Valentine Quilt

This is one of my most recent quilt tops I've made.  I found the quilt kit in a Connecting Threads catalog for dirt cheap and ordered it that night.  I figured since it was red (my husband's favorite color), I would sneak around and make it for him for Valentine's day.  My plan worked!  It went together super fast that I was able to make it when he wasn't aware of what I was doing.  I gave it to him yesterday and he was surprised as ever.  Only the top is done so far.  I figured we could pick out the backing fabric together as well as let him decide how to finish it (professional quilted, tied, quilting at home) once I gave him the quilt.  It was a very simple square to make, so it went together really fast.  I can't wait to finish it and cuddle with it on the couch!

Valentine quilt for my valentine!

Birthday Quilt for Mom and Dad

The quilt has feet!

Backing fabric

I made this quilt for my parents for the combined birthdays this past year.  It was on the cover of the Summer 2013 issue of Easy Quilts magazine. I had stocked up earlier in the year on white Kona cotton, so I had plenty for the background fabric.  Instead of using all batiks like they did in the magazine, I went through my huge stash of fat quarters and found 18 some patterns that were fun and wild, not really worrying about matching.  Since there was a huge array of colors being sewn next to white, I made sure to wash everything before sewing.  I don't normally do this (I like the crisp fabric when I cut), but I figured it was a necessity if this quilt were to ever be washed in the future.  It was pretty easy to put together.  I found a backing fabric at JoAnn's that reminded me of the quilt front - interestingly enough, while I was shopping for it, my husband was preparing a surprise birthday party for me :).  I used white for the binding and tied the quilt with white embroidery floss.

It's fun to see this quilt (and the stash box quilt from an earlier post) are sitting on their couch every time I go home. It's nice to know they're getting good use.

Quilting in progress...

Quilt for Baby P

Quilt for Baby P

Good morning!  Today I decided to show off the quilt I made for my friends who had a baby girl this last November.  I was working on the Minecraft quilt in my hotel room in Philadelphia when I heard they were expecting.  I was already planning the baby quilt in my head that night!

The quilt is based off a pattern in the book Fast Fat Quarter Baby Quilts.  I found the cute frog border/backing fabric on an evening outing to Hobby Lobby in Rochester.  Once I found the base fabric, I picked out some fat quarters I had in my stash that went well with the fabric.  I made sure to use gender-neutral colors, just in case. :) I decided to do a yellow background color since white seemed too much against the black border/backing.  I used the same frog fabric for the binding.  Once the quilt was all put together, I had it long-armed at my local quilt store as I figured that would hold up better over time.

I had to laugh, every time I look through my pictures to find a new quilt to feature, all I'm finding is pictures of the quilt top, not the finished product.  I get so excited to show off the finished quilt top to my mom (I always text or email her once I've finished something), I never think to take a picture when it's all done.   So once again, you'll have to just enjoy this quilt top, pre-binding, pre-quilting.  But you get the idea :)

Cascade Quilt

Cascade quilt

Flashback Friday: This quilt I made about 5 or 6 years ago. It makes me nostalgic seeing it hanging in my old apartment. It's now hanging in the stairwell in the town home I moved into after I met my now husband. It was a quilt kit I received as a birthday gift from my birthday. I found the quilt kit online now, but it's out of stock. The pattern and fabric went together well. The fabric had the four different shades of each color, so you just had to cut strips from the one cut of fabric. I remember cutting the strips for this one on a card table in my living room watching NCIS. I learned using a rotary cutter on a card table is less than desirable. It's quite squishy.

I didn't put any batting or quilting in this quilt as it was smaller and I knew it was going to be a wall hanging. Not sure if this was wise or not. I used a black backing with a light purple border around it for something different. It's currently hanging with binder clips, but it's on my list of quilts to put a hanging sleeve on. I'm just not sure how to hide the stitching without having to rip the backing off so it doesn't show on the front. We'll see, I guess. For now, it's pretty where it is.

Kit online, though out of stock: http://webstore.quiltropolis.net/stores_app/Browse_Item_Details.asp?Shopper_id=550627232405506&Store_id=573&page_id=23&Item_ID=1269

Deer in the Headlights quilt

 

Deer in the Headlights Quilt

Today's post is a more recent quilt.  I made this quilt as a Christmas gift this past year for my brother-in-law who loves to hunt.  As soon as I saw this quilt in the book Dare to Be Square Quilting, I knew I had to make it for him. 

The quilt is made up of a variety of blue and brown strips, pieced together in squares.  I bought a Fons and Porter design wall specifically for this project, so I could place the different color strips up on the wall before sewing each square.  I highly recommend using this.  While you can easily use a flannel backed tablecloth to get the same result, I like the F&P design wall because it has a grid that shows through as well as grommets to hold it on wall with some cheap plastic hooks.  I had some leftover blue strips, so I sewed them together to make the binding around the quilt.

I think my favorite part of the quilt is actually the backing.  I found a fabric that looks like tall grass the deer might be hiding in.  Cheesy, I know, but it's something fun and crazy, just like my brother-in-law. :)

Backing fabric (sideways, sorry)

Nativity Quilt

Nativity Quilt

Today's post is a quilt that I made about 6 years ago.  I was inspired by my parents' making of the same quilt about a year prior.  

The pattern is available via Details by Diane (website: http://www.detailsbydiane.com).  It's called a "Stained Glass" quilt because the entire quilt different color fabrics cut out and fused onto black cloth.  The quilt consists of 4 panels (Kings, Shepards, Angel, and of course Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus) that are made separately and then sewn together to make one big quilt.

While this is a seasonal pattern, I'm so proud of how it turned out, I leave it hanging year round in my  craft room.  It was just this past year I finally made a hanging sleeve for the back, using a curtain rod for display.  Before then I had just been using binder clips from OfficeMax, which kept falling down.  This looks much more professional and displays the quilt really well.

It's fun going home and seeing the same quilt hanging at my parents house.  While my mom helped me a bit with fabric from her stash, I don't think any piece of my quilt is the same as theirs.  The pattern recommends a color, but how each person interprets that can be entirely different.

Lessons learned from this quilt:
*Heat n' Bond fusible works well.  The width of the paper is the exact same width of the panels in the quilt.  I used the no-sew kind, so I didn't do any appliqué on this quilt.  Hopefully it will stay together over time :)
*While permanent marker works well to trace the pattern to the fusible, the smell of ironing it on is forever imprinted to my senses.  Ballpoint pen works and smells better.  Do not use pencil - the pencil lead bits can get on your iron and transfer to lighter fabrics making it grey when you work on a different project.
*They aren't kidding when they say no steam when using fusible.  Makes a difference.

Minecraft Creeper Quilt

Minecraft Creeper Lap Quilt

I made this quilt for my husband after seeing similar ones on Etsy.  He really likes to play the computer game Minecraft (and that's a BIG understatement).  The reason I pick to share with you this quilt is that this past week, my husband has somehow managed to get ME to become hooked on the game.  I don't know whether its the exploration aspect or just the fact its something fun we can do together, I'm really enjoying it.  It is however, really cutting into my quilting time :)

Anyways, last year I (with the help of my mother while I was home for Easter) combined our vast assortments of greens for the "creeper" look.  I figured out what the squares for the face needed to be and then came up with how many green squares I needed to fill in.  I found a neat grayish tree/forest pattern for the border, and then used black for the backing and binding.  

The thing I remember the most about making this quilt was cutting it.  I had to go to Philadelphia for a work conference and ended up bringing with the makings of the quilt, including rotary cutter and mat.  One of the nights I had to myself, I went back to my hotel room after dinner, put on my pajamas, turned on the TV and started cutting away.  I chuckled to myself what housekeeping must have thought when they saw my garbage the next day.  Since I had barely made the weight requirement on my luggage on the way there (fabric is heavy!), I was generous in what I threw away.  Luckily, on the way back, I was a bit lighter in the luggage department.

Once I got the cut fabric home, I took a weekend day and sewed the top together.  I surprised my husband (who mind you was playing the game when I presented him with the quilt top) and he loved it.  I then had it quilted at my local quilt store (which I got some interesting comments when picking it up, as in "I don't get it.") to finish it off using black batting (then it doesn't peek through the stitching).  I did the binding in a few hours the next weekend.

There are two things I regret about this quilt. One is the size.  It ended up being 60"x60".  My husband is 6'3" so it barely qualifies as a lap quilt for him.  He still enjoys it though.  It moves between the recliner in our loft and a blanket for sitting at his desk.  The second thing is the black backing.  We have a dog that sheds big time.  The back of the blanket (and front where its black) is COVERED in dog hair.  It really shows.  I know for us we are used to it, but whenever I look at it, I wish it hid the hair better.  That way when people do see it for the first time, they don't see the dog hair first.