A Lovely Year of Finishes - June

Wow, I can't believe it is the end of June already.  I feel like this year is flying by.  I finished up my goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes about 2 weeks ago and I can't believe it took me this long to write about it.

I started Orion's quilt right after he was born.  I had an idea what I wanted to do, but once I saw his sweet little face I knew exactly the quilt for him.  I finished the top quickly and it took me a little bit to figure out how I wanted to quilt it.

So I decided on quilting it with straight lines vertically about 3 inches apart and then 4 sets of 4 horizontal lines that are 3 inches apart.   I think that it will be enough quilting to hold up to a growing little boy.

The back is a fun letter print.  I picked it up a while ago from my LQS and it matched perfectly with the front.  And I have to share my excitement that this entire quilt came from my stash!  (Em, I know you know how big my stash is and you probably aren't too surprised, haha.)

I really love his name on the quilt.  I sent it out to the little guy this week.  Can't wait to hear what his mommy thinks of it.

I am linking up to the June Finishes at Sew Bittersweet Designs and Fiber of All Sorts.  There are so many great projects that were finished this month!  Hmm, now to decide for next month.

Modern Mini Challenge - Modern Pinwheel

It's that time of year again for another Modern Mini Challenge.  This year I went even smaller and made m quilt just 10" by 10".  My entry is my Modern Pinwheel quilt.

I was given a bag of small scrap triangles by one of the ladies at my LQS from a project she recently completed.  They were all so pretty, coming form a Christmas line in the store.  

I made a bunch of them into half square triangles, adding in the touches of yellow to brighten it up.  Each square was just 1.75" before I put them into the pinwheel.

I then hand quilted, with pearl cotton, tracing the teal fabrics.  That part took the longest, but I am so very happy with the results.

I am linking up my Modern Pinwheel to the Modern Mini Challenge at Ellison Lane.  There are so many beautiful mini quilts entered already.

Orion's Quilt

I am halfway through with my A Lovely Year of Finishes goal.  Baby Orion was born to one of my besties on May 31.  The moment I saw the little guy I knew the quilt I had to make for him.

So now Orion's quilt top is together.  I decided to use some of my Oh Deer by Moda charm pack and a fun newspaper texty print.  I started the top by making patchwork letters for his name.  I used the technique by Oh Fransson, Simple Patchwork Letters.  

It was so simple, I made up patchwork blocks and then cut out my letters.  After cutting out the letters, I add fuseable web to the back to make it easier to applique the block to the background fabric.  I found it funny that even though there are over 100 spools of thread in this house, I had to go and but 3 more because I didn't have the right colors.  After I had all the colors, I zigzagged around each letter.


Since the little guy's name is Orion, as in the constellation Orion's Belt, there had to be stars on his quilt.  I made some scrappy stars and for extra color pieced in the little birds.

 
And for fun, a picture from the back.  I love seeing the light through a quilt.

Now I have to quilt it.  I am thinking about free-motion where the newspaper texty print is.

Batik String Top - Festival of Strings

I am so excited to share this string top with all of you.  I am sure you all know my love of the scrap bin at my local quit shop, all the scraps you can fit in a bag for $5.50.  Recently there was a ton for strings in there of pretty batiks that all went together and I was so excited!  I pulled them all out and couldn't wait to find something to make with them.  Then, after thinking a bit, I came across an old International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene magazine from 2010/2011 that had an awesome hexagon pattern in it.  I loved the strings hexagons and figured my batik strings would be perfect for it.

I sewed strips of the strings together and then cut our the three sections needed for each hexagon.

I then sewed the hexagons together into rows, making sure to leave the quarter inch open to set in the next row.

I put half hexagons on the top and bottom to make the top and bottom edges straight, but I am leaving the sides with with zigzags.

Each strip used ranged from less than an inch wide to 3 inches wide.  My batik string quilt measures about 40" x 50", not too shabby for all those little pieces from the scrap bin.

And to end it, a picture from the back.  Look at all those seams!  I used 8 bobbins sewing all those little pieced together.

Now to find the perfect backing and figure out how to quilt it, but for now I am so happy with this finished top.

I am linking up to the Festival of Strings hosted by Rachel at Stitched in Color.  There are so many amazing amazing string quilts there.

Project Quilting Bonus Challenge

My Project Quilting Bonus Challenge is complete!  Wohoo, done with time to spare! It was also my May finish for A Lovely Year of Finishes.   The bonus challenge, Tradition Times Three, was started with a special bundle from Fat Quarter Shop.  I used 10 of the 12 fabrics, omitting the two beige fabrics, and added one white fabric which was the same as one of the blues in the bundle (the white is part of the Seascapes line by Moda)

As my traditional block I chose flying geese.  After looking through many books I kept going back to a flying geese quilt in the Better Homes and Gardens book, Quilting: Pieces of the Past.  Loving the look of the geese, I used this as my jumping off point.  

I chose to use the fabric in the bundle as my geese and use the one fabric that I added as the background.  I feel this made the geese really stand out.  

There are 6 sizes of geese in the quilt.  Some are paper pieced, some are pieced using the quick geese method and the few lonely ones are pieced with scrap triangles.  I quilted the quilt with a wave pattern on my little Simplicity American Denim machine using Coats and Clark cotton machine quilting thread.

The geese go all different directions in the quilt which reminded me of seagulls because a recent study showed that seagulls have no set direction in their flight patterns.  A trip to the boat seemed to be the perfect place to photograph the quilt, though it was so very windy out that it was hard to control.

I backed the quilt with Sketch Cherry Screen Texture by Timeless Treasures which was also in the bundle.  I added in some flying geese pinwheels for fun, too.  

Quilt Stats:

Flight of the Seagulls

54" x 75"

Pieced by me on my Brother machine and quilted by me on my Simplicity machine with Coats and Clark machine quilting thread.  The batting is Pellon Nature's Touch cotton batting.   

Made in my home in Lanoka Harbor, NJ. 

Bloggers Quilt Festival - 2

It is that time of year again, Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  I love being able to see so many amazing quilts linked up in one place.

For my second quilt I am entering Aunt Carol's Blue Wave Quilt.  I am entering it in the Quilt Photographer category   I love all the photos I took of it at the beach in January.

This quilt was made for my Godmother, Aunt Carol, as a Christmas/birthday gift.  She loves the color blue and the beach, I mean she is a Jersey Girl ;)

I used the french braid pattern to give the quilt movement.  To keep with the beachy feel of the quilt, I free motioned waves on each strip on the quilt

Blue Wave Quilt is backed in an almost solid blue with a strip of sandy footprint fabric running off-center.

These photos were all taken at Island Beach State Park in Ocean County, NJ the week it first reopened after the storm.  Although it was cold and windy and I almost lost the quilt to the wind at one point it was a perfect day to go to the beach because I missed it.

There were some great shells and the waves were amazing that day, too.

Aunt Carol's Blue Wave Quilt measures 44" x 58"
I free motioned it on my little machine at home using Coats and Clark machine quilting thread.

Bloggers Quilt Festival - 1

It is that time of year again, Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  I love being able to see so many amazing quilts linked up in one place.

I am entering my Frittata Quilt.  I made Frittata Quilt in March for a Project Quilting challenge, Print Publications.  (Original post)

I was inspired to make this quilt using a picture in a magazine of a frittata.  The colors were bold and bright and couldn't get them out of my head.  

I free motioned swirls on the solid blue sections that were inspired by the pattern on the blue batik.  

The back is pieced with leftover solids from the front. I love how the swirls pop on the green on the back. 

Frittata quilt measures 32" x 32"

Free motioned quilted by me on my little home machine.  

Go and check out all the different quilts in Blogger's Quilt Festival, so many amazing quilts. 

Frittata quilt is in the Baby Quilt group.