Quilt top finish - 2012 Designer Mystery BOM

I finished up this quilt top a couple of weeks ago, but didn't have time to post it until now. The pattern directions for each block were extremely well written. I only deviated in some parts, for instance, where the directions were for flip-and-trim flying geese, I used the four-at-a-time no-waste method.

I saw that Fat Quarter Shop just posted the 2019 Designer Mystery BOM. So tempted, but I already signed up for the Fig Tree Farm House Mystery Sampler BOM. It was a bit pricey, but I'm glad I signed up, as I see that it is now sold out.

Friday Finish - Bliss Sampler Quilt!

I just finished machine quilting this top, which I had pieced way back in December 2011. Seriously -- sheesh! Time flies. You can find all the details in my original post, but the short story is the fabric is from an old collection by Bonnie and Camille called Bliss.

I quilted it using an all-over pattern called Royal Plumes. I had thoughts about doing some custom quilting, but the reality is that I'm always a little short on time when it comes to my own work.

The backing is from a collection called Mod Studio by Holly Zollinger for Riley Blake. Not sure where you can get this print nowadays.

And finally, some of my favorite blocks:

Stash Bee - December 2012

These blocks are for Jackie, a fellow Oregonian, and December's Queen Bee.  When I saw Jackie's post about her tutorial for these blocks, my reaction was "Phew, back in familiar territory."  The last two months the Stash Bee blocks called for paper piecing and applique, respectively, which were completely unfamiliar territory for me.

The block is called Arkansas Crossroads and were delightful to make. The funnest part was picking out the fabrics.  Jackie wanted the blocks to be completely scrappy, so there are no fabric repeats.

Now I'm off to cruise WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

Sashed, Quilted...WIP Wednesday

Needs trimming and binding, which I'm hoping to tackle this week. But we've got birthdays and holiday stuff going on, so who knows. I'm off to see the other WIPS at Freshly Pieced!

Sashing Swoon and More Sampler Blocks for WIP Wednesday

Remember these blocks?  Swoon using Heirloom -- yup, I'm finally getting around to sashing them.  It took me a while to get to this point, because I originally wanted to make a king-sized quilt using a 4 x 4 setting.  After the 10th block, when I accidentally singed a corner with the iron, I put the project away for a while.  I have now decided that the original 3 x 3 setting (finishing at 80" x 80") is just fine.  I can't wait to get this done and quilted -- I've got some ideas brewing.

I also finished another block for my Classic Sampler. This is one of my favorites, although I would do it a little differently if I had thought about it in the first place.

Block 4 - Rolling Stone

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and am heading over there right now to see what everyone else is up to!

Giant Vintage Modern Churdash - A Finished Quilt!

Oh, how I love this quilt. It feels so crisp, looks so clean. It's just as well we are still in the midst of late summer hot weather, lest I give into temptation to snuggle up in it. 


 
Here it is, all rolled up and ready to be shipped off to a new home.  Like I've mentioned before, it's like having the best of both worlds, stripes and polka dots in one print!

 

You can find the tutorials for this quilt here and here.  Drop me a note if you decide to make the quilt -- I'd love to see pictures when you are done!

On to my next project, a quick (hopefully) baby quilt for #2's teacher who is expecting her first baby in December.

WIP Wednesday - Of Bindings, Bee Blocks, and More

Is it nerdy to gush about FMQ goddess Angela Walters and how awesome she is?   Her book, Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters, was the source of inspiration for the quilting on my Giant Vintage Modern Churndash Quilt.



Angela's philosophy struck well with me -- it seemed to be that you should go with the organic rhythm of the quilting and not stress so much about reaching perfection.  Despite repeating that mantra to myself, I did experience moments when I despaired that I could ever make a circle -- it's actually kinda tough to make a round circle.  At times, my circles/swirls felt more like squares with rounded corners.



Nevertheless, Angela was right.  At the end of the day, after I trimmed the excess backing and batting, I was immensely pleased with how this quilt turned out.

All this quilt needs now is the binding.  I was thinking that I would send it to my cousin who lives in Berlin, as a thank you gift for hosting us this summer.  I have to admit, however, that I'm so loving this top right now that it might be difficult to part with it.

I will post the finished quilt with binding later this week, hopefully.  I chose a cream and red striped binding WITH POLKA DOTS.  How awesome is that, stripes and polka dots in one print?  Pure genius, I think.

The next piece of news I have is that I finally joined a sewing bee, called the Stash Bee!  This is my first foray into any type of sewing bee.  This one happens to be virtual and seems to be relatively low key.  Each person is assigned a month where they are "Queen Bee."  The Queen Bee posts a tutorial of a block she wants the rest of the hive (20 participants in each hive) to make for her, using personal stash fabric.

This block is for Anneliese, who lives in Galway, Ireland. You can find her tutorial for this block called "converging corners" here.  The fabric is from a collection called "Just Wing It," by MoMa for Moda Fabrics.  Although the block looks relatively simple, it can be a little tricky.  I wasted some fabric and did some ripping until I finally figured out the dimensions.



Finally, here is my latest crush. This is Chicopee, by Denyse Schmidt. I love the mixture of modern and retro that is evoked by the prints and colors in this collection. You can get the entire collection (26 prints, 2 colorways) here.

I'm linking up to these blogs today! Have fun sewing, everyone!
 

WIP Wednesday and Giant Churndash Tutorial (Part 2)

I don't think I've ever done this before, but I already have my binding prepped!  For not just one, but two quilts!  Are worlds colliding yet?

Vintage Modern binding for Giant Churdash

Basic Gray binding for Scrappy Hunter's Stars

That said, here are the rest of the instructions for the Giant Churndash blocks.  Click on this link to view the original post.

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS - SOLID FABRIC
You will need approximately 3 yards of a contrasting solid -- for this quilt I used Kona in white.

Cut (7) strips 8.5" x WOF; keeping the strip in two layers, subcut as follows:
a. (2) strips - 8.5"; 8.5"; 4.5" - you should end up with (8) 8.5" square and (4) 8.5" x 4.5" rectangle;
b. (1) strip - 8.5"; 4.5", 4.5" - You should end up with (2) 8.5" square and (4) 8.5" x 4.5" rectangle
c. (4) strips - 4.5" rectangles - cut a total of 28 rectangles - there should be some left over fabric

Cut (5) strips 9" x WOF - subcut each strip into 9" squares for a total of 18 squares.

Make the half square triangles (HST)



Using one 9" square of the solid, draw a diagonal line through the center. Layer with one 9" print square like so.

  Using a 1/4" seam, sew a line on either side of the center line just drawn. Iron to set the stitch lines, and then cut along the drawn line. Fold out and press. You should end up with two squares that look like this. Now, trim down to 8 1/2" -- I like to make my HSTs oversized so I can trim them down to the exact size.  BUT, if you are an HST pro, if you start with 8 7/8" blocks, you should end up with an 8.5" square when your triangles are complete -- without any trimming!  Repeat with another solid 9" square and the 9" square of the same print.

Put all your various pieces together like so, sewing one row at a time.  Once all the blocks were complete, I used a 3 x3 setting  to end up with a 72" x 72" top with no borders. Last, but not least, I finished the seventh block of the Mystery Designer's BOM from 2011. I am WAY behind on this.  Of course, I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday hosted by Freshly Pieced!

Giant Churndash Quilt - A Tutorial (Part 1)

Just before we left for vacation in July, I started these giant churn dash blocks.  Here are the goals I accomplished with this one: I wanted (1) to do a churn dash quilt; (2) a quick, easy project; and (3) a large block to showcase some pretty prints (Vintage Modern by Bonnie & Camille).

Each block measures 24 inches -- awesome!  When you put three together, that's automatically a 72-inch quilt.  The best part?  You only need 9 fat quarters of various prints, and there is very little waste of those fat quarters with the cutting lay-out.



I thought it would be fun to share how easily these blocks came together.  I put together some initial notes -- I will post the actual sewing tomorrow, but I thought I'd start with the supply list and cutting instructions for the fat quarters.

SUPPLY LIST:

Blocks:
9 fat quarters of coordinating prints - blocks
3 yards solid - blocks

Backing  - 2 1/4 yards
Binding - 1/2 yard


Finished Quilt 72" x 72"
Finished Block 24 x 24

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS:

From each print fat quarter, cut according to this diagram:

Fat Quarter (20" x 18") - cut carefully, as you can see there's very little wasted fabric!

Last, I'm linking up to:

The First Quilt Top of the Year!

I'm off to a good start! I want to keep the quilting simple, so I hope to post the deets on this quilt next week once I'm completely finished.

Bliss Sampler Top - Finished!

I was so close to being done piecing this top for a very long time, but I was stuck on the flying geese border.  So, approximately 136 flying geese and two borders later, I am finally done piecing this thing!

Full quilt top on a king size bed.

The pattern is from Lynette Jensen's Thimbleberries Block by Block to Beautiful Quilts.  Each block ended up being 12 inches finished, but the borders sized the quilt up to queen/king sized.  The book itself is kinda country-ish in the feel of its projects, so I used a brighter color palette than suggested. 

One of my favorite blocks.

The fabrics are all from Bonnie and Camille's Bliss collection, which I just love.  These cuts were the ones available at my LQS when I first began selecting fabrics for this quilt.  Since then, I've been able to obtain a few more (understatement) prints.  I'm also hoarding this year's collection, Ruby, and will hopefully debut something from that collection as well.

Flying geese border.

My next challenge will be how to quilt this thing.  It's huge!  I don't know if I can do it on my domestic machine, so maybe now is the time to break out and send it to a professional quilter.  It would be lovely to get some custom quilting, but I'm balking at how much it will cost.  It makes me wonder how places like the Pottery Barn and Garnet Hill can sell "hand made" quilts for a few hundred bucks.

Border detail.

I'm glad I forced myself to finish this top.  I started cutting for my next project, an idea which has been on my mind for several months now.  Happy quilting!

Another pretty block.