Civil War Chronicles Quilt

I finally put the Civil War Chronicles quilt on our bed.  It was a 2011 block of the month at a local quilt shop.  It took me 2 years to complete the quilt.  I have no idea how many hours when into completing this quilt top.  It measures 108" x 108" and includes a "million" half-square triangles.  (Well it seemed like "a million"!) 

I had it professionally quilted and I love the work Sharon did.

 

She used lots of feathers and other designs of the era.  The photos don't do a good job of showing the wonderful quilting designs.  I have to admit that the quilt is quite impressive on our king size bed.  I will never attempt anything like this again but I do love the finished quilt.

Mini Bookshelf Quilt

My goal is to complete at least one project each week.  This is my project for the past week.  I found the tutorial on Craftsy by Elizabeth Dackson.  I have to admit that I found some of the instructions confusing but in the end I am quiet pleased with the results.  It is a birthday present for a friend who is a librarian and quilter.  When I saw the little quilted wall hanging, I knew I had to make one for her.

I thought using the selvages from fabric was a very creative use of something we would otherwise discard.  The original pattern didn't include the stippling of the background but I thought it would help to highlight the books.   This was a great way to use some of the fabric in my stash.

Next week I hope to begin working on three table-toppers for my lunch group ladies. 

Another Shopping List Folio

I just completed this shopping list folio for my cousin.  She recently accepted a position at the University of Kentucky.  I had this fabric in my stash and thought it would make a perfect little gift for her.  It will be winging its way to Kentucky on Monday. 

This is my third folio.  So glad I found the pattern.  They are simple and quick to make.  You can personalize them with fabric or embroidery machine. 

We have two Christmas parties today and a birthday party tomorrow.  Seems the holidays get here fast.  I completed the tree decorating yesterday.  Now it time to wrap presents to put under it.

Shopping List Folio

I made this little shopping list folio for my DIL.  I found the instructions here.  You will see that the original doesn't look exactly like mine.  I decided to make the outer cover from one piece of fabric and embellish with machine quilting.  I did follow the directions for the inside of the folio.  I found the notepads at OfficeMax.  They fit perfectly in the pocket.  I decided to tuck her gift card inside the other pocket.

Here is the folio.  I'm not sure I like the button off center but that's where the instructions said to put it.  I may change that on the next one.  I see so many possibilities --machine embroidery, quilt blocks, with or without that triangle pocket, maybe another little pocket,  personalized with names,  .....

Fun project and finished in less than an hour.  Best of all I was able to use fabrics in my stash.

T-Block Puzzler - The Handyman Quilt

I finished this quilt yesterday.  It is for my brother-in-law.  I purchased the kit at a local quilt store.  I loved the "handyman" themed fabric in the kit.  You don't often see a quilt kit with a manly theme.  This one was perfect.  The pattern is "T-Block Puzzler" by Barbara Futoma of Giggling Gecko Designs.  It uses focus blocks and 2 1/2" strips.

I used my Bernina 165 to do the machine quilting.  I hadn't sewn on my Bernina for quiet awhile because I've been working with my Janome 11000.  I've very pleased with the stitching on the quilt.  You can see details of the quilting stitches below.  You will also notice that I used the leftover 2 1/2" strips for the binding.  So you see various colors and fabrics in the binding.

It isn't a large quilt but I'm sure he will be very pleased that I made a quilt " Just For Him".

Dressed to the Nines Quilt

I purchased this Dressed to the Nines pattern a few years ago at a quilt show here in Mesa.  This spring I decided to make a quilt for a college friends granddaughter.  I remembered this cute little quilt of dresses and located the pattern in the pattern box.  I used fabric from my stash and also purchased a few pieces at the Cabbage Rose Quilt Shop.  The cute little shop recently opened here in Mesa and she has the most beautiful fabric.  Lots of pretty florals. 

I appliqued the dresses to the white squares and then attached the sashing.  The dresses are machine appliqued and when machine quilting I stitched around each dress.  The quilt is boxed and ready to go to the post office tomorrow.  I emailed my friend last week and the parents aren't telling the name until she gets here.  So for now the quilt is for "Baby Girl". 

The neighbor across the street is expecting a girl late this summer so I'll be working on another little girl quilt soon.  Haven't selected a pattern for that one yet.  I'd like to continue using my stash if possible.

I haven't blogged much lately.  It's summer and the granddaughters are visiting each week.  I love having them here but I don't have much computer time.  This week they will be attending a gifted camp at the local community college.  I provide breakfast and taxi services as well as before and after time.  It is so much fun to have them here in the summer.  Now that they are both in school, I miss having time with them each week during the school year. 

It's in the Mail

From this

To this

To this

The 30's reproduction quilt was finished over the weekend and went in the mail yesterday.  It is on it's way to Portland where it will find a home with David.  David and my son grew up together in our old neighborhood.  They attended elementary, junior high, and high school together.  David now lives in Portland and is restoring a 30's era home there.  I hoping he will enjoy this little quilt.  It is from 30's reproduction fabric but with a modern twist.  Pattern is Simply Crazy by Karla Anderson.  I quilted it on my Bernina using a meandering stitch.   I used my new Accuquilt Go to cut the 2 1/2" binding strips.  What a great machine.  Can't wait to use it on actual quilt pieces.  This coming soon.

Simply Crazy Quilted completed

I finished the binding on my Simply Crazy Quilt yesterday morning.  Today was a bright day outside so I decided to take a photo of the finished quilt on our outdoor swing. 

What a great way to use up those pieces of fabric left over from previous projects.  All the items (including the backing) are from my stash.  I didn't have enougth of either of the backing fabrics, so I decided to combine them. 

I followed the wavy lines on the backing and border fabric for machine quilting.  I also stitched in the ditch in across the wavy lines.  I'm now looking for more fabric to make another of these quilts.  I'm lov'n this pattern.

9 Patch Pizzaz

Here is the project I'm working on today.  The pattern is 9-Patch Pizzaz.  I completed the quilt top while on vacation at our home in Kentucky last fall.  Once the quilt top was completed, I added some appliques of the flowers and leaves cut from the left over fabric.  Yesterday I pin basted the top to the batting and backing and began quilting by stitching in the ditch and diagonally across the squares.  Today, I am free motion quilting around the flowers and leaves.    The more I work on the quilt, the more I like it.  It is bright!  But I'm loving it.  One of my goals is to finish UFOs.  This is one of them.