Category: Quilting and Sewing

I finished four quilts in September, and that might be a record for me.  Two of them were quilt tops awaiting the final stages of completion, and two of them were new projects.  I shared Erica’s quilt here , but the other three have gone unmentioned.  This is quilt #2, made with a bundle of Anthology Fabrics from a few years ago (sorry, can’t remember the name and there was none on my selvages) and Camille Roskelley’s On A Whim pattern .  I blogged about the quilt top over at Sisterview last month, but this is the finished quilt.


This quilt makes me happy for several reasons.  First, I love the way the Kona Ice Frappe looks with the rich autumn tones of the prints.  I’m so glad I used it, and I’m also glad I experimented a little with the dark gray.  Second, I am beyond thrilled with the quilting.  Learning to free motion quilt was one of my goals for the year, and I put it off because I didn’t want to ruin anything.  I can’t count how many times I’ve thumbed through Angela Walters’ book and wanted to try the flower power quilting but never had courage.  At last I went for it and it worked and I enjoyed it.  Tons of flaws, but you don’t really notice them.  I’m  super proud of myself for doing it.  I tried to quilt a large flower in each block and a smaller one in the gray squares.


For the backing I pieced prints I had on hand, and managed to use almost all of my darker orange fabrics.


For the binding I did another thing I’ve never tried and used a voile.  It’s an Anna Maria Horner voile and the colors were an almost perfect match so I ran with them.  It’s soft and pretty.


With the turn of seasons this quilt is already being loved by my family.  I find myself wanting to decorate less for the seasons and simply enjoy them more, and I love how this is a fall-ish quilt without screaming fall.  I really did start this quilt on a whim and I’m so glad I did!

Jennifer

A couple of months ago I started on a special project – a quilt to be gifted as a wedding gift.  We have the most wonderful neighbors in the world, good people who have been kind and generous to us since we moved here and we love them so much.  When their oldest daughter got married, I made her a quilt , so when their second daughter set a date it seemed only natural to make her one as well.


Eventually I decided to make a St. Louis 16 Patch quilt for her.  I wanted this to be something they will throw in the car for a picnic, or take camping.  I hope that they use it and that it becomes something that reminds them not just of their wedding day but also of their time together.  I settled on the 16 patch because it felt casual enough for these activities, which fits their lifestyle well.  Erica is awesome – a little bit of a lot of things, so making the blocks was a lot of fun.  The fabrics for the quilt top are mostly Flea Market Fancy with a bunch of other things thrown in.  I like that it’s a FMF quilt, but not really.


The backing is very simple, with an Art Gallery print for most of it.  I also used the last of my IKEA numbers fabric and a little strip of a vintage sheet with beautiful flowers on it.


The binding came from my stash – I don’t even remember where it’s from.


The wedding was last weekend and the bride and groom seemed to like it.  I enjoyed making it; the pattern is simple and comes together quickly.  It felt good to have this gift finished a couple of weeks early.

I realized recently that most of the quilting projects I’ve tackled lately have been really time intensive.  Not incredibly difficult, but lots of calculations and concentration.  (Like this and this .) I was sitting at my sewing machine and suddenly realized I was attacking my project with the same intensity I have to muster to ensure all the homework for my 7 students gets done every night, instead of enjoying the few minutes I had to sew.   Time to re-evalutate!


Like many others, I bought several cuts of voile earlier this year and I was anxious to actually try sewing with it.  Most of what is in this quilt top is Anna Maria Horner (my favorite is the pastry line print in every color) with a little bit of Amy Butler and some Joel Dewberry thrown in the mix.  I cut a large number of six inch squares in July and decided it was time for a simple patchwork quilt top.


Naturally, the photo shoot needed to be interrupted by my favorite little photobomber:


She screamed with delight when the breeze picked up unexpectedly.


This quilt top measures 90 inches square and I’m so happy with it.  Sewing with the voile wasn’t difficult and I love the weight of this quilt.  I’ve decided that a voile backing is in order and am trying to decide how I’ll quilt it.


This project reminded me how healthy it is to change pace and enjoy simple tasks between time consuming ones.  I was also reminded how lovely a simple patchwork quilt really is.

Thanks for visiting!
Jennifer Linking to Freshly Pieced