Stars Around The Garden - Finished!

I've got the binding all sewn down on Stars Around The Garden.  I couldn't be happier with the way this quilt turned out!

The pattern is by Bits and Pieces Designs.  I did it as a Saturday Sampler at local quilt shop that is, alas, no longer in business.  They provided all of the fabrics for the blocks.  I bought the sashing, choosing brick red instead of the green they had in the shop sample.  The quilt is huge - this is a queen size bed.  I'll have to measure it again, but I think it's around 96 x 108!

The quilt was quilted by the very talented Chelsea, at Pins and Bobbins.  Here are some close-ups of her quilting.  Click on the pictures for a better view.

She echo quilted the applique, then some free motion stippling around that:

The pieced blocks each had a stencilled design that mirrored the gorgeous feathers in the sashing:

In the borders, she quilted leaves and flowers to mirror that applique, then echo stitched around them:

More of the border, and you can see the feathers better:

Thank you Chelsea - you have helped me create an heirloom!

Saturday Morning Sew In

Brye Lynn, over at Sew Stitch Create is organizing a Sew In for Saturday morning.  The details are on her blog.

Since it is supposed to be -19C on Saturday morning, and since it is currently snowing heavily outside, it seems like a good plan.  Maybe I'll see some of you there too.

Finished Blue Bayou!

Finally, finally, I finished the Blue Bayou quilt for my son.

This was intended to be a graduation quilt for his high school grad.  Well, that happened 2 and a bit years ago, so it’s a little late!  However, he should not feel bad, because his sister’s high school graduation quilt was about 4 years late.  Think I should get started on wedding quilts now?

You’re may be thinking that my son has a very tidy bedroom.  Ha!  I thought about photographing it in his room, but decided you really didn’t need to be punished by having to look at the chaos in there.  Actuallly, I put the quilt on the guest bed to photograph it.

It feels so good to get a big quilt like this done!  When I decided to make this, I spent a lot of time collecting various fat quarters, as I wanted it to be really scrappy.  Many times, I came home with some fat quarters, only to find that they really didn’t go with the other blues I had chosen.   I had decided to lean towards teal, and there are even some bits that are green, but they don’t show up so well in the photo.  I spent about a year collecting the fabric – that’s really my favourite part of quilting, so why rush it?  Then, cutting hundreds of squares! 

The pattern instructions were, in my opinion, annoying, as they told you to cut the squares into half square triangles, then sew them together in various combinations of dark, medium, light and white.  I would use the “draw the line diagonally across the square, then sew on each side” method, so I had to calculate myself how many of each combination I needed.  I do a fair amount of technical writing at work, so when instructions are vague or confusing – or not as efficient as they could be, it bugs me.   It’s not easy writing good instructions!

Here is an end-on photo that shows the pattern and quilting a little better.

I just did an all over pattern, as the quilt is so busy, the quilting would not show anyway.  And, it’s easier!

The pattern is from Fons and Porter magazine – the January-February 2008 issue.  I made the mistake of throwing away the magazine without writing down the name of the designer.  I e mailed F & P to ask them, but they have not got back to me yet.  If any of you save old magazines, perhaps you’ll be able to tell me.

Today is a glorious day – sunny and above freezing.  We had about 6 inches of snow a week or so ago.  That’s a bit early for us, although we usually have snow right around Halloween.  Then, it was cloudy and foggy for an entire week, which is REALLY unusual for Calgary.  We’re so dry, we rarely get fog, and we usually have lots of sun in the winter.    But, the fog has lifted, the sun is shining, and I have an extra hour today!  What could be better!

Fourth Quarter Finish-A-Long

Well, it's time to set goals for the fourth quarter for the Quilter in the Gap Finish-A-Long.  It's hard to believe that this is the last quarter - I sure haven't finished up as many projects as I had wanted, but I have finished up some (without starting any new ones), so I'm happy.

First goal (surprise!) is my son's Blue Bayou quilt.

Yes, I know - this quilt has been on the goal list every quarter so far.  But this time, I know I will finish it - I'm at the binding stage, so I have no excuse!!

Second goal is Stars Around the Garden BOM quilt.  (I really am going to have to do some digging before this is done, so I can tell you the designer's name).

This one, I know I will finish as well, because the quilting is done, done, done!  Chelsea at Pins and Bobbins has done a beautiful job and I got it back in the mail yesterday.  So, all that needs to be done is the binding.

Then, there is this quilt:

 

and its border:

That shouldn't take too long to finish up - once I actually get to work on it!

And, if I have time, I'll work on the Freebie Fifteen:

I have three more 12 inch (complicated) blocks and a bunch of 3 inch quarter square triangle blocks.  And sashing - which I think I've decided to make light grey / taupe, so as to keep the overall quilt in soft colours.

So, that's it - four goals.  Will I accomplish them?  Who knows?  I am the slowest quilter I know!  But, if I don't, then I'll just move 'em on to the next goal setting period.  It's not a race, right?

Confused by Quilt Math?

Lynne, over at Lily's Quilts, is starting a series on Quilt Math.  Her first post, today, discusses how to calculate how much fabric to buy for binding.  Click on the button to be re-directed to her site.

I'm a bit of a math nerd, so I like to figure out how to do things myself.  It will be interesting to see if Lynne uses similar methods, and I will probably keep some of her techniques bookmarked, so that I have a handy reference when I just don't have the time or desire to puzzle it out myself.

Finish A Long - Third Quarter Report

At the beginning of this quarter, I had three projects I planned on finishing for the Quilter in the Gap Finish-A-Long.

The first was my son's Blue Bayou quilt - which had also been on my first quarter and second quarter lists. Because it is a huge quilt, I had made it in two halves, and the plan was to quilt each half, then sew the two together.  Frankly, the plan terrified me - resulting in supreme procrastination.

 Here is the status of that quilt.

Yes, I have quilted the two halves, and the front has been sewn together!  The points don't match exactly, but close enough!  I just have to hand stitch the joint in the back and put the binding on.  So that one WILL be done next quarter!

The next quilt looked like this at the start of the quarter:

I just had to put the border on, then quilt it.

Today, it looks like this:

Yes, I admit it.  I have not touched this quilt this quarter.  Too busy procrastinating about Blue Bayou!

The only project that I did finish is this one - the table runner I showed you last week:

So, one finish.  But, I'm making progress!

Finish! Table Runner

Just a small success, but a success nonetheless.

I bought this table runner as a kit.  I loved the bright colours!  The background is also a batik - mostly white, with a little purple. We have a table in our front entryway, and my goal is to make a table runner for every season and/or holiday.  So far, I have Christmas, summer, autumn and now spring.

I quilted this with a mulitcoloured pastel variegated thread.  I did loopy things to look like petals in the coloured parts, and an all-over meander in the background.  When it came to pick a fabric for the border, I was looking for green, to look like the leaves or branches going with the flowers.  I found a green batik that has the exact shades of blue and purple in it as in the quilt itself.  Perfect!

I'm still working on my son's Blue Bayou quilt - that I've been wanting to finish all year.  I am quilting it now, so should have it done shortly.  (Shortly, for me, means a couple weeks!)