February's ALYOF Goal

My finish goal for February for A Lovely Year of Finishes is one of the many UFO's that I have on my ever growing list of UFO's.  I know my pictures are lacking but it was a very dark day when I took them and is very dark today as well.

 This was one of my first quilting projects.  Being the young naive quilter that I was, I thought that a charm pack which had 42 whole squares in it! was enough to make a whole quilt.  Well, it is, sort of.  If you add in some solid squares, you have enough to make a baby quilt.  So, once I figured out my mistake, that's what I did.  Of course, I don't have a baby nor do I know anyone who has a baby but hopefully I can donate it to my guild's charity.

I made this quilt before I had taken any kind of classes or anything.  I don't think most of the fabric is cut all that straight and I tried to make a border of the blue and white fabric but it just looks like I messed up my cornerstones.  I wasn't trying to make cornerstones and actually didn't know what they were at the time.

It is pieced, back made, sandwiched and halfway quilted.  My goal for February is to finish the quilting and bind it.  I'm going to give it a good pressing and just start the quilting where I left off. It is straight line quilting on either sides of the stitch lines.  Pretty simple.

Quiltcon is happening this month in only about 2 weeks or so. I'm looking forward to that as it will be my first and probably only Quiltcon since they are moving it to the west and east coasts after this year.  Also, because of costs, I think I'm going to lay off traveling for big ol' quilt shows for awhile.
I'm looking forward to meeting some of my favorite bloggers, Elizabeth Dackson - I got into her FMQ class!, Penny Layman - learn how to make paper piecing patterns!, lots of great lectures and I'm going to the Moda party!  Really looking forward to that.

This month is definitely busier than February's usually are and there is no slowing down in sight.

**Linking up to Fiber of All Sorts for ALYOF February goal.
**Linking up to My Quilt Infatuation with Kelly.

A Quilty Birthday Finish

I made up a sweet little quilt to give to my friend for her birthday.  I was 2 months late.  Sigh.  But that's okay because she liked it and that's really all that matters.

 My pictures stink.  Sorry about that.  I took them inside in low light and that was a mistake.  Especially, since I can't fix that.

Anyhoo, two of the blocks are paper pieced and the other two are regular pieced.  I've been itching to do the paper pieced circle of geese for some time now and I just love it.  She loved it too which made me wish I had made four of them in different colors.  The multicolored star on bottom is also paper pieced.  The green plus block and the scrappy patchwork are the regular pieced ones.  I used some of my favorite fabrics in the scrappy patchwork.  See the little yoga monkey?  That fabric is from Michael Miller and is no longer available.  The plus block is my favorite block of all the blocks I've done so far.  I don't know why.  Maybe because it's easy and clean looking.

The background fabric is Kona Ash and Kona White.  I quilted it on my home machine with my walking foot in a diagonal straight line.  I did mark all my lines so they are straight not "organic" like I usually do.  I used a white 50 wt. Aurifil thread, I think it was number 2021.
The fabrics are all from my stash.  We'd be here all day if I listed them all.  See the little elephants in the star fabric?  OH, how I LOVE that fabric.  I also have it in blue and orange but my blue is running really low and my orange isn't far behind.

This quilt measures approximately 24 x 24 inches.  It's bound with scrappy fabric binding that was the extra on other quilts but I made sure it all matched.

My backing is made up of more Kona Ash and some of the fabrics from the front.  See my cute quilt label?  I've been following the tutorial from My Quilt Infatuation for some time now and I just love it.  It makes a sweet little label.
I swear it wasn't all crooked in real life.  At least I don't think it was.

Thanks for reading!
Tricia
Linking up to Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday**

July Goal for ALYOF - Butterflies

Yes butterflies!  Butterflies and more butterflies!!  I've posted about them here, here, and here.  I have to have it finished by July 25th for the MQG Michael Miller fabric challenge and I'm going to if I have to not do anything but sew for the next 20 days.
 

I'm working on my last butterfly, then I'll piece the top, the back, sandwich and quilt then bind.  That is my goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes - July.  I am going to finish my butterfly quilt because I've worked so hard on it and I really want it entered in the challenge. 

I've checked out some of the quilts entered over on the MQG community forums and they are great.  Really good uses of the fabric.  But I've got my fingers crossed because I'm hoping mine turns out really good too.

And one last thing, we went on vacation last week and I got my very first pedicure ever.  I mean I've done my own and polished my own toes my whole life but having someone else do it was so awesome. 

Thanks for dropping by!
**Linking up to Sew Bittersweet Designs for A Lovely Year of Finishes**

Friday Finishes - Quilt Guild Challenge Blocks

First, I'd like to say Happy Valentine's Day!

Now that that's out of the way, lets get down to business.  My local quilt guild is having a quilt show in March.  Our challenge blocks were due this week and so I thought I'd show them for my Friday finish.

We were given two fabrics.  They are both from the Mama Said Sew line from Moda.  The "sew" text fabric was to be used for the background and the circle fabric had to be used somewhere in the block.  We could add in our own fabrics and we didn't have to use all the circle fabric, just some.

So, here is my first block.  It's the practice block from the 2013 Lucky Stars BOM from Elizabeth Dackson's Don't Call Me Betsy blog.

 Our quilt show theme this year is a modern theme.  Our instructions with our fabric were to think outside the box.  I think I did that pretty well.

 I didn't want to use red in my block, so when I was paper piecing this, I cut all of the red out.  I just used the gray, cream, and black part of my circle fabric.  Also, I used the "sew" text fabric for the background just like I was suppose to, just not the only background.  I also used this bar code fabric from Zen Chic.  
I love those little aqua elephants from Michael Miller.

Here is block number two.  It's called Strippy Spool and it is a tutorial block on the Persimmon Dreams blog.

This time I did use the red - just a lot of other red with it.  And I added the green to make it really pop.  I love the Bobbins and Bits line by Pat Bravo that this green fabric is from.  The other reds are fabrics from my stash.

Once again, I thought outside the box when I ran out of the "sew" text fabric.  I didn't have enough to make the HST blocks in the corners.  So, I used this other cream and black text print that I already had.  I did briefly consider driving across town to my LQS to buy more of the "sew" text fabric but to be honest, it's not my favorite fabric and I didn't want to be stuck with leftovers.

So, there you have it.  Now I just need to quilt two quilts and sew hanging sleeves on 4 quilts and I'll be all ready for the quilt show.  Ack!!  Wish me luck!

*Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and My Quilt Infatuation**

Finish it up Friday - Saturday Sampler BOM's

I've mentioned the Saturday Sampler before on my blog.  It's a neat thing one of my local quilt shops does to showcase new products for their customers.  They also have show and tell (of course!) and you can participate in a BOM if you would like.  This year she had to have a sign up list with a limited number of spaces because she can only fit about 120 or so chairs into the classroom.  It is packed every time.  Pretty good huh? 

So, my finish for today is my 12 quilt blocks for 2013 Saturday Sampler BOM.  Yes, I really did just finish them.  I held on to December's block all this time because I just didn't have time before to do it.  Plus one of the blocks that I had done - and I wrote a tutorial for here (the Honey Bee Block) - I redid it because I didn't like the dark red fabric.  It was just too dark for me.

 The blue, yellow and white block in the lower left corner is my redone Honey Bee Block.  These fabrics are all batiks with a white muslin background.

Do any of these blocks stand out to you?  The one in the top left corner of this last picture stands out to me.  The block is called Spinner but I'm not crazy about that fabric.  Looking at all the blocks together, I realize that there are only about 3 where I used the fabric that was given to us for the block and didn't substitute my own.  The Spinner is one of them but I may end up redoing it.  

I have one more finish.  My January 2014 Saturday Sampler BOM.  The Barbara Fritchie Star.

We were given the pink floral fabric and muslin for the background but I chose to use this Allison Glass text print as my background fabric for all of my blocks for this year.  I'm really proud of how well this block turned out.
**Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and My Quilt Infatuation**

Mixing Up Quilt blocks

During one of my recent quilting classes, our teacher challenged us to see what other blocks we could make with the pieces of the blocks we were working on for class. I accepted the challenge :)

So, let's mix it up, shall we?  
Here are the nine patches of my card trick block switched around to make a star.  The corner pieces would make diamonds when more blocks are added to it.

Here those same squares are again.  I don't know what to call this block but it's very pretty.

This next block is one that I completed back in January for the BOM at my LQS.  I had really messed it up by being over zealous in squaring up each block. 

 It was suppose to be 12 inches but ended up 10 by the time I was through with it.  So, I decided to remake it but before I sewed the squares together, I played around with the layout and this is what I came up with.

 A really cool X!

Then changed around again and you get this:

Notice how if I had turned the bottom row of blocks upside down, it would have made a different X shape.  That would make a cool quilt - diamonds and X's.

And look, now it's a heart!

I love quilting - it's so versatile and unpredictable yet precise and organized. 

These are my 5 blocks together.  January through May.  I haven't done June's block yet.  I still have a week and a half until the next meeting :)

 

**Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.**

Heart and Soul Quilt

I have a fabulous quilt finish today.  It's one I've been working on for several weeks and finally finished a few days ago.

I'm calling it my Heart and Soul quilt.

One day while perusing my facebook feed, I saw this heart quilt block pattern that was being shared by Aurifil.  It was their designer block of the month by Katy Jones of Monkey Do.  The block is called Heart and Soul.  I immediately fell in love and had to make it.  So I stopped everything and started cutting up squares.
**The full pattern download is at the end of the interview post.**

I could see the finished quilt in my head hanging on the dining room wall.  I knew I wanted it to be a rainbow of colors.  So I just grouped squares together based on the color wheel.

Here is blue/purple:  (I even used some of my Michael Miller Mirror Ball fabric that I've been hoarding)

Here is red and pink:

Different shades of green from aqua to lime to dark green.  I thought it looked cool:

And yellow with oranges:
(notice how I don't have a perfect point at the end of my heart?  No one's perfect, right?)

Here is the lovely back.  I've had this great swirly multicolored fabric for some time and could never figure out what to do with it.  So, since it basically had the same colors as the quilt front, I thought I'd use it for the back.  I did more improvisational piecing with this one and I love how it came out.

The "LOVE" letters are paper pieced following a tutorial that I had found on Sew Mama Sew by Kelly from kelbysews.  In her tutorial, she made them into an adorable mini quilt which I have had on my to do list for some time.   So, I just decided "why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone" and added them to the bottom of my hearts.  She sells the whole wonky paper pieced alphabet in her etsy shop.  If you haven't tried paper piecing but have been wanting to, her letters are easy and cute.

Up close of my cool swirly fabric from the back:

I bound the quilt with a text print called Scribble Notes in black from the Architextures line by Robert Kaufman.  I really like this fabric and I think I should have bought more.

I quilted it with organic straight lines going horizontally.

The fabric used in the hearts was from my stash and the back ground fabric for each block is white tonal fabric also from my stash - I know you can't tell in the pictures.  I used the same white tonal fabrics for the background of the love letters.  The remaining white background fabric as well as the white fabric used on the back are Kona Cotton in white.
I can't remember who made the colorful swirly fabric I used on the back but I think it might be from Michael Miller.

The quilt measures 31" by 34".
I love it and I'm excited to hang it on my dining room wall.  I plan to hand sew ribbon loops to the top and thought I'd try those 3M products that are removable hooks.  Anyone ever tried those?  Did they work ok?

I'd love to hear your comments about my projects.  Any feedback is appreciated.

Also, please follow me on bloglovin or here on this blog.  My Pinterest link is at the top left - I pin lots of great quilts and quilt ideas as well as recipes and such. 

**Linking up to Sew Cute Tuesday @ Better off Thread and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story

Card Trick Quilt Block Tutorial

As I've mentioned in previous posts, my local quilt shop (A Nimble Thimble) has a once a month event called Saturday Sampler.  Part of the event is participating in the BOM that the quilt shop is doing.  Each month we bring in our completed block from the prior month and we get our instructions and fabric for the next month's block.  By the end of the year, we will have 12 completed 12 inch blocks - enough to make a quilt and it only costs $5 for the whole year.  What a deal!!!  However, the instructions that we're given are very basic and really only include what size blocks to cut along with a diagram.  So for me, part of the challenge is figuring out how to make it.

 Our May block is called Card Trick.  Since I'm new to quilting, most of these blocks are new to me but so far, they have all been pretty straight forward.  But Card Trick was a bit tricky.  So to find a good tutorial, I headed to the internet.

And that's where I got stuck.  Our instructions said to cut 2 different size blocks but all the good tutorials I found that made any sense all used the same size blocks.  Plus there was a lot of "take color option 1 and color option 2 and blah blah.  Use color option 3 and color option 2 and blah blah."

So, I'm going to blame this on my fibro and lupus.  Instructions have to be really simple for me now.  If they aren't, I have trouble following them.  Also, if too many things are thrown at me at once, I can't follow.  They have to be simple, straightforward and not all muddled up with blah blahs.  Before I got sick, my thought processes were much faster - lightning speed :).  Now they are much slower and I have to think about how to do even very simple things.

I decided to sit down and write my own tutorial.  It has taken me a while to get it finished but I hope that someone will find it useful.  Please let me know if you find any mistakes in it.  Also, I would love for you to leave me a comment if you have a better (easier) way of doing it.

Here goes.

Card Trick Quilt Block Tutorial

 

For this tutorial, I am using 2 fabrics for the "cards".  A purple batik and an orange batik.  The white muslin fabric is the background fabric. 

Step 1.  From each fabric, cut one square that is 5 1/4" by 5 1/4".
From each fabric, cut two squares that are 4 7/8" by 4 7/8".

Step 2.  Use of the 4 7/8 purple squares, one orange 4 7/8 square and the 2 white 4 7/8 squares to make half square triangles. 

After cutting the squares into the HST's, you will have 2 orange and 2 purple.

Iron them flat.

Square up each HST and cut off the dog ears.

You should have one purple 4 7/8 inch square left and one orange 4 7/8 inch square left.  Cut each one in half diagonally.

Take your 3 squares that are 5 1/4 inch and cut each one in half diagonally and then in half again so that each square is quartered.

You will each up with 4 small orange triangles, 4 small purple triangles, 4 small white triangles, 2 large purple and 2 large white triangle plus the HST's you already made.

Using the 3 piles of smaller triangles, sew 2 white's to 2 purples.
Sew 2 whites to 2 oranges.
Sew 2 purples to 2 oranges.
When you sew these small triangles together, start at the square end, not the pointy end.  (that's a little tip I picked up in quilting class - thanks Sandy!!)

 

Iron them flat with seam to dark side (or wherever you want it).

 

Here are all of my little triangles.

Now sew the orange/purple triangle to the other orange/purple triangle.  Ta da!

 

Sew the purple/white triangles to the large orange triangles.

Sew the orange/white triangles to the large purple triangles. 

 

You should have this.

Square up each small block and cute off any dog ears.

Lastly, follow the block diagram to put each small block where it goes.  It should turn out looking like this.

And there you have it.  Clear as mud.

 

Good luck and please comment to let me know how yours turned out!

 

***I'm linking this blog post to the Sew Darn Crafty Linky Party.**