runsewfun

Friday, January 29, 2016

little things

Little strips, little squares, little blocks, little quilt…

This is the most decadent quilt I’ve made to date. I used this tutorial from Red Pepper Quilts to make 48 different 16-patch checkerboard blocks. The repetitiveness of piecing these blocks was very therapeutic: cut, sew, press, repeat. Each of those 768 squares finish at 1.5".

I’ve been collecting fat 8ths and fat 16ths of Liberty of London Tana Lawn for awhile now and finally had enough variety (54 different prints) to give this a try. I used my favorite fabric, Peppered Cotton, for the solid. I just love the way the charcoal color makes the Liberty pop.

I quilted this on my Janome with a simple cross-hatch through all the solid squares. I used the thinnest (request loft) Quilter’s Dream cotton batting. Even with the thin batting there is an amazingly beautiful poof to this that I just couldn’t capture in a photo.

The binding is super luscious voile. It’s so soft I wanted to make it bigger and used this great tutorial to help me sort out the math to do that.
The back is a single piece of classic D’Anjo Liberty that I splurged on when Duckadilly had their Black Friday sale.

I made this ultra luxurious quilt in anticipation of our first grandchild who was due in February. She arrived six weeks earlier than anticipated and I have a few more quick little projects to share.

First, our baby girl (BG) is teeny tiny but mighty and healthy and we are blessed. The sweet little hat she’s wearing was donated to the Special Care Nursery where she spent her first 10 days. If you make things to donate to hospitals THANK YOU! I now know first hand how gratefully they are received.

I used this tutorial from Cut to Pieces to make a simple crib sheet. More of these are in the works!

Every baby needs a few sweet burp cloths. No tutorial needed here. Just measured, pressed and sewed.

Finally, I used this simple tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew to make a car seat canopy. The measurements Allison provides fit a Chicco infant car seat perfectly - just in case you ever need to know! The fabrics are organic cottons from Cloud 9 I picked up at Joann’s over a year ago. It’s good to have some yardage in your stash for when you need to make something quick!

Linking all these little finishes up with Crazy Mom Quilts. Then I'm off for some baby cuddle time!

Friday, January 8, 2016

to market

Like many, I’ve been reflecting on my 2015 finishes. Two highlights, in no particular order, are participating in my first blog hop and having one of my quilts go to Quilt Market. It occurred to me that I had not yet posted about my quilt going to market - so here we go…

Fellow Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild member and owner of Pink Castle Fabrics, Brenda Ratliff, designed her own fabric collection, Pie Making Day, for RJR Fabrics. It was very exciting each month at our meetings to hear about the process and see the initial runs. We were offered the opportunity to make something for her booth. We could only use fabric from the collection and RJR's Cotton Supreme solids. When the fabric arrived time was running short so I chose a pattern from Amy Smart’s "Fabulously Fast Quilts". I’d been eyeing the Modern Buzz Saw pattern for awhile and felt it was perfect for showing off the whole collection.

I used all 24 prints with Wimbledon & Cove for background colors.

I had extra fabric from my bundle so I used it for a border.

This was the first time I played with selvages. It took a few tries but I love that I got the collection and designer’s name, and even the date, in there!

On the back I used the last bits of fabric to make the blades for a version of the Sawtooth Stripe quilt from Denyse Schmidt’s book "Modern Quits Traditional Inspiration". I love that this is a two sided quilt!
Keeping with the saw blade theme I quilted this with all-over jagged lines.

Can you spot my quilt in this photo of Brenda’s award winning booth? I still can’t believe my quilt went to market!
Equally exciting is that Amy Smart was there to see it and she shared it with all her followers on Instagram and on her blog! (Amy's post is excellent. If you are interested in learning more about Quilt Market I encourage you to check it out.)

This quilt is one I'm keeping. It fits perfectly in the bunk room at our camp!

Thanks to Brenda for this wonderful opportunity. A highlight of 2015!

Completing this post is a finish so I'll be linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Friday, December 18, 2015

antique tile 2.0

Well this was fun!

Fellow A2MQG member, Amy @blotchandthrum, put a call out for pattern testers. I of course volunteered! She’d been playing around with piecing and came up with a new way to use charm packs for the Antique Tile block. She turned her clever play into a free pattern that is now available here on Craftsy.

I started with this charm pack from my Sewtopia swag bag and cut some white yardage to make an additional charm pack.

Amy’s well written instructions and colorful diagrams mean these 12” blocks sew together very quickly.

I decided to add a little more fabric and color to the charm pack and cut up some orangey-red Dottie I had in my stash.

I used a fun Cotton and Steel print on the back. The binding is a little more of that red. I love the way that Dottie print wraps around the edges!

I quilted this with meandering odd sized boxes. Simple and fun.

This quilt has been washed and donated to the local children’s hospital as my third Esch House Charity Challenge quilt.

Check out the free download and see what you come up with! Amy included a coloring sheet for you to play with options because there are lots of options with this pattern.
Share what you make on social media using the hashtag #antiquetile2point0.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Monday, December 7, 2015

more swapping

Finishing up a year of swapping here...

First up is the Schnitzel & Boo swap from Instagram. I was assigned @shoppershaz from Australia. In stalking her feed I learned she loved the geometric sewing machine pattern from Quiet Play so I made her one.

Lots of paper piecing here but the pattern went together perfectly and I highly recommend it. My partner also mentioned she had a daughter who would love a little something. When I realized they had a new puppy I decided to make an extra mini just for her daughter.

Of course I used the Dog Gone Cute pattern by Sew Fresh Quilts. Far better than my photo is this one Sharon posted of the two of them with the mini. Looks like a hit!

In return I received this modern hexi mini from @brynnsews! I love it!

I also participated in a swap while attending Glamp Stitchalot. My partner listed her favorite colors as orange, orange, & orange! I love this clutch I made last spring from Anna Graham’s Handmade Style so I made another. I also used this tutorial by Jeni Baker, one of the Glamp teachers, to make the patchwork gift bag. I included a few orange extras as well.

Finally, I participated in the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild’s annual secret swap. I drew Brenda Ratliff’s name. She owns Pink Castle Fabrics, has her own fabric line, and was the host of Glamp Stitchalot…so no pressure there! I used her Pie Making Day fabric and made one block from each of the Glamp teachers. I loved the Quiet Play sewing machine pattern so much I made another here in white (her son’s favorite). It’s a Janome because she’s a dealer!

In return, I received this beauty from @eschhousequilts. Debbie is our guild’s president and a pattern designer. Her work is outstanding and I am so pleased to have a piece of her to hang in my sewing room.

Not gonna lie...I got a little overwhelmed last month with swap deadlines so I'm taking a break from them for a bit. Moving on to Christmas prep...

I"ll be linking up all this "sewcial-ness" with Sew Fresh Quilts Let's Bee Social!

Friday, November 20, 2015

pretty practice

If you stopped by last summer you may remember my sweet & sour dilemma. I thought I could help the pattern emerge with the quilting. I couldn't.
I will use Rita's tutorial again and pay better attention to fabric colors and print scales. In the meantime - this quilt provided plenty of pretty practice...

Practice with my camera on a beautiful fall day.

Practice with free motion quilting - which can be seen better here on the back.

And practice with machine binding.

Since this was made with a bit of each print from only one line I worked a cut of the selvage into the back.

I used Quilter's Dream Wool batting. Lofty, light, & cozy! This quilt finished at 48x72. It's like an over-sized shawl. I can wear it around the house without tripping!

I also got some practice hanging quilts in trees!
Thanks for stopping by.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday.

Friday, October 23, 2015

a plus quilt

Well this was fun! Another Quilt-Along. This one on Instagram hosted by a delightful new friend. Of course I wanted in!

We all made a simple plus quilt following a free pattern by Jeli Quilts.

We needed 8 different fabrics for this pattern so it was a perfect use for this Gardenvale piece I purchased last summer.

I cut 5 inch squares for my pluses so this quilt finishes at 45” x 58.5”

I used a matching striped Gardenvale fabric for the binding.
My favorite thing about this quilt is the backing. It's a new Andover jersy knit by Alison Glass. I highly recommend it. It was almost 70” wide - even after pre-washing & drying. By the way, no bleeding of that beautiful blue in the pre-wash.

The batting is Quilter’s Dream Request loft cotton. Thin batting and the t-shirt backing make this a dreamy summer quilt.

I free motion quilted a geometric design in each of the squares. You can see it (a little) better on the back. (The color is off here. The previous photo shows a more accurate blue.)

Thanks for stopping by.

Linking up this Friday finish with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Monday, October 5, 2015

playful pups and a giveaway

Welcome!
I’m so pleased to be participating in my first blog hop. Thanks so much to Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts who wrote this Dog Gone Cute pattern for eight darling puppies and organized all the fun!

Here is my finish! I had lots of different ideas for this project but, as usual, it determined what it wanted to be. I originally intended to use both sizes of the pattern and a variety of Alison Glass’ Handcrafted fabrics with the Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed in flax for the background.

The first three came out so dog gone cute! I just love the pink and purple freckles!

Then I made a few more in other colors and sizes and they just weren’t working for me. Too dark or just not fitting in with those first three. So I acquiesced and returned to that original fat quarter.

Here's a tip to help you out as you make your blocks. Put a piece of tape on the bed of your machine right in line with the needle. Now just line up the bottom corner of the square on that line and sew. No need to draw a line on on all those squares!

As I was carefully measuring and cutting and sewing with such limited fabric, it occurred to me that these puppies wanted to play! So...it turns out this is actually a game board. There are 15 puppies in this litter. Seven pairs and one individual.

Now we can play Match The Puppy!

I added a bit of sashing between the rows and columns for spacing. It finished at 36 x 40 - perfect for playing on the floor!

The back is a Home Dec print by Denyse Schmidt that I picked up over a year ago on #thegreatfabricdestash on Instagram. (It's a closer match to the pair of green puppies than this photo shows.) I used Quilter’s Dream wool batting for the poof factor and quilted it with classic clam shells for the win!

I’m really happy with how calm and mellow these little puppies are. (They are even allowed on the furniture!) Everyone loves a sweet puppy!

Speaking of sweet puppies, here are the three I’ve shared my life with:

The Beagle is Penny. I grew up with her.
Our girls grew up with Emma, the Yellow Lab. She was actually more human than canine so including her here is questionable.
The Wheaten, Tula, was all mine. 100% terrier, she made it her job to keep me safe from every squirrel and bunny that dared enter our yard. She took her job quite seriously.

Now for the giveaway! To celebrate my first time participating in a blog hop I am offering a fat eighth bundle of Alison Glass’s new Handcrafted 2. To enter just leave a comment on this blog post. How about telling me the name of your favorite puppy?

I will use a random number generator to pick a winner on Tuesday, October 13th. If you are a no reply blogger please be sure to check back to this post next Tuesday to see if you are the winner.

The giveaway is now closed.

The winner is PK Sews!

Thanks to everyone for your lovely comments and for sharing your fun dog names, stories, and memories with me.

In the meantime, be sure and check out all those participating in the Dog Gone Cute Blog Hop to see what they've made with this sweet pattern.

Tuesday, October 6

Karen of Run Sew Fun

Kris of Kris Loves Fabric

Anja of Anja Quilts

Kelly of Quilting it Out

Tish of Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland

Thursday, October 8

Carol of Just Let Me Quilt