Wonky and Improv Quilts

For Spring Break this year we went to San Diego.  I took a couple of quilts to bind and decided I'd take the pictures there.  Palm trees are not something we see around here, so it's an easy reminder of where I was when I finished these quilts.  

This first one is a wall hanging -- wonky quarter log cabins in red, white, and blue.  I wanted something to hang for the summer season.  I used the "Half Way Home" pattern -- free on the Robert Kauffman site.  I really love the original made of chambrays and denims.

I quickly quilted it before we left for San Diego.  I kind of wished I had done it a little more densely.  Someone commented once you can add quilting after binding....I may have to try it.  I chose "waves" for the quilting -- reminiscent of a waving flag.

Next is a quilt that I made for my niece.  She lives across the country, and I would like to give it in person.  So it may be a while.  I hope she isn't reading this....I don't think she is.  :)  Anyway, it is a pattern from the book Improvising Tradition.  I really like this book because it is full of modern quilts using improvisation -- but they are structured enough that I can imagine and plan for the end result.  Anyway, my niece is very stylish and young and I hope she will like it!

The back:

A close up of the quilting -- which I did myself.  Another large-ish quilt with my own FMQ.  Not perfect, but not bad.  :)

Finish Along Goals Q2

It's time to post my new goals for the quarter.  I am sure I won't be able to finish all of these, but I'm not sure which I'll do first....and the first may be all I finish!  :)

1.  Last year I did my first "mystery quilt."  This is where you are given portions of the instructions to construct the quilt without seeing the quilt first.  It was fun to try and the moderator did a great job.  It kept me on task and it was fun to see how it evolved.  But I don't love it.  I may have liked it more if the background color was darker -- maybe navy or dark gray instead of white.  Also, I think I'm a fan of smaller blocks.  I think Big Block quilts are kind of hip, but I just don't love them.  Anyway, it will be a good big quilt to practice from FMQ.

2.  This is another Quilt Along I did 2 or 3 years ago -- the Vintage Quilt Revival Block Along.  I have sewn the top together, but am questioning the layout.  I may unpick and change it up.  Or, I may just quilt it as is.

3.  Another dissatisfying flimsy -- this is one I made for my dad, and then didn't like it at all.  I have considered cutting it up and trying to do something different with it.  It will be an experiment.  :) 

4.  This was on my list of goals last year.  It's a nice top, but I've struggled to know how to quilt it.  There is a lot of negative space surrounding these blocks.  If I were a really good quilter, I could do something great with it.  As is, I might just have to do lines....boring lines.  (I like the look, but find it boring to do.)

5.  This is a cute paper pieced project by Fresh Lemon Quilts.  I have one more "spool" to do.  I will be hanging this in my sewing room.  Love it.

6.  Snowflake Quilt Along.  I seem to have a few quilt alongs here!  This is another one I started and would like to finish this year.  I know I took a picture of it on my design wall, but can't find it now.

7.  My Blue Tile quilt.  I am working on it now and really liking it.  

I am linking up to the Finish Along Linky Party.

Table Runner and More

A couple of years ago I made a pillow using reverse applique.  I used some inexpensive, not very cute fabric.  So last month when I saw all my little scraps from the Priory Square Quilt, I decided to remake the pillow -- I used the felt background shape, picked out the red fabric, and replaced it with this fabric slab that I made.  

The pillow inspired me to then make some hot pads with some other scraps.  My intention was to give these to a neighbor, but then I felt too shy, so they're still sitting in my basement.  :)

I love the color green, and recently finished a blue and green quilt top.  So with some of those scraps I made this table runner.     

I practiced (slowly) quilting some loops on this table runner.  I worked on keeping the stitches even and the curves smooth.

I backed the runner with an orange fabric -- I thought maybe if the green check seems to St. Patrick's Day-ish, I can flip it over.

Cross Quilt - Q1 Finish

We have a niece that is getting married next month.  I really like plus quilts, so I decided I'd better make this for my niece, the nurse.  :)

It actually started out as a different plus quilt -- a purchased quilt from Craftsy.  I got it for a really great deal -- I think it was called Plus Sign.  There was plenty of extra fabric so I scored on this kit! But as I started putting the blocks together, I decided I didn't like the large blocks.  So I found this pattern by April Rosenthal at the Moda Bakeshop.  I cut the large crosses up and recreated them into smaller plus signs.  It was a bit of a puzzle figuring out how to get small pluses out of large pluses, and maintaining as many seams as I could.  :)

I quilted this myself.  I wish it looked better.  Very uneven stitches and jagged wavey lines.  It's somewhat masked by the pattern on the front, but is very obvious on the portion of the backing that is solid purple.  Argh!

So, lessons learned:

1.  I won't be using solid backing until I'm a better quilter!

2.  The quilting actually went really quickly, which is one reason it doesn't look better.  I need to slow my hands down and stop rushing it.  

3.  I am so glad that when I didn't like the quilt initially, I didn't keep going with that pattern. Sometimes after putting good time into a quilt, it can be tempting to just keep going.  Glad I stopped when I did.

I am linking up to My Quilt Infatuation's Needle and Thread Thursday.

I am linking up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long Party.

You can see my list of goals for 2016 - Quarter 1 here.

Priory Square Flowers - Q1 Finish

I am excited to share this quilt.  It has been several months in the making.  The pattern is from a book by April Rosenthal called "Bedroom Style, Perfectly Pieced".  The fabric is Priory Square by Katy Jones.

This is a more feminine quilt than I usually make.  But I do love Dresdens.  They are paper pieced which allowed for the points in the middle to come together without requiring a center circle.  Other than the very bulky middle where 12 points come together, it came together nicely!

This quilt is for my sister.  I have now made a quilt for each of my 6 siblings.  It was so fun and now I want to start all over to make them another one.  I really did enjoy thinking about each of them as I made their quilts.

Marie is my oldest sister -- 13 years my senior.  Despite the age difference, she has always been a great friend.  I remember sharing a room with her when I was a little girl.  I woke up in the middle of the night from a scary dream about the neighbor's Alaskan Husky, Elu (I have no idea how to spell that, but I remember the name.)  Marie was so nice when I woke her up and let me crawl into bed.  Isn't it interesting how we have random memories like that?  

I chose this fabric line for Marie's quilt because it has a European, kind of old-fashioned, but still very modern feel to it.  My sister lived in Europe for several years, another thing that upped her coolness factor in my eyes.  She has a great sense of style -- you know, one of those people who can just throw things into an eclectic mix and make it look like it fits.  So in some ways I was nervous to make a quilt for her, because she is so stylish.  But I reassured myself with the fact that she is so talented, she can make it work.

While she was living in Prague, I went to visit.  We had such a great time.  We flew to Rome for a couple days, where I pretty much had a panic attack one morning in the crowded, stinky subway.  She was so nice and understanding...I don't think we went wherever we were planning on going that day.  At least not by Subway!

My sister now lives in Seattle, so I don't see her very often.  I will be saving this until I see her next.  I had to blog about it because I love it so much.  I don't think she reads this anyway, so I have hopes that she won't see it online first!  It is so much better in person.  :)

What I learned:
1.  Art Gallery Fabrics are very smooth -- loved the feeling of them.
2.  One shouldn't assume they can find the right gray fabric when they run out!  I only had 2 blocks left and I ran out (I was making a smaller quilt than the original so I had estimated.)  I didn't know the name of the gray, searched the stores I shop, and LUCKILY found a 1/2 yard in a remnant basket.  I was so excited to find that!

I am linking up to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday and
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation.
I am linking up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long Party.
You can see my list of goals for 2016 - Quarter 1 here.

Shot Cotton Quilt - Q1 Finish

The other day I listened to a American Patchwork and Quilting Podcast.  They were talking about creatively naming your quilts.  You can see I'm not too creative in that area.  I feel like I'd be breaking a trend if I actually named it something besides exactly what it is!  :)

This is my "Shot Cotton Quilt."  Shot Cotton is a fabric that is woven with one color one direction, and another color the opposite direction.  I love this fabric and wish I had a camera that did it justice.  Not only does the weave add depth, it is also very soft. I used a fat quarter bundle by Kaffe Fassett.

The pattern I used is "Color Weave" at the Moda Bake Shop.  I chose this pattern because of the simplicity and the large pieces.  Shot Cotton frays much more easily than regular quilting cotton, so I didn't want to cut it into small pieces.  Plus, I like the simple style with all those stripes.

 

My mom and I hand quilted this together last time we went to visit her.  I felt guilty the whole time because I kept neglecting my kids so we could finish it.  Then we ran out of floss, couldn't find it in her small town, and didn't finish it anyway.  But my kids survived, Mom finished the quilting, and I love the result.  We used DMC Cotton Pearl.  I am curious to see if it holds up well enough -- we are already using the quilt a lot and have washed it once.  So far, so good.  Here is the back -- after dropping it in the snow.  :)

I really love this quilt.  And it's even got a lot of purple!  I don't love purple, but I love this quilt.   

I am linking up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long Party. 

You can see my list of goals for 2016 - Quarter 1 here.

Fly Fishing Quilt - Q1 Finish

This quilt is going to be given to my fly-fishing father.  Fly fishing was my dad's number one hobby growing up.  He loved it, and still does.  Even at the age of 78, he ventures out once in a while to fish.  He even braves the frigid Idaho winter weather to ice fish.

Ice Fishing with Grandpa (Dad, Anna, and Rebecca)

I saw this fabric for 75% off one day at a local quilt shop and I could not pass it up!  I didn't really think much about it, just bought some of each of the fabrics from the line.   Turns out, I really don't like a few of the fabrics much.  And as I put this quilt together it dawned on me that I should have just bought the fabrics that I liked, and then found some others to go with them.  Luckily, I am pleased with the finished product.  It is simple and masculine and will look nice in my parent's cabin. 

The fly fabric is the one that really caught my eye.  I have vivid memories of my dad tying flies -- He always had a bright lamp on so he could tie those little buggers.  And there was a particular smell.   Was it some sort of glue he used?  Or the feathers and materials?  And the amazing thing to me now is that he never seemed bothered when I came and watched/bothered him. :)  As one of 7 kids he probably often had someone looking over his shoulder.  Being a parent myself now, I recognize how patient my parents were.  

I usually prefer basics fabrics with small designs.  But I do like the scenery fabric in this line with the fishermen out on the river.  And the canoes are fun too -- my dad didn't fish from a canoe, but we do take them out on the lake once in a while.  (Well, I should say "others" take canoes out on the water.  Brian and I tried once and our steering abilities were ridiculous.)  My dad fished in those big waiter boots or in a float tube.  Totally cool.

The pattern is from a book called "Big Blocks, Big Style" by Gudrun Erla.  Fabrics are from Little Rivers by Henry Glass.  And I did quilt it myself.  The Free Motion Quilting experience is getting better every time.  Yay!

Things I learned:

1.  Buy the fabric you like...not the whole line...even if it is 75% off.  :)

2.  Pick the right pattern.  Go with your gut.  This pattern was the first I chose, but then I saw another one that I thought would be really fast.  I started with the fast pattern -- good thing it was not very time-consuming.  I think the pattern is just so simple that it made the fabric that I don't love stand out too much.  This pattern, my first choice, was just better.   

I am linking up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long Party.

You can see my list of goals for 2016 - Quarter 1 here.

Finish-Along Goals 2016

2016.  Here it is.  And here are a few quilting goals for me:

1.  I was SO close to finishing this one up.  I took it home to hand quilt it with my mom, and we ran out of thread!  She lives in a smaller town and the one craft store there didn't have the right color.  Arg!  So this quarter for sure...I will finish my shot cotton quilt!

2.  Again, this one is so close!  The top and back is actually finished now.  I need to send it to the quilter, then bind it.  I am really excited to see this one quilted.

3.  This top is finished.  I have to finish the backing, quilt it (doing this one myself), and bind.

4.  I actually had enough fabric to make two quilts from the above fishing fabric.  The top for the second one is almost finished.  I also plan on quilting this one, or maybe even tying it.  That would be appropriate for this Fly Fishing quilt (you know, tying flies, tying quilts :))

5.  Cross Quilt -- on design wall now.  Still have a ways to go.

6.  Christmas Snowflake Quilt-Along Quilt.  Colored pieces are cut, need to cut background, plus piece it.  Honestly, this probably won't get done this quarter...but it is a WIP so I'm putting it on the list.

That's it.  I am linking up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long at A Quilter's Table.

October-December Update

October

We celebrated the end of the soccer season for Andrew.  His last game was in late October at 7:00 PM in Park City.  It was 36 degrees.  Brrrr.  This was his first year of "competitive" soccer with the Cottonwood Football Club.  He worked hard and made good improvement.  The team got to go to a Soccer Real game where they helped carry in the giant flag onto the field.  Andrew and Eric went along with him.  

For the season end party, the team and families went to CornBellies at Thanksgiving Point.  It was very cold, but the kids had fun playing the various carnival-like games.  The coach handed out awards -- Andrew received an award for playing great defense, plus and extra award for "Most Improved."  

We like to go to the zoo in the fall -- it's not too hot and the animals are a little more energetic, as am I.  This year there are several mechanical dinosaurs that the kids enjoys. 

Halloween -- I'm not sure where our costumed pictures are.  They were pretty low-key this year (yay!)  Tanner was "Messi" the soccer player, Eric was a basketball player, and Andrew wore his morph suit.  We carved some cool pumpkins -- including pac-man chasing a ghost.

November

In Mid-November we spent a couple of nights at a Condo in Park City.  Honestly, the place was a dive.  Old, dirty, and very disappointing.  But we did spend a nice day out on the town.  We wandered Main Street a bit and spent some time in the Family Tree Center (A Family History Center of the LDS Church.)  And even though Eric is plainly showing his boredom in the picture, it was a really nice visit.

We also went to the Olympic Museum.  I had been there with the boys during the summer, but this was Brian's first visit.  It was really nice -- very quiet compared to the crowds we saw during the summer.

  

Tanner has made some new friends.  They live right down the street and we've gone to church with them, but it wasn't until preschool that they started playing together.  They are twins and they are adorable.  

Speaking of preschool, Tanner came home in this paper-bag outfit one day.  He was doing a serious "Indian" dance too.  We had the missionaries over for dinner that night and Tanner gave them a great stomping, clapping performance.

  

For Thanksgiving we went to the Ballard's house (Brian's sister).  It was a nice, calm day.  My kids are getting old enough that they just play with their cousins while I rest and visit.  It was nice.  Here is "the kids table."

December

This month we have had a lot of snow, and I love it!  Sometimes we don't have a lot for Christmas, and I prefer a really white Christmas.  :)  This snow fall was the accumulation of one storm...it came on a less convenient day when I was supposed to pick up my niece and her family at the airport.  We were not sure we could get out of the neighborhood safely, so she ended up having to hang out downtown for the afternoon and coming home on the train with Brian.  School wasn't called off, but we did get a phone call right before we left saying that the parking lot was a mess, and parents could use their discretion and keep their kids home.  Well, we used our discretion, much to the boys' dismay, and took them to school.  A little more than half of the kids were there.  It was a leisure day and the kids came home happy.

We went to Weston, Idaho (about 2 hours from here) to my brother, James' house for a Christmas party.  He has a great house for entertaining with a large family room.  He is about halfway between here and Rexburg, where my parents and sister live.  So they came too.  The cousins exchanged gifts.  It was a fun night.  The drive home through a snowstorm was tense for a while, but halfway home the snow suddenly disappeared and we drove the rest of the way home on dry roads.  Oh, and I was surprised when I turned to see Tanner sharing a chair with his Aunt Susan -- my kids aren't usually very "cozy" with other people.  Susan has some charm for sure!

The following night we had a Christmas party with Brian's side of the family.  We had some good food, gift exchange, and a little birthday celebration too.  I share my birthday with one of my nephews who was turning 5.  I turned 40.  It's kind of weird to say that.   Growing up you think of 40 year olds as kind of old.  I don't feel 40 -- at least not in my head.  :)  We had the Bunting's for Christmas and I gave them a quilt.  Here they are squished on our couch under the quilt.  ha.  Our house is a little small for these gatherings but everyone is very understanding and accommodating, even if they have to sit on top of each other.  

Christmas Eve was spent at home.  The kids open one gift -- which they will tell you, it's always "just a book."  But they were happy anyway.

Christmas day was nice.  The kids big gift was an Xbox.  They were very excited and had a good day playing together well.

The day after Christmas Brian took the kids sledding.  I didn't think they would last long because it was 20 degrees.  But all bundled up, they lasted a while and had a great time.  Eric came in and said "That was the most fun I've had in a long time!"

Kaleidoscope Quilt - Q4 Finish

I finished this quilt a few weeks ago, gave it as a gift, and then realized I forgot to take a picture.  My Sister-in-law kindly sent me a picture of it on her couch, so at least there is evidence of the finish.

This was my first (and only so far) kaleidoscope quilt.  I pieced it more than a year ago.  I love the pattern, but my points are way off.  I swallowed my pride and gave it away anyway.  I would like to make this pattern again -- I enjoy looking at the kaleidoscope quilt pattern as much as I enjoyed looking through Kaleidoscopes as a child.  

Things I learned:

1.  Quilting helps!  While this was at the quilter's, I contemplated finding a different Christmas gift for the family.  When I went to pick it up, I was pleased.  The quilting really made it look better and when I didn't focus on the mismatched/cut off points, I decided it was okay to give.  

2.  Triangles are more fussy, but I do think I could do a lot better than this!  I do have a more consistent 1/4 inch seam now, which will help significantly.  I will also slow down and unpick if I have to.  :)