Works in Progress: Oink-a-doodle-moo Coin quilt

This past week I have been basting and quilting some of the tops that I had piling up.

This is a disappearing nine patch that I made several months ago with 2 charm packs of Cherry on Top fabric. I just love the colors. I had added a blue fabric that I had in my stash to go in the center of each nine patch block that I made. I basted this quilt this past week and it is on my to-do-list to get quilted this week.

This is a Coin Quilt pattern that I made a few weeks ago with a jelly roll of Vintage fabric by Annette Tatum. I actually made two of these tops from one jelly roll. I used a light green print fabric that I had in my stash to sash these blocks with. I got this quilt basted this week and it is also on my to-do-list to get quilted this week.

This is another Coin Quilt that I made several weeks ago with a jelly roll of Oink-A-Doodle-Moo fabric by Jenn Ski for Moda. Don't you just love that name? Oink-A-Doodle-Moo...that name just brings a smile to my face every time I say or think it.

 Maybe it is because I was raised on a farm and live on a small one now. Oink-a-doodle-moo just makes me picture all of those sounds coming from those little farm animals along with all of their little antics. It is springtime now in Oklahoma and our goats have had their kids. They are bouncing all over the place and enjoying being alive!

I am practicing my machine quilting with this quilt. I decided to just stitch this in straight furrows, alternating the direction of the stitches in each block.

Well, that is what I have been working on this week. I hope everyone is enjoying some time quilting this week!

Linking up with  Anything Goes Monday!
Linking up with Modern Tradition Quilts!
Linking up with Freemotion by the River!

Simple Quilts: Sasparilla

I enjoy making simple quilts. They can be made with my scraps or purchased just for the project. As it happens I had bought some layer cakes without any idea what I was going to make with them. They have been laying in my stash for awhile.

But while browsing through Pinterest (I just love looking at all the pictures on Pinterest...lots of inspiration) I saw a picture of what looked to be a simple quilt that had been made with a layer cake.

So following the instructions I posted in my last entry, I made this simple quilt with the Sasparilla layer cake that I had.

It is windy today as you can tell by the quilt blowing!

I pieced together some fabric that I have had in my stash for several years. I can't even remember why I purchased it now. But I know that my tastes must have changed and that I would not be using it in a top, so I thought as a backing would work well with this quilt.

As I mentioned in my last blog entry...I wanted to break out of my comfort zone and start using different quilting designs. I have been comfortable with the loopy design and the stippling, but there are so many more machine quilting designs out there and they look good when I see what others are doing.

So, I decided that this would be a good project to practice some other free motion quilt designs on.

I used straight lines, wavy lines, loopy loops, stippling, figure eights, and others.

And I must say that it made me happy to break out of my comfort zone and try something new...Whoop-Whoop!

I even discovered some new designs that I really enjoyed making while trying something new.

I would like to hear what makes you happy! Join me on Whoop-Whoop Friday!

Works in Progress: Briar Rose

This week I have been cutting into some of my layer cakes. I just love to make simple quilts, they come together so quickly...giving me less time to get bored with the pattern and the fabrics.

I am a big fan of Pinterest...so many ideas in one place. I love to look at the pictures of quilts. I get a lot of inspiration from looking at the pictures. And I am always looking for the simple way to make the pattern.
 
I decided to cut into a Briar Rose layer cake that I have  and came up with this simple to make quilt. It will be a great sofa throw after it is quilted, so I may even decide to add some borders and make it larger for a bed...we'll see.

I started by taking my layer cake and cutting each block in half, giving me two 5in x 10 in rectangles. 

I left all the blocks in the order that they were cut. I then removed the top 3 blocks from one side and placed those on the bottom of that pile. Then I took the top piece from each pile and sewed these together.

After I had all of the blocks sewn together, I pressed the seams to one side, and then squared them up.

Then I began alternating the blocks and sewing them together to make rows. I had 7 rows that were 6 blocks wide.

These blocks were from the Sasparilla layer cake.

I alternated the blocks so that I did not have to try and match seams. I chain pieced these blocks together, but I forgot that I needed to alternate the beginning block on each row. So, I had to spend some time with my handy seam ripper.

But after getting the blocks laid out in the order that I wanted and then sewn together, the rows were easy to just match the seam and sewed together using a 1/4 in seam.

 

This top didn't take but a couple of hours to put together. It would have been a little less, if I had not had to take time to use the seam ripper. This makes a great project for a gift when time is limited.

I spent some time this week binding some of the tops that I had made. Now I just need to get them quilted.

I have gotten comfortable machine quilting a few all over designs. I think it is time for me to start trying and conquering some new designs, and maybe even using more than one or two designs on a  quilt.

 

How do you choose the machine quilting patterns that you quilt your quilts with? I would love to hear any comments on how you choose your quilting designs!

 

Joyce

Finished Projects

I finished up a few more of my projects this week. Does anyone else have several projects going at the same time? I will start a project and sometimes I get it finished quickly. Other times, I will get to a certain point in the project and then I procrastinate and put off finishing it, and instead begin a new project.

I will get several quilt tops made and then I will finally break down and baste several of them. Then I can take my time quilting them. I used to take my tops to someone to have them quilted. Where I lived at it was hard to find someone who machine quilted. Although, now days with the internet it is easier to find machine quilters.

With the internet and you tube, it helped me to take the plunge and learn to machine quilt using my home sewing machine.

There are several good teachers on the internet who have taken the time to make videos for beginners to learn to machine quilt. Leah Day was a great inspiration for me with her Free Motion Quilting Videos. And something that she said on her blog, "There is no wrong way to quilt" was a great break-through in my mind for me to not be afraid to just do it.

And one thing that I have learned is...that practice makes perfect.

Enough of my soap box and onto some pictures of the projects that I have finally finished this week.

This was made using the Ellie Ann charms that I hade on hand. I had sewn them together to form the center, added a narrow border of white fabric and then a larger border of green print fabric that I had in my stash.

I added some lace around the border when I did the binding.

This little quilt was made using a Glamping charm pack by Mary Jane. I machine quilted the center using a loopy loop desing. And then I used a wavy line in the border.

I used a heart stitch to sew the binding.

The loopy loop design that I quilted on my home machine.

 

Practice makes perfect!

I still need to practice.

The Chevron

My friend, Sylvia, will be having a new baby soon. I wanted to make a quilt for her new family member. I showed her a picture of a pink and camo chevron quilt that I had seen on facebook. Sylvia and her husband are into the camo scene.

I didn't realize that there were so many different kinds of camo. So just to make sure I didnt choose the wrong camo design, I asked Sylvia to pick out the fabric that she wanted the quilt made from.

Jenny, from Missouri Star Quilt Co, had posted a tutorial for making a chevron quilt. I would like to say a big thank you to MSQC for all the great tutorials. 

I did tweek the pattern some for the quilt that I made. I began by cutting 30, 8 inch, squares of each fabric. Then I made my half-square triangles as described in the tutorial. This has got to be the easiest way to make HST.

After setting my rows together, I hand basted the quilt without safety pins. I had found a tutorial on youtube from Sharon Shamber for basting without safety pins. This method of basting has really helped me since I started using it. The link for Hand Basting a Quilt by Sharon Shamber can be found here. And part 2 of Hand Basting a Quilt.

This way of Basting a quilt is so much easier on my old knees, and I don't have to worry about accidently hitting a safety pin when I am machine quilting.

 

Well I did get the quilt finished. Sylvia told me last night that her older daughter is in love with it and wants her own quilt. No matter what age we are, a soft cuddly quilt to snuggle into, seems to make us feel loved.

The finished quilt.