Category Archives: Quilting

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Frogs and bugs and camo…oh my!

Recently, I told you guys that I was making a new quilt. Remember this fabric?

Well, that fabric doesn’t look like that at all anymore!

A few people have asked me about the process of making a quilt. I took the time, while I was frantically cutting and sewing, to take pictures so I can show you all of the steps that go into a quilt. It is a fascinating metamorphosis. Feel free to ask questions at the end! I’m sure I’m going to leave some steps out.

First you cut and piece the top of the quilt. The pattern I am using is called a Coin Quilt. It was easy and came together quickly; I highly recommend it for a beginning quilter. (If you are interested, the free pattern is available here from CluckCluckSew.) When I finished piecing my top, it looked like this:

Here’s a close up of what it looks like now. This is going to change soon!

The next step is to make the quilt sandwich. You tape (with blue painter’s tape) the fabric for the back of the quilt onto the floor. You tape it so the print is facing down on the floor. The batting – the warm part of the quilt – is laid on top of that. Then you put the pieced top on top of that with the right side up. Once they are all lined up, you pin through all the layers with safety pins.

And this is what the back looks like:

The next part is what is technically called quilting. It involves sewing through all three layers. This is free motion quilting in a stippling pattern. Here is a close up picture.

And when it’s done, it looks awesome!

You’re not quite done yet! Now you cut the excess fabric from around the outside.

For the last step, you need to bind the quilt. I pieced my binding on this one, which is a first for me. I like the way it looks!

And then you hand sew the binding to the back.

Voila! All done!

Pat yourself on the back; you made a beautiful quilt! It’s all ready to snuggle a sweet baby boy.

Whew! I hope you enjoyed all the pictures. Have a great weekend, everybody!

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Starting a New Quilt!

I decided to make a baby quilt for a little boy who is due to join us in a few weeks. I was dreading picking from the crappy “boy” fabric options, but then I found these!

Look at these amazing fabrics! Aren’t they super cute?

This polka-dot fabric is going to be on the front, and the camo fabric will be the back.

I can’t wait to start cutting. I hope to get this quilt done super-fast. Wish me luck!

I hope everyone is enjoying a creative and inspiring weekend!

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Show & Tell 10/14/2011

Hello everyone! Happy Friday! My day is going very well, thank you for asking.

But what I am really looking forward to is the quilt show this weekend! My quilt guild is hosting the event in West Hartford, Connecticut, from 10 AM to 5 PM on Saturday, October 15 and 10 AM to 4 PM on Sunday, October 16. All of the event details are here if you are interested in attending.

If you attend, you will definitely see this amazing quilt made by me:

Remember when I made this, way back in July? I hope to make another one before the end of the year. I love quilts.

Anyway, if you live near West Hartford, come check out our quilt show! So many people have put in a lot of time and effort to make this a great event. There is a GORGEOUS 90″ x 90″ machine pieced, hand appliqued, and hand quilted quilt for raffle along with a variety of quilting baskets.

I am honored and humbled to have my quilt hang alongside so many other amazing pieces. This show will definitely be worth your time!

If you’re looking for me this weekend, that’s where I’ll be. What have you been up to lately? Share your create successes!

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Show & Tell 7/22/2011

I finished a quilt! Huzzah! This is the first one that I have finished since February.

Our neighbors gave us a beautiful canvas picture of a peachy-colored rose. It is a beautiful picture that my neighbor had photographed himself, and then he had it mounted on canvas. It’s lovely. However, it didn’t match anything else in the living room. I sewed this quilt so that they would match each other.

I found the pattern for the quilt blocks here. The piecing took the longest amount of time. I also put piping around the edge, before the binding. I love how it looks, but that also took a lot of time. The quilting was actually the easiest part; I “stitched in the ditch” between the cream and orange sections, and it was easy peasy.

 

P.S. Here’s an outtake from my photo shoot. I took these pictures in our small conference room at work. I didn’t realize how close the chairs were (aka I can’t crop them out). Although it’s kind of a blooper, this photo delights me.

Happy Friday! Please share what you’ve been creating in the comments. I love to see what everyone else is making!

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Links I Love 7/18/2011

Quilts! I have been thinking about these three designs for a couple of months and can’t decide which one to start first.

1) Ruffles!

2) Piano Keys

3) Storm at Sea

But I’m working on a few other projects right now, including getting some presents made for the winter holidays, so I won’t be starting a new quilt anytime soon. I need to finish a couple that I have already started!

What would you make if you had all the time and resources in the world? How come we can’t have 28 hours in a day? 24 is simply too few.

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Show & Tell 4/29/2011

You know how when you’re doing a big project, it’s a good idea to celebrate the success of each stage? That’s how I feel about quilts. The basic stages are:

1. Piecing the top

2. Quilting

3. Binding

Each of these three relatively simple steps take a lot of commitment and dedication for each stage. So I like to celebrate when I finish each step.

So today I want to show you my finished quilt top! I might still put a border on it, but I needed to put my quilting mess away. So I finished this much. The blocks were fairly easy to put together (I used this pattern as a guide). The hard part was trimming each square to the same size. That part was tedious. After that, it was a snap to sew the rows and columns together. I love the way this is progressing.

I hope to get the quilting done in the next week or so. Wish me luck!

What projects have you finished? Please share!

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Tired, Motivated, and Inspired

I have had a really busy week. I had activities on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. That meant I was usually away from my house for 12+ hours each of those days. Crazy.

However, each of the things I was doing was directly related to my things I love, that make me happy. So while I had some long days right in a row, I am feeling energized, focused, directed, and inspired.

Tuesday was my knitting group. This is my second week attending, and it is a great community. I can’t wait to go back next week – to see what how much progress everyone has made and share my projects with them.

Wednesday night was my quilting guild, which I just joined in January. This was my first monthly meeting, and I walked away with an armful of fabric, a quilting event scheduled, and my mind spinning with new possibilities.

Last night, I ushered at the Hartford Stage for their current show Divine Rivalry. Wow. The play was based on an historical event where Machiavelli set up a competition between Leonardo da Vince and Michelangelo to each paint a mural in the same hall. The writer did a great job showing their differences in process yet similarity in purpose and passion. I am certainly no da Vince or Michelangelo, but I want to embrace and pursue my passions with as much intensity as they both did theirs.

Needless to say, I am thrilled to start the weekend. I have some elaborate plans to spend time with my sewing machine, yoga mat, knitting needles, and a  good friend. Indeed, this is shaping up to be quite a Year of Happiness.

What inspires and motivates you? Alternately, do you have any good weekend plans? Happy Friday!

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Show & Tell 3/17/2011

Oh – I should be posting something green or orange for St. Patty’s Day. Oops!

Here is what I have been working on. Obviously it isn’t a completed baby quilt. In fact, it is actually a sampler that I am putting together as a study to make a final version. This particular sampler is going to be practice for the free motion quilting class that I am taking. I am making an alternate version with blue fabrics. I am going to practice on one sampler before the next class and then bring the other one to quilt in class.  I want to hear what other quilters’s ideas would be for the design.

In addition to practicing my free motion quilting skillz, this is also a chance for me to test different colors combinations – focusing on pattern scale and color value. I like how this one came out and can’t wait to share the blue one. I am inspired to try some sort of gradient (light to dark) color pattern for the final quilt.

I am working on another secret project that I hope to have done for next weekend. I have been working on a few medium-sized projects lately, so they take a little longer. But I enjoy sharing them with you hear.

I also enjoy hearing what you have finished! Please share in the comments.

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The Locals

I realized, as I was writing my post about the yarn shops I had found in Ireland, that I had never talked about my local yarn shops.  As I would like them to stay in business, I thought that I would share them with you here. 

InDetail Studio is truly my local yarn shop.  The shop is split between yarn supplies and beading supplies.  It is a small shop, but I have never left empty-handed!  They have a great selection of yarns.  They also offer open knitting sessions and knitting classes; check their website for dates & times.

Marji’s Yarncrafts is incredibly charming.  It has a lot of yarn tucked in two rooms.  Their selection is amazing and really inspiring.  They offer a lot of patterns, a lot of needles, and, if I remember correctly, a lot of finishing pieces such as buttons, etc. 

Creative Fibers is really a mecca of wooly wonder.  This is the largest local yarn shop I have found in central Connecticut.  Really, if they haven’t got it, you don’t need it.  They also offer knitting classes and retreats.  I haven’t attended them yet, but as I learned with quilting, it really pays to learn from an expert.  So I am keeping my eyes open for a great opportunity.

Also I want to give a shout out to my local fabric stores:

My local quilt shop Sew Inspired is amazing.  The staff is friendly and helpful.  Their classes are very informational and educational.  (They literally changed my life.)  It’s a great shop if you’re looking for fabric or anything quilt related.

Osgood’s Textiles is a little bit of a drive for me, but it’s the closest, decent, independent fabric store in the area.  And its selection is exhaustive.  I bought all of the fabric for my Spring Palette Challenge there. 

So that’s my little tour of local shops.  Trust me – they aren’t paying me to say this.  I don’t get any discounts from them or anything.  They don’t even know I have a blog.  I just appreciate that I have these resources in my community.  When I support them, they support my area by creating jobs, providing valuable goods and services, and generally making the world a better place to live. 

Do you have a local shop you love?  Give it a shout out in the comments.