More Striped Quilts

Hello again.  I've been quilting some more.  It just takes me a lot more time that it used to!

After I made this quilt for my nephew, I figured I'd make a couple more for my kiddos.  They liked the puppy on it and were excited about having one themselves.

It is pretty easy and quick to put together the top.  This time I hand stitched on the applique and I embroidered their names on the bottom. 

I had trouble with quilting the first one.  The top just kept wanting to shift down, so by the time I got to the bottom edge, it had shifted a good half inch or so. What in the world?  I swear I used to be better at this quilting thing.  I finally figured out that I needed to adjust the pressure dial and I took it the whole way down to zero before it seemed to work okay.  It turned out alright, though.  I just had to trim the sides down a little more than I wanted to.

And wouldn't you know it?  The older Little Man didn't even want his quilt.  In fact, he came right out and said so and he wanted it off his bed.  I was annoyed with him so I asked if I should just throw it away then.  He said yes.  So I folded it up and its been in my closet ever since.  The younger Little Man could care less about his either.  Figures.  They really would rather have "cozy" blankets instead.  Whatever.

To be fair, he does have the hand quilted quilt on his bed and he's perfectly happy with it.  Perhaps he just couldn't see a reason for having another one.

Stripe Quilt

I have finished another quilt. Amazing!  Actually, the sad thing is that I finished this quilt a month ago.  Ha ha.  I'm just now posting it.

I made this quilt once before, but I ended up giving it to my sister when she got married 3 years ago.  I would have made her one, but I knew there was no way I'd get it finished in time with a one-year-old and a job, so I gave her mine and started another one to replace it for myself.  So yeah.  Its been sitting around my house since 2010.  

I finished the top in a relatively decent amount of time, since its really not that hard to do.  Then I took it up to my parent's house to baste it (they have lots of folding tables around and I like to clamp the bottom and middle layers to the tables and then pin).  Then I folded it up and never got around to doing the quilting.  When I finally tried it, it was wrinkling up and I felt like the whole thing should be taken apart and re-ironed.  Darn.

So I did.  I took out all those pins and re-ironed the whole darn quilt and got it basted again.  This time, my walking foot was doing a terrible job.  I bought one online that was supposed to be a Brother foot, but it turned out to be some cheap generic foot.  So I bit the bullet and bought a genuine Brother walking foot at a local quilt store and got my machine serviced while I was at it.  No more excuses!

It took me so long to finish this quilt that honestly, I would be perfectly happy not to see it again for a good long while.  The poor thing was filthy from never having been washed in the last 3 years and laying around in my living room with two dirty little boys for months.

But it is done!  Yay!  Just a simple cross hatch again with random lengths of black and white for the binding.  I should have taken a few more detail shots of it, but I was so over the whole thing that I didn't bother.  Ha ha.   

Now on to the next unfinished project!

Solid Quilt

Hey!  Look at this.  Two posts in one month!  Its a miracle!

I finished another quilt though.  Are you shocked?  Me too...

This one I started ages ago.  I wish I could remember just when, but it may have been before my first son was born (nearly 4 years ago!).  It was intended for him. 

This is a blatant copy of a quilt that I have loved at Serena & Lily - their Slate/Bay Blue Cabin Quilt.  They have several colors, but this one was my favorite.

In order to have the same look, it had to be hand quilted.  I wasn't quite sure how to baste for hand quilting, so I bought some fusible (I think it was fusible?) batting.  I smoothed the layers together and carefully ironed them.  I was concerned about it being annoying to quilt or how well it would hold together, but it actually worked quite well.  I did have to re-iron it once or twice after getting some of the middle section quilted, but it stuck back down and there were no real problems.  Perhaps hand quilting is a little more forgiving?

I used some 1" painter's tape to mark out the rows and then I quilted beside them with some pearl cotton.  It comes in several thicknesses, and I chose a thinner one, but I can't remember what size exactly.  That's the problem with taking so long to complete a project, isn't it?

 

It is approximately 45 x 60, but I did have to trim some off the sides to make the quilting line up right with the binding.  It turned out perfectly, though, and I and I am contemplating making a matching sham to go with it.  I might have to buy more fabric and I can't remember exactly what colors I used.  Kona coal gray maybe?  Who knows what the blue was.  I might have some extra of that.

I finished it at midnight and threw it in the wash (who can wait?).  I was a little concerned about the thread, but it is just fine and turned out wonderfully wrinkled.  Yay!  I shocked myself by putting it on his bed the same night and it is still there.  Do you have any idea how much time is in this quilt?  I figure approximately 50ish hours.  Yeah.  I might be crazy to give it to him.

So now I should really make another one for his brother, shouldn't I?  It seems wrong to give such a wonderfully hand made quilt to one son and not another, doesn't it?  Wonder how old he will be when I finish.  10?  15?  Ha ha.

You should really go check out Thimbleanna's yo yo quilt that she just finished.  Isn't it beautiful??

I Made a Quilt!

Sadly enough, I think its been two years since my last one.  Two.  Yikes.

This one was for my sister-in-law.  She had their first baby, a boy, in January.  She was doing her nursery in gray/white/yellow, so this is what I came up with.  It was inspired by this striped alligator quilt at PB Kids.

The puppy image I found in an image search and it was an embroidery design that I enlarged and used as an applique instead.

It was my first time doing machine applique and it was atrocious.  I did, however, have lots of help from two eager little boys who were intrigued by the idea of their Unkem Tim having a baby boy (our first boy cousin!) and they really liked the puppy on this quilt.  I did the applique with a little boy on my lap who was very excited to be helping.

The back of the quilt was done with a Riley Blake's willow dots fabric.  I loved the tiny pale gray polka dots and I did a matching crib sheet with it as well (which you can sorta see in the first two pictures).

I really liked the stripe quilt so much (and so did the boys) that I've decided to make them their own versions.  I've got the tops made and the puppies are half stitched on.  I just need to get some more of the polka dot fabric for the back.  We'll see how long it takes me to finish those!

Houndstooth Quilt

I mentioned awhile ago that I had made a baby quilt for my sister for her baby shower in January. The shower was a bit last minute (my sister only makes it home twice a year), so I didn't have a whole lot of time to work with. I saw the houndstooth quilt on Vanessa Christenson's blog and decided to make one like that.

My sister went traditional in the nursery and its completely done up in pink and white, so I did the quilt in the same colors. I didn't buy the pattern, because I figured the block was easy enough to figure out on my own. It took me a little tweaking to figure out the size of the strips to cut to make the block size that I wanted, but I got it and it turned out nicely.

I was too tired to remember to take a picture of the quilt before I gave it to her. How lame is that? Pregnancy does that to me, I guess.

Here's a bad picture from the shower, though.

I can't locate any specific instructions for making the houndstooth block at the moment - I don't remember what blog it was that I got them from, but you could pick up V & Co's pattern if you don't want to figure it out yourself.

I also saw a post awhile back at Camille Roskelley's blog with a ruler that would make the block as well. I should find this ruler somewhere in case I ever want to make one again.

Busy, Busy

Things are hopping around here right now! Wahoo! We finally got someone in here to rebuild our basement bathroom. Yes, that was April that I mentioned it. It took us up until about 2 weeks ago to get anywhere on it. I'll show ya that later. Its not finished yet.

We also have a new garage door coming on Monday. We ordered that over 2 months ago and what should have been 2 weeks turned into 10ish? Apparently we weren't the only ones looking for a new door right now. Figures!

BUT . . . I did find a bit of time to be crafty lately. I have been working on the little crochet animals in the evenings, but I managed to make a quilt top. Yay! It was super easy and came together quickly. Wonder how long it will take me to get it quilted??


It is my version of a quilt that is included in the Amy Butler software. I didn't quite get the colors I was going for, but it will do. I would have liked the gray a bit darker and the yellow a little more subtle. Oh well. I guess that's what happens when you buy fabrics online.

I do like it, though. It is intended for the Little Man. If I ever do finish it. Wish me luck!

Monkey Quilt

Still not accomplishing much creatively since my little monkey takes up all of my time, but I borrowed this book from the library the other day to check it out. There was a cute monkey quilt by Laurraine Yuyama of Patchwork Pottery. I have filed that away for future reference. Perhaps a monkey quilt of some sort is in Jack's future. Someday. Check out the pictures on Flickr.

Another Yo Yo Quilt

Can you believe it? Me either. I'm starting another yo yo quilt. I'm quite sure it won't be all that big, but I haven't decided yet how big it will be. This one will be for Jack and I decided to make it more colorful. I've even got orange in it. That's a new one for me. I'm not quite done picking fabrics yet. I think perhaps it needs a couple more. Maybe gray? I'm not sure the white fits in there either, but I'm still mulling it over.

I don't know when I'll ever manage to get it finished, but I just had the itch and figured that it was something involved a lot of hand sewing, which I can do at night after Jack has gone to bed. So we'll see if it ever gets done!

Simple Baby Quilt

I finished a little baby quilt this week. It isn't necessarily made for this baby, because it just isn't quite what I'm in the mood for. It was something I wanted to try with some fabric that I already had on hand. I wanted to see what I'd come up with out of what I already had. So its very simple.


I am annoyed because it is not my best work. I'm not sure why, but perhaps its just the mood that I'm in. But its okay and the colors will work. That's a pale blue stripe, by the way. The color just isn't showing up well in the photos.

Another Quilt for Baby

I don't know how good an idea this was, but I decided a couple weeks ago to take apart the blanket that came with the crib bedding set that I bought and make quilts out of it instead. I figured that I would take each half of the fabric and back it with some super plush minky for a really soft quilt.

It was hard to sew with the minky on the back. I had to turn down the tension to 0 and really push the fabric through the machine. It didn't turn out perfectly, but it turned out rather well. I just quilted a crosshatch following the print on the fabric. I ended up just using plain white fabric for the binding. I sewed it to the minky side and then turned it over and did the hand sewing on the fabric side.


I did start the quilt with the other half of the fabric, but it was looking horrible. I have a few rows of stitching to rip out and then I'll have to repin the whole thing, so of course, I just put it on the shelf and we'll see how long it takes me to get back to it. I really like the other fabric, though, so I'll get to it. Surely!


It is pretty soft. I didn't wash it, so I'm not sure how that will turn out. I thought I'd wait until the other one was done and do them together. Hope it works!

Wholecloth is Finished

So this past week, I had my 3 hour glucose tolerance test (BTW, still don't know if I passed or not, but so far no calls from the doctor's office, so I hope that's a good sign) and I had just finished the quilting on this wholecloth crib quilt. I made up some binding for it and had to leave it sit for a day without working on it. That was actually hard. I find hand sewing the binding to be addictive and irresistable. How can you not? You spend ages on a quilt and just a few more hours sewing to finish it all up.


Anyway, I wanted to take it along with me to have something to do in the lab. I did take a book, but I have a hard time concentrating on books when people are talking around me. Sewing is perfect, except that it sometimes makes people want to talk to you, which is exactly what happened. But it helped to pass the time, anyway. I finished the entire binding during my appointment.

After the test, I came home, treated it for a couple little blood stains I managed to get on it from pricking myself when quilting and threw it in the laundry. I am so impatient to see the final product and washing just makes it perfect.

The Man made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so I ate that while trying to get some work caught up. Wow. I wasn't hungry until after I finally got to eat. About half an hour after I ate it, I got all hot and started sweating and ended up going to lie down for awhile. It went away after 15 minutes or so and then I felt fine. What in the world was that about? The sugar and the fasting suddenly get to me?

But the quilt is finished and it is perfect. The preprinted design completely disappeared and the quilt is wonderfully soft and wrinkly. Whose genius idea was this to make it for a baby boy? I'm thinking he doesn't get to really touch it. Much.

Wish I could get better photos of it, but this is the best I could do. I tried. I think you can click on them to enlarge and see a little closer.

Long-Term Project

This is a project that I have been working on a little longer-term. I bought this almost a year ago because I was having a fascination with wholecloth quilts and I wanted to learn to free motion quilt one and I figured a crib quilt would be the easiest to start with.

I tried that and it was horrid. Horrid. I have no idea what I was thinking, but I don't even see how I could do it with practice. Maybe 50+ years of practice. So of course, I did what I always do and put it away and ignored it.

So when I got pregnant, I pulled it back out and figured as long as I had no motivation to do anything else, I might as well start hand quilting this. That last for a little while, until I got so tired that sitting on my butt and hand quilting felt like too much effort. Napping was the only thing I wanted to do.

I picked it back up about a month ago and I have been bitten by the hand quilting bug again. Its addictive, if slow. I have finished up the center medallion and have been working my way around the outside and I thought I'd show you a preview of how its going.


The pictures are awful, but its hard to show quilting on all white fabric. So this is what I've got.

This is the drawing of the quilting. Its called Floral Bouquet.

Kits can be picked up here. They're on eBay and other places too, but I think that this was the cheapest when I ordered.

Wanna Win a Quilt?

Old Red Barn Co is giving away a Ginger Blossom (the collection from Sandy Henderson at Portabello Pixie) quilt. Go here to enter.

I am on a roll!

I finished another quilt! Yay! I started this quilt back in July 2007 and of course, I've not had much time to work on it since then, with the yo yo quilt and with the house. I finally got it basted a few weeks ago when I was up at my parents' house and I started quilting it last week, just after I finished the yo yos.

I am ridiculously obsessive compulsive when it comes to the quilting and binding and I've been working on this non-stop since I started. I just did a simple cross-hatching, like the sand & white quilt that I made last year. This time, I started by laying down a straight line with painter's masking tape and sewing alongside that. After the first line, I ripped it off and just used the little guide bar. It worked fine. Just takes forever.

For the binding, I cut random length pieces of the black and white and pieced it together. I think I like that. It is very narrow, which I like, but darn if it isn't hard on your fingers! My left hand gets numb and both thumbs hurt and I get a nice hole in the finger I push the needle with. Must get a proper thimble, I think.

IT IS FINISHED!

The yo yo quilt is now done. Hallelujah!

2007 IQF Photos

Once again, Mellicious has posted a bunch of IQF photos. There are 302 in there! Enjoy the inspiration!

Long Time, No Quilt

I haven't had much time for quilting lately with the painting and organizing and miscellaneous junk that comes with a new house and the puppy who thinks he must constantly be played with, and oh, of course, regular every day work! But when I do have a chance to sit down with a quilt, this is what I've been working on.



I'm about "yo yo"ed out. Ack. There are 900 for this quilt and I have nearly 400 on and I'm so tired of them. I like hand sewing, but wow. There's a limit for my attention span. I knew this would take forever, but I still think I underestimated it. I like it, but I just want it to be finished so I can throw it in the wash and soften it up and cuddle under it instead.

Just thought you'd like to see that I am, in fact, still doing something creative. Just nothing exciting to show.

More black and white

This is one of the quilts that I decided to make in black & white. I'm not sure what I think of it yet. I've got the top altogether and haven't gotten around to picking up batting for it yet. I think I'll have to see it quilted and washed to know if this is what I had in mind or not. (Yes, as Anna guessed, I am making another yo yo quilt out of the other black and white fabrics. This time it will be even bigger. I'm am quite obsessed with the sewing of yo yos. I'm up to 550 of them).

On another subject, assuming that we do actually get this house, I think my quilting and posting will have to be quite sporadic for awhile. There's so much to do. Right now we are arguing over the home inspection results and waiting for the bank's appraisal. I'm tired of all of it.

We did, however, order a couch and chair this week. Hopefully the reality of my living room will fit into the dreams of it in my head. We'll see. This is the couch. It is very comfy, if rather boring. In my head, my dream couch is all white with dark wood and silver nailhead trim. That, however, is not very practical. So this is what I settled for.

Photo taken from American Leather