I call this quilt Summer Breeze

I made this summer quilt for my daughter who asked for a lighter weight one for her bed.  I was lucky enough to find a jelly roll at Joanne's Fabrics in Venice, Florida that had a really great selection of modern prints.  I love the aqua and the pop of chartreuse really adds a feeling of freshness.  The pattern  is called "Summer in the Park" by Fons & Porter that I found in the 2013 Spring issue of Quilting Quickly magazine.  I watched a great tutorial by Jenny Doan at Missouri Star Quilt Co. demonstrating how quickly this quilt comes together.  I only used one jelly roll of patterned fabric and one of plain.  To that I added a white sash as well as a grey one.  I considered free motion quilting but eventually chose to do stitch in the ditch which enhanced the linear look.

Now for the binding - since I was in a real hurry to finish the quilt…I was a tad late giving it to her for her birthday…so I sewed my binding onto the back and wrapped it to the front and then sewed it down with a top stitch.  Because the backing is a lovely white with tiny flowers, I was careful to sew the top stitching into the ditch on the back side.  A very quick way to add a border without having to hand stitch it.  

My daughter loves her new quilt!  She said it was just what she wanted.

It's Zig-Zag Time Again

Here's another chevron quilt I made that was a little different from my last masculine quilt.  I actually used a zig-zag fabric that had three shades of blue/turquoise and chose a co-ordinating fabric in turquoise.  I loved the zig-zag fabric so it was just a matter of finding the right plain fabric.  I wanted a quilt that had a modern feel for use in the guest bedroom.  I chose to bind the quilt with a simple navy fabric.  I quilted the chevrons with three lines of stitching that echoes the shape of each block.

I loved the way the quilt turned out.  Now that I have completed two different zig-zag quilts, I think it's time to move on to another design.  For Christmas I received The Electric Quilt 7 software from my husband so expect to see some different quilt and table runner designs from me in the future.

New Baby Quilt

A family friend married a few years ago and moved to a beautiful seaside town on the southern coast of Ireland.  When I heard she was expecting her first baby, I wanted to make a very special quilt for her.  Luckily for me, she shared the sex of the baby so I could get started on a quilt for a little girl.

I found a lovely quilt on the Pinterest website but I could not find the pattern.  I just had to wing it on my own and the above quilt is what I came up with.  Firstly, I had to calculate the dimensions of the quilt so that the three bands made up of individual strips of fabric were all equal and the two plain bands were wide enough to accommodate the meandering flowers and vines.  I had to choose 11 different yet compatible quilt prints and sew the strips together.  Then I took the white strips, added stabilizer underneath, and embroidered different flower blossoms and butterflies.  I even used some metallic thread to add a bit more interest.  After that, I appliquéd on the vines and leaves.  Finally, I added free motion quilting to each of the striped bands.  This was the first time I have tried free motion quilting and I think it turned out very well.  I hope this isn't considering cheating but I actually chalked the quilting design directly onto the fabric and when away I went.  It really was nothing to be fearful of doing and I intend on trying free motion on my next quilt.

Next, I embroidered a small fabric gift bag which could also be used as a toy bag for the car or to carry baby items.  Anyway, my friend was so pleased to receive the guilt and said how lovely it was.  I think this was one of my best quilts to date and it certainly turned out well considering I had no pattern.

He's my Star!

I made this summer quilt for my grandson's birthday.  I thought the black and white fabrics were very modern and masculine looking.  He just loved it.  

When it came to quilting the body of the fabric, I decided that since he's my shining star, that a star motif was just perfect.  The photo below shows the stars.  

I absolutely loved making this quilt.   The instructions to make it were fabulous and the quilt went together very quickly.  The pattern came from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  They have a ton of tutorials on their website that will inspire any sewer from novice to expert to make something different and fun.  I'm interested in making quilts that are both fun to make for me and are a little different.  Come back to my blog again and see some of the other quilts I made.  Bye for now.

My First Quilt

It's been a while since my last post but I've been busy with lots of projects.

When I semi-retired, I thought I would have a lot of time on my hands.  I'm sure that you have heard from other retirees there is never seems to be enough time to do all the things you want to get done in a day.  Where does the time go?

I had always wanted to learn how to quilt but not hand quilting.  If I tried to hand sew a quilt, I would never get finished, not in this lifetime anyway.  No...for me it was to sew a quilt using my brand new Husqvarna Ruby sewing and embroidery machine.  My last Husqvarna was with me for 29 years and it never let me down.  In fact, I gave it to a young lady in my family who was just starting to sew.  She loves it as much as I did.

I took a class on "Making Your First Quilt" and I was told that at the end of the 6 weeks, I would have our quilt finished.  Well, that's exactly what happened.  We learned how to select fabric, plan our cutting to get the most out of our fabric,  sewing our pieces together, the importance of pressing, making a "quilt sandwich", quilting a design of our choice through all three layers and finally steps to bind and finish off your quilt.  Sure enough, at the end of the 6 weeks, I had my lap quilt done.

The fabric I chose is French General by Moda and all the fabrics co-ordinated to make a lovely quilt.  The backing fabric also from the French General line really pulled everything together.  I couldn't have been more happy and pleased with myself for getting it finished.  Do you know that there are some sewers out there who have had quilt "on the go" for years!  If you love the fabric that you picked, I don't think anyone would have a problem in completing the quilt top.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the steps involved in making my first quilt and since then, I have made several move.  With each quilt I tried to learn something new and of course I made a few mistakes along the way.  I will showcase some of my other quilts on future posts.

Happy Tutu Birthday!

A friend of mine has a cute little girl who just had her 2nd birthday.  I wanted to try making a tutu skirt for the occasion.  I know that all little girls love to dress up.

There are a lot of tutorials on YouTube on how to make no-sew tutu skirts so help yourself to that resource and decide which one you want to try.  I made the one with a ribbon waist band so that the skirt can be tied on and removed for those frequent bathroom visits.  The skirt really turned out well.  I used light pink and cream tulle to match the really cute hot pink and cream polka dot gross grain ribbon that I found at my local fabric store.  I also added hot pink satin skinny ribbons throughout the skirt to add more interest.  It turned out to be a very full skirt.  She loved it!

The octopus birthday card card was cut from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge.  I had a scrap piece of pastel tartan paper which really made a very cute sea creature.  I added goolie eyes to the body and Stickles to the pirate hat and voila - a very cute pink themed birthday card was born.

Gift Card Holders

My daughter asked me to make some gift card holders for a charity event.  I recently bought a gift holder die from My Creative Time.  I have been eyeing this die for a very long time and finally bought it.  What took me so long!

I used a pastel pink card stock and cut out the gift card holder.  Over the years, I have tried to make my own gift card holder but with varying success.  Sometimes the slots for the card don't line up and I have to start all over again.  Using my new die, the holders turn out perfectly every time.  I can then focus on decorating them.  For this card holder, I chose to just add a simple candy cane twine closure and adorn it with a small tag.  I used the Tiny Tags stamp set from My Crafting Spot that comes with the stamp for the tag and various sentiments.  I use this stamp set quite often as it is very versatile.

Everyone loved the holders and they were a big hit for the charity.

See you soon and remember to keep crafting!