Two quilt finishes plus add ons for October

My granddaughter, Opal, celebrated her birthday this month.  I decided she was now old enough for a bed quilt.  I call this the "waste not" quilt.  I put it together with a jelly roll and a charm pack of fabric by Brenda Riddle.  Each block has a charm pack square in the middle with two jelly roll strips for the star points and background.  Seriously, it was so much fun to put these blocks together.  I had enough white for the background.  That skinny border between the white was made from the leftovers from the half square triangles used in each block.

I also used the leftover half square triangles and fabric to make a doll quilt for Opal's doll.

I included a nightgown made from an old nightgown of mine.  This is a super easy way to create a doll gown with lots of lace and details.

I made a scrappy binding with the leftover pieces of the jellyroll and I had fat quarter of the gray from the same fabric line to for the tiny squares in the sashing.  And then my frugal ways ended.  I needed fabric for the backing for a pretty large quilt.  I wanted it to be special.  I wanted to use Brenda Riddle fabric.  I called a few stores and found that her fabric was scarce.  I finally found something that I felt was perfect but it cost me $12.99 a yard!!!  When did that happen?  I just had to congratulate myself on the "waste not" quilt top and pony up the money for several yards of fabric for the back.  And then I neglected to take a photo of the back for posterity.  Oh, well!

Quilt number two had been my summer project.  I thought this pattern called "Feathers" by The Pattern Basket" would be perfect for my bird loving son, Ryan.  Each of those bird blocks has 30 pieces.  My goal was to make one a day.  I made 30 different blocks.  I used a jellyroll of fabric called "Sugar Pie" by Corey Loder and the background fabric is green scatter dots by Lori Holt.  I sewed the top together and then hung it on my stairway banister for the rest of summer.   After finishing Opal's quilt, I knew it was time to finish this one up as well.  It does have a bit of autumn in it.

Once again I was buying backing which was also a part of the "Sugar Pie" line.  These practice blocks were placed on the back and I embroidered the names of my son's two birds, Tonka and Gemma.  It was just happen stance that these colorful birds mimic the actual birds.

I really love this quilt of birds also with a scrappy border of leftover jellyroll pieces.  However, one bird has a mistake I didn't notice until later!

Ceci's birthday quilt

This quilt was finished April 2016 for my granddaughter on her 1st birthday.

I used Tasha Noel and her cute girls for the centers and Bonnie and Camille  to finish and highlight each block.

It was fun to see it all come together.  Sashing corners were also fussy cute fabric of girls on a bike.

I sewed together a backing from different pieces of fabric including a label.

 

I feel like each block tells a story.

I hope that Cecilia will enjoy this quilt forever.

When I found the stripe with matching repeating colors I knew it was just right.

Bllom Along with Lori Holt and Calico Days fabric line

I loved Lori Holt's sew along last year but decided to do my own style of applique, back basting.  I bought "Inspired by Tradition" a couple of years back and was excited to use these patterns for my Bloom Along.  Following are pictures of the 12 blocks I made from the Calico Days fabric line.

As I sewed, I pinned them to my bulletin board on the wall above my sewing machine.  That way, it was always blooming inside while winter weather and a late Spring happened outside.

My completed top just waiting for me to quilt it.  I think it may be a hand quilting project.

Quilting projects completed in 2016

This is Emelia's and Ryan's Christmas quilt meant for Christmas 2015 but finished and delivered the first of January 2016.

I understand that that minky backing makes this quilt pretty popular year round.

Better late than ever!  I have been busy recreating my quilting life in 2016.

Stars and Stripes

I've made a few small quilts to hide the none to attractive fireplace in the family room-kitchen.  When I saw the new flag quilt pattern from Thimbleblossoms by Camille, I felt inspired to make another fireplace quilt.  My quilt is based on Camille's but I changed out some measurements to make it fit my space.

I had fat eighth bundles of American Jane fabric on hand.  I had also recently discovered a two yard cut of the cream fabric in a dresser drawer so I was set to go.  The only thing I had to go to the store for was the batting.  The binding was scrappy and made from the remainders of the blue fabric.

The reds, blues, and low volume fabrics came from a couple of American Jane's lines.

So patriotic and fun!

I loved all those different blues.

The piece of cream fabric gave its all for this quilt.  There were literally just a hand full of scraps left.  I wanted to make a sleeve on back to hang the quilt on my tension bar which fits into the fireplace space.  The only big enough piece left was one with the selvedge.  I sewed the top in under the binding and then used the pinholes in the selvedge to stitch it down on the backing.

I cross stitched it down leaving the fringed edge.  So cute!

I found some extra blue fabric to sew down the center of the backing as my quilt was wider than the width of the fabric.  I hand stitched on a label.

These blues were also included in the scrappy binding.  I machine quilted it on my Bernina 750 sewing machine using the long wavy stitch on the flags.

I love this quilt.  It has been up for a week now and next year it will definitely be out by Flag Day in June!

Gingham baby quilt for Kay

Sometimes we make items because the person who should be making them is no longer with us.  Baby Kay, named after her grandmother, will be the recipient of this quilt in honor of Grandma Kay who sewed some beautiful quilts for my granddaughters before leaving us too soon.

When Lori Holt shared her gingham block in her Farm Girl Vintage book, I just knew I had to make some.  I knew they would make a lovely baby crib size quilt for little Kaye.

I used mostly Fresh Aire by American Jane for the colorful parts and various dot fabrics for the white.  The gray and pink florals were special additions.

The back is the tiny Fresh Aire gingham fabric in blue.  This tiny gingham design in different colors was used in each block.

I machine quilted in a diagonal cross hatch and the squares are about one inch.

This is how it looked after a wash and a dry.

Now it is ready for delivery to a sweet baby girl in honor of her grandma.