A Numbers Quiet Book

It's fun to have a little one around again . . . we're working on numbers, so I threw together this little quiet book with prints from my stash.

 

 

I started with 7" squares for the pages and the 2 covers. I used fusible web to secure each object and number and used a really tight zig zag or satin stitch around the edges in a matching thread color.

 

 

The 8, 9, 10, and back cover pages shown above and below are sewn together.  With right sides of each page together, I stitched 1/4" around the 3 outside edges, leaving the binding edge open for turning and binding.  For example, the cover and page 1 make one page, so I placed page 1 on top of the cover, right sides together, and sewed them together, clipped the corners, then turned them inside out, making sure to poke the corners out to make a nice clean corner.  Pages 2 & 3 go together, 4 & 5 and so on.

 

Here's a great tutorial I used and I've based all of my soft books on this method.  However, I machine stitch the entire binding on in one fell swoop.

 

Baby Quilt Finish

Early this summer, I needed a quick baby quilt finish before my cousin moved away.  Allison of Cluck, Cluck Sew happened to post about this tutorial for a quick and easy quilt just in the nick of time.  Cutting commenced that night and the top was finished the next day.

 

 

My cousin loved the colors and even suggested using this quilt as a launching pad for nursery decorating.

 

 

Quilting: I tried something new! This elongated, free-motion "finger" thingy.  It was a bit tricky to not get stuck in a corner and to keep the lines even, but was still a quick way to quilt.

 

 

Quilt Stats

Fabric: Lollipop by Sandy Gervais for Moda

Back: from a Riley Blake line

Finished Size: 36" x 40"

Finish Date: June, 2012

 

I Have Exactly 299 Safety Pins

Ask me how I know.  Go ahead, ask.

 

 

Funny you should ask . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's because I needed 300. ;)

 

 

Basted, minus one, and quilting has commenced.

String-x Quilt Finish

I finished stitching the binding on this quilt last night.  Some early morning sun really makes the quilting pop.  And check out that clear, blue sky.  After a summer of fires, it sure is nice to see the sky.

 

Pattern: String-x using the combo of this tutorial from Quiltville and this tutorial from Nittany Block Party to add the white borders.  I made really long sets of strings and then cut what I need from those.  This made left-over triangles that I turned into flying geese for the border.

 

 

Fabric: Domestic Bliss by Liz Scott for Moda Fabrics.  This was 2 charm packs and a fat-eighth bundle of solids from Pink Chalk Fabric.  I used Kona white for the borders and Kona coal for the corners.

 

 

Quilting: Free-motion quilting by me on my little ol' machine.  I found the idea for the center pattern from a book from my local library.  Wish I remember what it was. I thought about doing some straight line quilting 1/8" from both edges of the white border, but I have not the patience for that right now, so I'm calling it done.

 

 

Backed and bound with prints from the line.

Finished size: 49" x 67"

 

 

Finish date: September, 2012. (Started in February, 2012.)

 

I'm linking up to Amy's One Thing, One Week Challenge.  My goal was to finish this quilt so I could get my pins back ;)

A Christmas Beginning

There's a million other things I need to finish first, but this pattern arrived in the mail today. I have about half of a fat quarter bundle of Sweetwater's Countdown to Christmas line left over from another yet-to-be finished quilt, but I'm excited to know what I'll use it for. 

 

I'm going to be really good and finish 3 other quilts before I start this one: a string-x quilt that is just about bound, my I spy quilt that is ready for quilting, and my hst/value quilt that is also ready for quilting. There's a large pile of other WIPs, but this will be good motivation to get those 3 done.

 

I'm linking up to Diane's linky party at from blank pages.

Scrappy Bow-Tie Quilt Finish

I participated in the Scrappy Bow-Tie block swap over on flickr this spring.  It was a fun, new adventrue to participate in a block swap.  Although the quality of what I received was sometimes disappointing, I was glad to be involved in the social experience of swapping blocks and then the exercise of making them all work together.

 

I decided to sort them by color in groups of 4 to create a larger block . . .

 

 

and then distributed the blocks to balance color and value.

 

 

This was destined for a talent auction at our family reunion, so I used a striped sheet for the backing and binding.

 

I free-motion stippled the entire quilt . . . a quick quilting finish.

 

 

And a signature to claim it as mine.

 

 

Quilt Stats:

Fabric: assorted scraps, twin-size flat sheet for back and binding

Pattern: Scrappy Bow-Tie

Finished Size: about 60" x 60"

Quilting: free-motion stippling by me

Finish Date: May 2012

How I Quilted a Curved Feather

I am a complete novice at making any kind of feather, but here is the method I used to create the curved feathers in my Retro Flowers Quilt petals.  I don't have a long-arm . . . just my trusty Bernina, a darning foot, and lowered feed dogs.

 

I created a template for the spine of each feather.  I hate to mark, so I just lay it on the quilt and use it as a guide to stitch around.  I use this method frequently (see the stars on the Independence Day Quilt and the large petals on the Heirloom Quilt). The template gets pretty beat up, but I think it beats marking any day.

 

 

You'll notice a mark on the template.  That's where I stopped, removed the template and then stitched on the same line back to the beginning.  I've since learned that it looks nice to create an increasing gap as you return to the beginning . . . just like on a real feather's spine.

 

 

I began on the outside of the curve, creating the "bubble" on the outside of the feather.  Another thing I wish I had done: curved the spine in a little bit at the beginning (creating more of an "s" shaped spine) so there was a little more room for that first bubble.  I got into a rhythm, creating the outside bubbles all around the outside curve.

 

 

When I reached the end of the spine, I made sure the last bubble blended into the end of the spine.  At that point, I started to create the bubbles on the inside curve.

 

 

The picture below doesn't show it very well, but the inside bubbles on that tight inner curve were really long.  The inside curve of the bubble creates the shape of the next bubble . . . almost like a yin yang sign.

 

 

Continue on the inside curve until you reach the end.  At this point, I just stitched a few stitches to the next petal and only cut threads when I had finished all four petals

 

 

My mantra is to learn something new on each quilt I make.  This was a new challenge and I certainly learned some things that would make it look better next time.  Don't be afraid to try.  After all, crappy quilting won't stop it from being a cozy blanket, right?