Harvest - My Modern Maples Quilt is Finished!

Success! I finally managed to steal a few hours during the daytime this week to take pictures of my finished maple leaf quilt. I have been calling this one November Rain, because I thought I'd finish in November...ha! I'm now calling it Harvest, but it's not labeled, so I guess I can call it whatever I want.  

 

 

Last October was my month to be Queen Bee for the New Quilt Bloggers Bee (we all met during Plum and June's New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop). I asked the group to make modern maples blocks finishing at 12 or 18 inches, so I could add additional gray to fill in areas and wouldn't have to worry about everything lining up as much.

 

 

It took a couple months for me to figure out how to piece everything together. The plan was to piece them together with some plain gray solids to even things up. I ended up with 9 big blocks, and 13 small blocks, so I couldn't exactly split up the top into quadrants and piece them together that way.

 

 

I cut up some graph paper, and played with the pieces until I came up with a layout which I thought was fairly balanced (I love puzzles!). It took a while to get it all together, but now I feel like I'm practically an expert with y-seams! At least they don't make me nervous any more.

 



I quilted it with wavy horizontal lines every couple of inches or so. I didn't measure anything, but just filled in the spaces until it looked like there was enough quilting.

 

 

For the binding I used some Cotton and Steel basics, leftover from a couple of the blocks I made on the top. I used mammoth flannel for the back, and I really love it! It is super soft, and I think the plaid fits in with the fall-theme on the front of the quilt. My husband has requested that I use flannel to back all future quilts.

 

We've gotten a lot of use out of this for the last few weeks--it is "cold" here in Hollywood, and we need quilts to stay warm in this 60 degree weather. It's not quite bed-sized (around 80 x 80) but it works as an extra layer of warmth on our bed, or the sofa. I was glad to finish it while the weather here is still cool.

 

 

As you can see, my wavy quilting had a bit of an influence on the plaid backing, and the nice straight lines of plaid are a little wavy now. Oh well--this was made for snuggling under!

 

 

 

This is definitely my new favorite quilt. I loved the variety of blocks, and having different sizes to work with made things a lot easier for me--I am realizing more and more that I'm much more comfortable with improv style piecing.

 

A big thank you to the ladies who helped piece this quilt--My first bee has been a success! I hope you're enjoying it as much as I have. I can't wait to see everyone else's finished quilts.

 

Blocks pieced by:

 

Pam @ Sewing Wilde

Lin @ Lin's Quilts

Debbie @ Quilting Makes my Heart Sing

Jill @ Pie Lady Quilts

Stephanie @ Late Night Quilter

Christina @ Wips and Tuts

Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs

Afton @ Quilting Mod

 

Also, this is my first posted finish for the 2015 FAL. 

This week I'm linking up with  NTT Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and the Weekly Inspiration Linky Party at Nini and The Sea

Bee Block Round-Up

Happy Sunday!

I've had a very productive January so far, and have been able to finish up a lot of my goals for the 2015 FAL (more on those soon, weather permitting).

I also finished my bee blocks for this month over the weekend, while binge-watching the entire first season of Outlander on Xfinity (I'm already on the 5ht or 6th book, and I love it!)

The first blocks I made were for Nela, our swap mama for Stash Bee, hive 6. Nela requested swamp angel blocks, in complementary colors.

I also finished up Christina's blocks for our New Quilt Bloggers bee. These two were the most challenging bee blocks I've had so far--they each had 20 flying geese in them! I love how they look though, and I love her inspiration. I can't wait to see this one finished, maybe one day (when I feel like making flying geese again) I'll make some more of these blocks, I think they look great together. If you're interested, she has a tutorial on her blog.

Cheryl (our Queen bee for February) requested a super-sized scrappy tiles block, from her own pattern. This one was a lot of fun to make--and it was super quick. I love mixing up my blue scraps to get the perfect arrangement. I've been into scrappy blocks lately, so this was right up my alley. This block was 24 x 24, so she'll end up with a bed sized quilt.

 

I love being in bees and swaps, but it is always a relief when I finish my blocks and send them off (it's also exciting to finish some ahead of time!).

I am hoping for better weather next weekend, so I can take photos of some of my bigger finishes in the daylight. It's still dark when I get home from work--I am ready for spring time! (but dreading the rainy hurricane season...there is no pleasing me, ha!)

Thanks for stopping by :)

Colorado Beauty - Finished and Posted!

Woohoo!! I finally uploaded all of the pictures I took in December, and I now have a finish to share.

I finished my Colorful Colorado/Colorado Beauty quilt just in time for Christmas, and took these on the way to the post office. (I haven't actually settled on a name)

I wrote about my process, and design for this quilt here.

 
It was quite windy, and my husband is a little bit short, so it was touch to get a good photo of the quilt this way. If you look at it this way (which is sideways if you look at my original plan) you can see the Twin Peaks in the blue HSTs. I grew up in Longmont, so Long's Peak and Mt Meeker are the most noticeable part of the horizon.

 
This was a decent sized quilt, so it was hard to get a good horizontal photo of it. I hope you can see from these pictures the "map" of Colorado, with the desert, mountains and plains. I am so proud of this quilt, and I really love how it turned out. I'm glad it went to a good home, but I am thinking about making another similar quilt.

 
I did straight line quilting, 1/4 inch from all of the borders between the background and the different colors. The lines are about 4-5 inches apart. I wanted to do less quilting on this one, as I wanted it to stay nice and soft.

I did a small amount of hand quilting, just in the center Colorado Beauty block (or Denver on my map).

Denver.

I used an orange Juliana Horner print for most of the back. I also used up most of my extra scrappy blocks. You can't really tell in the pictures, but I did a scrappy binding, with solid navy, green and yellow.

 



This one was a little hard to let go of, but I'm glad it went to a good home where it will be loved :)

This was a great quilt to finish 2014 with--I feel like it was a great way to combine a lot of the things I love into a special quilt for a good friend, and my favorite place. I got to use a lot of my scraps (I'm shocked by how many I've accumulated in the last 9 months!). I also think it's a good representation of me as a quilter. I really enjoyed the process here--playing with scraps, and coming up with an original design, and I am so happy with the result. It turned out much better than I had pictured it. I can't believe how far I've come since my first quilt back in April!

This week I'm linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story,  NTT Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and the Weekly Inspiration Linky Party at Nini and The Sea

2015 Finish along - Quarter 1

As part of my New Year's resolutions, I really wanted to clear away the clutter, and finish up my WIPs. My goal for the new year is to finish most of my WIPs early on (I don't have many!) and leave the rest of the year for newer projects.

Luckily, a few of them are so close to being done...and I should have a few done in the next week or two (I hope!).

I am joining the Finish Along with Adrianne at On the Windy Side, in hopes that a link up and potential prizes will motivate me to finish some of the things hanging over my head.

1. My first project is finishing my modern maples quilt. This is from my New Quilt Bloggers bee. As of today, it is quilted and the binding is sewn on the front. I just need to sew the binding down to the back, bury some threads, and wash it. It's backed in flannel, and I cannot wait to cuddle under this one on the couch. South Florida winters are short! It has dropped to 60 degrees at night here--for me that's cold enough to need a flannel quilt.

2. My supernova friendship swap quilt. I'm so close to finishing the hand quilting. I am trying to finish this one in the next week or two. I think the final link-up is at the end of the month. Also, I just really want to have it done, it's so bright, and will be my new "sofa quilt."

3. My carpenter's wheel quilt. This one needs two more borders (just solid). I received the backing fabric this week, so I'm hoping to baste it soon, and get started on the quilting. This one will be going on my bed, so I really want to finish it soon!

4. A beach tote, for my mom and sister. They're stopping by in Ft Lauderdale before leaving on a cruise in a couple weeks. I hope to have this finished by then, so they can take it with them. I have the fabric ready, and a plan. I just need to cut and sew.

5. My 2nd Moneta. I made one last summer, and bought the fabric to make two more. They never got made. I want to make at least one in Q1. I chose springtime fabrics, so I want them to be ready for spring.

6. My AMH Art Student Tote. I got this pattern, and the Priory Square fabric for Christmas. I am hoping to improve my bag making skills a bit, and finish this one. I love the size of this bag, and know I'll get a ton of use out of it.

7. Rainbow wall hanging (based off of the Fiesta Wall Hanging in Quilting Modern). I am making this one for my local modern quilting group's exhibit in the Broward Quilt Expo in March. I have started piecing it, but need to have it finished by mid-February. Luckily, it's small.

8. Flying geese quilt for my brother. I am trying to make an improv style flying geese quilt for my brother using my 'manliest' fabrics. I haven't pieced anything, and have only cut a bit. This one is a huge stretch for Q1.

9. My AMH Feather Pillows. I made a few extra blocks when making bee blocks for Stephanie at Late Night Quilter. The plan is to re-do a couple of my sofa cushion covers with these. This is a small project, so I may just save it for mid-March, when I'm feeling like a loser for not finishing anything (ha!). Luckily, this one could be finished in an evening or two.

I think this is enough to keep me busy, and I'm hoping that I will make a dent in these projects (or finish them!). Most are either small projects, or nearly finished projects, so I'm optimistic!

Wish me luck!

Winter Trees: A Finished Mini

I can't believe it's January 2nd, and I already have a finished quilt:

 

I made this as part of the Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap. I was inspired by these blocks I made for Jill @ Pie Lady Quilts for our online bee. These improv trees were so much fun to make, and I thought it would be fun to make a quilt using the same block. 

 

 

My partner seemed to like nature inspired quilts, and blues/greens, so I thought these would be perfect for their quilt. Along with the improv trees, I made some blocks with birch style trees to break things up a bit (inspired my Crazy Mom Quilts)

 

 

I decided to quilt this with wonky square/spirals.

 



I love how the yellow tree stands out! I called it winter trees because the blues and newsprint made me think of winter. Also, there are no leaves on the trees, which seems wintery to me.

For the binding I just used solid blue, I can't remember which shade this is...and just a tiny bit of Kona Grass. For the back, I used a leftover Juliana Horner print from the backing of another quilt. I know it doesn't match, but my partner likes orange...and it's going on a wall :)

 

 

This is my first swap, and my first mini. I'm really happy with how it turned out--I hope my partner loves it too! I also had fun trying something new (thanks Jill!). I'm also looking forward to seeing what I get in the mail later this month!

 

Hope everyone had a very Happy New Year!

 

Because it's Friday, I'm linking with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and the Weekly Inspiration Linky Party at Nini and The Sea