Bumpy Terrain

This is a quilt that I have been thinking about for months and months. I say that, because the fabric that this project is made of, is my absolute favorite fabric that I have come across in over 2 years of sewing/quilting.

Its called Terrain, made by Kate Spain for Moda Fabrics. Gorgeous!! It’s even better looking in person than on the computer. A while back, I won a giveaway for a charm pack and a yd of Terrain. I almost screamed at work, I was so excited.

But, I knew that if I wanted to make anything substantial with it, I would need more. So, when christmas came around, I decided that I wanted to splurge and get some of this fabric before it was completely gone. (It is already getting to be hard to find and it is only been out for about 5 months!) Etsy to the rescue!

I normally only buy fabric after deciding on a project (fabric is expensive to buy for no reason) so even though I knew I loved this line, I also was a little scared to purchase anything without a project/pattern in mind. I told myself to shut-up and buy it! hahaha!!!

I like all of the fabrics in the line so I knew trying to pick and choose on yardage would not end well. (For neither my stash closet or my bank account), I would want it all!! In the end, I went the more practical route  and I ended up buying a layer cake. A layer cake is a stack of 10″ squares made from all lines in the collection. It’s a great way to experience the entire collection without spending a ton of money.

I stalked the mailbox for days waiting on this.

This is my layer cake and charm pack and single yard all together. I just wanted to sit and pet it all because the quality was so much better than I am used too. (Walmart fabric doesn’t feel at all like the almost silky brand name fabrics) It took a lot of strength to cut into this!

I ended up using a pattern called Sweet Garden by Carolina Patchworks (I think I own like half her store). The pattern was written for a layer cake so the cutting was super fast. I sashed it with a white on white print that I found at Walmart.

That square turned into a much larger quilt top:

Large enough, that I had to take pictures of it on my lumpy, bumpy king sized bed. I added a border that the pattern didn’t call for. I didn’t like the way the quilt just ended with a small white edge. I felt like it needed something darker to contain all the color.

From the other side:

Last one…

In not one of these pictures could I get the entire quilt in the frame. Its big, but that’s awesome, because it will be staying with me and living on my recliner. I already have the backing (a gorgeous aqua/turquoise print I also found at Walmart), so as soon as I pick up or order some batting, I will get this bad girl quilted and ready to be used!!

Happy friday friends!!!

Valentines Day Table Runner

After I got finished with the Wildlife quilt I had some time to do some thinking and I decided that the next couple of projects were going to be for me.

The first, was going to be a new Table Runner. I have looked for table runners in different stores and a lot of the ultra nice ones are upwards of $30. Yikes!! Yes, I could get a cheaper one for $10 or $15 at a discount store but I would not like it nearly as much and who knows how long it would last? I would much rather spend $10 or $15 and make one myself.

(I need to learn how to better utilize lighting and my iPhone for pictures.)

I found some great Moda red/pink girly fabrics on my last shopping trip and scooped them up. They turned out to be perfect for the pattern I used.  The colors are bright and cheerful and fun valentines day fabrics. I think it is close or at 4 foot long so it will fit perfectly on my coffee table.

It was finished off like a baby quilt would be. The backing was just laid on the top, I sewed 1/4 to 3/8 of a seam allowance and then turned everything right side out. Then I topstitched around the edges 1/8th of an inch.

I also omitted the batting. I used batting in my last table runner and I feel like it made it too thick. Decorative items don’t really sit flat on it. So, I left it out of this one. I love it that way. Its thin so I can set things on top of it and everything sits flat.

The backing is just a solid white that I had on hand. I didn’t want to use a color for the backing because without batting it would have shown thru the white triangles on the front.

Next up, a quilt (or maybe 2…hehehe) for me!!!

Wildlife Quilt

More than a year ago, I had a paying offer from an acquaintance to make a quilt. I have never made anything for anyone than that wasn’t a close friend or family member so I was hesitant to accept. What if it wasn’t liked? What if the fabrics I choose weren’t a good enough representation of what was wanted? What if this persons expectations were a lot higher than I could perform to? Millions of doubts. Time went by and it wasn’t mentioned for quite a while. Than, a few months ago, it was brought back up. Would I? I said yes. By this time I had a lot more experience and felt confident that I could give this person what they wanted.

I bought all of the fabrics after having a discussion about what was wanted. I was entrusted to pick them out, sight unseen and do this thing. So, I did. I did the best I could and delivered the finished product today. Ultimately, I am happy with it. I wish that my quilting had been a little better but I say that every time. The quilting was definitely the hardest part about this whole project because of the size of this beast. It turned out to be almost 77″x99″.

I had to move all of my living room furniture in order to just lay the pieces out:

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Moved the dining room table up against the wall to reduce the pull on the quilt while quilting

Mid quilting (using some new quilting gloves that I got a a xmas gift…thanks Julie!) I used a medium toned brown thread for the quilting. I probably could have gone a bit darker but I didn’t want a lot of contrast on the lighter fabrics.

Quilting was done. I laid it over the couch to check for any mishaps and such…

I wanted to do a backing that would tie in to the front. I love a solid-esque type backing and I found this one at Fabric.com on clearance. It was 108″ wide which kept me from having to piece a back.

Washed, dried and nicely crinkled. We headed outside (in our 70 degree weather!!) to get a couple of shots before it headed to it’s new home today! I really needed 2 people and a couple of chairs to hold it up but you do with what you’ve got!

The yellows really seem to pop in these pictures but I assure you that they are not nearly as noticeable in person. They are actually a more gold tone and blend in very nicely with the rest of the fabrics.

Whew! It feels good to have that done! Hope that it is liked by the recipient as much as I like it. I finished the binding last night so it was officially my last quilt of 2011.

Print fabrics are a mixture of quilt store and walmart fabrics along with a couple of charm packs thrown in. The solids are actually blenders from walmart.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Christmas Recap

Well, its over. My favorite time of the year. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go home to be with the family this year but I was there over FaceTime…Yay for Apple products! I got to see everyone open their gifts, including a couple of the ones that are shown below.

I didn’t do to many homemade gifts this year as there just wasn’t enough time and when a family emergency happened 2 weeks before Christmas it definitely didn’t help.Amazon to the rescue! hehe

One thing I did make was a couple of Kindle covers.

I don’t remember the name of this fabric because it has been in my stash for quite a long time. I love the large scale and thought that this would be a perfect project for this fabric. This Kindle recipient has the same Kindle as I do so it was easy to improve on mine.

Now, this Kindle cover was a different story. I could only go by the measurements on Amazon as this recipient was getting a newer Kindle model than what I have. I was SOOOO nervous about this one because I couldn’t test it out beforehand to make sure that it would work. It took every ounce of faith I had to tape up the box. I didn’t get a picture of it closed but it is all the same blue flowered fabric.

Turns out, it was PERFECT!! As least that is what I was told. I was sent the below picture. YAY!!!

Last but not least:

I made a couple of pillows for a family member. Short and sweet. I did simple straight line quilting on both of them and I think that it turned out FANTASTIC! They were 14″ pillow forms so a great size for lounging around.

The backs were just simple envelope closure backs and were done in some Steelers yardage that I found on eBay.

That’s IT! I took it much easier this year and it was well worth it. I have already used some of my Christmas money to go shopping for some things for me and I can’t wait for it all to come in. I have not made anything for me yet (other than a Kindle cover) and with nothing on my immediate plate, I plan to remedy that.

 

Ballet Girls Quilt

Sorry it has been so long folks! With the holidays, homemade christmas presents and then having to unexpectedly go out-of-town for the last week, it has been busy! I wanted to show you a quilt that I couldn’t tell you about in my last post.

It was done for a dear friend who is having her first baby girl. I had a great pattern from Carolina Patchworks that I have wanted to use for a while (Mini Modern Rose Garden). It turned out fantastic!!!

My friend has dancing and such in her background so I knew as soon as I found out it was a girl that I was using these fabrics. (They were already in my stash) There are dancing girls, ballet shoes, music notes, stars and a marbled solid. The white is actually a print up close. It has a white design on the white fabric. Not really noticeable unless you are looking at it up close.

Before Quilting (just the quilt top):

This was after the quilting…you can see all the loops. It still needed to be squared up and have binding put on it.

After binding, washing, & drying:

It was very well received and I loved making such a small, simple quilt. I used a simple flower print that I had in the stash for the backing. I think that this was only like 36″x36″. In terms of what I am used to making, it was teeny-tiny!

The queen size Wildlife quilt is ready for quilting. Just have to finish up a couple small christmas presents and then I can get that one done.

Hope everyone is having a great December so far!

 

Fall Table Runner

I had a long weekend so I was able to get 2 projects done. One of them I can’t show you but it is fabulous! (Yes, it’s a quilt and that’s all you’re getting out of me!) I will post it as soon as I am able too.

As for the second project, I figured since Halloween was over next week, I needed a new Table Runner. So, I whipped up a Fall one yesterday (HAHA…I have always wanted to say that…Oh, just a little something I whipped up…HAHA.) Ok, so maybe I didn’t just whip it up, it actually took most of the day to cut & piece. Part of that could be because I was catching up on my tv shows too. As I got ready to baste it, I realized I am out of spray baste. So, I will have to wait to quilt this one.

The fabrics are a fat quarter bundle that I found at JoAnns a couple of weeks ago. The pattern is an Atkinson quilt pattern: Lucky Stars.

It’s a little busy but our table is pretty plain, gorgeous, but plain. So, I think that it will look perfect. Now to decide on a backing for it. Do I put on a christmas back and make it double-sided or do I just throw on a backing and forget about it?

Hmmmm…..decisions, decisions.

I have another long weekend coming up and I intend to get the Wildlife quilt completely pieced and ready for quilting.

Day of W’s

First up on our day of W’s:

Wildlife Quilt Update! I haven’t done much on this the last couple of weeks. We have been out-of-town and I will be gone again this weekend. I am going to try to do at least 30 minutes each night this week and try to make some headway. Shouldn’t be too hard. I normally leave my sewing machine out all the time so I just need to sit down and turn it on.

I am using an Atkinson pattern: All About Me. There is a lot of cutting in this one if you are not strip piecing like the pattern calls for, which I am not. I am using 8 colorways and have 2 completely finished: forest green, & a gorgeous deep red/burgundy.

These are the other 6 colorways: 2 shades of gold/yellow, 2 shades of brown, a water blue, and a different shade of green. The strips that are already sewn onto the large squares have not been ironed back yet in the picture so you are actually looking at the backside of the strips.:

*****For my second W….I WON!! A blog giveaway!!

The Musings of a Craftaholic held a giveaway for Kate Spain’s new fabric line “Terrain” and I won! I won a charm pack and a 1yd piece. (A charm pack is 5″ squares, this pack has something like 42 squares)

*On a side not, she is having another giveaway this week…go check it out!

While I normally don’t gravitate towards new fabric lines (I tend to stick with just whatever I can find cheap in the color I need) this fabric has become my new obsession. I love every piece of fabric in this line. Of all giveaways to win, this was hands down the best!!

Thank you Libie!!

I have to get the Wildlife quilt finished than it’s on to play with this fabric. Can’t decide if I want to do something small using just what I have or if I want to supplement it to do something a little bigger.

Hmmmm….life’s decisions are so hard!