Shoo Fly {a finished quilt}

Back in the fall of 2012, I saw a gorgeous Shoo Fly quilt on Sotak Handmade.  I few weeks later I made a quilt top with the same design, and happily it is a WIP no longer!!!

The finished quilt measures 60” x 72”.  If you want to make your own, I used this 12.5” quilt block tutorial on Quilter’s Cache, and adjusted the fabric choices for the squares so that the design makes a ring.

Red, white, and blue is such a classic color combination, and after making the quilt top I got it into my head that it would be a perfect Quilt of Valor for a woman.  Keeping that in mind, I picked a dark blue with white star fabric for the binding to keep it patriotic. 

I had a hard time picking  backing for this quilt.  The white with aqua pindots was a simple solution.  I like how the pindots give the fabric some liveliness, but the overall simplicity of the back makes the front really sparkle.

I just meandered all over the front with white thread.

I get a feeling of Zen using my longarm—I just enjoy doodling around and no more pushing and pulling the quilt through my domestic machine or sweating the stitch length.

Thanks for visiting!

2BB (Two Bee Blocks)

I sewed curves!!!  That’s the beauty of bees, trying something new.  Maybe there’s a block you’ve been wanting to make—the x & + block for example, but you just don’t have the time to make a entire quilt of the block.  I’ve made it twice this year already, without the commitment of making an entire quilt top and actually quilting it.  I love picking the fabric for a block, sewing it up, and mailing it off.  All in one day! 

Sewing these curves was easier than I expected.  In fact, I’d say it was easy as pizza pie (which is what my daughter nicknamed this block).  This block finished at 24” square.

Don’t you just love the crossword puzzle fabric?  The recipient requested fabric appropriate for a young boy.  I had so much fun picking fabrics that are outside my usual girly tastes.

And this is my blocks for Make It Modern.  I used some of my all-time most favorite fabrics including Farmdale, Washi, and Flea Market Fancy.  What a great scrap-busting take on the snowball block!

Are you in any bees?  Two bees I’m in are on hiatus after this summer, but after a little break I’ll be on the lookout for another one to join.  Any suggestions?

Sew Happy Quilt QAL

I finished up my first two blocks for Sew Happy Geeks’s Sew Happy Quilt Along.  I am pretty psyched about this quilt.  It will be the first all-solid quilt I’ve ever made.  Here is SHG’s mock up of the quilt:

The first two blocks are the woven block and the snowball block. 

Woven:

Snowball:

These were both super easy to make.  How much difference a year of sewing experience makes!  I remember when I first joined a swap and had to make and remake a block several times to get something even remotely square with points. 

I am linking up my blocks to Quilt Story’s  Fabric Tuesday.

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.

Christmas in [almost] April

This past weekend I finished up a Christmas project I started last December.  Its progress was interrupted, joyfully, by the birth of my third daughter, but I just never got around to completing it until now.  And it turned out so much better than I expected.  I am going to make it into a pattern and use Erin Michaels's "Santa's Little Helper" fabric that I put on preorder already at Over the Rainbow.  I can't wait to get it!!!

I also started a new quilt for our bedroom.  I am making it with these fabrics:

And here is the first block I've finished:

Also, I have bought fabric SIX times in the past two weeks!!!!!!!!!!  So, when I got an email from the Fat Quarter Shop advertising 20% off all Kona solid orders, I thought my credit card would spontaneously combust!  Luckily, they don't have Kona in ash--I'd buy a whole bolt of it!  For a chance to win some fabric and not break the bank, Kaelin over at The Plaid Scottie is giving away some Michael Miller Ta Dots.