Finished

 

I wish I had gotten better photos…I was in a rush to snap some & deliver it that night.  I estimate 30-40 hrs total in work time, not too shabby considering how many pieces there are & all that tracing.

It took at least 4 hrs to quilt with flames & meandering.

This is the only part not applique—I cheated with a freezer paper stencil I cut with the Cricut & silkscreening ink.

It’s raw edge applique as you can clearly see in the white oval.  That oval & the beer suds are a cushy flannel fabric.

My favorite section is the pool table.  I backed it with a Hoffman (I think) flames print.

I could have added a little more detail to the food but settled with a little “mustard” on the hotdog with orange squigglies.

It was well received, I hope it makes a profit for the fire company!

Progress

I only have 2 days work in this—almost ready to stack it & start sewing!

I’ll be adding one last bit under the center logo with the name & location of the firehouse.

Yes, in every photo, these are hundreds of tiny pieces all fused to the background.

Each was traced, fused, cut & fused again.

The last one will look better when it’s stitched with some details on the food.

Busy Morning!

 

Finally Friday!!!  I knocked out some projects this morning.  First up, I sewed & clipped this yesterday and bound & washed it this morning.  My first stab at chenille and I LOVE it!  I started cutting it with scissors but my hand was screaming in agony.  The seam ripper was way easier!

Above, before washing.  Below, after washing, it measures 34x44.”  I’ve had that paw print flannel forever, the other layers are regular cotton in orange, white and a blue print hidden in there so both sides do kind of match, bound in navy.  It’s really soft & cuddly now, I’ve got to make some more.  Inspired by this nice lady’s blog post.

And you’ve seen this one before…I started hand quilting it but had pucker issues so I ripped it all out this morning & used my machine.  Walking foot straight stitch around the inside of each 4-patch, machine tied in the middle of 4’s, stipple/loop FMQ in sashing, raw edge applique around flowers.

Please excuse the “draped over my cutting table” photo…other surfaces were busy.  Still needs binding but I’d had enough by then!

I took the dog for a ride in the car (ROFL, always an interesting trip), ran to Home Depot & planted 6 trays of seeds for the garden too.  I think it’s officially time for my weekend to begin!  Have a good one everyone!

Start of a new quilt?

 

I’m really not sure if I like this or not…

I bought the coloring book a few weeks ago thinking I’d make a cute baby quilt with 9 animal blocks.  Hmm, maybe it’s just my lack of contrast with the 3 green prints I chose…or the horrible job I did zigzagging the edges…the raw edge butterflies came out ok, lol.

While I was sewing that I got a call to come see where Little Bear was—he found a window that’s never open (hot & humid here, I don’t blame him!).  He never poses for pics, I was glad to get one!

WIP Wednesday

 

After some extensive housework today (blah!) I got my top finished.  It’s umm, crazy, but should definitely brighten up the bedroom.

‘Scuse the floor shot, dog bone, etc…Floor was just mopped so I figured what the heck.

Closeup, I did some sloppy raw edge applique (fusible) so it’ll curl & fray after a wash.  The quilting will be the showcase but it’ll have to wait, I’m out of batting except ridiculously small scraps & this is a big quilt.  I have some turquoise and white ric rac, throwing around the idea of adding stems to the “flowers” but I’m not really a ric rac gal, probably won’t bother…Thanks for looking, I’m linking up with WIP Wed today.

WIP Wednesday

 

Happy Birthday to me, lol.  I’m finally making a quilt for myself (well, I have one other in progress but it’ll be a long while). 

I started this yesterday with not much of a plan in mind, I just had lots of extra orange fabric on hand.  Unfortunately I don’t have enough of the turquoise to continue without a trip to the store.  I have half of the top pieced & started cutting my fusible appliques.  They’re just randomly laid on top so you can see the neat poppies (& zinnias, etc) fabric I found last week.  It was such a wild color combination I had to try it.  My BF asked if I’d suddenly become a Dolphins fan, lol.  All the patchwork is random & on point 5” finished squares.  It’ll be approximately twin size which is plenty big enough for me (who makes those measurements anyway?  Twin fits fine on my full size bed, I layer them over a bigger quilt that covers the mattress sides & box spring).  It’s bigger than I normally make & I’m sure I’ll be cursing as I quilt it but I can’t wait for that part.  I’m going to start with straight line quilting along both sides of the seams (with my trusty walking foot), then raw edge applique the circles & finish up filling in the solid squares with a variety of circle FMQ.  It’ll be one of my most heavily quilted ones yet.  I hope it comes out, I’m a little freaked by the patchwork by itself, it’s LOUD!  Thanks for stopping by, happy quilting!

How long has it been?

 

Since I posted?  Wow, it’s been crazy busy here!  I do have a few finishes.  I had to return the broken walking foot, the new one is much better.  Sadly most of this was quilted with the first one so it’s not perfect (stitch length varies, straight lines not so straight, lol).  I still love it, it should wash up nice.

I backed it with more of the great orange tie dye and bound it in a solid, more rust colored orange.  I can’t remember the name of the charm pack I started with but I blogged it a while back.  It wasn’t my favorite line on first glance but I adore the finished quilt.

This was a super un-traditional/modern/whatever wedding wall hanging quilt I made on commission.  I can’t get a true color shot of this to save my life.  It’s lime green & fuschia (yep, weird, those are the wedding colors).  I had issues with the embroidery…I’m so glad she liked it because I had to rip it out and do it again and was about to start over with a fabric marker.

It has a ton of tiny pieces I drew & used raw edge applique (fusible).  The walking foot totally ROCKS for quilting these!  Lots of thread changes but I’m pretty happy with it and I have extra flowers & swirls that just didn’t fit in to use on a future project. 

And a little yarn fun, this is my first ever string bag.  I started with the standard Lily pattern & abandoned it for the top edge & strap (I’m not good at crochet instructions, I was impressed I got as far as I did).  It only took me 2 days but I still haven’t woven in the tails, nor did I appropriately line up the color change when I switched balls but I like it just fine.

That’s it for today, thanks for stopping by!

 

Finally Done

 

Ugh, this didn’t finish up quite as well as I’d like.  I tried a faux piped binding tutorial I saw online and I messed it up somewhere big time.  It’s ok and I’ll try it again but I have another method in mind.

It looks ok from the back but one corner was totally goofy.

This one was ok, but see?  I had to topstitch the edge (with invisible thread), so it’s really just a wonky stripe along the edge.  And I had too much green & not enough white (though I followed the cutting directions?).  Ahh well, another WIP done, off to another!

A Near-finish

 

I’ve been super busy with work this week but before the sun came up this morning I got this finished except the binding (debating colors).

It’s sort of a quilt-as-you-go (QAYG), I quilted the top squares with batting but then sewed them all together & added the backing, quilting a double line down each of the 4 big seams.  I should have waited until I bought a walking foot, my lines are a little crooked but no one will notice after it’s washed.  I don’t care for the usual QAYG method that looks like window sashing when it’s done, the construction is so obvious.

I think the pink is my favorite circle.  Many memories in this quilt of clothes, quilts & bags I made for my girls.

Super easy way to make a quilt!  It measures 36” square.  I can’t take credit for the design, I saw one on flickr somewhere and had to try a circle ticker tape, though the white & green center is all mine, I didn’t want to use brown scraps.

It’s backed with a silky minky type fabric remnant, my only cost for the quilt, $5.  Had great fun with it and I’m going to make a few more with different colored center blocks.  I didn’t even make a dent in my scraps.

Design Wall Monday

 

I usually have a finish on Monday morning, not today but here are some process pics for you.

Another installment in my ticker quilt, orange is done, more sparse than I’d like but I actually had a hard time finding orange scraps.  I really should have done another yesterday but I got distracted with other stuff…namely this

I’ve been throwing around ideas on how to label my quilts.  I’ve done the little ribbon across a back corner thing, written on in sharpie.  Ehh, kind of primitive, not much room to write.  I have 2 alphabets on my machine but they don’t stitch very well & I have to do it on a scrap & then applique it to the quilt.  It rarely gets done, it’s hard to read…yesterday I pulled out my big ole Speedball screen printing box o’ fun and made a mini screen ala craftgrrl’s tutorial.  This is real screen filler instead of Modge Podge or the like since I actually do have the kit.  First print on paper, I touched up the screen & it’s ready to have a go at a real quilt.  I’m simply going to write “made by” and the year with a sharpie around the bottom of the swirl.  Love this!  It’s similar to my tattoo, it’s repeatable for every quilt without much effort and I’ve never seen someone do this to a quilt they spent hours & hours on, I’m a risk taker!

 Edit to add first print (on a scrap).  I used a makeshift squeegee instead of a foam brush, slightly better.  Embellished with a sharpie.  Actually just the look I was going for!

Repeat pic before quilting but I’m also hand quilting this baby quilt, I have some of the charm square straight line quilting done and I’m buttonhole stitching around the flowers.  My first real try at the stitch, it looks SO adorable, front and back!  It’s backed with a turquoise solid, really wild with the green sashing, I might bind this in orange for even more zing.  Edit, had to rip out buttonhole stitches, ugh, puckering.

It’s pouring down rain and I have some really. boring. work. sewing. to do today (sob!).  Hopefully I can finish that and get back to fun quilting this afternoon.  Please stop by Judy’s and QuiltStory and Freshly Pieced this week to see what everyone’s working on!  Hopping on a new one, Canoe Ridge Creations!  I’ve met some super nice sewers & quilters since I started playing along.  Have a great week everyone!

Woo-hoo Wednesday!

 

Wednesday’s my favorite day of the week, I don’t really know why, sometimes I go out for a little evening entertainment on Wed, sometimes not.  I think it’s just knowing I’m that much closer to the weekend.  ETA, I had to look it up, I was born on a Wed, maybe that’s it *grin*

I’m trying out Freshly Pieced’s WIP Wednesday this week, glad to have found you all, can’t wait to see what everyone’s working on!

I’m almost finished hand quilting my Central Park #2 quilt (made from the teeny amount of scraps I had left from the first one).  I’m NOT a hand quilter, my stitches are big & childish, crooked, meandering, but HEY, you can definitely tell it’s got hours & hours of hand work in it, LOL!  I like it regardless.

I got my red block stitched but I’m running short on oranges for the next one…I even dug out and cut some stash.  Not sure what’s up with that, I love orange.  I’m going to move on to another color for now.

Just other stuff I wanted to rattle on about…

1. It’s Creative Mojo day!  3pm eastern, don’t forget to listen (or download) Mark Lipinski’s great show!

2. Just One Star for a great cause, check it out!

I think that’s it, I have a TON of work sewing to finish & deliver today.  Have a great Wednesday!

Design Wall Monday

 

Here we go again, I’m creating an insane pile of tops that I need to quilt.  I have a ton of “work” sewing to do but I couldn’t get inspired there, this charm pack was calling.  I’ll be honest, I wasn’t excited about this one at all, it looked better online than in my hands.  But I like how it morphed once I was playing with the pieces.

This is Hideaway by Lauren & Jessi Jung for moda.  I adore green, especially for babies. 

I think it could have been fairly gender neutral but I had to use some of the extra squares and appliqued some flowers, girly now, huh?

I let the petals go all whimsical, I think it works.  This one will also be hand quilted & shouldn’t take nearly as long as the Central Park one I’m quilting now (which is kicking along pretty well).  I think I’m going to continue the flower theme by quilting some in the borders.  Very fast project, I had the top together (minus the applique) in about an hour. 

Editing Tues to add a pic of my WIP.  I saw a Ticker Tape Quilt Along on a blog and had to hop on the bandwagon, I love TT’s!  Here’s my morning progress, I’m digging a QAYG project, one less top to get to “later.”

Thanks for stopping by, don’t forget to visit Judy’s for more Design Wall Monday & Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday!

Woo-hoo Friday!

 

Oh thank goodness, it’s been a LONG week!  I’m SO ready to go out and party a bit tonight.  Here’s how I spent my morning.

They’re ready for binding but I’m bored & setting them aside for now.  Here’s the one I finished yesterday.

It’s a little housewarming gift for my best friend who I’ve been helping move.  It measures 5 1/2 x 8 1/2.  The ones up top are also for gifting.  I found the design online, I think it was a tattoo sketch.  And that’s all for now, I have to go babysit and set up my friend’s computer.  Have a nice weekend!

Design Wall Monday—Lots of finishes

 

AKA, I haven’t had internet access in 4 days, argh!!  I’m going batty but I did get a lot of sewing done.

First up, I finished piecing this top.  No wonder I never do traditional quilts, it gave me fits due to non-exact cutting of the squares.  This used every tiny scrap of my 2 Central Park charm packs.  I haven’t decided what to back it with yet, might have to spring for a yard of one of the prints (if I can get to a real quilt store to buy it).  Excuse ugly curtains & some freshly dyed fabric drying there behind it, we played with snow dyeing last week.

Next up, I finally finished this little mini.

I quilted around some of the veins in the background fabric too.  This is Jennifer’s Fairy Dreaming applique pattern again.  Once again I skipped the borders & did my own thing, adding the sun & moon.  It measures about 12x12”.

Next, I finished the little square I submitted in the QuiltStory contest last month.  Raw edge appliqued around Fishy, SID for the rest.  It measures 10x12”.

And I machine quilted another of the Heather Ross fish quilt tops I had laying around for several years.  It still needs binding but I’m kind of sick of fish quilts so it’ll sit a while longer.  I didn’t do a great job quilting and it’s heavy (even though it only has flannel for batting).  Nice warm quilt though, good FMQ practice, used up recycled denim.  Measures about 45” square.

Editing to add the last one, this was a practice silk screen run I did last summer.  I saw a similar design on someone’s blog (I think) and added some elements from some fabric I had, hand drawing my own interpretation onto the screen.  I backed & bound it in that pretty batik & hand quilted it last night.  It measures about 9x10”.

Don’t forget to stop by Judy’s for more Monday fun & I’m linking up with Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday.  Thanks for visiting!