Happy Twin Quilts

I made these quilts last September for the cutest little twins.  I didn't blog about them then, but now that the boys are stars of a video that just cracks me up, I thought I would.

The fabrics are from some bundles I purchased from Fabricworm a couple of years ago.  Just simple modern quilt style, with lots of machine quilting, because once I get started, I can't stop.    On the back, I tried to re-create a motif from the fabrics, with the boys' names done in raw-edge machine applique.  (I squared the quilts up, I promise -- photographing them on the lilac bush/tree makes them look a little wonky!)

Henry's Quilt

Thomas' Quilt

 And their video.  Be prepared to be happy:

 Peace and giggles,

Graduation Quilt #2 - Jacob

I am proud to announce that the second graduation quilt was completed and delivered within the actual year of Jacob's graduation.  Graduation Quilt #1 is here; Quilt #3 has been pieced and is ready to quilt; in the meantime, another sweet boy has graduated and I've got to get started on Graduation Quilt #4.  Yikes.  Whose bright idea was this?

One of the first quilts my Grandma Hunley sewed when she was a young girl was a Grandmother's Flower Garden (how appropriate), made up of hundreds of little hexagons cut and pieced by hand.  I loved that quilt, and one of these days, I want to make one in her honor.  But with a sewing machine and a rotary cutter!

For my start at hexagons, I thought I should try something a little easier; the key was the Riley Blake Hexi Half Ruler.  I just cut two (or more) hexi halves out of each fabric, then lined them all up and sewed them together in strips -- no fussy piecing involved at all.  A little squaring up and adding a narrow border made this very pretty, if I do say so myself.

 Here is a not-so-beautiful picture of the back.  (Yes, I was in a hurry.)  The important thing to note is the strip of guitar fabric -- Jacob is a guitar craftman.  The quilting was simply 1/4" from the seams, done with the walking foot.

Happy Graduation, Jacob.  Happy wedding, happy life with Lauren.

And peace.

A Volunteer Quilt

It's been a lovely summer.






I had hoped to have 3 graduation quilts completed before we went on vacation with the graduation boys and their families in early July.

One was completed last week.

Luckily, the moms of these boys are my dear friends and completely understand me and how it is that I roll.

This first one is Tim's.  He graduated from the University of Tennessee with an engineering degree in May.  I had been thinking about this quilt and collecting oranges for a few months.  5" squares set in a checkerboard, (a la the UT end zones) machine quilted with an X.  Then, because Tim is also a Chicago Bears fan, I bound the quilt in deep navy blue

and added blue strips on the back side.

Happy graduation, sweet guy.





PS  I took these pictures at my sister's house.  How cute is that bike?

Sweet Spring Flowers and a Quilt

Lilacs.

I wish you could smell them, because they would make you happy.

Until I come up with something better, my old-fashioned lilac bush is the best place to hang little quilts for outdoor picture-taking.  And when the lilacs are blooming, it's a double treat.

This is my most recent completed baby quilt, made for friends of Will's who just had a sweet baby girl.  The fabrics are from the Wee Wander Collection from Sarah Jane Studios, supplemented with some orange I had in my piles of fabrics, plus the yellow with orange dots I found at Sharynn's Quilt Box in North Vernon. 

I divided the main panel of children catching fireflies and inserted two rows of pinwheels, a la Stacy at freshly handmade -- such a great idea.  I added some sashing, and a border of more pinwheels, because now that I have the great ruler I told you about earlier, these half square triangle blocks are much more fun.  

And I'm doing a little better with my machine quilting.  

After lots of reading, I realize that there are several keys to good machine quilting:  a sharp new needle, good thread and correct tension.  And practice.

I think I went a little overboard on this one, but things were going so well, and I just kept quilting.  And quilting.  And quilting.  

I added a few little words:

Peace is on there somewhere, too.

Layer Cake Sampler Quilt -- Squares 1-6

In February, I read about a quilt-along on the Crimson Tate Facebook page, and thought I would try it -- it's been months since I've put a quilt together, I already had the fabric needed for the project, and since I've never done a quilt-along before, it sounded like fun.  AND, you know I want to be just like Heather when I grow up.  (Do cat-eye glasses come in bifocals?)

Early in 2013, I had purchased a layer cake of Mary Jane's Glamping fabric, and had planned to make this quilt:

(You can find the pattern here, and I think you can still get the fabric at the Fat Quarter Shop and in several Etsy shops.)

But instead, I'm going to try to make the 20 squares that go into the sampler quilt designed by Amanda of Material Girl Quilts.   Another motivation for sewing this quilt?  I met Amanda when I was paying a visit to CT a few weeks ago -- I was telling Heather how I was planning to start the quilt along, and she told me that Amanda was going to be stopping in.  And she did!   

I was sort of star-struck.  A real live blogger!

(I know.  What's wrong with me?)

Anyway, the whole idea behind this quilt is that you start with layer cake squares.  You choose two fabrics, place them right sides together, sew an "X", then cut each square into 8 half-square triangles.  For each quilt block, you make two of these sets.  (Don't worry - Amanda tells you just how to do it on her blog.)

The perfect tool for this project is the rotating cutting mat I bought a few years ago with a 40% off coupon at Joann's:

It makes very quick work of the slicing of the squares! 

I haven't done precise piecing like this for a while, and I've had to do a lot of ripping and re-sewing.  I also skipped one of Amanda's instructions and didn't square up each small square to 4 1/2" -- I guess I thought if I sewed accurately, it wouldn't be necessary.  But it was.  Let's face it -- I wasn't thinking, I just wanted to get a square made.  Rip, rip, rip.  

I learned my lesson, pressed and trimmed, I was able to finish the first 6 blocks:  

Week 1:

Chevrons

Windmill

Week 2:  

Flying Geese Variation

Pinwheel

Week 3:

Happy Star

Diagonal Stripe

I love the way 4 of these blocks came out, I am OK with one, but I really don't groove to the diagonal stripe.  The block is nice, but I think my colors are wrong.  I wish I had thought my colors out a bit more -- I'm currently stewing over color choices for 7 and 8, but I need to stew faster, because I'm a bit behind -- Amanda posted blocks 9 and 10 on Friday!

Peace.

Make Stuff/Be Happy - School Auction Edition

(This might be the last of the make stuff/be happy series for awhile -- I need to get some things done around here besides crafting!)

Our school auction/chili supper is one of the most anticipated events of the year. I don't know how many years we've been doing it, but it gets better every year -- this year was no exception.

We had a great time, got to sit with the King and Queen of Mardi Gras and ate King Cake. I got to hold Sloane for a while and won a sock monkey. What more could you ask?

Here's the stuff I made for this year's auction:

Each class was asked to make something commemorating our parish's 150th Anniversary. Hmmm. What to do with kindergartners? We had had great success with Sister Anna Rose's big birthday card last year (we had the kids lay on the floor in the shapes of the letters, took their pictures, then put the letters together into "We Love You Sister!") so we decided to try again. This time, however, we tried to do it in one take; we had ALL the kids lay on the floor of the gym in the shapes of 150 YEARS, and took their picture from a tall ladder Doug put on the stage for us. (Yes, I did climb that ladder to take the picture, and no, I didn't like it one bit!) Getting 20 kids to be stay quietly in position was a challenge, but I think it came out pretty nice. Wacky, but nice.

Last year's Red Riding Hood trio did pretty well, so I thought I would try another knitted set. For this nativity, I used the same pattern as Red (from Petite Purls ), but changed it up a bit, knitting in the round instead of on straights and adding a bit more length in the bodies. I didn't add faces, as I thought the last time I tried this, they looked too cartoony. See? And, I felted them. Sort of. As usual, I ran a little short on time, so the shepherd and angel are made from felted sweaters and the shepherd's head is actually a sock. The other two kings, who are still in pieces on my work table, will be delivered shortly. The manger for baby Jesus is made from hot glue (my favorite adhesive), and the bits of Will's laundry hamper lid that I keep finding on the floor, although it really looks like pretzel sticks. I wish I had taken a picture of the stable Stan made to go with the figures -- it was really perfect. I'm hoping he'll make me two more, as two dear girls I love were interested in the nativity set -- I think I'll start on theirs soon, one for an 8th grade graduation present and one for a wedding gift.

I've made a quilt for the auction for the past several years. Here is the 2011 installment: This quilt, machine pieced and quilted, is made up from the leftovers of my Nursery Rhyme quilt, which is still in the works. I only had to purchase the batting and two yards for the backing. (That reminds me -- the nativity set was knit/sewn up with stuff from my collection of yarn and crafty stuff. Use it up, wear it out, etc!)

Here is the back -- I love how Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Fransson! adds color to the backs of her quilts, so I did, too!

The woman who won the quilt told me she's going to put it into another auction, this one for special needs kids. See? Make stuff and be happy.

Finally, Clay baked our favorite chocolate cake for the dessert auction. I hope whoever won it is enjoying it! Peace.