Last Quilt, First Quilt

I thought I'd take a short break from posting resolutions to show you my last completed quilt of 2013, and my first completed quilt of 2014!

My last finish of 2013 was this PB & J Scrappy Trips quilt. I blogged about it here, but now the binding is done, so I wanted to share the final pics. I enjoyed sewing the binding on the long train trip to Indianapolis, and it also served the purpose of keeping me warm while I slept on the train!

The minky backing is so comfy (in fact, my brother-in-law wanted me to leave it at their house!) and it is the perfect size for snuggling on the couch. Here's a picture of the quilt next to the coin quilt I made from the leftover jelly roll pieces:

My first finish of 2014 is a small patchwork quilt made of scraps from "Sugar and Spice" and "Twice as Nice" by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake fabrics. Both collections go together perfectly.

I bound this quilt while enjoying the premiere of Downton Abbey last night!

I've sewing up a storm since we retuned home. I cut up several fat quarter collections while visiting my sister (she offered to iron while I cut!) and organized them for sewing. Now, I have a stack of pieced blocks ready to sew into various tops!

I'll be back tomorrow with more resolutions!

 

Twenty-Five Quilts, Day 25

It has been quite a month of quilts!

When I decided to issue myself the challenge of blogging about 25 quilts during the month of December, I had no idea how much I would be able to accomplish in this very busy month!

I actually began the month with a series of scheduled blog posts of quilts I had completed prior to December 1 (I think there were 7 or 8). I also had a few completed tops that were ready for quilting, and a few quilts that just needed binding. By mid-December, however, I was running short on both time and completed quilts! The challenge motivated me to power through and keep on finishing!

So, today's post is actually about a quilt-in-progress that is a Christmas gift to myself. This summer, I won a PB & J jelly roll from a giveaway hosted by Sherri of A Quilting Life. I wanted to do something special with the jelly roll, so I decided on a Scrappy Trips quilt.

I also decided that I needed a quilt with minky on the back, to keep me warm during late fall soccer games, and early spring baseball games. So the final size of the quilt was dictated by the width of the minky. I chose a layout of 30 blocks (5 x 6), which I made from two jelly rolls and six fat quarters.

By the way, if you decide to make this quilt from jelly rolls, you can make a bonus coins quilt from leftovers like the one I blogged about yesterday. Cut each jelly roll strip in half (approx 21 inches long). Piece your strips sets with six strips. Before you sew the strips into a tube, as per the instructions, cut a five inch piece off the strip set and set aside. I sewed three of these together to make a row of coins for a baby quilt.

I completed the top today, and hope to have it quilted by tomorrow morning!

I hope to bring this quilt on a long train ride tomorrow night, to visit family in Indianapolis. I'd like it to serve the dual purpose of entertaining me (hand sewing the binding) and keeping me cozy as I sleep on the train!

Happy holidays to you and yours, and thanks for joining me on this journey of quilts! To read about the journey from the beginning, start here!

 

Stash Hoarding, The Sequel, Day One: Ruby

Last fall, I did a series of blog posts on my favorite fabrics to "hoard". (My working definition of this is "out-of-print fabric collections that I can't resist purchasing if I find a reasonable price on them, and although I will sew with them, I seem to have to maintain a healthy amount in reserve in order to do so!"). I decided to do a second series of posts this week called "Stash Hoarding: The Sequel".

It will come as no surprise that the first collection, Ruby, is a "sibling" of one of last year's collections (Bliss). I would buy any Bonnie and Camille fabric collection sight-unseen. I just love all of them, and I especially like the way they work together. In fact, I've made several quilts with multiple collections, including my Scrappy Trip Along (Bliss, Ruby, Vintage Modern, Marmalade, and Happy Go Lucky), which now lives on my bed.

Another quilt for me : Great Granny Squares (Bliss and Ruby), and backed Ina cozy flannel print from the Ruby collection.

Patchwork Squares (Bliss, Ruby and Vintage Modern)-- this is one of several I've made for Etsy customers.

I really haven't made too many quilts solely out of Ruby, but I did make this queen size version with matching shams for a customer in January.

This quilt was inspired by a pillow I made from Bliss and Ruby. Instead of using a white background, I chose the Ruby aqua dot to set off the stars.

I am working on a similar version using the grey Ruby dot as background:

Here are the most recent additions to my Ruby stash: a couple of scrap bags from Ebay that I think are destined to become Christmas stockings!

Tune in tomorrow for the next installment of Stash Hoarding!

 

Finished Scrappy Trip-Along!

My scrappy trip along is finished! We are already using it on our bed, and I love it. Of course, I still need to trim some threads and get some better photos of it, but it's done!

I made 56 blocks, and set them in 7 rows of 8 so it would fit our full-size bed. I quilted it in a dense meander stitch (and it seemed to take forever!) All of the fabrics are from Bonnie and Camille's various collections for Moda. I also quilted some matching pillow shams from Vintage Modern fabrics.

Our 20-year old cat Butterscotch is my official quilt inspector!

 

More Scrappy Trip Along Fun

I made a few more scrappy trip-along blocks -- I couldn't help myself!

I love the way these are coming together!

 

 

"Bliss-ful" Sewing Saturday

Since this is the first weekend in more than a month that I haven't been consumed by custom orders to finish, I decided to play with some projects that had been on the back burner for a while.

First, I managed to get my Bliss Granny Squares sewn into a quilt top -- I just need to complete the border!

After that, I gave myself permission to finally be sucked into the scrappy-trip-along craze that has been sweeping the web. I've decided to make mine mostly out of Bonnie and Camille's fabric collections -- I totally fell in love with Camille's version.

They truly are addictive! I'm dying to make some more, but laundry and custom orders are calling, so they will have to wait!

As it happens, I think both of these quilts will end up living with me -- they will match the new paint in the bedroom perfectly!