Ten years later... A Finish!

Sunday I finished this sampler lap quilt. The blocks were started in a Saturday Sampler, the first one I ever attended. I posted about the top last week.

One block and a strip of braid had to go on the back. I was determined that all the pieces would be part of this finish. I took the finished quilt to school Monday and another teacher recognized one of the blocks. She said that she and her mom bought the block kit in 2003 or 2004 but had not finished it. I was surprised and delighted. I had forgotten when we started the sampler class.

The quilt above contains only half of the blocks we made in the class.

The quilt below was made from the other blocks a year ago. I put them together for a raffle at school.

This one has the blocks that were easier to line up and I added two borders. 

The backing is light blue.

One last photo of the new quilt's back. The flash helped a little, I think.

Feeling so good about completing these unfinished projects that I'm going to tackle the queen to king redo this weekend. Hope you have a great weekend!

Linking with Amanda.

New Year, New Quilt Finished!

Finished the binding this morning and so this is my first finish of 2014. I used fabric from my stash and lots of the Fabshophop fabric. Giant Log Cabin block was quick to piece.

The back is very different for me. Two half yards and one yard of Art Gallery plus a little strip that was also used on the front.

I wanted another quick finish, so I thought about these blocks from my oldest unfinished project. I hope to get it quilted before going back to work Monday. I made these blocks in the first Saturday Sampler class I took more than 8 years ago. I think my piecing skills have improved over the years. Some of the blocks were so wonky and I had to take apart some seams to square up the blocks.

Mr. M likes this top and I think I will keep it when it's done.

Hope you have some new year's finishes, too.

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.