Great Granny! {a finished tablerunner}

Isn’t she a beauty?

The original pattern from Lori Holt’s book called for 3 x 6 great granny squares, but I modified the design to fit the top of our bedroom dresser so this one has 2 x 7 blocks.

I am loving the texture of the free motion quilting.  By golly, I think I’m finally getting it!  Something just clicked in my brain this time as I was trying to freehand draw the design on paper before attempting it with my machine. 

The back is nearly as gorgeous as the front.  I was able to use this remnant of Anna Maria Horner fabric left over from another project and there was just enough to position the large floral motifs straight down the center of the back.

The finished size is 17.5 x 51.5.  Most of the blocks were designed by my two oldest daughters.  I’m pretty sure I only had to show them how to arrange it once and they were on a roll putting them together for me.  The background is Essex linen in a cream shade.

I used a lot of scraps for this project, so this will be labeled #2/52 for a little scrap project goal I am challenging myself to complete a la Crazy Mom Quilts and her 100 scrap projects goal.  I might be crazy, I am a mom, and I quilt, but there’s no way I could do 100 scrap projects like she’s breezing through them!  So 52 is my goal.

It feels great to have that old bath towel replaced by this tablerunner on our bedroom dresser! 

Thanks for visiting!

Great Granny {the tablerunner}

Earlier in the year I won this copy of Lori Holt’s book on Red Pepper Quilts.

I like a lot of the patterns in this book and I’m happy to have it as part of my home library.  In January we remodeled our bedroom, and sadly our dresser has been “decorated” with an old bath towel on top to protect the surface from the TV and other electronics stored there.

But that’s all about to change!

I’ve been planning this tablerunner in my mind for several months, knowing I wanted to choose fabrics that would look sophisticated and pop out against a black background.  Slowly I built up a pile of potential fabrics and this past weekend I finally started cutting the squares.

The cream is Essex linen, and a lot of the fabrics are scraps, hooray!  The first seven blocks are sewn and squared up, just seven more to go.  The squares finish at 1” and it takes me about 75 minutes to sew one (already cut) from start to end, so this is all I’ve been working on the past four nights.

Hopefully I will have a finish to share soon!

Criss-Crossed Quilt

Criss-Crossed is the name of my latest finish.  It was made with an assortment of pink, plum, and golden fabrics.  Many prints are Denyse Schmidt of course!  Others are Lori Holt Daisy Cottage, some Thomas Knauer, Joel Dewberry, and even fabric designed by fellow DCMQG member Jessie Aller for In the Beginning.  All of the fabrics including the backing and two shades of gray are from my stash!!!  How often can a quilter say that?  The binding was purchased online and luckily it coordinates beautifully.

The back is an Anna Maria Horner roses print from her Innocent Crush collection and a gray, yellow, ivory Midwest Modern print by Amy Butler.  Pieced backs are definitely my favorite!

This is the first quilt I quilted on the new long arm.  It was an experience.  I had some issues with the edges of the quilt and a few times I had to unpick a lot of quilting.  But overall I was pretty pleased with how the final quilt turned out despite all the extra handling during quilting.  A final trim and the binding hid any imperfections.

Normally I don’t wash any quilts before gifting, but this time I ran the quilt through the washer and dryer just to make sure everything held together, which it did! 

Who can resist a big-eyed bunny?  Not my daughter!

Have a great week!  Linking up to Fort Worth Fabric Studio and Crazy Mom Quilts.

To Infinity and Beyond!

Just a quick post to say my sewing machine has been in the shop the past week and I’m itching to get it back tomorrow.  In the meantime, I’ve been using my daughter’s machine to whip up a few infinity scarves for Christmas gifts out of Anna Maria Horner velveteen.  These have been on my t0-do list since I saw them online last Christmas and I’m glad to finally tick them off my list.

This is the first one I made and am keeping for myself due to a few technical difficulties, which were resolved by the time I made the third one, thank goodness.  The velveteen is so soft and snuggly.  I could sleep with it on (um, I may have last night).

Bea was kind enough to take a few photos of me wearing it.  It was surprising how fast it was to make one, so if you are looking for a quick and functional gift to make, you could check out the tutorials I used for making mine at Lazy Saturdays and Pink Chalk Fabrics. 

Hand Quilting

I have long admired the beautiful effect of hand quilting.  I’ve even attempted it before, but it didn’t turn out quite as I hoped.  Something about burying my threads and keeping the stitches even made it oh so unfulfilling.

Next week I’m going to be taking a hand quilting class (I need all the help I can get!) so I thought I’d share a photo of the fabric and thread I selected.  The supply list calls for 1 yard of material and 5 spools of coordinating size 8 Perle thread.  I can’t decide between these two Anna Maria Horner prints, one in blue and one in pink, so I’m bringing them both and hoping to make a decision once I get there.  Of course I’m also hoping that some day I’ll finish both coordinating pillows.  A girl can dream, right?

Have you seen this Perle thread before?  I’ve purchased mine from Quilt Taffy, Pink Chalk Fabrics, and even at Joann’s.  Do you have a favorite brand of needle to use?   I have a feeling that having the right needle will make the stitching so much easier.  But just like learning to sew, figuring out what works for hand quilting will be a process.

Here is what this photo shoot really looked like!  There are always two cats helping.

And if I’m inside the house, I am lucky enough to have a bird assistant, too! 

Happy Friday!

Potluck Churn Dash

This quilt came about through two extra churn dash blocks I made last month for Stash Bee.  A friend had a baby girl, and originally I thought I’d make her a star quilt, but then I got to thinking I’d use these blocks to make something bright and colorful.

I started with the orange and aqua block and put the other one aside to use for something else.  I decided to use some of my Denyse Schmidt fabrics for the other blocks.  Rachel at Stitched in Color is hosting a Shelbourne Falls Contest, so I incorporated a few of those fabrics into it. 

Once the quilt was 3 x 3 blocks, which was a good size for a baby quilt, it didn’t feel right to me.  Was this going to be the ugliest quilt ever, or just colorful?  At this point my husband gave it a thumbs down and I decided I’ll just go with my original idea to make a star quilt for my friend’s baby and keep this one, just in case it doesn’t turn out like I had hoped.  I added another row of blocks to make it a little bigger so my youngest daughter could use it on her bed.

A lot of the fabrics are Denyse Schmidt, with a few Anna Maria Horner and an Amy Butler print thrown in.  The back is an AMH print from Innocent Crush that all my daughters really love.  I pieced together the rest of the back from leftover fabric.

The quilting is a criss-cross on the diagonal—I marked it with masking tape and used 50 wt. pink Aurifil thread.

The binding is a Notting Hill print.

So, is it an ugly quilt or just colorful?  It has a vintage vibe to it that I really dig, but I honestly don’t know!

Friday Night Finish

Our Beejeebers queen selected this beautiful half square triangle block for the month of May.  I procrastinated until the last possible days and got the block finished a few minutes ago.

And then, as I was writing this post, I noticed the bowties in the top rows are backwards, so I just unpicked and restitched {again} and it’s fixed now.

It was fun picking through my scraps to find bright colors and prints I like.  My cat Oreo also had fun rolling in the scraps…

Overall, it took a long time to put together, kind of like a puzzle, but the end result is very pretty.

Thanks, Ursula, for picking such a beauty!  I hope you liked the colors and fabrics I picked.

Up next month?  Semi trucks.  I already have a few ideas spinning around!

FNSI Results

I finished most of the blocks for my Twirling Around quilt using Little Apples, Sherbet Pips, and A Walk in the Woods. 

Most of my blocks finished a little bigger than the 8.5” called for so I could trim everything down (yay!), but 5 were too small, so I need remake those five before I can put the top together.

I am using the white with light pink square-circles instead of white.  Unfortunately, at night it is a little bit difficult for me to tell what is the right and wrong side.  So while chain piecing I sewed to the wrong side *twice* and had to spend some time with the seam ripper today.

Also, I am taking part in two charm swaps this month.  The first is called Over the Rainbow Charm Swap and my color is yellow.  The two fabrics are Half Moon Modern by Moda.  The other swap is called Charm-tastic Color Swap and my color is orange.  I had a yard of the AMH Innocent Crush in my stash, and the other orange is a blender print from the LQS called something like Bear Essentials by P & B Textiles.  It was $11 a yard!  And, I bought another orange print but when I looked it in the car, I nearly fainted because the circles had glitter on them.  There was no way I could use that for the swap, and it was $11 for the yard, too!!!!!The lighting was pretty dim in the store, but I think it was a wake-up call that I need new glasses.