Christmas Quilt from a Kit

I bought this kit about three years ago when I found this quilt shop in Wilsonville and decided I wanted to construct one of these lovely quilts but I didn't think I could coordinate all the fabrics.

It's a pattern called French Quarter, by Figg Tree Quilts

Then I did nothing with it until the dreary January 2013 weather hit and I was cold and blah and just started cutting.   It was again, very therapeutic to mindlessly cut squares and shapes after constructing garments.  I didn't take any photos of the cut pieces or construction.

In January and February I constructed the entire top except for one row.  Weird, that I just left one row unassembled and there it sat till November when I realized if I wanted to use it or give it away for Christmas I better get my butt in gear and get it finished.

I found this nice long arm quilter Elizabeth Originals Custom Quilts in North East Portland.

Quilt back from the quilters, raw edge.

I dropped off my quilt, picked a pattern and thread and Beth had it finished a week later!  Thanks Beth, it looks amazing.  You can see some better photos of the whole quilt on Beth's blog here.  And you can see all the amzing work she has done for other people.

It's hard to choose what pattern you want, there are so many that would look great. 

I also had enough squares to do a pillow sham. No idea how to finish this yet but it's quilted/backed.

Hand stitched the red binding Sunday night.

 

Finished!

Parting Shot............

Decorated for Christmas with little vintage trees.

You thought the parting shot would be Mochi, didn't you?   He's in there, see his stocking.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.   I know I did.  I even cut out and half assembled another quilt. What is happenning?  Inspiration in the form of dreery cold "inside days"?

Baby Girl Pink Scrap Quilt

Just some quick photos of the little scrap quilt that I put together as a girl baby gift to have on hand.

There is most certainly a better way to do these little squares I have learned since this photo.

I had lots and lots of pink with dots

All these squares are scraps from other projects....
Many are from this baby quilt project-
http://behindthescenesatthecircus.blogspot.com/2012/02/color-wheel-complete.html

Several are from this project of poufs-
http://behindthescenesatthecircus.blogspot.com/2010/10/gumdrops-for-birthdays.html

Assembled by rows trying to not put too many of the same near each other.

 I never thought that sewing little squares could make me happy but it's quite therapeutic.
And I love the way this turned out.  

The whole thing finished.  Not washed yet

I just machine quilted it 1/4" from the seam one direction and then the other along each row.

Here is the whole thing, bound in pink with white polka dots. 

oops, look, two identical ones, made it by each other and you know what, it's fine!

There's something so great about making something out of the parts that are leftover from something else.  I guess that's what I like about this quilting world.  You can make cool stuff out of the tiniest leftovers.  I even used leftover pieces of batting basted together, probably a no no but once quilted, I don't think it will matter.

Speaking of leftovers, who's still full from Thanksgiving......... me!

Parting Shot-

Mochi got his picture taken with Santa Paws for the Humane Society.

Summertime Stars/Marvel Comics Quilt

My second quilt was inspired by the Marvel Comics fabrics found at Fabric Worm fabrics that came out with the Avengers movie. I loved them, their bright colors and large scale.  I had to have them, looked at them everyday on line and waited just long enough till they were sold out (mostly, I did purchase some yardage from FW).  Loser!    Then I had to stalk them on Ebay and buy up what I could find at Fabric Depot along with some complementary ditsy quarters that would balance out their large scale.

Now, what to make....something for and super heros lover.  Perfect birthday present for my bedroom, I mean my 8 year old nephew's bedroom.  I missed out on being a little boy who worships super heros.

I picked this pattern from Fig Tree Quilts  that I originally planned to make a 4th of July quilt for myself. 

Super easy to cut out, you just copy the pattern three times and make 3 stacks of 10.

Make the cuts and then take the top star off the stack and put it aside.  It will be the center of the last square. 

The hardest thing to do was to get the large scale super heros to not be cut up too much in the star. 

Then over the actual 4th of July weekend, I spent a bunch of my time off just sewing star after star and listening to NPR.

This quilt is pretty fast to piece together.  Then with the help of my assistant and his armadillo, I laid out the squares trying to balance the obnoxious color and scale.  And not put any patterns that were the same next to each other.   

You will see that I didn't succeed in the final version.  I got two in the bottom corner next above each other, oh well.  It's so crazy you kind of don't notice.  I backed it with black and hand quilted around each star in a contrast color.  I used primary blue, red, green, yellow and also black and white.

This is a feeble attempt to show the quilted stars on the backing.   It's pretty subtle.

The binding was hand stitched as well and I machine quilted along all the seams of the squares. 

Here's my assistant on the final quilt, showing off new hair cut and still obsessed with armadillo.

At the birthday party opening his gift, my nephew Gray.

Nephew suffering through a hug from me in front of quilt.

Happily enjoying quilt on bed. 

At some point I need to make a quilt for myself!

Sewing again......Simplicity 2290

Back in action over Memorial Day weekend, my sewing mojo reappeared.  It's funny how much I like buying fabric and patterns and then getting around to doing the sewing seems to elude me sometimes.

Over the next few days I'll catch up on my blogging what I've sewn.

Pajama Pants:
I've had this fabric for some time.  I made a self drafted pattern off of some old pj's and then opted to buy a store bought pattern, Simplicity 2290 "learn to sew" pattern for the whole family.

What I didn't like about this pattern was that there is only one piece so the fabric layout is challenging because you have to lay the fabric flat instead of on the fold.  Then fit wise, you have a wider boxy fitting silhouette with the side seam missing.

What I did like about this pattern is that it's one piece and you sew 2 seams- one on each leg and then you sew them together, fold over the top edge to make a casing and hem the bottom.  I did most of it on my serger and it was really quick.  I did not add the tie at the front because it's totally decorative.

Slightly wrinkly because I wore them last night.

I also made them mid calf length for summer.  The fabric is a pretty sheer lawn and it was very soft and comfy to wear.

Elastic casing finish.

Super easy and fast pattern.  I would make them again out of equally soft and light fabric.  Wow, this is probably the most boring post of all time. Sorry folks.  Pattern Review to follow.

Spring Fever!  Sewing room realized and Vogue 1250

Spring has sprung in Portland.  Well, it's only been about two weeks since it snowed- and when I say snow it really just looked like little fairies sprinkled powdered sugar on my house.  But the daffodils are up and that makes me happy.

These are not in my yard but I aspire to have a whole hillside of them someday

I've always wanted a dedicated sewing room and now I have one.  It is the cool yet weird thing about my house- there is a room off the dining room that I have tucked an office/sewing room into.

view from the dining room that is my cutting
table right now.

It is on the main floor between the living room and the kitchen so when I go and sew I'm not off in a distant corner of the house away from the main action.  And the way the room is situated if you turn the light off the chaos melts into the background and you (or at least I don't) notice it.

The gate is so the room is Mochi proof.  No pins for his little feet and tummy.  I pulled a pin out of his mouth a few months ago and almost had to take to my bed for the day I was so racked with guilt.

There's my new serger - yay.

The sewing desk is from Pottery barn and is nice and long.  I could use more cabinets and I plan to make some big bulletin boards for the wall so I can pin up inspiration and sewing directions etc.  that's phase two.

The office desk and lamp were both from second hand shops- i LOVE lamps! They are my weakness, but this one is my very favorite in the whole world.   This back wall probably needs a great piece of artwork.

the whole room with shot of scavenged red vinyl chair for hand work.

Here's the opposing wall.  I plan to have a family photo gallery but now there are just pictures hanging on the hooks that came with the house.  That's a future project too.   I don't love the look of the ironing board being up all the time but I love the handiness of it being up all the time.

And finally I'm working on Vogue 1250 that I cut out last summer and then never sewed- how lame.
It's half finished and just pinned on the mani.  This is some beautiful and bright yellow ITY fabric that I ordered from Gorgeous Fabrics last summer.  It's daffodil for the body.

you can see the transition to the living room in the background- weird house layout but it works!

I've just ordered a bunch of patterns from Hot Patterns (my first).  And a bunch of fabric from Mood in New York (not my first but first mail order).  So, while I wait for those I realize that I really have so much fabric already.  What the heck am I doing ordering more?  Well, I better getty up.  See you later!

Summertime Stars Quilt

I really enjoyed the quilt making.  And now I'm ready to make a quilt for my house.  For some reason I've been obsessed with making something stars and stripes for the 4th of July.  Since everything at Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe is BEAUTIFUL, I like to go there often to admire the quilts.  There's something so comforting about a stack of warm quilts.  I've always wanted that in my house like a Shabby Chic commercial.  I bought one at an antique shop for way too much money.  Time to figure out how to make my own.

I recently got up the nerve to buy a kit. But, it's a Christmas quilt and that's so far away.  I thought I would go for the 4th of July first.  And I've been loving the picture of a star quilt I've seen at HH.  You can find it on their blog Boughs of Holly.  You can see it in the background! I love the plaid and other prints layered in- very Ralph Lauren.

Summertime Stars Quilt Pattern

Last time I was there, I asked one of the ladies if they were making a kit for the stars quilt.  And, alas, the answer was currently, NO.  However, she found the pattern for me and showed me how cool the cutting instructions were and how easy and fast to piece that is would be. She said she made it and it was super easy. BINGO!  My second quilt.

 So, last night I used some extra fabric that I had- two quarters from JoAnne's.  And you cut them in a stack and end up with stars and backgrounds like this.  It was really easy and it doesn't have to be perfect and it looks super cute.    Later you have to make all the squares square but this was just practice.

Good thing, practice, because I slashed through one edge that I wasn't supposed to and it caused more sewing and a weird wonky issue.  But overall, I figured out I could do one block in about 10 minutes.  Sewing only.   And since there are 30 blocks that wouldn't be too crazy piece time.

I'm going to HH to pick up a cute fat Quarter bundle (yep, got the lingo down) this weekend.  Well, I might hand pick all the colors instead of a bundle.   yay.  Meanwhile, I'm setting up my new serger but it's hard to focus while I can hear the puppy tearing up the house.  Off to puppy wrangle....



Parting shot..... Mochi asking for tummy rub.  Ok, that's an old photo but he still does that all the time. 

Color Wheel Complete

I finally finished my first quilt.  It's a good thing because I was at Holly Hill and bought another pattern.  Thankfully, I held back from buying the fabric but I'm sure I'll be there next weekend to buy it.

Hand sewn binding

I love hand sewing.  I'm pretty good at it and it's very relaxing.  It's hard to control front and back of a  machine stitch but when you hand stitch you can feel as you go.  Members of my family have a slight shake: a palsy that causes shakiness in the hands.  I know at some point it will effect my ability to hand sew.  I think my next quilt will be hand quilted.

Total wheel machine quilted with white thread and hand bound.

Closer shot of the quilting- yes, a little wrinkly but I'm forgiving myself.

I love the way all the fabrics look together and especially because some are from other projects so it reminds me of finished objects.  And the rainbow is so happy on a foggy, rainy day.

This was a very easy quilt and I loved making it.  I almost hate to give it away.  I won't show you the back because there is a slight flaw in the middle but I'm overlooking it and enjoying the happy side.  Is it bad to give a baby a white quilt?

Cheers!

*** updated 8/6/12****
Here is a photo of the beautiful little boy that this quilt was made for....