Max's Truck Quilt

finally--a finished quilt! this is just a "quick" (though it still took months to complete) bed quilt for max using scraps of truck fabrics leftover from another project (and those were scraps too).


because this is a quilt for everyday use, i decided to machine bind it so that it'll actually be done (it'll take me a couple more months to hand-bind the other 2 quilts i've finshed binding from the last post). i'm still not very good with machine binding but this method does make it a tad better. these are Clover pins--and they are just thin enough to sew over. yup--i said SEW OVER!!!! i've heard that there are quilters who sew over their pins as the norm, but that just seems to be living too dangerously! as it is, my heart stops everytime the machine needle grazes a pin. however, it really does help the back of the binding lie flat while sewing it down.


these pictures show the pins from the front of the quilt--but i found it easier to pin from the back after awhile--that way, i'm sure to catch the entire seam allowance.


i'm still not a big fan of machine binding but it's so much faster than hand-binding!

Basting

phew! a nice productive Saturday afternoon as Paul played (and worked) in the yard with the kids.


Pieced a backing for the bottom quilt and pieced the batting (yeah, i'm cheap, i use up odd pieces of batting to make a new bigger piece) for the middle quilt and then pin-basted all 3. Hooray! these WIPs have been weighing heavy on my mind.


the top quilt is the Christmas quilt i talked about here. i really wanted this done before Christmas but once our tree was up, there was no space in our living room to lay out quilts to baste.


the middle quilt is Max's Truck Quilt. it's a pretty loud quilt, made up of bits and pieces from the scrap pile--but it's got trucks and i think Max will like it.


the bottom quilt was made for VLJ but now i'm not so sure. i'm giving her the opportunity to yay or nay it this saturday when we hang out. the fabrics are beautiful (Posh & Charisma by Chez Moi, Moda) but it's a tad simple. well, if she doesn't want it, i can think of other people who will :-)


of course there's still tons to do--quilting them (i usually just meander all over them) and then putting on the binding. i don't think i'll machine-bind them this time after what happened in the last post!

binding

i've been working on machine-sewing the binding on quilts--both sides, not just the top part--it's turning out horrible! but functional. and so much faster than hand-sewing the back so i guess i'll keep practicing (nope, i'm not showing pictures of my terrible workmanship--these are just pretty pix of the fabrics :-)


this is my latest quilt--it's completely finished today--hooray! i'll try and take a good picture and write up the whole story soon--it's a quilt for charity--inspired by Quilting for Peace

Swimming & Quilting

the kids were swimming (first lesson! they did great :-) and i was quilting (when not taking pictures of them). this is the Dotty Dresden Plate quilt that i've been working on. it's the hand-sewing project that i carry everywhere and i'm on block #24! (started this in july of last year). the pattern calls for 24 blocks but i think i'd rather have a 5x5 setting (i.e. 25 blocks) rather than a 6x4 setting so i only have one more block to go. of course, it'll probably take me another 6 months after that to actually finish the quilt...

WIMH

we all know that WIPs are "Works in Progress"--but what about quilts that one is just dreaming about?--i'm calling them WIMH--"Works in My Head" --i have definite ideas of what i want to do (which doesn't mean i won't change my mind)



this is from the Bari J. collection with a couple of Atelier Akiko fabs thrown in (they coordinate perfectly). i'd like to make her sample quilt (if you go to her site, scroll down and look on the right hand side-it's the Garden Tea Party Quilt. i wasn't crazy about the border but the always inspiring Mrs. Schenkman came up with a great border solution which i'll be using.



i've been gathering and collecting some cute japanese fabrics (some of these are lecien caramel town) --i'm thinking of making the Marble Champ Quilt by LizzyHouse --also using a green background (the top fabrics with some other lime greens) --this will be my to-go hand-applique project when i'm done with the Dotty Dresden Plates (i'm actually doing pretty well with that quilt--i'm on block #20!)


then my last WIMH (sorry, no pix) is this quilt with this fabric. it should be turn out really pretty--though anything made with Grand Revivial fabrics would be pretty. my Barefoot Diamonds quilt was also Grand Revival--hmmm....maybe i should do a series of these types of quilts--a log-cabin-ish quilt but with different shapes (diamond, octagon, etc) with the Grand Revivial fabs....more WIMHs :-)

Chocolates!

my friend MYB came down for a visit yesterday and despite my pleas to the contrary, she brought a lovely gift of chocolates! aren't these pretty?! i had to hurry up and blog about them so i can eat 'em!

so cute! chances are very strong that i'll keep the box (emptied of chocs) just because of the cuteness factor. (definitely crazy hoarder lady in training!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

though honestly, i'm already thinking Christmas!

finally some finished products to show.

i bought a layer cake of Merry & Bright (by Sandy Gervais) last year and even though i have a long list of WIPs, i felt the hankering for a quick Christmas quilt. i saw a similar block on someone's blog (shoot--i can't find where i saw the quilt) and it reminded me of packages. i didn't want to use extra fabric but stay with the 40-10" squares of the layer cake so this is what i got.

i selected 8 of the plainer blocks to be the "ribbon"--cut 2" strips to be the long ribbon part and a 2" contrasting square. each 10" square will provide four 2" strips and five 2" sqaures (one extra). then i trimmed the rest of the 32 blocks to 9"x10" and then cut into half (4.5" x 10") and sewed the "ribbon" down the middle. i'm no pattern writer obviously! but this is a quick & easy block. oh and because i'm a very inaccurate sewer, i'm also trimming the blocks down to 9.75" but if you have a perfect 1/4" seam, then you would finish at 10". i have half the blocks sewn together, and 1/4 of them trimmed. hopefully i'll get to finish this before christmas!

and because i can't bear to throw away fabric--and because there are lots of 1" strips leftover, i decided to make some christmas cards with them.

i think they turned out pretty cute (though some are a bit puckery--oh well, we'll call it "texture"). i re-used some old cards i had that weren't useful anymore. one card was to let people know you're moving--there were only 3 left of those. and the rest were free christmas cards from a charity we support--you know, the cards that aren't really attractive and i think i'll send them to people i don't really know, but then i won't do it because they really aren't attractive. (yeah, i know, i'm a crazy hoarder in the making).

a close-up :-)

oh, and very happy news. i won this magazine from the Happy Zombie! i'm a big fan of her blog and her work (she uses the most beautiful and cheerful colors!) so it was a thrill to win a prize from her blog, and a bigger thrill to see her block in the magazine--very cute!