To See Such Fun ~~ finished!

And another finish! This little quilt is a 62 inch square of pink and yellow scraps to be given away this weekend. 

The pattern is Amanda Jean Nyberg's from her book No Scrap Left Behind. (The link goes directly to the QAL.)  I made another quilt (here) during her June Quilt Along in 2017. 

I made several changes with this quilt. Mostly I turned everything into  4½" blocks and then sewed those into strips. The center sections create large four-patch blocks, the cornerstones are made of broken dishes blocks and finally I made the 4½" strips in to square blocks and didn't worry about which way they got turned. 

My original version of this quilt
following Amanda Jean's directions.

Nope, wait. One more difference is that I didn't use the on-point setting. Hmm, is this still Amanda Jean's pattern? I'm not sure, but it was definitely inspired by her design.

To quilt it, I decided to use some of the curvy medium-sized motifs that are such fun to drop in. They are smooth and easy and, if I keep them large enough, are easy to see and appreciate. The quilt should be really soft and wrinkly when it gets washed. I haven't washed it because it's going to its new home this weekend after the church fair. We will have a silent auction, which I agreed to run, so I decided to add a quilt to the mix. (More on the fair and the silent auction early next week.)

For the back I used a fuchsia linen and some lighter, wide pink strips left over from previous projects. Every bit of fabric came from my stash or scraps. My latest roll of batting came in just days before I loaded the quilt, which was great timing. 

The title To See Such Fun is from a line of the "Hey Diddle, Diddle" nursery rhyme, so this quilt goes into that series. I just couldn't resist the title because everything about the quilt is simply fun.

		Quilt Stats
	Name:	To See Such Fun
	Size:	62" X 62"
	Fabrics:	4½” pink strip scraps, 4½” yellow scraps
	Pattern:	Inspired by Amanda Jean Nyberg QAL
	Backing:	Pink cottons and linens from stash
	Batting:	100% Cotton
	Binding:	Pink scraps from stash
	Quilting:	Mid-size curvy graffitti motifs

Oh, the LINK UPS!

The Scrappy Camper, who has her first linky party today. Good luck, Amy!
Alycia Quilts - Quiltygirl blog for Finished Or Not Fridays 

My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thurdays

Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

From Bolt to Beauty for Beauties Pageant

A Touch of Teal ~~ Finished!

I've had this little pink top sitting in the quilt queue for a while now. It had everything needed for a finish: backing, batting, binding. 

"How easy and quick would this be?," I wondered. "Quite easy and especially quick," I answered. 

So I loaded it and thought about quilt motifs. I wanted, as Richard loves to say, "Quick, fast and in a hurry." 

While quilt my last quilt, I stumbled upon a motif I like that is fast and pretty. It has the look and feel of a pantograph, except that it changes at random rather than repeat in a set pattern. It's kind of the best of both worlds: I get to enjoy the randomness but also have a pattern so it doesn't take long to come up with ideas. I can play a little with the motifs as I go along, and the openness of the motif quilts quickly.

I picked out my favorite motifs from One Big Finish, enlarged them and stitched them in in my usual, graffiti manner. All of the motifs have curves and wiggles to contrast with the straight lines of the Chinese coins pattern.

The backing was just a little short but I really wanted to use it since it has a pink, girly look that goes well with the front. It also has these small little teal flowers mixed in with the large pink and peach ones. How perfect is that?

To make it long enough, I just added a strip of hot pink on the top and bottom. Of course, I didn't have the sense to center the quilt top on the bottom, so the strips are not balanced, but I still like the quilt and the back is pretty awesome anyway.

	Quilt Stats
	Name:	A Touch of Teal
	Size:	35" X 46"
	Fabrics:	scrap fabrics from stash
	Backing:	scrap fabrics
	Batting:	100% cotton
	Pattern:	Chinese coins
	Quilting:	graffiti quilting w/ variety of motifs

The entire quilt was made from scraps and yardage from the stash. I made it back when Kaja and Ann had their AHIQ Chinese coins challenge. I can't find the original link to the challenge, but go to this link and scroll down to the labels which you'll find interesting.

Cotton Robin round 2

First the first time, I participated in the Cotton Robin hosted by Julie. See this post about round 1. What fun! I recommend that you look into it and join next year.

For round 2 I received this center block, but it didn't look like this. Oh no! It looked oh so much better. Don't get me wrong--this block is fantastic and anyone can see the potential. But some people just out do themselves!

See my problem!?!  Luckily, I was able to come up with something. Not anything great, and certainly not very competitive, but I'm not really much of a competitive girl. :) I play for fun.

I decided on a circle, although I had tried to make four hearts to go in each corner of the block. The problem became the corners of the block. Even though the circle is not perfectly round, I wanted it to appear somewhat so. My answer was HST's that didn't quite fit the width of the rest of the circle.


Luckily, the block went to Liz, who knew exactly how to quilt it. She quilted small hearts in each of the circle squares and small circles in the open white areas. 

Isn't this one precious little quilt? I love the small hearts in the inner border and the quilting is perfect!

Roseate ~~ Finish!

On Tuesday I finished up a pretty little pink baby quilt, which I'm calling "Roseate." It's a modern mash-up of all that I've been reading and enjoying for the last couple of months. 

Most of that has been modern quilting books and several blogs that also toy in modern quilting. Of course, I also read a few blogs that are serious about modern quilting. Together, all this reading and playing has sucked me into a spiral of scrap quilting. It's unbelievable how many pounds of scrap fabric I have. And I honestly don't think I'll ever get it down to, say, half the amount that I have now.  

 But I plan to keep trying. And I'm happy with a little hope that it will be better each time I dip into a bin and pull out a handful of scraps. That's basically what I did for this little quilt. I pulled larger pieces of scraps and began sewing matching pieces together. Then I matched those to either another sewn piece or to a larger single piece. Just keep at it for hours with an occasional move from the machine to the iron, to the cutting table to straighten the edges. (More on that later.)

Eventually I had big, wide slabs of fabric that could be oriented in any way I wanted. I began cutting them into 6" strips that finish at 5½ using my biggest, longest ruler. Then I sewed those together to make long strips 6 X 30. The 30" being an approximation. I considered each strip a Chinese coin stack and determined that four would make a quilt. I added enough solid Kona Light Pink to the tops and bottoms of the stacks so they would measure about 42 inches.  And then added 4" (3½" finished) strips of the Light Pink between the stacks so that all together the quilt is 38" X 42". 

Quilting it was the most fun. I started out by quilting in the ditch around the perimeter of the stacks and then adding three more straight lines about ½" apart on the inside. I played on the light pink background: circles, leaves, shells, scrolls and a new motif that I created on the fly. Basically, I just had fun, but I like the outcome.

I finished it all up with a pretty Kona Fuscia binding and remembered to add a label. (Go me!) 

Please share you thoughts. I am open to opinions and suggestions. I want to improve my work, and your expert opinions are like getting gold for free! Thanks for that.

	Quilt Stats
Name:	Roseate (Scrap Quilt)
Size:	38" X 42"
Fabrics:	Scrap fabrics; Kona Light Pink from stash
Binding:	Kona Fushia from stash
Pattern:	Chinese coins (scrap coins variation)
Quilting:	Custom Free Motion Quilting
Completed:	February 2017

Linking up with some of my favorites:

Crazy Mom Quilts

My Quilt Infatuation

Busy Hands Quilts

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Brag About It @ My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies

"Modern Crosses" Revisited

Over the summer Richard and I visited the Great Lakes region, traveling in our camper from one state or national park to the next. We planned to be gone three or four weeks, and I knew that would be much too long to go without sewing. 

So I decided to put together some quilt kits to sew when I'd have a bit of down time. We do have to rest, after all. One of the kits that I enjoyed was this modern bright cross quilt. 

By the time we returned home, the top was completed. That meant loading the quilt on the long-arm and having fun as soon as we returned. 

I quilted the negative space in lines, some echoing the shapes between the crosses, others just straight or diagonal. The crosses, though, got a special treatment: I quilted each color with a different motif. Pink has shells, green has pebbles, orange in scrolls, yellow in tiles, and so on. To keep track I had to write the motifs and colors down, but that was an easy fix. 

This one is perhaps one of my favorite quilts. I love the bright colors, the fun design and the quilting. Just for added interest, I extended the quilting colors on some of the crosses. The back is also very pretty since the thread colors create a muted design. 

Because I love this one so much, I decided to put it in the Bloggers Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side. You should run over to see the many (really very many) beautiful quilts and vote for your favorites. 
Happy Quilting!

Pretty Maids All in a Row ~~ Finished!

One of the kits that I put together to sew while we were on vacation is this set of pink bricks. It was easy, straight-forward sewing with no thinking necessary: sew two together until all the pairs were done; then sew up the pairs and so on until all the columns were finished. Press and sew the columns together and in no time I had a quilt top folded and put away in my "sewing room" cubby in the camper. 

I think I enjoyed sewing this quilt top precisely because it was so easy. Who wants to work on a difficult quilt while unwinding, right? I think that there are enough variety that I didn't worry about whether the same fabrics were close to each other. 

 The quilt is very pink, perfect for a girly, girl, so I quilted it with an all over feather motif. Where the feathers didn't quite meet, I added some pebbles. And that's it!

Kept it very simple and easy. Can you see the feathers? They are pretty big, but I wanted to cover lots of space so that the quilt will be soft and cuddly. 

 A couple of new teachers at work are expecting babies or just had a baby! So I thought I'd replenish the pile of baby quilts that I've already begun to give away. 

	Quilt Stats
Name	Pretty Maids All in a Row
Size	41" x 42"
Fabrics	Scrap fabrics—pinks (entirely from scraps/stash)
Backing	Stash fabrics in gray
Binding	Moda light pink from stash
Pattern	2½  X 5 bricks
Quilting	Free motion feathers with pebbling  between feathers
Completed	June 2016

Linking up with

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts

Early Thursday Finish!

A customer contacted me some time ago about making a wedding quilt for her in bold hot pink fabrics.  We discussed a few ideas, then she found some Michael Miller and other fabrics on Etsy, so I ordered them and we were on our way.  

When Richard and I went to IQS in Houston, I added a few more hot pink modern fabrics and within a week we were ready to begin.  Of course, I had to complete the Mayeux Barn Quilt first, but I was happy to inform her only a few weeks later that her quilt was coming along nicely. 

 Tonight I packed her quilt into a large flat rate box from the USPS.  Not easy, mind you, Erica's Hot Pink Girl did not want to be squished down that tightly.  I insisted, however, and she complied.  Tomorrow, should all go as planned, it will find it's way to the post office and by next week be lying across Erica's bed somewhere in Kentucky.  

I'm really excited for her.  She has sent some of the loveliest, fun emails and I feel that we've become friends.  Sending updates were a highlight to a happy sewing session, because I knew she'd respond with a grateful, sweet note.  It reminded me of the feeling I get when a letter arrived in mail.  Remember that?  The excitement and anticipation?  The joy of finding out for certain that a friend or family member were doing well and thinking of you?  It's great to hear from those people in moments, but it's not quite the same as waiting and wondering.

Happy Quilting,
Mary

Erica's Hot Pink Sneak Peek

I am well started on Erica’s commissioned quilt.  It’s such a pretty quilt based on one she happened to see in my Etsy shop some time ago.  She asked me if I could make one in queen size as a wedding quilt for her upcoming nuptials.  Of course, I agreed and we set to work. 

She chose the majority of fabrics, but I added a few that I picked up in Houston that have a modern edge to them.  I love the mix of hot pink and touches of lime green and red.  

Don’t they play well together?  Could they be even a smidge more girly?  If so, I don’t know how.

On Saturday I got busy and started cutting squares.  One small package arrived already cut into four inch squares, but that was too small, so I stitched them into seven inch blocks and cut all the other squares 7 ½ x 7 ½ to match.  Then the fun began.  Although I was careful not to put two squares together, it was really a matter of throwing two squares together and chain stitching as fast as I could.  

Today I started matching rows two by two.  I ended up with an occasional “aww, two like ones together,” but it’s not too bad.  Tonight I am almost ready to load it onto the long arm.

Happy Quilting,

Mary