Back from vacation, and while I was away I took the opportunity to bring my sewing machine in for its annual check up and cleaning.  I picked up my  machine today, so it’s back to sewing!

This post is kind of like my to do list for the rest of the year.  Ha!  I hope I can get it all done.  School starts on August 2, and with both of my kiddos in school this year, I foresee a lot of daytime sewing.  That’ll be a nice change from all my burning the midnight oil sewing and quilting.

• I’ve got to finish the binding on this quilt:

• And I really need to start and finish the Breath of Avignon quilt.
• And I really want to take part in Freckled Whimsy’s charm pack quilt along.  I’m using my Wee Play charm packs, but I also ordered some solid fabric today.
• And I have a another quilt to start and finish.  This quilt’s recipient is long overdue for quilt, and since she may read this blog, I won’t divulge who or what the quilt is…yet.
• And a Halloween quilt.
• And a Halloween runner.
• And a quilt using Kate Spain’s 12 Days of Christmas layer cake.
• And I really need to start and finish another quilt by the beginning of December.
• And I’m sure there will be more that come up.

Happy quilting!!!

The pattern for 30’s Squared is so simple.  Pre-wash measurement: 57 x 66.5

Ingredients:

• 1 layer cake
• 1 3/4 yards of solid neutral
• 1/2 yard binding
• 4 1 /4 yards backing

Cutting Directions:

• Choose 21 10 inch squares from the layer cake
• Choose 6 10 inch squares from the layer cake and cut them each into 4 5×5 squares (you can cut more 10 inch squares for more variety); you need 21 5 x5 squares
• 42 3 x 5 rectangles from the solid neutral
• 42 3 x 10 rectangles from the solid neutral

Piecing Directions:

• Take a 5 x 5 square and add 3 x5 neutral rectangle to the top and bottom of the square
• Add the 3 x 10 rectangles to either side of the square
• Yields 1 10 x 10 square
• Repeat; you need 21

Layout for 6 x 7:

• Start with a 10 x10 square from the layer cake and alternate with the pieced 10 x 10 square
• 6 across and 7 down

I am so in love with this quilt!!!  The pattern is so easy, I and am loving it.  It simply uses a layer cake plus yardage, and since I’m always looking for patterns to use with layer cakes, this one is definitely a keeper.

The post wash measurement is 52 x 63.

For the label I incorporated it into the backing design.  I used a Sharpie and wrote on the white fabric.

I don’t often get pictures of my finished quilts with their recipients, but I am hand delivering this quilt to the recipients tomorrow, so hopefully when I get back from vacation I’ll post some pictures of the hopefully delighted recipients with their quilt.

I started a new project (I really shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t resist).  I’m using a layer cake of A Breath of Avignon by American Jane for Moda.  I so love the colors of this line, and this fabric line definitely brings me back to France…love it!

I’m using the Sweet Garden pattern by Carolina Patchworks.  This pattern requires a good bit of organization and planning, so I organized my layer cake and then cut all the pieces.  I then laid out the pieces to my liking.  Now I just need to find the time to piece the top, but something tells me that this project is going to have to wait until July when I get back from vacation.  Before vacation I have so much work to do (you know for my part time job that actually pays me to do work), and I have to finish the binding on the 30’s Squared quilt.  Oh, and I also have to finish the binding for the Black, White, & Red Allover quilt.  I think a baby quilt for a friend may also sneek in the to do list.  Sheesh I have a lot to do!

Here’s a fun table runner made with Nautical and Nice by Sandy Gervais for Moda charm squares.  The quilting is simple, just a few straight lines.  The more straight line quilting I do the more I realize I’m a stippling kind of girl.  But I do like this runner, and it’s patriotic with the red, white, and blue.

A few weeks ago I finished up the Baby Blues quilt for my good friend.  We went to their house for dinner and she opened here present and loved it!   Yay…always a good feeling!!!

I love the colors, and I really liked how it turned out.

I marked this quilt for straight line quilting, and I have to honestly say that I’m not sold on marking my quilts prior to quilting.  I also used flannel for the backing, and while it is soft and cozy I’m not sold on it either.  If you use flannel, PREWASH it!!!  Even if you don’t prewash your fabrics, ALWAYS prewash your flannel.  Flannel shrinks so much more than regular quilting fabric, and the weave is bigger.  Once you wash it and it shrinks, it shrinks the weave, which makes the quilting stitches much more secure.

Spring 2010 Blogger’s Quilt Festival

Now this is exciting!

It’s like show and tell!

I’m Showing and Telling about Urban Nature.

My sister-in-law asked me to make her a quilt last summer.  I was very flattered because I had only been quilting for about 6 months.  I figured it would be a lap quilt, which I could totally manage, but she requested a queen size quilt.  Even though I had never made anything that large I was up for the challenge.  She purchased some hand painted fabric scraps from an etsy store (I can’t remember which one), and in July she gave me the scraps and we brainstormed about what to do with them.  Over the next few months I searched and searched for the perfect coordinating fabrics.  Believe it or not it was a bit tough finding the coordinating fabrics…the fabrics had to be solid, with no pattern, and I didn’t want to venture away from the earthy browns, greens and creams, but I also wanted there to be variety and contrast.  I love that she gave me so much creative freedom and trusted my choices.

I absolutely love how it turned out!

The big thing I learned while making this quilt is that I could actually quilt a 95 x 95 quilt on my home sewing machine.  How’d I do it?  With a method called low carb quilting.  What’s that you ask?  I made the entire quilt top, and when I got the quilt sandwich ready I cut the batting into thirds.  I place one third of the batting down the center and quilted the center, about 36 x 100.  It made it so much easier (and lighter) to maneuver the quilt.  Once I finished the center panel I used a joining foot and joined the right side of the batting to the center batting panel.  I used a zig zag stitch, which is very secure, and by using a joining foot, there is absolutely zero seam bulk.  After I did the right side I did the same thing to the left side.  And viola!

My sister-in-law also asked that I make a pillow, but I couldn’t just make one, especially since it was for a queen size bed, so I made 3.  The pillows look so cool with the quilt.

I love the quilt and pillows so much, and am very proud of myself for designing this quilt and actually quilting it all by myself!

I managed to hammer out the quilt top using the Snippets layer cake 2 weeks ago.

The quilt top stayed nicely folded for some time, because I couldn’t find the time to actually quilt it.  When I quilt I like to have a big block of time to just sit down and quilt.  Sometimes those big blocks of time are few and far between.  Most of the time I quilt when Steve is out of town on business.  He had a series of canceled trips, so no quilting time for me.  But now he’s on a trip, so after my kiddos were in bed last night I decided to quilt.

Today’s project is binding.

Jen, my sister-in-law, sent me a picture of Urban Nature in its new home.

I know the photo’s a bit blurry, but you get the idea…

Doesn’t it look lovely?

I stocked up on Snippets layer cakes when they were in closeout at Cotton Patch Quilting.  I knew I would eventually put them to good use.  I broke into one of those layer cakes this weekend and can’t wait to to get the quilt top together.  I’ve got the blocks done, but I still have to lay them out.  I’m excited about this quilt.  For starters, I love the fabric…the 30’s reproduction that reminds me of feed sacks.  And secondly, it’s a super easy pattern that uses 1 layer cake plus some yardage of a neutral, and the pattern is all mine!

Hopefully I’ll make good progress in the coming days, that is of course as long as my 4 year old gets over the virus she has.