anchor Archives - Hopeful Homemaker

Anchor Mini Quilts

March 31, 2015 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

I think I’ve finally made peace with being home from Quilt Bliss . What a fun weekend it was! When Pamela asked me to help with some sewing in preparation for the retreat, I jumped at the opportunity. Soon thereafter, a pile of DaySail by Bonnie & Camille was on my sewing table for cutting.

These anchor mini quilts were used as gifts for the teachers (Pamela’s awesome idea!), and were a lot of fun to make. I used my Anchor Quilt block and made four separate blocks.

Instead of leaving them at 14.5 inches square, I trimmed the two sides so the block was 12.5 inches wide and 14.5 inches tall. I then sewed 1.5 inch squares together to make strips which were used as borders. A white border followed the scrappy squares.

I love how they turned out! In fact, I keep thinking I should make another one to hang with my other mini quilts, but I’m not sure which color/print is my favorite:

The red floral print above was one that surprised me. I didn’t anticipate it being in my top 3 favorites in the Daysail collection, but I really love it! Which one is your favorite?

There are so many great blender prints in the Daysail collection, as well as several that make awesome bindings. I really enjoyed putting these together and experimenting with different combinations.

The stippling was done by Ella Lung , who did a beautiful job!

Much as I loved having them all hanging together, it was even better to see what Pamela did with them. She had the fantastic idea of inviting all the Quilt Bliss attendees sign each quilt in the outer white border as a thank you for teaching. I loved watching people sign their names. I was also just brave (or dorky) enough to ask Camille Roskelley for a picture with her and the quilt she ended up with:

I really enjoyed making anchor blocks again. I love my original anchor quilt , but it might be fun to make another version in some colorful nautical themed fabrics.

While finishing these mini quilts, a friend suggested one more use for them that I hadn’t thought of. I’m working on it now and am excited to share it soon!

Jennifer

One comment anchor, anchor quilt, mini quilts, Quilt Bliss, quilting

Anchor Quilt

November 11, 2013 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

My anchor quilt is finished! After drawing the pattern and piecing the quilt top over the summer, at last it is quilted and bound.

Even the backing has sat, waiting for a decision about how to quilt it. I wanted to do something I’ve never done before, and even try something I haven’t seen done. I also wanted some sort of quilting that would help draw attention away from the many seam lines in the white background fabric. Recently I saw an image of a comforter available at Crate & Barrel and decided right away that I had to try this “cable” style of quilting, as I thought it would suit the anchor theme nicely.

It took some sketching to figure out how to do it on my machine, but after free motion quilting my On A Whim , Early Bird and Choreography quilts this fall, I had more courage and went for it. Each “cable” is made up of three lines of quilting that goes top to bottom, so it took some time to do but I’m very happy with it. Far from perfect, but still perfect enough for me!

In fact, I was so excited to see how it would wash up that I immediately threw it in the wash to find out. I love it.

I love the way the anchors stand out and you hardly notice all the seams it took to make them. The quilting is subtle but you can still see it.

The quilt back also looks nice with the quilting, and I’m so glad I made one more anchor to use on the back.

I decided to use gray for the binding and settled on this Heath print which I had on hand. I think it is the perfect binding.

I love this quilt. Really, really love it. As I made it, I thought about all of the people/things that serve as anchors in my life and how grateful I am for them. The black anchor is a reminder of the greatest anchor of all – my Savior. This quilt is so ME – and I met a lot of personal goals in the making. It is entirely my own design, something that once seemed WAY out of my reach. I loved the process of bringing a fleeting idea to life and hope to do more of this in the future. It also represents another goal I set for the year, which was to learn how to use free motion quilting on my quilts. I know I will improve in this skill as well, but I have reached my goal and it makes me want to leap for joy. This quilt will always be special.

And it is finished. I have a few projects that felt like they belonged to 2013, an integral part of my life story this year, and this was one of them. I have one more in this category to finish. I’ve been thinking over the past week or so about how grateful I am that I found quilting, for discovering a hobby that is so satisfying to me in a stage of life when I needed something so much. I feel very blessed.

Stats:

Tutorial for the anchor quilt block is found here . It is a 14 inch square block. There is no sashing between my blocks or borders on the quilt.Measurements: 56 by 70 inches, made of 20 blocks set in 5 rows of 4 anchors each.
Fabric: blue solid was from my stash; I have no clue regarding manufacturer. Black arrow is Essex yarn died linen in black, houndstooth backing is from Summer Soiree by Paula Prass for Michael Miller. Binding is Heath in gray by Alexander Henry Fabrics.

Thanks for visiting!
Jennifer

7 comments anchor, anchor quilt, quilting

Anchor Quilt Top

July 24, 2013 jennifer Quilting and Sewing, Uncategorized

A few weeks ago I went on a search for a pattern to piece an anchor quilt block. It seems that nautical style is really trendy right now and I’m liking the look. Everything I found was an applique pattern which wasn’t what I wanted. I sketched an anchor, did the math, and created my own pieced anchor quilt block.

Then I made 19 more, including one from Essex yarn died linen in black.

I especially love that black block, the way it makes everything stand out.

I’m giddy with excitement about this quilt top. Each block is 14 inches square, so the entire thing measures approximately 56 inches across by 70 inches long.

Lots of little seams. A bit tedious, perhaps, but not difficult. Tutorial coming soon! In the meantime, I’m working on a backing!
*UPDATE: Tutorial is finished! You can find it here.
Jennifer Linking to Freshly Pieced

14 comments anchor, anchor quilt, quilting