Scrap block progress

One of my sewing goals this week was to make 7 quilt blocks. I finished up 8 purple scrap blocks, so I went above and beyond.

 

I like the blocks with smaller pieces better... but they take more work and thinking. 

Then I decided to lay out all 55 of my completed scrap blocks. Here's the rainbow so far:

 

These blocks are 6.5" square. I'm planning on making at least 25 more. I need to focus on pink and turquoise next, I think.

Finished Hexagon Pillow

It feels great to finish a year-old UFO!

I started this hand sewing project last year when we were living in corporate housing for almost 2 months. It sat unfinished for a long time, only needing a few more hexagons. I finished it up the other day, machine quilted it yesterday, and made it into a pillow this morning. The continuous curve quilting was inspired by Frankenquilt by Krista Withers (scroll down a bit).

The pillow back is this weird but cool princess/dress up fabric I got from the remnant bin a few months ago.

It's a little overstuffed or in other words, too small for the pillow form. I had a hard time getting those bottom corners filled up correctly. My daughter thinks it needs to go in her room because of the princess fabric. I want to keep it downstairs, for a while at least.

Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting Blog Tour + Giveaway

 

Hi everyone! I'm excited to take my turn on the blog tour for Natalia's new book, Beginner's Guide to Free Motion Quilting. Natalia is a very talented quilter who blogs at Piece N Quilt where she shares a lot of her quilting along with tutorials and patterns too.

Natalia's theme for this blog tour is "It's a Family Affair" and I'd like to share a bit about my family's influence on my sewing and quilting. My mom learned to sew from her grandma, and she taught me to sew clothes and toys starting when I was really little. My Grandma Taylor also taught me and helped me with my sewing, including helping me make my very first quilt when I was 13 years old.

I started quilting 'for real" the year I got married and now my husband and I have been married 15 years and have 3 kids. I've enjoyed making baby quilts for my kids and nieces and nephews and bigger quilts for family members as well. My mom started quilting a few years ago and my kids have done some sewing too. My oldest boy is working on a Minecraft pillow, and just the other day, my nearly 4-year-old daughter started her first hand sewing project. She still needs a lot of help but she's doing a really good job so far!

Now for my thoughts on the book. I think Natalia did a fantastic job with this book. Beginner's Guide to Free Motion Quilting has a good introductory section explaining the tools you need to get started with machine quilting and basic instructions for basting your quilt. Then the main part of the book is full of various free motion quilting designs, complete with step-by-step diagrams and photos showing how to stitch each design. I'm looking forward to working some more on my free motion quilted feathers with this book as my guide.

I did try something new with my quilting after reading Natalia's book. In the center of this photo you can see the quilting I did based on the "clams" design. (This is the back of a quilt I'll be sharing here soon.) I had tried to do something similar to this after just seeing a couple of photos and couldn't figure it out. The diagrams in the book really helped me get it, and I even made my own variations/additions to the design in a few places.

Finally, I have to mention the project section of the book; Natalia has included the patterns and quilting suggestions for 6 quilts. The cool part about this for me is... I helped make one of the quilts in the book. :)

Natalia does a lot of applique in her quilt designs and I helped make this applique quilt top. (I would have made the whole quilt top but my sewing machine ended up needing to be serviced half way through the project.) I love the quilting Natalia did and someday soon I'm going to try out that swirly quilting she did in the negative space.

All right, time for the giveaway. If you'd like to win a copy of Beginner's Guide to Free Motion Quilting, just leave a comment on this blog post. I'd love to hear about a current project you're working on... or tell me something you want to make. If the winner is not a U.S. resident, they will receive the e-book version of the book. Winners will be chosen on October 18.


Check out the other stops on the tour!

Amy Webb - October 6th
Melissa Corry - October 7th
Melissa Mortensen  - October 8th
Stash Books - October 9th
Amy Ellis - October 10th
Kimberly Jolly - October 11th
Vicki Christensen - October 12th
Candy Glendening - October 13th
Angela Yosten - October 14th
Gen Q Magazine - October 15th
Tracey Jacobsen - October 16th
Vickie Eapen - October 17th

Allison Harris – October 18th

Fall's here

How's everyone doing? Things are good here, we are settled into a good routine now that school has been in session for about a month (I'm loving our new "no TV before homework is done" rule!) and I'm working on a few projects.

I started this little hexagon patchwork future pillow last year when we first moved to Washington and it has been sitting almost done for a long time. I decided I'm going to work on it a little bit each day until it's finished. I'm not sure what to do with the edges on a hexagon project; I guess part of the hexes on the edges will get cut off. I guess I'll see when I get there.

And I've been plugging away on the machine quilting for my new Christmas quilt. I have tried some new things and made some mistakes, there's always something to learn right? I'm looking forward to having this done soon!

I also got all the things I need to make a Pirate Fairy Princess costume for my little girl. We have wings and striped leggings, she will get a tiara for her birthday, and I'll be making a pirate skirt and peasant top. I think it will be really cute.

I wanted to let you know about the Color Wheel Swap hosted by Megan of City Stitches. If you're needing to stash build or just like to swap, it looks like it will be a good one. All you have to do is send in 2 yards of one color of fabric (she'll assign colors) and you'll get back a rainbow of fat quarters.Signups are open until the 10th, so check it out!

p.s. I'm on instagram; my username is VickiDJL. You can see some of my pics there if you want... even a sneak peek of the front of my Christmas quilt.

Beginning quilting group

I'm going to be teaching beginning quilting to some friends from church and we're going to start with a quilted plus pillow. I made up and quilted my sample over the last couple days:

It's 16" square, and I still need to make it into a pillow. I quilted swirls and a few holly leaves inspired by the fabric. Here's a shot of the back so you can see the quilting a bit better:

Speaking of pillows, my 12 year old boy made this creeper a couple weeks ago:

He's going to quilt it and make it into a pillow. It will be 20" finished (ok maybe a little smaller.) The creeper is from the game Minecraft, by the way. :)

Fall notes and giveaway winner

Thanks everyone for your birthday wishes! The giveaway winner was Karen O.; I'll be sending her a rainbow of scraps/charms. :) We went out to dinner as a family on my birthday and my husband is taking just me out to eat tonight; we're sort of stretching out the celebration. I also got a fun surprise package on Saturday from my friend in Kansas; she made me this adorable ruffled tote bag.

I've taken it twice on walks to the library this week; thanks Lorilee!

We've been getting into the swing of things now that the boys have been back in school for 2 weeks. We've had to adjust the routine and rules a little bit, but I think we've got a good system now as long as I can stick with it.

I have been faithfully working on my hand exercises, hoping I'll get most of the mobility back in the finger that I broke. I go to a hand therapist weekly and heat it up and do exercises 4-6 times a day. The bone is healed now and I'm so glad to be past that painful time. I have been given the ok to even use hand weights now and am working on getting the strength back in that hand.


A couple weeks ago I was the lucky winner of a giveaway from Beyond the Reef and wanted to give them a shout-out and thanks! I got this collection of fat quarters... I love the rich colors.

I'm not totally sure what I'll make with them yet, but I've had the Curlicue Crush pattern by Bec at Chasing Cottons (scroll down a bit to see it) in mind for a while, and I think it would be a good pattern for some of these larger prints.

Looking forward to the weekend--hope you have a good one!

Another way to finish up a quilt binding

 

Hello! I've been wanting to do a couple of additions to my original quilt binding tutorial for a while, and I was finally able to take some photos when I bound my last quilt. This is a tutorial for finishing up the ends of a quilt binding with a diagonal seam. Instructions on getting your quilt binding to this point are here, but you will not sew down a "pocket" of binding at the beginning as shown in that post.

Step 1: Apply your quilt binding to the quilt, leaving about 6-8 inches of binding unsewn at both ends. Make sure the two ends of the binding overlap by at least 3-4 inches. (see photo above)

Step 2: Lay both ends of the binding fabric along the edge of the quilt, overlapping them. Mark the center of the overlap with a pin or a water soluble marker.

 

Step 3: Cut off the top binding strip about 1.5 inches from the pin. 

Step 4: Rearrange the binding strips so the one you just cut is on the bottom. Now you will cut the top strip. You'll need to measure the other binding strip before you cut it. The measurement needs to be the same as the width of your binding before you folded it, minus about 1/16". For example, I usually do a 2.25" binding, so I will cut my binding pieces so they overlap just a little bit less than 2.25". I used my trusty seam gauge from 8th grade sewing class to show the measurement here (see photo below). If your quilt binding is 2.5" then cut your strips so they overlap slightly less than 2.5". 

The reason for making the overlap slightly smaller is that the binding strips will probably stretch a little when you sew them down to the quilt, and the sewing machine will also ease the lower quilt layer so it fits the slightly shorter binding section. In the past, when I would sew this last section of quilt binding down without making it slightly shorter I would almost always end up with too much binding and it would either end up puckered or I would have to redo it to make it look right. Making the binding slightly shorter eliminates that problem.

 

Step 5: Fold the bulk of the quilt out of the way, unfold your binding strips, and arrange them with right sides together and at a right angle, as shown in the photo below. Pin them together and draw a diagonal line from corner to corner. 

 

Step 6: Sew the binding strips together on the line you just drew. Backstitch at the beginning and end of the seam.

 

Step 7: Unfold the binding and stretch it out along the edge of the quilt to make sure it will fit. 

 

Step 8: If it fits right then trim the seam allowance to 1/4". If it seems too long then you can undo your seam and remeasure your binding pieces. If it is too short then... oh dear. You will probably need to undo your stitching several inches and add another, longer binding strip, and then start over. This shouldn't be a problem though if you measure carefully before you cut!

 

Step 9: Sew the binding down to the quilt.

 

Step 10: Finish the binding the way you choose. I machine stitched the binding down this time; sometimes I do it by hand.

You're finished! I hope this is helpful. Happy binding!

Finished granny square quilt

I finished this up yesterday.

 

I machine quilted it with meandering loops and machine bound it. I used binding scraps that I've been saving and only had to add a small piece to make the binding long enough. I still have a bunch of brown binding pieces.

Here it is with the light behind it:

 

My girl was helping pin it to the fence. 

This quilt was a group effort--blocks were made by members of the Believe circle of the do Good Stitches charity bee. I need to get a label from my circle leader and then I will send it to our charity, My Very Own Blanket.

If you want to make a quilt like this, the block tutorial is here. I used the instructions here to make my blocks with setting triangles around the edges.  

I'm glad to finish this up and am 12 blocks into the next project already! 

One more thing. Today's my birthday and I want to do a small-ish giveaway. I'll send a rainbow or your-favorite-color-scheme scrap pack to a reader. Just leave a comment if you're interested (tell me what colors you like!) and I'll pick someone randomly in a few days. Comments closed now, thanks!

Bee blocks--August and September

I finished up my blocks for the Believe circle of Do Good Stitches this week for August and September. Just because I'm in charge in September again and had to get them done at the beginning of the month.

Here are the asterisk blocks I made for August:

 

These were pretty fun to make and I will probably try them again sometime.

For September I decided to go with a minimal log cabin block in black/gray/pink/red/and/or white. Definitely inspired by Jacquie's work, specifically her Scandia Crush quilt. I admire Jacquie's modern quilting sensibilities (and her hard work ethic and she's just a great person overall) and am looking forward to seeing the blocks our group members will make. Here are the two I made:

This is our last weekend before school starts and I'm looking forward to spending most of it at home. I went with my 3rd grader to meet his teacher this morning and got the email notifying me where my middle schooler needs to go to get his schedule on Tuesday morning. We tried to start getting up earlier in the morning this week, but that didn't go so well. 6:20 a.m. is going to be awfully early on Tuesday....

Granny Square Quilt Top

 

I finished up the granny square quilt top for the Believe circle of do good stitches. This photo is upside down compared to how I had the blocks laid out originally and that pastel chunk in the left column really sticks out to me in this view. I think it looks good though for not having any restrictions on the colors people used in their blocks. 

I have the fabrics gathered together for the back of this quilt, and need to straighten edges and sew them together. I'm planning on this being the first quilt I machine quilt after breaking my finger. I'm getting a little excited about it. My finger is much better but really stiff in that top joint. I am faithfully doing my hand exercises 4-6 times a day and not complaining about it. 

Also, I have plans for a new Christmas quilt.

 

I really like the new Blitzen fabric line by basic grey/moda and came up with an idea for another Christmas quilt. I think I need a couple more darks added to the mix first though. I'm hoping to be able to have the quilt done and the pattern finished and for sale by the end of September. 

My boys will finally be back in school next week--it's our first year ever starting this late and I think we are ready. We've crammed a lot of summer into the last few weekends since I was down for a while in July after my accident. I'm ready to get back on a good schedule, start exercising again, and see if I can get some good chunks of sewing time in.

Granny charity quilt

I got the rows sewn together for this quilt for the Believe circle of do.good stitches. Progress is good. Still need to put the rows together and add borders.

More quilt blocks

Sewing has been slow with my injured hand. It is getting better though and I'm looking forward to getting the splint off soon so I can get my finger and my whole hand exercising and back to normal function. Eventually.

Here are the quilt blocks I've made since my last blog post:

Five more granny square blocks. 

 

 

I have 4 more to make and I haven't used any purple yet! I'm planning on cutting purple squares today. 

And three more star blocks: 

 

I decided to just make the opposites of the first three blocks. So this quilt may end up less scrappy looking than some of my others but that's ok. I'm looking forward to making more of these blocks, but planning on finishing my granny square top first.

star blocks. etc.

I had the surgery on my broken finger last week and checked in with my doctor the other day and everything is looking good. Well, as long as it is covered up by a bandage.... He said it should be fully healed in 6 months and the only questionable thing is what the new fingernail will look like when it grows in. I have some pins in there holding the bone in place and they will be removed in 4 weeks. In the meantime I'll be getting a permanent, yet removable splint next week and find out what kinds of physical therapy I will need to do.

I have been able to do a little bit of sewing, which is good. I don't think I'll be able to machine quilt for a few weeks but I can rotary cut and piece just fine so I will focus on that for now. I finished up a few quilt blocks this week:

 

These two blocks (above) are for the Believe circle of the do good stitches bee. I didn't think I'd be able to sew at all right after my accident so I'm happy these are done.

 

And I sewed up block #11 for my own personal granny square quilt. I think I will add some blacks in next time I'm ready to cut more squares for this project.

I started something new, too. I couldn't help it. There were a few nights when I couldn't sleep this last week, and I pulled these fabric pairs out one night.

 

I have 3 blocks done so far. I've cut out two blocks worth of pieces for each fabric pair and am not sure if I should just do the opposite block (compared to the ones already sewn) or mix it up. What do you think?

 

I really love the crab one.

Sewing break

Well... I'm taking an unplanned break from sewing for a little while due to the infamous "freak 4th of July church pancake breakfast gate accident" in which I smashed and broke the tip of my finger. (And my husband and I both missed out on the pancakes.)

Went to the ER and got stitches and drugs but the hand surgeon needs to see me to get me properly fixed  up--that's scheduled for this Wednesday, so say a little prayer for me if you're so inclined.

The good news is the broken finger it's on my right hand and I'm left handed, I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to lose function in your dominant hand.

My church friends have been really kind and helpful and my husband and kids are helping with things like dishes, cooking, laundry, and washing my hair. I might try to do a little hand sewing, well see how that goes.

Quilt Blocks

I've been working on some quilt blocks the last few days. First up, I made this star block for the Believe circle of do. Good Stitches. It will go in the mail tomorrow, last minute again.

It's 16.5 inches square, "boy" colors were requested.

Granny squares... I've been working on these off and on for a few weeks:

 

I need to get a better collection of gray prints. Oh I made one more of these today too, it's green and gray. So pretty.

And finally I added a bunch of blocks to my scrappy block pile:

 

This is an ongoing project that I'm not in a huge hurry to finish. I think I've been making blocks like this for about a year, whenever I feel like it. The blocks are 6.5" square and I have 42 of them done so far. I'm shooting for 80 for a nice throw size quilt. I sorted them into rainbow order last night and I only have 2 purple and 2 or 3 pink, so those are colors I need to focus on in the next little while.

I have a bunch of quilting I need to do. I have one quilt with the quilting partly done (my king size quilt) and 4 other quilt tops that need to be quilted. (And at least 2 quilts in my head that I really want to make that aren't started at all.) I might look into ordering batting online and then I can get quilting!

Finished Supernova Quilt

I finished quilting it the other day:

We had a little break in the rain yesterday so I could take pictures.


This quilt was made for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary that was last month. I wrote more about it a couple weeks ago, if you're interested. The supernova pattern is from Freshly Pieced, and my color scheme was inspired by Lee's finished quilt that can be seen here.

Here's a closer shot so you can see the quilting better:

 

I did figure-8 type loops in the diagonal and straight color strips, spirals alternating with spiral flowers in the center 9-patches, and (sort of) straight line quilting in the gray triangle background pieces. The border is quilted with names. Our family includes me and my 5 siblings, our 6 spouses, and we have 16 kids all together. 16... is that right? Everyone's names are quilted in that outer border. But not my parents' names. I put them on the back:

 

I'm so glad this is finished. One day I think I might make another one for me to keep. These colors were so fun to work with and it was fun making a secret project for my mom and dad. I've been working on some other projects and I'll be back to share more about them soon!

Pink/Grey Skirt Sew &Tell

I'm so excited to have something finished to share at Amy's Sew & Tell today!

Yesterday I was quilting and I needed a break (sometimes my wrists hurt, I need to work on better ergonomics) so I decided to sew up a little skirt for my girl.

 

I bought the DS Quilts plaid and dot fabrics a while back and it was finally time to sew it up. I just love the plaid fabric, it's perfect for my pink-loving girl. 

I used a pattern from the book "Little Girls, Big Style" and modified it a bit by adding the band at the hem and lengthening the yoke about an inch. Next time I think I'll have to make her a size 4. 

Sometimes I love quick projects; the feeling of finishing something is a good one.

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Stop by Amylouwhosews.com to see more Sew & Tell finishes!

Quilting+anniversaries+a funeral

I've been quilting, and I'm really loving this quilt that is almost done. I have a few quilting progress pics for now and I'll show the whole quilt as soon as it's ready, in just a few days I think.

The story of this quilt: Back in February I decided to make 40th anniversary quilts for my husband's parents and my parents--both sets have their anniversaries in May. I gave the Swoon quilt to my mother- and father-in-law when they visited us for spring break, and then started working on my parents' quilt. My siblings were planning a party for their anniversary and I was invited but was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to make the trip to Utah. At the same time (for several weeks) my grandfather was very ill, and old too, and I was hoping I would be able to attend his funeral (also in Utah).

Well, my grandpa passed away on May 29, and the funeral was set for last Sunday and Monday, and we figured out a way for me and my kids to get there and back (thanks Dad and Cory for driving with me!) Last Sunday was also the day the anniversary party had been planned so I was also able to be there for that. I got my mom and dad's quilt as close to done as I could and took it to show them, planning on keeping it to finish the quilting. They loved it.

The visit to Utah was good for me and my kids; I just wish my husband had been able to be there with us. The funeral was sad but actually it was the least sad funeral I've been to. He was so old (just over 96 years old) and ready to die; he had been ill for so long and it was a blessing that he was finally able to go. Visiting with my siblings and their kids and my parents was wonderful. We were also able to spend some good time with my inlaws; I love my family!

 

I am finishing the quilting in the gray triangles and there are 20 spots left to do. I'm also starting my first project inspired by the Alabama Stitch books... got some stencil plastic and fabric paint today; I'm using a thrifted $3 tee to refashion into a beautiful one for myself. I'll be back soon to show off the finished supernova quilt!