Furrows

For a wall hanging, this little quilt has a lot of hours in it.  I'm glad I invested the time though, especially in the straight line quilting.  The name of the quilt comes from all those little paths created by the often spiraling lines.

 

I loved every minute of the improv piecing, but the whole thing definitely came to life with the quilting, for me.  I love how all those separate fabrics pieced together suddenly become a single cloth when they are quilted together.

Every piece of this 26 x 30 quilt is a scrap from my bins.  The blue and green stripes of color were trimmings from this quilt.  I even pieced the back and binding from scraps.

 

 

I had a full bin of neutrals I never knew how to use, but, as I said before, Krista's quilt really inspired me to experiment. The pieced, neutral sashing creates all these subtle shapes in the background, and I think they make this quilt really interesting.

 

I'm linking up to Jennifer's Modern Mini Challenge.  I'm thrilled to be a finalist.  Check out all the gorgeous entries here.

Scrap Rainbow Revisited

 

I'm so excited to be featured on the MQG's 100 Days of Modern Quilting again this week.  My Scrap Rainbow Quilt was so much fun to make.  If you've been around here for any length of time, you know about my affinity for scrappy sewing.  I talk a little about it over there today. The theme for the week is sewing with what you have, so check it out.

Experimenting

I've been experimenting with scraps again, particularly, with neutral scraps pieced for sashing.  I love how it creates subtle shapes within the larger shape of the borders.

It adds a whole other layer of depth to the quilt.  I love the way Krista did it in Ingrid, which is featured on the MQG site today.

I've got an idea of how to add another design element with the quilting.  Back soon!

A Quick Gift

I made a quick gift for a friend's birthday this week.  She has a new i pad, so I made her this sleeve.

I used this tutorial and some houndstooth suiting material.  I lined it with lipstick shot cotton and used fusible fleece instead of quilting it.  I think I'll use two layers next time.

Granny Squares Baby Quilt

The sun is back today, after days of snow and then rain, so I was able to get  a picture of my finished granny squares baby quilt.  I made 12 squares with two inch sashing and a four inch border, finished.  That made the quilt about 35 x 45 after washing.  I'm glad I shared quilting photos before washing, because now it's all crinkly - super snuggley, but it does make the quilting harder to see.  I really like how the squares kind of twinkle because of the different values in the scrap fabrics.

Thanks to Lauren for backing me up on my instinct to bind the quilt using this cool black and white grid fabric by Timeless Treasures.  I was worried it might be too light, but she was right; it adds a softness to the quilt that I love.

Thanks to Kristin for her tip at our last guild meeting, I tried a new binding technique.  You attach the double fold binding to the front of the quilt as usual.  Then you fold it away from the quilt and iron it with a lot of steam.  Repeat that process as you fold it to the back of the quilt.  It's amazing how well it stays in place without pins.  Then you stitch in the ditch, from the front of the quilt, next to the binding and it catches the binding edge on the back.  It worked really well and is invisible from the front of the quilt!  I still prefer binding by hand, but this is super fast when you need to finish up a "just for fun" project and get back to your craft to do list.

 I've listed the quilt in my shop.  You can read more about this quilt here and here.

Quilting Granny

My granny squares are the getting the free motion treatment today.

FYI, if you're thinking of making some granny square blocks of your own or are about to piece the top together, be sure to pin your sashing strips.  Because of the way these blocks are constructed, all four edges are on the bias.  So go easy on these and use lots of pins to avoid wavy borders.

Composing a Quilt

I'm very excited to be a part of The Modern Quilt Guild's 100 Days of Modern Quilting today.  Hop over there to see my thoughts on composing a quilt, featuring my Busytown quilt specifically.

Granny Squares

I told you recently that one of my new strategies for dealing with scraps is to cut most of them into strips and squares.  I used quite a few 2 1/2 inch squares in a bib set, but there were many leftover.  And then Jolene created a tutorial for her granny square quilt blocks.  Perfect!

I can't tell you how fun these are to make.  I'm not one for repetitive sewing, so these are great.  Each one uses different  fabrics, if you're going scrappy, in new combinations. 

These blocks, in happy spring-like colors, are my winter therapy for 2012, for sure.  I added some black to keep them from being too, too sweet, and I like the contrast it adds.

Giveaway Winner

Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter the giveaway for Laurie Wisbrun's new fabric line Brrr!.  The randomly selected winner is Heather A.

Heather A said...

I grew up on a farm and our home town was (is) White Bear, Saskatchewan. As soon as I saw this fabric line, I just KNEW I'd have to get some one way or another. White Bear is all but a ghost town now. Just a handful of people live there. It really dwindled after the rail line quit running through. My Mom just LOVES anything with a polar bear on it. You'll have made some lucky (or luckier) Linus happy!

February 2, 2012 12:31 PM

Look for an email from me, Heather!

Brrr! Baby Quilt and Giveaway

 

I feel really lucky that Laurie Wisbrun gave me the opportunity to work with her new fabrics, and I had tons of fun making the quilt and pillow I shared yesterday.  I knew I wanted to make something to giveaway with the rest of the fabric, so I made this strip quilt for Project Linus.  It is 41 x 52 inches.

Strip quilts are easy to make and sew up so quickly. They are great for featuring fun prints, like these polar bears.  Add some straight line quilting, and you're good to go.  Easy and cute, they are a great option for making quilts for little ones.

I hope this is just the first of several quilts I can donate this year!
And that's not all I get to giveaway today!  The folks at Robert Kaufman gave me a fat quarter set of the full fabric line to give to one of you.  Just leave a comment, and I'll select a winner, randomly, Monday morning.  If I can't contact you via a valid email address, I'll choose another winner.  Good luck! Contest now closed.