Pincushion Swap

Our STL MOdern Quilt Guild is having a pincushion swap in February. I've had this pattern for a while and have been wanting to make one for myself. That didn't get done - so I decided it would be perfect for the swap. And I get to go home with a modern pincushion, too!

Now I know that I'm definitely going to make a modern Dresden Plate this year. This is just too cute and too much fun. You can find the pattern here.

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Garden Fence

I first played with this block last Summer when I was inspired by the pillows on the cover of Martha Stewart Living. Shannon from Pieceful Quilter named it "Garden Fence" and the name stuck. Well, my top's finally done and I'm happy with the color combination of golds, yellows, grays and white. (how do you spell gray - grey or gray?)

This cold weather and snow is continuing to ruin my photography, so here's the best I can do. (And it requires moving furniture).

It's a super easy quilt to make and I think it would be awesome in lots of color combinations (Gray and pink, gray and aqua...)

Here are the cutting dimensions for one block that finishes at 10" (10 1/2" unfinished):

Center square: 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"

Outer rectangles: 4 - 2 1/2" x 3" and 4 - 2 1/2" x 5"

White: 2 - 1 1/2" x 4 1/2"; 2 - 1 1/2" x 6 1/2"; and 4 - 1 1/2" x 2 1/2"
To piece the block:

• Sew the white 4 1/2" and 6 1/2" rectangles to opposite sides of the center square.
• Sew the white 2 1/2" rectangles between 2 outer rectangles; add these to the center pieced square.

I simply added 1" finished (1 1/2" unfinished) white strips for sashing. Easy! Easy!

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Parisville...

As soon as Christmas is over, I'm ready for Spring. Lemons in the fruit bowl, yellow roses in the flower vase and colorful pink, yellow and green quilts on the sofa.

The sewing room is full of Spring colors too. I cut up my bundle of Tula Pink's Parisville using June Bug, a pattern from Thimbleblossoms.
An easy pattern. I had the pieced blocks done in an afternoon. I'm still working on the applique blocks. Nine out of 28 done.

And my wonderful friends gave me a gift certificate from Hawthorn Threads for my birthday. I chose a bunch of "basics" from different lines to compliment my busier prints. I'm currently in love with houndstooth. Yes, this girl's easy to please!

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Zig Zag Love...

My Zig Zag quilt is done! I'm so happy with the results, especially the colors. Not a color combination I've tried before.

Gray, white, yellow and aqua...

And the back came out as pretty as the front. I used a gray Aurifil thread that had some subtle variegations in it. It was actually kind of an accident (or maybe a leap of faith), but the variegated thread created an interesting effect. I quilted each row in a "Feather Plume". The idea came from this Zig Zag quilt I found in my Zig Zag searching. The quilting was beautiful and she got the idea from this quilter.

Now for my little mishap story. I pin basted the whole quilt and as I added the LAST row of pins, I realized the backing was a little short at one end (I now think I had the quilt turned the wrong way on the backing). Not wanting to unpin and repin the whole quilt and knowing I had extra backing fabric, I decided that when I got to that end I would simply unpin a little and stitch another strip on to the backing. Of course when I was quilting and was almost done, in my haste I completely forgot to add the additional strip. My first thoughts were to unquilt (ugh!) or trim the quilt shorter (and ruin the design!). My easy solution was to take a strip of backing fabirc, turn under 1/4" on one long edge and applique it to the back. Voila! It worked (and actually looks like a sleeve). I hope you're never in that situation - but it seems like a good solution.

There are lots of ways to make a Zig Zag quilt. Here's my easy method. My quilt is 60" wide (10 triangles across) and 72" long (24 rows at 3" each).

From each fabric, cut a 7 1/4" strip. From the strip, cut 5 squares 7 1/4", cut twice diagonally and 1 square 3 7/8", cut once diagonally. You'll only need 19 of the large triangles.

Each row has 10 large triangles of one color and 9 large triangles plus 2 small triangles of another. Place them like this with one small triangle at one end...
and another small triangle at the other end.
Piecing these triangles is simple if you know the tricks. When sewing the small triangle on the ends, match up the 45 degree corners. On the opposite end you'll notice a corner hanging off also called the "dog ear" in quilting terms.
When you piece your large triangles together, you'll see that you have a "dog ear" on both ends. Line them up so that the inside of that little "V" that they form is 1/4" from the edge. When you first do this you may want to measure, but after you've done it for a while you can certainly eye-ball it.
Just keep making more and more rows and sew them together. You can use one set of triangles to split between the top and bottom rows.

Good luck! Let me know if you make one. I'm sleeping under mine tonight!

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2010 Wrap-Up

I'm back home after a wonderful Christmas in San Diego. Really, didn't miss the white Christmas a bit! A few of you asked about my red and green Christmas quilt. It's one of the five quilts in my book Flowers All Around.

Last year many quilt bloggers wrapped up the year by posting all the quilt projects they had done through the year. I was bummed. I hadn't kept track and had no idea how much or little I had really created. This year is different! Here are my projects from 2010. Many are small and several were UFO's finally completed this year. But 31 in all. I'm pretty happy!

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Merry Christmas to you!

Time for a little blogging and sewing break to spend some time with the family! I've got lots of fun plans for the new year, some new ideas and plenty of pretty fabric to sew. I finished quilting my Zig Zag quilt and I plan on giving you the directions on how to make one. Several people have asked. It's really easy. I had a little mess up on the quilting - after it was quilted, I discovered my back wasn't long enough. I think I have a solution - I'll have to share with you!

The grey and yellow quilt is ready to be sewn together. It's at the top of the list for 2011.

I'm also working on a new Moda Bake Shop project. It's looking adorable and if you need an easy baby quilt for 2011 - stay tuned.

Thank you so much for hanging out with me here! Happy Holidays and may the new year bring you many blessings! See you in 2011!!

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One of my favorite...

quilts! This turned out to be one of those quilts I just love to look at. I felt that way making it and feel the same now that it's done. The pattern is just simple squares surrounded by scrappy borders.

It's probably the fabrics... I used mostly Meadow Sweet 2 with some Amy Butler oldies thrown in.

I love the mix of the aqua blues, greens with a very soft red thrown in.
I did simple straight line quilting. And here's a tip - if you have trouble eyeballing straight lines, lay a paper strip (Card stock or manila folder) from point to point and quilt along the edge. No problem with your needle if you hit the paper a little.
I had a real hard time photographing this baby. The best quilt photography is outside in the shade. The colors come out perfectly. But, it's December and cold, so I had to settle inside with some flash. It really is prettier than the pictures! So do you have a favorite, too?

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