A Two-fer

That's right, I've got a post that is BOTH a Finish it up Friday AND a Free Motion Friday quilt! I've finally taken pictures of my completed Star Jump Quilt.

Just hanging in the grove. 

I finished sewing the binding while at the regional science fair (the binding took an hour or two, the science fair took 20. We have 3 teams moving on to state! It was worth it). 

Star Jump Quilt, Pattern by Jess of The Elven Garden

I made the Star Jump Quilt as a pattern tester for Jess of The Elven Garden. I really liked the chain elements of the pattern, and my color choices gave the whole quilt a kind of a vintage feel. I was going for a genderless baby quilt, although it is probably a bit mature for a baby quilt. 

The background fabric is Carolyn Friedlander from Doe, and I also backed the quilt in more of her fabrics. 

Back of the quilt

I also added in a Lotta Jansdotter fabric that I absolutely fell in love with. I was so happy to have some scraps left over after quilting this guy!

My traditional label. Stamped! Also, close up of Lotta Jansdotter fabric.

Here you can kind of see the quilting. This is the first quilt I've free motion quilted. I learned with a Craftsy class, and now I just need to keep practicing. For this quilt I just radiated figure 8's from the center. 

Quilting texture

It's modern, it's traditional, it's textural. I love the effect. I just need to keep practicing so that I end up liking all the 8's. It stinks when I get a wonky one and that's all I can see. 

Center quilting.

For the center square I did long wiggles back and forth. It was good practice, and I like how it's a little different from the rest of the quilting.

All rolled up with nowhere to go.  Now I've got to find a home for it. So far, I've got two potentials, but I'm not sure who to gift it to. 

All the pictures are taken pre-wash. I just haven't had time to wash it AND take pictures! I also have to wash it because so far the cat's claimed it and he's leaving plenty of hair behind to prove it. 

I'm going to link up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, and this quilt is on my Q1 finish along list, so at least I can cross one thing off!

As an endnote, here's a crazy link I found while searching for the original link to Jess's Star Jump Quilt Post. Apparently it's an image of my version of her quilt top and people vote if they think it is 'funny', 'cool', 'interesting', or 'stupid'. So far, stupid is winning! Who comes up with this stuff?
 

Scrappy Baby Quilt

I had fun with this one. I didn't really start with a plan, just some blocks I like. A few pineapples here, a few birdies there, all surrounded in low volume prints.

Racing through the orange grove. 

One of the aspects of making a quilt like this that I enjoy most is how putting everything together is like a puzzle. I know I mentioned recently that my 1/4 seams aren't always completely accurate. Some people would really worry about that, but since they're always off by the same amount it just kind of works out. 

Leaping foxes. 

Also, I've become way less focused on 'perfect' intersections. Though, I admit, I do get annoyed if things don't line up the way I wanted them to. Here my measurements worked out. 

The whole shebang.

I ended up with three central pineapple blocks. Each with a fussy cut center. They're surrounded by 8 birds on the long sides. I kind of wish that I had them both looking towards the center, but I'm ok with they way they've ended up. Then on the top and bottom are some low volume bricks, and its all finished with a set of novelty corners. 

Still life: quilt draped over bricks. 

As you can see, I had fun with this photoshoot. I walked around the citrus grove, and it was a nice evening light. The only problem was the breeze, but I think I made it work in my favor. 

Terrible editing, but I liked this picture so much!

I'm going to link up with Finish it up Friday. Tomorrow is our regional science fair. I've got to be at school at 5 am for the trip to the science fair. Then I get to wait around for hours while the students meet with the judges. I'm bringing a quilt to bind, so hopefully I'll have a finished quilt (not just top) to share soon too! Keep your fingers crossed for my little nerd squad. May they do well enough to continue competing in science fairs even if they don't win a prize!

WiP Wednesday {Scrappy Birds}

Bird bod.

After I finished my 'The Birds and the Butterflies' quilt I continued to gaze upon those border birds. They just catch my eye, and I can't stop staring. I think it's because they're just cute enough to love, but not so old fashioned that they feel dated. 

100% scraps!

As mentioned before, I used a tutorial from Block Lotto. It's pretty straight forward, and you can personalize details like the beak shape and leg arrangement.

That blue Amy Butler print is one of my favorites!

I made 8 all together, and am going to use them as a border for the Pineapple Blocks I made the other week.

I like the movement the leg angle gives this birdie. 

I'm following along with Meadow Mist Design's pattern design series, and I think I'm going to adapt this block into a baby quilt size.  I've got a co-worker with twins on the way... maybe that is the motivation I need for a test quilt (or two!) 

Linking up to WiP Wednesday with Lee of Freshly Pieced. 

WiP Wednesday {Pineapples}

I love finicky, time consuming, old fashioned blocks. Which is funny, because I also love the free-form unpredictable nature of improv blocks. Anyway, I like finding shortcuts to traditional blocks. I'm working on a baby quilt, and I decided that I wanted to start with square-in-square blocks as 'I Spy' type blocks.

Some fussy cut centers. 

I took some of my novelty fabrics and added on some of the Melody Miller Apples from her Picnic collection I had on the top of my stash. From there, though, I wasn't sure where to go. I decided I wanted to make pineapple blocks. I didn't want to foundation piece them though! I adapted the tutorial by Crazy Mom Quilts for foundation free pineapple blocks. For mine, the centers ended about 6" square. I added 2.5" strips to the sides, and would trim as needed to get the pineapple growing. 

Octopus center.

I sewed for 5 rounds, and they finished about 17" square. Since I didn't do any math before I started I'm not sure if they were supposed to end that size. I know I wasn't being as precise as I could be as I sewed along.

Monaluna Llama Love center. 

I used scrappy fabrics for the blocks. I tried to keep it to the more primary colors: yellow, blue, red, grey, alternating with scrappy low volume fabrics. 

Melody Miller Mustang, with a little Charley Harper peeking out. 

I liked seeing these grow, but I was over it after I finished 6 blocks. Since these are going towards a baby quilt, I decided to stop for now. 

Meow! Cat from Austria. 

I'm almost finished with the next component of the quilt. It was inspired by a relatively recent finish. Can't wait to see how they look together!

Monaluna Roost center. 

Linking up to WiP Wednesday with Lee from Freshly Pieced!

2016 Q1 Finish Along

Looking back at my entries I haven't participated in the Finish Along since the first quarter of 2015! That's a whole year ago! It's because I ended up traveling for 2 months, and then made the huge life change of moving to Texas and becoming a teacher. I still find it hard to find time to sew, but I'm getting better at accepting I can't go on a sewing binge, I have to take the small increments of time I have free and make them count!

This quarter I've got 4 quilts I would like to finish.

Baby sized Star Jump quilt by Jess of Elven Garden Quilts

First up is this baby quilt I made as a pattern tester. I just need a back and to get started with the quilting. It's going to be my first FMQ practice!

Star Cakes by the Fat Quarter Shop

Then it's on to this quilt I did for the Fat Quarter Shop. I've got the backing, I just need to baste, quilt, and bind it. So, basically everything. 

Birds for a border.

I'm piecing together a baby quilt, and I've got the central blocks, and now I've got some birds to incorporate. I need to finish the top, and finish the quilt!

Stash Bee cranes. So pretty!

Finally, if I'm so inclined, I'm going to finish my Stash Bee blocks from this year. I was a terrible hivemate, and ended out dropping out near the end of the year. I just had too much on my plate last year, and couldn't balance everything. My goal is to put these blocks together and make a quilt for my sister. I think it will have a lot of meaning for her, and it will make me feel better to use these blocks instead of keep them hidden away. At least everybody's work will not have gone to waste!

So, 4 complete quilts in three months. Doable. I'm on a decent slow paced sewing timeframe, and I think I'll be able to do it. Plus, as I keep mentioning, my motivation is to start working on the Improv Quilter's Handbook, but I can't do that until some of these WiPs are out of the way!

I'll leave you with a pic of my handsome doggie-doo on top of some completed quilts!

Linking up to WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, and with the 2016 Q1 Finish Along!

HST Sampler for Rose

I haven't been blogging much because I haven't been sewing much. I come home from teaching and the gym, have to walk the dog, and have to make sure I know what to do the next day and by the time that's all done I'm beat and need to hit the hay. Well, this weekend I finally made the time for some sewing.

Some HSTs. 

I agreed to make a quilt or pillow for an auction that benefited my friend's doula co-op. The winner was a woman named Rose, who likes samplers and modern fabrics in primary colors. I decided that I would make a HST sampler using a scrappy low volume background. And it's all completely from my stash. I had fun using some of the fabrics that I bought because they jumped out at me, but I've never had a reason to use before. 

Some warmer colors. 

So glad I finally found a project for these elephants!

I made nine 12-inch blocks for the sampler. I was definitely happy that I had the block loc ruler to help with all the HSTs. I'm so sick of making them! I was a little hesitant about the cohesiveness of my background, and if the fabrics I chose as the feature for each block would work out ok. Seeing them together and from farther away I'm happy with it, and I hope Rose likes it. 

I decided to arrange the blocks in a sort of rainbow layout, which I haven't tried before. 

The final layout. 

Now I just need to figure out how to quilt it!!

Seaside Baby Quilt - Finished!

I finished the baby quilt! And, another little project with the scraps (I'll show the extra project a little later).

The 'front' of the quilt. 

As I previously mentioned, I wanted to try and create an abstract representation of the seaside, and sun, and birds flying. It's ok, although there are numerous things I would tweak (color choices, some sizing of the curves). So, I created a simple striped back, using child-friendly fabrics. That way it's fully reversible!

The 'back' of the quilt. 

I was going with an outdoors/animal theme for this side. I used two layers of batting because I wanted the quilt to be kind of puffy, although I'm not sure how much I actually like it. I was just thinking that in Florida it's kinda hot...not a huge demand for quilts...could be a playmat, too? 

Back and quilting detail. 

I quilted all over with horizontal wavy lines. It represents wind, water, and goes well with horizontal stripes. Winning all around! I used a bit of wee wander for the binding, and love how it complemented both sides of the quilt!

Quilt or log? 

All in all, this was a quick quilt to put together, and I really enjoyed the curved piecing. I like that it's reversible, and I like the colors for a boy quilt. Do I sound like I'm trying to convince myself? There are definitely things I'd change on a future model, but I'm happy with this one, and proud to send it onto it's new home.

Cameos by Big Red and Picasso. 

In other news, the animals had fun observing my photoshoot on the Farm! 

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Up Friday.

Quilt for Baby H

My old roommate had her baby! A healthy happy baby boy from the pictures! And, I've just about finished the top. I was going for an abstract beach day, to go with the estuary theme of the nursery.

Quilt up on my living room wall! Small picture is postcard size if you're determining scale. 

I think it went a little too abstract, so I'm going to piece the back in rows with a bunch of cute prints. That way she can use whichever side she wants! My favorite part is the sun, where the curves all meet up. I think the part I don't like so much is the ocean - I should have gone a little darker with my 'foam' color. It's too close to one of the sky colors. 

Close up of piecing. 

I made simple quarter circles and cut every block down to 6", then pieced the top together. The curved piecing was a lot simpler and faster than I thought it would be, I just used a pin at the center and one at the start and worked my way around.

Blocks laid out - colors are off!

I had fun playing around with the blocks before I settled on the layout. I liked the feeling of this image, even though the colors are way off. Maybe I'll make a half square circle quilt...that's the curvy equivalent of a half square triangle, right?