Category Archives: Baby Quilt

Two Quilts

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I mentioned last week that I had forgotten to blog about my improvisational quilt, so here’s the whole story.

Last summer I took part in an improv quilt-along hosted by Shannon Fraser Designs. I made a bunch of blocks in response to her prompts.

Eventually, I used my signature little black strips to combine them into a final design.

And then I forgot to blog about the finished product. So here we go:

Quilt Stats

Name: Improv 2022

Finished size: 42″ x 57″

Designed, and made by: me, in response to improv prompts from Shannon Fraser Designs

Quilted by: Linda Nichols

More recently I made another raid on the scrap drawers and put together this top.

It’s from an old book from Cozy Quilt Designs, entitled Strip Clubbing: Fast and Easy Quilts with 2 1/2″ Strips. I was pleased with the pattern and directions. Instructions were such that every one of those seams nested!!! How great is that? Because of that, almost all of those intimidating-looking intersections were close to perfect! Woo!

This is only about 36″ square, so it will be a donation quilt to cover a premie incubator at a local medical center. If you’re interested in the book, your best bet probably is a used book site like Abe Books. Sure it’s available new, but it’s old enough that there are plenty of used copies out there at a fraction of the price.

Have a good week!

 

 

Trying A New Binding Technique

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I’m always on the lookout for ways to improve my binding (as well as my other quilting skills). Recently I ran across a video (YouTube, of course) showing how to use the Bernina #71 foot for binding. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpl-7L4SEzM

I have no idea who this woman is, but she’s using 2″ binding, which is my usual. I also use Quilter’s Dream Request Loft batting (the thinnest loft), which is part of why the narrower binding works.

After watching the video several times, I tried it out.

As you can see, the binding looks pretty good, and it’s still all done by machine. I achieved a more consistent width using this foot than with my usual method with the walking foot.

I did have some trouble with the corners, but I thought my binding was pretty good for a first try. (And no, I didn’t take a picture of a messy corner!)

Here’s the finished quilt, which is one of the samples for the beginning quilting class I’ll be teaching later this year. This is a pattern I modified from the book Jump Into Patchwork and Quilting. Specifically, I re-drafted it so the monkey wrenches are made with the flip-and-sew method rather than with half square triangles. This floats the wrenches so beginners will be less likely to cut off a point.

Photo courtesy of C&T

I’ll be using the book as a text for the class so students will have a written reference at home. The book is bright and modern and I think it will appeal.

It also has some easy projects students will be able to do on their own. This book costs only a bit more than a pattern, so it’s a good value. (The book is available from Studio Stitch or C&T.)

I’ll be making another sample before offering the class. Meanwhile, here’s the information on this one.

Quilt Stats:

Name: Making Waves Modified

Source: I re-drafted a pattern from the book Jump Into Patchwork and Quilting

Finished size: 48″ x 48″

Made and quilted by me.

Some Finishes–Not All Mine!

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Two of the ladies who took the shirt making class earlier this year have finished their shirts and allowed me to have pictures.

I love both these shirts! They each did a great job!

In other news, I got this quilt back from the quilter and did the binding. It’s made with Charley Harper fabrics to go with the hand made Charley Harper tiles on my fireplace.

With regard to the Charley Harper fabric: It is very high quality. It’s the only fabric I’ve ever seen that was all printed exactly on grain! You can see from the designs why this is important, but it’s a rarity. Here’s a closeup of one of the blocks and the binding.

And here’s a closeup of the tiles in the fireplace surround so you can see why the quilt needs to go in the living room! These Charley Harper tiles are from Motawi Tile Works.

Quilt Stats:

Name: Charley Harper Love

Design: Modification of Elizabeth Hartman’s Rapid City

Finished size: 52″ x 66″

Made by: me 

Quilted by: Walker Quilt Co.

With A Little Help From My Friends

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My blogging friend Mariss recently made a baby quilt and called it “Baby’s First Yoga Mat”, which I thought was a wonderful idea. Not long thereafter I learned that a young friend who is very athletic is expecting a baby, so it seemed I should call her baby’s quilt the same thing.

Her nursery theme is dinosaurs, so off I went to find dinosaur fabric. There wasn’t much to choose from. That surprised me since my grandsons love dinosaurs, but the lady at the quilt store explained that the interest seems to be shifting from dinosaurs to super heros at the moment, so that’s what’s available in children’s fabric. I did find some fabric I liked.

Then another blogging friend, Laura, came to visit and helped me select the solid to go with it.

And finally, my husband helped select the binding.

Here’s the quilt:

I free-motion quilted it in loops and hearts. I used a different stitch from my usual to attach the binding, and I think I like it:

Quilt Stats:

Name: Baby’s First Yoga Mat

Finished size: about 43″ x 43″

Designed and quilted by me, with a little help from my friends 🙂

 

Super Simple Squares

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A layer cake of Alison Glass fabric jumped in my cart when I wasn’t looking, and I’ve been wondering what to do with it. Finally, I designed this quilt.

The quilting by Julia Madison is an Urban Elementz panto called “Sound Waves”. I love it!

Quilt stats:

Name: Super Simple Squares

Finished size: 52″ x 52″

Designer: me

Fabric: Alison Glass

Quilted by: Julia Madison

More Donation Quilts

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Before I show the latest group of donation quilts, I want to say how happy I am that my long-time blogging friend Melanie has started posting again.  She’s an expert in medallion quilts and does beautiful work, so you may want to check her out here.

These quilts are going to Ronald McDonald House, so here’s a last look at them before they go.  

improvisationally pieced quilt

“In Fairyland”, original design, 2013.  53″ x 67″.  I like it, but it’s never been used, so off it goes.

 

“Serendipity I”, 2020, 51″ x 61″. Pattern is from Love Jelly Roll Quilts.

 

Black and floral quilt

Unnamed, 55″ x 69″, 2011.  Made to use some of my huge stash of florals, but never used.

Kaffe Leftovers, 48″ x 60″, 2020.

I designed “Spring Sun” using piecing papers from a Judy Niemeyer pattern, 2012-2014.   It was juried into an AQS show but has never been used, so it’s time to donate it.

“Elizabeth’s Village”, 40″ x 40″.  Center design is by my friend Elizabeth and pattern is available in her Payhip store. I added borders so it would finish crib size, 2020.

“Baby Stars”, 45″ x 45″, 2019.  Pattern is “Lucky Stars” by Atkinson Designs.

Star Swap Quilt, original design, 2019. 40″ x 40″.

I hope the families at Ronald McDonald House get enjoyment and comfort from these quilts.  They were just stored in a closet here, so they need to be used.

2020 Review, Part II

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Here are the rest of my 2020 project completions.  As previously mentioned, shelter-in-place was an opportunity!

I designed and made Fiddlesticks after seeing a number of similar quilts on the internet.

Pineapple Fabrics requested pineapple blocks for a children’s hospital donation project, and my friend Chela and I each made several.

I finally finished this little art quilt, which was started several years ago

This quilt used up a lot of scraps!

I made numerous projects inspired by books I reviewed for C&T.  The quilt on the left is a modification of a pattern that appears in New Patchwork and Quilting Basics, by Jo Avery.  The block on the right is one of my favorites of the year; the pattern is in Quilt: Modern Curves and Bold Stripes.

The quilt above is modified from my friend Elizabeth’s Merrion Square pattern.  The pattern is available in her Payhip shop and includes several variations.

This quilt was made with a jelly roll I won in a contest!  The pattern is in Love Jelly Roll Quilts.

Who can resist the colorful fabrics by Kaffe Fasset? I made two quilts with them. This pattern is available free from Free Spirit Fabrics, here.

And here’s the quilt made with leftover blocks:

Above is another Scrap Quilt, 64″ x 64″. I was planning to teach it in January, but the COVID numbers have gotten too high here for that to be safe right now.

This is the quilt in crib size

The quilt above is another I developed for Studio Stitch.  I think they still have some kits left if you’re interested.  My friend Mary just sent me a picture of her completed quilt from the kit!

This next quilt, 12″ x 12″, was just a block for years after I took a leaf pounding class.  I finally quilted it, and I’m happy with the result.

Here are 3 that I know you’ve seen before, but they were completed in 2020, so gotta show them:

It’s always a great idea to offset the intersecting seams!
Quilt on a chair

And finally, here’s my end-of-year art quilt.  I’ve had this idea in mind for some time so I was glad to finally get it out on fabric.  I think the tree topper needs a golden starburst around it, so I’ll be adding that before the next holiday season, but at least the quilt is mostly done.

Xmas, 25.5″ x 31.5″

Whew!  2020 had some redeeming accomplishments despite all the “challenges”, as we like to call them!  I hope you find that the year had some good points for you, as well.

2020 Quilt Review, Part I

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Every problem being an opportunity, I think we’ll review the projects completed in 2020 because of the opportunity to spend much more time at home 😀  In fact, I got so much done that I’m splitting it into two posts so my head doesn’t spin.  Here’s part I:

Plaidish was made from a free pattern available from Kitchen Table Quilts

I designed the quilt above based on a barn quilt I saw every time I drove to town.  The design was created in EQ8 and Eileen Fowler at McCall’s Quilting transformed it into a design of her own, giving me credit for inspiration.

The above quilt was designed in EQ8 and made with scraps.  Studio Stitch offered the pattern free with purchase.  I loved using all my colorful scrap strips.

I made this after reading Happy Villages by Karen Eckmeier
This wonky house was inspired by a class I took with Laura Wasilowski several years ago
And this one gave me a chance to use one of my little antelope charms
This dragonfly has sparkly wings and a rhinestone, too
Finally, I couldn’t help making a card with this cow, who has been in my stash for some time!
This pine tree has green flannel for foliage and lots of free motion quilting for texture

I made a bunch of postcard-sized art quilts as samples for a class I plan to teach on making landscape quilts.  COVID happened, so the class hasn’t been offered yet.

I designed and made this little neighborhood after seeing similar projects online. Isn’t the internet a great source of inspiration?

Orphan Blocks
Orphan Blocks

I made a bunch of donation quilts, including the two above constructed from orphan blocks.  Several quilts went to a local at-risk infant project, and there’s another pile waiting to go to Ronald McDonald House.

I took a class with friends at A Stitch in Time and made this fall quilt.  They still have the pattern if you want to make one, too.

I made this orphan block up into a little quilt for the SAQA auction.

Like everyone else, I made a zillion of these. At least my model is cute 🙂

I enjoyed making this quilt and the templates from Elisa’s Backporch made it easy.

That is surely enough for one post!  To be continued…

Designing to Avoid Intersecting Seams

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My friend Chela asked about designing to avoid intersecting seams.  The goal is to make a quilt less “fussy” to construct. Here are 3 ways to do that. Thanks for the idea, Chela!

One of the easiest ways to avoid intersecting seams is to move alternate rows over 1/2 block. This can create interesting designs that you wouldn’t have suspected if you hadn’t tried it!

My most recent example is a quilt I designed for Studio Stitch:

Lightening. Read about it in last week’s post if you like.

Of course, many traditional patterns depend on the blocks lining up exactly to create visual interest.  They might not benefit from shifting half a block!  Just look at this:

Another favorite way to avoid obvious intersections is to partially frame blocks so that they appear offset. The intersections get lost in the background and the design is much more interesting. One of my favorite examples of this is the BQ2 pattern by Maple Island Quilts. 

I taught a class with this pattern and called it “Easier Than It Looks” because it is! The design looks complex but in reality it is just a matter of framing and rotating blocks. Here’s the quilt I made as a sample for the class:

Another example of partially framed blocks is my recent “Little Jewels” quilt:

And good news!  I tracked down the origin of this design and you can find instructions for it free on this website.

Here is an example of one block.

The “trick” is that each block is framed on two sides, making it asymmetrical.  Then alternate blocks are rotated 180 degrees so that any sense of quilt rows is lost!  Make a couple of scrap blocks and try it–it’s magic!  In truth, there are the usual intersections between blocks but the corners are almost impossible to see 😀

Finally, making blocks of different sizes certainly can be used to avoid intersecting seams. I consider this a design-as-you-go process and it does take both time and confidence, but it works well.  Here is one I made ages ago:

art quilt, gwen marston

Refrigerator quilt inspired by Gwen Marston. Bev Manus came up with the idea for refrigerator quilts.  Finished size 12″ x 12″

And here are some recent blocks up on the design wall to test a potential background fabric:

These blocks are all the same size (will finish 6″) but the sashing will be variable.  I’m setting them in vertical rows with variable distances between the rows, and variable distances between the blocks within each row!  No way will there be anything to line up 😀

Have a good week and share any tricks you have to avoid fussy intersections!

Little Jewels

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I found a quilt like this somewhere online, and you know I love improvised scrap quilts, so I just had to make it!  (Sadly, I have lost the link, so if you know where this came from originally, please let me know.)

It’s always a great idea to offset the intersecting seams!

My quilter was able to use Minky Dot for the backing and quilt it with no batting. That makes the quilt nice and cuddly without being too heavy.

I have been informed that the grandchildren prefer the quilts backed with polyester fleece for cuddling. The lighter weight of the quilt without batting also makes it ideal for dragging around the house or building forts and tents.

Polyester fleece can be a challenge to quilt because it stretches in at least one direction. The quilter told me that a midarm or long arm quilting machine does not have feed dogs, so stretching was not a problem, though the tension was a problem at times.  I suppose I could do free motion quilting with the feed dogs down on my domestic machine, but walking foot quilting might stretch the back.

Minky backing with no batting allows the quilt to drape nicely

Quilt stats:

Name: Quilted Jewels

Pattern source: anonymous picture on internet

Finished size: 46″ x 62″

Quilted by: Julia Madison