Picnic Quilt

I hope everyone out there had a nice holiday weekend. We had perfect weather all weekend, which gave us a lot of beach and park time. I can't believe it's Thursday already. The week has flown by with very little sewing time.

I was able to get some nice pictures of my picnic quilt at the park over the weekend:

 





Quite windy...but at least it was nice and sunny.

This was the first quilt I finished earlier this Spring. It was hand quilted, so it took an extra long time to finish. I spent many evenings hand quilting to get this one finished--and spent a lot of time with the seam ripper along the way.

This weekend was also my first time taking quilt photos outside (or during the day). Makes a world of difference.

 

 

I'm off this weekend on a wedding road trip. I love road trips, and weddings.

 

Happy Friday!

 

Linked to Nini & the Sea and My Quilt Infatuation.

 

Saturday Morning Tea and Succulents

Yay for Saturday and 3 day weekends!

I got a great idea yesterday from Stephanie at Late Night Quilter. She linked a post on Nini & The Sea's Weekly Inspiration Party which inspired me to plant my succulents in a new container.

I love tea pots, and had an extra "teapot for one" that I don't really use, so I created this:

 

And this...

Still need to wipe off the excess dirt.
 

And here they are on the window sill in my sewing corner

 

Next to mom and mum-in-law with Elvis :)



Stephanie posted some instructions here, it's a very easy and fun project (I hope--we'll see if these plants survive.)

Now back to finishing up the binding on my quilt, then off to enjoy a very sunny day at the park.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!


Linking to Nini & The Sea's Weekly Inspiration Party.

Mod Blocks with Spots

I made a lot of progress on the blocks for a quilt I'm making from my Amy Butler Spots Jelly Roll.



I really love the geometric prints and mod feel of this line. I think this is my favorite block.

 

 

I started with making a bunch of 2.5 inch squares into these 6 inch blocks. I wanted to do a more modern design, and maximize the number of blocks I could make with just one jelly roll. This was a great way to do it as I still have enough strips left to make another quilt top, or do a scrappy binding.



 

This is where I'm at so far. My inspiration for the layout came from the Grape Crush Quilt from SewKatieDid. (I love all of her quilts)

 

 

I'm still not sure how I want to finish the top. I might frame to blocks again, in another color or just frame the blue with pink and vice versa... I also don't know what to do with the background. For now I'll wait to see what comes to me.

 

Linking with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday, and Nini & The Sea's new Weekly Inspiration Party

 

 

 



Scrappy Pillows

I made new pillow cases for our new pillows from Ikea. 

 

 

This one is Tom's, he likes scrappier quilts. 

 

 

Looks like I still need to trim some threads.

 

This was my first attempt a machine quilting, I'm quite happy with it.

 

Here's mine:

 

 

And here they are together:

 

I really enjoyed sewing and piecing without a plan, and without measuring. I may be ready to do this on a bigger quilt now :) Or I may just cover the sofa and our bed with tiny pillows.

 

I used this tutorial from Crazy Mom Quilts, I'm not great at following directions, but these turned out just right with her instructions.

 

This was handy because I'd never heard of an envelope backed pillow. My mom always sewed the cases shut. Maybe I should show her, I don't think she follows directions all the time either :) or I could make her some, she always has lots of tiny pillows about.





Linking to TGIFF hosted this week at My Quilt Infatuation

Work in Progress - HST Lone Star Quilt

I was able to make a lot of progress on my HST Lone Star quilt this weekend. My husband has gotten tired of the sound of our sewing machine.

It would be nice if we had a spare room for sewing and quilting...but for now I have my "design wall" (tablecloth) hanging on our living room wall...

And I've taken over "our" desk and chair for my sewing and quilting purposes. I don't think he gets it, I should take him to the beach next weekend.

As long as I get some quilting done. This is now basted and ready for quilting. It's "due" at the end of the month, and I'd really like to go out of town on Memorial day weekend. We'll see what this weekend brings.

This will also be the biggest thing I've ever tried to quilt on my machine (74 X 74). Wish me luck!

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and

 

 
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Supernova Friendship Swap

This month, Stephanie of Late Night Quilter and Sandra of One million stitches are starting a Supernova Friendship Block Swap.

This is based on a Quilt-Along from Lee at Freshly Pieced. 



Here is Lee's quilt from the original Quilt-Along

I love the design, the background, the colors... I'm very excited to make my very own with my partner, Amy. The idea is that each month we'll make two identical blocks, one to keep and one to swap.

We've decided on an aqua, orange and grey color scheme.

We'll be using scraps along with fat quarter bundles on A.E. Nathan, Co.'s Quiltology. (from www.fabricworm.com)

I love this fabric line, and the color combination. I think this will look great with my bright orange Ikea sofa.

I'm also excited for my first swap, and can't wait for my fabric to arrive so I can get started, eek!

Happy Sunday (and Mother's Day!) to all.


















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My First Sunday Stash

This is my first Sunday Stash, and my first published post, so I thought I'd share my first fabric buy:

The first fabric I have ever bought was this jelly roll of Amy Butler Spots for Rowan fabrics.

I'm not sure of how to get a nice picture of a jelly roll, but I don't think this is it...

I've been looking at it for the past month, afraid to open it or cut anything. I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing (and had a couple of practice quilts under my belt) before opening this one.

I love Amy Butler's designs, and I love geometric prints (I'm not a flower person), so this is perfect for me. I've decided to use it to make almost matching surprise quilts for my sisters. I have a sort of plan for the layouts, and I can't wait to cut into these strips!

My newly starched and pressed strips, ready to be cut!