Last Quilt of 2013

This is the final quilt for 2013 and it isn't quite finished. My hubs volunteered that I would make quilts for relatives and this one is for our nephew. He requested earth tones. Not my favorite colors. But I decided to use some of the fabric I won in the Fabshophop this summer. 

Photo above is without flash and the one below is with flash. I just finished the top and pinned it to the backing. I will have to repin because there are wrinkles. Giant log cabin was fairly quick to sew. 

Last of 2013 and first of 2014. More photos when finished later this week.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Zigzag quilt finished

This quilt was amazingly easy to make. Just 4 nine inch squares per row. This is for a sweet niece. 

The backing fabric was just a wee bit too small, so I tried a different way to add fabric.

As you can see some directional fabric worked out and some didn't. 

Here is another directional fabric that magically lined up right.

Niece asked for pink, blue, and yellow quilt. Hope she likes it.

The Cat in the Hat Quilt

Jo's grandson, Zane, is coming to visit her from New York. She wanted a Cat in the Hat quilt for his room at her house.

When I hear an idea for a quilt my brain won't stop until I figure out how I would design that quilt. 

So, here is my quilt for Jo & Zane...

The first idea was just a huge 9 patch. 

Then I added the smaller illustrations from the book. The quilting is just up and down columns. I wanted it to be fluffy and soft so I didn't do much quilting. I tried not to sew on The Cat. Some of the lines curve around him.

There were some small panels left and the backing fabric wasn't wide enough, so I used the extras on the back.

Can you tell which photos were made with the flash on?

Here is the label. There are white on white hearts along the bottom edge.

Here is how it looked after washing and drying.

Another view all folded up.

A last look before mailing it to Texas. Happy reading, Jo & Zane!

Even though I posted this earlier this week, I am linking to Amanda's Finish It Friday. I have finished two lap quilts in the last 4 weeks but haven't been able to link up because of travel. So please admire my two finishes since Thanksgiving.

Black, White, & Read Quilt

Finished this quilt for the conference speaker. My students wrote titles of their favorite books on fabric squares and I framed each one with black and white sashing with red polka dot corners. Love how the top turned out.

Then I was able to use the extra black and white fabric and some of the border on the back. Shelley can use the back as the top if she likes it better than the kids' book side. She wrote a book for teachers called Good Books Matter, so she may like the book side better. Anyway, she has a choice. I am not putting a label on the back so it can be more like a top. I added the label to one of the blocks I wrote on the front.

Working on this quilt was the carrot I used to get me through the boring parts of putting the conference together. Even if Shelley doesn't like the quilt, I enjoyed making it and it turned out exactly the way I planned.

3 pillows in a row

Finished three blue and yellow pillows last Sunday. Used the scraps from the blue and yellow 'on point' quilt. 

This one is my try at randomness.

This one alternates blue and white in a four x four square.

I really like this one but don't know the name of the block. Some kind of star, I guess.

All together here. The color is sort of washed out. Early morning sun.

This is how the pillows look with the quilt.

And another

Last one.

Pillows are very satisfying. Now on to the to-do list of quilts I have in my head.

Hope you have a finish this week.

Pillows for the Fish Quilt

I had a very productive long week end. Lots of oops! I should have measured that or figured correctly how big to make these quilted pillow covers. But I am very pleased with how they look. Mr. M also liked them. Unfortunately, the quick, cute pillows made him think new curtains would look nice in the middle bedroom with the fish quilt and three bright pillows. But he doesn't know about the list in my head for so many other projects before I tackle curtains. 

We like the backs almost as much as the fronts.

Next I hope to finish three pillows that will match my yellow and blue on point quilt. I have one finished and one pieced and ready to be quilted. The third will be the trickiest. I'm going with random piecing on that one and can't decide how to approach the randomness.

Butterflies all over

After a coworker mentioned that her mom tried to take the butterfly lanyard I had made, I thought I would make her mom something more useful for a homemaker. I looked through my scraps and found lots of butterflies. I like the crazy patch side but coworker said her mom would probably like the square of butterfly fabric I put on the back. Finished size is 6" X 6".

Little finishes

Last Saturday I had a wonderful day finishing little projects. I didn't leave the house all day. I wanted to make two 9 patch baby blankets for co-workers. Check those off the to-do list. I needed to finish the crocheted head band for church yarn group. Obsessively I had to use all the key rings I had bought, so I made a few more lanyards.

Here is one giant baby 9 patch. It has yellow flannel on the back. Instead of binding it, I rolled the flannel edge around to the front.

Can you see the quilting? I alternated straight and wavy lines. New for me.

Here is the other one.  I loooove this fabric. I hope my co-worker likes it, too.

Not sure if you can see the quilting. I used the triple zigzag stitch on my sewing machine. I like the way this looks.

I have a conference to plan and may not get another sewing week end for a while. But fabric keeps calling me. 

(Come sew some more...)

Anne's Quilt is finished

M's beach trip is coming up and his sister Anne's birthday is around the same time that they will be at the beach. I'm not going because I can't take a week off during 9 weeks tests. We don't usually exchange birthday gifts but I just had to make something with these fabrics. M thought Anne would appreciate a quilt and I love the hot pink, bright blue, and lime green combo. I wanted to try the cross block, too. It was quite easy. I plan to make a tessellating cross quilt with these and some more of my favorite fabrics.

Front with sashing

Back with left over strips

After a quick rinse and dry-no colors were caught by the color catchers.
The binding is from my fabshophop stash-

All folded and ready to go-
After I put a label on it and share at quilt guild on Monday

That's it for me this week. I have cousins visiting this weekend, so the label may be the only sewing I will get done.
Have you had a finish?

Quilt Show & Scrappy Lanyard

We only have a quilt show every other year, so I had to take some photos of some of the great quilts. 

The white on white one below was really fantastic but it doesn't show up here.

There were not many miniatures this year. Mine didn't win but did share the space with some amazing mini quilts.

Two of the big winners. (I kind of hate competing with quilts this fabulous.)

These were the silent auction minis. A friend bid on mine. I was afraid it wouldn't get any bids. Thanks, Susan.

Liam's Slow Poke quilt is the green one on the left.

I was pleased with On Point and thought Pam should have gotten a ribbon for the wonderful quilting she did on it. (It's the blue & yellow one.)

The quilt show was fun but I'm not much of a competitor. I just enjoy sewing quilts and giving them away.

So, my latest project idea was 'borrowed' from posts I've seen online. Here is my scrappy lanyard. I think I will make some more and give them to my 'X' team members. We are the teachers who teach all the eXtra subjects and some of us are eXiled to trailors and have to take our keys with us each time we leave our rooms. So a lanyard will be helpful for keeping up with keys and copier cards.

Hope you had a good week. Thanks for the comments about my stash in an earlier post. Had any finishes?

Finish & Fabric

Okay. here is the finish. The miniature is finally finished. I hand quilted it. Not my best skill. It is 16" x 16". Done just in time for the quilt show. It was fun but now I wish I had done it all by machine. It would have been much more accurate.

Now the real surprise. The box came with my free fabric that I won on the fabshophop. At first I wondered how 50 yards of fabric would fit in this box.

Then, I opened the box and saw this.

And I unpacked it and found all this! I finally have a fabric stash. I see fabric for binding my sister-in-law's lap quilt. I see fabric in colors I would never have chosen. That's great. A challenge to use color in different combinations than my usual brights and blues. Can't wait to have time to sew.

But this week end is the quilt show, so I will be helping with that. Maybe next weekend.

Hope you had a finish this week.