Hourglass Stars Complete!

This finished quilt measures 36.5” square. I am really happy with how it turned out.

The Kona celery sashing is a buttery-green color.

The back is simply Kona ash.  I used gray thread from Connecting Threads for the quilting on the front and back.

I really like the look of stippling.  This is one of the last quilts I finished before my husband modified my sewing table, so I am ready to try some new fmq designs.

Do you machine bind or hand sew your binding?  I am so impatient that I nearly always machine bind everything.  The first couple bindings were pretty poor looking, but practice really has improved my ability to match up the zig-zag on the front and back.  There is only this one little hiccup where the black thread shows a little bit on the backing.

I cut my binding 2.75” wide instead of the regular 2.5”.  I attach the binding to the back and then stitch it down with a zig-zag to the front.  I don’t use pins or Clover clips to hold it down.  I simply feed it through my machine matching up the needle with the first binding seam.  It’s easy to get arcs if you are pulling on the binding, but as long as you don’t manipulate it too much, the zig-zag will be pretty smooth.  I think cutting the binding a little bigger reduces the need to pull on the binding.  The entire rest of the binding looks perfect like the photo above.

Linking up to Freemotion by the River and Fabric Tuesday.  If you are interested in making a similar quilt, this is the tutorial for hourglass stars.  Have a great day!

More Hourglass Star Blocks

Here are  a few of the other stars using oval elements.

Yesterday was my first day doing a blog hop…it was so much fun!!!  If you missed it, you can enter the giveaway for a $25 Quilt Taffy gift certificate here.

Yesterday was also my birthday.  I got a gift card to Joanns and am so excited to go and spend it.  I will be getting a new cutting mat and some rotary blades.  No fabric for me…I’m sticking with my diet, although of course I first thought I might get backing for my Summerlove quilt.  I keep thinking a bright blue backing would be the icing on the cake.   But I’m going with stash fabric, and I plan to do wavy line quilting.

Linking up to Freemotion by the River and Fabric Tuesday.  Have a great day!

Two finishes

I finished up two quilts this past week.  The first is this flannel WIP from a few years back.  After a run through the washer and dryer, it looks almost as good as new.

I think it might be my favorite quilt I’ve made, even though while I was making it I wasn’t sure how I felt about the funky fabrics and bright solids.

The purple backing and striped binding really make me love it even more.

The final quilt measures 63 x 78 inches.  It is made from Joann’s flannel and doesn’t have any batting.  It’s a good weight without being too heavy.  In this photo of the binding you can see how I machine attached it with a zig-zag stitch.  I highly recommend this method.

I’ve got another finish from last weekend.  Here is a sneak peak and I’ll be posting about it later this week.

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday and Quilting by the River.

Scrappy Log Cabin Trivets

What is your favorite quilt block?  For certain mine is the log cabin.  Stars are a close second.

I made these trivets for our dining room table.  They are so bright and cheerful and a perfect accompaniment to summertime dishes like Caprese salad.

They were first inspired by a fat quarter bundle of veggie fabric I bought on Etsy.  I love fresh produce and the way the veggies are so modern yet classic.

I also experimented a little with these small quilting projects.  First, I tried spray basting for the first time.  The trivet on the left, which is significantly larger and less wonky was spray basted.  I just pin basted the one on the right.  You can see the spray basted one shifted around a whole lot less, so when I squared it up, it finished at 8 1/2” square instead of 8” like the pin basted one, which needed a lot trimmed off to make it square again.

I also tried some free motion curves on the trivet on the far right.  I left the feed dogs up and I think my quilting was a little better.  Maybe.  Maybe not!

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday and Quilting by the River.

Flora Charm Quilt

Last week I finally put the binding on this quilt made with Lauren and Jessi Jung’s Flora.  I used two charm packs I bought at the LQS and supplemented what I needed with solids from my stash and the border fabric purchased at Hancock’s of Paducah during an online sale.   The finished size is 61 x 77 and the pattern came from the book Simply Charming by Moose on the Porch Quilts.  It is one of the first books I bought and think it’s so great for a beginner.  I’ve made 3 of the patterns in the book since I first started quilting.

I had a little trouble deciding on the binding.  The fabric I purchased online looked more greenish than yellow, and I wasn’t happy with the look.  So, I put the quilt in a pile in my sewing room for a week or two while I decided what to do.  I almost purchased the green lattice print from this collection since I have a thing for striped binding and the lattice is the closest thing to stripes in Flora (there are no polka dots either).  But my practical side won out and I ended up binding it with leftover fabric from the border.  I like!!!  And it was free!  The backing is a striped sheet from Target. 

My fmq is getting a lot better, and I completely machine-bound this quilt using Kaelin’s machine binding tutorial.  I have done it a couple of times, but this is the first time it’s turned out nearly perfect.  It literally took about an hour to make and attach all the binding.  How cool is that???

I really love Lauren and Jessi’s style and color choices.  I have a massive cache of “Hideaway” and I can’t wait until their new line “Birds and Berries” comes out.  Here is a preview courtesy of the Fat Quarter Shop.

I love how the colors are similar to the other collections, but I really am excited about the purple added to the mix.

I am linking up to Quilt Story today. 

Endings and Beginnings

Last week I finished up two projects:

This mini quilt for a challenge.

Backed with a pretty plaid from the Aunt Edna DS Quilts line.

And this little skirt for my daughter who only wears skirts and dresses.

We saw this cute Little Lisette ice cream cone and popsicle fabric at Joanns and I had grosgrain ribbon and pink pindot fabric to coordinate.

I even put in a little label (first time so go easy on me!).

Then over the weekend I dumped out my scrap basket and got started on a new challenge.

Those scraps became a pile of squares.

And the squares became a star!  This is a pattern I bought on Etsy.

I am not sure about this project.  Using different fabrics is always a challenge to me.  I kind of like the way it looks in the photograph better than in real life.  What kind of background fabric should I use?  Dark blue?  Black?  White?  Help!

I am linking up to Fabric Tuesday on Quilt Story.