My Sister’s Baby Quilt Project

I continue to work on my Rose of Sharon study quilt. I have three of the four blocks finished. Two are re-sized and stitched together, so that the final size is determined. I then, cut the border strips. The finished size of the quilt will be 48″ X 48″. I have been diligently stitching the fourth block and expect to have it complete tonight. I have also given a great deal of thought into how I will prepare the swags for the border, which will be the next step in my study quilt.

Since I have no project photos to share, I thought that I would share my sister’s latest quilt. I have two sisters, one older and one younger, and we frequently get together to quilt. My youngest sister called me this afternoon to say she had finished her granddaughter’s baby quilt. If I wanted to see it before it was taken home with the recipient, I better come by this afternoon. When I arrived, my older sister had already arrived. Probably because she got the call first and secondly because she only lives a block away. I live three blocks.

Evelyn’s Quilt

My sister changed the blue colors in the quilt pattern to purple, giving it a little girl feel.

Bunny Embroidery

This pattern is one in a set of five designs, and my sister has completed two of them for her grandchildren. Besides doing a beautiful job on the embroidery and piecing, she also did a phenomenal job with the FMQ. The quilt that I made for my great-niece was a simple Charms Squares Baby Quilt (quilt on the left). My sister’s quilt is much more to be treasured, as it should be.

Evelyn with Mom, Grandma & her quilt

Such a sweet little girl and a sweet baby quilt. Now my sister can get to work on the FMQ of our collaborative quilt, Dresdan Zoo, for another great-niece.

Happy Stitching!

 

Beginning Another Baby Quilt & my Study Quilt

My sister and I are on to another baby quilt for her next grandchild. Yes, I know that we haven’t finished the last baby quilt, but that’s okay. I have quilts in various stages all the time. We need to baste and quilt the Dresdan Zoo baby quilt for our great-niece. Certainly, we can begin cutting out the squares for the next baby quilt. I’m sure that many of you do the same thing.

My nephew will be having a child later this summer. My sister is planning a special quilt for her grandchild, but thought that we could work on another quilt from the great-aunts. The pattern is a scrappy bow tie from Quilter’s World Summer 2014 by Chris Malone. The quilt has 64 bow tie blocks measuring 6″ X 6″ finished. We sorted through our stashes and pulled out small scale prints in several colors. No pinks or florals in this baby girl quilt. We chose a lot of dots, stars and mottled prints and each took a stack of fabric to pre-cut the squares for the blocks.

Fabrics for Bow Tie baby quilt

Here are a few of the fabrics cut into the 3-1/2″ and 2″ squares for the bow ties. I seem to have kept the yellows, browns and greens. I also have a stack of purples, reds and oranges yet to cut. My sister is already finished cutting her fabrics, so I need to catch up.

Unfortunately, I have another deadline for a study quilt. I am working on an applique pattern for my AQSG Civil War study quilt that will be presented at Seminar in September. I’ve been working on my idea for over a year, but haven’t put it into fabric until recently. I spent several hours today cutting and basting shapes. The pattern is emerging just as I had planned, so I am pleased with the progress. I hope to make a lot more progress this holiday week-end.

The NQA annual show is happening this week-end in Columbus, Ohio. I am missing out, but just couldn’t work out attending. My SewBatik challenge quilt is hanging in the show, so maybe you’ll see it, if you are able to attend.

Enjoy the holiday!

 

Dresdan Zoo Baby Quilt Borders

I took the day off from work today to sew with my sister. We finished adding the borders to our Dresdan Zoo baby quilt for our niece and her new baby daughter. You can follow along with the construction of this quilt in earlier posts HERE, HERE and HERE. We chose to add sashing between and around the outside of the blocks. This added six inches to the quilt dimensions, so the border strips needed to be longer than a WOF (width of fabric). Rather than adding a seam allowance to each border strip, we decided to add corner squares. We chose a light green, so as not to compete with the Dresdans. Next up, FMQ. Here’s a look at the finished quilt top.

Dresdan Zoo baby quilt top

We spent the remainder of the day selecting fabrics for another baby quilt. My sister’s son is the next family member expecting a baby. He will be a new father later this summer. We have selected a bow tie quilt pattern featured in Quilter’s World Summer 2014. The scrappy pattern uses 64 different fabrics, so we spent quite a bit of time searching through both our stashes; sorting and re-sorting fabrics to ensure a variety of tints and shades.

Here are a few more pics of the finished quilt top.

Corner of quilt

Crocodile center block

Giraffe in left corner

Side border with zebra

Finished baby quilt top

I finished out my Friday off work by stitching up my NQA April BOM (block of the month). But more about that in another post.

Happy Stitching!

Farm Animal Baby Quilt

I finished the farm animal baby quilt for my great niece in time to place it in my guild’s local quilt show. This was a quilt that I began last summer while I was recovering from my rotator cuff surgery. I couldn’t tolerate too much activity with my shoulder, so I made the applique blocks. I stitched the blocks together in the Fall and had the quilt pinned for quilting before Christmas. I first blogged about this baby quilt project HERE.

Alas, I did not get the quilting done until a week ago. Honestly, I was not sure I was ready to FMQ again. I tore my rotator cuff a year ago in February after a week-end of micro-stippling. This was not the first tear, but another tear related to a bone spur. Then in January, I spent a few hours on a week-end doing FMQ on a small project and ended up with tendonitis and suffered with three weeks of pain. Needless to say, I have been reluctant to begin doing any FMQ. But, I had to get this quilt finished and the guild quilt show was my motivation.

Farm Animal baby quilt displayed at the MMQG Spring in Michigan quilt show.

I quilted in the ditch around all the blocks. This was fairly easy using the walking foot. I continued with straight line quilting across the diagonal of the 9-patches. With planning, I was able to complete this quilting in two continuous lines. The next challenge was adding in some FMQ around the farm animals and in the borders. I chose to outline stitch around the animals, which did not come out as nicely as I had hoped. But, practice makes perfect and I haven’t been practicing. The quilting would have to do. Lastly, I added a heart border. I completed the design as a continuous motif by stitching the heart shape and then stitching back through the center of the heart and beginning the next one. I got this idea from tutorials that Lori gives in her blog The Inbox Jaunt. Here are some closeup pics that reveal the quilting.

Quilting around farm animals & hearts & in 9-patch blocks

More examples of quilting from left side including the border

My favorite part of stitching this quilt was creating the applique blocks and adding the blanket stitching. I joined the War on WIPs at the Modern Quilt Guild forums and this is the third WIP completed in 2014. I am actually moving along at one quilt per month. Yeah!!

Farm Animal Baby Quilt

Here’s another look at the finished quilt. Happy Stitching!

Dresdan Zoo Baby Quilt Update

My older sister and I worked on our Dresdan Zoo Baby Quilt for our niece, on Saturday morning. We have been making steady progress on this quilt for several months. The quilt is a collaboration between my two sisters and I for our great-niece Isabella, born in January. She is our oldest brother’s second grandchild and we collaborated on a quilt for the first grandchild last year.

Each month, we plan a sister’s sewing day, which I have began blogging about HERE. This month, we only had a morning to work on a project, so we used it to stitch the Dresdan blocks together. Since the points on the Dresdan blocks touched and did not match up well, we decided to add a 2-inch sashing strip between the blocks. A border of the purple stripe fabric is the next addition, along with white corner squares. Then, on to the FMQ that my youngest sister should complete. She’s the expert quilter of the three of us.

Dresdan Zoo Quilt

Here is a closeup of the center Alligator block.

Dresdan Alligator Block

Finally, here is a peek at the border fabric lying next to the quilt.

Zoo Quilt Border Fabric View

Do you get together regularly with someone to quilt? I participate in lots of quilt groups. But, I enjoy my sewing with my two sisters the most.

Happy Stitching!

Dresdan Zoo Baby Quilt

My sisters and I got together over the week-end to work on the baby quilt, Dresdan Zoo, we are making for our niece. We collaborated on another baby quilt, Touch & Feel Baby Quilt, that we gifted to a nephew last year. We completed the Dresdans last month & got together on Saturday to stitch them to the background blocks. I enjoy hand applique and decided to hand stitch the fussy-cut zoo animal centers. Four of the blocks are completed: an elephant, giraffe, zebra, and turtles.

Completed Dresdan Zoo blocks

The Dresdan pattern is straight across the top, so that it can be machine stitched to form the point. After turning the point, the sides are stitched together to from the ring – no raw edges and completely machine stitched. These were then centered onto the background fabrics and blanket stitched along the outside edge of the Dresdans using a beige Aurifil thread. A stabilizer on the back kept the background from puckering. I like to use tissue paper for a stabilizer. It’s inexpensive, especially since I save it from gifts I’ve received.

These blocks have been easy & fun to stitch together. Only five more blocks to complete and we can stitch the quilt together. FMQ to follow.

Hope you’re staying warm in this cold weather. Happy Stitching!

WIPs – Works in Progress

LIfe can get in the way of my quilting projects. Life should – it is more important. Although, there are a lot of quilters out there that may be missing out on life because they do so much quilting. Me, I have chosen to make quilting number three on my list: Faith-Family-Hobbies.

Grandpa (my husband) & I have been watching the granddaughters a lot in the evenings, since our son-in-law has been on 10-hour work shifts. Then, there are the day-to-day activities, and of course, life includes having a job, which has been very hectic. So, I haven’t been able to do much with my quilting projects. I say that, but some of you will see my accomplishments as a lot. What has it been, three or four weeks since I last posted? At that time, I was working on wool felt ornaments for an Advent calendar. That project is still in progress, although moving along slowly. I’ve only finished two more ornaments. Several are put together and just need blanket stitching. Stores don’t seem to carry a selection of #8 perle cotton, so I finally had to order it online to get colors that I wanted. I was able to finish the key and the bell ornaments.

Wool Key Ornament

Wool Bell Ornament

I stitched together a couple of aprons, I cut out last Christmas. Trying to get ahead on gifts.

Vintage Apron pattern with rick rack trim

My applique heart quilt is in the final stages of completion. This is the first Applique Club project that I led our guild in two years ago. All the leaves have been added and now work is progressing on embroidering leaf stems and appliqueing cherries. Here is a peak at that progress.

Leaves & Cherries

Applique Heart Quilt border

My local quilt guild met the week before last, and I held the first Applique Club meeting for the 2013 guild year. Lots of new faces and some challenges in leading the group with the newest project. Songs of Spring by Lori Smith was chosen for the year’s project. I am finding this challenging, working with six-inch finished blocks, so I can only imagine how others are feeling when they are new to applique. I sure hope that I am able to lead these newbies along. The block is only partially finished.

Songs of Spring Block #1

I basted the Charm Squares Baby Quilt for my nephew and hope to spend some time today doing the quilting.

Charm Squares Baby Quilt

Baby quilt closeup

I am also designing two quilts; one for the The Modern Quilt Guild Riley Blake fabric challenge and the other for the American Quilt Study Group biennial quilt study. I have decided on a bargello style quilt for the MQG challenge, and a Rose of Sharon quilt from 1852 is my inspiration for my study quilt.

I also stitched the binding onto an exchange block quilt that my long-armer quilted back in March. I haven’t done much of the hand stitching, but it should be a fast finish, if I could find the time. My surgery put a lot of quilting on hold and now I am playing catch up. So, there you have it. Far too many WIPs, you may wonder how I remember what needs to be done. Lists. I make lots of “To Do” lists. I feel like I am accomplishing something when I can cross it off from my list.

Hopefully, it won’t be so long until I post again. And, hopefully, many of these WIPs will have progressed to being finished projects.

Happy Stitching!

Baby Quilts

Awhile back, I was planning a baby quilt for my nephew. Since that time, I have completed the top, as well as, the Farm Animal baby quilt for my niece. They went together quickly, but I have not been back to my quilting for several weeks. I had to make valances for a business remodel project, and my weekends have been busy with other activities. Now, it is time to get back to the baby quilts and prepare them for FMQ.

I found a charm packet of fabric from a shop hop that I took with my sister back in about 2004. You know, you go on these shop hops, purchase all sorts of projects and they end up in the back of a storage bin, unused. I came across the charm pack while I was looking for some fabric I knew that I purchased. The nice thing about the charm pack was that I also purchased two yards of coordinating fabric. The fabric was a yellow, flowered Moda print and the cheery colors looked perfect for the baby quilt idea. So, I found some white on white fabrics to use for sashing between the charm squares rows, and stitched the top together. It looks so cute. And, so does the Farm Animal Baby quilt.

  

Now, to get the backing ready, figure out how to quilt the tops, and begin the FMQ. What are you working on?

Happy Stitching!

Farm Animal Baby Quilt Layout

The Farm Animals Baby Quilt is nearing completion. I hadn’t worked on it for awhile, but finished up the last three blocks with blanket stitching on Thursday. Then, I spent the week-end stitching together the scrappy 9-patch blocks.

Since the blocks are scrappy, there was no quick piecing. I started with 162 blocks, 2-1/2 inches square. The fabrics were all used in the farm animal and heart blocks.

Then, I stitched the squares together following typical piecing for 9-patch blocks.

   

I press seams in opposite directions, so that seams nestle together for more accurate piecing.

The pattern called for eighteen blocks, that will be six inches finished.

Here is a peak at the finished quilt. Scrappy blocks alternate with animal & heart blocks, while the animal blocks alternate in rows with heart blocks.

Now, I just need to get the blocks sewn together and add the border. My younger sister will do the quilting. It will have it’s final home at my niece’s house, where baby Charity was born a few weeks ago.

Enjoy!

Planning a Baby Quilt

I am having a  creative moment tonight, thinking up ideas for quilts that I need to make for gifts. Not that I don’t already have too many quilt projects on my plate that I need to begin another one. I really should just spend the money on a gift. Right now, though, I’m just thinking about it, so I haven’t committed to anything.

I am in the process of finishing a baby quilt for my niece, but have a nephew that had a baby earlier in the summer that did not receive a quilt gift. I had surgery back in March and was unable to sew for several months. Actually, I haven’t sewn a stitch on my Bernina for more than four months, and I am beginning to get antsy about it. I need to stitch something. So, tonight, I got to thinking about making a simple quilt – a modern quilt – that I could make for him & his wife. I did a quick Google search and came up with two ideas. The first idea is made with charm squares, which I can easily cut from fabrics I have on hand.

Charm Square Baby Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman

I’m also considering the a disappearing nine-patch pattern that is simple enough to make and could be scrappy using any number of fabrics that I already have.

Spring Baby Quilt by Kristy@Bonjour

I’ll just have to finish that other baby quilt this week-end, so that I can get this one started. As for that other quilt gift idea; that’ll have to wait for another post.

Enjoy!