Spring to Finish

Well I had great hopes to get three baby quilts done but with sick kids and machine temper tantrums I was only able to finish one baby quilt and one little quilting sample. My kids are fighting over the small one and the baby quilt will be mailed to a good friend.

I love this baby quilt. Much smaller than I had originally planned but love it. It was based on a Ricky Tims design from this book. I chose the most basic one to start and hope to move on to the more challenging ones with curves. Curves do scare me a little though. I am really happy with the way the border quilting turned out. I used freezer paper cut out to the template. I think freezer might be my new favorite quilting tool!

I am trying a new label method. I am printing iron on transfers. I hope they work out well. The computer design looked good and I am waiting for hubby to print them for me. I have been little label lazy of late and it is good to get back into them.

Apologies for the layout. I am still learning the ropes. Overall I guess this has been a success. One done is much better than none.

 

 

 

 

Goal Update

Projects completed....
1. Elizabeth's fairy quilt
2. Nephew's quilt (much past due)
3. William's Quillow
4. Project Improve blocks
5. Bushfire blocks

Projects almost completed...
1. Rueben's quilt
2. Spencer's quilt
3. Trent's quilt

Projects ready to start...
1. Ian Flame quilt
2. Leslie's baby quilt
3. Lisa and Angelica's quilts (triangles cut)
4. Quilt for my Mom
5. Quilt for my Dad
6. Quilt for US!
7. Baby quilt for new niece or nephew
8. Pay it Forward gifts (still have one more...)

I think this list grew since the beginning of the year. I guess that is typical. I know there will be more ideas and projects that come up. But that is the fun of quilting and crafting. Here's to more success this year.

I am going to restrain myself from blogging again until all three almost complete quilts are complete. See you in a week (hopefully!)

Newly Named--Puzzle Quilt

I finished the star quilt top today. Nothing else is done around the house but the top is finished! I have renamed this quilt, Puzzle Quilt. It is so named because of the brain-strain it was to piece. I like the idea of improvisational piecing but the reality of it is challenging. I had a design I had done on my EQ5 program using multiples of 3. I thought it would be straight forward to put together.

Wonky Stars, simple. But I didn't trim the triangles off and so I have some lumpy spots. Lesson learned, always trim. If it's going to be stretchy, starch and press carefully. I may even be converted to pressing seams open too.

I cut the filler pieces short and had to rip three seams and do them again. Then there were the set-in seams. I do these but usually relating to diamonds. Glad I already had that skill or this quilt may not have been completed.

I am very pleased with the way it turned out. Bigger than I planned too. I rarely make baby quilts this large. It measures approximately 46"x62". This baby will be well covered.

 

 

Star baby quilt

This is my tentative layout for the quilt. Scott commented that there were gaps. I will use white to fill in the empty spaces. This is what happens when you design with out a pattern. Multiples of three only works in some ways. Good learning.

 

Bloggers Quilt Festival

I just heard about this fantastic online festival. What a great idea. Click the link in my sidebar to join or just to be inspired. April 17-24 2009.

For my favorite quilt I've chosen my John Deere inspired baby quilt. I often ask the mothers-to-be if there is some favorite color or design (modern, traditional etc.) or look at their baby registries to get the inspiration for the quilts. I love the 1/4 black sashing and how it came together. Green is one of my favorite colors. I experimented with some new quilting. Wave-like and 'X' in alternating squares and really like the effect. The back of the quilt reminds me of fields in various states of growth. There is also the token JD fabric. I absolutely love the way the quilt folds up. I also made the tiny quilt (about 5x7) with scraps from the baby quilt. The yellow squares measure 1/4"!

Spring to Finish Challenge

My cutting table currently is very much buried in the WIPs I've got going on. I want to get so much done this month. Oh, the over achieving efforts that will inevitbly fall short.
Triangles are cut out for my nieces quilts. I try to avoid triangles as a rule but this is going to be fun. Yellow will be in both to tie them together. I hope to complete these by June.

Some of the stars for the wonky star baby quilt I'm making. I am using red, yellow, green, blue with white for the background. This is going to be done by this Sunday. I must get sewing!