Another Jelly Roll Project

I've actually been working on this quilt for a few weeks now. I've just done several other things in the process. This is Black Diamonds by American Jane. One of the stars is easy to see, but there are two other stars on either side of it. I'm loving the fabric as well, which is Snippets by American Jane. The black is just a random black with white dots that I can't remember what line it's from right now. These are the first four rows. There are 18. This is not quite a quarter finished. When I make quilts I like to do a block or two completely finished before I start chaining. This time I'm doing a row. Piecing blocks is my favorite part but I don't love sewing rows together. Since you can't see the patter until you sew rows together I decided to do this a row at a time. I chain a row and then sew it to the others. Hopefully that will make sewing the rows together more exciting!

A few people asked where I got the Rock-a-Bye Rhymes fabric. I'll tell you a little secret. I love looking for fabric on using this site:


http://www.quiltshops.com/

That way you can see which shops have the fabric you are looking for and then compare prices. I saw this fabric going for $16.99 a yard but was able to find it for something like $6.00 at a place having a sale. The site is great for discontinued fabric!

Finally Football

We're not football fans around here. In fact, watching football for me is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Don't get me wrong, my husband and boys all love to play sports, it's just that we don't like to watch other people play them (except there is nothing as entertaining as watching your 3 or 4 year olds play soccer). In high school and college I did go to sport games. I probably didn't see much of the game, but I had a great time socializing with my friends though!

All that being said I have now finished two football quilts for my boys' room. One for each bed. They love them. I'm mostly glad to be done. Yeah!

Hey Diddle, Diddle

I found it! A few posts ago I was saying I found some cute nursery rhyme fabric I liked but could only buy it in a kit. I found it online. It's called Rock-a-Bye Rhymes by Alexander Henry and it's from 2008. I ordered some (enough for the quilt and back too... I really like it). It came today and I couldn't wait to show you! Here we have Hey Diddle, Diddle, Little Bow Peep and part of The Three Blind Mice up in the left corner.

I love Humpty Dumpty. He's probably my favorite on here, Hickory, Dickory Dock and you can see the top of Little Boy Blue's head.

Here is the Old Woman in the Shoe.

And a side wise Little Miss Muffett. Now, away I go to make a cute baby girl quilt! I forgot that I used some nursery rhyme fabric to back a quilt for Jake. Maybe I'll post a pic tomorrow of that one.

Binding

I've been busy sewing binding on. I actually kind of like binding. It's relaxing and when you are finished, you are finished with your quilt! There's a reward when you are finished.

Now I have two to bind..... and quite a few cats to finish. Good thing there are new things on tv.

My Favorite Applique Method

This week I taught an applique class so I thought I'd post on here the directions to my favorite applique method.

The first thing I do is trace the pattern onto freezer paper. Cut out each individual piece separately.

Next, iron the shiny side of the freezer paper onto light cardboard (I use a cereal box or something of similar weight).

Next iron the shiny side of the freezer paper onto the back of the fabric you are going to be using. Then cut a generous quarter inch around your shape. You want to make sure you leave enough space for the tighter edges.

Once your shape is cut out move it to your ironing board and spray it with spray starch. I just use the cheap kind you can buy at Target for 99 cents.

Place the cardboard shape in the middle of your starched fabric when the starch is still wet. Carefully iron the fabric around the cardboard shape. You will want to clip the inside curves. Keep the cardboard inside the fabric until the starch is completely dry, then carefully remove the cardboard. Now you have the shape you need and your seam allowance stays under for you.

Next lay your pieces out on the background fabric and pin in place with applique pins. Stitch using your favorite applique method. Now, this method is certainly not the only way to prepare to applique. However, I think it is the easiest way to have a nice product that does not have raw edges.

My Favorite Quilt Shops

I love living in Davis County. It's where I grew up and where home truly is. However, one thing I really miss about the almost 4 years I spent in Utah County is the quilt shops. Really, Davis County doesn't have anything great as far as quilt shops go. Utah County has three that I really, really love. We had a family reunion in Spanish Fork this weekend and I got to stop and visit my very favorite quilt shops.

When he saw me taking pictures of the outside of Broadbent's my husband questioned my mental stability. I told him it was for my blog. He asked if I'd be taking pictures of every shop we were visiting. I told him we would be, but then I forgot because I was too excited to get in and swoon over the fabric options not available closer to home. Yes, I did drag my husband and three kids into the quilt shops with me. Don't worry, they love Broadbent's because they have penny (OK let's be honest....nickle) candy. They went to stock up on root beer barrels while I went to see what Broadbent's had to offer.

I needed to look for an idea to make a cute quilt for my new little niece who will be here in January. I always worry when I make quilts for other people. The things I like are not necessarily what my sister-in-law will like. I had also been looking for a pattern to make a tree skirt for my formal tree in the living room. I was going to make a Star of Bethlehem using Quilt Smart, but I found this pattern instead. I think I'll make it out of the Christmas Three Sister's fabric. Broadbent's has lots of QuiltSmart. I had done my Christmas Lone Star Quilt before Broadbent's started selling it and wished shops around there sold more QuiltSmart. Of course just as I was getting ready to move they started selling it. I love traditional quilt blocks and love any short cuts I can find to make them. I had been eyeing this Apple Core pattern online for awhile now. They had the pattern there. I did promise myself I won't start it until my double wedding ring is finished though.

Next I went to American Quilting in Orem. I love all the quilts they have on display there. I also love 30's fabric and they have quite a bit. I really, really wanted to make a cute quilt out of some nursery rhyme fabric. I think the lady said it was called Hey Diddle, Diddle, but she didn't say the name of the company that makes it. They had some in kits, but I didn't want the kit, just the fabric since I already have enough fabric to make the rest of the quilt. They were out of it on the bolt though. If anyone knows which fabric I'm talking about and where I can get it please let me know. American Quilting was super busy as classes were just letting out and just starting. I saw a quilt I wanted to make for my sister-in-law, but wanted to think about it. I loved the quilt, but it was something I am not usually drawn to. I decided I'd come back on my way home from the reunion if that was what I decided I wanted to make.

We headed to Springville to check out Corn Wagon Quilt Company. I love Corn Wagon. They are huge and have a lot of variety. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did get lots of inspiration for the future.

I'm pretty sure my sister-in-law does not read this quilt blog... however, just in case I'll just show the fabric for this cute quilt. I ended up getting the pattern and the fabric to make the one I saw. I made the first block and it turned out really cute. I may need to make one for my baby girl........

One thing I've noticed since I had a baby girl is that there is tons of cute baby boy fabric and patterns out now! When my boys were born there was very little boy fabric and it wasn't that cute. American Quilting had several darling baby boy quilts and lots of fabric. I was very tempted to make another baby quilt for my 3 and 6 year olds! I also loved this Puppy Love pattern. I'm really, REALLY not an animal person, but I think this turned out so cute. I'm going to have to think about it.

Flea Market Fancy Freaks

Do you love Flea Market Fancy? I do. In fact I have been collecting Flea Market Fancy fabric for only about 6 months now, but I sure don't dare to cut into it. It's been out of print for quite awhile now, but I really wish they would reprint it. The link is a blog to petition to get it reprinted. I sure hope it works!

Projects in the works

I had hoped to have this quilt finished to show you today. I'm having a hard time getting the right tension on my machine though so I had to unpick quite a bit of quilting, which is never fun. The pattern is Sweet Cheeks by Thimble Blossoms, although I didn't do the circles with the flowers. I put them on and it looked too busy with the fabric I chose so I had to peel them off.

My quilting goals for this week include:

Quilt and bind Jake's football quilt (it's been a year)
Work on Black Diamonds so I have enough done I can post a picture on here.
Finish Sweet Cheeks

Ok so these have been my quilting goals for the last few weeks. We'll see how it goes. I also want to paint my living room. We'll see which gets done.

I'm still here! Having three little kids is busy! I haven't gotten a lot of quilting done lately. I've tried a few projects that haven't quite worked out..... I tried to make some baby shoes with pleats similar to the ones from the Michael Miller baby booty contest last year. I am having the hardest time. I have a pattern, but can't get the top to match the bottom in size once the pleats are in. I'll keep working at it and keep you posted. Let me know if you have any special secrets to do this that I'm missing out on. My last post inspired me to start another hexagon quilt. This time I'm making my shapes into diamonds. I figure one jelly roll will make 20 diamonds and that should be enough for a baby quilt for my granddaughter.... that I'm expecting in 20-30 years. I figure that's about when I'll get this project done. It's been fun to work on though. I like to work on projects when each block is different. I think I just like variety! I used hexagons with 1 inch sides.

Hopefully now that school has started and we are in some sort of routine I can post more often... and get a little more finished!