How about a recap?

I realized that I never got around to showing off my finished first Triple Irish Chain quilt - how silly of me!  I used the Moda Bake Shop pattern featuring a Snippets Honey Bun and Kona white.  This pattern really struck me because of the flowers in the centers of the chains.  Aren't they gorgeous?

I machine stippled this quilt and used DS Quilts Fairgrounds prints for the backing and binding.  My grandmother was the lucky recipient of this quilt at Christmas last year.  I made a matching pillow cover to go along with it.  

Bloggers' Quilt Festival 2012

Central Park has to be one of my favorite fabric lines of all time.  The vibrant colors, whimsical patterns, and the little squirrel with an acorn really spoke to me and I splurged and bought so much of it!  I chose to make a cracker box quilt for my first Central Park project.  I think this is the point in my short quilting career that I've identified where I begin to use much bolder colors and a neutral other than white.  Previously, I thought all quilts had to use a white background with pastel colors :)  I also experimented with echo quilting and am in love with how this one turned out! 



Full front view



Quitling detail



Back full view



Fall 2011 Bloggers' Quilt Festival

Presenting my entry in the Fall 2011 Bloggers' Quilt Festival from amyscreativeside.com!  I've chosen to submit my Central Park Moda Bake Shop Ritzy Cracker Quilt because it is so bright and cheerful, not to mention it was a breeze to whip up.  I quilted this using all straight line quilting, which was a new area for me.  Previously, I'd only free motion meandered because I'm a type A++ and if a line isn't ruler-straight, I want to rip it out and start over!  For this one however, I let myself relax and I think it turned out great.  It is perfect for the chillier nights we've been having lately.

Squirrely Mug Rug

Here's my finished project: the ultimate squirrel mug rug!  I think it turned out so fabulously, I'll have to make another (or 2).  I didn't get to personally swap it at the DMQG meeting, but I'm excited to hear about the fall themed mug rug swap and receive my partner's mug rug for me.  

Central Park Quilt Finish

I've been a slacker lately.  And not just since I sliced part of my finger off.  I'm doing much better, thanks!  It started before that incident.  Here is my lately finished Central Park Ritzy Cracker quilt, finished and fabulous!  


Moda Bake Shop Ritzy Cracker pattern
Moda Central Park by Kate Spain fabric


I decided to try some shadow quilting in the background spaces and absolutely love how it turned out.  To stabilize the printed area, I quilted a square in the middle.  The back is pieced.  It's really my favorite at the moment.  

My favorite packing picture

I'm still packing away but I had to stop and take a picture of this because it makes me smile!  I made all those :D 

Central Park Cracker Box Quilt

I've been quilting my Central Park Cracker Box Quilt this week and think it's my favorite quilt so far!  I love the bright, cheerful colors in the line.  I decided to do some echo quilting in the empty spaces and outline the solid rectangles.  It's a lot of stop & go work, but it's turning out great!  I'm about 2/3 finished.  I pieced the back, and you'll get to see that later on.  I reallyreallyreally want to get this quilt finished by the end of the week because I'm moving next Friday!!  I can't believe how fast time flies (esp when you need to pack a bazillion boxes).

I'm such a copy cat!

You may have already realized this.  I really can't take credit for a lot of my better projects because I find inspiration on my endless hours of web surfing and copy great stuff.  I usually modify things a bit to be more suitable for my sewing skill level slash laziness :D 


I came across this great mug rug at Froth and Bubble the other day when signing up for a billion Sew Mama Sew giveaways and immediately thought of my BFF from OD school.  She's from South Dakota, and apparently they don't have cardinals (yes, the birds).  She would get so excited anytime she saw one in Chicago or when she came to visit my house in central Illinois.  So I changed the titmice to cardinals and I can't wait to send her this mug rug!  Best part?  I only used scraps!  I'm planning on making one for myself too.  Oh and my grandma - she loves cardinals as well.  Does this look slightly Christmas-y to anyone else?  Oh well - Christmas in July is coming up!

Auntie Grace's Mod Sampler Quilt

Let me introduce you to my favorite completed quilt to date.  Meet Auntie Grace's Mod Sampler quilt.  This is actually the first quilt I've made all by myself!  I'm so proud of it :D

Carlton looks kind of creepy, no?

Last summer, my grandma and I went to the local quilt store together and browsed around.  It was getting close to my birthday and she asked what I wanted while I was there.  Now honestly, she comes up with some kooky gifts for me, so I just pointed to a fat quarter bundle and said, "I'd like something like that."  She said great and bought it!  So that's how I ended up with some of the fabric for the top.  They are all reproduction 1930's fabrics (Aunt Grace, etc).  That was about the time I started perusing quilting blogs and came across Oh!Fransson's site.  She had just started the Mod Sampler quilt along so I jumped in and finished up the blocks in no time.  

The furball loves him some fabric and aluminum foil

When I finally had all the right sashing, binding, and backing fabrics, I put it all together and daringly stippled it myself.  Practice?  Who needs practice?  I'll practice on the real deal :)  It turned out really great even if I did have to rip out the stitches in one place where I didn't pin baste enough.  Another lesson learned, right?

When I went to visit my grandma at Easter, I brought the quilt with me.  Of course she loves it!  She even told me I could leave it with her when I went home if I wanted.  We took it and showed it to all her friends too.  It's a great memory I'll share with my grandma from now on!

An Experiment with Fabric

I had a Moda Botany charm pack that's been sitting in my drawer since December when I bought it at Burgundy Buttons on super sale.  After much debate, I decided to use it in a stacked coin-type quilt and chose the Moda Bake Shop version.  


Problem - it needed 2 charm packs and I only had 1.  What's a girl to do?  I'd been hearing a lot about Connecting Threads from the ladies in my quilt group and decided to give them a try.  I bought some basic white Essential Thread (boring I know) and a couple of their solids charm packs to mix in with the Botany.  The colors are very nice and I was happy to find enough matching to make it work.  The fabric itself is a little more stiff and less soft than Moda (but honestly what isn't?).  Everything sewed up very well and I'm pleased with how it's turning out.  The thread works really well in my machine too.  

I'm piecing the backing with some of the Connecting Threads yardage too, so we'll see how it all comes together and is quilted, washed, and crinkly!  

Finally, an April quilt is finished!

I feel like a slacker this month since the only quilted project I finished was a table runner :(  Oh well, my Michael Miller Antiquity slash Send in the Crowns blue glittery table runner is finished in all it's fabulousness!  I stitched in the ditch using the Bernina #10 foot, which I was told over & over was amazing.  Eh, whatever.  It's done!  I may go back in the future and do some free motion to make areas really pop.  I think this is going on the wall somewhere so I can admire it :D

See the tiny crowns?  Oops, they're upside down...

Another quilt bites the dust...

Well, not in a bad way!  I just finished my third quilt of 2011 this weekend!  For this quilt, I used the Moda Bake Shop Baby Pinwheel pattern with Prairie Points and Moda A Breath of Avignon fabric.  The background is white Kona, backing is a quilter's cotton from JoAnn, and the binding is a solid from Moda Bar Harbor since I couldn't find anything else that matched at the LQS.  

For the quilting, I stitched in the ditch in the main body of the quilt.  That's harder than it seems, especially when you're using white thread on such brightly colored fabric!  After I finished, I went and bought the edgestitch foot for Frannie so it should be much more precise in the future.  In the outer border, I tried out a feather design.  I'd never done this before and was planning to use a stencil, but got frustrated and just drew it on freehand with a pencil.  

I was super pleased with the way it all turned out until I took it out of the washing machine and noticed all the pencil marks were still there and the bright colors were showing through the white!  Doh!  Panic ensues!!  Back to the washing machine - still there!  Aaackk!  I did some research and decided to try to wash it with ammonia and it finally came out.  Yippee!  Quilt is saved.  Good news, since my mom is buying it from me to give to her friend's baby boy on the way.