Kitty Quilt

This is my last do. Good Stitches quilt finish for the year -- that makes 3!
I asked the members of the Peace Circle to make blocks using this tutorial, with gray backgrounds and bright or dark colored cats.  I think they had fun with it.  One stitcher even added bright ears to her black cat!

 I quilted this in a 45 degree diagonal cross-hatch, then bound it in black with small pops of bright solids.  I had a lot of fun with this quilt -- I just love being a quilter in do. Good Stitches!

Reindeer!

It was Reindeer wednesday at my studio this week!
The pattern is called "Fair Isle Christmas Quilt" by Lee of Freshly Pieced -- a gorgeous, Nordic-inspired quilt pattern.  Love it!

For now, though, these Reindeer are destined to become pillows.  I've been experimenting with quilting them, and finished one up this morning.  I've been using this 60 degree diagonal straight line quilting a lot lately -- what do you think?

I used 2 different colors of Kona red, alternating, to enhance the "pixelated" quality of the pattern.  I cheated a little though -- on some of the longer stretches of red, I didn't use 1.5 inch strips, I did a little quilty math and used wider strips so that I'd have fewer seams to match.  It definitely sped up the  process!

 For the back I added a concealed zipper, red binding, and one of my labels.
The print is a Pottery Barn sheet -- a few years ago I cut one up to make curtains, and had a little leftover.  So now the pillow looks at home in our reading loft, and the back matches the curtains.  Hurray!

The other 3 reindeer (& maybe even some brown deer with red noses!) will be available at my booth at the No Coast Holiday Craft-o-Rama on Dec 5th & 6th.

Linking up with:
The Fair Isle Quilt Along
& Finished on Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Snuggly Quilt

With the snow and cold weather that has suddenly hit Minnesota, my outdoor photo shoots need to be short and sweet.  So this post is going to be short and sweet, too!

I love this quilt!
The pattern is called "Refreshingly Retro" from Elizabeth Dackson's book Becoming a Confident Quilter.   It measures 54 x 70.  It's hard to see it from these photos, but I free motion quilted it in a meandering loopy design, in gray thread.  I'm planning to have this quilt for sale at my booth at the upcoming No Coast Holiday Craftorama in Minneapolis next month.  If you're local, please come and say "hi!"

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory.

Finished on Friday

 I managed to snap a few pictures of this quilt right after we raked the yard, but before the snow fell.  My front yard now looks completely different!

 The pattern is called "Refreshingly Retro" from Elizabeth Dackson's book Becoming a Confident Quilter.  It's a large 9-patch block set on the diagonal.  Easy to make, and looks more complicated than it is.  It came together quickly!  I'm planning to free motion quilt it in gray thread, but am not sure yet what design.  I often work out the quilting in my head while I'm basting the quilt.

Happy Friday, everyone!

(Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts)

Christmas Projects

I've gotten quite a few emails lately wondering about my "ornaments table runner" -- and it took me awhile to figure out that these quilters meant the Vintage Holiday Quilt pattern by Camille.  I looked at the pattern again recently, and remembered how fun and easy it was to make.  Here's the quilt I made in 2012:

And here are some blocks that I made yesterday:

This is such a quick Christmas Project!  I think I'm going to make a few of these in the next few weeks.  I have a booth at the No Coast Holiday Craft-o-rama this year (so excited!) -- and I'd like to have a few Christmas quilts completed by then to sell.

For this quilt, I used a Kate Spain 12 Days of Christmas jelly roll that I've had for a few years.  I had to modify a few of the blocks, since I only had 2 1/2 inch strips to work with.  And unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to find this fabric anymore -- so I can't make the sashing in coordinating fabric.  What a dilemma!  Lesson learned -- don't hoard fabric for too long! 

Linking up to:

Modern Quilting, Cats

Here is my latest finished quilt, meow!

I'm calling it Modern Cats:

I've had a cat quilt in mind for a long time, ever since I saw this one on Flickr.   October is my month to be the quilter for my do. Good Stitches circle, so I asked the other members to make cat blocks in bright solids or black and white prints.  But then I just couldn't wait for all of the blocks to roll in, and decided to make a cat quilt of my own.  For my cat quilt I actually used the tutorial for making a "basic cat" at Oh, Fransson, and then added wide white borders.  It was a quick one to sew up -- I finished it in just a couple of days!

(my sample blocks for do. Good Stitches)

Quilt Stats

Modern Cats, a baby quilt measuring 46 x 36 inches

Fabrics: Kona white background, various black and white prints

Backing: an Ikea houses print I've had forever

Quilting: 30 degree diagonals, spaced 2 1/2 inches apart

(it crinkled up nicely after washing/drying, and I'm glad that the diagonals are still visible!)

Binding: Kona chartreuse, with scraps of black/white dots

Entered into the Modern Quilts Category, Bloggers Quilt Festival

Rainbow Butterflies

As soon as school was out last June, my twins asked me what type of quilt we were going to make for the summer.  They loved helping me put together the Scrappy Squares Quilt last summer, and could hardly wait to start a new project.

  I made a sample block, and my girls designed the rest.  They worked with my jar of 2 inch square scraps first, and then moved on to the 1.5 inch scraps (I did the sewing --they found it more fun to design blocks than sew -- actually sewing blocks will be my goal for them next summer).  All the butterfly blocks are in rainbow order, with some completely scrappy, and some "symmetrical," as my girls like to say!  I used a black and white dot print for the center stripe and the binding, and a white with black dots print for the backing.

  We took the quilt to my parent's house last weekend for a photo shoot, and wouldn't you know, in all of our photos the quilt is upside down.  I can't believe that I didn't notice this!

 My crazy block designers, so proud of their quilt:

Quilt Stats

Rainbow Butterflies, A Scrappy Rainbow Quilt

Measures 68 x 48 inches

Quilted on my Juki, in a flowery/butterfly design

Blogger's Quilt Festival, ROYGBIV category

Works in Progress

Here's a sneak peak of something I've been working on for the past two weeks:

It's a really fun block, but complicated, too!  

I'll show more of it when Elizabeth releases the pattern, later this month.

I have a large collection of various Amy Butler dot fabrics,

and am happy that I finally found something to do with them!

I started a new project this week:

 In the midst of a complicated project, sometimes it's nice to make something that comes together quickly!  This pattern is called Refreshingly Retro, from Elizabeth's book Becoming a Confident Quilter.  It's a fun twist on a nine patch, and quick and easy, too.  I cut out all of my fabric yesterday AND finished four blocks.  Hopefully I'll get the next eight done today?!

 Linking up to WIP Wed!

Quick Summer Project

Here's a sweet little quilt that I made over the summer:

The pattern is from Rachel's (Stitched in Color) curves class that she taught online last year sometime.  I made one during the class time, but was never completely happy with it, and always planned to make another.  I love this one!  Wouldn't these make fun Christmas gifts, too?!

This mini quilt measures about 18 inches square.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

Summer

This summer we . . .

ate a lot of ice cream,

grew flowers and veggies,

went to a Little House on the River camp,

enjoyed the MN State Fair,

made a few quilts and bee blocks,

spent lots of time on the water,

made a crafting table out of an old door,

fostered 2 litters of kittens (& only adopted 1!),

and celebrated a birthday.
So much fun, I didn't want it to end.

I'll be back soon to write more about this summers' quilts!