around the world again

I have a good friend who casually asked me if I would be willing to make her a quilt.  She'd pay me and everything, but she just wanted a quilt that she could use as a picnic blanket, or around the house.  

This friend happened to have a birthday coming up (and is also a great gift giver, the kind that you never know what to get them), so I convinced myself that I could make her a quilt in 2 weeks.   It happened to be right in the middle of a busy two weeks, and I managed to get the quilt top done (another scrappy trip around the world), and then my energy petered out and I didn't finish it.  I ended up getting her something else, and decided I'd save this for a Christmas gift or something. 

It's still sitting in my sewing room, it's May and I just haven't had time to baste it.  Now it's HOT and HUMID, and I have even less motivation to work on it.  Maybe once the kids are out of school (2 more weeks), we will be bored enough.  

I do love this pattern, and I am planning to use those horseshoes on the back, I think it'll be a good one.

Holly Hobbie

I shared this quilt top a while ago, asking for advice on the quilting.  A friend had done the embroidery, and asked me to finish the quilt.  I thought these squares were so cute, reminds me of baby Holly Hobbies.

 So many of you recommended hand quilting, and I totally agree that hand quilting would've been the best option for this quilt, but I didn't want to put in that much time and I knew my friend didn't expect me to do that.  So I went with in the ditch quilting.  I went around each square, and then along the dark pink seams.  I considered going around each light pink square, but I didn't.  

I actually think the quilt needed the added stability that comes from crossing quilting lines.  You can kind of see in this picture.  I washed and dried it and everything stayed together, and the quilt was so soft.  It's always a little scary doing work for other people.  I didn't want to mess anything up. 

diamond value quilt

I've wanted to make a value quilt for years, inspired by Katie of SewKatieDid, I finally made one.  Well, I actually started it a year (or more) ago, but I finally finished it up.  Up close, you don't see much of a pattern, but when you step back...

it pops!  I love how it works, I love that you don't look at fabric, but rather at the design.  This is a fun scrap buster.  I used 6 inch squares to make my half square triangles, and I randomly paired them.  I didn't even consider value until it was finished.  Some of them were hard to determine which was the light side and which was the dark side, but once the quilt is finished it all works together.

 I used my low volume stash for the back, and bound in a purplish plaid.

I kept the quilting simple, just a quarter inch on either side of the vertical and horizontal seam lines.