WIP - Japanese Cheater Print

This was a print I saw on flickr a few (maybe 3?) years ago. A friend had some and I HAD to have it, so I got enough to just do a baby quilt.

I started hand quilting it because at the time my walking foot wasn't working well. I'm pretty sure I haven't worked on it for a few years (2?). I just need to finish the hand quilting and then put a binding on and it's done. Maybe it should be my new (old) hand project while watching TV.

WIP - Heather Ross Flannel

Apparently I like to cut things up with my rotary cutter, but not sew them together. I bet I've got 5 quilts cut that have no stitching in them at all.

Maybe it was sometime last Christmas that I cut up all the flannel pj fabric I had that was designed by Heather Ross. I was thinking of a winter quilt that would be nice and cozy. I've got a bunch of squares, rectangles, and smaller squares that I am just going to fit together. It would be helpful to have a design wall for this one. I think it also needs a bit more color, maybe some solid blues and greens. And I don't think I have enough for the size I'd like. We shall see.

WIP - baby owl quilt

I started making this quilt while I was pregnant with my last baby. He's almost 2 now. After starting it I changed my mind and made a simpler one for him. But I do still like it.

I was trying to copy Nettie's Morgan quilt here. I guess it isn't going to be just like it, now that I'm looking back at that one. And that's okay. I would like to finish it. Sometime.

Summer Quilts - Soft Orange Squares

This quilt is my favorite of all the quilts I made in this batch. I'm not sure what it is, but I just love the soft colors and the cute fabrics. (I am not sure of the name of this fabric, although I believe it is an Alexander Henry print. I bought it within the last year.)

I started with 2 fat quarters just like with the Hello Betty Matryoshka quilt. I meant to cut them all 6.5 inches, but messed one of the cuts up and ended up with 4 blocks of 3 different sizes. I added borders to make the blocks 12.5 inches unfinished. The sashing and borders are 2.5 inches cut.

To quilt this one I used my walking foot and did straight, random lines vertically along the quilt. They aren't perfectly straight, but not really wavy either. I LOVE how it turned out and I will definitely use this quilting again. I know it's really basic, but I haven't done much straight line quilting because the walking foot that came with my machine was horrible. Once I realized that was the problem I bought another one (generic brand) and it works great!

Summer Quilts - Weiner Dog

This quilt is also from Boo Davis' book Dare to Be Square. I made it a tad bigger than in the book (by adding the brown border and lengthening the bottom blue strip). And I love how it turned out. I will be making another one of these for my middle boy.

I quilted this with a simple loop and it turned out pretty well. I was also able to find the perfect backing at JoAnn. I think it turned out great.

Summer Quilts - Robot

This quilt is from Boo Davis' book - Dare to Be Square. I didn't make it full size - hers is much bigger. Also, I didn't line up the background fabrics to make a zig zag like she did in her book. But other than that, it's mostly the same.

I love those background colors so much that I think I need a quilt for me in just those colors.

I tried a new quilting pattern for this one, which I'm not sure I love. It's kind of an oval with a line through it.
Meh. I'm pretty sure my nephew loves it, and 2 of my kids want their own now too.

Summer Quilts - Simple Strip Quilt

Well - I had a slightly different idea for a quilt in my head before I started this. But it didn't quite work out as planned. I'd wanted to make it a scrappy herringbone quilt with different widths of strips and only a small amount of yellow. But I cut all the pieces wrong at first and had to just do this instead. I think it still worked out okay. And I'm pretty sure my niece loved it. And that's really all that matters.

I had been hoarding 2 + yards of this orchid colored Matryoshka fabric designed by Heather Ross. I found that there were 2 prints from Weekends by Erin McMorris that went perfectly. Also - that Echo by Lotta Jansdotter print that is the exact same color. They all went together so well. And then that touch of yellow to break it all up.

Once I sewed everything together I didn't like it. It seemed so busy and there was a lot more yellow than I'd originally wanted. I think if I were to do it again I'd add in some purple solids or white to break it up even more. I'd also cut the strips bigger and only have a few small ones.

I quilted this on my machine with just a simple loop. I like the loop when there's a line to follow. It was a bit difficult on this one because I didn't really follow a line.

The back is my favorite. I kind of wish it were the front and that I'd just backed it with a solid. Maybe next time I'll do that.

Summer Quilts - simple squares

This was a very quick top to put together, and truthfully, I'd sewn the top up in the early spring. I just didn't get around to quilting it until July.


I believe the blocks were 6.5 inches cut (6 inches finished). There are 7 blocks across and 9 blocks down. Which would make the dimensions of this quilt about 42 x 54.

For the quilting I used my walking foot. I made a small circle - about 1/2 inch - and then spiraled away from it about 1 inch away. I think spacing became further and further apart as I got closer to the outside and I think next time I'd try to space it at almost 2 inches.

I really love how it turned out even though it's not exactly perfect. Also - this batting was quite thick, which made the quilting really show up.

Summer Quilts - Hello Betty Matryoshka

Hello to anyone who still reads this blog. It seems like the summer flew by, didn't it? I did get some quilting in, but I think I burned myself out making 6 quilts in July, all for nieces and nephews. I haven't done much since.

I'm going to write about them all in their own posts.

First up - the Hello Betty Matryoshka.

I started with 2 fat quarters of this cute Kokka Folklore Matryoshka fabric, which I think you can still get online (it also comes in other colors). I cut those fat quarters into 12 6.5 inch squares (finishing at 6 inches).

Then I bordered each square with white strips cut at 1.5 inches (finishing at 1 inch).

Luckily I had some leftover Hello Betty fabric that was just the right colors. I cut several 2.5 inch strips to border the white-bordered matryoshka squares (ending up 2 inches finished).

Then I sashed everything with 2.5 inch cut strips (2 inches finished) and added a 2.5 inch cut (2 inches finished) border.

 

The quilting was just a straight, diagonal stitch. Which was really easy because I just followed the lines of the backing fabric (which I got at JoAnn). I did have to buy the backing and the binding, but everything else was used from my stash.

The final dimensions for this quilt are 44 inches x 58 inches. Thanks for reading :)