Wonky Cross Quilt

At its most basic, a wonky cross block (aka liberated cross or wonky plus sign) is a slice and insert technique.  A square or rectangle is cut across and a strip inserted.  Then the block is cut a second time, roughly perpendicular to the first cut, and a second strip sewn in.

For all my love of improv quilting, I have never made a wonky cross quilt, or even a block.  I'm not sure why, since this quilt by Rossie and this version by Carla are among my favorite modern quilts.  So when my month of the Whatever Bee came around, I decided to remedy all that.  I pointed my bee mates to Carla's tutorial, which makes two at a time. 

 

I decided to make a maquette (a technique I explained here), to get a feel for the blocks and their arrangement. I used pink scraps from my Waves quilt and the grey and white scraps they happened to be sitting next to (I love serendipity in improv sewing) on my sewing table.  As simple as these blocks are, I learned a lot about my own preferences making this mini quilt.

• I like some variation in the thickness of the inserted strips: some chunky and some thin.
• Some cross blocks need to be relatively straight in order for the wonky blocks to stand out.
• The more fabrics you use, the easier assembling the top will be, if you like to avoid like fabrics touching.
• Keeping the blocks the same height but various widths make for an interesting look that is still easy to put together.

I hope my bee mates will agree this is a good block for a quilting bee: a specific assignment with some flexibility for individual expression.

I decided to finish the maquette, since it seemed to me it would make a really cute doll quilt.  I put a text print from Verona Road on the back.  It's a bedtime story - perfect.  I bound the quilt in grey crosshatch, leftover from the Wave quilt too.  You can find this 23" x 25" mini quilt in my etsy shop. SOLD.

Paper Boat Mini - Quilt Pattern and Giveaway

You've seen my first paper boat mini, as well as the baby quilt it inspired.  If you recall, I drafted my own paper pieced pattern to create the boat, and now I've written a streamlined pattern for the mini quilt.

This whimsical mini quilt is a great accent for a boy's room or a lake/beach house.  The pdf pattern is four pages long and includes pictures and illustrations, as well as the paper pieced pattern for the paper boat.  I recommend this for sewers with a little paper piecing experience under their belt.  The boat is pretty tiny, as part of a mini quilt (14 x 18.5), and you do need to pay attention to the orientation of the text pints.  There is a y seam, but the angle is very gentle.  The rest of the quilt is super simple: just four other pieces.  Your can have a lot of fun with the quilting to add a special touch to the wall hanging!

I'm excited to add the pattern to my etsy shop.  The pattern is now updated to include a baby size version too! I have plans for more patterns to come.  For now, I'd like to host a little giveaway.  Leave a comment below with a valid email address linked, and I'll draw a random winner Wednesday morning.  Giveaway now closed. This is a downloadable pdf pattern, which is perfect for paper pieced patterns. You can easily print out extra patterns as needed, even enlarge it if you like.

And guess what else I have to give away?  The Fat Quarter Shop was kind enough to send along a trio of fat quarters of the fabrics I used in the mini.  They are the text print from Crabtastic, Salt Air's Waves in Ocean and Kona Sky.  I love the restful feeling these fabrics.

For more chances to win the pattern, hop over to Twitter where the Fat Quarter Shop is giving away the pattern to three more of you.  It might be good to keep an eye out for that on Wednesday - hint, hint.  Did you notice I just joined Twitter?  I'm a little slow to join in social networks, but this one is pretty fun.  I like it for the same reason I like texting. It's quick and to the point.  I've also found that certain businesses tweet special sales or coupon codes, and if you follow them you're in the know.  The Fat Quarter Shop, @FatQuarterShop on Twitter, does this, so there's a tip for the day.

Thanks for stopping by!

Flashdance 2

I can't think of a cute or clever name for this smaller version of Flashdance.  It is 26 x 31 before washing, so it's wall hanging size or big enough to be a stroller/car seat quilt or a large doll quilt.  I oriented the stripes differently and the proportions of the blocks vary from the first quilt.  I seem to have a habit now of making quilts twice.  I really enjoy seeing the difference small changes can make to the same basic design.

I decided to revisit the crosshatch quilting, but I chose a print binding and a multicolor print backing which add a playful feeling to the quilt.  I just love the raindrops dot from Summersault by Erin McMorris.  I have it in four colorways, in fact.  The large scale makes it perfect for a backing and the colors are so great for this quilt.  It looks perfect with the Washi print binding too.

This one is destined for the shop too, but I may not get either quilt listed until after the KCMQG retreat.  Now, I have lots of sewing projects to pack.

An Homage

This doll quilt is an homage to Lauren of Aunt June fame.  Or rather, to my favorite quilt of hers. 

My towerall is much smaller, but otherwise a shameless copy of the original.  I had permission though.  Lauren was kind enough to show me how to create the towerall from strips in one of her Improv Studio classes at Harper's (if you're local to KC, you should try to catch one of these - a new improv technique each month).

I did some heavy quilting on this, and boy did it distort the top.  It seems spray baste is no match for this kind of texture.  I had to trim it a ton to square it up in the end.  Maybe I should have pinned it a bunch too. 

I  backed it with a vintage sheet, 'cause that's how Aunt June rolls. This one is staying with me!

Ticker Tape Rainbow

I think this is ticker tape doll quilt #5 for me.  Each time, I use a different color scheme, and this time I chose a rainbow in an effort to revisit the joy of this quilt.  I also tried two new techniques, which I will definitely use on #6 and following, if I feel the urge to ticker tape again.

First up, spray basting.  It just makes sense, and it's so easy to do on small quilts.  No pins means easy placement of all those little scraps.  Why didn't I try this sooner?

And speaking of those little scraps, my second tip is to use a glue stick to place them where you want them temporarily.  It washes right out, and again, no pins!

The back is Kona grass, and the binding is Kona lagoon. It finishes at 18 x 23.

 

Sewing for Stuffed Animals

 

The tiny patchwork I made last week has found its home in this little sleeping bag for my son's stuffed animal.  The pattern,written by flossie teacakes, is excellent.  It comes in three sizes.  I made the largest size.  The only change I made was to quilt the mattress, as well as the cover.  I love how it has a little, built-in pillow too.

And of course, I made two, one for each son.  My older child requested no patchwork, so his was a bit quicker to make.  How fun would these be to make as birthday or holiday gifts for the kids on your list?

I learned  a new trick from this pattern too: single fold bias binding.  It is perfect for small projects like this with curved edges, and it looks so slick.  I was even able to do it entirely by machine.  I'll definitely use this technique again.

Summer Cabins

It all started with Lauren's Improv Studio at Harper's. Checkout the great gallery of modern log cabins she showed us at the start of class for inspiration (warning, you may become obsessed with making log cabin blocks after viewing these). I spent the rest of the night making a log cabin block for the back of my rainbow quilt. When I made the back, I thought, "this design needs to be a quilt front." So, using summery fabrics, I made this baby quilt and matching doll quilt (because something this cute needs to have a tiny version too).Isn't the duck print fun? It's from Red Letter Day by Lizzy House. The yellow solid is Kona Maize, and the binding is the, sadly, out of print, Meadowsweet stripe by Sandi Henderson.The baby quilt is in my shop. I may or may not have plans for a boy log cabin quilt. They are really fun to make.

Compulsion Quilting

I've mentioned before that I keep a craft "to do" list. It helps me keep track of the quilts and projects I hope to make. I find there are many times, however, when I have a sudden desire to make something specific (that isn't on the list) which has popped into my head. I feel a compulsion to make whatever it is right now. Is that weird?
I'm finishing up the binding on the latest such project. Then I can get back on track with my Good Folks quilt. Oh, and I need to bind my scrap rainbow too, unless, of course, I need to make a few variations of this latest obsession to get it out of my system. That may be the case - it's really fun. More tomorrow.

Handmade Christmas Wraps Up

I think I'm done with my handmade Christmas gift to do list! I completed this snowman kit for my little boys. Just in time too, since we had our first taste of snow last night. I got the idea from Make It Do.
And finally, a hostess gift for a party I'm attending tomorrow night. I had another item in mind originally, but once again Krista's cute wall hanging was on my brain. It is 12 x 15 just like hers.

Tickertape at Twilight

The colors in this tickertape quilt remind me of twilight.

I just love the plummy purple of the base. The other colors were inspired by the binding fabric which is cypress paisley in mint by Amy Butler, from the Love collection.

This mini quilt is 16" x 20".

Tickertape Doll Quilt #3

I wanted to try a slightly edgier color scheme for my most recent tickertape doll quilt (for more info on this type of quilt see my previous post). I saw this on flickr using green, gray, and pink. I added some aqua and - perfect! I used a light gray for the backround on the front and charcoal for the back.
I love how the lime binding looks against the dark gray. All these tickertape quilts have lead to a slight problem, however. I can't get rid of the tiniest scraps, because I know, of course, they could be made into a tickertape! They are beginning to take over. Want to try making a tickertape yourself, but don't have a variety of scraps to use or perhaps you don't want to cut tons of tiny rectangles and squares out of larger scraps? You are welcome to the mine - just the be the first to ask in the comments and I'll send them to you. *Update: the scraps have been claimed :).

Tickertape Doll Quilt #2

I loved the first one so much, and it left me so quickly, I just had to make another tickertape quilt. At 20 x 23 it isn't a lot bigger than the first one I made, but it seemed to take much longer this time around! Still a fun process though. I probably liked it for a lot of the same reasons I enjoy puzzles. I sewed this one with a linen colored cotton, instead of stark white, and I like how it allowed me to use some cute prints with white or light backgrounds that would have washed out on the other quilt.As before, I just love how the back looks!
This is headed to its new home in Switzerland!

Out for a Walk - Finishing, Option 2

For my second Out for a Walk quilt, Iwanted a softer feel for the quilting, in contrast to the straight lines of the first quilt. I saw a great technique on Jacquie's blog a while back I wanted to try. It is a stitch on my machine, and I changed it slightly by increasing the stitch width to the max, giving me this fun allover wave effect.
For the back I chose to use Kona white with three funky, off centered dog squares bordered in a print from Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow. I used the same print for the binding.

Check out the previous post for a tutorial for this quilt. I think this one is my favorite of the two, but I love them both!