{WIP} Final Pinwheels

I finished up the final 4 pinwheels last night for my pinwheel sampler.

Block 7

Block 8

I saw another pinwheel sampler that put block #7 in the four corners and I liked how it looked. But instead of making 4 of the same block I switched up the pinwheels for block #8. The borders are the same size as block 7 except the outer-most white border. I ended up making the pinwheels too small so I made the white outer border 0.5" bigger to compensate. Other than that it turned out great!

Now all that is left is to sash it and pick out the backing, then it's off to the quilters! :)

Jenny's Happy Quilt

One of my dear friends from high school is sick. And not getting over the flu kind of sick either. She's currently on kidney dialysis waiting to get a transplant but you wouldn't know it by looking at her. Her attitude is so positive and she is just so amazingly upbeat about the whole thing.

Whenever she gets the call that a kidney is available, she will travel to another state for the transplant and recovery. She will be there a few months until her doctors give her the ok to travel back. I wanted to make her a happy quilt to use during her future hospital visit but also during her dialysis appointments and basically, any time she wants to snuggle with something.

I went with a layer cake of High Street by Lily Ashbury. When I saw it, it screamed her name so I bought it. The binding is the small pink flowers in the same line.

The quilt is really simple. I laid out the layer cake pieces in a 6x6 square then sewed it all together. The remaining 6 layer cake pieces I sewed in a row for the back. I'm so sorry, I forgot to take a picture but I'll try to explain the back. I bought some soft tone on tone grey flannel from Joann's, enough for a 60x60 quilt. I sewed it so there was no middle seam but two seams along the sides, the remaining layer cake square are about 20" up from the bottom. I hope that makes sense. I may have to snag the quilt from Jenny for a few more photos to show you.

I quilted a simple X in each square using a pastel rainbow thread. It shows up beautifully on the back with the grey flannel. I used the same thread to attach the binding, except that I used a specialty stitch instead of the typical straight stitch. It adds the perfect touch and I'm just kicking myself for not taking more photos.

Next time we meet up for coffee I will have to hijack the quilt for more photos. Promise.

More happy mail

I love happy mail :)

The layer cake will eventually be made into a quilt for my sister's silent auction. She's fundraising to sing in Austria and I love how there's music notes in this collection. Fitting, right? :)

I've been eye-ing Farmer's Wife quilts for awhile now and I finally bought the book. I plan on making a queen size quilt for our bed (I know, crazy!) but there's no deadline and I expect it to take me a year or more to complete. Just something to do during down time.

The Japanese book is a very fortunate find. It's out of print and crazy expensive if anyone is selling it. But I found it on Amazon for less than $30! I had to get it and I'm so glad I did. The patterns are so cute and I can't wait to try my hand at paper piecing some cute blocks.

Happy Mail

I love getting mail. Maybe not so much bills, but I love getting catalogs, letters, cards and packages.

Especially packages that contain pretty fabric. :) I ordered some fabric for two quilts and a little something for my stash. Pretty fabric is my weakness, I hoard it like nobody's business.

On the bottom left is a fat quarter bundle plus some yardage from the Flats collection. I'm using it for my mom's quilt and I can't wait to cut into it.

In the middle is a layer cake plus some yardage from the High Street collection. The colors are even brighter and prettier in person! This is for my friend Jenny but I might have to buy a charm pack or two for myself.

On the right is a 10" stacker and some yardage from The Simple Life collection. This collection, at least certain prints of it, is getting hard to find. I found them on Etsy and I'm glad I got them right when I saw them because they were gone within the day. I'm hoarding this and don't plan on cutting into it until the perfect project comes along.

{WIP} Pinwheel Sampler

I've been wanting to do this quilt for awhile now and I finally got the motivation to start it last month. I'm so very, very late to jump on this quilt along but I've always loved pinwheels. It just took while to find the right fabric. :)

I chose to use blues, greens and oranges. Last year, my local quilt shop was running a special on fat quarters. So I bought 10 fat quarters from a variety of lines in blues and greens, with one orange. Last month I pulled them all out again and decided that two didn't make the cut. I also wanted to add in some navy and more orange.

So off to Joann's I went and bought quarter yards from the DS Quilts collection and a few others from their premium collections.

The original Pinwheel Sampler is all about half square triangles, but looking at a few of the blocks I decided to give flying geese a try. I've never done them before but I knew that I didn't want seams to cut off the prints.

I used flying geese in blocks 3, 4, and 6. And I used this method found {here} so there would be no waste.

My seams don't always line up and there's been a few times where I had to unpick seams, but I'm having fun learning new techniques. This quilt has definitely stretched my cutting and piecing skills. I'm always so happy when a pinwheel lines up perfectly the first try.

I still have a few more blocks to complete (4 to be exact) before I can start sashing it. I've been busy mending jeans and sewing up some clothing for my niece, so I'm hoping to get back into the saddle soon. My goal is to have it completely done (quilted and bound) before summer.

To keep up with my progress click here
For the pattern instructions click here (scroll down to find the list of all the blocks)

My Winter Quilt

Ok, so it's practically spring out here in the desert but I've always wanted a winter themed quilt to snuggle under during the colder months. I fell in love with the Winter's Lane fabric collection and knew that I wanted to use it for this quilt. I love that it's more of winter and not so Christmas-y, which means I can have it out from after Thanksgiving until March (or whenever warmer weather starts)! I also included a fat quarter of Open Sleigh in aqua from the Aspen Frost line to add a few more houses (I cut it so the music notes were in the correct direction, so I only got 2 houses) and the sky fabric is the aqua snowflakes from the Season's Greeting line.

It took me while to find the right pattern for this quilt. I came across the Suburbs pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew and thought it was so cute. I had a picture of a little snowed in neighborhood in my head and I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

The back is pieced with yardage of my favorite print of the line, leftover houses and some of the half square triangles you get from making the houses. I still have more of those HSTs and I'm thinking a matching pillow may be in order.

Abby of Latimer Lane did the quilting. This is the second quilt that she's done for me and I just love her. If you need a long arm quilter tell her that I sent you and you get your first quilt at $0.01 per inch. :)

We decided to go with the Glacee pattern. I love, love, love snowflakes. They are my favorite part of winter. She has 3 snowflake patterns to choose from but I love the variety of snowflakes in Glacee, it's my favorite.

This is officially the first quilt that I've made that I'm keeping for myself, although I'm sure my son will steal it. He has an affinity for snuggle-y blankets. :)

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: Suburbs by Cluck Cluck Sew (throw size)
Fabric: Layer cake of Winter's Lane plus yardage for back and binding
             1 fat quarter of Open Sleigh in Iced Aqua from Aspen Frost
             Snowflakes in Iced Aqua from Season's Greeting (for sky) 
             Premium Bleached Muslin by Legacy Studio (for white background)
Quilting: Glacee pattern by Abby of Latimer Lane

For more photos please click here

Grandpa's Memory Quilt

Here is one of the quilts from my work in progress post.

This quilt is very special. It was made for my mother-in-law's mother, who lost her husband earlier this year. After the funeral my MIL gathered up around 10-15 shirts that belonged to her dad and brought them to me. I used 9 different shirts and 6 coordinating fabrics to create this quilt for her mom. It took longer than expected but I finished it up in time and it arrived on Grandma's doorstep a few days before Christmas.

That's my MIL on the right

The shirts can be seen in the middle of the star and it's outer points (the blue and purple in the photo below). The coordinating fabric is seen in the 'V' part (the grey in the photo below).

Close up of the middle block containing a piece of Grandpa's handkerchief

The quilt tag

This was the largest quilt I ever made at just below 83" square. I knew from the beginning I would use a long arm quilter just for the sheer size of this quilt. Abby of Latimer Lane quilted this up for me. I had a hard time picking out a pattern that didn't overpower the shirts, I wanted them to be center stage. She helped me choose the loops and swirls pattern, and I absolutely love it.

A great view of the quilting

The best part is that Grandma loves it. I've gotten several phone calls from my MIL, apparently it's all she talks about! The absolute highlight of her Christmas. This just makes my heart happy. I'm so glad she likes it and I hope it brings her lots of comfort in the years to come.

To see more photos (including close ups of each block) click here


Quilt Specifics:
Pattern: Snow Blossoms by Lella Boutique (purchase here)
Fabric: Mix of cotton button-down shirts and 100% cotton quilting fabric
Quilting: Loops and swirls by Abby Latimer