Farmer's wife

I finally finished all my farmer's wife blocks!  I made 80 blocks, so it will finish out at a good capsize.  Looking back, I've been working on these blocks in March of 2015!  That means it's been nearly 4 years...that is blowing my mind.  Time just keeps marching on.

I've been working on sewing blocks together to make the top, hopefully I finish this up soon.  I can't wait to see it together.  Normally I don't gravitate to sampler quilts, but this one was really fun.  Almost makes me want to start another.  :). First I've got to finish all my current projects.

Even Steven Quilt

I love this quilt!  

(Inspiration found on instagram, here.  Pattern is from Kitchen Table Quilting and is called Even-Steven.)

Another year has flown by and as I looked back on my finished quilts, I'm shocked by how little I finished!  I started plenty, but didn't finish many--hoping to do better this year.  As my kids get older and we get busier, I find myself gravitating toward simple quilts with simple patterns. This quilt pattern was perfect for me. Easy cutting, easy construction.  This would be perfect for a beginner. 

I used stash stash for this quilt, but it would make a fabulous scrap quilt too.

 I quilted straight lines on the diagonal, which worked great...I just regret using dark thread.  I matched it to the green backing and wish I'd used a lighter color.  Next time I'll know better.  :)

Quilt stats:

Finished size: 60"x72"

Pattern: Even-Steven by Kitchen Table Quilting 

Fabric  

front: stash

back: Cotton and Steel Mesa, Stars Hunter

binding: unkown

Batting:  Warm and White

Spellbound Quilt along

Another new quilt pattern from Fat Quarter Shop.  This one is called Spellbound and uses 2 Jelly-Rolls (2.5 inch strips), plus yardage to make.  It also uses a specialty ruler from Creative Grids, the 90 degree Double Strip Ruler, I'm not one to buy all the quilting rulers, but this did make cutting triangles a breeze.  

 I used Carolyn Friedlander's new line called, Friedlander to make this, with some low volume prints mixed in for the background, but the low volume could easily be substituted for color and would give the quilt a totally different look.

 I'm still debating how to quilt this, it's a pretty big one, measuring 64.5x80.5"!

 The sun was really bright when I took the top pics, I felt like it really washed the quilt out, so here is a shot indoors.  I don't know if I will ever tire of Carolyn Friedlander fabrics.  They are so unique.

Additional Spellbound quilts can be found here.

Filigree Quilt Pattern

I've been working on a fun new quilt pattern the past couple weeks with Fat Quarter Shop and Art Gallery Fabrics.  I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of the pretty fabric stack that made up this quilt, I cut it up too quickly.  Art Gallery Fabrics are one of my favorites...they are so soft.

Quilt kit for this quilt can be found at Fat Quarter Shop.  (My quilt looks very similar, but isn't the same.)  I used a mixture of fabrics from various Art Gallery Designers, I wanted the background to be subtle and the crosses to be bold, but I think it would look great reversed as well...so many options with this pattern.

At first glance the pattern looks a little tricky, but it's actually really simple, and the block is trimmed down to size after it's sewn together, so every block is squared up to the exact size.

I had hoped to have this quilt quilted and bound, but I injured my shoulder and can hardly use it for anything--no basting for me.  I've been resting it and hope it will heal soon.  I'm surprised by how much I do everyday that uses my shoulder, pretty much everything.  Even sleeping has been hard.

I would love to see this pattern with different fabrics.  I can envision it using an ombre effect, or making it scrappy, and even shrinking it down to baby size.  I'll add it to the list :).  Hoping to get this quilted in the next few weeks, quilting will really make the pattern pop!

Find the quilt kit here, and the pattern here.

Celebrate!

 It's been a while since I've shared anything on this space, I always underestimate the holidays.  I love the busy-ness that surrounds them with special activities and traditions, but I also look forward to getting back to normal life.  I have several quilts to share, starting with this one.  The pattern is called Celebrate, by Cluck Cluck Sew, and I was able to sew up the blocks quickly.  Such a simple, but happy pattern.  I think this would be so cute as a baby quilt.

I'm surprised that I have been drawn to this dark green color lately.  Reminds me of my high school days (hunter green).

 I didn't think I liked my bindings to be light (or almost white), but lately I seem to be leaning that way often.  I like that it doesn't draw my eye to it, disappearing into the quilt (almost).

 For the quilting, I went with scallops...oh boy, they are definitely imperfect, but that's okay.  Nobody really notices anyway.  Plus, they are fun to do.

Quilt stats:

Finished size:   61" x 66"(after washing and drying)

Pattern: Celebrate by Cluck Cluck Sew  

Fabric  

front: stash

back: cotton and steel 

binding: cotton and steel

Batting:  Warm and White

Custom Lined Drawstring Bag

I'm pretty sure everyone has made one of Jeni Baker's lined drawstring bags.  Every bag I have made using her pattern turns out so adorable.  

My daughter had a birthday party to go to and wanted to gift smencils, so we made a bag to store them in.  This is the first time I have made a custom bag and it went really well, once we figured out the math...the tricky part is not really knowing if it will be the right size.  Lucky for us, we got it right on the first try.  

My only regret is that I wish the accent piece at top was a little longer.  I've taken notes, so next time should be better.  

I really need to be on top of things enough so that we can gift more presents in bags...It would be good for my stash, and a great way to use novelty fabric!

Shimmer Quilt

I finished my Shimmer Quilt as I rewatched the first season of Poldark , which is probably the reason I finished it so quickly.  Are you watching?  If not, I highly recommend it.

These blocks are pretty simple to make, and it was fun picking fabrics for each block.  I tried to stick with muted, less bright colors...and it feels perfect for fall.

 Yellow seems to be my go to color for binding lately.  This print is by April Rhodes, from her Bound line. (I just realized I used Bound fabric for the binding, it was meant to be).

 For the backing I used a Cotton and Steel print that I found for a steal at fabric.com.  It seemed a perfect fit to offset the bold colors on the front.

for the quilting, I stitched in the ditch horizontally and vertically, and then some diagonal coss-hatch. My quilting choices have definitely evolved over the years, I find myself trying to hide my quilting lately.

Quilt stats:

Finished size:   53.5" x 66.5"(after washing and drying)

Pattern:  Shimmer Pattern 

Fabric:  front: stash + back: cotton and steel +  binding: bound by April Rhodes

Batting:  Warm and White

Apple Hot Pad

I love making hot pads for a quick project in between bigger ones.  I saw this pattern, by Charise of Charise Creates and wanted to try it out.

I love that it has pockets to make holding it and hot things easier.  

The back is my favorite part.  I love that fabric from Ayumi.  Sewing on the binding was a little tricky around those curves, and I lost some of the apple definition at the bottom, but I think it turned out just fine.  I cannot wait to try another one.  (There's also a pear pattern).

Insul-Bright is a MUST in hot pads, it's wonderful, keeps hands safe from heat and is easy to sew with. 

Mountain Majesties

I gave this quilt to my sister for Christmas, and can finally share it here on my blog.  After making this quilt (and this one), I can finally say I LOVE solids.  Not that I didn't like them before, but when shopping for fabric, I will generally always reach for prints over solids.  

But I think I might be changing my mind...Bold geometrics designs are everywhere right now, and solids sure do make a stronger statement than prints.

Several months ago, I took of screenshot of this instagram and I knew I had to make that rug into a quilt.  I love how it turned out...

 I used this gold stripe again.  It's still the perfect mustardy yellow. 

 Feathers on the backing.  

 I quilted in the ditch vertically and horizontally, with both white and black thread.  There was no way to keep the quilting thread completely hidden, but switching threads turned out to be pretty great.

Quilt stats:

Pattern:  Mountains Majesties, from Quiltville

Fabric:  front--Kona Black and Kona Snow.  back--Wonderland, Cheshire Feathers (Art Gallery).  Binding--Fantasia, Monokeros Stripe Ocre (Art Gallery)

Batting:  Warm and White

Pineapple Quilt

 This is another quilt I photographed in The Smoky Mountains. 

I love this quilt, one of my very favorites.  It plays with your eyes.  Almost feels like it's moving. 

Amanda-Jean posted a tutorial, a year or so ago, and I couldn't resist trying it.  I love the pineapple block and this tutorial doesn't use paper piecing!  These blocks are labor intensive, lots of sewing and lots of trimming.  I cannot remember how long each block took to make, but I could really only get one block done per sitting.

I used all scraps and stash, but went with a specific color palette, plums and teals and fuchsias and grass green and orange.  I used this image as my inspiration.

I had the hardest time deciding on a pattern for quilting.  I ended up quilting lines, so they intersected in the middle of the block, and went through every "pineapple".  I also stitched in the ditch around every block.  I'm still not certain I picked the right pattern, I feel like it might need more quilting.  On the plus side, it's a very soft quilt.

Bound in a pink stripe.  Can you see there are two pink stripes?  That was a make-do moment.  (As was the backing, I used larger pieces of orange, green, and fuchsia from my stash!)

Stats:

Pattern:  Pineapple block Tutorial by Amanda Jean (I made 20 blocks--4 x 5) 

Size:  61.5in x 77in (after washing)

Batting:  Warm and White

Fabric:  Stash and scraps.  Background is all low volume.  Binding is mostly Monokeros Stripe Candy by Sara Lawson.