Scrappy Double Wedding Ring

I have always loved Double Wedding Ring quilts. I also love any "cheater" techniques. When I found this pattern last spring by Quiltsmart I bought it to use up my scraps. I discovered Quiltsmart a few years ago when I made my Star of Bethlehem quilt and then took a class later that used it for Pinwheel Spin. It came with the fusible interfacing and also the plastic template. I had put this quilt away in the spring, but today I got it back out again to work on some more. This quilt is so easy I thought I'd show you how to make one the easy way. After cutting out slightly over a million wedges you take 6 and sew them together. I'm not sure how big I will make mine, so I don't know how many to cut.

The Quiltsmart comes in a big sheet. After you've cut out the arcs, sew them onto a pieced arc. Quiltsmart even has a line to sew and also a line to trim for seam allowance.

Here is one that's been sewn and trimmed.

Now it's time to turn them right side out. This is why I put it away in the first place. It seemed like it took forever to turn them right side out. Well, a few weeks ago as I was turning out apron strings I realized I could use this tool for that. The lights are now on! I don't know why it took me so long! Now it takes 10 seconds as opposed to 5 minutes per piece!

Now it's time to iron (press) them onto the white background. Quiltsmart fuses right on, not as tightly as fusible webbing, but enough for a temporary hold.

Last, use a small zig zag stitch and clear thread. I like the Sulky. Machine applique the pieces down.

There will eventually be a small triangle piece sewn to the four corners of each block to join them together. I'm not sure if I'm going to use solid fabric as suggested or if I want to use more of my scraps. The package of Quiltsmart comes with enough for a baby quilt or two table runners. I'm not sure what size I'll do, but you can also buy it by the panel and I noticed a store near my house carries it that way so I may make it bigger.

I really want to try the Apple Core, but I'm not sure how it would work. Maybe I'll look for a tutorial online so I can see if it's easy. I know this all sounds like a commercial, but since I'm always looking for easy ways to make classic patterns I thought other people might as well and I wanted to show you how easy this really is!

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!

How do you feel about purple?

So the pictures aren't the greatest. The color looks a little grey in the first one. I'm almost done with my appliqued flower quilt. I've got 17 done and need 20. I'm hoping I can finish by this weekend and then start on the sashing. I think I'm going to go with purple. I can't decide if I should use the same purple for an outer border, or if I should use a print.

Here is a picture of the pattern. You can see that the first one has a patterned border and a scrappy border in between the sashing and the border. If you scroll down there is a baby sized one with no scrappy border. The outer border is still patterned, but I like it better than the first. I'm wondering if I did the scrappy border and then did more purple or should I find an outer border I like better. What do you think?

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.

Oh Thanks, I'm Blushing!

Mel has given me this award. Thanks Mel. If you haven't checked out Mel's blog before you should! She's got some great projects and.... she's from my husband's home town!

This award is Portuguese and means that we are all closer because of blogging. The blogger is looking to find and be friends.

I'm so grateful for all the quilting friends I've made through blogging. I'm inspired by each of you! Now it's time to pass the award on to a few of my favorite blogs:

Erica at Polka Dot Quilts: Erica and I have been friends for about four years now. We used to live in the same neighborhood until she moved to Texas and I moved to another area of Utah. We used to love to go fabric shopping together with our two silly little boys! I always love to see Erica's blog and what she's working on. I'm glad that even though she is now several states away I can still keep track of her quilting! Her blog is actually what inspired me to start mine! Thanks Erica!

V and Co: I just discovered this blog a week or so ago. I love it! Not only does she quilt, but she does tons of other home decorating projects. I'm still looking through all the stuff she's done.

It's so much fun to check every one's blogs and find new ones. Thanks everyone!

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!

Lemon Twist- Check

I finished binding my Lemon Twist quilt last night. I don't love the quilt, but I ended up loving the binding. I didn't think I would like it very much until I was actually binding it. It was a good use of my 30's yellow and green scraps, but I didn't realize when I started how small it was. I'm going to have to start checking the finished size before I start. Also, the pattern had a scrappy border, but I felt like it looked too busy so I just did the green dots. Here's Jake's usual picture with the quilt.

I also finished the top of the Merry Go Round quilt. Hopefully I can get it quilted during nap time today. I'm not really sure how to do the binding. I'm thinking I pivot on the inside point and do a regular mitered turn on the outside point. Any ideas?

Valentine's Quilt

Today I got out my three Valentine's decorations (that's all I own, I need to go to Tai Pan the day after to get them for 75% off).

I made this quilt last year out of Valentine fabric, but I can't remember what the line was called. I just did a quick crazy block pattern and made it in an afternoon. I think the blocks were about 12 inches before I sewed them into pieces and were about 10 after. I can't remember for sure though. Super simple and adds a touch of Valentine's to our family room.

Can We Talk About Batting?

Let's face it, I'm cheap. I buy my batting at Robert's so I can use my 50% off coupon. I know, I know, some people don't think it's a real quilt unless it's all bought at the quilt shop, but I have to save money somewhere and the batting is where I do it (that and sale rack backs). Anyway, I usually use Hobbs 80/20. Robert's in Centerville has been out of it since NOVEMBER in twin and larger! Apparently it's on backorder. I went to a few different stores today, but couldn't bring myself to spend twice as much for the same thing so I'm battingless. What kind of batting do you use and where do you buy it?

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.

Shoe Bags

I made three shoe bags for my mom for her birthday today. My parents travel a lot. They used to be in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Now that they are not in the choir anymore they still like to travel. The shoe bags can be used for extra pairs of shoes so that they don't get clothes dirty.

I found these kits at Sew and Save. They have a Clothesline Club where they make one project a month with Darlene Zimmerman's fabric. These were some of the extra kits. I may just have to join next year. I love the shoe fabric at the top!

2009 Quilting Goals

The Christmas quilts have been put away and it's time to start thinking up some 2009 quilting goals. Yes, I need to have quilting goals. Here they are:

1- Finish what I already have started. I will finish 2 quilts from my project list before starting a new quilt. When the new one is COMPLETELY FINISHED I will finish two more quilts from the list.

2- I will not buy new fabric unless I have a plan for it. The stash is really getting out of control.

3- I will finish one block of Grandmother's Flower Garden by hand.

That's about all I can think of right now, but I got the biggest one. To FINISH stuff. I don't know why I haven't been finishing stuff lately. I get so excited about new fabric that I start the next pattern before I should. My goal is to stop that right now and finish!