Finishing up in 2013

That's both finishing sewing projects and finishing the year. Incredible isn't it? I've already got plans for some quilts for next year, and took advantage of a fabric sale this morning at Fabric Spot. It's a Canadian business with modern fabrics. They offer great shipping rates, and an order of over $100 ships free in Canada. Need I say that I took advantage of this? My Christmas present to myself! And for the next few days you can get 25% off your whole order. That's the icing on the Christmas cake!

Anyway, I digress. Today I finished another baby quilt, this one is for my niece's baby boy who is due in February. I felt like a change and on the advice of my friend Lisa, I made the Giant Starflower Block from the tutorial by Jeni at In Color Order . The squares to make the HSTs are cut at 18" and then cut on the diagonal. I did all this, and then found that the quilt was going to be much too big, so I cut all the triangles down again. I now have enough triangles cut to make another 3 quilts!

The new size square is 12 3/4", not a convenient size to cut, I agree. Next time I would just cut with a
 12 1/2" square ruler.

The quilt measures 45" square, a convenient size for a baby, I think. The tutorial finished at 68" square, quite a difference.

The binding is scrappy, since I had so much left over fabric! It's backed in turquoise minky.

I got carried away with the FMQing. I've been watching the Angela Walters classes on Craftsy, this time the class on Quilting Negative Space. Of course, you learn something every time. Well, lots of things really, but there is always one hard lesson.  I started with the white areas, and really I should have started in the middle and worked outward. Anyway, it came out right. Relief!

Here are some closeups of the different quilting patterns I used:

Paisley in the background. It's not white, it has a faint green dot.

Wiggly lines:

Swirls:

Meander with loops:

I also tried two designs I liked less ( or made a worse job of, take your pick!) A meander with double loops really depended on ending the second loop in the same place as the first. It was hard to see. I also tried combining swirls with a pointy leaf. Let's just say the leaf didn't look very leafy.

Here's the quilt showing a bit of the back:

Also, I put on a burst of speed , ha!, and finally made my block Perennial Pleasures into a cushion cover.  

I had intended it to back it with some hand piecing I did. Let's just say that hand piecing is not my forte and leave it at that!

I'm glad it's done and in use at last.

So to all my quilty friends, have a very Happy Christmas and enjoy yourselves with your families. I've loved reading all your blogs, and I look forward to much more in 2014.

Best Wishes, and see you in 2014!

Linking to Sewing With Certainty, a series at Quilty Habit

Christmas Crafting

I thought I would share my recent Christmas projects with you. Christmas is so rapidly approaching, so I was glad that I joined the Advent Calendar Quilt Along at Better Off Thread. There is a link up with pics of finished calendars here . They all looked so pretty!

Here's a picture of mine, now in use. Since it's intended for a baby this year, it was hard to find things that were small enough, but still suitable for an 8 month old. This will be much easier in years to come!

  

The same baby also needed a Christmas stocking. I used a tutorial on Sew Like My Mom and made the fabric for front and back from 2 1/2 inch squares. It is not quite finished - I still need to embroider the name on the cuff.

Then I thought I would make a Christmas pillowcase for each of my GDs. Well, they are winter themed really, so they will get more use out of them. The fabric line is Brr by Laurie Wisbrun. I have quite a bit in my stash, so it was finally time to cut into it!

I've still got a few more small sewing gifts to make, and then I'll start baking. Are you making some things for Christmas?

Till next time,

Sue

Linking to:

Versatile D9P

I'm sure you all know that the title of this post refers to the Disappearing 9 Patch. It's a quilt block that can look very different depending on the layout you use.

While I was visiting my DS recently I saw one of my older quilts there. I don't know about you, but once a quilt leaves my house, I forget about it. And when I meet it again it's a bit of a shock. I think:

  1)  That looks quite nice
  2) How did I do that again?

The quilt I'm talking about was made in 2010, and I didn't take any pics of it. So I put that right.

This quilt is made from D9P blocks. I took a class, I knew nothing about it at all. The teacher advised me with the neutral coloured fabric, good advice I think!

The backing is a Mount Fuji print for my tree and mountain loving DS. I called the quilt Mountains of the Moon.

I FMQd it with a scrolly design using a stencil and chalk. Altogether a great learning experience.

Fast forward to this year. I made a little boy quilt featuring fussy cut truck fabrics, and the parents and I liked the D9P layout here:

I blogged about it here.

Then I read Kristy Daum's blog and tutorial on her Modernized D9P, and I made two baby quilts using her method as a guide. I wanted more low volume, so I added a number of 9 patches that were all neutrals, and no bright print at all. Here they are :

So there you have it. Four different looking quilts, all using the same block. I'm sure there will be more sometime.

Till next time,

Sue