Southern Quilter » Quilt Top

Summer Lovin’

Rachel — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 05:21:34 +0000

Two years ago I was very much a newby at quilting. I had been quilting for all of 2 months, and we had a terrible ice storm. We were in the house for an eternity and my hubby who was out of town on business could not get home because of all the ice. So what’s a quilter to do? I ended up making 54 blocks. My seam allowance consistency was awful, but hey I was new and I was having fun. When I finished the blocks I had all the intentions of making a nice quilt with them, but away they were stashed in one of my drawers for the last 2 years.

I took the blocks out recently and studied them. I love the cheerful colors and the mix of of small and large squares framed. Each block was *supposed* to be a 12.5 inch square. Ha!!! I don’t think any of them (ok, maybe a few) actually turned out that size. So I decided to trim the blocks down to a 12 inch square. Now the one thing I absolutely loathe about quilting is squaring my blocks. These days I generally don’t have to since my seam allowances are quite consistent, but these blocks needed it or else the quilt would have been a disaster! Squaring the blocks actually took less time than I thought, and now I wish I had done this long ago and not waited 2 years!!!!

Fabric Trimmings

Anyway, the squaring is done, and I now have a nice new quilt top, which will be a later wedding gift. Hmmmm, late wedding gifts seem to be a recurring theme…. I will also be creating another wedding gift quilt, which is, you guessed it, late.

Variety of fabrics, but lots of Summer in the City by Urban Chicks for Moda

Giddy Goof

Rachel — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 03:17:00 +0000

I completed the Giddy quilt top a few nights ago, and on Tuesday evening while we watched the Sugar Bowl (and sadly watched the Hogs lose), I decided to pin paste the quilt.

I got to the very last corner and finished the pin basting and realized this:

The top right block was sewn in the wrong direction! I let out a very loud “Oh, no!!” It was PG since my kiddos were still awake. This seems to be a recurring problem for me…sewing directional blocks. I did the very same thing with the Ellie Fun quilt. My hubby kept telling me not to worry about it especially since Giddy is for us (really, it’s for me ), but I couldn’t, because I knew it would bug me, and I love this fabric so much I wanted it to be “perfect.”

So I unpinned that section and got out my handy seam ripper, and I got to work.

I then rotated the block and sewed everything back together, and then repinned that section.

Now that looks better, and more importantly I feel much better!

Breath of Avignon Quilt Top

Rachel — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 01:19:54 +0000

One of my readers sent me an email asking me about the Breath of Avignon quilt. I’ve got the quilt top done, and the backing all ready, and now I just need to find the time to pin baste then quilt this baby.

It took me longer than most quilts to actually finish the quilt top, but I’m sure that’s just because I seem to have very little “free” time these days. Once I got going it was pretty fast…it was the getting go part that always seemed to give me trouble.

Anyway, I’m really liking how it turned out, and I am eager to get it completely finished.

This picture is for you Jane:

Merry & Bright Sandwich

Rachel — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:01:07 +0000

I’ve got my Merry & Bright quilt top and backing sandwiched together and pin basted. I went to my local quilt shop today and got a cool gold toned (but it’s not shiny or anything like that) thread for the quilting.

Here’s a peak:

Front

Pieced back

Now I just need to find the time to quilt this baby.

Back to Quilting

Rachel — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:40:46 +0000

We are back from vacation, and my sewing machine is back from getting a good cleaning and tune up…yay! I managed to finish quilting the Ellie Fun quiltop, and now it’s on to the binding. I’ve got the binding sewed on to to the front and now am in the beginning stages of hand sewing the binding to the back of the quilt.

I usually like to finish a project before starting a new one, but I was feeling the need to be creative a few nights ago, so I broke out my Merry & Bright layer cake and got started. I’ve got the quilt top done, and last night I finished piecing the back. It’s a gift, so you’ll have to wait until December to see the completed project, but I may give some sneak peaks! I just love this line…so much so that I bought a layer cake for myself to someday turn it into something fabulous, but my quilt will have to wait for another day.

Merry & Bright by Sandy Gervais for Moda

Ellie Fun Quilt Top

Rachel — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:08:13 +0000

The Ellie Fun quilt top is now done, and I love it. The elephants are just adorable. The pattern was pretty simple, and it didn’t take long to piece. Now I have to figure out what color thread to use for the actual quilting. Any ideas?

I pieced the back with all the leftover fabric and bit from my stash, and I love how the back turned out.

Rocqua Rhythm Quilt Top

Rachel — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:46:14 +0000

I got my Rocqua Rhythm quilt top done today. The fabric is Farmer’s Market by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller, and the pattern is Cubic Rhythm from the Spring 2009 issue of Quilts and More.

It’s bright and cheery, although I do wish that I had made 3 blocks of the cherries and put those on the diagonal…note to self, need to get a design wall set up. I still think it looks great and is the type of quilt to put a smile on your face. Now I just need to piece the backing and I will put this one in the cue to get quilted.

Woodland Bloom Ziggity Zaggity

Rachel — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:32:37 +0000

I absolutely love Lila Tueller’s Woodland Bloom fabric line. I found a zig zag pattern in the Fons & Porter Baby Quilts, Winter 2008 magazine that I thought would be perfect. I used 1 jelly roll plus another 10 strips or so to make the quilt bigger than the originally published finished quilt of 47 x 47. My quilt is 67 x 72, and I absolutely love it! It’s not quilted…yet.

384 Parrallelograms

Cottage Romance

Rachel — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:31:07 +0000

I’m so in love with Camille’s Jelly Filled pattern, and this was my first quilt using that pattern…except I used fat quarters instead of a jelly roll. On Super Bowl Sunday, one of the local quilt shops had a super sale on fat quarter…$1.25 each! Needless to say I shopped ’til I dropped. I bought a whole bunch of what I call shabby chic fabric, and I used the the Jelly Filled pattern. The pattern is for jelly rolls, but you can easily modify and use fat quarters. 2 strips that are 2.5 x width of fat quarter = 1 jelly roll strip, approximately. You can get 3 jelly roll equivalent strips from 1 fat quarter. Great way to use up fat quarters too.

The quilt top measures 60 x66.

Scrappy Fat Quarters

Rachel — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:49:46 +0000

While I was taking my beginner quilting class in November, I caught the quilting bug and made this quilt top. This was the first time I went to the quilt shop and picked out the fabric all by myself…huge accomplishment. I was a bit overwhelmed at first, but then I remembered my teacher saying “start with a fabric you like, and go from there.” That’s exactly what I did.

The pattern is Fat Quarters Gone Wild, and the quilt top measures 59 x 60 and is not quilted…yet!