My brother and his wife Morgan got married on July 2nd of this year.  They conceived a child approximately 7 to 10 days later, but that is beside the point (of this post)!  As a quilter, I see milestones such as weddings (and pregnancy announcements/births) as opportunities… for myself!  I can be pretty self-centered [...]]]>

My brother and his wife Morgan got married on July 2nd of this year.  They conceived a child approximately 7 to 10 days later, but that is beside the point (of this post)!  As a quilter, I see milestones such as weddings (and pregnancy announcements/births) as opportunities… for myself!  I can be pretty self-centered – in a giving way? – about life events.  Quilts, quilts, quilts!  In related news, I’m a nerd-bomber.

I remember as a new quilter over six years ago, getting a free “Jacob’s Ladder” quilt pattern, and saving it, thinking it’d be a perfect quilt for when Jacob got married.  He would have been 19 at the time.  I was planning ahead! 

I didn’t forget about the Jacob’s Ladder pattern, I just didn’t think it was special enough for the wedding quilt.  I found a pattern that I did like in an issue of Fons and Porter’s Love of Quilting magazine called China Girl, which is a more modern take on the very traditional Double Wedding Ring quilt (here’s an example).  I followed the basic block directions but I changed the size and layout as far as the border is concerned.  I should have kept better notes, but this quilt finished in the 80ish” square size.  Which, seeing the quilt spread out on my kitchen floor (above), makes me excited because that means in the future I’ll have room to baste an even bigger quilt on my new kitchen floor!  I had to go to my in-laws’ house to baste this quilt because I didn’t have 80 square inches of floor space at the old house.  And hopefully someday I won’t have to worry about that nasty floor-basting business because I’ll have a long-arm quilting machine.  Ahhhh, someday.

Morgie’s sister was very helpful in suggesting colors she thought Morgan would like and that really helped; I started planning the quilt and buying fabric in March.  I started cutting the fabric just before a quilting/crafting retreat.  I spent the entire retreat sewing tiny pieces together and by the end of the weekend retreat, my quilting friends still had no idea what the final quilt would look like, that’s how little progress it appeared that I had made.  But even tiny pieces when sewn together make bigger and bigger pieces until finally blocks were constructed and the quilt top was done.

Then, as I mentioned, I basted the quilt and began the quilting process in the basement of my in-laws’ house.  I would drag all of the kids there and hope that they would play nicely while I could get some quilting done.  It took a lot of those trips to complete the job, but it paid off… the quilt was done before the wedding.  In true “me” style, I was clipping threads and snapping a few quick pictures on the way out the door to the rehearsal dinner.

Here are some close-up pictures I took just recently when I borrowed the quilt to take it to another quilting retreat… this time for show & tell. =)

(back of the quilt)

So here she is:

I love the way this quilt turned out; it [...]]]> In an effort to link to my completed quilt projects on the left sidebar of this Arts & Crafts section, I discovered that I had forgotten to share yet another quilt that was completed during the Great Blog Drought of 2010.

So here she is:

I love the way this quilt turned out; it was one of those projects that I was a little unsure of until I put it all together.

My first cousin Ashleigh and her husband Derek welcomed their first baby – a little girl named Emma – on April 7th.  We had a baby shower for her in May and that was the occasion for this quilt.

Emma, of course, is a doll with such fine feminine features; I can’t go on another sentence without sharing a picture of her with you.

I really love this next picture!  It’s of Emma in her 5-generation picture with Ashleigh, her dad David (my uncle), our Grandma Bev, and GG:

So now that you know who this pretty little lady is, I’ll get back to the quilt. 

I asked Ashleigh if she wanted any certain colors or styles for the quilt and she thought pinks and browns were nice.  I think they are nice, too.

I went to my local quilt shop, Adel Quilting & Dry Goods, and found the perfect fabric (in the center of the picture):

Not only was it brown with cute polka dots, some of the polka dots were heart-shaped.  Too precious.  But apparently, many others thought so, too, and that’s why the only remnant of the fabric in the whole shop was a single, solitary fat quarter.  A fat quarter, to the uninitiated, is a 18” x 22” cut of fabric.

Even with the small amount of fabric I had to work with, I still knew that I needed to make it the focal point of the quilt.  So, I picked out several other fabrics I already owned that coordinated with the brown polka dot fabric and set out to make it work.

As you can see, I set the brown polka dot fabric apart from the coordinating prints by surrounding it with white fabrics.  You can’t see it really well in the picture, but all of those white fabrics are different.  I love using as many fabrics as possible in a quilt.

I used the coordinating prints to act as a sashing of sorts, but I also wanted to add interest by offsetting the blocks, creating a staggered effect.

Really, even though this quilt did take a lot of sewing, the layout and construction could not be simpler: it was 480 – 2 1/2” squares arranged by colors to show a pattern.  No difficult sewing with weird shapes or seam intersections, just straightforward, honest to goodness straight seams.  It would be very appropriate for a beginner.  (This is so appropriate right now.)

I quilted it using freehand spirals like I have for a lot of quilts recently and again – it turned out pretty well.  The swirly pattern is pretty universal and looks good on many different quilt tops.

I had just a few lengths of the focus fabric left by the time I was done so I cut them into binding strips, added it to a solid brown binding strips that I already had, and used the combo to complete the binding on the quilt.

Hmmm… have I made any more quilts that I’m forgetting about?!  I think this was the last one… I haven’t quilted in a few months now and I miss it so much.  I hope to get up and running again in the near future.

I made this little quilt recently for friends of ours who are having their first child in August. 

I’ve made a lot of quilts lately entirely (or almost entirely) out of 2 1/2” squares of fabric.  I have a lot of fabrics and the smaller the squares, the more I can use [...]]]>

I made this little quilt recently for friends of ours who are having their first child in August. 

I’ve made a lot of quilts lately entirely (or almost entirely) out of 2 1/2” squares of fabric.  I have a lot of fabrics and the smaller the squares, the more I can use – I love that scrappy look.  I just realized that I haven’t blogged about some of the quilts I’ve made lately.  Jeeeez-o, I took a long vacation from the blog, huh?  Sorry, friends, I’ll catch you up soon.

Here is a picture of the back of the quilt.  It contains phrases such as: “it’s a boy”, “nine months”, “bouncing baby boy”, “a new life”, “our little miracle”, “boy meets world”, “we’re expecting”, etc..  So appropriate.

Baby quilts are my favorite.  I think I’ve mentioned this a time or two.  Especially when a person has limited room to sew and quilt (think kitchen table) the smaller sizes are so doable. 

We did it both ways – we didn’t find out what we were having the first time around with Jude.  With our other two sons, we did find out at [...]]]> I just love surprises!  I love it when couples choose to be surprised by the gender of their baby on the day of birth. 

We did it both ways – we didn’t find out what we were having the first time around with Jude.  With our other two sons, we did find out at the 20-week ultrasound.  I would have chosen to be surprised with all of ‘em, but Josh wanted to find out, so that’s how we did it.  Granted, once the decision was made to find out, I couldn’t wait to find out!

I guess I’m telling you this because of a quilt I finished recently.  Our friends Lance and Nicole are pregnant with their first child.  They do not know what they are having.  But I still wanted to make them a quilt for a baby shower held at our church several weeks ago.

It’s tricky to make a baby quilt look like it could be for either a boy or girl.  Greens and yellows are good stand-bys.  I found a fabric line that fit perfectly, used a pattern I had designed quite awhile ago, and stitched it up.  And then I quilted the snot out of it.  Sorry, technical term.

Strip piecing basically is cutting full-length strips of fabric, selvage-to-selvage, and then sewing the long strips [...]]]> I have a lot of experience stripping.  Not on a pole, mind you, stripping as in strip piecing… as in making quilts?  Hello?  Anyone there?!  Saying stripping instead of strip piecing is, like, the oldest quilters joke.  Classic.  Neat.

Strip piecing basically is cutting full-length strips of fabric, selvage-to-selvage, and then sewing the long strips together.  After how-many-ever strips are sewn together, you can go back and cut sections of the long strips to use in patchwork.

I came up with this little number a week or so ago, it was so easy and quick, I plan on using this pattern again soon – and that’s saying something because I usually prefer to do something new for each and every quilt.  But this one… this is too easy and cute not to make it more than once.

When I get my act together and actually have time to write out patterns/instructions, I’m writing this up to share with you.  See you in 2020!

I love the crispness of the white border and sashing in contrast to the other prints.  That reminds me of another reason why I like this pattern:  if you have a lot of coordinating prints, but not much contrast, the fabrics still do well because they’ll be in contrast to the white and not with each other.  See?  Why didn’t you think of that?

One other thing I’ll point out about this particular quilt: I love how the freehand swirls contrast the boxy/geometric look of the quilt.  Softens it up a bit, don’t you think?

Ok, really, the last thing I’ll mention: I love a good striped fabric for the binding.  Nice.

Now that I’m done complimenting my own work (sigh), I’ll leave you to enjoy your weekend.

My friend Tara is a great girl.  I love her lots.  She has always admired my quilts.  I don’t say that in a braggy way, like, “Hey everyone, look at my awesome quilts!   I’m so awesome!”  Not quite like that.  She just has always been so sweet about my crazy hobby and [...]]]> Here’s the story:

My friend Tara is a great girl.  I love her lots.  She has always admired my quilts.  I don’t say that in a braggy way, like, “Hey everyone, look at my awesome quilts!   I’m so awesome!”  Not quite like that.  She just has always been so sweet about my crazy hobby and appreciates the work that I put into them.  So much so that she’s often said (whiny voice), “When am I going to get a quilt?”  To which I would respond, “Just give me a reason.”

You see, Tara got married before I started quilting and as of this post date, is childless.  And those are two of the most common reasons I make quilts: to celebrate a marriage or a baby.

Lo and behold, Tara is now great with child.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Tara’s little boy is due at the end of April and last weekend I was invited to her baby shower.

I knew what had to be done.

The problem was this: I had my sewing machine here at the house but nothing else.  All of my fabric that I’ve accumulated over the years and my various notions were in storage.  I had to come to terms with departing with them when we decided to sell our house.

For weeks, I fooled myself into thinking I’d just buy her something else and make her baby a quilt when we moved into a new house.

Then last Monday rolled around, 6 days before the shower.  It was now or never.

So early the next morning, I took Jude and Jace to the quilt shop in town and picked out new fabric for the quilt; our mutual friend Ali helped me with the color scheme – Tara is decorating the nursery with primary colors.  After a short trip to our storage unit to get a few essentials, I got busy.

I knew the quilt had to be a fairly simple design; I didn’t have a lot of time.  Mix in three – nearly four – house showings*, oh yeah, and three boys, and by 1:30 am Saturday morning, I had this:

*Friday as I was working feverishly to finish the quilt, a realtor called and asked if she could show the house that evening, so I put all my sewing stuff away, cleaned so that it looked like no one lives here, and hauled the kids off to the in-laws’ house.  The realtor called my cell phone during the time they were supposed to be here to tell me they couldn’t make it.  Big-time FAIL.

I’m on a roll… I have bought no new fabric or batting for the last five quilts I’ve made.  I’m using the materials I’ve accumulated in the last five years of quilting and having fun doing it.

After finishing the letters on the aprons, I thought it would be a good time to post [...]]]> At the time I made this quilt, I posted instructions on how to make a snowball block and how to sew a quilt top together, but I also photographed the process I go through to make appliqué letters.

After finishing the letters on the aprons, I thought it would be a good time to post a li’l tutorial on appliqué.

So here we go!

The first thing I do is decide what letter or word(s) will go onto the project.

Next, I open up Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (actually, I have version 7, but either would make a great Christmas gift) to sample fonts.  Or you could use Microsoft Word or any other word-processing program for this.  I type the letter or word out and sample a number of fonts to find the right look I’m after.

When I find the right font, I will adjust the size of the letter or letters until they are a good “actual size” for the project.  Keep in mind when making adjustments or choosing a font, that you want the letters to be thick enough to stitch around.  If a letter is too skinny, it’ll be very difficult to stitch around both edges.  You want a meaty letter.  Use the bold command if needed.

At this point, you should have the letter(s) how you want ‘em on the screen.  The next VERY IMPORTANT thing to do is use the “flip” or “mirror image” tool within your editor to reverse the letters.  In Elements, go to the ‘Image’ menu, then ‘Rotate’ and then ‘Flip Horizontal’.

Next, if you’re lucky enough not to have your printer destroyed by toddlers, go ahead and print out the letter(s).  And since I don’t fall into that category, I’ll show you my green approach.

You will need fusible web product.  I like this one:

It’s called Heat N Bond Lite and it’s available in any quilt shop or craft supply store.  I usually buy a section off the roll at my local quilt shop, but as you can see from the image link, it’s also sold in prepackaged sizes.  Heat N Bond Lite and other similar products are paper backed adhesives.

So, here’s what I do next.

I take the Heat N Bond Lite and paper-side-up, place it over my laptop screen.  I bend my screen almost all the way back, I just think it’s easier to trace that way.  Then I trace around each letter.  I used a pen here, but you could use a pencil or a Sharpie.   It doesn’t matter too much as long as the ink doesn’t transfer onto the iron’s surface, then you could have problems.

Then I cut the letters from the rest of the fusible web.  I traced the letters in a cluster and placed them somewhat close together to save more fusible web for future projects.  Just make sure none of the letters touch and leave space when you trim, too.

Now, if you have enough fabric, you may just fuse this cutout directly to the reverse side of your fabric.  I used what little scraps of fabric I had left, so I could not.  This is what I was working with:

See?  Not quite big enough, so I had to cut the letters apart.

This picture shows that each letter will fit on the scraps of fabric.  But…

when it comes time to fuse it to the fabric, make sure you iron it to the back side of the fabric, like shown here.  Follow the package directions to know which iron setting to use and how much time is needed to adhere the fusible to the fabric, all brands are a little bit different.

Continue to fuse all letters to the fabric.  After fusing, let them set for awhile so they cool off.

The next step is cutting out the shape on the line.  I like using a pair of small and sharp embroidery scissors for this task.  It makes my life easier.

Here are all the letters cut out and ready to be fused onto the quilt top.  But first, you might want to play around with the placement of the letters on your quilt top or other project.  Quilters love saying “audition” and you should to.  Go ahead, audition different letter placements until you find the perfect layout.

When you have the appliqué arranged how you want, it’s time to peel off the paper backing and fuse the it onto the quilt top (or other project).  Again, follow the fusible product’s instructions for proper iron setting and time requirements.

The final step is to stitch the appliqué shapes into place.  Luckily for you, I wrote a tutorial on this awhile back! =)  Start at step #4 of those directions.

Here’s a closer look at the appliqué stitches, I matched the thread to the fabric.

Now go forth and appliqué!  It’s a great way to personalize a gift!

The white fabric is all the same and it has a subtle white-on-white, loop-de-loop print, [...]]]> Here’s the quilt I made recently for our cousins who had a baby earlier this year.  This baby boy, Daniel, has such blue eyes, that I took those baby blues as my inspiration for this quilt.

The white fabric is all the same and it has a subtle white-on-white, loop-de-loop print, which I took as the inspiration for the quilting.  The blues fabrics, well, the blues are just a little bit of everything I had.  Some new fabrics I’d never used, some were left over from other projects.  If it was blue and in my stash, it went into the quilt.  I separated the blues into light and dark and then used the lighter fabrics as the medium and the darker fabric, well, for the darks.  Here’s the layout I came up with in grayscale:

It produces such a graphic look, huh?  Very bold and very blue = very boy.