Fox and Friends Baby Quilt - Finish #013

Our friends are having another boy.  It is the same couple that received the Dinosaur baby quilt, my 4th quilt.  This is the 13th and I love seeing how my quilting skills have improved.

Fabric - Fox and Friends.  I got a layered cake from Massdrop that included these fabrics and a matching pillow panel and planned to use it on the next boy quilt I would be making.  I know that it has oranges like the Dinosaur quilt since it is going to the same family.

Pattern - Sassafras Lane Alligator Alley.  As soon as I saw this pattern, I knew it would be a good fit for the Fox and Friends layered cake I had. I wish the pattern had more detail, but I figured it out.  Once I had it figured out, it was pretty easy to put together!  I was able to make the quilt top in an afternoon.  I added borders to make the quilt a bit bigger and so I would have borders to quilt :).

Quilting - I went a bit crazy on this one, but I love how it turned out.  I've been interested in trying ruler quilting. Since I would be giving this quilt away, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try  it out.  I loved using the straight ruler to make my lines much straighter.  I ended up using the straight ruler to assist in the quilting of the non-focal print triangles. Ruler work takes longer than free motion, but it was definitely worth the extra time. I tried to use some of the curved rulers, but I wasn't loving the result, so I ended up just using the straight ruler.

In each of the focal print triangles, I rotates different free motion quilting designs.  FMQ designs were triangle paisley, wood grain, spirals with loops, loops, and pebbles.  If you look closely at the center most focal triangles, you will see the baby boys initials....... J.W.  I love this added detail.

Batting - I've continued trying new batting.  This one was the thinner version of the Quilters Dream Cotton.  Very easy to quilt with and obviously lighter than the thicker version.

Binding - I wanted to throw in more orange with the binding.  This is the second binding I've done orange on and I love the results.  Additionally, I did the thick, 1 inch binding which I think frames the quilt well.

Lastly, after the Latifah Saafir class with the Music City Modern Quilters Guild, I had to get a design wall.  It was super helpful when laying out the focal prints to make sure it was balances (much easier than using the floor).

Marcelle Medallion - pillow

I recently joined the Music City Modern Quilters Guild when they had a Latifah Saafir workshop.  Just a couple of months later, Alexia Abegg from Cotton+Steel came to give a lecture and do an afternoon workshop on the Marcelle Medallion Quilt.  I love how many quality events they have already put on.

The medallion has y-seams and I've always wanted to learn how to do them!  I was not sure about starting a full, new quilt since I only like have a 2 projects going on at a time.  I'm currently working on a King quilt for our bed using the Swoon pattern from Thimble Blossoms and an EEP project with the TulaNova pattern.  I also have a couple that I've put on hold until I finish these (Timber by Alison Glass and Fandango by Tula Pink).  I really love the Marcelle Medallion pattern, but I took the workshop mainly to learn the technique.  Then I figured I would either but it on hold or make a small project with it.

Finished center Medallion

Medallion with first border

I've been wanting to do another pillow.  This time quilted and finished better than my first pillow.  I used Latifah Saafirs Magic Pillow Facing Tutorial and the pillow looks great.  I love the lining inside, so you don't see the seams.  And it is great to have it finished! I really don't like projects hanging over me. I might make the quilt in the future, but next time I'll make the Medallion with the paper piecing instructions instead of y-seams.

Fabrics - Alison Glass Sunprints 2017, Alison Glass Handcrafted 2 (dark blue and back of pillow) and 1 fat quarter from Lizzy House

Batting - I used what I had left over from another quilt, warm and natural cotton

Finished pillow

Glam Clam Quilt - Latifah Saafir Workshop finish #012

I recently got to go to the Latifah Saafir Workshop of the Glam Clam Quilt that was put on my the Music City Modern Quilters Guild. This Workshop was so much fun. I did join the guild and can't wait to participate more in the guild! I really enjoyed meeting other quilters that loved the hobby and fabric as much as me.


During the Workshop, Latifah taught some tricks and techniques that really helped with the cutting and assembly of the quilt.  Additionally, she talked us through how to do a 1 inch chucky binding! I love how the thick binding frames the quilt.


I find that this pattern looks good in any fabrics. There were about 20 people in the workshop and all fabric selections looked great!


Quilting: I decided to go with some walking foot quilting that would compliment the curved nature of the piecing. Design is a grid pattern, approximately, 1in grid.


Fabrics: The main thing I used for fabrics from a half yard bundle of Cotton + Steel's Black and White 2. I've been waiting for the right project for this fabric. Since there are some gold accents in the fabric, I wanted to bring in some more golden yellow fabrics. Additionally, I love blue and thought it would be a nice touch for some blue and navy to be added! Some of the navy is Cotton + Steel Bluebird fabrics. Light blue is Cotton + Steel basics.


Backing is Cotton + Steel Bluebird. I didn't quite have enough, so I added in another fabric and did a pieced backing.


Binding is Cotton + Steel Picnic.  The Chunky binding was pretty simple to do. I went a little bigger on the strip size than Latifah recommended; however, I wanted to give me some wiggle room. Stripes were 4.75 inch wide.


Batting is Quilter's Dream Cotton. I've been wanted to try a bunch of different battings to see which I prefer. So far this is my favorite. It is super soft and worked with my machine well.


I signed up for this workshop on a whim, so I wanted to try to use only fabric from my small stash. I was able to use only fabrics from my stash (except batting)!! Additionally, most fabric is Cotton + Steel.

Bias Tape Applique- Latifah Saafir Workshop

The Music City Modern Quilters Guild held a Workshop with Latifah Saafir. The first day, was an afternoon where we learned bias Tape Applique on a small project. The next day was a full day with the Glam Clam Quilt (see next post)!


I wanted to make a pillow. The Workshop was fun and I was able to make a pillow. Fabrics are Pandalicious from Art Gallery Fabrics.


This was my first pillow. There is definitely room for improvement, but I see more pillows in my future!

 

Celtic Heart - finish #011

A new baby means a new quilts! An acquaintance of mine wanted me to make her a quilt for her new granddaughter. This was my first commissioned quilt. Due to their Scottish heritage, she wanted something with a Celtic look and loved the look of a Celtic Heart. I didn't want to do applique for a baby quilt and ultimately found a Pretzel heart paper piece pattern on Etsy for only $3.50.  I decided to go with a medallion type quilt with this pattern.

The colors her daughter picked for the nursery were pink, light blue, and light green. I decided to go with mainly light green and pink for the front and incorporated the light blue with the backing fabric.  She wanted a quilt that her granddaughter could use as she gets older, so she didn't want a baby size quilt. Originally, I had planned for the quilt to be 60x60; however, it ultimately turned into a 66x66 quilt! 

Using the Pretzel heart pattern, I blew up the pattern to 150% percentage for the center and used the pattern at 100% for the corner anchors.

Once I finished the focus pieces, I wanted to come up with a way to have interesting borders.  I love the way it turned out!!

Quilting: The center medallion hearts are outlined and filled with pebbles. The corner and side hearts are outlined and filled with paisleys. Stripes on the side are filled with a alternated narrow and wide candy ribbons. Along the edge of the striped borders is a row of hearts. The remaining is filled with stippling that has hearts thrown in.  I definitely went all out with the heart concept!

Fabrics: I used Kona solid for the green background fabric. The pinks and purples were calico fabric from Joann's. The binding is Cotton + Steel honeymoon fabric.

Photoshoot location: Kennesaw Farms - Gallatin, TN

PS - I used my Juki TL-2010Q for all the piecing and quilting. This machine was a dream to use! I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to quilt their own quilts. This quilt was 66x66 and fit in the machine's harp space with ease.

Ten - finish #010

I finished my 10th quilt and appropriately named it ten.       

Kiss Kiss Quilt finish #009

I bought a jelly roll of Tula Pink's Elizabeth fabric and had no idea what to do with it.  Then, one day on instagram, I show a post of someone using Tula Pink's fabric with her Kiss Kiss Quilt Pattern.  This looks like a great use for the jelly roll I had bought.  This quilt was very quick to make the top.  I've been holding the top for 7-8 months while I finished the Technicolor Galaxy quilt and the Unicorn Baby Quilt.  Now that those are done, I can finally get around to quilting this quilt. 

A couple months ago, I purchase the Christina Cameli's Wild Quilting class to learn who to do wild quilting (or graffiti quilting).  My favorite technique she used was mixing 3-4 quilting motifs to get a wild quilting look.  So that's what I decided to do over the entire Kiss Kiss Quilt.  The motifs I chose were: paisley, spirals, pebbles and mctavishing quilting.  I chose these because they are motifs that come easy to me or that I really like the way they look.

So far, my Juki TL-2010Q is amazing!! It is some much easier to do free motion with this machine than the Singer 8500Q I purchased.  I highly recommend the Juki for anyone wanting to do free motion!!

I actually finished this before Christmas, but it has taken me a while to get around to taking the pictures.

 

 

 

WIP

This quilt is made of Anna Maria Horner Skipping Stones and some Tula Pink Eden fat quarters.  My original thought was to make a king size quilt for our bed; however, half way through I decided it was too scrappy for the bed.  Since I had enough blocks for a good size throw quilt, I thought it wouldn't be a waste if a quilted it up. 

This quilt will be a gift to my mother.  She has been anxiously waiting for me to make her a quilt and with her birthday in February, I should be able to finish it just in time.

I designed the block myself.  For each block you need:
Light (low volume) fabric - 4 - 7.5*3.5, 4 - 4.5*3.5 and 1 - 4.5*4.5
Color fabric - 8 - 4.5*4.5 and 4 4.5*3.5
Finished block is 18" square.