Current projects and a GIveaway!

I thought I would show you the progress I am making on my two elongated star baby quilts.

Here is the first quilt finished.  I blogged about it here.  This was a great project for using up some 90's stash with a few modern prints thrown in.

I made a label on my BL Sofia.  I love my new machine!!!

For the next quilt let me show you how I made it.

  I layered about twenty different prints in a rainbow of colors.  I tried to stick to prints that 'read' as a solid color. I whacked them into 3" squares. 

 The I grabbed every off white print on print muslin I had and whacked them all into 6.5 inch squares. 

Then you sew a small square onto opposite corners of a muslin square. 

You trim off the corners and then press them into this.

Whats great is if you feed those corners immediately into your sewing machine you end up with a basket full of half square triangle squares.  (is that right?) My future doll quilt maybe?

I trimmed up the second cat block and then all of the blocks. 

I must have been off on my seams, I think its that new foot because I had to trim them to 6.25".  Oh well it all comes out in the end.

Here are all the trimmings for the scrap bag.  Don't worry I'm one of those who never wastes ANYTHING.  So when the bag (an old laundry bag from my grandma's made of old feed sacks) gets full I pass the scraps, all cut up to a friend who makes dog beds for dogs trained by prisoners.  Whew!  That was a mouthful! 

I love this IKEA fabric I picked out last Dec.  There was enough on the mini bolt to back  both quilts and turn it to the front to make the binding.  I wish I had more of this fabric as it would look great on back of my future, as yet to be decided what, Bliss quilt.

 Now I just have to piece the second one that is currently on my design wall and then quilt it.  BTW I machine quilted on my Sofia for the first time.  After trial and error with thread and some ripping I finally got it figured out.  Luckily the quilting foot from my Kenmore fit so I didn't need to buy a new one.

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So would you like to make your own elongated star quilt?  You could put your own block in the middle or none at all.  To help you start I am giving away this stack of 20 prints left over from both quilts. 

There is anywhere from about an 1/8 of a yard to almost a fat quarter or more of each.  To win leave one comment for each of the following.  Every comment gives you an extra chance.  If I get more than 100 comments on this post I will add another giveaway or two of my 90's fabric.

1.  Leave a comment telling me your favorite scrap quilt to make.

2.  Be a follower and let me know you are.

3.   Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment telling me you did.

The giveaway will be open  until 5pm on Wednesday, September 7. 

 I will pick a winner or winners then.

That's it!  Good luck!

Keep dreaming...Colleen



Yeah!  My Scrappy Mug Rug Haiku from Snailexpress on flickr. 
My prince has come! And look at the cute purse!



new modern meets old traditional

I showed a blurry photo of this baby quilt as it was coming together in an earlier post.

  I thought as neither cousin who is having the babies (I am making two quilts!) knows what they are having I would make it scrappy.  I love this modern pattern.  It is quick and easy. 

This fabric is what I am thinking of using for the backing.  It is a great fabric I picked up cheap at IKEA.

The center block is a hand appliqued cat, embroidered around the edge and for the face by my Grandma.  She also use to make dog blocks.  These were used in quilts for the second generation of grandchildren.  My generation received charm square quilts.  Here is the first one she gave me when I was about 3 or 4.

I still love to sleep under it.  It is very heavy.

Here is the second one she gave me when I was around 12 or 13. 

I love to put this on my bed in the summer.  I love the shirting fabrics she used from fabric sample cards. 

I love them both.  I need to get a photo of my sisters cat quilt.  It had about 12 blocks in it.

Keep dreaming...Colleen





The first real quilt I made was for my grandmother and here I am giving it to her for her birthday.  It lived with her for ten years in the nursing home where she suffered from Alzheimer's.  I have it back and after 10 years of bleach through the wash it does not quite look like this anymore.  The yo yos made hyacinths I always loved to smell in her garden.  The red fabric for the ribbon came from her house when we cleaned it out to sell.  It is totally faded and washed out.  Except for the black sharpie ink where they wrote her name on the back.





projects

Im having a love affair with my new Baby Lock Sofia and its embroidery function.  I need to take the new owners class so I can expand on my meager knowledge.  I blogged here about two mug rugs I made with it.

The last two days I worked on this set.  Two placemats with napkins, a set of 4 coasters, and a dish towel all monogramed.  I made them for my Mom and Dad's 43rd anniversary to use in their rolling vacation home fifth wheel.  I used 5 prints from a line of fabric I found at Joann's.  They fabrics are all aquas, light greens, browns, and whites and  has a bit of an Amish feel.  Notice the clever applique on the towel done in a lacey frame.  Ok so I bent a needle when tryng to embroider Dad's name and put a hole in the towel.  Aren't most beautiful things the products of happy accidents?  Necessity is the mother of invention or innovation.

Keep dreaming...Colleen



A slightly blurry picture of a baby quilt I am working on.

One of two Im making where the center block was made by my late Grandma. 

I am using up some of my 90s stash for these quilts



Tallying up the projects

Oct 23 karen grey design is sponsoring Flaunt!  Handmade Arts and Crafts to benefit Brenner's Children's Hospital.  I will be a vendor as opus designs including my beaded things, funky forks, wood-by-hand, and of course quilted things.  So tonight I wanted to share the projects in various states of sewing completion for the craft shows.  Shows I say because I have Unity Moravian's Bazaar the next weekend.

I have three baby quilts pin basted and ready to sew and quilt.

They will be sewn and turned and then quilted. 

It is a cool super 9 patch pattern that creates three baby quilts.

I also have a red, white and blue pin wheel table runner to machine quilt, as well as another Charming Pumpkin quilt.



Both were made with charm squares from my stash, they are addictive to use.

Ebay is the best place to buy by the color!

Well I am yawning, time for bed.

Keep dreaming...Colleen aka 'butterflygirl'