Happy Weekender Quilt in Happy Tones

 

The Happy Weekender quilt pattern from Moda Bake Shop in Happy Tones by Michael Miller Fabrics.

Front: Happy Tones charm packs.

Backing: Happy Tones Spotlight.

Binding: Happy Tones Aqua Cora print.

Gray fabric form Jo Ann's.  I bought 1 3/4 yards after reading in the comments that some people who made the happy weekender didn't have enough with the 1 1/2 yards in the instructions.  I made the strips as I went along and wish I would have bought 2 yards, but am glad I at least had 1 3/4 yards.  It all worked out in the end by piecing some pieces together.

 

I made this quilt for my SS who graduated from high school this year. I am so happy with how it turned out; love the fun, bright colors and it was a nice chance to try gray instead of white for the solid. I kind of wanted to keep it for myself.

 

 

 

My two little munchkins held it up for pictures for me; gotta put them to work while school's out.

 

I attached a label for the first time ever to a quilt.  I hope the micron pigma pen works out. I like the idea of having it in the corner.  I searched on line for ideas on quilt labels and this was my favorite look.  I did heat set it with the iron and washed it two days after writing the label.

 

I also did some "real" free-motion quilting for the first time on this quilt.  Previously, I have just sewn straight lines {or a zig zag stitch in straight lines} on my quilts & table runners.  I have a sweet friend who offered to let me use her quilting machine and frame to do it.  I am happy with how the loopy loops turned out.  I may try it again later this year, it was kind of fun.

 

Rag Quilt

My first rag quilt {sort of}.

I say sort of because, lucky me, all I had to do was sew the pieces together.  This rag quilt is for a graduating senior at church.  Others picked the fabric, cut the pieces and did the applique squares.  I just laid it out (pattern by a friend) and sewed the pieces together.  Then I handed it off for someone else to clip the seams to make it "raggy".

I was in a hurry to pick the kids of from school and didn't notice the left side was laying funny for the picture, oh well.

Turning Twenty made with Dear Stella's Yard Sale

 

 

 

Made for my SS T*

Pattern: Turning Twenty by Tricia Cribbs

Fabric: Yard Sale by Dear Stella

It's a fun, bright quilt.  I hope it fits the lime green with pink and blue that she told me liked earlier in the year.

This one was completed in a more timely manner than C*'s, I bought the fabric in Mar. 2012.  Throw in moving and all that, 9 months isn't too bad.

I machine quilted it with straight stitches using the pattern's block layout as a guide for where to stitch the lines. 

 

Thanks J* for holding the quilts up so I could snap some pics of them.

Sugar Rush made with Sweetwater's Make Life

 

Made for my SS C*.

Pattern: Modified Sugar Rush from Camille Roskelley's book Simplify.

Fabric: Make Life by Sweetwater

 

It only took me almost two years from the time I bought the fabric (Jan. 2011) 'til I mailed it off in time for Christmas this year.

I machine quilted it myself with straight stitches, using the layout as a guide for where to stitch the lines.  The quilt has horizontal stitching at the top and bottom and vertical stitching along the strips in the middle. 

 

Thanks J* for holding the quilts up so I could snap some pics of them.

Halloween Countdowns

My mom made these cute Halloween countdowns to hang on the fridge for S* & K* this year.  They are excitedly awaiting until October 19th when they can start eating one Hershey kiss each day.

 

 

And a look at the Halloween quilt I am making with Riley Blake'sTrick or Treat fabric line from last year.  I hope to finish it for this year.  I have a cute panel and some decent scraps leftover from cutting out the quilt, but I will probably get to those next year.  Now to decided about borders.....

Hometown Table Runner

Here's a table runner I never posted.  I was waiting because I plan to make one for myself, this one was a gift for a friend around Christmas.  But, it's May and I haven't gotten around to sewing mine, so I figured I should post this one.

Fabric: Hometown by Sweetwater.

Other details I'll have to find later, I think I wrote the strip width down and the overall dimensions somewhere.  But, my room is still torn apart from painting, progress is slow but I am trying to be good about donating and recycling what we really don't need to keep.

And this is the fabric I'm making my skirt out of.  I hope to finish it to wear on Mother's Day.  Really all I have left is the lining.

Farmdale Blossom by Alexander Henry bought at JoAnn's.

I really wish I had bought more of this pretty fabric.

Projects

Today I finished straight line machine quilting this quilt.  I started the quilt last May as a gift for a family member.  I'm so glad that I got going on it again and all that's left is the binding.  Yay!  I used Make Life fabric by Sweetwater and modified a pattern from Camille Roskelley's book Simplify.

This is a peek at the dress I finished up for K* last night.  All I have left is to make a sash/belt of some sort for it out of the white fabric.  She requested there be a bow on it too. The fabric is Pam Kitty Buttons and the pattern is Onion 20026.  I'll post more pics later when it's totally done and the lighting is better and it's not raining.

And this is a quilt I'm ready to get back to.  I started it just over two years ago for K*.  I love the fabrics, they're just so sweet.  The blocks are all pieced and sewn together, now on to the borders.   I've had some trouble finding the right solid pink for the border, but I'm feeling like giving it a shot again since I last tried last summer.  Wish me luck in finally finding the right pink.

Fabric is Supporting Cast by Northcott and the pattern is Sweet Sixteen by Black Cat Creations.

On Tuesday night, I showed a group of ladies from church how I make skirts.  11 people showed up, which wasn't everyone who signed up, but it might have been too many had there been more.  I hope I was able to explain things clearly and not scare anyone away from making skirts for little girls.  I have three or four sample skirts that I left in various stages of the construction process for that night, so I hope to get those finished soon, along with all the other things I'd love to sew before summer.  How many skirts is too many for one little cutie??  I have not only the sample ones but a few others planned for Spring.  Why does there have to be so much cute fabric!?!  Maybe some friends and nieces will be getting new skirts too. 

I was a little stressed out about writing up the fabric requirements and sewing instructions, making sure all my math and cutting measurements were correct, I hope in the end I got things mostly right. 

Summer Breeze table runner

 Made this table rummer today out of Summer Breeze II by Sentimental Studios for a friend as a birthday gift.  It's about 51 1/2" by 20".  The strips are 2 1/4 " and the back strip is 4 3/8" and is 10 1/4" in from the edge.  I used a zigzag stitch to quilt between the strips (yellow thread) and to attach the binding (blue thread).  I was a little hesitant to attatch the binding by machine, but gave it a whirl, and I'm so glad I did.  I'm pretty picky, but it all lined up nicely on both the front and the back and only took like 15 minutes. Yippee!!  Hand stitching the binding to the back would have taken me over an hour at least. 

The colors & prints are just so fresh and happy.  There are also some greens in the line, I just didn't use them for this.  I love the blue print I used for the binding.  I might use it and the white print with little blue flowers to make a dress or shirt for K*. 

I totally ran out of yellow thread when I was about 2/3 done with the machine quilting, so I had to stop and run to the fabric store.  When I was almost done attatching the binding, I ran out of blue thread with about two inches left.  Luckily, I had enough on the bobbin left to wind some back onto the spool and finish it up.  I also broke two needles while attatching the binding.  One time the tip totally bent sideways and the next time the tip snapped off.  I put the denim needle in after that.

It was cloudy yesterday and today, but about 10 minutes after I took the pictures, the clouds cleared out and the sun is a shining as it gets ready to set. So refreshing after it's been so rainy, cloudy and drab the last few days.
I made another table runner as a Christmas gift, a top of a table runner and have enoguh scraps for another one out of Sweetwater's Hometown that I'll post about all in one post when I'm done with all three.

5 Turning Twenty Quilts

For the five graduating seniors in our church's YW youth group, we made them each a quilt. The pattern is the original turning twenty quilt pattern. We used the 16 block size, which is 4 blocks by 4 blocks. Earlier in the year, we asked for ladies to donate fabrics from their stashes that they no longer wanted to get us started. Then, we bought some fabrics to coordinate with and supplement the fabrics that were donated while trying to work the quilts into the colors the mothers told us their daughters liked. Five quilt groups were formed and each group worked on a quilt top. My friend E* and I worked on the purple & black quilt top. We spent a few hours cutting & sewing and got it done in one night after the kids were in bed. Then, I collected the quilt tops and bought the backing and binding fabrics. I spent two days doing a lot of sewing. K* was my little safety pin helper while making the quilt sandwiches. I machine bound them using a feather stitch. This was my second time machine binding & it worked out pretty good in general. I think I'm just a little bit too picky sometimes and this was good for me to do with a time constraint and realize that it was good enough and didn't have to be perfect. On Tuesday evening, we met as a group and finished the quilts up by tying them and then presented them to the graduating girls. It was a lot of fun, and I think the girls really liked their quilts. Thanks to those that helped out in any way!

This is the other quilt, she wasn't able to make it that night.