Curves

Every quarter, Curated Quilts issues a challenge for a mini quilt and provides a single word prompt and a color palette.

Some of the quilts that link-up are selected to be featured in the magazine.  The latest challenge arrived right in the middle of the holidays with a deadline of January 2.

This was my first attempt - an improv curve using bias tape applique.   As you can see, I never buried those threads or finished the edge.  (I did however nail the bias tape part!)

While I had enormous fun putting it together, I wasn't sure it was any good.  So I started over, made some quick cardboard templates and hand pieced my curvy river.

Turns out small scale curves are really hard - even hand piecing. This mini is 11'' x 11'' and as a result, the smallest error resulted in issues and very few of the seams lined up.  For the quilting pattern, I choose something with less threads to bury.  Pebbles on such a small scale were fun.

I started this December 31 and finished it January 1 so it was a quick finish.

My mini did not get selected but I love these challenges and I'll keep trying!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Perfectly Imperfect

I consider myself a confident quilter.  Patterns and techniques never tried before are simply a challenge that I'm happy to take on.  I live for quilt math and often down-size blocks simply because it is fun.

When I experimented with hand-piecing for the first time earlier this year, I couldn't stop at one block and kept going until I had a quilt top.  And then, of course, I had to hand-quilt because I'd never done that before.

The result - Perfectly Imperfect - is by far my favorite quilt that I have ever made.  It is a celebration of the imperfection of handwork.  Every stitch is not the same length.  Every stitch is not straight.  But every stitch comes from the heart.  It is the best I can do and I'm proud of every imperfection.

There is a lot of hand quilting - stitches cover the surface - and the resulting texture is just amazing.

I've submitted the quilt for consideration for Quilt Con 2019 and really hope that I'll get to see my quilt hanging at the show.

The quilt design is my own.  The block pattern is from Tara Faughnan.  The fabric is Alison Glass Sunprint 2018 plus a gray Painters Palette solid.

I'll be linking up at Brag about Your Beauties,  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.


Have a wonderful day! Patty

Maple Leaf Table runner

(Click here for the One Monthly Goal October Finish link-up)

Fall is here!

Cooler temperatures, walks in the woods and falling leaves are reasons to make a new table runner.  The free block pattern is from Fat Quarter Shop Jolly Jabber and shared again today as part of their Classic and Vintage series.  (Opps - looks like their post got delayed - I'll update my post once the pattern for the block is live!)

I used 3 blocks on my running and offset them to make it look like they were tumbling across my runner.  I quilted the runner with organic wavy lines.

But why stop with just 3 blocks when these are so much fun to make?  So I turned the 4th into a trivit / hot mat but adding a layer of Insulite with a layer of batting.

Check out today's Jolly Jabber post for more examples of this great block!

I'll be linking up at Brag about Your Beauties,  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.


Have a wonderful day! Patty

Oh My Darling

"Oh, my darling... oh, my darling,...oh my darling Clementine...."

(Sorry to plant that song in your head!)  This is my latest finish, gifted to my daughter in honor of her birthday and her new apartment at school.

The block patterns were part of Fat Quarter Shop's Clementine QAL - this year's charity quilt.  I choose a different setting for my blocks than the QAL and am in love with how it turned out!

Each month, you made one large 20'' block and a smaller 12'' block.  I chose to put 4 of my 12'' blocks on the back of the quilt.  The remaining blocks (1 large, 2 small) will likely become couch pillows.

To quilt, I did straight line quilting with my walking foot on the diagonal, leaving three gaps (roughly 5'' wide) that I filled with one continuous feather.  The quilt measures 68 x 68 ''.

My daughter loves the quilt and will enjoy using it on her couch!  (That said, her couch is going to be yellow - belongs to her room-mate.... not quite sure of the shade of yellow though!)

You can ready more about the QAL and get the finishing instructions on the Jolly Jabber and read more about the Clementine QAL.  

I'll be linking up my finish with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Some Bags

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know I love making bags.

I made two recently - one for me and one for a friend!

For these, I used Anna's Wide Open Zippered Pouch tutorial.

And they sure do live up to their name.  This is the middle sized, boxed at 1 1/2 ''.

I also made great progress on a Sew Together Bag.  I enjoy making this bag but only if I spread the construction over several days.  Here is what I have so far -

Hope to finish this one up soon. 

PS - Clearly I like this fabric as a bag lining.  I'm using up bits left over from a quilt back.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Random - a finish

Once upon a time*, I purchased a mini-charm pack filled with every gorgeous color from Paintbrush Studios solids.  With no specific project in mind, I turned them into about 100 hexies.

And then I started to assemble them - randomly.  I disciplined myself to blindly pick a hexie and attach it irredgardless of the color of the neighboring hexie.

 I continued in a clockwise direction until essentially it was time to square off the project.  Placement was still random though.

All complete, I adhered my project to fusible fleece** and then sewed a basting line all around the edge.

Then, more random fun.  I gathered all my thread - a mix of Aurifil & Superior So Fine - into a basket and proceeded to hand quilt.  Patterns we again randomly done.  Most of the time these were running stitches but a few times I got a bit 'fancy'.  Thread was either coordinating color or it not - everything was fair game.

One every hexie had at least a line of hand-quilting. I squared the project up to 15'', redoing the basting stitch along the edge where needed.

Love the way the back looks!

For the back, I followed my own tutorial to add a zipper and used a navy blue with a accent of some Sweetwater text fabric.

And now I have a beautiful pillow.

 Pictured above on my couch, the pillow actually now sits on my comfy gilder rocker (left over from when my kids were babies) where I like to sit and read or stitch at the end of the day.

* last summer

** although this seemed like a good idea at the time to keep things in place and avoid the need to actually baste with pins, it was a bear to sew through that fleece and led to hand fatique

I'll be linking up my finish with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Delightful Desert - A finish

I am just in love with this quilt!

These sweet animals decorated my design board for weeks.   While I love the cuddly bunny.....

..... the crane might just be my favorite.

For the quilting, I went with an all over FMQ design of loops, done on my domestic machine.  I briefly thought about custom quilting each animal but decided I wanted something that was playful.  The quilt is backed in the softest flannel and I'm hoping makes a baby happy. 

This was my very first commission quilt - I've always wanted to make a pattern by Elizabeth Hartman so was thrilled to tackle this one.

I'll be linking up my finish with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, and Finished or Not Friday.

*** Please note - blogger has made changes to how I am notified of new blog comments which is making it difficult to reply via email.  Until another solution is available, I will reply directly to the comment on the blog . ***

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Pick Up Sticks

I love quilting challenges.  A prompt, a deadline and then hoping the creative juices flow.

Pick Up Sticks is my latest mini in response to the Curated Quilts challenge for June.

The prompt was Connect and the colors included cream, yellow, mustard, navy, moss green and gray.

This was my third or forth attempt at a design.  I love the final result.  The 'sticks' are fusible applique.  I had fun with the straight line quilting on the sticks and micro stippling everywhere else.

Now all I need to decide is which side is up!  Right now, I'm loving this view as the top!

I'll be linking up at Curated Quilts here.  I've submitted an entry for each of their challenges - the competition is really amazing.  Fingers crossed.

*** Please note - blogger has made changes to how I am notified of new blog comments which is making it difficult to reply via email.  Until another solution is available, I will reply directly to the comment on the blog . ***

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Encouragement - A Quilt Finish

My daughter is about to graduate from high school.   She has been so fortunate to have the same teacher (Special Education) for five years.

Ms R has encouraged my daughter, laughed with her, advocated for her and been there for her.  A special teacher needs a special quilt.

And a special label.

The prints used in this quilt are Alison Glass Sunprint 2018 - I am just in love with them.  I also used a AG print on the back and added a strip of color.

The quilting was a lot of fun.  I started with diagonal straight lines, mimicking the direction of the pattern.  The initial lines were marked with a hera marker and then I winged it.   In five places, I replaced the straight lines with some FMQ.

Much of the piecing for these blocks was done on a guild retreat and the colors made me smile every time I sewed with them.

For the binding, I went with the same Painter's Palette Gray that I used for the background except for a spot of color on the right binding.  The quilt design is my own.

Two special teachers, two finished quilts (See this post for the first one.)

I'll be linking up my finish with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.
Have a wonderful day! Patty

Scraps - A Finish!

I've finished several quilts recently.   This one I call Scraps.  I made the blocks last year as part of the Patchwork QAL sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop - find more information here.

Each month, a pattern for a 5'' block was released and I used up scraps from several projects, all fabrics from various Bonnie & Camille lines.

Even the binding was scrappy!

The quilting has been done for awhile but I finally invested the time to bind and get the quilt labeled.  This is a gift for one of my daughter's teachers.  My daughter is about to graduate from High School and has had the same teachers (Special Education) for many years.

It will be hard for her to say goodbye!

I'll be linking up my finish with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Butterfly

A quick fun project to turn a single block into a hot pad for spring!

I made my butterfly block with the specific purpose of turning it into a hot pad but you can do this with any orphan block you've got hanging around.  These fabrics were Northcott Artisan Spirit Shimmer and were part of the QuiltCon swag bag. (I won a swag bag from a giveaway from Quilting Jetgil.)

For my hot pad / potholder,  I used a layer of Insul-bright and a layer of batting and then quilted as I normally would.  I wanted the butterfly to pop so only quilted around it in the ditch.  I'm thinking I'll embroider some antennas to help it look more like a butterfly.

(I just realized from the picture that I've got those fabrics in the wings going different ways.  Oh well, I'll just pretend I intended it to be this way.  You won't tell, will you?)

Have a wonderful day! Patty

My experiences at a quilt retreat

I got to spend the weekend at a guild retreat two weeks ago.   We were at the beach and had amazing weather.

Our room had a view - you can see the reflection of the palm trees in the windows and the weather was nice enough that most of the time we could open the windows..

We spent a lot of time working on this Amethyst Bag by Sew Sweetness.  Far too much time, actually, because there were lots of steps.  I ended up putting it aside so that I could finish it at home.  It is a really nice bag. 

I used Fragile by Zen Chic for the outside and inside of the bag.  I'm loving my two mesh pockets.  Many bags were finished during the retreat and each time one was 'birthed' (the final stage of turning it inside out) there were large cheers in the room.

We also had a Secret Sister swap.  I was totally spoiled with some chocolate, a small quilting frame and an awesome bag filled with goodies.

I arrived with a multitude of projects but besides the bag, really only worked on one.  But it was a fun one -  I got all 33 of my blocks made! I loved working with this fabric (Sunprint 2018) so much.

A couple of things that I will do for my next retreat -

• Pack less.  I don't sew as fast as I imagine I would in a world without children and laundry and other household distractions.  I brought so many project along but only worked on one of them in addition to the bag.  
• Prep ahead.  Cutting as much ahead of time was a really good idea.  There isn't much table space available.
• Bring lunch/snacks. Enough said.
• Save the difficult cutting for another time.  Being tired just does not led to accurate cutting!

Bottom line - I had way more fun than I expected to and I now know several of the guild members much better as a result of spending so much time with them.

Have a wonderful day! Patty