Finished Starburst

Melissa happened to announce her Starburst quilt a long at the same time I was pondering which pattern to make for my sister-in-law's quilt.  She had already picked out her choice of fabrics and I was trying to decide what pattern after only being in her house 3 times, the latest being 3 years ago.  This seemed to be perfect to match with her fabric choice, Northcott Gold Leaf Metallic.  

Since it was about 10 days before her birthday and I still needed to quilt the her sons' quilts, I decided to quilt it with just a small meandering stitch.  Thank you Melissa for your great tutorial.

 Fabrics: Moda Snow and Northcott Gold Leaf Metallic
Pattern: Starburst by Melissa Corry (the 32" block size)
Quilted by me with a smaller meandering stipple
Backing: Ivory flannel by Kaufman

Size: About 76 x 76"

Small rounds

 I finished the two baby quilts for a friend having twins this week using the leftovers from Nephew #2's quilt.

The single circle is quilted with meandering loops and bound with Lace Elements.  The double circle is quilted with swirls and bound with a print from Kate Spain's Cuzco.

I didn't realize that taking pictures without the flash would make the quilting stand out better in the picture until after I took the picture.  I did not develop a good rhythm for uniform sized swirls, but am glad I finally tried it as an all over design.    

Originally I intended to try a different type of quilting in the circles but consulted the 5 year old style consultant and quilt photographer who thought that the swirls should continue.  

Now I just need to decide what my next project should be, a dress for the 5 year old or starting a quilt for other niece and nephew who live just a few miles away from the other two.  Politically, perhaps I should start the quilts.  Hope you are having a wonderful day.

Nephew quilt #2

Nephew #2 quilt is finally finished and ready to ship.  Quilt holder was working today until dark.  I wanted to have it ready to go out in the mail tonight, so I only have inside, dark pictures.  I have two baby quilts to make with the extra blocks so I will try to get better pictures of those.  

 I have 7.25" horizontal sashing strips between the circles because it was the size of my center squares for the circles.  The vertical strips were 2.75 to match the finished HST size.  The quilt was made bigger to try to make it nearly identical in size to his brother's quilt.

 And I wish I would have looked at the back strip to match up the pattern better before I had sewn it to one side of the backing.

Pattern:  based on Round and Round by Thimble Blossoms but with different measurements.

Finished size:  about 70 x 86"

Fabrics: Cuzco by Kate Spain, Spot on by Kaufman (binding), Pearl Bracelets and Jewels by Lizzy House, Ironwork by Sandi Henderson, Ta Dot by Michael Miller, Oval and Nature Elements by Art Gallery, Metro Living by Kaufman, Prince Charming by Tula Pink.  Backing is from Birds and Bees by Tula Pink and Bella Mist and Michael Miller Solids in Boy.

Quilted: by me with an all over stipple.

Number of machine needles needed to quilt:  three, a new record for me

Number of pierced safety pins:  two.  oops.  

I unpicked the seam for the bee block and it looks a little better now.  Still is odd with the smaller center piece.  5 days until a long weekend.  YAY!

Scrappy X block

For the Beejeebers bee, I made a scrappy X block for Jamie (who is the author of the tutorial as well).  I should have made the point pieces slightly larger because it looks funny to me with the blue piece being so small next to the purple.  It makes me think that they don't line up.  Unfortunately, the pink on the other side isn't much bigger.  But this does mark the first time I've used starch.  And now, I need to quilt the Round and Round quilt so I can sort scraps and do something with them.

Scruffily pillow

Today, my daughter and I sewed a new pillow cover.  She chose the fabrics and ran the machine while I guided it and told her when to stop and start.  It was a nice and simple project to complete during the weekly grocery shopping trip.  

Using the Scruffily Pillow Tutorial by Rachel of P.S. I Quilt.  We just added a small heart and attached it with fusible web before sewing it down.

2 finished, 1 to go.... and some trees

I spent last weekend trying to make some trees with measurements that could be manageable for 5th graders to sew as part of an art project.  The artist who is helping them is trying to recreate Jinny Beyer's Enchanted Forest quilt.  Not being a big fan of sewing long rows myself and thinking that each student probably would like to have the satisfaction of making one tree, I suggested blocks instead of rows.  We quickly eliminated the tops of one tree being a part of the bottom of the next tree.  I sent measurements, directions and the sample blocks but am waiting to hear back from her as to whether or not she liked any of the tree sizes.  

 My Starburst quilt a long quilt is complete and sent to my SIL.  It reached her during the arctic front so hopefully she was able to curl up and look out at the cold from the comfort of her house.  I wasn't a big fan of the fabrics at first but I really like it.  Totally possible to complete this in a weekend if I were to ignore the other residents of my household which I did not do.

Fabrics: Moda Snow and Northcott Gold Leaf Metallic
Pattern: Starburst by Melissa Corry (the 32" block size)
Quilted by me with a smaller meandering stipple
Backing: Ivory flannel by Kaufman

Size: About 76 x 76"

Nephew #1's  quilt was also finished over the MLK holiday weekend.  My normal quilt holder fractured his foot so we had to trade roles for the picture.  First I present the back.....

 And then the front.

Pattern: Ring Toss by Allison Harris of Cluck, Cluck, Sew

Finished size:  about 66 x 90"
Fabrics:  Nature and Oval Elements, Metro Living, Stof, Michael Miller Ikat,  Dear Stella (the red with white), Odyssea and Kaufman Spot On in Cardinal.  Backing is a Dear Stella print.
Quilted by: me with meandering loops

Even though this involved sewing the rows vertically, and I don't enjoy sewing long rows if I can help it, I would be more than willing to make this again.  It went together pretty quickly after the cutting and the directions were well written.  

Nephew #2 finally has a quilt top completed and the backing is pieced.  Hopefully I can get it basted tomorrow and then quilt it this week.  This is based on Round and Round but with modifications to make it larger and to use the 6.5" squares from the failed attempt at Bizzy Kid.

I separated each block into nine patches and then sewed them together rather than sew rows.  That's just my preference.  I think part of it has to do with having small helpers who like to pick up pieces.  This was not an easy one to put together with helpers around.  I was so close to having 3 finishes within the month of January!

Hope you all are having a wonderful day!

A busy weekend

 I scrapped the Bizzy Kid idea and went with Round and Round by Camille of Thimbleblossoms.  I'm using a completely different method since Bizzy Kid left me with 6.5 inch squares of various purples and blues already cut.  Camille's method would probably have resulted in less trimming, but a bit more fabric waste.  Now I am slowly working through the cutting, pressing and trimming of 225+ HST before attempting to assemble the circles.  It will be a smaller quilt than the original pattern, but I might make the white space a little bigger to make up for it.  We'll see what size it ends up.

 The fabric choices for the Starburst quilt.  Somewhere in the cutting process I realized that the recipient's birthday is January 31st.  How likely is it that I can get the whole darn thing done by then?  So, I decided to see if I could piece the top this weekend.

How easy it was to forget the 200+ triangles to trim in favor of the more glamorous part of quilting.  I do wish I would have chosen a different fabric for the bottom left star.  Green metallic leaves just aren't quite as bold as the red and the brown.  Solids for the stars probably would have been the best idea.  I still really like it.  It is waiting for backing fabric to arrive before I bind it and hope to start quilting it this weekend.  So, I am a participant in the quilt-a-long but on the fast track.  Now hopefully I managed to take all the right pictures for Melissa's assignments.

I also pieced the quilt back for Ring Toss.  No picture yet but that is basted and waiting for me to quilt it.  Perhaps I'll try to work on that tomorrow night.  That won't get sent until Nephew #2's quilt is done. Just not politically correct to send the two kid quilts separately.