Sawtooth Quilt Top


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Last weekend the sudden need to eliminate a project in my life took hold, and the first thing I thought of was this Sawtooth quilt.  I cut the fabric in January of 2013, intending to use fabric from my stash and to complete a simple project in between more complex ones.  Despite the simplicity of it, I only managed to work on some half square triangles here and there without ever really committing myself to the project.  It’s been sitting in strips for over a year.  I got it out on Saturday thinking I had just 14 long seams to sew; it turned out I had sewn three strips – of 32 half square triangles – together wrong, so I ended up spending time with the seam ripper and the project took longer than I’d planned.

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But the quilt top is done!  Looking at these photos, I realize the quilt doesn’t have as much contrast as it appears to have when I’m working with the fabrics up close.  It won’t be a favorite quilt, but I’m sure it will be used and loved like all the others I make.   I like all the yellow and am really looking forward to quilting this one.  I’m going to practice feathers!  I also pieced the backing and binding with high hopes for finding time to quilt it very soon.

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Early this year my sister Kristen challenged me to finish 14 quilts in 2014.  It sounded reasonable at the time, but  I didn’t anticipate how demanding life would be this year, and so far I’ve only finished 5 projects.  I’d better work much faster if I’m going to reach my goal!

AMH Voile Quilt


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One of my best friends moved away this summer, something that’s always bittersweet.  I’m so thankful I know her and we were blessed to spend a lot of time together in the months before her move, which made it both harder and easier.

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I pulled out the voile quilt top that I pieced last year and decided it was the perfect thing to send with them to their new home.  The vibrant colors of the fabrics are a good combination of both our styles and backing it with the IKEA nummer fabric seemed a good choice.  I love the contrast and wish I wasn’t running out of that number fabric!  I have given away every quilt I’ve backed with it.

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The quilt is a simple patchwork design, comprised of 6″ (finished) squares and measures 90″ square.  Much as I love awesome quilt designs, there is something about patchwork that always makes me smile.  The best part of this quilt is the voile – such a soft, smooth hand and light weight.

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I quilted it myself in a simple cross hatch design on the diagonal through the center of each square and bound it in a black and white houndstooth print.   It feels good to have finished something, and even better to have sent it on it’s way!  It’s finish #5 for 2014.   I think I may need to get out the rest of that voile fabric and make another.

Have a great day!

Scrappy Hunter’s Star – a finished quilt

I finished my Scrappy Hunter’s Star quilt and it sure was fun to do!


I love the colors in the Reminisce fabric collection by Bonnie Christine.  This scrappy hunter’s star quilt was made from a layer cake plus 2.5 yards of background fabric.  The tutorial is here .


The quilting on this quilt is done by machine and by hand.  First I stitched on the seam lines between all the blocks, making a basic grid of quilting before adding any hand stitching.


This quilt is my first experience with adding “big stitch” hand quilting with Perle cotton thread.  I stitched around each star, alternating the inside and outside of each diamond to keep the stitching in the background fabric for better visibility.  I also used a variety of colors to do it.


After stitching around the stars I added diagonal lines, again in a variety of colors, to finish it off.  I love the way it looks, and how it invites you to look a little closer.


For the backing I used my favorite print in the collection, a gorgeous floral bouquet.  I went back and forth about the backing and when I found this print on sale, I went for it.  The binding is another Art Gallery basics print, a coral pink squares print that finishes the quilt beautifully.


Happy Sewing!
-Jennifer

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