Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Fall Logs

Hi all!

On this the last day of 2013 I thought that I would share another almost finish.  I played with my new Babtist Fan  Loricles boards last night and completed the quilting on my Fall Log Cabin quilt.  This quilt was so easy to quilt since it was so flat; and, I would love to take all the credit but I have to credit the fact that this quilt was almost entirely die-cut and it is just so much easier to piece when the cutting is correct - funny that LOL!

 

I am quite happy with how it turned out and I love the texture the Baptist Fan quilting adds.  Since this will be a bed quilt I didn't want to add too much quilting to it which would stiffen it up.  Too bad it's not fall any longer or this would be going on the bed ASAP!


Here's a close-up of the quilting.  I finally got the spacing down by the end of the quilt and I know that this template will be used and used and used by me :-) 

I used 40 weight FilTec Glide thread top and bobbin in Warm Grey.  In retrospect I think a shade of darker grey thread would have been a better choice but hey!  This is a scrap quilt destined for the bed and not a show and done is better than perfect, right?

 

I pulled this beautiful batik wide-back out of my stash and I think it is a perfect fall-looking backing for this quilt.  I was also able to pull a Warm and Natural batting from my stash and it worked perfectly for this quilt.  I love it when I can pull from my stash :-)

Happy New Years Eve everyone!

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Playing!

Hi all!

Last night I decided to play a bit with my swirls Loricle board and I have to say that I love the effect!

 

I pieced this baby quilt top ages ago but I could never decide how to quilt it.  I wanted to play with my strip dies but I didn't want to commit to a full quilt so I made a baby quilt top with no clear destination.  Since the piecing is so simple I didn't want to overwhelm the quilt with too much quilting and make a baby quilt stiff.  The Swirls template seemed like a great choice.  I love the texture it creates and I think I will enjoy using it.   I hope that you can see it in the picture?  What do you think?



Saturday, December 28, 2013

Even More Scrap Quilting

Hi all!

I am seriously on a roll using up scraps lately and it really makes me happy :-) Maybe 2014 will be the year of de-stashing and using up for me.  Wishful thinking probably but I can always dream right?

I have been making great progress with my Scrappy Trips quilt blocks and it has made a serious impact on my 2.5" strip bin.  I am pretty happy with the way that it has been turning out.

 

What do you think?  I think it will make a great bed quilt that can get used and washed a million times.

I also plan on doing the Planet Patchwork New Years Day Mystery Quilt.  I did this a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.  If you haven't heard of it before the clues are released every couple of hours and you sew along with them and by the end of New Years Day you have a quilt top!  This year the pattern is scrappy so I jumped at doing this one as well.  Here is the link if you're interested in sewing along with me :-D

The pattern is written for rotary cutting but I converted it to die-cutting.  The top required just 3 dies: the 2.5" square die, the 2" finished HST die and the 6" finished HST die if you're interested in die cutting the mystery quilt too.  I was absolutely thrilled that I was able to use even more of the strips in my 2.5" strip bin and some random large pieces of fabric for the larger HST.

 

Everything is sorted and ready to go for New Years Day!!

I also made another purchase for my quilting frame.  I have tried to do pantographs; but, frankly, they aren't very fun and every little slip means frog-stitching - yuck!  i really wanted to be able to do some patterns like Baptist Fans without marking (because I don't like marking).  So, I did some research and found the Circle Lord grooved board templates.  They were an affordable way to do all-over designs without splurging for robotics.

 

They sit on the back of the machine, on the pantograph shelf, and a stylus drops down into the groove.  I played with it yesterday and I really liked the way that it made these patterns easy and without marking.  Since I am making so many scrap quilts lately I wanted to be able to quilt them in an overall design that would enhance the quilt without making it too busy.  I also wanted the ability to quilt these utility quilts quickly and easily without spending a million hours custom quilting them.  I chose 2 boards the Fan Clam (in the picture) since it has two different designs on one board and Swirls since it is so functional.  Now I can get quilting a couple of my scrap quilt tops that are sitting in my quilting closet.  I plan on using the Baptist Fans on my fall log cabin and maybe Swirls on my leaders and enders project.  So, what do you think?

Are you making any scrap projects this year?


Thursday, December 26, 2013

Minecraft Skeleton Rag Quilt - A Christmas Present

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope that you all had a great holiday filled with family and love.  We had a wonderful holiday here with my Mother up and my Father in Law coming up in a couple of days.

I promised my oldest his own Minecraft rag quilt some time ago; but, finding the fabrics was a bit challenging since he was so very particular about exactly what fabrics he wanted.  Since I have made 3 different Minecraft Creeper quilts now I figured a skeleton wouldn't be a problem.

After I got all the fabrics:  3 shades of grey, 3 shades of white (yes really 3 different shades of white!) and two shades of black - easier said then done, I got to work on the quilt and set a goal to get it done for Christmas.  Christmas day came and we opened presents and the quilt was still not finished - it just needed the blocks and rows sewn together.

Christmas afternoon came and I said to myself - get it done Katrina!  So I set to work.

 

I sewed all afternoon and finally finished it.  Into the washer and drier it went and it was on his bed for bed-time.  I met my goal!

Today when his Grandmother asked him what his favorite gift was he said - my Minecraft skeleton quilt.  Ahhh!  I melted and knew that all the Christmas day sewing was absolutely worth it so that he could get a gift just from me for him - especially one that I promised him so long ago!

I actually like this quilt too - it's one of those "so ugly it's cute" sort of deals.

You might be wondering about the layout - this layout is not of my choosing - I let my oldest layout the blocks exactly like he wanted them.  He was very specific about how he wanted it and since this was his quilt I let him LOL!  I would have mixed up the blocks but he told me in no uncertain terms that mixing them up was NOT correct shading and would NOT create the right texture.  Ok, ok I said!  What's a Mother to do LOL!?

I have now made 4 Minecraft rag quilts!  Can you believe that LOL!

So, what about you?  Any Christmas sewing?

Sunday, December 22, 2013

More Scrap Quilting

Hi all!

Every year I like to decide on how I will deal with the old to bring in the new!  Fabric that is.  I always seem to have this grand idea that IF I deal with all my scraps and stash that I will feel that I can bring in all new fabrics - ya right, I know.  My scraps seem to multiply over night - sigh.

Well, in the interest of dealing with  my scraps I have decided on a couple more scrap patterns that I will be working on over the next little while.  One I posted about yesterday - my Scrappy Trip Around the World.  I made 10 blocks yesterday to see how I like it overall and I really do!  What do you think?

 

I think this one is really going to use up a lot of my 2.5" strip bin - or at least the larger 16" chunks of fabric.  What to do with the smaller one?  I have a couple of ideas but nothing firm yet.  ;-)

 

I also really needed to come up with a new leaders and enders project for my 2" square bin because it is really starting to overflow again and I wanted to do something new to me.  This is what I came up with - a nice and simple hour-glass and 16-patch quilt.  Easy and creates a nice secondary star pattern.

As an added bonus, I am also able to use up two very large pieces of blue and green hand-dyed looking fabrics that have been in my stash forever.  I like the fabrics but they never seemed to play well with anything else - except as a backing fabric; but, I have always thought that they looked nice together.  Since blue and green is one of my favorite colour combinations this seemed like a great way to use up scraps and stash - win, win!

 

To create this I just used my 2" squares and die cut the 6" finished (6.5" unfinished) hour-glass units (Studio die 50034, Go die 55002).  You can use any technique you might want for the hour-glass units - you can die-cut, use rulers etc. in the end you will achieve the same result.

Why do I like to have my scrap projects decided and lined up?  I like to use up what I have and I like to know where I am going with my scraps.  Plus, I love having scrap quilts on the bed - somehow I feel better sitting on a scrap quilt rather than a planned quilt - silly I know - but hey!

So what about you?  Are you planning any scrap quilts for the New Year?


Saturday, December 21, 2013

Snowy Scrap Quilting

Hi all!

I hope that you are all enjoying this fine holiday Christmas season!  I don't know about where you are but we have been inundated with snow, snow and more snow these past couple of weeks.  And, although it's pretty, it makes me want to hibernate LOL!

So, today I decided to pull out my 2.5" strip scrap bin and do a bit of scrap quilting with those strips that have been slowly accumulating since I started processing them back in 2011.  I have done a lot of things with these strips but I thought that I would make a serious impact on that bin.

I remembered Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trip Around the World pattern on her site and thought that it would be perfect for those longer strips.

As you all know, I love to die-cut, so, I decided to use my cutter instead of rotary cutting if I could.  The strips were already cut out to 2.5" width so I just needed to cut them to 16" lengths - unfortunately I don't have a die for that :-(

 

Next, I sewed them into sets.  I really only paid attention to value and not colour like Bonnie recommends. 

 

Next I pressed and sewed into tubes and then placed them on my 2.5" strip die.  If you're going to try this remember that you instantly have 3 layers of fabric.  I chose to cut mine like this so that I could line them up easier.

 

Run them through the cutter and voila!  Perfect strip sets :-)  I am not going to give you the directions to the pattern you'll have to hop on over to Bonnie's site for it - it is a great way to use up scraps!

Now to get back to sewing! 

Happy Quilting!

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