A Herringbone Finish!

A little more than a year ago I started on a quilting adventure to make a herringbone quilt using a tutorial by Bijou Lovely as part of the SewCanShe New Year Sewalong.  I finished the quilt top but never got around to quilting it because my machine skipped stitches so badly every time I attempted machine quilting.  Well I was lucky enough to get a new machine recently and am happy to report that I quilted my Herringbone quilt.  Yay!

 As crazy as the colors are on this quilt, I love it. I love color and I love random.

 I chose to quilt it with just straight lines. I tried out my walking foot as well with great success I think.  Here's the back...

My daughter has had her eye on this quilt for some time hoping she could use it for her bed.  So yesterday after it was freshly washed I gave her room a good cleaning and surprised her with her new bedspread. Luckily it even looks great with the pillows she already had.  She loved her surprise which made me happy mama.

More details...

Fabrics: there are too many to name. Mostly bold beautiful florals that I've collected over the years. I used ALL my favorites. 

What I learned:

• This tutorial produces A LOT of scraps. Not wanting to waste them I turned them into quite a few other projects you can see here and here, including some hotpads.  I even have a rather large pile left waiting to be used.  
• Sometimes it's okay to not push myself to finish a project. Originally I had a border on this quilt top.  I really thought it was a good idea at the time but it never really sat well with me when I looked at it.  My delay in quilting it turned out to be a good thing because it gave me time to come to my senses and remove the extra fabric which just added to the craziness, not in a good way. 

Sew happy to have crossed this one off the list!

For a little extra fun I'm linking this fun project up to SEWjo Saturday at My GoGo Life and Show Off Saturday at Sew Can She.

Big Star Baby Quilt Tutorial -15 Minutes of Play Quilt

I had a question about the dimensions of the blocks for my 15 minutes of Play quilt. I thought I’d just share my measurements today, so you could reproduce it if you like. I must say I used this quilt design that I pinned as my inspiration.  

The finished quilt measures about 40’’ X 40’’, a nice baby quilt size.

Here are the dimensions of the cuts I ended up using (for the quilt top only):

I started with the center block and then just added each section

I made my own fabric from scraps inspired by the work of Victoria Findlay Wolfe using techniques I learned in 15 minutes of Play

Center square

8 1/2’’ cut from scrappy fabric

Center sashing - Gray polka dot

2 strips 2 ½’’ X 12 1/2’’

2 strips 2 1/2’’ X 8 1/2’’

12 surrounding blocks that form the “Star”

4 - 6 1/2’’ squares of gray polka dot

4 - 7 inch squares of scrappy fabric cut into 8 Half Square Triangles (HSTs)

4 - 7 inch squares of Gray polkadot cut into 8 Half Square Triangles

Sew the HSTs together to form 8 star points.

Star Sashing

2 strips 2 1/2’’ X 24 1/2’’

2 strips 2 1/2’’ X 28 1/2’’

Scrappy Blocks

32 - 4 1/2’’ Squares cut of scrappy fabric

Outer Sashing

2 strips 2 1/2’’ X 36 1/2’’

2 strips 2 1/2’’ X 40 1/2’’

I think next time I make this I would enlarge the center square and decrease the width of the inside sashing to 1 1/2" ... to maximize scrappy-ness of course. Hope this helps!

Happy Sewing!

Burda 7214 Pattern Review

A year ago I decided to sew myself a pair of capris.  But once I made it to the point where I actually could try them on I realized they were just going to be too small for me and I gave up and threw the in to the unfinished project basket.  My daughter is a good size smaller than me and has been looking for some tan skinny jeans so I decided to pull them out and finish them up for her. I don't know if she will ever wear them but she kindly modeled them for me.

My Sugar Blocks

Hi there sewing friends. At the beginning of the year I decided to try devote a little more time quilting and so I signed up for my friend Amy's Sugar Block Club at Stitchery Dickory Dock.  I figured it would be a great way to try out a variety of construction techniques and have a little fun at the same time.  So today I'm excited to share with you my first 2 blocks....

  January - Intention

February- Mercy

The fabric I am using for this challenge is a bundle of Mormor by Lotta Jansdotter that I picked up at Sample Spree last fall. It is just hitting stores this spring and you can find it here  if you like it. I added a couple of Kona solids to go with it.

I don't have a lot of confidence in how to put fabrics together in a quilt so this has been a good challenge for me and an interesting experiment. Also, along with each new block comes an enticing recipe to try and a personal challenge to consider. While I have to say it would be good for me to work a little harder on the personal challenges throughout, it has been refreshing to read and reflect on them as I sew.  I am anxious to see what all of them look like together. All in good time, right?

Thank you for a great Block of the Month Amy.  Looking forward to next month's assignment! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

I opened up a package this morning from my sweet sister and found this pretty pillow waiting to brighten my day. Thank you Rachel!!

I'd say we are ready for Valentines day!! We've got our Heart Party Garland hung...

as well as a few other fun decorations.

We made up all of the class Valentine's a record breaking whole day early. Jack made "candy bots"

Luke made these for the Girls. You can find the printable HERE.

and THESE for the boys.  He didn't think the girls liked minecraft.

And I've got a table full of supplies ready to make a Valentine tree but that may be a project that gets done next time.

And now I'm off to go help out the Kindergarten party.  Happy Valentine's Day!

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My Honeybell Quilt

I caught the quilting bug and am so excited to share my finished Honeybell quilt here today!

I had so much fun experimenting with different free motion quilting patterns...leaves, spirals, stippling.

I even tried out a little wood grain.

There's a ton of room for improvement here but that is to be expected.

  I am just so thankful that the stitches didn't skip.  My old Pfaff was notorious for skipping stitches while free motion quilting.  I bought a new Bernina last fall and have had a little bit of a challenge getting used to it but let me just tell you it is a champ at free motion quilting. Oh, this might be the best view. I love seeing the tree on the back! Though it doesn't show up much in the photo.

And now I'll share the inspiration behind this little tree quilt.  In our back yard there is a sad little Honeybell tree that sits right in the middle of our small back yard.  There has been a recurring debate over whether or not to just chop it down so there is a little more wide open space to run and play and the yard looks a little more uniform and tidy.  We have kept it because our kids just love to climb on it and the honeybell oranges juice up pretty nicely.

 I has been knocked over twice by hurricanes and it just keeps on growing and producing. So we let it live and embrace the untidiness by adding a neglected trampoline and old slide to the mix. :) And now it is forever immortalized in this quilt, a vision of it's glory days and a memory preserved for when we eventually, if ever, move from this house.

One of my goals this year was to make a quilt from start to finish.  I usually just start them. :) Just checked that off the list.  Now I need to make my next goal to finish my bathroom remodel..It's so close to being done just the little things like painting and changing out the towel racks are left. I just keep getting sidetracked by sewing. :)

For a peek into the process of making this quilt check our my other post WIP: My Honeybell Quilt

P.S. I entered this quilt into a quilt show that had a Florida theme. It didn't get accepted but I'm really proud of myself for making it. I love love love how it turned out. And I love that it's a little piece of my little family history to hold onto and snuggle under.

Happy Sewing!!

Fabric Field Trip: Boutique 4 Quilters

Today is Local Quilt Shop Day! Did you know? If your quilt shop is participating you just might be able to win a prize for visiting or score some great deals. You can visit the LQS website to see which shops are participating. I thought it would be fun to show you my local quilt shop, Boutique 4 Quilters.

It really is a pretty and inspiring place. My favorite is the wall of fabric all organized in rainbow fashion. Anita does such a great job choosing a variety of fabrics and has plenty that appeal to the modern and traditional quilter.

I also like to browse the table of Fat Quarters. Sometimes you can find little tidbits of great fabrics that they no longer carry.

There are quilts and projects all over to inspire you to take one of there fun classes.

They have a fun selection of buttons as well.

This is my favorite place to buy zippers because they carry all the colors and are only $1.25!

Today I was shopping for thread to quilt my Honeybell quilt with. It's so close to being done. They have a buy 2 spools get 1 free deal going on right now. Score!

And I got an up close look at one of their machine embroidery classes going on right now. This quilt is going to be amazing when it's all put together!

For their Local Quilt Shop deal of the day you can buy a fancy little tool that lets you easily make a bubble puff quilt for just $5. They are also doing a demo to show you how to use it.

Have you visited your local quilt shop lately? You might find it's a great place to get inspired and learn a thing or two.

Happy Sewing!

 

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