Crumb quilt bound and washed

I have been meaning to post a picture of my crumb quilt.  This quilt was born out of a need to use up about two gallon bags worth of crumb pieces.  I had a basic idea of what I wanted and went from there.  Here it is!

The back has a story of its own.  For my birthday at work, several of my co-workers gave me each a yard of fabric that represented them.  They challenged me to "make it work."  Hah, they don't know me!  Regretfully, straight line quilting pushed the center strip off center, but I still love it.  This is a utility quilt and will see many a couch naps and quilt forts.

I am going to be linking up with JulieKQuilts binding blitz.  Her site is amazing in everything scrappy.  If you don't frequent her blog, you should start!

Child-sized Snail's Trail

Hey all,

A friend of mine was looking to have a quilt made for her soon-to-be nephew.  She indicated she wanted a more traditional design in two colors.  I poked around the internet, and found a snail's trail pattern. I just finished it yesterday, so I thought I would share it with you!

The quilt is about 42" by 54" and is backed with flannel.  All of the fabrics came from Connecting Threads.

I reached out to some fellow quilters to ask about designs, and it was suggested that I mark out concentric circles to go with the movement of the quilt.  Here I hope you will see some of the quilting in it.  I used a chalk pencil and spools of thread as spacing guides.

So much has happened since my last post.  I have a few antique machines to show off, and am working on a new crumb project.  I hope I can keep up the motivation to post again soon!

One year and nine months later....

I have a quilt!!!

I started this journey in July 2010.  I cannot remember where the main inspiration came from, but I do remember looking at Bonnie Hunter's Hexagon quilt and thinking it was time to start one!

I spent many hours sitting just like this using a borrowed Hinterburg frame.  The hoop was 29" and too big for me to work with, but the weight of the quilt itself made it hang taut enough for me to work quite well.  I would just drape it and get to work!

Many, many, many hours later, here it is!  This was a really rewarding journey to say the least.  I look forward to more hand piecing projects in my future!

A Quilted Finish!

Last night, I put the last stitch in the binding, and am so happy to show it off!  Notice the furry paws.  The quilt was a quilt kit made for a woman who passed before she could make it.   I am not aware if there was a particular pattern used.  The thread used was a connecting threads "natural" and the back of the quilt was also a clearance connecting threads fabric.  I used Hobbes Heirloom batting.  I love it for the slight loft which allows quilting detail to show.

Here is a closeup of the quilting design.  Notice the small, running feet!  Here I used a plastic template in a heart shape and a water soluble marker.  I quilted around the design and then stippled to make the heart stand out.  In the alternate block, I made little loopies.

I was very pleased with the hearts and feathers.  I love feathers in quilts and will keep working with them to build my skills!  To make the feathers, I drew the spine with a water soluble marker and the rest was freehand.  My stitches are getting more uniform and fewer areas where the tension is off.  I tend to speed around curves which will make spots on the back of the quilt where the tension isn't quite right.  Perhaps after a few more quilts I will have this skill mastered!  Also, there were no needle breakages and NO PUCKERS OR FOLDS!

Angus surprisingly did not make this picture, but these are my helpers.  It is their custom to run on a brand new quilt.  They actually get excited when I let them play on a new quilt!  My older son will say "Can I walk on it yet?" throughout the quilting process.

What is next?  Time to "interview" some thread colors for the Tiny Turning 20!  I want to have it done before the New Year! 

To share some personal news, I also am putting together an application for a doctoral program in Clinical Psychology!  It all is last-minute, but I am hoping I can  have this dream come true!  I will know around spring-time.

Crann bethadh (Photo finish)

I finally finished the quilting this weekend.  I only had to complete the inner border area and was being lazy about it.

Here is the frontal view.

A closeup of the outer border quilting.  I quilted the border from the back of the quilt so the direction of the swirly feathers were going the same as the braid.  This prevented me from having to put the bulk of the quilt under the throat of my Viking.

Here is the trunk detail.  Hopefully you can see it.  I did a barky, flamey sort of pattern here.  This was the best quilting I have done yet.  I am really pleased at how this came out.

The back of the quilt.  Not my favorite quilt back.  I think the batiks did not make for a good type of material for a scrappy back.  I think scrappy quilt backs work better with some fabrics being patterned.  I used all of my batiks though and they are out of my stash which makes me happy!

The swirly feathery border can be seen well from the back.

Time for a bath!!

I Spy a Crumb Patch is complete!

After several baths to help get the excess dye out of the reds, it is complete!  I was nervous for a while, but almost all of the bleeding red is now gone.  Only one block in the quilt decided it wanted to stay in the white.  I am going to treat the area and wash it again and hope to fade it out more.  Hopefully by early next week it will be in the wash and on its way to a newly born baby boy!

Here is the front.

 A closeup of the quilting.  The quilting was really simple.  I did a meander in the center and a little loopy thing around the outside.  I also used a walking foot in the inner border region.  Gray thread was used.  I find that grey is the best color for most scrappy projects.  It blends in with nearly every color!



A picture of the back. 

This was another stash buster.  I only purchased the blue fabric seen in the border and binding.  What was left of this purchase is already kitted up in another project.  I probably spent about 16.00 on fabric and another few bucks on Warm and White batting while it was on sale at Joanns.  Not bad!

In other news, I now have two (correctly) pieced Charlottes Basket blocks!  Having to fix the first one just tells me that I really don't want to make that mistake again!

Log Cabin

A few of you mentioned that log cabin blocks were your favorite.  That may very well be on the top of my list too.  When I first started quilting, I wanted to make a quilt for my nephew (not yet born).  I went to my LQS without much of a plan.  I found an inexpensive alphabet print and a free log cabin pattern online.  I altered the color scheme a bit and came up with this!

The quilt top took me only a weekend.  I think I did well for an early project and was lucky.  I tend to work over my pay grade a little and it was surely a challenge.  I hand quilted this also.  I stitched in the ditch in the log cabins and did a cable around the border.  You may also see the scrap bug getting in me a little too.  I chose three different greens and blues for the quilt.  I think the hand quilting took about 2 months.  It was completed in early 2009.

Crumb Quilt is finished

It is done!  It wasnt without its share of frustrations.  First, I ran out of quilting needles (I broke a ton when I was quilting and tired.)  I was able to accomplish a lot after that until my darning foot broke.  Then the kids were grumpy.  Oh well, it is done now!  There was some light color bleeding in a few of the red, scrappy areas.  It isnt bad though.  Washing a two inch piece of scrap fabric isnt really feasible so I took a chance!

Here it is!

A closeup of the quilting.  I made a contuous arc design in the colored blocks.  Later, I noticed a nice secondary design and then quilted in the white areas.



The flying geese had a similar arcing design

Feathers in the border.  Hindsight?  Make the feathers go in the same direction as the geese.  Didnt even think of that!



Quilt back.  I had some plaid fabrics and threw them together.  The green one is a civil war fabric so I stashed what was left with my CW collection!

Just to show you how fast I have to work.  Once I had everything out to photograph, my son came over and moved in.

So what is next?  I have two other quilts in various stages of completion (not including my GFG quilt).  I will likely finished assembling the two rows of the Evilyn Sloppy quilt and get the top assembled.  Not far from accomplishing that!!!

I Spy quilt

I wanted to catch you up on some projects I finished this year.  I had been collecting novelty prints for as long as I had been quilting-about 2 years or so.  I wanted to make an I-spy quilt for my son.  I picked up fat quarters on occasion at my LQS, started a swap in my online quilting group (by far this is a great way to increase your variety without increasing your stash too much), and receiving great fabrics from quilting friends.  I finally had what I wanted and, without a pattern in mind, started working.

This is what I came up with.  My son's room is green. Very green.  I like green and tend to have a lot of green in my stash.  I had the lighter of the greens already.  I had purchased about 4 yards at my LQS as a remnant for about $7.00!  I found the darker green to compliment and got to work.  Each 6.5" unfinished square is framed with a 1" finished frame of green.  The quilt is full sized.

Here are some pictures.

As you may be learning about me, I tend to free piece my quilt backs.  I wanted to use up as much novelty fabric as possible.  After all of this, I still have enough fabric to piece another quilt top and back (although thankfully a smaller one)  Novelty just keeps coming out of the woodwork!

 Below you can see the recipient of this quilt.  He was very pleased!



Here is another picture I took while assembling my quilt back.  The file box in the picture was full of fabrics to use for the quilt back.  I reduced that down to a man size shoe box but since have accumulated a 2 gallon ziplock full of novelty print scraps also!

Immediate Gratification

I have made great progress on Crumb Patch.  Two out of four of the border sides are done.  After that, I need to work a little more in the middle and then I am done!  I will have well over 10 hour into it by then and thankfully do not have any folds or tucks in the back.  I can't wait for the final pictures!

Today, I needed a little instant gratification.  This is my dog, Angus.  He is a 2 year old Shetland Sheepdog or Sheltie.

His sister, Shine, looks and acts just like him.  I am good friends with his breeders and wanted to make them (two of them) each a dog mat to take with them to shows.  This is not a mat made for heavy use.  It is more suited to take to demos or dog shows.  Here is one of them.

I made her name (Shine) to look like a Sun!  You can see the thread better in person that distinguishes the letters.  It measures about 27 x 40 or so.  Everything was from my stash.  I even pieced a few strips of batting together to get that out of my stash.

Closeup of the quilting

Here I just did an all over swirl pattern after echoing around the sun.  The picture is strange in that it looks like there is a big tuck there but that is just the seam.  I took it at a weird angle I guess.  I used a Superior Threads variegated purple to quilt.

Here is the back.  I had some twill fabric from making a mei tai a few years ago and used it up!  I figured it was heavy duty and would put up with being thrown on the ground.  I hope it withstands some abuse!

Have any of you made any pet items?

My first string quilt

I didnt start the Crumb Patch quilt yesterday.  It was storming really bad so I didnt even want to plug in my precious Viking.  So today I am going to share with you a string project I started just before my youngest son was born.  It took me about 7 months to machine piece and hand quilt.  I think there are about 600 triangles in it so there is well over 1000 pieces.  It is foundation pieced using muslin and uses wool batting.  The quilt is fairly lightly hand quilted (using a grey cotton verigated thread)with a zigzag and then with small stars.  I wanted the tied quilt feeling too so I finished it off by tying it with a neat multicolored 100% cotton yarn.  This quilt is about a twin.  I can't find a picture of the back though.  I usually free piece my quilt backs using larger scrap pieces.  I will have to make a blog post at some point just about that!

I named it Under the Stars.  After some washings, it has become so soft.  I love laying on it.  Right now, it is in my youngest son's room. 

For those of you who have made or like to make scrap quilts, what is your favorite scrappy quilt you have made?

Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2011

I suppose what better way to become aquainted with blogging by joining in on the Bloggers Quilt Festival.  This is hosted by Amy's Creative Side.  I am excited to see all of the quilts!

The quilt I am sharing with you today was finished last month.  It is from Bonnie Hunter's Pineapple Blossom pattern, finished with a piano key border.  I made this one big at 90" square.

What inspired me?  I was collecting fabrics to make a scrappy bargello.  After I cut the strips and put a block together, I hated it.  I had too many darks and not enough neutrals.  I noticed the Pineapple Blossom pattern on Bonnie Hunter's website and loved it!  It took me a year before I started, but it was totally worth the wait.  The added benefit was that I already had 2" strips ready to go!  This is also the first large quilt I machine quilted on my new Viking Sapphire 875.  Working with a large throat space made it so easy.

Here are some more closeups.

 My pineapple quilt was quilted with a cascading feather design.  It was really difficult given that I had only done feathers once before, but overall I was really happy with how it turned out.

Here is the back of the Pineapple Quilt.  I tend to pick larger leftover pieces and then freepiece it into a quilt back.  I rarely use wide backs or large bits of yardage.  It keeps space open in my stash for new things!