Quilting is in my Blood

2017 Qtr 4 Finish-A-Long Goals

Posted on October 2, 2017 by Quilting is in my Blood

I have eight projects that I plan to finish in the last quarter of this year. In no particular order, here they are:

Jingle Hexie Pillow

Because I love the Rainbow Hexie Pillows that I made for my office so much, I decided to make a Christmas hexie pillow for my home using a Kate Spain Jingle charm pack that I cut into 2 1/2″ squares. I will be glue basting these hexies while watching the baseball playoffs that start tomorrow. Below is a pic of some of the squares with three glue-basted hexies.

Gateway to Paradise Quilt

I agreed to help my best friend (also named Mary!) make two quilts this year, and I’m quite happy with the results of our collaboration. We shared the cutting. I did all the sewing, and she did all the pressing. It was quite the efficient operation! Below is the quilt top for her oldest sister that we just finished on Saturday using Gateway to Paridise pattern by Little Louise Designs:

Cat Quilt

Our other collaboration this summer was to make a cat quilt for a mutual friend who you guessed it–loves cats! When I saw the Pins and Paws Quilt tutorial by Missouri Star Quilt Co, I knew it would be a fun quilt to make. We decided to alternate the cat blocks with HST diamond blocks, and I made the center paper-pieced block using the Silhouette Cat #4 pattern by Quilt Art Designs. Below is a quick sideways pic I took of the quilt top battling the wind, shadows, and with our local quilt store, ThreadBear, where we were dropping it off, closing in 20 minutes!

Cat Pillow

I have another person in my life who loves cat, and he is a nine-year-old boy! For Christmas, I’m going to make him a cat pillow using the Silhouette Cat #6 pattern by Quilt Art Designs. I’ve cut a few strips of the grey prism fabric for the cat but am undecided about the background color for the pillow. I’m thinking either Kona Astral or Deep Blue. Which do you like better?

Hazel Hedgehog Pillow

And for this boy’s mom, I’m going to make her a Hazel Hedgehog Pillow. I’ve just cut the spines so far:

Bow Tie Quilt

I am rolling over one project from my 2017 Qtr 3 Finish-A-Long Goals which is finishing the Bow Tie Quilt that my mother started over 20 years ago. I have sewn on the asymmetrical grey grunge borders, and the quilt top is at ThreadBear waiting to be quilted.

Dogs in Sweaters Quilt

Another Christmas gift I am planning to make is the small Dogs in Sweaters quilt that features four dogs. I may try to applique glasses on one dog but that all depends on how I’m doing with time. Below is the fabric I will be using. So far I’ve only cut the pieces for the eyes, nose, ears, and tail.

Five Fat Quarter Fun Contest Quilt

My last proposed project for the 4th quarter of 2017 is a quilt designed for the Five Fat Quarter Fun Contest sponsored by Amber@ Gigi’s Thimble and Amanda@Jedi Craft Girl. I’m using many of the fabrics that I am using in my Summer Sampler 2017 quilt that I plan to start working on again in January. Below is a pic of the 5″ and 2″ squares I am using for my entry:

Linking up to 2017 Qtr 4 Finish-A-Long Goals.

Posted in 2017 Quilts | 9 Comments

Oct ’17 OMG

Posted on October 1, 2017 by Quilting is in my Blood

My October 2017 One Monthly Goal is to finish two quilt tops. The first is the small Dogs in Sweaters quilt that features four dogs. I may try to applique glasses on one dog but that all depends on how I’m doing with time. Below is the fabric I will be using. So far I’ve only cut the pieces for the eyes, nose, ears, and tail, so you can all picture me spending a lot of quality time at my cutting table in the next week. I hope to start sewing by next weekend.

The other quilt top is one for the Five Fat Quarter Fun Contest sponsored by Amber@Gigi’s Thimble and Amanda@Jedi Craft Girl. I’m using many of the fabrics that I am using in my Summer Sampler 2017 quilt that I plan to start working on again in January. Below is a pic of the 5″ and 2″ squares I am using for my entry:

Interesting enough, both of the quilt tops are due by October 25th. The cut-off date at ThreadBear (who will be doing the quilting for my Dogs in Sweaters quilt) for Christmas projects is the 25th, and all entries for the Five Fat Quarter Fun Contest need to be uploaded to Instagram by that date as well.

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: Oct ’17 OMG.

Posted in 2017 Quilts | Tagged OMG | 3 Comments

Hexie Pillows

Posted on September 24, 2017 by Quilting is in my Blood

My September ’17 One Monthly Goal was to make two pillows for my office. For the last year I’ve been tempted by several different hexie swaps on Instagram, and when I saw there was a rainbow hexie swap open earlier this year, I decided to join the swap in order to make some colorful pillows for my office even though I had never done any English Paper Piecing before. Thank goodness for online tutorials! I chose to thread baste my hexies, and I used an acrylic template to cut hexies with a 3/8″ seam allowance. For the swap, I opted to make two sets of 60 hexies (10 each in purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red in fabrics that read as solids) and in return I received 120 different hexies, 20 of each color.

I would say that about half of the hexies that I received were thread basted, and the other half were glue basted. I found it very simple to removed the paper templates from the thread-basted hexies, but it was more difficult to remove the templates from the glue-basted hexies that had only 1/4″ seam allowance. When they had at least a 3/8″ seam allowance, it was quite easy to remove the paper templates from both the glue-basted and thread-basted hexies which helped them to retain their form.

I used the Hexie Pillow pattern by Nicole of Modern Handcraft modifying it so I could use 16″ pillow forms. I really like how the quilting she suggested complements the hexagons. I love practicing my quilting skills on pillows.

This is my only finish of the goals I set for the 2017 Qtr 3 Finish-A-Long.

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: Sept ’17 Finishes and 2017 Qtr 3 Finish-A-Long Finishes.

Posted in 2017 Quilts | Tagged 2017 Finish-A-Long, OMG, Pillows, Rainbow, Rainbow Hexie Pillows | 11 Comments

September ’17 OMG

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Quilting is in my Blood

My September 2017 One Monthly Goal is to make two pillows for my office using the rainbow hexies I received from an Instagram swap I participated in earlier this year. This is also one of my 2017 Qtr 3 Finish-A-Long goals. I will be using the Hexie Pillow pattern by Nicole of Modern Handcraft but modifying it for 16″ pillows. I auditioned a few different fabrics for the background fabric but finally decided to use my tried-and-true Kona Coal. Below is a photo of a layout for one of the pillows. I may substitute other hexies for the ones chosen.

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: September ’17 OMG.

Posted in Quilting | Tagged OMG | 8 Comments

August ’17 OMG Finish

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Quilting is in my Blood

My August ’17 One Monthly Goal was to quilt and bind four placemats for the daughter of a longtime friend and her new husband as a wedding gift. I’m pleased with how they turned out. See my August ’17 One Monthly Goal post for more information on the pattern by Elizabeth Hartman and my color choices.

Each of these placemats shrank a full inch in both length and width after I washed and air-dried them, so they are now 12″ by 17″ which still accommodates a large plate. I did not pre-shrink the fabric but may do so the next time I make placemats.

Do you generally pre-shrink your fabric for quilting projects?

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: August ’17 Finishes.

Posted in 2017 Quilts | Tagged OMG, Placemats | 17 Comments

Summer Sampler 2017 WIP Update

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Quilting is in my Blood

I have sewn four more blocks since I posted last month about the awesome Summer Sampler 2017. This is hands-down my favorite sew-along that I have participated in, and I know part of it is that I’m not as over-committed as I allowed myself to be the last couple years, so I’ve been able to make it a priority. Also, my skills are better, and it’s much more fun to participate in a sew-along when you’re not at square one, especially related to paper piecing.

Below is Block 9 which is the Midland Star Block by Katie Blakesley of Swim Bike Quilt. This block is going to be the center of my quilt as it on the mock-up of the Summer Sampler 2017 Pattern still available for $24.99.

Block 10 is the Spring Star Block by Faith Jones of Fresh Lemon Quilts. This is the only paper-pieced block we’ve done in the last four weeks, and although the center points aren’t perfect, I think it is a great little block (one of eight six-inch feature blocks in the quilt).

Kelly Bowser of Kelby Sews designed Block 11, the Pixie Dust Star block. When it was completely done, I had the “bright” idea of substituting chartreuse in the center next to the cerise triangles to give it more pop but just didn’t feel like redoing the block.

And the block pictured below is the one that I just finished sewing yesterday which is the Ombre Star block by Lee Heinrich of Freshly Pieced. I love this block!

I’m wondering if there is a favorite sew-along that you have participated in that gave you great joy and satisfaction?

Linking up to Cooking Up Quilts: Main Crush Monday and My Quilt Infatuation: Needle and Thread Thursday.

Posted in Quilting, Summer Sampler 2017 | Tagged Summer Sampler 2017 | Leave a comment

August ’17 One Monthly Goal

Posted on July 30, 2017 by Quilting is in my Blood

When I heard that a good friend’s daughter was getting married in June in California, I expressed my regrets that I would not be able to attend the wedding but offered to make a set of four placemats for the newlyweds and asked what colors they would like me to use. I was somewhat surprised with one of their color choices. The red, green, and purple jewel tones were in my stash, but their other choice was the color brown which perplexed me for awhile. I have finally decided that I will use an espresso brown for the binding and an attractive brown print for the placemat backings. I finished sewing the placemat tops this past weekend using fabrics that were predominately red, purple, a medium green, and a lime green and then added the neutral color of grey to balance the arrangement of colors.

I used Elizabeth Hartman’s Color Blocks Placemats pattern, and I would really like to make another set of these placemats using a different color palette for my dining room table. I am leaning toward using a serpentine decorative stitch to quilt these placemats with a bright canary yellow thread. I learned how to use this stitch at Jacquie Gering’s Walking Foot class last month in Albuquerque (see my July ’17 OMG Finish post for more information about this fabulous class). Below is my practice piece using this decorative stitch.

My August ’17 One Monthly Goal is to quilt and bind these placemats. Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: August ’17 OMG.

Posted in Quilting | Tagged OMG | 6 Comments

July ’17 OMG Finish

Posted on July 25, 2017 by Quilting is in my Blood

My July ’17 One Monthly Goal was to make a quilt top to take to Jacquie Gering’s Creative Quilting with the Walking Foot class at Hip Stitch in Albuquerque on 7/22/17. I used Brenda Ratliff’s Forest Daybreak pattern, and overall I’m happy with how this flimsy turned out. However, I learned that improv piecing can look easy, but with the best improv-pieced quilts, there’s obviously a lot of thought into design and composition. If I make another quilt like this (perhaps one with narrower strips), I will probably sketch out the lengths of my subcut pieces as well as the angles. I also underestimated how much fabric I would need for this 60″ x 72″ quilt top, but luckily I had enough complimentary fabrics in my stash to make this good-sized flimsy.

Jacquie’s Walking Foot class is my favorite quilting class that I have ever taken. She is such a good teacher who uses a lot of humor including laughing at herself, and it is obvious that she feels comfortable in her own skin. Jacquie will be teaching at QuiltCon 2018, but after that, she informed us that she plans to start doing small quilting workshops at her studio in Kansas City starting next year. She says some of them will be long weekends, and some may be as long as five days. She had me at “and I’ll bring the people back to my house, and we’ll have some wine and cheese.” I have found that smaller, more intimate classes/workshops are better for me than the bigger conferences, and I really hope that I can learn more from Jacquie in the future.

At the end of our class, we all sat around and took turns presenting our quilt tops to the class after first giving a short intro about our project. Jacquie and the group gave me a lot of positive feedback about my quilt top and some good suggestions for quilting. I will probably do diagonal straight lines in sections replicating some of the different angles in the quilt. Maybe it will be my September OMG? I have something else I need to finish in August. So many projects, so little time!

I’m really looking forward to experimenting more with my walking foot. And if you don’t have a copy of Jacquie’s book, WALK: Master Machine Quilting with Your Walking Foot, I highly recommend you treat yourself to this book. Below is a photo of one of Jacquie’s samples with a very cool design that I never would have thought could be done with a walking foot:

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: OMG July ’17 Finishes.

Posted in Quilting | Tagged OMG | 9 Comments

2018 Quilter’s Planner

Posted on July 23, 2017 by Quilting is in my Blood

I can’t believe we are almost seven months through 2017. It’s definitely not too early to start thinking about 2018. When Stephanie Palmer at Late Night Quilter first published her 2016 Quilter’s Planner, I switched over from the previous planner I’d been using, and I have to tell you the even better 2017 Quilter’s Planner is never far from my side. And the eBook that came with the planner with 12 Quilting Patterns by some amazing quilt designers has several quilts that are on my Quilty Bucket List. Since I’ve become such a paper-piecing fan of late, the first one I plan to make is the Snow Star by Lindsey Rhodes of LR Stitched.

Weekly Calendar Pages

I mostly use the weekly calendar pages but tend to write more quilt-related info in the Personal and Work sections. I use an online nutrition/exercise tracker that covers a lot of what I focus on personally, and as far as work, in order to have a good balance in my life, I really try to not think about it much during my personal time, even though I really like the work I do. So in those sections I often write down inspiring Instagram or blog posts that I may want to refer to later as well as inspiring Pinterests pins, noting the board where I saved the pin.

Project Planner Pages

I do love many of the extra features in the planner, especially the Project Planner pages. Below is a photo in Stephanie’s planner that is much prettier than my scribbly (but very useful) ones.

QP Project Planning Page1-hi res (900x600)

Other Useful Features

Projects At-A-Glance Pages
Important Dates & Deadlines Pages
Bee Blocks & Swap Projects At-A-Glance
Stickers for Birthdays, Anniversaries, Sew Days, Guild Meetings, Quilt Retreats, etc.

Quilting Resources

Fabric Breakdown
Cutting Estimator
Piecing Methods (HSTs, Flying Geese)
Cloud 9 Cirrus Solids Digital Swatches
Multiple Idea Savers

Updates and New Features for 2018

Shipping costs will be included in the pricing this year.
The planner will include 4 pages of stickers!
Quilt patterns will be in a separate magazine this year.

When Can We Order the Quilter’s Planner 2018?

Pre-orders for the 2018 Quilter’s Planner will begin on Friday July 28th. How awesome is the cover with Alison Glass fabric!

2018 Quilters Planner and mini-hi res (900x600)

Posted in Quilting | 1 Comment

Summer Sampler 2017 WIP

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Quilting is in my Blood

I have become such a believer that when we say no to some opportunities in life be it a relationship, a job, an expensive purchase, or a major quilting project, we often create room for something that is a better fit for us. I have been SO tempted to participate in several quilt/sew-alongs this year, but over and over I have felt an inner twinge to not over-commit myself as I did last year. But when I saw the mock-up in May for the 2017 Summer Sampler hosted by Lee Heinrich of Freshly Pieced, Katie Blakesley of Swim Bike Quilt, and Faith Jones of Fresh Lemons Quilts, I knew this was the project I wanted to focus much of my time and energy over the summer of 2017. These talented women are the authors of Vintage Quilt Revival: 22 Modern Designs from Classic Blocks, and it is my current favorite quilt book. I love the designs tips in the book, especially related to color choices which is still an area of quilting that I want to grow. I definitely will sew some of the blocks out of it since I am no longer terrified by paper piecing, especially since I have been using Lee’s mind-blowing paper-piecing tip. I shared more about this awesome tip in my June ’17 OMG post. I have found that my biggest challenge is sewing the block units together rather than the actual paper piecing, and once again Lee helped me out with the nested seams in her Princess Cut Star block. Below are the eight blocks I have made so far using all the colors in the 2017 Summer Sampler mock-up except I have substituted Kona Coal for the white background:

We get a tutorial for a new block every Monday, and I am finding that I am really looking forward to Mondays these days! I have been known to wake up in the wee hours of Monday and have taken a peek at what block we will be sewing that week. What I really like about this project is the inherent flexibility. In the finished quilt, there will be nine large 12-inch blocks, and eight smaller 6-inch blocks along with filler sawtooth star blocks, flying geese, and a half-square triangle border (see mock-up below). The tutorials for each block include instructions for both the 12-inch and the 6-inch blocks, so we can choose which blocks we want to feature more prominently. I have to tell you I think this is an excellent value for $25. I have chosen to feature my three favorite blocks in the large-block format. They are on the top row of my photo above. From left to right is the Princess Cut Star block by Lee Heinrich, the Turning Star block by Lynne Goldsworthy of Lily’s Quilts, and finishing up the top row on the right is the Celestial Star block by Holly De Groot of Bijou Lovely.

I’m sure there will be a very detailed-oriented reader who will notice that the middle block of the smaller blocks I have sewn so far is different from the mock-up. It is the Marine Star block by Katie Blakesley. I follow Sofie Nix @augenbeere on Instagram who is using a gorgeous purple and blue palette for her 2017 Summer Sampler, and when she posted about it being much easier to make this block without the center square, I decided to also use her modification (Modified Marine Star block by @augenbeere). I will probably make this modified Marine Star block in the larger version for another project I plan to start later this year. (Update: Sofie let me know that Katie has also made a version of the Marine Star block that is featured on her SwimBikeQuilt blog.)

Linking up to Busy Hands Quilts: Finished or Not Friday, and My Quilt Infatuation: Needle and Thread Thursday.

Posted in Quilting | Tagged Summer Sampler 2017 | 8 Comments