Not a Moment TOO Soon & Need a Name

FINALLY…My Valentines quilt is finished and without a moment to spare. I had the binding on by 10 pm, threw it in the wash, and took it out of the drier at 11:56. The goal was to have it finished by tomorrow and I did it! GO ME!

I finished quilting it yesterday afternoon, and wasn’t sure that I liked it. This was the first time I tried my hand at stippling. The first evening I started quilting it I was happy with the way it was looking, but after my machine came back from the shop, I never could get back into the pattern I had going the fist day.

I have to admit that after removing it from the drier and seeing all it’s wrinkly crinkly goodness I was in love with it. I can’t even tell that the quilting is “off”.

I have been trying to come up with a name for this quilt (I still need to label it). I was thinking about “Seeing Red” because 1-it’s V-day quilt (red) and 2-With all the issues I had with it I was seeing red! Haven’t made a final decision though…anyone have a suggestion?

Anyway, here is a few pic. I decided to do a scrappy border on this one. I was going to do an all red plaid border, but I wanted to use the 4 other strips I had that match, so I cut 3 plaid strips to add to the other 4 and alternated them…I LOVE IT!

 

Building Blocks

I joined a Quilting Bee and needed to come up with an idea for my quilt I want the ladies to make for me. My month is February and I need to be getting things ready so I can mail the packages out the last week of January. I am really excited about this Bee. I already made and sent Donna’s block (she was January). I thought it might be fun to take you on the journey of deciding on my block :)

First you need inspiration…

I knew the minute I saw these that this is what I wanted to do.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40237352@N06/galleries/72157622910682844/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40237352@N06/galleries/72157622967892992/

I collect crosses and have them all over my house…

  

 

Those are just the ones I have have out…there are several more that I haven’t found a place for since the move.

Can you see why I am choosing to have the GIRLS make me cross blocks???

So now the hard part…I need to decide on fabric and make a test block to see how much is needed. Ok, so where do you find patterns for cross blocks (besides boring ones)? You can’t. So I am asking the girls to make up their own.

This is the block that I have designed…

The rough draft (very rough)

and here is my block after being drawn out in EQ6…

Here is my Diagram and Paper Piecing Foundations…

Designing the Block and Foundations Pieces was really fun :)

Here are my block pieces…

oops, I forgot to take pictures of all the block pieces I had after getting them sewn and cut out…there were about 22 pieces all together.

here is the back of the block after sewing the pieces together…

here it is the front (paper still on)

and here it is after removing the paper, starched and pressed (It got a little stretched from removing the paper) But over all I am very pleased. It is the 1st time I have ever designed something myself, so I am just thrilled that it came out and it looks the way I had imagined it would :)

 

I am going to make a few more sample blocks too :) The next ones will be a little simpler!

Block 1 finished…

I have finished my 1st circle of geese block. I realized about half way into this that I didn’t count right, so the quilt will be a little smaller that I had planned. Because of that, I will have a few blocks left over. I will be framing this one and hanging it on my wall in my sewing room. There will be another one just like it and I will be making it into a mini quilt/wall hanging. This will be used as a give away for my 150th post. I just realized last night that I passed my 100th post without knowing.

Before sewing the 4 parts together and removing the paper…

 

After sewing the 4 parts together…Not squared yet :)

Now off to make some more blocks!

1 Year, 12 Quilts—January Block

Here is Donna’s block. This was my 1st time to paper piece…in fact it was my first time to so anything beside sewing squares or strips together! I am surprised that it even resembles what it is suppose to be. Although I am not really pleased with the block itself. I wasn’t sure how to do the seams and they are messy, and 1 of the points don’t match up. I thought about ripping it all out and try again, but was afraid that it wouldn’t go back together and I didn’t have enough fabric to start over from scratch.I sure hope she isn’t disappointed with it.

 

CGQC-Finishes

 

Here are my December finishes. I finished everything on my list :) Now I have to decide what I am going to do in January…

Finished…and without a moment to spare!

It is 3:06 and we have to leave at 4:00 to make it to the airport on time to pick up the boys. I have worked 4 days straight trying to finished everything on the boys Christmas quilts. I didn’t think I was going to get it done. I might even have enough time to take a shower and get them wrapped!

This is also my CGQC December projects…FINISHED! WHOO HOO!

Now I am off to get a quick shower and pick up my boys…4 days is a long time without them!

Pics As Promised Earlier…

Here is a full view. I never could get a good photo…but you get the idea. This Quilt is so much prettier in person.

Here is some detail shots of the border quilting…

This is the back. I decided to use white…

Another Finish…

The scrap quilt I was working on is finished. I had a few snags along the way, but for the most part it wasn’t too bad. After washing it I had to redo a few of my free motion stitches. My BSR was skipping and I think I forgot to secure my stitches in a few spots…Anyway it is done, and I didn’t ruin the quilt (I was terrified that I would ruin my quilt if I tried to FMQ). Fortunately, I had a friend convince me to just go for it! It was not as hard as I thought it would be. I will take a few photos later this afternoon. I tried to get a few this morning but the sun isn’t shinning and for some reason I can’t get any good shots.

It’s A Finish (More Than One)!

Whoo Hoo I have been busy the past week!
1st I finished my Quilt For Kids Quilt

And I also completed my Spring Magic Scruffy Quilt…I LOVE THIS QUILT!
   
Here is a pic of my quilt folded into a pretty little pile of quilted fabric!

I used 2 layer cakes, 2 charm packs, 1/2 of a jelly roll, and 5-1/2 yds backing for this quilt. With the rest of the jelly roll I decided to make another quilt. I am trying not to have too many left overs. The only thing I didn’t have on hand when making the second quilt was the Kona White. I had to purchase that. I bought a HUGE 108x108 inch piece so I have some for my stash now :)
Here are some previews… Wish I would have taken a picture of the 1 really long strip I had sewn this jelly roll into, but I was in a quilting groove and it slipped my mind until a friend reminded me to take lots of pictures!
   
I used every bit of fabric I had from the Spring magic line. I am sad that it is gone, but love the 2 quilts I made from it :) I have all the quilting finished on this one and just need to do the binding. I will be using the left over fabric from the back of my Scruffy to bind and label this one. I plan to do a matching flower appliqué on the back for the label. This was my first attempt at free motion quilting. It isn’t perfect, but I think I did a pretty good job.