TV and DVD player which is really the only thing that can keep me glued to my sewing machine for close to 400 four inch blocks of piecing. Although I am discovering that podcasts (for sewing I like "radiolab" and "this american life") are quite good as well.
anyway, my point in all of this rambling is that I have made the largest quilt I have ever attempted, and probably the largest I will ever attempt. And yes, it is a gift that needs to make it from Edwards, CA to New Hampshire by Christmas Eve.
Sadly, it has been raining here for days and the sky remains gray and cloudy which does not make for very good pictures, but I will do my best to capture this quilt.

 

Maybe it's all the hard work I put into it, but I love this quilt. The fabric is Martinique by Moda. The pattern is my own, it's basically just 4 inch squares, 18 by 21 with a 7 inch border. 

Usually I just zigzag stitch the binding on, but since this quilt is special I handstitched the binding, which took forever. 

But the hardest part about this quilt was packing it up into a box and spending $70 to overnight ship it to my sister to get there in time for Christmas. *sigh* 

Merry Christmas!

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season to finish the projects I started last year!
This one is a quilt I had made thinking it would be a good small project to practice my free-hand machine quilting. Then I decided that skill was better left to the more talented set, and I just had a quilt top lying around waiting to become a quilt. 

It looks a little nicer in the picture than in actual life. Hm... 
It's basically made up of a few cheap Christmas fabrics from Joann's, and really the finished product is not half bad looking, however it does not compare to the Moda quilt kit that I made all new this year- and actually finished way before Christmas (shocking!)

Am I right? This is a Kate Spain fabric line (or maybe it is her pattern? I'm not sure) 12 days of Christmas. The kit came with a panel to cut all the little number blocks from, but the center is appliques. I did a little experimenting with the applique, a little zig-zag stitch, a little straight stitch, some hand-sewing blanket stitch, a little of everything really. The one thing I don't like is that the only way I knew how to do machine applique is by applying an iron-on fusable web, but this really makes the fabric so stiff. I later discovered you can just use basting spray, or a starching method I just read about on piece n quilt (thanks!). Oh well, next time. The quilt is still absolutely wonderful. It is 59x59 which is just about the perfect size, big enough to cover you on the couch, but not so big that it feels like it takes over your living-room.

Now the only question left is how many Christmas quilts does one household need? I think maybe one more... call me crazy, it's just that I have one more idea floating around in my head....

My first tutorial

In my craft blog reading I had somewhere picked up on the phrase "quilt as you go." I had no idea what this meant, but I assumed it must be an answer the the problem of trying to shove a full size quilt under the arm of my tiny almost toy-like singer. I set out searching the internet and book stores for this method that would make my life simpler, and was sadly disappointed with the results of my search. I found enough through various websites to figure out how the method was done, but I wished there was a good easy to read, pretty reference to recommend when I write about my next quilt. Instead I will have to make one.

This method works best with quilts composed of blocks (as opposed to strips or applique) but basically, you just have to be able to break the quilt down into smaller segments. In hindsight, I could have sewn four of my blocks together and then did the quilting so I would have fewer seams to hand sew. Anyway, start with a bock of your choice:

I am using a 12 inch log cabin block made with Moda Bliss jelly rolls, which I heart greatly.
Cut a piece of batting and a piece of fabric also 12inches square or the size of your block. This method gives you the option of using different colored fabrics for the backing of each block, making it a double sided quilt, patchwork blocks on one side, 12in blocks on the other.

I am just using an off-white sheet, my most economical way of backing a quilt. Make a sandwich of your three pieces and pin.
Quilt as desired. I used a walking foot and did a simple geometric tracing of the log cabin blocks, but this would also be a good opportunity to try out some free-hand quilting in a smaller, more manageable space.

Be sure that your quilting stays about 1/2in away from all sides, as you will have to sew 1/4in seams around all of the sides still. Repeat with another block, or all of the blocks for your quilt. The beauty of this method is you can mix up the steps! I recommend doing two blocks before you decide if you like the method.

Next, take two completed blocks, pin back the batting and backing fabric on the edge where the two will connect.
Then lay them on the table/floor next to each other the way they should appear in the quilt. Fold one over the other, faces together.

Then pin the two tops together, and sew a 1/4in seam to sew the quilt tops only together. Open seam and press open.

Take the two pieces of batting and split it apart as shown. Don't be scared... just rip it a little...

Cut the bottom half of one of the pieces of batting off, and the top half of the other side, then layer them to form a layer of batting that is the same thickness as the one layer in the rest of the quilt. (This is hard to explain without using 50 pictures. You could skip this step but there will be a bump in the overlap, or try cutting them so they just meet in the middle, but I'm not sure if they would bunch up when you wash the quilt... )
Next step, lay one side of the backing flat against the batting, on the other side, fold over and press a 1/4 inch  from the edge. Pin to the other side of the backing like so:

Then hand sew the seam however is most comfortable for you.




I did it like this:

When it is finished it looks like this:

Now you just repeat the process 35 times.... easy! ;)
I haven't decided if I like this process yet, but I'll do this quilt at least and see how it goes. Pictures of the completed quilt to come....
I have this dream that when I have kids, the day they graduate to a big kid bed I will give them a quilt that I made for them.  And they will love it.... and not think that I am lame at all. In my dreams my children always think I'm awesome. Yup.

I hope my kids turn out this cute...

Someone is just going to have to have a baby boy cute enough for these Oliver + S shorts....

and this onesie...

Like I said.... someone should start working on that. Some one other than me.