time of finishing

I have been working hard to finish the 5+ quilts I have started, figuring that having that many UFO's don't cuddle as well as their finished counterparts  :)

In the last 2 weeks I have managed to finish 3.

One a simple 9 patch pattern with awesome bright happy colors that I gifted to my good friend since it matches her happy personality perfectly  :)  I have heard this quilt has become a good companion for her while she unwinds and reads a book after her little one has gone to bed.

Then I started on quilting out the navy blue and white block pattern that I actually started with Kate!  Took me a while to finish it (kept getting distracted making all the fun quilt tops!), but finally it has graduated from UFO to finished project.

I love the simplicity of this quilt, yet provides color to accent a room if you wanted. It continues with my love of being a little scrappy so each color has a little depth.  And the best part, 100% cotton batting to help you keep warm and cuddle up  :)

Finally I finished a slanted diagonal pattern quilt. I will admit, this is one of my favorites I have completed in a while.  This quilt uses one of my favorite blocks, the HST!  And now thanks to the new way to making HST, it goes even quicker! (please see earlier post titled).    I was hoping to finish this teal yellow beauty up so it could be used in our engagement photos, but my allergies had other thoughts that day.

All the quilts I worked on my wandering free motion quilting.  I absolutely love quilting that way because it is like a constant puzzle, adds great detail to the quilt and frankly, is just a lot of fun to do.

All quilts are perfect for cuddling up on the couch watching tv or reading a good book.  Or my pups would say are perfect for making into a soft bed to rest their heads.

Texas- the mighty flag quilt

I recently saw a quilt online that was a scrappy Texas quilt.  LOVED IT!  Not for me though, I am partial to the great mitten state.  But for a friend from Texas, I knew it was perfect.

And her bridal shower was just 2 weeks away.  PERFECT!

So I got busy working with the final dimensions of this great quilt being 50 inches by 70 inches.  The red and white sections are each 25 inch by 30 inch.  The blue section is 50inch by 40 inch.  All squares were initially 5.5 inches, which means in the end, each square is 5 inches. I went for a scrappy look to help give the quilt more dimension.

I tried out spray basting on this beauty. And I AM A FAN!!!  I don't think I will ever go back to pin basting again!  I think spray baste cut down on time by 50-75%.

I also learned how to applique with the star. I found a simple star pattern online, traced it onto a piece of fabric I heated some stabilizer onto.  Then I sewed it onto the top piece.

The back I kept simple with a nice red fabric.

I free motion quilted this one.  I still need a lot of work with my FMQ but I love it.  So quick and beautiful!

And I think my friend who received this quilt loved it!  :)  That is the best part!

stormy night

So what else should I do on a stormy night other than sew??  I will have to say my pup, Draco, had other ideas, like cuddling him and saving him from thunder.  But at least he curled up under my sewing table (taking up my foot room) while I finished up the top of a fun block quilt I started.

My inspiration for this quilt actually came from the fact I had a ton of 4.5 inch squares left over from a project I was going to do, then changed my pattern at last minute.  I don't regret the change, now I have a new challenge of using up all these 4.5 squares (in cotton and flannel!)

After working on some HST quilts, I wanted to do something less complicated and yet bright and fun. So I ended up putting these pieces together for a nice lap size quilt once it is finished.

Looks like more storms tonight and tomorrow, so perhaps I will get some more much needed sewing done!

it has been a busy time

I know have been super busy as the weather is improving, and home improvement season has begun.  But I have made just a little progress (and I mean little) towards my string quilt.

I drew up my layout (which can be seen in the last post) and found I will need 80 center black strips.  So all those have been cut.  Then I just picked a color and started sewing together strips of blue together and attaching to the center black piece.  As I have mentioned, I have made slow progress, but it is a start.  So far I am liking my method, it is similiar to the paper piece, but no paper will be used. (I don't have the patience to cut out 80 squares of paper)

I hope to have a lot more done by Sunday evening, but will have to see.  More painting walls and trim awaits me along with various going away parties for friends.

Happy Wednesday all!

~Lisa

linking up to Work in Progress Wednesday  :)

Busy Busy week, more quilts!

Been busy this week starting projects, and about mid way thru a couple of them.

I decided I loved the offset pattern of a square with just 2 colors.  Me loving scrappy, included a variety of fabrics in same color.  This has been a super quick sew thus far.   The back portion seems to be taking me the longest. Next time I try to piece something together, I am going to try to be methodical about it and not just randomly piece together.  It just requires too much thinking.

 And yes, the pups love checking out the new items that are being modeled.

I have also started a rag quilt for per request from a friend of mine.  Hence the fabric selection.

 Yes, you see it correctly, hello kitty!

A few pieces sewed together at initial stage of sewing into final piece.  I think it will come out really cute in the end.

I am hoping these pieces to be finished this week (doubting for Friday as I do have to work all day tomorrow and haven't figured out how to sew and work all day).  But this weekend is looking promising :)

Linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced  :)  Have a great rest of your week!

Lisa

Rag quilt finish

Okay, you have a ton of sewn together rag quilt sandwiches, now lets finish. (especially since Kate jumped forward and finished)

Now take those sandwiches and trim them all down to the correct size.  If you started with 9-inch squares, you will be going down to 8.5 inch squares, and if you started with 6.5-inch squares, you will be trimming down to 6 inch squares.

after making several rag quilts, I have finally invested in these plexiglass like measuring squares you can purchase at sewing stores. I used cardboard squares previously, which worked, but gradually got smaller and smaller over the course of many quilts.

Next!
Take all the squares and throw them into a pile

 Grab 2 and sew them together.  The plan here is to make rows of them.  If you are doing the 8.5-inch squares, you will need to sew 6 rows of eight squares together.  If you are doing the 6-inch squares, you will need 10 rows of 12 squares sewed together.  I used to lay all the squares out in the pattern I wanted to achieve, but found it works just the same to just grab and sew because with the rag quilt, perfection is whatever you finish with  :)
When sewing the quilt from here on out, you will be matching the back to the back, so the fringe will be on the front.  ALso, allow for 5/8inch seam.  This way, you will have room to make the cuts for the fringe.  Below is my rough attempt at demonstrating this.

The front with demonstrating the part that will be the fringe












The back of the quilt
So now you have your rows, time to sew those together, again with the same parameters

Don't forget to sew a seam around the entire quilt!
Alright, you have the entire quilt sewn together, now make it rag style.  To do this, you need to cut/snip all of the those edges.  I typically snip every inch or so and make sure you do not snip past the line you sewed it together with.  This will take a while, so be patient.

Wash the quilt and admire your masterpiece.  You will find lint from the quilt in the washer and dryer as it rags up.  It will take a few washes to get this to subside.  So be warned.  But the more you wash it, the cuter it gets!

 and yes, Dexter is helping check out the quilt!


-Lisa

Rag Quilt: Making the square sandwich.

Its a day late, for finish it Friday, but it was completed on Friday...

And behold, rag quilt finish.  This is one of the rag quilts I am working on for the rag quilt tutorial.  (next installment for it is below  :)  )

That would be Dexter dog hiding behind the quilt trying to figure out what I was doing while these pictures were taken.  The first picture is the back, which is made out of flannel.  And the 2nd picture is front which is made from typical quilt fabric

And without further wait, it is step two of the rag quilt

So you have gone through and cut up your squares.  Please note, I yet again noticed a typo in the total number of squares (please forgive me, this is the first tutorial I have done).

Now you are going to take your squares and make a sandwich with the batting in between the 2 pieces of fabric.  To start this process, I like to take all my squares and batting and lay them out.  This way I can mix and match to make sure I get a lot of variety throughout the quilt.

 Then I make the sandwiches, with a piece of batting in between the 2 layers of fabric.  I stack them up as you can see below.

Next you sew them together.  I chose to make a simple X in the square to secure them together.

And you keep sewing and sewing until you have a stack of all your batting sewed in between 2 pieces of fabric.  Please keep in mind, if you are doing 2 different fabrics,( like I completed in the above finished rag quilt), make sure to have one of those pieces of fabric be the back (i.e. flannel) so the finished product will come out correctly.

 

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts for Friday finish and Kelly at The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking, for being my inspiration/guidance to this rag quilt tutorial

WIPs & some quilting therapy

Never would have I imagined that I would be  using quilting as my creative outlet. It has become my therapy to self reflect, relax and just get back to the basics.  I used to always use a good work out, a great book, or just an awesome nap.  But now I find myself after a stressful day of work, looking forward to coming home and just sewing.  My choice of therapy this week, my crazy quilt.

It is still a work in progress, but the therapy is has provided over the last several days has been priceless.

I hope to have the top part of the this crazy quilt finished this week, and will be working on the back this weekend.   But, of course, I have about 5 other projects also lined up for the weekend.  Good thing I have a few days off work coming up.
Lisa

It's Kate here, I'm jumping in at the end of Lisa's post to add on my current WIP! I finished piecing my Star Wars giant X and + quilt top this week & spent yesterday basting while one of my boys cheered me on ("Go, Mama, go! You can do it!") from the couch. I'd like to think he was excited about quilting, but more than likely he was cheering for Star Wars. Whatever-- I'll take a cheering section any day! Made basting (my least favorite part) go much faster.


Also, per Lisa's request, here is my little stack of flannel waiting to be cut into squares for our rag quilt. I'm not going super scrappy, so it will have a little different look than Lisa's.

Happy humpday & happy sewing!
Kate


Linking up to WIP Wednesday!

Rag quilt: cutting the squares

It is time to start cutting for the rag quilt!

For the smaller quilt you will need:

240 6.5-inch squares of fabric
120 5-inch squares of batting.
(Dexter is making sure the fabric is good to go too  :)  )










                   

                               

 For the large square quilt you will need:
          96 9-inch squares fabric.

          48 7.5-inch squares of batting








As you can see, I have chosen a variety of patterns for each of the quilts.  The larger square quilt includes regular cotton fabric and flannel.  I have chosen the complete the back of the quilt in the flannel and the front in regular cotton.  The smaller square quilt has all cotton squares.

For this step, the initial squares of fabric, does not need to be perfect.  They need to grossly be the aforementioned size.  Later in the project you will be trimming these squares down to the perfect size with your stencils (as noted in the first rag quilt tutorial post).

You can choose what ever kind of batting you like.  I have chosen low loft polyester style.

Happy cutting!  I am looking forward to working on this tutorial with you!  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Linking up to Let's Get Acquaited. Thanks for visiting!
Stay tuned to later in the week for the next installment on the rag quilt tutorial.

It is just about rag quilt time :)

Get your scraps, or just buy cute fabric.  Time to make the rag quilt. 

Two options for square size, 9 inch or 6.5 inch.  Both will be listed
throughout the tutorial on how many you will need of each.  The smaller squares will just require a
little more sewing, as well, there are more squares  :)

Things you will need:

Fabric
if doing the small squares.  The original size of the squares will be 6.5 inches.  You will need 240 6.5-inch squares . 
If doing the larger squares, which the original square size will be 9 inches.  You will need a total of 96 9-inch squares. For one of the quilts I will be doing I plan to have a flannel back and regular cotton top.  But the
other will have cotton on both sides.  So if you plan to split the fabric types per side just split the yardage needed between the two types.
Another note on fabric.  Feel free to raid your stash and make it scrappy.  I have completed all of my rag quilts with lots of colors.  Just makes me smile to see all the colors.

Stencil
Stencil of a square in 6 inch or 8.5 inch.  You can make your own from cardboard (as I have done many times).  But keep in mind, when cutting with rotatory cutter, your square will probably shrink a little.

You can also get plastic ones sold at joanns/hancock,or other fabric places.

Or if you are handy, you can even cut your own out of plastic.

Finished Size
Quilt with small squares will be finished to be size of 57x47.5
and with the large squares of 58x43.5
these are approximates.

Batting
I know I have a ton of scrap batting laying around from various projects, and my wonderful mom.  So I usually resort to that.  If you don't have any laying around a twin size batting roll will be plenty.

Other
And of course will need thread.  I always use white.  But you can choose any color you want.

Check in next week for instructions on cutting your squares.  Please contact me with any questions!  Can't wait to get started next weekend.

This is a great project for any level sewer.  This was the first thing I learned to sew.  And now I am hooked  :)


Linking up to The Complete Guide of Imperfect Homemaker and Do It Yourself Divas

***Please note, I updated the above numbers for starting size of smaller squares and the final size of the larger quilt.  Also, I had my math all wrong, and updated the correct number of squares.  If any further changes please I will let you know right away prior to Monday.  (I normally just do this quilt by the seat of my pants and do not figure out exact numbers and sizes.  So I am doing trial run of both this week.  Please be patient.  It will be worked out, including my math skills  :)  )

Napkins Napkins, Let's Make Some Napkins :)

As Kate mentioned, I have been on a napkin making frenzy, (and yes Kate,
some are headed your way this week!)

I decided while making them, to make 2 different types and various sizes.

Lets start with the first type I started with, a simple square hemmed out.

To start, I cut various sizes for my napkins, since I had no idea how large
I really wanted them to be.  Sizes are 10, 12 and 15 inches to start.  After
hemming they are all a little smaller by ~ 1 inch.

Next, I folding over two opposite edges (about 1/8-1/4 inch width) ironed it
down, and then folding it down again and ironed.  This way the edge not
exposed to fray as easily.  These sides were then pinned down, and then
stitched.

Next I did the same to the other sides.

When I got the corners, I made sure to stitch around each corner to help
secure these edges as well.

This truly is a simple little napkin to make.  I chose some fun fabric to
add flair to each meal.

The second type of napkin I made actually is quicker to make then the above
because there is no hemming.

I took two pieces of equally sized fabric (here 12 inch squares) and matched
them up with the nice sides on the inside.

Next I stitched around all of the edges leaving ~2 inch opening on the last
edge.

Next I worked on turning the piece inside out using the hole made in the
last step so the nice sides of the fabric on are now facing out.

Luckily I have small enough fingers that I can grab each corner and pull all
the fabric out.  But if you don't, a chop stick, knitting needle, etc can
help accomplish this.

I then lined up the fabric at the hole with the edges folded in and stitched
along this to close it up. I tried to use the smallest seam I could as in an
attempt to hide this stitch.

And viola, another finished napkin.  I chose just simple cotton fabric for
these napkins.

Hope you look into using some scraps or just picking up some fun cheap
material to make your own napkins.

Thank you Laura Beth for the inspiration.