Christmas gifted

  Name: Christmas Gifted

Design:  Strip twist by Quiltville

Size:  64" by 80"

Fabric: Crazy Eights and Reindeer Games by Sandy Gervais plus stash fabrics

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 in cream 

Binding:   Candy cane strip from Reindeer Games, Sandy Gervais for Moda

Backing:  Light green gingham check sheeting

Pieced, quilted, bound and now gifted!  I made this one for our son and his lovely wife.  I had not given them a Christmas quilt yet and everyone needs a Christmas quilt.  It is a free pattern from Bonnie at Quiltville and she calls it Strip Twist.  I used a jelly roll of Christmas prints from an long ago Christmas line by Sandy Gervais.  Funny thing, is that our son had given it to me for Christmas years ago.  It made sense to make it up for them!  I had some fat quarters and yardage from some of her more recent Christmas lines and it all just worked.  I was waiting and waiting to take a picture but it has been raining so much, it seems on the weekends that I finally just took pictures in the rain.  The quilt was under cover on the barn wall.

I quilted this one along all the diagonals in Aurifil 50 wt in cream.  Nice and simple.  Cuddly and cozy, I backed it in a small light green gingham sheeting that I found at Overseas Fabrics in Abbotsford.  Awesome family shop for those in the area.  I decided to have the colours of the prints in the blocks cascade across the quilt rather than just have it random.  I quite like it.

Oh.  And they did too!  Merry Christmas!!!

My Hillside Houses

     Name: My Hillside Houses

Design:  Hillside Houses by Pretty Little Quilts

Size:  60" by 75"

Fabric: Solids, mostly Kona

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in Dove grey, organic waves

Binding:   Kona Berry

Backing:  Shantytown by Kaffe Fasset and some other cobblestone like fabric from the stash

 I was inspired to make this fun quilt when I say Carla's version on her blog this past summer.  And I loved the fabric she used on the back as well.  I have to say, I was a total copycat and used the same fabric on the back and I used lots of purple too. Yep.  Confessions are good for the soul.    I have not been to Newfoundland but Husband has and that is what he thought of when he saw Carla's version.  So... here is mine. This was so much fun to put together.  The hardest part was deciding which colours to use!  I made a big mess of my solids.  A design wall was a must as the blocks have parts of several houses so you have to think ahead about your colour choices. The pattern is a free one that you can download from Craftsy.  The link to the pattern can be found here.   And the pattern has 3 sizes.  This is biggie sized.

I quilted it yesterday in wavy curves that vary in both amplitude and frequency as per Husband's advice.. It was free range walking foot action.  It was a bit of a wrist and arm work out. I looked at a bunch of finished Hillside Houses to see how other people had quilted the pattern and Husband and I thought the waves worked. Let's just say it is the wind. I used Aurifil 50 wt in Dove which worked wonderfully with all the solids. I increased the stitch length to 3.2 because of all the curve action.  I am always surprised but the difference quilting makes in the texture of a quilt.  Somehow that never gets old!  I used Kona Berry for the binding.  It worked perfectly!  I am so pleased with this one.

Blogger's Quilt Festival: My Scrappy Entry

    Name: Grape Juice

Design:  Quarter Log Cabin by Liz Katsuro

Size:  64" by 80"

Fabric: Purple, bright pink and low volume scraps 

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in Dove grey, straight lines

Binding:   Kona Eggplant

Backing:  an awesome vintage sheet in purple

Hello!  If you are popping over from the Blogger's Quilt Festival, welcome!  I decided to enter this quilt, Grape Juice, in the festival, scrappy category, this year.  Oh my.  I do love this quilt but there were times that I had to walk away. Even my husband told me to leave it alone and come back to it later. He reminded me that quilting is supposed to be fun.  And it wasn't fun at that moment, let me tell ya! I won't give the whole long story but if you want to read the whole story about how I realized after finishing the quilt completely.  Completely.  That several blocks in the bottom row had been placed incorrectly, throwing off the pattern.  Argh.  Anyway, it is all fixed and lovely in purple scrappy-ness.

If anyone is interested in the pattern, it is a free tutorial by Liz Katsuro.  I made the quilt with a huge variety of scraps all in a similar colour palette as well as a bunch of low volume scraps and bits and pieces.  To add to the scrappy vibe, I backed the quilt with a fabulous vintage sheet.  I am pretty sure that I picked this one up at a thrift shop a few years ago but it might have come from one of my aunts.  Wherever I got it, it was the perfect back and was a good heavy 100% cotton sheet. Nice! I  quilted this in Aurifil 50 wt in gray, with lots and lots of straight lines to give it texture.

So there it is.  Grape Juice.  Scrappy.  And with a story of frustration, persistence and satisfaction at making it right.  Entering this in the Scrappy Category of Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival.

A finish: Prospector's 16 Patch

   Name: Prospector's16 Patch

Design: St. Louis 16 Patch (tutorial at Sew with Sass)

Size: 56" by 72"

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in cream on either side of each square

Backed with a vintage sheet

I made this St, Louis 16 Patch with the intention that it be a donation quilt for the Rock Creek Forest Fire victims, I put it together with a vision of who it might be for but then the organizers of the quilt drive said they only wanted queen size quilts.  Wah wa wa.  Darn.  This is not a queen size quilt.  It is a long twin.  And I made it that  because I thought it might be good for an older gentleman, perhaps even a prospector type who may have lost his cabin in the wild fires.  In my mind, it was a good idea.  I used to teach in that area, years ago and we lived in the little town of Midway when the kids were young.  So my idea was not that out of whack.  Since the quilt was not wanted, I have it in a pile waiting and will jump at an opportunity to donate it, especially to an older gentleman, who may have a cabin and may or may not be a prospector type.  Or something.

Made with a variety of prints from my stash and with mostly low volume prints making up the 16 patch squares, this quilt comes together in a hurry.  The tutorial is a good one.  The quilt is quilted simply, a quarter inch from the seam lines on one side of each quarter inch block in Aurifil 50 wt in cream.  

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Grape Juice: A finished quilt with a bit of a spilled history

    Name: Grape Juice

Design:  Quarter Log Cabin by Liz Katsuro

Size:  64" by 80"

Fabric: Purple, bright pink and low volume scraps 

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in Dove grey, straight lines

Binding:   Kona Eggplant

Backing:  an awesome vintage sheet in purple

I actually thought I was finished this quilt last weekend.  I sat down at the computer.  I fired up my blog.  I loaded the pictures and... I realized that the quilt had a boo boo.  Oh my word.  Obviously some of the blocks in the last row had become turned around in the quilt assembly and I did not notice until I was ready to write up a celebratory blog post.  For crying in the soup.  This quilt was finished, people.  Seriously.  Quilted every 1/2"  in long rows.  Bound solidly.  Even lint brushed.  And it had a boo boo.  So.  This quilt is now recovering from major surgery of the quilt kind.  I undid the binding.  I unpicked the row of zigzag stitching that I do before I bind the quilt.  I unpicked the bazillion rows of quilting up the length of the quilt so that I could free  the bottom row.  I unpicked the bottom row, and separated the blocks.  Reassembled them CORRECTLY this time and then began the whole process in reverse.  Good grief.  Note to self.  Please check the layout VERY VERY carefully before putting the whole shebang together.  The really crazy thing is that as soon as I look at the pictures of it sitting on the floor all basted and ready to go, I see the mistake.  This quilt stayed on the floor basted for almost 2 weeks and I did not notice and Husband did not notice.  Blah!  Never have I picked out so many tiny threads.  So that is the story of the Grape Juice quilt that spilled.

So... I found the tutorial for this quilt when I was looking for a way to use up a bunch of scraps.  It is a great tutorial and uses 2.5" strips.  You can burn through a lot of scraps and it just works.  I decided to stick to a fairly unified colour group despite the scrappiness.  I started this on my featherweight and finished it on my Janome.  I originally was going to make a smaller quilt but it grew.  Now that it is done and I mean, really done, I think I really like it.  Last weekend I was just plain sick of it.  I am so over that now.  Okay.  So.  I quilted it densely in long straight lines in lovely Aurifil 50 wt in grey. The one called Dove.  The binding is Kona Eggplant.  The whites are a complete mixture of low volume leftovers and that is okay.

And the name?  We have had a bumper crop of purple grapes and we made grape juice last weekend.  This quilt is the colour of the grape juice without a doubt.  What do you think about the vintage sheet backing?  It was a really heavy 100% cotton sheet.  It is very happy!  And our grass is starting to recover from the record breaking heat and the water restrictions but it still looks pretty bad in spots.

Lots of grapes still and surprisingly the bears have not been into them yet.  I say yet, because we did have a bear in the yard yesterday.  She was quite lovely and I have named her Mabel.  I do hope she keeps her distance.  She is welcome to the field, the woods and the pond but lets just keep it at that.  Linking up with Leanne for Scraptastic Tuesday!

I think I see a whale

    Name:  I think I see a whale

Design:  Plus 4" squares

Size:  48" by 48"

Fabric: Kona Silver, lovely wee whale print from Sew Sisters, Navy crosshatch, Doe by Carolyn Freildlander 

for Robert Kaufman, Kiss Dots in Fog by Michael Miller and stash fabrics

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in grey in cross hatch

Binding:   Navy crosshatch, Doe by Carolyn Freildlander 

for Robert Kaufman

I finished this baby quilt last weekend.  It is for our son and daughter in law's friend's baby boy who has not yet made an appearance.  The design specs included navy, grey and whales.  What did they get?  Navy, grey and whales!  But I did throw in some sky blue sketch.  I just had to.  I think it makes everything pop.  

Anyway.  Did I mention there was also a possible request to make the quilt square?  So Square it is.  I hummed and hawed about this quilt for a long long time.  I had the fabric sitting on my table most of the summer.  I knew the baby was not due until late September so I had time but I think I struggled to come up with a way to make it all work.  Then I tried the sky blue along with the grey and navy and I relaxed and went for it.  The whale fabric was really tricky to find.  There are whale prints out there but often the whales are big and primary colours abound.  The whale print I used is from Sew Sisters and is just perfect.  I quilted this one is lovely light grey Aurifil 50wt in a cross hatch.  The binding is a navy cross hatch from Carolyn Friedlander's Doe line.  

The back was a lot of fun too!  Have a look!  Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday.  

A finish... Offset in Emily Colours

    Name:  Offset in Emily Colours

Design:  Offest by Springleaf Studios

Size:  60" by 80"

Fabric: Stash fabrics and scraps

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white in close straight lines

So I started this when my holidays started this summer and in-between a few trips and various berry picking and farm obligations, I finished it before our quilt guild meeting last week.  Just under the wire in fact as I sewed on the binding that morning.  I was dreading sewing the binding as it was so stinking hot.  I ended up using my big sewing table and resting the quilt on it, rather than my lap.  It worked out quite well.  I did not make this quilt with any particular need or idea in mind but as it came together, I realized that I had made it with the colours our daughter has in her living room.  I guess I know where this will end up eventually.  The pattern is a new one that I think was just released in June by Anne and her company Springleaf Studios.  It is a fabulous pattern with tons of options for layouts.  It works well for a scrappy project or for a more defined look. I went scrappy and used an assortment of whites and low volume fabrics for the background and lots of bits and pieces of grey, dark yellow and turquoise.  I managed to use up quite a pile of white scraps that I had cut out for a quilt last year only to find out that I should have checked the pattern corrections online before starting.  Who knew?  Anyway, those whites worked perfectly for this quilt.

Quilted in close straight lines with my favourite Aurifil 50 wt in white, I burned through a lot of thread, let me tell ya!  I just love the texture quilting gives a quilt.  You have the whole thing pieced and done, and it looks good but flat.  And the quilting happens and brings the life to the whole thing.  Wonderful.  And there it is.  Hanging on the barn wall on a hot breezy afternoon in August.  Dragging on the ground a bit because this one is a long one!  Linking Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday!

Happy

   Name:  Happy

Design:  4" squares

Size:  37" by 42"

Fabric: Stash fabrics and scraps

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white in cross hatch

We had a great Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild sew in last Saturday and among other things, I got a great start on this baby quilt.  I like to have simple and distinct projects to work on at sew ins.  This baby quilt was just the ticket and I got a great start on it on my featherweight after completing a gift for my mum.  More on that later!

Yes, this is another baby quilt.  It seems that our son and daughter in law's friends keep having babies.  We hope it is quite contagious!  This is one is back to basics with simple 4" squares with a pop of black and white amidst the prints.  Very much in the spirit of Rita at Red Pepper Quilts.  

Once again, I quilted this on the diagonal in a cross hatch with Aurifil 50 wt in white.  Happy!

This made me happy too.  Two finished quilts on the sewing room counter with a bunch of sweet peas from the garden in the background.  Nice!  I wish this was a scratch and sniff picture because the sweet peas are so fragrant!  

And happy because we survived the Windows 10 upgrade and I was still able to upload pictures thanks to Husband!

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday.

Pink and Gray Baby

  Name:  Pink and Gray Baby

Design:  4" squares

Size:  36" by 42"

Fabric: Stash/scrap fabrics 

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white

This was a perfect way to incorporate a bunch of shabby chic florals in a baby quilt, don't you think?  I think it is just so pretty.  The grey dot and the text print update the florals nicely and I threw in a bunch of solid pink squares as well.  I have to say that most of this quilt was made from pre-cut 4" squares from my scraps.  I pre-cut a bunch of 2.5", 4" and 5" squares when I was cleaning up all my scraps this past spring.  It is simply amazing how fast a quilt goes together when you have the fabric already chopped up.  I backed the sheet with a fabulous pink striped thrifted cotton sheet.  Quilted on the diagonal in both directions in Aurfil 50 wt in white.  Perfect.  Linking up with Amanda Jean for finish it up Friday.  Holidays begins today for the summer.  Woo hoo!

Many Hands Make Light Work... Modern Baby

  Name:  Many Hands Make Light Work

 

Design:  Modernized Disappearing 9 Patch :  a tutorial by Kristy Daum but with 4" squares

Size:  35" by 48"

Fabric: Stash/scrap fabrics, Kona Ash for the background

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in light grey in crosshatch

 So during the Creative Stitches show in Abbotsfod in March was a lot of fun.  Our guild, The Fraser Valley Modern Quilt guild had a fabulous display of modern quilts and we also had 2 presentations on the main stage.  While I showed a powerpoint and did the talk thing, my fabulous guild members, Cynthia, Barbara and Vera on the Featherweight constructed the bulk of this quilt with a bunch of 4" squares I had cut and brought along for that purpose. We used the Modernized Disappearing 9 patch tutorial but with 4 " squares.    Not too shabby.  Let me tell you, Vera sewed with her little Featherweight until it could give no more.  It is actually in the repair shop.  Just as we finished the last presentation, it stopped working.  Too funny!

So once I got it home, I threw the rest of it up on the design wall, did the final construction and the quilting.  I used a fabulous light grey Aurifil for the crosshatch quilting and a Stof print for the binding.  And there it is.  Many Hands Make Light Work.  It was breezy during the photo shoot so the quilt kept blowing as it was on the barn wall.

We wanted to demonstrate how to modern up a traditional block.  In selecting the fabric, I wanted to make sure the fabrics did not read as "baby" but that it would still look like a baby quilt.  It works.

And I am off to spend the day quilting with Krista from Poppyprint.  Have a wonderful Saturday!

Continuing the Conversation

   Name:  Continuing the Conversation

Design:  Modern Disappearing 9 Patch :  a tutorial by Kristy Daum

Size:  40" by 54"

Fabric: Stash/scrap fabrics, low volume fabrics for the background

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white in crosshatch

I made this baby quilt the other day as a sample and as a way to continue the conversation and that is where the name came from.  We had a guild challenge to modern up a traditional block for the Creative Stitches show as I mentioned before.  As part of the Creative Stitches show, the guild did a stage presentation on Modern Quilting with a demonstration.  I thought it might be fun to do the Modern Disappearing 9 Patch as a demo but I thought it would also be good to have a finished quilt for display.  Hence this baby quilt.  A way of continuing the conversation so to speak.  I wish I had a pictures of my able bodied guild demonstrators because they sewed up a storm, while I did the talking,  and pretty much had much of the makings of a baby quilt after the 2 demonstrations.  I have it all put together as a quilt top and hope to have what they started finished for the next guild meeting.  But I digress.  

Kristy Daum has a fabulous tutorial on the Modern disappearing 9 patch.  Check it out.  And a perfect and straight forward modern twist on an old favourite.  I also tried to use fabrics that would read as modern but not as "baby".  Except for the backing that is.  I know that many modern baby quilts do not necessarily look like what traditionally we would view as a baby quilt.  So for this example, I wanted to make sure it did not look "on purpose" baby.  After all, we were trying to share and demystify modern quilting just a bit.  

So here it is.  On a rainy day inside the rose arbour.  Stash fabrics and quilted with my favouite 50 wt Aurifil in white.  Continuing the Conversation.  

Scrappy Baby in Pink

  Name:  Scrappy Baby in Pink

Design:  rail fence, inspired by Rita at Red Pepper Quilts

Size:  36" by 42"

Fabric: scrap fabrics!  woo hoo!

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white in straight lines, diagonal cross hatch

I finished this one a bit ago but have so busy that I did not get a photo until this past weekend.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I took a picture of the forsythia which has just opened fully this week.  Oh my goodness, we have had an early and beautiful spring.

Anyway, I used a whack of scraps of pink and yellow and constructed a wee rail fence block.  I love the colour combination that Rita used with the pink and yellow along with the black and white contrast.  So fun.  I still have so many scraps.  I am tempted sometimes to throw them all in a giant garbage bag and say see ya later!  I just cannot do it though. 

I decided to quilt this using my favourite Aurifil 50 wt in white but I went on the diagonal and quilted a crosshatch.  It worked really well and I have to admit that I did not mark the quilt.  Ya.  Such a risk taker.

I backed the quilt in a Michael Miller Children at Play print from several years ago.  I bought the rest of a bolt of this when I was at the Sisters quilt show last summer.  I think it was at a quilt shop in Bend.  It is a perfect print for a baby quilt back.  

Linking up with Leanne for Scraptastic Tuesday.  Check it out.   

I think I am floating

   Name:  I think I am Floating

Design:  Illusion block from the Missouri Star Quilt Company

Size:  64" by 81"

Fabric: Mostly Kona solids including Kona white and medium grey for the sashing

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white in straight lines on the sashing and  a squared stipple in the blocks in Aurifil 50 wt in grey

 Okay.  This is a finish.  I actually thought I was finished a week ago and then I decided I needed more quilting.  Oh how glad I am that I made that decision.  Even though it was a complete marathon session, I added a squared stipple in each of the solid colour blocks.  Now I can say, "Done!"  The quilting is all Aurifil 50 wt in a combination of white and light grey.  The grey Aurifil worked perfectly on all those solid colours.

The quilt design is from the Missouri Star Quilt Company and is a simple, straightforward Illusion block.  I decided to use only solids and only cool colours.  I was surprised how many choices I had in my stash!  The solids are mostly Konas with a few others in the mix,  The backing is an Ikea print along with a bit of a small graph paper print in blue and green.  I bound the quilt in the same Kona Medium Grey that is used in the sashing.  I took the pictures on Sunday.  We are having a marvelous spring.  I actually picked my first dandelion flower on Sunday as well.

So there it is.  A finish and off I go to work!