Blogger's Quilt Festival, Spring 2013

For the Blogger's Quilt Festival this spring I am entering "Rainbow Squares" -- my re-interpretation of Tula Pink's pattern "Fade to Pink."  This has been the favorite quilt in our house during the past year!

And it was such a fun quilt to make!  The pattern is found in Tula's book Quilts from the House of Tula Pink, and would be an easy one for beginners.  The cutting is easy, sewing the rectangles together was easy, and there are no corners or blocks to match up.  It is constructed in rows, separated by long strips of background fabric.  

And it was quick to put together!

I finished the quilt top in two days,

and then spent 2-3 days quilting it.  (long days!)

This quilt is huge!

In this photo my husband is standing on our front steps, trying to hold up the quilt -- and his arms aren't quite long enough!  

The quilt measures 80 x 80,

a great size for my daughter's bed.

I quilted this myself on my Juki, which was exhausting!

I fell in love with Denyse Schmidt's signature figure-eight long-arm machine quilting pattern when I first saw her book Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration.

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to replicate this by free motion quilting on my home machine, but I think it works!

My quilting is definitely more "organic" than hers,

but I love the overall effect.  

For the back I used fabric from Ikea --

aren't the houses fun?!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today!

I hope you enjoy the rest of the the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Baby Granny Squares

I finally finished up a little granny square quilt!  This little quilt top has been hanging in my closet for about a year now, and for some reason I decided to just get it quilted last week!  It's small -- only 34 x 26 inches -- and so it was quick to finish up.  I used an orange polka-dot sheet for the backing, and for the quilting did FMQing in loops and flowers.  It's great to have this (finally) finished!
  

Linking up with Let's Get Acquainted!

Winner!

The winner of the "Read" Library Tote pattern is Kate:

KateMay 6, 2013 at 12:57 PM

I would LOVE to win this. My new gardening tip is laying down chicken wire in the garden bed and covering it with just a little dirt -- this keeps the cats out of the garden as they hate walking on chicken wire. Thanks for hosting this giveaway!

I'll get the pattern emailed to you this morning, Kate!  Have fun with it!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

It's giveaway Day at SewMamaSew!
Hello and thanks for visiting!

I'm giving away a copy of my pattern,

the "Read" Library Tote.

This is such a fun project,

and makes a perfect gift for a special teacher.

 

Just leave a comment with your favorite gardening tip (if you have one!) for a chance to win.

I'll randomly choose a winner,

& email you the pattern on May 10th!

Lots of Blocks!

I've been busy sewing up lots of blocks!

First up, I chose this block for March, for my month as the do. Good Stitches quilter:

 Road to Tennessee Block

(tutorial here)

I asked my stitchers to send blocks in bright solids;

it's going to be a fun quilt!

I've also been working on the

Sister's Ten Modern Block of the Month blocks:

March blocks
(I accidentally made the smaller sized blocks first!)

 April's blocks, Lady of the Lake

And I've been doing a little practicing FMQing lately . . . 

these samples are destined for the back of a pillow.

I hope to have this finished up soon!

Linking up to:

Shelburne Falls Washi Dress

I'm so happy to have finished up this little dress-- my first "Washi" dress!

Fabric: Shelburne Falls, plaid & dot, by Denyse Schmidt.
Pattern: Washi Dress by Rae, modified just a bit.  I added about 1.5 inches to the length of the top to bring the waistline down a bit.  Then I started the rows of shirring a little lower too, and added a few extra.  I followed Rae's video to add a bodice lining to the top -- this turned out to be an amazing way to finish the dress (genius!).
I see many more of these dresses in my future -- I'm going to try one in voile next!

front "U" cutout -- surprisingly easy!

shirring on the back

lining layer on the inside

And since I had extra fabric, I made a little clutch, too!

I'm entering this dress into

Rachel's Shelburne Falls contest

at Stitched in Color.

Be sure to check out the other creative entries, too!

(Now we just need some warmer weather--

yes, that is still snow in the background!!!)

Improv Quilt, finished!

 What a fun quilt to have finished!

I loved making these improv blocks,

using up my treasured AMH Good Folks fabric.

 Wonderful texture with straight line quilting!

Wouldn't these photos have been beautiful,

had I looked at my camera settings more carefully?

(I was so frustrated when I returned home from my friend's beautiful farm to find all of my photos way overexposed!!!)

So here is the finished quilt again, on the clothesline in my backyard:

Love, love, LOVE this quilt!
Linking up to: