leedle deedle quilts

scrappy fish quilt

2012-02-16T16:57:00.001-07:00

So I joined the Scrap Attack Quilt Along hosted by Rachel of Stitched in Color. Truthfully I had other ideas for my scrap quilt, and I still may try to execute those plans, but for now - this quilt turned out exactly how I'd planned it.

When I saw this quilt by Katie of Sew Katie Did I knew I wanted to make one.

One month I made these blocks with scraps for the Harmony circle of do. Good stitches {a charity bee} and I LOVED the colors together. My sister Katie was pregnant at the time and I thought she'd love this color combo as well.

And so I started making her new baby a quilt using only scraps. I still have a few scraps left over.

Can you tell here that I used white strips to piece that whole white strip?

For the back I used scraps from the backing of this quilt. It's just pieced with all the same fabric. And for the binding I used 2 different oranges that were smaller than a quarter yard.

For the quilting I just did a curvy/straight line (is there a name for that?) with my new walking foot. I have a Brother sewing machine and I've never had good luck with the walking foot it came with. Kati had the same problem and started using a generic walking foot and had much better luck. I bought a new generic one and I'm happy to report that my straight quilting is the best I've ever done. If you've had trouble with straight line quilting, I'd look into getting a new/different walking foot.

What else?

I've also joined another quilt along with Dana of Old Red Barn Co. I am in love with that Granny Square quilt! I think I'll make a twin size.

I've got a few other things to share soon too. What have you been up to?

2011 quilts

2012-01-29T16:27:00.003-07:00

Well I made 9 quilts last year and 9 quilts in 2010! Let's see if I can make more than 9 this year. Here are the ones from 2011 with a long list of what's already started (in hopes that by putting them on the here - I'll get them finished up.)

1. my new bed quilt, 2. Jack's stripes (back), 3. a man quilt, 4. KJR 9 patch, 5. purple/yellow 9 patch, 6. wildwood coin finished!, 7. the biggest quilt i've ever made - 102 x 104, 8. blue and green squares, 9. Amy Butler throw for the kindergarten teacher

Quilts I'd like to finish this year:

1. Hello Betty (top is done, just needs quilting and binding)
2. owl baby quilt
3. Amy Butler green and blue
4. flannel HR squares
5. purple scrap quilt (add a border, quilt and bind)
6. Hello Betty scrap quilt (border, quilt, and bind)
7. Harmony grey/blue/green quilt (quilt and bind)
8. houndstooth quilt
9. rainbow chevron (top is done, just needs quilting and binding)
10. orange/grey string x

There is also a whole list (longer than this) of quilts I'd like to get done but haven't started. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime - I may be posting photos of some of these that I haven't shown you yet.

Rainbow Chevron Twin Quilt: A Tutorial

2012-01-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

FOR THIS QUILT YOU WILL NEED:
5 fat 8ths in each of 7 colors (red, red-orange, orange, yellow, lime green, green, blue).
OR assorted scraps (at least 7 x 7 inches in size or 3.5 x 14 inches long) - enough to make 14 per row or 98 total chevrons.
AND 6.25 yards white for chevrons, sashing, and borders. (A generous amount.)

For a twin quilt you will make 14 chevron blocks per row. There are 7 rows. So there are 98 chevron blocks total.

MAKING THE CHEVRON BLOCK:

Step 1
Cut 1 white rectangle 3.5 x 6.5 inches
Cut 1 print rectangle 3.5 x 6.5 inches
Cut 2 white squares 3.5 x 3.5 inches
Cut 2 print squares 3.5 x 3.5 inches

Step 2
Mark a diagonal line through the middle of the square - like the photo below. Do this to all your squares.

You'll have 4 squares with diagonal lines marked.

Step 3

Lay the white square on the printed rectangle - wrong sides together - lining them up on the left side with the diagonal line oriented like the photo below.

Lay the printed square on the white rectangle - wrong sides together - lining them up on the left side with the diagonal line oriented like the photo below.

Step 4
Sew on the line for both pieces.

This is what your pieces will look like sewn (below).

Step 5
Trim each piece 1/4 inch away from the stitch line.

This is how your pieces will look (below).

Step 6
Press the triangles open.

This is how mine look from the back - with the seam pressed to the side toward the triangle. You could also press it open.

Step 7

Lay the white square on the printed rectangle - wrong sides together - lining them up on the right side with the diagonal line oriented like the photo below.

Lay the printed square on the white rectangle - wrong sides together - lining them up on the right side with the diagonal line oriented like the photo below.

Sew the squares to the rectangles along the diagonal line.

Step 8
Trim each piece 1/4 inch away from the stitch line.

This is how your pieces will look (below).

Step 9
Press the triangles open.

This is how mine look from the back.

Step 10
Sew the 2 blocks together making sure that you sew right through the point to get a nice point on the finished block.

This is what your block should look like. Notice where the stitching meets the point.

Step 11
Press the whole block. I pressed my seam to the side and toward the top (as shown below) because when you start sewing the blocks to the sashing it is easier to see where the points will be. Pressing this seam open would work too.

And here is your finished block!

I am not going to go into great detail about how to put the blocks together into a quilt. But here are the dimensions for the rest of the quilt.

8 strips of sashing (including side borders) - 3.5 wide x 84 inches long. (I'd measure each chevron strip and take the average to find out exactly how long to cut the sashing)
2 strips for top and bottom borders - 3.5 x 66.5 inches long. (I'd measure the top and bottom of the quilt to see exactly how long to cut these.)

The quilt should finish at 66.5 x 90.5

Good luck! And if you make a quilt using this tutorial, be sure to send me an email with a photo link. I'd love to see!

p.s. I apologize if there are any problems with this tutorial and would appreciate it if you'd let me know if there are. Thanks!

Rainbow Chevrons: tutorial coming soon!

2012-01-25T14:19:00.001-07:00

I finished a quilt top!

This quilt has been in my head ever since I saw this mug rug.

I also couldn't get these signs out of my head. Every time I'd see them while driving, I knew I wanted to do a similar quilt. Also around the same time I'd been thinking of a good rainbow idea.

photo from here

So about 1/2 years ago I started planning and cutting. Then I got distracted by other things and it sat waiting to get worked on. (Story of my life.)Recently I've also seen this photo on pinterest and figured I'd better hurry up and finish this before someone else got the same idea!

I'm working on a tutorial for this quilt. It should be up soon!

Thanks for reading :)

bee blocks

2012-01-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it seems like all I do are bee blocks. Does it seem like that to you? I think I'll start a new quilt just to be working on a quilt. And I think I'll keep working on another one I've started. I'll take some photos and show you. I also did write several quilting goals and I think I'll try to post them on here with photos. It may or may not happen.

This first block is for Rachel in Bee Tweet. She asked for houses. That little house on a pole is supposed to be a bird house. Or maybe it could be a light post. Either way. Also - that roof fabric was something vintage. It even smelled vintage. Not sure I love it as the roof, but it was a great fabric.

These next 6 blocks are for the 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee.

And these next 3 are for the HARMONY group of the do good stitches bee.

Hopefully my next post does not include bee blocks!

last finishes of 2011

2012-01-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

I'm planning to post my progress from last year and my new goals for this year soon, but first I have to sneak in these Christmas finishes.

I made this very large quilt for my mom for Christmas. It measures 102" x 104". LARGE. Note that one side is missing the border. That was on purpose. You may have also noted that it is not bound. I left that to my mom. But I did get it quilted for her (by my favorite quilter Emily - of Emerson quilting.) I am SO thankful I didn't have to quilt it myself!

Here is a close up of the quilting. I love the loops.

This is the backing - my mom had this sheet and thought it would work well for the backing.

And here is the quilt I made my sister. (It was inspired by this quilt by Jess of Urban Patchwork.) It was actually supposed to be her wedding quilt - she got married in July. But she didn't really need it until winter and I wasn't going to see her until Christmas. So of course I was scrambling around trying to finish it up at the last minute.

It measures 91 x 91" and I quilted it myself. I didn't get it finished in time to send to Emily for quilting. So I did the biggest stipple I could manage on my home machine and it turned out okay. I DO NOT like quilting large quilts at home. But my sis and her hubs liked it and that's all that matters :)

they asked for a green and blue quilt so I started with the Denyse Schmidt picnic/fairgrounds dots, picked a few solids to match, and pulled a few other blues from my stash to mix in. I LOVE the colors.

Giveaway winner and can you believe Christmas is 4 days away?

2011-12-21T09:23:00.003-07:00

Thanks so much for everyone who entered my giveaway, for everyone who went over to look at my shop, and for everyone who purchased from me. I had the best month I've ever had thanks to all of you!

The winner of the giveaway was Robyn. I've emailed her and will be sending her earrings before Christmas.

And can you believe it's only 4 days until Christmas? I've made 2 queen quilts, and several other smallish quilty things. I'll be sure to show you photos after their new owners have seen them. I've still got to do Christmas cards, some surprises for my kids, and neighbor gifts! I think I can do it.

Thanks again to all of you for reading my blog and commenting on my projects. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Giveaway Day! NOW CLOSED

2011-12-12T09:44:00.005-07:00

Welcome to my blog and thanks for stopping by! Today I'm giving away the winner's choice of earrings from my etsy shop - leedle deedle designs.

It's true I'm a quilter and totally addicted to fabric - which is what this blog is for. But I have many crafty interests and jewelry is one thing I love to make.

So just in time for Christmas I will be giving away your choice of earrings from my shop. To enter please leave a comment telling me which is your favorite pair. And right now I'm also having a sale in my etsy shop for 20% off everything. Just enter the code HAPPY20 at checkout!

A few more details: This giveaway will be open until Friday, December 16th at 5 pm PST.

There are lots more giveaways like this at Sew Mama Sew - go over and see what there is!

I am happy to ship to the US and internationally.

an interview

2011-12-07T08:05:00.005-07:00

Guess what! I was interviewed by Melissa of The Polka Dot Chair! I met Melissa at Sewing Summit and we had a great time together sewing one night. Go read the interview here. (Just to clarify - that is not Melissa - that is Vanessa of V. and Co. - but Melissa took this photo.)

Melissa's also got tons of great tutorials and good ideas - be sure to check out her blog if you've never been there before!

a few blocks and another giveaway!

2011-12-06T16:08:00.005-07:00

Well - I was late on these bee blocks - but I did get them done! They were for do good stitches - Harmony circle. I used this tutorial. Not my favorite block, but I'm glad to use up some white and black fabrics - I've got tons of them somehow.

I'm also having another giveaway for my etsy shop over at Amy's blog Diary of a Quilter. If you'd like another chance to enter, please head on over. She's also offering a special discount.

And last but not least, here's my littlest and me on our way to church Sunday. He's wearing a sweater and hat my mom made for my oldest 11 years ago!

I'm still working away on Christmas presents. What are you working on?

Happy December - and a giveaway!

2011-12-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited it's December! I've been working a lot on Christmas presents and organizing my house, so I haven't had too much to blog about. Though I think I'll have to wait until after Christmas to post most of the presents - I will have some other fun stuff to show you soon :)

But I did hit a milestone on my etsy shop last week! After I announced that I was having a sale - I hit 100 orders sold! Yay!

And so - I'm doing a little giveaway over at my friend Amy's blog - Amy Lou Who.

Go over and take a look!

a sale

2011-11-23T11:24:00.004-07:00

Hi everyone. I've recently updated my etsy shop with a lot of new stuff and I'm having a little sale. Everything is 20% off! (I'll refund you 20% of your entire order once I've received payment).

There are a lot of great gifts in there for your friends, your wives, your daughters, your moms, and anyone else you can think of!

Please go over and check out my shop :)

Happy Thanksgiving and a few other things

2011-11-21T21:42:00.008-07:00

Wow - I cannot believe it is almost Thanksgiving! That means Christmas is just around the corner! It seems to go so fast once school starts. Halloween comes right away and then Thanksgiving and Christmas just speed by.

Since it is the holiday season, and my grocery store seems to have gone crazy trying to display the most holiday foods possible - I caved and picked up some nuts for the kids to crack. I got to use this pretty little Pyrex bowl a friend gave me (a set of 2 - with 1 smaller one). The kids seem to like the walnuts better than the hazelnuts and almonds, so I got them some more. The other day I walked into the kitchen to see them hammering them with a meat tenderizer and trying to squeeze them open with a lemon juicer. Hopefully from now on they'll just use the nutcracker.

And onto some sewing. I made this lined drawstring bag for my friend Angela. You may remember me mentioning something about a fabric diet and that if I bought fabric before I made 5 quilts, I would have to make her something. Well - I didn't get my 5 quilts done before I bought fabric, so this is what I made her. I love the scrappiness - I may have to make one for myself :)

A couple of bee blocks for Amber - in la beeda loca

A secret bee block . . . (thanks so much to colleen for the fabrics!)

For Colleen - la beeda loca. This one was hard. I will not be making a circle quilt ever.

For Jen - Bee Tweet. I love these blocks and I would love to make a similar quilt.

And last but not least - some ornaments for a family ornament exchange. I totally stole this idea from here. Sorry if that offends anyone. They were quick and easy and I didn't mind buying a few things for them.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

p.s. I've recently become addicted to instagram photos. If you're on there - look me up at leedledeedle. I'll try to get some photos together soon for a post.

busy little bee

2011-11-09T21:12:00.005-07:00

I cannot believe how much sewing I've gotten in lately! I feel like super woman!

Last week I finished up this mammoth quilt for my mom for Christmas. Pictured are 10 of the 100 blocks in the quilt. It is off to the quilter.

The day I gave her the mammoth quilt she brought me back this one. I love the Denyse Schmidt quilting on it. I could be happy with that quilting on every quilt.

Here is the whole quilt. It's Erin McMorris's line Wildwood. I took out a few prints I didn't love and I love how it turned out! It is twin sized and I can't believe I forgot to take a photo of the pieced back! I bound it the day after she brought it back.

Not sewing, but I made these cupcakes for my baby's first birthday! They were fast and easy and the tutorial is here.

I made Jeni's lined drawstring bag for my knitting project. The directions were excellent and I love how it turned out! I think I need to make 10 more of them.

This scarf is slowly getting knit. It may be finished before spring :)

I have also been working on bee blocks (of course) and Habitat challenge quilts for Modern Quilt Guild. What have you been working on?

bee blocks

2011-11-03T20:18:00.000-06:00

At one point last month I made enough bee blocks to make an entire quilt! I do enjoy learning new blocks and working on things that are sometimes out of my comfort zone. Here's what I've got since last time.

First up - these are for the 4x5 modern bee on flickr. I also made one that was grey and turquoise, but I can't seem to find the photo. I used Oh Fransson's tutorial for her map of the states block. It was time consuming. I think I'll look for a cheater way next time.

This one is for Amisha in Bee Tweet. I enjoy hexagons a lot. And I love the idea of using lots of different sizes. I also love that background fabric (moda crossweave I think?)

These 2 are for do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}. We all did a greek cross with pink center or background fabric.

This one was for Brooke in La Beeda Loca. I totally did the block wrong. It was supposed to be Lee's Supernova, but I inverted the corner pieces. Oh well.

This is another bag I made for sewing summit. It's the Jane Market bag. Several other girls had the same pattern. I wish we could have gotten a picture of all of them.

2 more for do. Good Stitches. I did these ones at the very last minute. I think I'll make a quilt with these colors . . .

And 3 for Rachel from Bee Tweet. I copied one of Ashley's blocks, one of Cara's and made one up. I really liked making these blocks. I think I need a quilt with these kinds of log cabin blocks . . .

These were for the Super Secret Sewing Summit Bee. We (Ali and a bunch of other people) made 2 quilts - one for Erin and one for Amy. My blocks were used on the backs.

Wow! 16 blocks! Could have made me a nice little quilt!

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T23:07:00.000-06:00

Henry was an owl this year. I used the Martha Stewart costume pattern. He kept pulling on his little glasses until they stretched out so much that he couldn't keep them on. But luckily everyone still knew he was an owl.

Luke was a fish this year. I have made this pattern before - and it was so hard I swore I'd never do it again. But Luke asked for a blue one, so I made him a blue one. What a good mom I am.

Charlie also wanted to be a fish. He used the costume I made a few years ago. Thankfully he didn't want new colors. (Fish costume pattern - Simplicity 4926)

Sam was a robot. I told everyone this summer that I'd love it if someone were a robot and Sam obliged. He's good like that. He ended up ditching his arms after a few blocks of trick-or-treating because they made him too hot. He also couldn't hold his candy bag and put candy in at the same time, so I held his bag the whole time. (Robot inspiration here).

Jack was a viking. I had asked if someone would be a viking too because I really wanted to make this beard. We were going for Stoic the Vast, but we ran out of time on the armored skirt thing and the arm bands. I think it worked out okay. I'm loving the beard. (Beard inspiration from this girl).

And that's it until next year! Time to start working on Christmas presents :)

If you'd like to see my Halloween costumes from years past click here.

Sewing Summit

2011-10-14T10:07:00.006-06:00

Sewing Summit was a blast. I knew it would be. I met a few new friends and some online friends in real life. There were so many amazing people there and I didn't get to hang out with everyone, but there's always next year!

The first day I went shopping with Amy, Amy, Amy, and Dana. We also got the best pizza ever for lunch.

While shopping we ran into Anne Marie and Shannon (who I think was buying fabric while we took this photo).

Then later in the day we ran into Samantha and Kristie at Art Market.

On Saturday I was Vanessa's assistant. I wish her class could have been all day! I felt like she has so much to teach about setting up a photo shoot.

Here is one of the bags I made which I think will now be my purse.

This was sewing Saturday night - which was great fun. I met Melissa and Alison and we had a great time!

Saturday night the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild hosted a dinner for other MQG members and quilters. This was only about half of us (I forgot to take a photo of everyone). We had a few sponsors (Riley Blake, Kona, and Marcia Derse) so everyone was able to take some fabric home with them! Fun!

I also got to hang out with Emily (here are Amy, me, Emily, Amy, and Amanda).

Anyway - to recap - it was fun. You should come next year.

I also forgot that I got to meet most of my Bee Tweet buddies in person! Here is a photo of some of us.

check it

2011-09-28T12:02:00.004-06:00

So I finished the Wildwood (by Erin McMorris) coin quilt top the other day. Now I just need to figure out a back and I'll be sending it to Emily very very soon. I love how it turned out. It is twin sized, so when it's done I'll show you a photo of the whole thing. This is one of those fabric lines where I loved most of the prints. I found someone on etsy selling charm packs of it (2 years ago) and bought 4 or 5. I took out the fabrics I really didn't love and added in a few extras that I love and some white and there you have it!

Since finishing the Wildwood top Monday, I've been working on my double hourglass quilt using Hello Betty fabrics. I used this tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew - which was fabulous. I would recommend it. But I will also tell you that those little guys are a lot of work! They turn out to be a 6 inch square and you can't believe how long it takes to make them! Well - longer than I usually spend on a block.

I started with a big pile of quarter triangles that needed to be sewn into squares. (I think the last time I worked on this quilt was about 6 or 8 months ago).

Here are the squares.

Then they all needed to be trimmed (117 of them).

Next I'll show you the quilt top - which is probably 1/2 sewn together. Borders still need to be cut, but they shouldn't be too time consuming.

If you're wondering about my progress on my 5 quilts I've got 2 done. I worked on some charity quilts this summer where I used only my stash to put together 4 quilts - front and back. My aunt took the quilts to finish, so I'll count them as 2 done (since the point really was to use up some of my stash.) These 2 quilts I've worked on this week will make 4 completed quilts and then I think I'll work on a baby quilt. I'm thinking I'll do a good giveaway once I'm done with these!

good news!

2011-09-21T10:44:00.002-06:00

I got my sewing machine back last night and it's good as new!

Also last night I got out a project I started at least 2 years ago. I checked to make sure I had everything, cut a few pieces I was missing, and started sewing this morning!

Can you tell what it's going to be?

blerg!

2011-09-19T20:58:00.006-06:00

Well, I'm sitting here, I've seen everything there is to see on Pinterest (not really, but stay with me), I don't want to do any laundry, I don't feel like sanding or painting my living room trim - I want to sew! But my sewing machine's been in the shop for 2 weeks now. I called them this morning to see when I might be able to pick it up and they said at least another week!

I'm not sure if I told you about my fabric diet. But I haven't bought any fabric for 3 months! I told myself a while back that if I want to buy more fabric I have to start using it up. So I committed to make 5 quilts before buying any fabric. Angela and I made a deal. If either of us buys fabric - we have to make something for the other one. With all the swaps I entered this summer and the kids home, I didn't really make it happen. And now my sewing machine it broken.

I know - boo hoo and poor me.

And after reading all my whining and complaining - here's a photo.

It's Amy's block from Bee Tweet. She asked for all types of Christmas blocks and I wanted to make this one. So here's what I came up with. I'm really loving wonky stars - especially tiny ones.

What are you all up to? What are you sewing?

ps - I updated this post to include box bag tutorial links. Sorry that took me so long!

Mug Rug Madness!

2011-09-12T12:50:00.002-06:00

Welcome to my blog! Thanks to all my regular readers and thanks to any new readers for coming over for Mug Rug Madness Round 2: Holiday Edition hosted by Erin of Two More Seconds! There will be some great prizes this time so make sure to enter to win at Two More Seconds.

This time around The Fat Quarter Shop sent us some really fun fabric to work with. I got to use the Countdown to Christmas fabric by Sweetwater. I love the little reindeer and the snowflakes most of all, but there are also some great stripes and dots and a lot of other fun Christmas fabrics in that line.

And now onto my mug rug! I know this isn't a new design - but I've been wanting to try it out for some time now. I figured a this would be the perfect test size. I whipped it up in no time at all.

To make this mug rug:

Cut 2 inch squares of each fabric in the quantity shown in the photo below.

Arrange them as they are in the photo below.

Sew together in strips and then sew strips together. Quilt and bind. Finished mug rug measures 10.5 inches by 7.5 inches.

This was a sponsored post by Fat Quarter Shop. They gave me the fabric to make this mug rug, but I chose how to make it and which fabrics in the line I used. Click the button below to take you over to Fat Quarter Shop or visit their blog or their facebook page.

MQG Kona Challenge

2011-09-09T08:58:00.006-06:00

This summer my Modern Quilt Guild did the Kona Challenge. Each of us got a brights charm pack and had 2 months to complete something at least the size of a pillow. Our rules were that we could only use other solids with our charms.

Here is the quilt I was madly trying to complete at the last minute.

I didn't use a pattern on this one - although I know that Vanessa of V and Co. has one (here). I had seen this dishtowel on etsy before her pattern came out and bookmarked it. So I figured this was the perfect project to try it out.

For me it is not a challenge to work with all solids. My favorite quilts are always my solids quilts. What was challenging for me was using a charm pack. I've never used one and being limited with the shape and size was hard for me. I do love the variety of a charm pack, so I'll probably use one again.

Also challenging for me was the fact that I do not have a design wall. I laid everything out on my table, but that wasn't big enough so I had to move to the floor. I'd like to add to this quilt and I will be getting a design wall before that.

I just noticed that I made one little mistake - can you see it?

Are you in a modern quilt guild?

Did you participate in the Kona challenge?

I'll be doing a post for Robert Kaufman's blog soon about all the other quilts. I'll let you know when it's up so you can see them all!

A few things

2011-08-27T11:07:00.009-06:00

I can hardly believe it's been a month since I last blogged! This summer has been much busier than I anticipated. I haven't had much time to sew and I've mostly worked on smaller projects.

So here's a little update on the sewing I've done this summer.

John's spiderweb blocks for Bee Tweet. I should have done a practice block or two before using his fabric. I'll do that next time I sew a block I've never done before. I used this tutorial - which was awesome. I just didn't follow the directions exactly and then had to spend some time fixing my mistakes.

Pretty {little} Pouch Swap - I got Erin - who I already know - so that was fun. Here's what I made her. Other photos here and here.

post edit: I used a combination of these tutorials for box bags - here and here.

Darci got me - she's in Bee Tweet with me - so that was funny too. Here's the pouch she made me - which I love!

And last - 2 blocks for do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}.

I'm the designer on this one and I had everyone make a block inspired by this lovely quilt. I have received almost half of the blocks and I think I'll make 2 baby blankets with them. I think they're going to turn out really great!

Hope you all had a great summer! I'm so excited that school has started here. I'm planning on getting a lot of sewing done.

Why I'm going to the Sewing Summit

2011-07-26T21:57:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago I got together with a few quilty bloggers most of whom I'd never met. Amy organized everything and it was so much fun to be a part of.

For names and blogs click here.

We had so much fun we did it again a few days later - with others who weren't able to come the first night.

I had a blast both nights. And it just confirmed my suspicions that the Sewing Summit will be SO MUCH FUN. Meeting up with a bunch of people who have the same interests as me, staying up late to sew, eat, and talk. Not to mention all the fun classes that are scheduled. I cannot wait!

Are you going to the Sewing Summit?

12 inch String X block tutorial

2011-07-15T15:06:00.000-06:00

My first real tutorial! I picked this block to do for my local bee. There is a great tutorial here, but it is for a 14 inch block and my block will end up 12 inches finished. Hence - my tutorial.

This tutorial has been edited as of 1/30/2012. Adding the triangle and trimming the block are now more clear.

Step 1. Cut a bunch of strips. Mine are between 1 and 3 inches wide. They need to be about 5 inches long.

Step 2. Sew the strips together into one long strip. Press the whole thing.

Step 3. Cut a section of your strip off at 9.25 to 9.5 inches (depending on where your next seam is).

Step 4. Trim one side of your new strip just barely.

Step 5. Trim the other side of your strip so that it measures 4.5 inches wide.

Here's your trimmed strip. Ready for triangles.

Step 6. Get your background fabric and cut some 4.5 inch squares. Cut these squares in half diagonally. For 1 block you will need 4 squares and you'll end up with 8 half square triangles.

Step 7. Use pins to mark the center of each side of the strip.

Step 8. Place your triangle centered on the strip as shown below and sew them together using a 1/4 inch seam. Place another triangle on the other side of the strip in the same way and sew.

Step 9. Press both triangles to the sides. You'll have a block that looks like this.

Step 10. Trim your square. This can get a little tricky since you need to make sure the strip is centered diagonally in the square. I used a 6.5 inch square ruler I got from JoAnn for less than $5. I marked it with tape 2 inches away from the center diagonal line on each side (for a total of 4 inches) - like shown below.

You do not have to use this type of ruler, just keep in mind that you'll want your row of strips centered diagonally or your block won't turn out right.

Place the ruler over the block and line up your tape lines with the edge of the strip.

Trim around the whole thing.

And there you have your first block!

Step 11. Make 3 more blocks like this. You'll have 4 blocks.

Step 10. Sew your blocks together. Be careful to match the the corners where the strip meets the background fabric.

giveaway!

2011-07-08T18:41:00.003-06:00

I'm not doing a giveaway today, but 2 of my quilty friends are. They're each giving away a Go! Baby die cutter to make your life easier. Go over there and enter to win!

Enter Kati's here.

Enter Brooke's here.

how many is too many?

2011-07-08T10:46:00.004-06:00

I haven't really done tons of swaps. I'm super picky. So I'm always worried about what I might get. But that didn't stop me from joining a bunch of swaps in the last few months.

1. I already told you about Bee Tweet. I am SO glad I joined it too! Last night I met Amy of amy lou who and a bunch of her online quilty/sewing friends - and we had a blast! More to come when I get my hands on some of the photos she took.

2. I started a local bee within my modern quilt guild. It has 11 members (1 for each month of the year - skip December) and I have the first month! This month! The beauty of this swap is that we see each other once a month anyway - so no shipping (mostly.) Right now it's named La Beeda Loca, but we're accepting new names. Any ideas?

3. I just signed up for the new 4 x 5 modern quilt bee on flickr. I did the 3 x 6 bee on it's first quarter and didn't love it. I did love the people I met and I really did like most of the blocks I received. I think I don't really love sampler quilts. But I joined it anyway because my good friend Amy is running it. And everybody's modern. And it looks like it will be fun! I am sticking to it for a good year so I can have a nice sized quilt. I'll keep you updated.

4. I have started following Bek's blog since she won some Heather Ross fabrics from me. (I met a lot of great bloggers from that giveaway!) And she mentioned the pretty little pouch swap. I think it sounds fun, so I signed up!

5. On Jeni's blog and John's blog I've seen that they've been doing blocks for do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee} and everything looked so great! All the blocks, all the quilts. And they're all for different charity groups. And you use your own stash. So I joined. And now I'm in charge of an entire group! (coming soon.)

6. This morning I signed up for For the Love of Solids [a modern swap]. It just looked too good to pass up. I thought - maybe I'm already in too many swaps . . . But my solid quilts are my favorite quilts. So I think it will be great too.

So - is that too many swaps? I figure it should be good, because, at least I'll get in some sewing time! Are you in any swaps?

Scrappy

2011-07-05T09:53:00.000-06:00

I just came across these photos. I hadn't forgotten about them, just got too busy to blog about them!

This first one is from the scraps of the purple 9 patch quilt that I never really loved. There were tons of scraps that were 2.5 inches wide and different lengths. I really don't think I'll use that purple for anything else so I was trying to get all the remaining scraps into a quilt and then I'll give it away. I used this quilt as inspiration.

This next one was using scraps from a quilt I haven't finished yet! I do have all the blocks cut, just need to sew them together. (I also have extra fabric - just in case you're worried). This particular pattern creates a lot of extra little triangles. I hate throwing them away - so this quilt will also be given away when it is finished. It was fun to put them together in different arrangements and then decide how to sew them together. I will be adding some sort of border as well. I'll be sure to show you the finished products!

a new project

2011-07-01T10:45:00.001-06:00

Here is one of the quilts I've been cutting out. I'm loving all the rainbow quilts I've seen all over the place. This one I'm planning is something a bit new. I don't think I've seen a pattern just like it anywhere! So I'm excited about that.

Bee Blocks for Darci

2011-06-29T10:34:00.002-06:00

I'm having a great time in my first virtual quilting bee - Bee Tweet.

For June Darci asked for wonky stars. I've made an entire wonky star quilt before and I really love doing these blocks. They are a lot of fun! I had a hard time not making more than I did.

Sewing stuff

2011-06-27T10:01:00.004-06:00

Not much quilting has been going on around here. Lots and lots of cutting, but not much sewing. I think I have started cutting out 5 quilts in the last month. Strange. Do you ever get on a cutting kick? I hope to show you those projects soon.

But in the meantime, I have been sewing a few little things.

Like these bibs for my sister-in-law's new baby. I love those little foxes! I used this tutorial but I didn't follow the instructions so I used a binding to fix it.

And these ties for my sister's upcoming wedding. All my boys will have a tie and I'm making more for cousins. There will be 12 when I'm all done. Thanks to Erin for her little boy tie tutorial roundup. I used this one and this one. And they were both great!

What are you working on today?

pin cushion swap

2011-06-18T14:02:00.001-06:00

Our Modern Quilt Guild had a pin cushion swap last month. It was a lot of fun! And all the pincushions were really cute.

I made this as one long rainbow originally, but then I thought it was too long. So I cut it in half. I liked it so much I made one (2) for myself too.

I invited a friend to come to our meeting and since she didn't have time to make a pincushion - I offered to make one for her to bring. It's from Heather Bailey's turtle pattern.

Here is the one I got to keep! (LOVE IT)

And here are all of them in the group.

I have been doing something

2011-06-16T12:47:00.004-06:00

Even though I haven't been blogging about it.

I made a quilt for my son's Kindergarten teacher. She put up with a lot this year (from my son and others in the class) so I thought I'd let her know how much I appreciate all she does!

Most of the squares are Amy Butler - Midwest Modern. They are 2 inches finished and so is the sashing. The quilting was done by me on my home machine. It is a lap quilt (around 60x60) - which I have never made before. I love how it turned out and am planning to make a bigger version for me.

Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Winner!

2011-05-26T09:01:00.002-06:00

Wow! Thanks for all the comments everyone! It was fun reading about your favorite color combinations. There are so many good ones! I should tell you that my favorite standby is blue and orange (periwinkle and a creamy orange). I also love a good rainbow quilt and I think I'm going to have to do a grey and orange quilt soon. In the comments I think the two most common color combos were red/aqua and yellow/grey.

I wish I had a piece of this cute fabric for everyone. But all I have is this one fat quarter. And the winner of that one fat quarter is . . . . .

Amy - who said...

Either gray and yellow or turquoise an red. Thanks for the chance.

Congratulations Amy! I'll be emailing you to get your address.

Thanks again everyone else for entering!

Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day!

2011-05-23T03:21:00.010-06:00

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

Welcome to all the readers coming over from Sew, Mama, Sew! Hope you're having fun with all the great giveaways.

I'm giving away a fat quarter (18" x 22") of Heather Ross's pink VW buses from the Lightning Bugs line!

To enter just leave a comment on this post telling what your favorite color combination is right now. This giveaway is open until midnight (MST), May 25 and I will ship anywhere!

Good luck!

Erin's Bee Block

2011-05-18T10:15:00.003-06:00

I have recently joined my first online quilting bee! (I was part of the [3x6] sampler quilt mini bee for a bit, but that's not really the same kind of bee.)

It's called Bee Tweet and there are some seriously great quilters in there! I'm so excited to meet new quilty friends and make blocks that I've never made.

Erin's up for the first month - May. She wanted a scrappy block like Aneela's. Here's mine.

Giveaway coming up!

2011-05-17T11:35:00.001-06:00

I'll be giving away something really great on Monday, May 23rd - so don't forget to come see what it is!

to market to market

2011-05-16T18:47:00.005-06:00

Wow! I got to go to Quilt Market last weekend. It was really fun to meet lots of people I know from online. But I wasn't the greatest at getting photos of people so I'm going to have to borrow.

The first thing we did was go to Sample Spree on Thursday night. Amy, Kati, and I met up and we also ran into Erin and Colleen. While waiting in line we ran into Jacquie and Alissa! They were so nice and fun to talk to. It was so fun meeting them!

thanks for the photo kati

I had no idea what to expect. Actually - I thought we'd get a bunch of free stuff (samples). But it was a bunch of the new lines of fabric for presale. Each fabric manufacturer had a table and there were also other people selling things besides fabrics. I bought some Pick a Bunch (a roll-up) for a great price. If you want to see a little bit more of what we did - check out Kati's post here.

Friday morning Erin, Colleen, Ginny, and I went to the exhibition hall and looked at as many booths as we could. I was only there for about 2 hours before I had to go. The first person we met was Sandy Klop who designs American Jane patterns and fabrics. Her mono pez may be my favorite fabric ever and in her new line she's got some new colors of multi pez. (They're not legally allowed to be called pez so I think she said they're called magic beans - but we'll always call them pez.) Anyway - she was SO nice! I asked her if she will be designing any new colors of mono pez in the future and she said YES! (Though she said maybe not for a few years. That's okay - I'm happy to wait.)

My favorite booth was the Kona booth where we got our photo taken in exchange for fun free stuff - a Kona bag and a color card!

I found a new-to-me Japanese fabric company - Hokkoh - with some really beatiful designs.

I met the lovely Sarah Jane with some great new boy (and girl) fabrics.

I found this beatiful quilt in some booth (Erin - do you remember whose booth?)

And saw some of this girl's lovely quilts in person! They're all gorgeous!

This was in Anna Maria Horner's booth - which was all lovely.

A few other things: I got to meet John of Quilt Dad and Heather of {House} of A La Mode. They were really fun to meet! And last but not least - I got to see the quilt that I helped Lizzy House make for her booth!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2011-05-16T10:15:00.003-06:00

Welcome to all of you visiting from Blogger's Quilt Festival. It's so fun to see new quilts and meet new friends! For those of you who've already seen this quilt - thanks for reading!

I started this quilt before my oldest was born - so probably around 11 years ago. At some point I put it away because I decided the colors weren't boyish enough. But eventually I finished it. I'm not even sure when - maybe 3 years ago? Anyway - it took me a while.

I planned this all out in my idea notebook at the time. I picked 5 colors of embroidery floss that I loved and designed a different plaid pattern for each square (or partial square). I also designed a border that I never got around to doing.

The quilting doubles as embroidery and both the front and the back are white, so they are pretty close to the same.

Before starting the stitching I marked the squares with an erasable quilt pencil. For the stitching I used masking tape as a guideline. I also started in the center (using a ruler to find it) and worked my way to the outside of each square.

I love how this quilt turned out and I love that it was so creative and original. It's hard to be original these days when I find so many great ideas that someone else has already come up with.

Free-Motion Quilting Ideas

2011-05-03T14:39:00.008-06:00

Did you know I free-motion quilt? If you're new to my blog you probably didn't know that. I've had my last 3 or 4 quilts done with a long-arm. But before that I've done all my quilts myself.

Even though stippling is doable, and it looks nice - I get bored with it. That's why I created this new flickr group - Modern Free Motion Quilting: A Reference. It's meant to be a great resource for free-motion quilting so that we can all get some new ideas going. So far it has some great ideas I've never seen before.

If you free-motion quilt and have some new ideas - please add your photos to the group! And if you are trying to think of new ideas - please go look around.

Also - Kati - of from the blue chair - recently did a great post on free-motion quilting ideas (based on our recent Modern Quilt Guild meeting).

Do you free-motion quilt?

working on . . .

2011-04-26T08:28:00.003-06:00

The hexagons are coming along after a Spring Break car trip. I think I doubled the total from last time.

I also cut a whole bunch of triangles yesterday. Way more than 400 - and I don't really feel like counting them all.

Now they're all ready to sew into double hourglasses.

What are you working on?

Winner!

2011-04-18T09:23:00.004-06:00

Thank you, thank you for all the comments and for all my new readers! I loved reading all your comments and visiting all your blogs.

The winner of the Heather Ross fabrics is:

Bek who said: the thing i love most about sewing is that i can take what looks like a pile of colourful flat sheets and turn it into something amazing and beautiful - and the fact that not eveyone can do it, makes it even more worth it!

Congratulations Bek! And to all of you who didn't win - I hope to do another great fabric giveaway soon-ish!

same pattern - two totally different quilts

2011-04-15T20:42:00.002-06:00

First of all - thank you for all the comments I've received on the giveaway and for all of you who follow and read my blog! If you're looking for the giveaway - you can enter here.

A long, long time ago I started the 9 patch quilt along with Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts. She was using scraps, but I didn't want so use mine for this project. I don't love the traditional nine patch design (with an x through it), but I had some purple (purple?) in my stash that I'd had for at least 10 years. I figured it was a good way to use it up and a new challenge - why not?

So I set to work cutting it into squares. I finished the quilt top and then put it away for at least a year. Just recently I figured out the perfect person to give it to because I really don't want it. I don't even really like purple. I started collecting purple and yellow because of this one print (the posies on white background). So I gave it to Emily - of Emerson Quilting - and now it looks like this:

Not my fave. But I'm pretty sure the new owner loves it. And that's really all that matters anyway.

After I'd already started the purple one I saw this one by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts. It was around the time that everyone was going crazy for Katie Jump Rope and I talked myself into buying most of the line. I don't love the browns in that line with the rest of the fabrics, so I picked the ones I liked and started another 9 patch. This time with a white center and random colors all around. It is completely different and I like it much better!

I strip pieced this one rather than cutting out each square separately to begin with. I liked that much better and it came together faster. I did a scrappy binding and used the green posies (found on clearance) for the back. Emily also quilted this one for me and I love the quilting on it.

Lesson learned: If I don't like a fabric - I shouldn't try to make a quilt with it. (Unless it's for someone else - who will like it.)

A giveaway!

2011-04-14T10:00:00.008-06:00

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

Did you miss out on Heather Ross's Mendocino line? I bought some thinking that I might, one day, have a little girl. Well, I don't think that will ever happen (if you don't know me - I am the lucky mom of 5 boys!)

And so I am giving these cute fabrics away to one of you - my lovely readers!

The winner will receive a fat quarter each of:

Mendocino Underwater Sisters in natural,

Mendocino Giant Octopi in natural,

Mendocino Underwater Sisters in blush,

Mendocino Giant Octopi in aqua,

West Hill floral stripe with gold leaves

You will get 1 entry for each of the following (leave a separate comment for each entry):

1. Leave a comment on this post about what you enjoy sewing

2. You are a follower of this blog or you read this blog in google reader

3. Become a follower of this blog

4. Blog about this giveaway (include the link)

5. Tweet about this giveaway

This giveaway will close Sunday night at midnight Mountain Time. Thanks for reading!

p.s. I have a pretty great fabric stash - if I do say so myself - and I am planning more great giveaways in the future!

man quilt tutorial

2011-04-12T11:02:00.008-06:00

I really tried to get a tutorial ready with photos and everything, but it's just not happening. So I'll give you a very brief tutorial. Please email me if you have any questions at all. leighlou5 [at] gmail [dot] com

What you'll need to cut:

70 shirting blocks - 9.5 x 3.5" (9 x 3" finished)

63 white blocks - 9.5 x 3.5" (9 x 3" finished)

6 sashing strips - 3.5 x 57.5" (3 x 57" finished)

2 borders for top and bottom - 4.5 x 57.5"

2 side borders - 4.5 x 89.5

I used 10 or 11 XL shirts (not including the white ones), but didn't use up all the fabric in them. You'll want to check the shirt for holes, worn spots (elbows), and stains.

I used the shirt front without a pocket, the sleeves, and the back. The back has the most fabric, so if you don't want to mess with smaller sections - just start with that.

I also strip pieced. So instead of cutting a block 9.5 x 3.5" I cut a 20 x 3.5" long strip. I sewed 6 of them together (shirt, white, shirt, white, shirt, white), pressed the seams, then squared and cut them into 2 sections 9.5" wide.

If you were going to use non shirting fabrics you'd need:

3 1/2 yards sashing and borders

2 yards total of 8-10 different fabrics

or 8 1/4 yard cuts

or 10 fat quarters

binding

Pyrex Explosion Sale

2011-04-04T10:56:00.002-06:00

Do you like Pyrex?

Amy (my quilty friend) has a bunch of pyrex for sale on her her blog - Sukie. Go over and check it out!

Daisy Cinderella Set, a photo by Amy.Newbold on Flickr.

I scored this lovely set!

a man quilt

2011-03-30T16:49:00.003-06:00

This quilt idea has been in my brain for A LONG TIME. I have been saving hubs' old shirts since he started working and my box is overflowing! A good friend of ours just had some serious surgery and needs a quilt for snuggling. These shirting fabrics were just the right thing for his quilt. I think I will make a twin one for hubs (since I've never actually made him a quilt!) All the fabric in this quilt was made from 100% cotton dress shirts except the outside border (I ran out of white.) Here is a closeup of the quilting my sister-in-law Emily did. She has recently acquired a long arm and has already quilted 4 quilts for me! She does an excellent job and is looking for more clients - if you're interested here is her blog - Emerson Quilting. Right now she is offering a 25% discount! I think this is my favorite quilting pattern. I will definitely be requesting it in the future.

A scrappy binding. I would have preferred it to be cut on the bias, just for the look, but I didn't have quite enough for that. The backing was just a solid white flannel. Nice and snuggly.

If you are going to make a quilt using men's shirts - I would suggest NOT using the ironed pleats (in backs and sometimes sleeves). These folds didn't come out even after I washed the quilt.

If you are interested in dimensions or a tutorial - please let me know in the comments!

Thanks for looking!

a new old quilt

2011-03-29T15:40:00.003-06:00

Last time I went to my Modern Quilt Guild meeting - I brought this quilt.

The quilting doubles as embroidery and both the front and the back are white, so they are pretty close to the same.

I love how this quilt turned out and I love that it was so creative and original. It's hard to be original these days when I find so many great ideas that someone else has already come up with.

Jack's Stripes

2011-03-23T23:03:00.007-06:00

I finished this quilt a few weeks ago. I have had it on my list for years. Jack got a twin quilt for his bed when he was 2, but it got worn out a while back and I never really liked it anyway.

I just did a simple top (8 inch wide strips) - which took no time to sew together.

For the back I wanted to use only fabrics from my stash. So this was sort of improv pieced. I LOVE how it turned out. I think I even like it better than the front. It's nice that it's reversible.

The quilting was just very simple straight lines random widths apart. My lovely sister-in-law Emily quilted it on her new long arm! Thanks Em! (If you're looking for long arm work - you should check her out! Here.)

spring and summer quilt for my bed

2011-02-18T09:23:00.001-07:00

This quilt was intimidating. That's why it took me so long. I started it in March 2009, so it took me just under 2 years to complete. Anyway - I am VERY happy with the results.

I got this idea from Denyse Schmidt's quilt drunk love in a log cabin. I also wanted a springy quilt for the warmer months (my other quilt is dark and perfect for winter).

I debated for a while how to quilt this quilt. Fork out a bunch of money and have someone else quilt it? Hand quilt it? Machine quilt it myself? I finally stopped being afraid of it and just did it myself. I wasn't too happy with the quilting and took out all the stitching on the outer border. I knew if I didn't like something about it, I wouldn't use it. Once it was all washed, all the other problems seemed to go away.

2010 quilts

2010-12-31T09:24:00.001-07:00

I was thinking back on this year and feeling like a total failure. I was pregnant for most of the year and I mostly remembered laying around. But I looked at my flickr page (where I keep all my quilty project photos) and was surprised to find that I completed 8 quilts and started sewing together my hexagons. I know I got a few house projects done too. Feels nice to have accomplished something other than laying on my bed playing solitaire.

1. fish in bags wonky star, 2. dachshund quilt, 3. pink and yellow scrap quilt, 4. wonky star quilted and bound, 5. strawberry lemonade hourglass, 6. starting to sew them together, 7. HR dog quilt done!, 8. yellow and orange zig zag, 9. elephant baby quilt

a new quilt for new baby 5

2010-10-13T09:25:00.002-06:00

So I started out making one quilt, not loving it, and making an entirely different quilt. All that really matters is that I've finished it in plenty of time before the baby gets here. (I only have 4 - 5 weeks!)

The whole quilt

A bit of a close up of those adorably Japanese elephants

The back is just solid light grey. The quilting is my own design. I did it on my regular old machine. It worked out great and didn't take too long. I think I'll use this design again.

I had just enough of those cute little ladybugs to bind the quilt with them. Cute.

a zig zag quilt

2010-06-29T09:27:00.002-06:00

I have been wanting to make a zig zag quilt ever since I saw this one. I also had to have that fish fabric when I saw the same quilt and now it can't be found (unless you're willing to pay an arm and a leg or unless you have something good to swap.) Lucky I got it when it was affordable.

And here is the back. I guess I went a little overboard when collecting my yellows and oranges. I probably have enough to make another twin sized quilt. And in case you're wondering - this quilt is staying with me. Orange is my favorite color and orange and yellow is one of my favorite color combinations.

hexagons again!

2010-06-10T09:32:00.000-06:00

Started sewing my hexagons together finally! I have 93 of those flowers - so not enough for the size of quilt I want yet. But that's okay because I like making them.

Here is a tutorial which is pretty close to the way I do it. But I may do my own tutorial - what do you think?

I used paper pieces from here.

These ones are 3/4 inch (measuring 3/4 inch on one straight side).

There is also a good post about hexagons on The Sometimes Crafter with lots of other good info.

heather ross dog quilt finished!

2010-05-06T09:34:00.003-06:00

I've had the top done for this quilt for over a month now. Maybe a few months. But I've been stalling because 1. I don't like moving everything out of my living room to baste quilts, and 2. I'm always nervous that the quilting is going to turn out terribly and so I put it off as long as possible.
Last Saturday I met with my Modern Quilt Guild for a sewing saturday. It was a lot of fun AND it turns out that the church gym floor is the perfect place to baste a quilt! I think I will be basting all of mine there in the future.

And since I've been mostly laying around for the past 2 months (since I found out I was pregnant) I figured I'd better get something done this week!

And so - I quilted and bound the dog quilt. I love how it turned out. I did a loopy quilting pattern and I'm not so good at keeping everything even, but there are NO tucks! Amazing. Enough writing, here are the photos.

(Inspiration for this quilt from this quilt and this quilt)

and on to the next quilt

2010-03-25T09:37:00.001-06:00

I have been collecting orange and yellow fabrics for a while now. And a few weeks ago I finally cut into it to make a zig zag quilt. At first I thought I'd make a string quilt with it but I somehow changed my mind and it is now a zig zag. Turns out I probably have enough fabric for 2 or 3 more quilts. Oops.

pink and yellow hourglass

2010-03-22T09:45:00.001-06:00

I finished this quilt several weeks ago. But I wanted to make sure the recipients saw it first.

I LOVE it! I want to make a bazillion more of them!

I also tried a new quilting pattern this time. It's a kind of a vine and it's on the diagonal. I like how it turned out and it wasn't too hard, but next time I think I'll mark at least some of the lines.

wonky star quilt finished (finally!)

2010-02-12T09:47:00.001-07:00

Quilting inspired by this quilt (though mine was not nearly as nicely done).

Wonky stars inspired by this quilt.

Binding is Heather Ross lightning bugs stripe. I love a striped binding.

working on a new quilt

2010-02-08T09:50:00.001-07:00

So I have started on my son's twin quilt (since he now sleeps on the bottom bunk with his older brother and is no longer a baby sleeping in his little crib.) I have gone back and forth and back and forth on which fabric to use for this quilt. When I found those stripes for the binding I knew exactly what to do. I love those Heather Ross dogs so much.

Here are all the fabrics. I even used some of my Flea Market Fancy stash (but only a little). And there's the binding again on the bottom. The finished quilt will look something like this or this.

another quilt

2010-01-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

Are you guys getting sick of seeing my projects? I hope not. Because I am really on a roll! I'm not going to show you what I've been working on yet, but I will show you a Christmas present that finally got to it's new owner.

I made this for my parents-in-law, who have a dachshund named Libby. My mother-in-law is also a quilter but I don't think she receives many quilts. She's always giving the ones she makes away. It was a really fun quilt to make (and fast, because it's not too large.)

The dogs are hand appliqued and the quilting was done by hand.

pink scrap quilt

2010-01-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

This quilt was made up of all scraps. About a third of the blocks are pieced with smaller scraps (even some of the white ones). Then I quilted it with straight lines on the diagonal. It was my best quilting so far! I think because it was on the bias and there's a little easing to be done. I think I may do a lot more quilting on the diagonal. I only had 2 mini tucks! I tried to save on the binding by using the back. I DO NOT like how that turned out, so I will not do it again.

hexagon tree skirt

2009-10-16T10:06:00.000-06:00

A few days ago when I was looking for something to sew I decided I'd better get to work on my tree skirt. I cut out the red strips and planned it all out last year. So all I had to do was figure out how to make it (or remember how I had decided to make it) and sew it all up! The most difficult part was cutting those large angles correctly. I had to do that a few times. I used an IKEA sheet as suggested by Amanda. It is so much cheaper than muslin and nicer too. Here it is all washed and crinkled. The binding is disco dots by Michael Miller.

I love it! It goes perfectly with my stocking which are also red and white with black and white binding.

hexagons

2009-10-01T10:10:00.002-06:00

I've been dying to sew something! So last night while we were watching a movie I made some more of these.

I will eventually make a quilt with them all, but I'm not sure when that will be. The idea behind these is to use scraps AND to put fabrics together that aren't from the same line (something I need to work on). This techniques is called English paper piecing. There is an excellent tutorial for it here. I buy my paper shapes and there are lots of other shapes available here.

I also started working on the back of my wonky star quilt so that I can start quilting it someday. I'm still not sure how I want to quilt it. Any ideas?

the top is finished

2009-08-31T10:24:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I'm really motivated to finish something. Other times I get bored and start 10 new projects. Last week I felt like finishing my wonky star quilt top. And I got it done the day I decided to finish it! Most of the fabrics in this quilt are from the swap group I joined a few months ago. I love them. Who knows where this quilt will end up. Maybe Dan will get his girl someday and it can live here.

a new project

2009-08-25T10:25:00.000-06:00

To get my mind off things. It is pink. I've never made anything pink. Who knows who it's for, maybe me, maybe a future baby (maybe mine, maybe someone else's). For now I'm making it and that's all I care about. I love how it's turning out!

finished a quilt!

2009-07-13T10:28:00.000-06:00

I finished binding this quilt yesterday while watching the Tour de France. Yay! It's been on my list for a while now and it's finally done!

a quilt top!

2009-06-19T10:34:00.000-06:00

Well, I have finally sewn together my red and white quilt top! It was a beast! All those triangles to cut, sewing them all together for strips (25 in each strip plus the little ends), then trying to sew together the strips when they're all different lenghths! I cut lots of tips off of triangles because it was so frustrating. I also didn't have enough strips and had to add about 9 inches to the bottom (but I didn't want to do any more triangles so I did the strips). I think it turned out pretty nice despite all the issues and how long it took. Now all I have to do is quilt and bind it! (That may take another year or so . . . )

new quilt

2009-03-18T10:44:00.000-06:00

Okay - I figured out what I'm going to start. This is my current bed quilt. It took me 2-3 years to make/finish so it's been on my bed for around 8 years or so. I still love it, but when spring and summer come around, it seems too dark. (This picture is kind of washed out, the background of the quilt is navy).

I've been wanting something for a long time that has a white background. So here's the fabric I'm working from, and the quilt will look a something like this. What do you think?

amy butler quilt 2

2009-02-06T10:57:00.001-07:00

I hate it when I finish a big project (spending lots of time and money on it) and I don't love it. That's how I feel about this quilt. I don't love the quilting (which I paid someone else to do), I don't love how all the prints together seem pretty crazy. I do love the back, the binding, and several of the fabrics on their own. Oh well. That's how it goes, right? Maybe I'll put it up for sale in my shop. What do you think? Honestly.

backing (above)

oh yeah

2009-02-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy that I've finished most of my unfinished quilts! This last one needs a bunch of strips sewn together and then needs to be quilted and bound. I'm so excited to start something new! (I might not be able to wait until this one is done.)

solid strip quilt done!

2009-02-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

I finished binding another quilt! Like the last quilt I posted, this one was quilted by a machine quilter who charges very reasonable prices. It came to me in the mail near Thanksgiving and I was able to put the binding on last week.

I think this might be my favorite quilt ever (the quilt I made for my bed is a close second.) I've also been finding all these cool, new quilt blogs with great ideas so I'm thinking I'll start something new soon.