Raindrops Quilt

Rain is one of my favorite kinds of weather.  It's very calming to me.  Of course, in Utah it doesn't rain all that much, so I welcome the change.  I decided to make a raindrop quilt to hang on my wall in the spring. 

I appliqued the raindrops on -- I have done very little applique.  The raindrops are not evenly distributed -- this was intentional, as rain does not fall evenly.

The quilting is straight lines -- which took a while because I didn't want to quilt over the raindrops.  I considered trying "Trupunto" on the raindrops, but chickened out.  Leaving the raindrops unquilted still lets them poof out a little bit.

 

I'm still a little uncertain -- one minute I love it, the next minute I wish I had been more careful about the raindrop angles/placement/shape.  And in the pictures above there is one background color that looks way off -- the light blue.  It doesn't look quite that drastic in person.  Here it is on the wall. 

 

One great thing is that this one was on my Finish-A-Long list for this quarter.  It's almost time to link up, so I'm glad it's finished in time.   

I am linking up at She Can Quilt - Finish-A-Long Q1.

Baby Girl Quilt

Remember the Dolls Like Me quilt drive?  Well, everyone who submitted a quilt was entered into a drawing for some prizes.  And I won a prize!  A very generous prize.  It was a fat quarter bundle from Art Gallery Fabric -- Lambkin.  I was very excited because I have a good friend who is having a baby and I thought this would be perfect.  So I made this quilt:

 

 The fabric was very cute, but I wish I would have chosen a different pattern.  The original pattern had a lot more contrast between the different fabrics.  I think this needed it.  Looking at the picture, I'm starting to wonder if it's just that I'm not used to using such soft, pastel colors.  The quilt is really quite pretty.  In a house full of boys, you just don't get soft and pretty very often.  :)

And I'm not sure if the quilting pattern distracts too.  Or maybe the fact that I chose a pink thread.  You can't see it well in the picture, but maybe I should have stuck to white.  Oh well, at least I tried something new.   And just look how cute that fabric is!  Those little lambs are adorable.

 And I actually really like the back of the quilt!  Simple, but I like it.

So I ended up giving my friend this other quilt.  It was good because she said that quilt matched her nursery.  yay!  I'll save this one for someone else.

Quilts for Dolls Like Me

A few weeks ago I saw a blog post at Needle and Foot announcing a quilt drive for little doll quilts.  They would be donated to a great woman who makes dolls for some great kids.  She describes herself this way: "I am a dollmaker who feels that every kid...regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, medical issue, and body type...should have a doll who looks like they do."  So she makes dolls with special characteristics, such as a missing limb or a feeding tube or a birth mark. 

I had some unused quilt blocks and decided to make those into some doll quilts.  They are all around 20-24" and so fun to make!  Here they are:

I am linking up to the Linky Party at Needle and Foot.

Summer Sampler Quilt

So this quilt is long overdue.  I believe that the blocks were made back in 2014.  They are all from the book "Vintage Quilt Revival."  So from my very first Finish-A-Long this has been on my list.  I began sewing it in one setting, then changed my mind, unpicked, and decided on another setting.  Then changed my mind again because I didn't have enough background fabric.  I settled on this simple setting.  I'm not in love with the outcome, but I'm satisfied.  It is done!  Hooray!

 

One thing that I do love about this quilt is the fabric.  The background is all Shot Cotton.  I have made one other quilt with this fabric and I do love how soft it is.  That shot cotton quilt is the most used quilt in the house.  We all love it.  

For the quilting I tried to stitch in the ditch in the blocks -- it's my first time doing this kind of quilting.  I used my walking foot, which made for straight lines, but also a lot of stopping, turning, and shifting.  It wasn't easy for me to figure out how to get around the shapes without frequently overlapping or stopping/starting.  The sashing was a little more straightforward (thankfully!)  I did straight lines down the long strips, using a variety of colored threads.  This would have been more obvious if I had used a heavier thread. 

   

The backing is some great checked shot cotton I got on sale a while back.  Wish I had more. So soft.  I didn't have enough of the checkered fabric, so I used some other fabric I had on hand.  It is kind of a slippery fabric (not sure exactly what it is), so I was relieved when the backing didn't have a bunch of tucks!

 

This quilt is one of the goals on my 2018 Finish-a-Long list for this quarter.  

And it is finished! 

I am linking up at She Can Quilt - Finish-A-Long Q1.

Quilt of Valor

There is an organization called "Quilts of Valor."  The quilts are given to U.S. Veterans.  I have never made one, so when I found several Patriotic fat quarters for sale, I picked them up.

I used a pattern from the book Quilting the New Classics by Michele Muska, Mug Cox, Janneken Smucker.  I actually won this book when it was first published.  Sweet!  I wanted something quick and not feminine, since it is more likely to go to a man. 

 

I braved the snow to take this picture.  If I was extra conscientious and not so cold, I might have tried to walk in from the side to hang the quilt, leaving the snow nice and clean.  But I didn't.  :)

I quilted it with simple waves.  One interesting tidbit is that I had run out of fabric, and still needed to make a couple of blocks.  I had some dark navy fabric, but it was a little too dark.  So I turned it over and used the backside.  I also used that backward fabric for the binding.  :)

And for the backing I used some fabric I got on clearance plus some pajama pants I made for my husband years ago (when I was learning to sew).  He never used the PJs, so I cute them up and used them.  Such a bargain quilt!

This quilt is one of my Finish-A-Long Goals for this quarter.   

I am linking up at She Can Quilt - Finish-A-Long Q1.

Scrappy Mystery Quilt

I couple of years ago I followed along online with Meadow Mist's Midnight Mystery Quilt Along.  A mystery quilt along works like this -- without knowing what the quilt will look like in the end, you are given the "ingredients" for the quilt (You will need 1 yard of Color A, 1/2 yard of Color B, etc.)  Then each week we received instructions on what to cut or sew from those fabrics.  At the end, you get a finished quilt.

Cheryl did a great job with the sew along -- it was fun to see how she would have us make a block, then cut it up and sew it back together in a different shape.  I enjoyed the anticipation of seeing what was going to come of it all.

Cheryl had shown us what fabrics she was using, along with a few different options.  Rather than go with those colors, I chose several orange, green, and grey fabrics from my stash. She also suggested how dark/light each fabric grouping.  But looking at the pictures of my quilt, it doesn't look like I had enough contrast between the grays and greens (lighter gray would have helped.)  In person I think the contrast is a little more distinct.

So for my first mystery quilt -- I enjoyed the process, but don't love the outcome.  I like it.  But would do things differently had I seen the pattern first.  So I've been a little hesitant to try it again.  I think I will try again sometime, I just might choose colors closer to what is suggested.

 

For the quilting I did a Lazy Eight pattern.  They are not very even, but in the end, they look okay.  It is a large quilt, so I'm just pleased I quilted it on my own!

For the backing I found some orange on clearance, then added a couple of pieces from my stash.

This is my first finish for my Finish-A-Long Q1 Goals.

I am linking up at She Can Quilt - Finish-A-Long Q1.

2018 Finish-a-Long Goals Q1

Hooray for 2018!  It's always kind of exciting to start a new year.  I'm not much of a goal maker, actually -- I can't seem to follow up on them.  But I have been fairly successful with my quilting goals.  Probably because I love it!

So here are my goals -- 3 of which have been on my lists forever.  Eventually I'll get there.   
1. Mystery Quilt -- this has been on my list for a while.  It is big.  So I keep putting it off.  But this past month I'm a little closer -- I have the backing ready, and the batting cut out (I need to piece two pieces together.)  So I'm hopeful this one won't be on next quarter's list!

2.  Summer Sampler Quilt-a-Long -- I keep putting this off because I kind of want to hand quilt it, but I don't have a quilting frame.  So sometimes I think I'll just machine quilt it, but I'm still not sure!  I think I'll love this one when it's done though -- the background fabric is Shot Cotton, which is so soft.

3.  Sports Quilt - Top is pieced.  Trying to decide if I want to add borders to make it larger.

 

4.  Quilt of Valor -- I made this one on a whim a few months ago when I bought some patriotic prints on a good sale.  Not sure I love it.  But, it is pretty simple and I think will be liked by some manly, man out there.  :)

5.  Christmas 16 Patch - Need to piece together with sashing (or no sashing?)

6.  Ombre Quilt- I started this one a few years ago and didn't like it.  So, I have several blocks that I want to try and figure out how to change it.  Sorry, no picture!

7. Raindrops Quilt - I have several different sized blocks -- need to figure out how to put it all together. 

I am linking up the Finish-a-Long Q4 party at She Can Quilt.

BOM in Cotton + Steel

The other day at dinner, my 10-year-old said something about me "probably wanting to go to the Local Quilt Shop."  It totally cracked me up.  I let him know that if he'd like to sound really "in", he could call it the LQS.  :)  

Speaking of my LQS, this is the finished quilt from last year's Block of the Month club.  I've mentioned before that I've done this BOM club for several years now.  I've done:

1.  2012 Japanese Sampler
2.  2013 Cowboy Sampler
3.  2014 Solid Sampler
4.  2015 Neutrals Sampler
5.  2016 Red and White Sampler
6.  2017 Cotton and Steel Sampler (This one!)
7.  2018 Green Sampler 6 Inch Blocks (Started this one in September.)

 

This year we were given the choice to do our blocks in Cotton+Steel, a red/yellow sewing line, or civil war prints.  I chose Cotton+Steel because I really like some of the prints.  But as I discovered, I really don't like some of the prints too.  (The shop gives us a packet with the fabrics for each month's blocks.  You don't know what you're getting until you get it.) 

 

So as a result, I like the quilt okay, but don't love it.  Several of the prints have motifs that weren't really "my style" -- things like ladies gloves, purses, and animals.  But from a distance, it does look bright and fun.  I wasn't enthused enough to spend a lot of time quilting it, though.  So I quilted some really simple waves.  Then bound it with some striped navy.  The backing is a unique color -- kind of a pepto pinkish-purplish -- it matched perfectly well with some of those cotton and steel colors too.  Then I found a flowery print to go down the middle of the quilt.

 

I will be donating this quilt to charity and hope that someone out there loves it! 

Ha.  I just rushed to get this done before the Finish-A-Long deadline, only to just discover that it wasn't even on my list.  Oops.  I think I intended to put it on there, but must have spaced it.   

Unfortunately, this quilt is not my Finish-a-Long list for Quarter 4, 2017.

So I am not linking up to the Finish-A-Long party at She Can Quilt.  ;)

Two Boy Quilts for Charity

I made these 2 boy quilts for charity.  I'm on a mission to provide more quilts for the boys out there!   These were donated to Shriner's Hospital.

This first one is a pattern from the book "Quilt-As-You-Go Made Modern" by Jera Brandvig.   This is the second quilt I've made from the book.  It is a good QAYG book -- has a variety of layouts and clear instructions.  One drawback to this method was that it is difficult to chain piece QAYG blocks. I felt like I was wasting a lot of thread -- after each little stitch I'd have to pull out the block, snip the thread, and start again. 

In this method, you sew the fabric right onto the batting.  Then, you sew the blocks together.  Then you add the backing -- because all the blocks are individually quilted, you just have to sew a simple grid through the quilt to attach the backing.  

 

This next quilt is out of the same fabric.  (I bought all this fabric for 75% off!)  This is from a pattern I made once before -- I really like the first quilt better.  I guess it's because there is more contrast between the background fabrics and the squares.

 

 

The second quilt is on my Finish-a-Long list for Quarter 4, 2017.

I am linking up to the Finish-A-Long party at She Can Quilt.

Holly's Tree Farm Quilt

This quilt is made from 2 charm packs of "Holly's Tree Farm" fabric.  I chose this pattern after seeing Amy Smart's Quick Cornerstone Quilt - I didn't actually construct the quilt the same way she did, though.  When I first saw the quilt online the tutorial wasn't up, so I just estimated the size of those little "cornerstones" and started sewing.  Amy's tutorial method may have been quicker.  :)

Growing up we didn't actually go to a tree farm for our Christmas trees.  We went "tree hunting" in the mountains.  In fact, my dad and brothers continue this tradition.  The day after Thanksgiving they head into the frigid Idaho mountains and find some wonderful smelling, usually too-large trees.  (They look so much smaller when they're in the forest!)  As for me -- well my little family has a simple, easy, and very artificial tree.  But the tree-hauling trucks and cars on this fabric still make me smile.

I quilted this sparingly because I want it to be nice and soft.  The center of the quilt is quilted in a grid, and the border has big loops.  The backing is a large polka dot that I got on clearance somewhere.  I thought for a minute about trying to line up the dots when I sewed the two backing pieces together.  But I only thought for a minute....and decided that was a lot of work.  :)

This is on my Finish-a-Long list for Quarter 4, 2017.

I am linking up to the Finish-A-Long party at She Can Quilt.