The Colorist

As promised, here is the post about the second quilt I quilted for Lizzy House. This is her quilt, The Colorist. I absolutely love this quilt. It's a color circle. I just did one in all solids and it looks really cool, but more about that later when it gets finished. (You can buy the pattern here, though, if you want to make your own. It's a fairly easy pattern. The trickiest part is putting the whole thing together, because you are sewing basically a giant circle. But it turns out looking great!)

For this quilt I quilted concentric circles. In the outer background they are 1/2 inch apart, and in the inner sashing piece and inner circle they are 1/4 inch apart.

In each of the color pieces I quilted vertical lines.

In case you missed my previous post, you can see how I quilted her other quilt, Outfox the Fox, here.

Price Change Notice

Please note that due to the rising costs of cotton, my wholesaler has raised the price of batting.  It is now $7.99 per yard, effective February 3, 2012.

Mike's T-Shirt Quilt

I've been working on a t-shirt quilt for my husband for what seems like years (probably because it has been years!).  I finally got it done this past week.  He's so excited to have a quilt big enough (he always says that the quilts I make us aren't long enough to cover his feet.  I don't know what he's complaining about.  They cover mine just fine!).  It ended up being about 72 x 90.

I gathered up all of his old, random t-shirts to make the quilt.  I used a solid grey minkee on the back, and bound it with a black/grey swirl print.

I quilted the quilt with a tight overall meander.  I outlined certain parts of the designs on some of the t-shirts, and then stitched words or images into some of the blocks.  For example, on his "No I will not fix your computer" t-shirt, I quilted a desktop computer.  And, on his Verizon Wireless t-shirt I quilted "Can you hear me now?"

It turned out way bigger than I expected.  When I laid it out on our bed to take a picture of it, I was surprised by how large it is.
But, it turned out great, and Mike is super excited to use it.

I used Superior Threads monopoly clear on the top, and Superior Threads So Fine! Smoke (a grey colored thread) in the bobbin.

Honey Bun Quilt Idea

Last summer/fall when I was going through my extremely large (and out of control) fabric stash, I found a Honey Bun that I had NO idea where it came from.

I don't particularly purchase Honey Buns.  I'm more of a Jelly Roll/Charm Pack/Layer Cake kinda gal.  What is a Honey Bun?  It's a roll of 1.5 inch strips of fabrics from a single line.  This particular Honey Bun was from "Oh Cherry Oh" by Me & My Sister for Moda.

So, since I didn't remember buying it, and I had no idea what to do with it, it sat on my sewing table, unrolled, for about two weeks.  Then, suddenly, it hit me.  I was having a baby girl in a few months and if I sewed the strips together it would be the perfect size for a baby quilt.

Like most of my own personal projects, it's been sitting at the shop waiting for its turn on the quilt machine for a while now.  I finally got some time last Saturday to quilt for myself (I'm still technically on maternity leave until Tuesday, but I just couldn't help it! I had to quilt something!) so I threw this on and quilted it up.  I used a light pink colored thread (So Fine! It's a Girl!) and quilted an all-over flower design.  It turned out really great.  I got it bound later that night and in the wash, and my baby girl was able to use it over the weekend.

Spring Quilt Along FINALLY finished

Last April I joined a Quilt Along for the Verna quilt and bag pattern by Kate Spain over on Above All Fabric.  Well, I made the quilt top pretty quickly but didn't finished the bag until September of last year.  The quilt top has been sitting at the shop waiting to be quilted for months.

Last week I finally got some time to quilt for myself.  I've been on maternity leave, waiting to be medically cleared to go back to "work" and I finally got the clearance on Thursday.  Saturday I came into work and quilted a bunch of things for my new baby (her single baby quilt was getting very used and she needed some more to alternate with it), and this quilt was one of them.

I used a not-quite white colored thread (So Fine! Snow) and quilted flowers in the outer border, leaves in the sashing, and giant daisies in the blocks.  It turned out so great, I couldn't have been happier with it.  It didn't take very long to bind, either, only about an hour or so.  It's since been washed, dried, and is currently in use under baby girl today.  :)

Quilt UberFest, Block Progress

Block 1

Block 2

So remember my last post?  The one about how I was quilting the Quilt UberFest quilt but I hadn't made any blocks?  Yeah, I started to feel some quilt guilt about that.  So, I rummaged through my ever-expanding (much to my husband's dismay) fabric stash and found the perfect fat quarter stack to use!  I am using Bari J's Paris Apartment, by Lecien.  It is beautiful fabric, and I can't wait to see the finished quilt.

Block 3

Block 4

I had this grand idea yesterday that I would catch up totally.  I would be able to do all 15 blocks, no problem.  I'm laughing now as I type this because I clearly wasn't right in the head when I set that goal!  Somehow I kind of forgot that I have a 5 year old and a husband to look after, and that food is kind of a necessity to survive and be able to function.  Needless to say, I didn't get all 15 (now 16) blocks finished.  BUT!  I did manage to get 6 of the blocks done.  A few were really quick and easy (my favorite kind of blocks!) and some were more challenging (block 6, for example).

Block 6

The theme of the quilt is half square triangles, or HSTs, and log cabins.  I don't so mind the log cabins, although sometimes mine seem to turn into more of a circular cabin instead of a square if I don't watch my seam allowances.  It's the HSTs that get me.  I swear they are the bane of my existence, but I am determined to do them and finish this quilt!  Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? haha

Block 5

Anyway, enjoy my pictures of my blocks, and keep checking for my finished top....hopefully by the end of the month!  Also, if you're joining in all the Quilt UberFest fun, be sure to join our Flickr group and upload photos of your blocks, finished projects, fabric selection, whatever!

P.S. - sorry about the weird photo placement. I'm not really liking the new Blogger photo thing....doesn't let me do so much as far as placement.

Quilt UberFest

I feel like I've kind of dropped the ball here a little with promoting this fabulous quilt along I am a *small* part of, but better late than never, right?

So first off, what is Quilt UberFest?  Well, it is 16 days of awesomeness.  Each day there will be a new block by a different designer.  It started October 1st (see, I told you I dropped the ball a little!)

Block 1 was by John Adams of Quilt Dad fame.  You can find the block on his blog, here.
Block 2 was by Kaye Prince of Miss Print.  You can find the block on her blog, here.
Block 3 was by Karen Linton (@savinggrc on Twitter).  You can find the block here.
Block 4 was by Konda Luckau.  You can find the block tomorrow on her blog, here.

Oh, did I mention that the fabric all of the designers is using is Sleeping Beauty by Nel Whatmore?  Scott over at Blue Nickel Studios (who also put this whole UberFest together - he is amazing!) has posted an interview with Nel about her new line for Freespirit.  Check it out on his blog, here.

Also, because I will probably forget to keep posting who did which block and where you can get it, you can find the complete UberFest schedule here on Scott's blog.

So, you've clicked over to the schedule and haven't found my name on the list, right?  That's because I am actually going to be quilting the quilt.  I cannot tell you how excited I am to be a part of this quilt along by quilting the finished top!  I will post pictures for sure, once I can.  Until then, I would love to see what you have done as far as the UberFest blocks.  Join us over on Flickr and post your progress in our Flickr group!

I am - hopefully - going to get a chance to quilt along, too.  I still have to pick out my fabrics!  (I am sooo behind!)  My husband has decided that 24 drawers full of fabric is TOO much.  HA!  I actually don't blame him.  So, together we agreed that I cannot purchase any *new* lines of fabric until I use up some of my stash.    And can I just say that I happen to have some darling fabrics in my stash?  Yeah, I do.  And I have no idea what to do with some of them.  This quilt along would be the perfect chance to use up some of those sets.  And the bonus?  All of my fabric is girly.  I might just end up with a darling quilt for baby girl before she makes her appearance in January (or December, if she comes early).  :)

So what are you waiting for?! Join us on this awesome UberFest of quilting. :)