Quilt Re-Do

This quilt top was finished a week before Christmas.  But I wasn’t happy with the original.

That blue & red sawtooth line seemed to divide the quilt and there wasn’t enough white in that area.

So, after a little seam ripping, I am much happier with the new look. 

The top is made from a layer cake of Wee Folks.  But since I had used all the pieces already, I substituted a brown floral on white from Sew Cherry in the sawtooth row.  It blends right in.

The little gnomes and toadstools are so adorable!  The blocks are pinwheels and stars.

Now I’m not sure what to use for backing and binding.  As usual, there is nothing suitable in my stash…so I’ll need to buy something!

Fabric Tuesday

This year my daughter’s teachers will be getting homemade Christmas presents.  I actually sent in a little questionnaire to find out their tastes and  decided to make them each a pillow.  One teacher’s favorite color is yellow and her favorite season is summer, so I stitched up a snowball block with some yellow and and a summery feel (as I type this, I realize that perhaps snowball wasn’t the most aptly named block to choose!).

 

I didn’t use any batting, just placed it atop white muslin and quilted a simple grid pattern with the assistance of painter’s tape.  I made two actually, an extra one for my mom for her birthday in December.  No worries, it will still be a surprise since she doesn’t read my blog.  She doesn’t even have an email address!  I am going to make an envelope style back with the yellow check fabric.

I really, really like how they turned out.  They measure exactly 16.5 x 16.5, so they will be perfectly sized for the couch.

My daughter’s other teacher’s favorite color is moss green, which is not a color I really have on hand that much.  It worked out great that I made a few blocks for the Charmed Prints Quilt Along that came up just short of the 5” needed for the quilt, so I used 4 of the 5 that were duds to make this pillow cover.

I am going to use the DS Quilts print for the back.  The pillow cover is okay, but I really need to work on not cutting off triangle points.

I’m not sure what my major malfunction is, but sometimes the points turn out perfectly, and other times they have disappeared in the seam allowance.  The white sashing didn’t look quite right without a border, so I added a 1.25 inch striped border which finishes it nicely I think.  This pillow measures 17 x 17 so it will be slightly bigger, but once I’ve inserted a cushion they will be roughly identical sizes. 

I recently bought some Alexander Henry starling fabric

  

and some Kate Spain Flurry birds

so if I get a chance, I might make them a quick Christmas pillow cover, too.  Can you tell I love cardinals?  I am a total bird lover…swans, hummingbirds, and cardinals are my favorites.

I also asked the teachers if they prefer Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, and they all said Starbucks????!!!!!  I’m a Dunkin Donuts gal myself.  In fact, before their stores became so prolific, I would order two five pound bags of beans online every 6 weeks.  I had my own coffee grinder and had to have real cream in mine.  I don’t drink coffee any longer.  My first daughter had a heart murmur and I had to cut out all caffeine when she was in utero.  It was tough, but I did it.  She turned out just fine with no heart problems at all, but after that experience, I abstained from all caffeine during my other two pregnancies.  And after I had Veronica last year, I made my husband stop at the grocery store on our way home from the hospital in a huge SNOWSTORM to buy cream for my first cup of post pregnancy coffee.  But it tasted terrible to me, and now I’m a Tazo black tea gal and haven’t touched a coffee in almost two years.  But if I had to choose between a Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts gift card, I’d still go with DD because I love me a Bavarian creme donut!

How about you?  Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts?

I’m linking up my almost-complete pillow covers to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

Charmed Prints QAL

Do you start with fabric or start with a pattern first?  I definitely start with fabric!  In fact, you might say I have a little too much.  I joined the Japanese Charm Swap here on Gen X Quilters which was a lot of fun.  Then when a charm pack quilt along came up, I thought the pattern was unique and that I’d give it a go.  But then I got stuck.  I didn’t know what fabric to use (I didn’t feel inspired to use the Japanese charms), and I certainly didn’t want to buy any considering what the shelves in my office look like!

The quilt along started quite a while ago, but I only got my game on during the Thanksgiving holiday.  I’ve made all the “special” blocks for the pattern, a few extra in fact, and I did *ahem* place an emergency fabric order on Fabric.com on Wednesday—butterflies and hearts!-- so I have two more pieces coming my way that I am going to use for a few additional special blocks, but for the most part, all the hard work is done. 

It took a while for the inspiration to hit, but I started with two blocks, picking fabric from my stash and fussy cutting the centers before I got on a roll.  I just picked things I thought Esther (my middle daughter) would like, and then she helped pick out fabric she liked, too.  Her older sister Bea has gobs of quilts I’ve made for her, although she feels a little miffed whenever I’m working on something not for her!

The best news?  I was thinking I’d need to go through and cut a bunch of charms from my stash.  Then I remembered that when I first started reading blogs, I entered a giveaway and WON!!!  It was the first giveaway I’d ever entered, and I was a bit skeptical.  But then a package came in the mail containing two charm packs and a layer cake!  I still have one of the charm packs.  I’ve looked at it enough that the paper band holding it together is missing now, so I’m not sure of the name, but the colors are pretty and, more importantly, even though it’s not totally matchy-matchy with my special blocks, a little white sashing is going to make them look great together!!!!  My special blocks have some lavender in them, so I’ll need to augment the charms with a few purples, but other than that, I’m ready to go on to the next step, making the quilt top, the directions tba on Tuesday.

I’m linking this up to Love Affair With My Brother this week.