I've finally hit the half way point with my Black Diamonds quilt. I'm ready to put it away for several weeks now while I work on something else. This quilt has acually been pretty easy, but I'm ready for a change. Now..... which unfinished project to choose?

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!

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!

Flutterby Complete!!!!

I was finally able to finish my Flutterby quilt. I ended up having to take my Pfaff into be fixed. It seems to be working well now though! Hopefully it will keep it up.

We have tons of big trees in our yard so everywhere I take pictures there are shadows. I'm not a great photographer in any way. I really like the colors in this quilt. I really like the way it turned out. Now it's off to the wash to make it wrinkly and soft!

So I have posted many times about how much I love 30's repo fabric. On Tuesday I had the rare opportunity to go to the quilt shop alone. I was actually looking for fabric to make a car seat blanket for my 2 month old (can you really believe she's 2 months?). Anyway, this particular shop used to have a wonderful selection of 30's fabric. In fact, when we lived in Saratoga Springs and I woulc dome visit my parents I had to stop in Bountiful every time to look through their 30's fabric. Anyway, I was looking at other fabric when I realized I was where the 30's fabric used to be. I looked around and didn't see it anywhere. I asked about it and they told me they are not going to be carrying it for a few years. Apparently they didn't like what was coming out and so they had a sale (not a great sale, I saw the flier) and got rid of what they had. They may not be carrying it for a few years! I am so disappointed. I really hope this isn't a trend. Please tell me that your local shops are still carrying 30's fabric!

Uh-Oh!

I am currently trying to finish quilts I have already started or quilts I have fabric for. My goal is to not buy more fabric until I use what I already have. Because of this I pulled out my vintage Christmas quilt that was about half way done. I finished the blocks and put them in order. I had noticed that in the pattern there were blocks that were only half blocks on the sides. I rarely read the whole pattern when I make quilts. I figure out how to do the blocks and then just do the rest on my own. Well.... maybe I should start reading the whole thing. I threw some of the scraps away. I am trying to eliminate scraps that are not really big enough to use. Oops! This time I needed them to make the half blocks on the side. I was able to rescue some (others had just left on their way to the dump). Fortunately the trash can in my sewing room is just used for dryer sheets and fabric.... nothing gross. Hopefully this will make me read the whole pattern before I start tossing things.

You can see the half blocks on the end of the second row. What you can't see is that they are pieced with fabrics or the same color, but not exactly the same fabric. The pattern used this too.

Ok, so I did buy more fabric. I had a good excuse. I got some money a few weeks ago for my birthday and I've been wanting to make the Black Diamonds Quilt by American Jane. I've had my eye on this fabric since it was first posted on Moda's site on the Future Fabric Line section. I had waited to buy it though thinking I should use what I had before I bought more. Now it's starting to be gone in some stores so I decided to buy it while I could. I feel like that totally counts, especially since I used birthday money to buy it, right?

Flutterby

I know that in my last post I said that I was going to work on finishing projects before I started new ones. I should have added finishing projects or starting new ones out of stuff I already have. Yes, I started a new one. I had a jelly roll of Flutterby that I've had for a long time. I bought the jelly roll without having plans for it. At the time I bought it I also bought fabric for an outer border and binding. Well..... I was in the mood to make something out of it. So I started a new quilt. Another baby quilt. I am loving making baby quilts. They are quick. Sometimes I get tired of the fabric or block before I am finished and when I make baby quilts that just doesn't happen as quickly. The outer border has now become the backing. I am thinking I'm going to save the binding ( or use it as more backing if I run out) for another project. I think I'm going to bind in Moda's Essential Dots in brown. I'm loving the essential dots more and more lately.

I'm having to piece the back. Two yards was just not quite enough. I used some left over blocks in the back and now I'm doing some creative piecing to try to make it big enough. Again, some of the fabric that was planned for binding may show up here. In the picture I have the backing on top of the top so I can see what I need to do. You can see the top on the bottom and in the top right corner.

Christmas Whirlygigs

I started my Christmas quilt last Thursday. I was a little worried at first because there are so many light strips in the jelly roll. I set it against the background though and I think it will be fine. I am really liking it so far.

This weekend was my church's General Conference. I always love conference weekend. We stay home (at least here in Utah) and watch conference on tv. It's alwasy so inspiring. I always work on a little project of some kind while I listen. This time I made more flowers for my Grandma's Flower Garden. I also worked on binding my Grandma's Flowers quilt. I'm not quite finished, so no picture today, but hopefully in the next few days I'll have it done to share.

1974 Done!!!

We had little bit of a dramatic weekend and I didn't get near as much sewing done as I would have liked. I did get my quilt bound that I used my 1974 jelly roll to make. I decided not to go with borders. It's a little on the small side, maybe a large crib size, but I decided I liked it better without borders. I used my border fabric for the back though! This is one of the patterns I won from Camille's giveaway a few months ago called Jelly Filled. I was really curious about grandmother's flower garden. In November I bought hexagon paper pieces and started to work on this block. I haven't been working on it very often because I've been doing the appliqued flowers, but I made this one grandmother's flower. I really like the look of it..... but would I really keep this up for a whole quilt?

I started on another one. Maybe I'll do a baby one with just one row of petals. Hopefully I can figure out a method of machine piecing that I like. One as posted on the Moda Lissa blog awhile ago.

I need an easy way to deal with Y seams or marking the dots. Maybe I should just do one year and then in 30 years I'll have enough for a whole quilt. What do you think?

Samurai Squares

Finally. I got this fabric for my birthday a year and a half ago. The top was finished a week later and has been sitting in a box ever since. The hold up? I didn't know what color of thread to use for the quilting. I ended up using plain old white. When I chose the colors I loved this fabric I used on the back. It's from Amy Butler's line called Belle. There are quite a few fabrics from that line in this quilt as a few from Chocolate Lollipop and then a few others for contrast.

Here's a closeup of the outer border. I love the large, bold print. This pattern is actually uses a jelly roll, but I saw one hanging up at Corn Wagon in Springville and loved these colors and fabrics.

100 POSTS!!!!

I am in need of all your quilting expertise.... again. I just finished sewing my 1974 blocks together. All along I've been wondering about what to do for a border. When I got done sewing the blocks together I wondered if I should even do a border. Here is the finished center.

This is the fabric I got for an inner and outer border. I really like the fabric, but do I like it for this particular quilt border? I could use it on the back and just piece the back. I need your opinions. Would you leave the quilt borderless, or would you add the borders?

Of course Jake saw me with the camera and a quilt and said " I want to say cheese!" and jumped right on!

Merry-Go-Round Finished!!!!

Here it is.... my finished Merry Go Round quilt! I'm so glad to be finished. There were a lot of little pieces to match up. This pattern was from McCall's Quilting magazine. I love quilting magazine's because you get several patterns often for less than the price of one. After I started I noticed the original pattern by American Jane called for 3 jelly rolls and each block was made of 3 hexagons around instead of two. I was a little disappointed at first until I started to put the quilt together! Two was enough! I started this quilt in September and just finished Friday night. I kept putting it away to work on other things because I needed a break. Actually, I did the first half in just a few days, but needed a break then and then I kept putting it away to work on other projects when I got it back out again. Here is a close up of the hexagons. That middle red one looks like it's a bit curvy, but it's just the way the pattern on the fabric happened to work out.

It took forever to sew the binding on the front. Maybe 30-45 minutes. It wasn't bad to stitch down at all on the back though. I really like that it doesn't have four straight edges. It's kind of fun to do something different. Now I kind of want to do Black Diamonds, Flags, or Triple Crown.

I got a little polka dotty on the backing and binding. I bought the back on clearance (as usual). Then I knew I wanted a black binding and found a polka dot too. I didn't realize until later I got polka dot for both.

Over all I'm happy with the quilt. It's always fun to try something different for a change. I like the happy, bright colors too.

Now.... to finish 1974 and two other long standing projects.

New Day, New Jelly Roll

I started my next quilt. I used the 1974 jelly roll I got for Christmas and the pattern I won from the Thimble Blossoms give away, Jelly Filled. I love starting a new quilt. Just the anticipation is so much fun. I also love unrolling a new jelly roll. I think I'm becoming obsessed with them.

So far it's going super fast. Can't say the same for binding my merry-go-round quilt. It took almost an hour just to sew the binding on yesterday afternoon with all those dips and points! Hopefully I can start on the binding tonight!

Jelly Stars... Check!!!

I've had this quilted and ready to bind for a long time. I got busy on my appliqued flowered quilt and didn't get around to binding until last night. The pattern is called Jelly Stars from Fig Tree Quilts. The fabric is Dandelion Girl also by Fig Tree Quilts.

The star on the bottom right looks like I have a lighter line going through each piece. It doesn't look like that in real life though and it wasn't planned. It just shows up like a stripe on camera.

I used a little different method for binding this time. I found a tutorial on Anka's Treasures and did it her way. It really was fast and now I want to bind another quilt so that I can try it again before I forget.

Here it is from a different angle without the arm of the chair in the way.

Today I plan to finish the top of Merry Go Round. I finished the top for Lemon Twist, but it's snowing and I'm out of binding so they may stay unquilted until June or whenever the snow melts. Time to start thinking about the next project!

It's either going to be my Flutterby jelly roll with this pattern, or something from my 1974 jelly roll... but I doubt it, I haven't found the perfect pattern for it yet ( any ideas are welcome:)) . It could possible be this pattern out of Charisma charm packs. I also have this pattern with a Receess jelly roll, but this is probably not next as it's made using the same method as Merry Go Round. It will probably wait a few months.

A Very Quilty Christmas

It was a very quilty Christmas at our house. That's the way I like it! I got these notions: Perfect circles, I have the smaller ones and needed the bigger ones for some upcoming projects, cherry Best Press and Ginger pinking shears. I can't wait to pink something! Last weekend we had a family party with my husband's dad's family. I received these Fig Tree patterns I've been wanting. I am really having to try to hold back from diving right in. There's one that uses 1/4 yard cuts, one for a layer cake, one for Moda's new honey buns, and one for jelly rolls. I can't wait! However, if you look to your right you will notice the LONG list of things I need to finish up first. Why did I ever set that goal for myself????

I bought this book and gave it to Jeff to give to me for Christmas several weeks ago. I love it. It has tons of fun, simple patterns in it for things around the house. These are some of my favorite:

A basket liner.

Table runner. It also has an ironing board cover, lamp shades, bath mat and tons of other things I can't wait to get started on. Hopefully you will see my projects currently in progress list deleting fast!

I also bought these jelly rolls for myself probably before Thanksgiving. I like to chose my own fabric so it was handed to my husband for him to keep until Christmas. It's 1974 and Recess.

I also got the Persian Pickle Club, which I love. I've read it before and decided I needed to own it. I don't usually reread books, but this one is worth reading again.

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

An End to my Christmas Sewing Extravaganza

Well, it came and went. The last sewing day before Christmas. Most people count shopping days but in the quilt world we know we count sewing days. I made it. I finished my Winter Christmas Quilt. I finished piecing, quilting and binding yesterday. The binding was finished about 9:30 last night. It's not my favorite quilt. It turned out a lot smaller then I thought it would. I had a pattern, but I made the strips longer and did less rows. I also added the stop boarder. This is the size of a smaller throw. When I bought stuff for boarders and binding I bought enough for a twin. I didn't buy a back because I was just going to use a back I bought last year at Elaine's 1/2 off the 1/2 off sale the week before Christmas. I ended up having enough left over from the boarders to piece a back.

I had hoped to be able to finish all my current projects so that I could start a new quilt with the new jelly rolls I'm getting for Christmas. I didn't get a chance to finish Merry-Go-Round though so hopefully I can finish by the end of the week and then cut into those jelly rolls that are calling my name. Yes, I chose my own fabric even though it was for Christmas. If I had let my husband do it, well...... we don't even want to talk about that.

Of course Jake saw me taking a picture and HAD to be in it.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas Sewing

What should I be doing right now? Making the second frog or adding the eyes to the first. He's done, he's just eyeless. I'm having a bit of trouble. What am I really doing? Stalling. I went back to making this:

Before we moved in August I had started making a quilt from a Winter jelly roll. It's a super easy pattern from a book I have but it's not the most exciting to sew. When we moved I put it away and didn't get it out until the other day. I only have one more row to sew. Maybe a half hour. I don't have borders, backing, binding or batting and I'm not sure if the store closest to me has what I need, but it's a distraction from the frogs! And it's Christmasy! I'll get back to the frogs..... before Christmas Eve... probably.

Jelly Stars!

My husband and I had to speak in church yesterday. I worked on my talk throughout the week. He worked on his Saturday night. It left me LOTS of time to sew. I wanted a break from Merry Go Round so I started Jelly Stars. I know, I know, I should finish one thing before I start the next. I was thinking I'd just do one of the four stars and then go back to and finish the other quilt. Well.... I think I'm addicted. I loved making this star! It was so fun. A lot of points to match up, but still fun. I can't wait to do another today.

This is half?

Do you ever feel like you put a ton of work into a quilt that turns out very small? I am half way done with my Merry Go Round Quilt. This is one of two jelly rolls. The quilt does go the other way, but my camera automatically turns it, which bugs me but I'm too lazy to figure out how to turn it. Anyway, this quilt is going to be a lot smaller then I thought. I think it's something like 64x68. Other than the size, I really am liking it though. I love the colors and fabric. It looks so happy. Now, do I pause here and work on another project for a day or two or do I just keep going? It's a lot of seams to match up!

This quilt is making me want to do a grandmother's flower garden quilt. I love them. However, I do not think I will love hand piecing. Also, I feel like if I hand pieced the top I'd feel and obligation to hand quilt it, which I know I do not like to do. Anyone made a grandmother's flower garden quilt on the machine?

The Great Debate '08

What quilt should I do next? I know, I know...... I'm starting a totally new quilt when you can see my list of quilts I'm piecing is growing and growing. But I just get so excited when I get new fabric! This weekend I got 2 jelly rolls for Recipe For Friendship. I have these two patterns that I haven't made. I was thinking I'd do the first, but I have been really wanting to do the second as well. However, the pattern for Black Diamond has been lost in the move. It's probably with Retro Aprons. I can't find that either. I did find my frog patterns though!
Anyway, I'm trying to decide if I should the Merry Go Round Quilt or the Black Diamonds. I have my triangle rulers on the way and I already have both patterns. Which one is more kitcheny? I love the retro kitchen look of Recipe for Friendship and Merry Go Round could be really cute in it.
Or should I keep looking until I find the Black Diamond pattern. The pattern doens't look as kitcheny to me, but I love it. Maybe it would look cute in Candyland Christmas or Isn't Christmas Jolly. Or maybe it would be cute in just a mix of 1930's scraps. What do you think?

The problems and debates of a quilter. Will they never end?