A couple from Joyce

Joyce made this lovely quilt from a jelly roll pattern.

I quilted free-flowing feathers all over and a half-feather in the border in a dark brown thread.

Oooh.  The back.

She also made this adorable dino baby quilt.  

I did another go with the rick-rac border.

I really like how the loopy sashings turned out.  The dinosaurs are left unquilted.  They are small enough to get by without it and they look fine the way they are.  Joyce agreed.  Plus, I don't own thread to match all those colors!

Do Good Stitches Update

Here it is!  My Do. Good Stitches Haven group quilt for December.  I had the gals make a super simple block for December- since it is such a busy month.  I said to just sew random strips together into a 12.5 inch block, but to keep warm and cool colors separate.  I had no real plan as to how I was going to put the blocks together, but this layout got in my head, and I made it work.  I tried to have it go from reds in one corner, to blues in the opposite corner.  Now that it's finished, WHY didn't I move that one pink-ish block to the other corner to make it nice and balanced??  Oh well!

When quilting a charity quilt, I just want to do something simple and quick and get it done and move on.  But at the same time, I also want to try out something new, experiment a little, or practice a design to get better at it.  So, I ended up doing a simple loop meander in the wide border and something new in the orange.  I saw this rick-rack design in a post by Kathy and thought it not only looked really neat, but simple to do.  I love it!  I have since done a few more borders this way.

I had the idea of quilting the warm colored blocks a different texture than the cools.  So I did a large McTavish-ish thing in the warms, and a paisley swirl in the cools.  It didn't contrast like I somehow thought it would.  Pointy swirls and pointy swooshes are pretty similar in texture I found out.  Quilting fail. 

The back.

Our snazzy label.

All quilts must be walked and spun around on by my little guy before they go home :)  I tried to keep the quilt gender neutral, although there is quite a bit of pink in there.  It could still go either way I think. 

(sorry my pics are not oriented the right way.  I'm a terrible and lazy blogger!)

Here was February's X + block.  Did I share this already??  I think I did...

No, pretty sure I didn't.  Here's the link to the tutorial which makes a 7.5 inch block.  But we used Megan's measurements to make a 12 inch block.

Well, I know I haven't shared this one!  Just as I get one quilt completed, it's my turn again!  This time it's a little more tricky.  But not too tricky.  This block is called Honeycomb and you can find Marla's tutorial here.  It is really easy to make although you do paper piece the corner units.  But it is super easy paper piecing, so it's not scary at all.  I'm having the gals use mostly pinks, greens, yellow and oranges and using a fun print in the center.  And a white solid or white on white for the background. 

I really love the look of this block and I think it will be fun to quilt too!  I always have that in the back of my mind when I pick out these DGS blocks. 

Linking up to Amanda Jean's Finish it up Friday.  

I'm the ding-dong who put the web address in the wrong place :)  #23.

Junk Quilting for a Junk Quilt

Carol made this neat scrappy quilt using up a lot of her lights.  She called it another one of her "junk quilts"!  I was planning on doing an all-over with just a couple few design motifs, when I thought of doing 'junk quilting" and quilting a little bit of everything on it!  

And I mean EVERY. THING!  I did just about every design I could think of--a little bit of just about everything I have ever done on a quilt.  All kinds of flowers, feathers, and leaves, swirls, paisleys, pebbles, ribbons, butterflies, meandering...

...Plus several new things that I've been meaning to try out.  Like these simple little loop flowers.

And squared off feathers.  And things I've learned in classes like the loop/ribbon design in the bottom right from Sally Terry.

And this flower design I saw on some of Jenny Pedigo's quilting.  

All kinds of things!

I try to keep a little notebook by my computer to doodle quilting designs I come across that I want to try out.  So I was finally was able to try a bunch of them out on this quilt.  

Now, keep in mind that I wouldn't do this on just anyone's quilt.  I knew my customer would like this whole concept- she is THE most laid back and easy-going lady I know.  And she loved it!  She is going to enjoy finding all the little things I snuck in there.  And it was so much fun to quilt!  I think I will have to do this again, only on one of my own quilts.  If I ever get around to finishing anything! 

Thanks Carol for telling me to quilt whatever the heck I want on your quilts and then loving it every time!  I don't think she is calling this a 'junk quilt' anymore!

Pinwheel Baby Quilt

Jessica also made this adorable pinwheel baby quilt.  

I used a couple different designs from Eva Larkin's book 'Free Motion Quilting Made Easy'.  I picked two similar designs-keeping the simpler one in the plain block.  Because those little critters are pretty cute on their own!

The pieced blocks made spacing a triple scalloped border a cinch.  I added a loop in between, tying in the loop element in from the blocks.  The only marking I did was a dot in the center of the plain blocks, and another dot about 1.25" over and down from each corner to mark the start of the loops.  That's it!

And, Oh Man--the Back!  I had no idea the two designs together would look like this!  

Jessica's Lilly Pulitzer Sampler

Jessica made this great big quilt of all different kinds of Lilly Pulitzer fabrics.  I LOVE this quilt!  It is so bright and cheery!  And this design really allows those fabulous prints to shine!

I did an all-over medley of flowers, swirls and leaves.  

And a simple feathery design in the border.

Here's a closer look at those fun fabrics...  Quilting this one sure brightened up a few of my winter days!

Thanks Jess!

3 More Quilts to Share

Jessica made this adorable whale baby quilt.  

I quilted waves in the whale strips, then got a little fancy with the 9-patches on point.  Plenty of C2C's going on there!

Next up was this really neat snowman quilt.  Where are the snowmen you ask?

Here they are!  I had never seen a batik/print like this before.  I filled them in with feathers.

In her 9-patches I made swirls across the row.  Little half-feathers in the narrow border and another large swirl in the bigger border, using a navy thread.

Mary made this neat quilt.  

I did an all-over free motion conglomeration of feathers, flowers, swirls, leaves, and maybe even a butterfly or 2 if I remember right!

Joyce's Dino and Pinwheel baby quilts

Joyce made these baby quilts--both to be donated to charitable auctions.  This first one is a cute dinosaur one.  I kept the quilting simple since it had some high loft batting.  A swirl-bump-bump in a light gray thread is what I did all over it.

Where's the elephant??

This quilt also made for a fun I-Spy game while it was in our care.  :)

Next up was this super cute pinwheel quilt with dimensional pinwheels.  

This one was a bit of a challenge! I ended up doing meandering around the pinwheels-being careful not to catch any of those edges.  Then I worked my way up into the yellow center to do a little spiral through all those seam layers.  For the sashings, I did a ribbon and circle in the cornerstones.

In the borders--a half feather and a row of circle-y loops.  I also put a flower in each white setting triangle around the edges.  Phew!  This is pretty fancy quilting for me.  I hope these quilts will bring in what they are worth, plus more!  

WIP Wednesday!

 

I actually have a WIP to share!  And just in time for Valentine's Day!  This tablerunner is called 'Sweetheart' from Quilter's Newsletter.  It's a free online pattern!  I have started to get into making table runners since they are a small project--I can actually start and finish a project in a reasonable amount of time.  This pattern appealed to me because it uses lots of little scraps.  (What 80% of my stash seems to be!)  The squares finish at 1.5".  The hearts on the ends are paper pieced, I just have to peel the paper off the backs.  My least favorite part. 

 

I added the orange heart just for the heck of it.  And I was worried I didn't have enough variety in my red scraps, so swapping them out for an orange heart seemed like a good idea.

 

I just need to get some red fabric for the border.  And then it's almost ready to be quilted.  So it wont be done for Valentine's Day, but oh well.  It will be ready for next year!

 

 

And here are my blocks for my Do Good Stitches Haven group.  X and + block.  They went together quick!  It's my turn again next month and I'm undecided on what block to have them do.  I have some ideas, but am on the fence about them.

 

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Oink-A-Doodle-Moo Times Two

Jessica made two of these farm quilts with "Oink-a-Doodle-Moo" from Moda.  This fabric is so adorable.  My 2 yr old son was a little obsessed over it!  And this pattern showcases each print so well.  

I quilted a super-sized echo swirl all over on both of them.  You can find this quilt among many others in Jessica's Etsy Shop: Home in the Heartland.  Check it out!

Alligators and a Lilly Pulitzer quilt from Jessica

 

OK!  This is THEE LAST thing from 2013!!  I'm so behind on blogging.  ack!  This free pattern is from Sew Mama Sew.  I made my bodies a little bit longer than the pattern.  And the lighter alligator has the bigger zipper--I had a heck of a time getting that thing turned right-side-out!  I about gave up.  I ended up making my seam allowance shorter in order to get it flipped around.  So take note of that if you use a big zipper/big toothed alligator!  I would cut my fabric a bit more generous in the mouth area.  Anyways, one alligator I gave to my neice, the other went into my son's Christmas stocking.  They would be cute in an Easter basket too.

 

OK, moving on to 2014!  This one is from Jessica.  She has kept me pretty busy so far this year with her fun quilts.  She makes custom quilts upon request as well as keeps her Etsy shop well stocked.

 

This one is all Lilly Pulitzer fabrics.  I quilted all over swirls, leaves, and flowers in the pinwheels.  A double scallop in the small border, and a large LEL ribbon in the outer border.

 

It's hard to see much detail here, but these fabrics are so bright and cheery!

 

 

Oh, I almost forgot that I put hearts in the corners.  I don't usually quilt a lot of heart designs, but Pink borders will do that to me. :)

Thanks Jessica for having me quilt all your creations!  You can find her Etsy shop at Home in the Heartland.  Thanks readers for stopping by!