Triangle Quilt

(fyi -- this post is really picture heavy)

Last week I finished the triangle quilt for the church silent auction. I cranked this baby out in 2 weeks!Here's the finished quilt. It's about 51" x 60", perfect for napping under. :)

Now, a crash course in how I made this quilt:
First, I had to cut out all my triangles. I did this during one of Calvin's gymnastics practices (3 hours of mostly uninterrupted time).

Since I wanted the various FQ (fat quarter) triangles to be randomly placed, I laid the whole thing out. I did this at a different gymnastics practice, since there is a nice big floor to work on. By laying it out, I was able to make sure the various colors were nicely scattered.

Once I liked the layout, I then layered each row from left to right (meaning, I took the left-most triangle and put it on top of the next one, then those two on top of the next one, etc., etc.). I labeled each row.

Sixteen rows ready for pieceing! Connor counted them to make sure I had them all. :)

Time to put the rows together! I put a FQ triangle with a background triangle, in pairs. I chain piece, then at the ironing board I clip them apart, keeping them in order. Then I put pairs together to make bigger pairs, repeat until....

.... I have one long strip. I like to work a quilt from the bottom up, so this is row 16.

Once I finish a row, I add it to the rest of the rows. Here are rows 14-16.

The quilt top is pieced and borders are on. Ready for quilting!

To layer the quilt, I put my backing together (it has one seam), then taped it to the floor (at yet another practice -- love that big floor at the gym), stretching it quite taut. Then the batting (Warm and White) was laid down and smoothed out. Lastly, the quilt top was put on, and the whole thing was safety pinned together.

I quilted a squiggly line down the diagonal sides of the triangles, making a diamond pattern. I stitched in the ditch around the border seam.

The borders got quilted with a meandering stitch.

After the quilting is all done, it's time for the binding. I wanted a 1/2" binding, so I cut my bias strips 3.25" wide (6 x the finished binding width + 1/4"), folded in half, and stitched at a scant 1/2".

Then wrap the binding around to the back and slip stitch into place (handwork that was mostly done at another practice. I get a lot done sitting at the gym).

After a trip through the washer and dryer, the quilt is finished!

(that's my peach tree in the background -- doesn't it look great? There will be a post about it coming soon)

Raffle Quilt

Today I'm starting on a new quilt. It's for a church raffle, and needs to be finished by September 13. Here are my fabrics:
The bottom 6 are from a fat quarter packet my mom gave me for Christmas one year. I added the top fabric and white background fabric. I'm going to be doing a triangle quilt like this one I made a few (aack, five!) years ago.

Oh my, don't the boys look little? Connor hasn't even been born yet!

Finished Green Quilt

as always, click on any photo to see it full size

This weekend I did the final few inches of stitching the binding down on the green baby quilt. It's been washed and dried, and just needs a label.


I like how it looks, and I'd like to make it again, maybe in reds or purples. It's pretty large for a baby quilt (I think it ended up being something like 48 x 66), but it's just perfect for snuggling under.

Here's a detail shot of the quilting. Michele (the woman who does the longarm quilting for me) suggested the medallions in the corners. I chose a wool batting -- my absolute favorite batting to use. While I'm not crazy about the backing fabric, it's not bad, and gives the quilt a peaceful feel.

Whoo Hoo! This bumps me past 20 finished projects so far this year!

Update

We've been busy (yeah, who isn't? ~G~). David is out of town, and between soccer practice, gymnastics, and various meetings, I feel like we've been living in the car this week. Ah, but I AM getting some sewing in. I've been working on slipstitching the binding on the green quilt. I also cut out a top (Simplicity 4076, View D), 6 Quick Snap Diaper Covers (size L), and a baby sling.

I've also started my Christmas shopping. Can't say much about that, you just never know who might be reading this blog. :) I stopped in the bookstore today to pick up a copy of In Stitches (unfortunately they were out. I had a 25% off coupon). I browsed at a copy of Sublime Stitching. Nice book, but I didn't buy it; at least not on this visit. It's chock full of motifs for stitching, plus great direction on how to do it. On the subject of embroidery, I am sorely tempted to get a copy of Subversive Cross Stitch. You can even get kits! The "Bite Me" kit is calling my name.

A few people have asked where I got the divided thermos pictured in the post below. I found it at Target, in the camping section. The divider is removable, which is really nice. Yesterday I removed the divider and gave Caleb baked potatoes with cheese for lunch. Yummy!!

Green Quilt Binding

I started working on the binding for the green baby quilt (baby was born in February!). A lot of times I like to bind quilts in 1/4" black binding, so whenever I buy some black, I just cut the whole piece up into 1.75" bias strips. Thankfully I had just enough of this black dot to bind this quilt. After stitching it down, I had about 15" leftover.

I think this quilt is looking quite nice, although I guess it's not your typical baby quilt. I've been stitching the binding down while watching Season 1 of Project Runway, thanks to Netflix. We finished disc 1 yesterday, and I've got half of the handdwork done. :) I've been almost 100% right about predicting who gets Auf'd each episode, and about 75% right with who wins each one. I already know who wins season 1, but that's it.

My Nephew's Quilt

It's finished!!!

We left yesterday to go visit. We rolled it up and tied it with a ribbon.

Doesn't he look cute on it? It's nice and big, so it'll be good for naps when he's older too (or when my brother is snoozing with him while watching a Cubs game).

He's grown so much since we saw him in the beginning of July. I have 5 blocks leftover, so I plan to make a pillow to match.

I'll post some photos of our trip tomorrow.

Quilt Binding and Sewing Machine Woes

My Janome 3000 is at the shop, waiting for a new foot pedal. They had to order it, and told me it would be 2-3 weeks. :( I wanted to get the binding on my newphew's quilt this week, so I got out my Singer Featherweight.

This was my mother's machine, that I believe she got in 1957 (the date on the manual is 1955). I learned how to sew on this, and used it to make my first dress. It's a great little machine, and it stitched up the binding strips nicely. I have a huge SA in this picture because I was matching the plaid. I noticed the belt is starting to crack too, so I need to take some time and give some TLC to this little workhorse. Any suggestions, guidance, or recommendations are greatly appreciated, as I'm not really confident with working on my machines.

Unfortunately, the Featherweight did NOT like stitching the binding to the quilt. It kept skipping stitches. I don't know if it was too thick or what, and I don't really have the time this week to mess with it, so I borrowed my mom's Viking 150. (I actually have a third sewing machine, but I've never used it -- someone just gave it to me last year -- and I didn't want to take the time to mess with it) She laughed when I called her about it, since it had been all of 2 days since my machine was gone. "I knew you wouldn't last long", she said. It only has metric measurements on the throat plate, so I used a small stack of Post-It notes to mark 1/2" for the binding seam allowance.

Won't this look nice when it's done? I think the bias cut plaid really gives a nice finish. We're going on a short holiday this weekend, so I will bring this with me, and should easily finish it. Then I'll just need to give it a wash and dry and make a label. I'm really happy with how this one has turned out, and I might make another one to keep. :)

New Pinwheels

I started working on the new pinwheel blocks this week. Looks a lot better, doesn't it? Before you ask: no, I didn't frog the old blocks, I just started over. I have more than enough fabric.

I picked up two quilts on Wednesday -- the green one and the delectable mountain one. All that is needed now is the binding, and they are finished! Unfortunately ....

.... my sewing machine is possessed. It continues to stitch even when I take my foot off the pedal. Since I have to go over to the fair to pick up my entries tomorrow, I'll drop it off for diagnostics (the shop is just down the street from the fair). Hopefully it's something simple, and in the meantime, I'll get out my Featherweight.

Fabric Shopping

David's mom and step-father have been in town for a few weeks. They bought an RV this year, and are staying in Plymouth, about an hour from us. We've been going up to visit once in a while (and then the boys stay over for a few days), and we went yesterday, to play for the day.

While the two older boys swam with Grampa Vic, Nancy and I went to a quilt shop in Plymouth: The Sewing Basket. What a darling shop! The ladies there were so friendly and helpful, and were busy offering everyone lemonade, as the air conditioning wasn't working very well. I had brought the pinwheel blocks for advice, and they recommended that I use a coordinating blue to replace the koi print for the half-square triangles in the pinwheels.

I found this fantastic koi print (yes, another koi print. I told you, I love asian prints, especially koi). I will either do a skirt, or just throw some borders on it and have a whole cloth quilt. Maybe an AB Swing Bag too. I have 2 yards.

This little packet of fat quarters was too cute to pass up. Only $12 too! I also picked up a new book: Positively Pineapple. I have always loved pineapple quilts, but I just loathe paper piecing, so I've never made one. This book uses the Pineapple Rule, and there happened to be a class on this exact book going on, so I got to see it in action! Of course, I ordered one.

We all had a lovely day yesterday. The boys are staying up there until tomorrow, when we go to the State Fair, and I'll get to see if I won anything.

Pinwheel Progress

Here is the pinwheel quilt so far. I did most of this on Thursday. The plan is 5 blocks across, 7 blocks down, with a few pinwheels going into the borders. Blocks are 9" finished, and the border will be 6" finished.

I am not thrilled with this. I think the pinwheels get a little lost. Same problem as the Clifford quilt. I'll still finish this, but I need other ideas to use the koi print, because I bought 8 yards of it, and love it. Anyone? (NO paper piecing!)

Here is the Swing Bag I made for my friend Beth. I bought the pink lining specifically with her in mind, probably about 3-4 years ago. I was stuck on what to do with it, though, and one day she saw the b/w dots lying in my sewing room (scraps leftover from this bag), and viola! I knew what to make! She loved the bag, btw. I really need to make one for myself, it's such a nice size.



Here is the pinwheel block for the next baby quilt. See my error? The entire complete pinwheel block needs to be 3" finished. I had figured on making the half square triangles 3" finished. OOPS! :) Now that I've corrected my error, I should be able to get this put together pretty quickly. I don't have anything specific in mind for the back yet.

Delectable Mountain Baby Quilt

I finished the quilt top for my nephew over the weekend. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. The back is going to be the green w/dots fabric, and I'll drop it off for quilting in the next few days. The binding is going to be plaid, and I think I'll use wool batting.

I love how young children always copy everyone, and want to be just like their parents or older siblings. Connor always likes to 'help' when I sew. Usually that means he's standing behind me on the chair trying to push the buttons (grrr!!!) or trying to help the thread along, but yesterday he decided to 'cut' some quilt blocks instead. Don't worry, the blade is retracted on the rotary cutter!


After 'cutting' his block, he had to try it out on the design wall. I have found that if I'm cutting a quilt, I can give him all the little scraps to play with, and he has quite a good time arranging them on the wall. That's good for a few minutes of peace. :)

Next on the agenda are some diaper covers, as Connor has pretty much outgrown the size Mediums we have. The boys are in VBS every morning this week, so I also hope to get a skirt made from New Look 6596. I have a darling Amy Butler print to make it from, and I'll line it in ambiance.

Blocks Finished!

40 Delectable Mountain blocks are DONE! Tomorrow I'll arrange them on the design wall and then stitch the top together.

Baby Quilt Progress

(Don't read this, Julie, if you want to be surprised)

On Tuesday I started working on the baby quilt for my brother and SIL. Baby is due in about 3 weeks -- it's about time I started! This block pattern is called Delectable Mountain, and I'm using 5 different fabrics. I have been making a few blocks every night, and figure that I need about 35 blocks.



I've been putting the finished blocks on my design wall as I finish them. In the final quilt, I'll have the blocks mixed up, not matchy matchy like this. I think it's turning out quite nicely. I hope to have the top done by the time the baby is born. I still need to get backing fabric and maybe an outer border fabric.

Stash Enhancement

Today was the last day that my favorite fabric shop, The Cutting Table, was open. :(

Last week the boys and I went when everything was 60% off. All of these except for the asian print are going to become boxers for Calvin. He picked the brown flannel himself. The minimum cut allowed was 1 yard (I only need 3/8-1/2 yd for boxers) so I might try and come up with some sort of cowboy quilt with the leftovers. The asian print had 4 yards left on the bolt, so I took the whole thing (natch!). It'll probably become the back of a quilt. All in all, I got 12 yards of fabric for $39.

My mom called me on Tuesday to see if I wanted to go back and check things out, at 70% off. Go to a fabric store? Don't have to ask me twice! Actually, it was pretty picked over, and I only found these pieces. The red/black print was tucked in with the 30s prints, and I bought the whole bolt (4.375 yds). I'll find something for it, it's kinda cute. Calvin picked the soccer players for another pair of boxers, and the FQ is just plain cool looking. I only spent $16 this time. I will miss the shop so very much, and am really sad to see it closing. I did my best to keep them in business, trust me. ;)

I hope to get in my sewing room this weekend, to at least get the next pair of boxer shorts for Calvin made (I'm going to try a size 4, to have more grow room). Lots of yard work on the schedule too, plus a trip to Chicago for a baby shower.

ack! I see I just broke 100 yards 'in'!

Finished quilt

I finished stitching the binding on this quilt over the weekend. The pattern is Strait of Georgia from More Fat Quarter Quilts, by M'Liss Rae Hawley. My friend Sarah, in Iowa, sent me the packet of FQs early last year, as they reminded her of me. If you don't know me well, just know that I adore animal prints. I switched the b/w zebra stripe FQ out and put the dark greenish one in its place. The pattern was easy, though I did have to piece some of the light green patches. I guess that particular FQ had been cut skimpy. I like the way the skinny orange border looks, and the wide border is a really neat looking fabric.

I had the local fabric shop do the quilting, and chose a wool batting. Wool batting is my favorite batt to pick, it's so soft and drapey. We've already put the quilt to use, and it's very cozy. Looking at the photo of the full quilt I think I should have arranged my blocks a bit different, like going from dark to light from the center out. Either way, I'm happy it's finished and that this quilt is for my own family. I will think of Sarah every time I use it, and that will make me smile. :)

Plans and upcoming projects

It seems I always have 18 projects going on at once. We got invited to a "UnGala", and I need a pretty outfit. Vogue 2711 popped into my head, because I want to use up stash, and I already have the pattern. The plan is to make the blouse out of a leopard print silk chiffon, and the skirt (shorter version) out of a brown moleskin. I'm keeping the option open of making the skirt from brown satin. I need this done by May 20.

I started a quilt class on Tuesday, called the Red Onion. This is a quilt from the book Stack A New Deck, and I'm doing mine in asian fabrics (naturally!). My homework for this week is to have all my blocks done (36 of them), and being the person I am, I plan to make my quilt bigger. Actually, as I was preparing all my fabrics, I realized they look pretty nice in my bedroom, so I might try and make enough to have a queen size quilt. We'll see.

Sadly, my favorite local fabric shop is closing its doors. The Cutting Table is liquidating their inventory, with a final date of May 26. I am going to miss them so much. I love the ambiance of the shop, my boys loved going there and playing in the little play area, and I learned how to quilt there. If you are in the area, everything is on sale: 30% off this week, 40% next week, 60% off the third week of May, and 70% off the last week in May. They are not open on Sundays. This week I purchased a bunch of fabric (hence the large jump in $ spent and yardage in stats), and so now I have everything needed for baby quilts #2 and #3. The babies are due in June, and at a minimum I'd like to have the tops done by then.

I also have planned more boxer shorts for Calvin. He won't take the pair I made for him off! Flattering, for sure, but stinky too. :) Then there are clothes for me -- I always have ideas for clothes whirling around in my head. I think I'll be putting in some late nights these next few weeks.

Clifford's ABC

Normally I don't name my quilts, but this one just seemed to need one. I finished it on Saturday morning, stitching the label on whilst sitting in the car as everyone else hid eggs. It was ooohhed and aaahhed over quite a bit. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it, though I think the little red patches get a little lost amongst the little Clifford dogs. The winner thought it was cute, and was going to give it to her 2 year old grandson. I am happy it is going to a child, and I hope it gets lots of love.

Isn't the backing fabric cute -- little dog bones! I bound the quilt in black, and had that all finished by Friday night. I slipstitch it onto the back by hand, and I do find it very calming and therapeutic to sit on the couch and stitch. I put the binding on and started the handwork on Thursday.

Here is a progress photo of the quilting. Normally I don't quilt my own quilts, because I don't like to do it. However, I made this quilt in a month's time, and didn't have time to take it in the shop. It turned out pretty good, though I can see all the mistakes (isn't that always how it is?). I do my quilting kinda backwards, in that I have the quilted part behind the foot, instead of in front. My sewing machine light burned out, and the shadows made it harder to work also. I started the quilting on Saturday the 8th, and had it finished by Wednesday.

Quilted!

All the quilting on the Clifford quilt is D-O-N-E! phew! I have a slight headache, and my forearms are sore. Normally I wouldn't crank the quilting out this fast, but I have a deadline you know. All that is left is to put the binding on and the label. I'll get a picture up tomorrow, so I can also show off some of my sewing pretties.

Monday Monday

This past weekend was pretty good. I got most of the quilting done on the Clifford quilt, all that is left is to quilt the borders and put the binding on. I have until Saturday morning to have it completely finished. We went to the zoo yesterday for about an hour (it was free day, and was packed). The weather was beautiful, and I bought some new rain boots, so I mucked in the garden, cleared out brush and leaves, and filled 3 lawn bags. Hopefully I can get some compost this week and we can plant our carrots soon. We got our tax returns from the accountant, and are getting a refund (a nice change from last year!), which should pay for the fence. I need to call the digger's hotline to have the wires marked.

It's gorgeous today, so after lunch we are going to walk to the library and probably stop at Winkies for a treat. The boys are excited to start our study of Ancient Rome, and hope to find a bunch of good books. We finished Stuart Little, and need to get another read-aloud book for bedtimes. I hope to work some more on the quilt tonight, and maybe fill another lawn bag with leaves. I really really really want to get this yard looking nice this summer.