granny square

My granny square quilt is finished.  I posted the quilt top a while ago, and actually finished the quilting a while ago, so we have been enjoying this quilt through this COLD winter (yes, I know, cold in Texas isn't really that cold).

I fell in love with Jolene's quilt first and couldn't resist.  I did start and then come back to this quilt, because it just wasn't coming together for me.  I talk about my modification here--once I got that figured out it went together fast, and these blocks are fun to make.

I made mine pretty big, 6 blocks by 7 blocks, and I used low volume fabrics for my background, which I think I like.  I used up a ton of scraps, and overall I like it, but I think I might be over the low volume business.  I'm kinda missing the vibrancy of color on white.  I do like how the low volume makes it a bit more subdued and muted.

I guess I didn't take a full picture of the backing... I pieced together some fabrics from my stash, but the majority of it is this pretty purple plaid I picked up at JoAnns.  I like it as backing, and it would also make a great binding fabric.

bound in this fun stripe, I love the color combo on this stripe and how each stripe is about an inch.  Adds some variety to my striped binding obsession.

I ended up hand stitching the binding because my machine was in the shop, and I have to confess...I am a long time machine binder, but I kinda really love the look of hand-sewn binding.  I'll probably be doing it more often, maybe.  It definitely takes longer.

for quilting, I did straight line quilting down the x's of each block.  It worked out well because those x's all line up.  I quilted a quarter inch from each side of the seam.  Tedious and a little boring to do, but I love the overall effect, plaid-like.

I'm keeping this quilt, I just don't want to part with it.  It's one of my favorites.

apple core!

While I'm talking about curves and my GO! cutter, I have a finished quilt to share, that turned out really great.  I worked hard on this quilt for a while and then we moved (the move before this last move) and I lost my motivation to sew rounded seams, and it was put away for a long time.  When I finally decided to just finish it, it actually went together really fast and turned out really great.

I used fabric from Denyse Schmidt's line, Hope Valley, this line has really grown on me.  I vacillated between loving it and not loving it, but in the end, I really like it.  The colors are unique and work so well with each other and with so many other fabrics.

I started out pinning my apple cores, and then stopped...I've said it before, I don't like pinning.  Perfection is not worth the effort.  It all ended up coming together just fine, and I'm sure I owe that to the GO! cutter.

I backed it in the ubiquitous numbers print from IKEA, which I love,

 and bound it in a black and white stripe.  (for my birthday last year, my sister in law sent me a LONG roll of black and white bias binding, all sewn up and ready to use.  Isn't that the best gift?  I need to remember it).

x and + quilt

I'm back.  I finished up my x and + quilt a while ago, but it was a christmas gift,  so I am just now able to share it here.  This was one of those quilt alongs that I started last year.  

I really love this quilt, I loved making it and love the finish.  It's so very scrappy, but there's still some order!

for the backing I used a large solid piece (I think it's kona putty) and then added strips of fabric I had in my stash

It's pretty hard to see the quilting, but I did swirls (I love quilting swirls) on the x sections and zigzags on the +.   I like how it turned out.  There's a few things I will do differently next time, but it turned out just how I pictured it.

I went back and forth on the binding...almost settled on a navy blue, but ended up with a black and white stripe (a la Red Pepper Quilts).  It just works so well on scrappy quilts.

princess quilt

It's the end of the year, and I have about 4 quilts that I finished this year and have still not shown on this blog.  Two of them were Christmas gifts, so that's my excuse there, but mostly I just haven't made the time to blog them or even take pictures.  This quilt was finished this SUMMER!  It went straight to my daughters bed before I even had a chance to admire it.

My daughter needed/wanted a new quilt for her bed, and I had collected princess fabric that she loved, so we used them.

It took me a while to decide on a pattern.  I think I cut into the fabric 2 or 3 times before finally deciding on this pattern.  I believe I first spotted it on pinterest.

It's a generous twin size and my daughter loves it.  I like it too.  The one thing I wish I had done differently would have been to use a background fabric(black dot on cream) that was whiter rather than creamy.  But I had that fabric on hand and I really wanted dots.  I guess it gives it an antique-y feel.  

I used this older blue Heather Bailey print that I have had for a while (found it on sale for $6/yard).  This print is one of my favorites for backing.  I've used it several times, but this is the only one I can specifically remember.

bound in pink scallops.  (I love this print so much)

quilted in an egg shell pattern, this was the perfect quilt to use this pattern.  I didn't have to mark at all, and it almost turned out perfect.  The two inch squares were the perfect guide.

Here's a fun little tid-bit.  These cute fabrics are by Ann Kelle, called Girl Friends, and they make an appearance often in different fabric.  My daughters think they are so cute.  

This one particular friend looks EXACTLY like one of my daughters friends (from Colorado).  I mean, exactly.  The glasses, the dark hair, bobbed, the short bangs.  Exactly. When I first saw it I asked my daughter who this princess looks like and she knew immediately.  KATIE.  So we like to try to find Katie in the princess quilt.

Briar Rose Quilt

I have a finished quilt to show!  I actually finished this a while ago and forgot to share!  I gave it away and I guess it slipped my mind.  

I love Heather Ross, so when she released her Briar Rose line (first in a LONG time), I couldn't wait to put it to use.  

Pattern found in this book.  (as a sidenote, I can't buy EVERY quilt book out there.  There are so many now, and most are good.  I usually check them out from my local library first and if I love it, then I consider buying it.)

The pattern is a modern take on the log cabin.  If you look closely, you can see each block is made up of small log cabin blocks.

I quilted it in circles, first seen here, except I tried to do it free-motion, and it's kind of sloppy.  I feel a little bad about that, but not bad enough to not give it away.

 Bound in a pretty orange, (looks like mac and cheese), which worked perfectly with the other prints. 

 The strawberries from this line are my favorite, so I used the pink ones on the back.

this little piggy

For years I have in my mind that I will always have a couple baby boy quilts and a couple baby girl quilts ready to give away.  Baby quilts are my favorite thing to make...but I have never been able to make it happen, until recently.  I finally have a stack of quilts that are ready when a friend has a baby.  Yay!

The quilts in this pile are simple, quick and easy to make.  They tend to be my favorite baby quilts anyway...

 This strip quilt came about because I wanted to use these cute Heather Ross pigs (finally).  I wanted it to be suitable for a boy, and it is, but I am going to admit outloud, officially, that I stink at putting together fabric for a boy.  I tried so many different fabrics, and nothing really stood out to me.  I finally settled on this, and it's fine, but I feel like it is missing something and I CANNOT figure out what.  

It's frustrating.  I feel defeated?  (It's a little ridiculous--it's just a quilt).

then it spills over into all my quilts.  

I have struggled for a while now, feeling totally uninspired.  Everything I make feels like a copy (which I am totally okay with), but it takes me so long to finally finish a quilt, that everyone else has already made one just like mine that is way cuter than mine anyway. 

 It's all silly really, it doesn't cause me to lose any sleep, I don't type this because I want or need anyone to buoy me up.  That's not my intent... 

I have come to realize though that I quilt because it is an outlet, it is therapeutic.  Raising children is hard, and raising them to be good people is even harder.  Being a mom is the greatest and most frustrating thing I do.  And so I need something that is my own...my husband tells me (in a very loving and understanding way) that when I quilt, I plug my headphones in and everything else disappears.  And it's kinda true.  I have those noise cancelling headphones that enable me to not hear the whirrrrr of my machine or the noise of my kids...

I quilt away sometimes for 20 minutes and sometimes for an hour.  But it helps me to be more patient, it gives me something to look forward to, it is exciting to me, even if it's nothing 'new'.

High Five

This quilt is from Amanda Jean and Cheryl's book, Sunday Morning Quilts.  This is one of those quilts that sometimes I love and sometimes I don't love.  I love the pattern and I love the original in the book, I just don't love mine.  I wish I would've used another color with the pink and blue, so the blocks would stand out a little better.  

But then, other times I look at it up close and LOVE all the little pieces of fabric (they are little, this block finishes at 4.5 inches).   

I started making these blocks at least a year ago, probably more, just so I could use up my overflowing pink and blue scraps.  I thought it would end up bigger, but as other projects started piling up, this one got pushed to the back burner.  

 Eventually I settled on baby size (a good friend had a baby girl), and I was pretty much done with all the blocks.  All I had to do was sew them together.  I love a quick finish.

 I did add some color on the binding...a pretty yellow stripe.  I think this helps it out a lot.

I quilted it in loops going across the quilt.  I love this quilting, it's fast and easy.

Then as I was getting ready to package this quilt up, I noticed a tiny hole (looked like scissors had snipped it) on of the small scraps.  I was frustrated.  Part of me wished I hadn't even seen it.  What to do???  The quilt was totally finished.  I HATE starting over or unpicking.  

I ended up making a small patch out of the same fabric, and hand stitching it to the top.  I think it worked out pretty well.  I'm don't know that anyone will ever notice.  I hope it holds up...

 I backed it in pink dots and grey presents. 

 Hopefully I can get this shipped off to that sweet new baby who is already 6 months old....

sadie quilt

my neighbor down the street had a baby a couple weeks ago and I could not decide what to give her...her mom and grandma and aunt are all quilters, so I just felt like a quilt would be overkill...but she was in need of nothing else.  In the end I made her a simple quilt.  

Quilters like to receive quilts too!

I used leftovers from this quilt, I still really like the colors, and sewed simple squares together.  I always love these simple patchwork quilts.  Plus it went together FAST!