Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Modern Baby Quilt Finished!



It's done!
Click here to see the beginnings of it and the directions on how to make the applique circles. I'm very proud of this quilt, because it's the first time I've made the quilting part of the design. I used to dislike the quilting, but I'm liking it more with every quilt. As an all-by-hand quilt maker I am usually in a hurry to finish. But not anymore!


Wolf is enjoying it for now, until it goes to my dear friend Sarah.



Here are closeups of the four quadrants of the quilt. I love how the quilting on some of them "breaks the plane" of the square it belongs to and draws the eye away from the block divisions.

I didn't mark any of the quilting. The circles naturally turned out at 1/4" intervals, I think because I'm used to "eyeing" quarter inch seams. For the straight lines I just took a plastic quilting ruler and ran it back and forth on the fabric, pressing down, so I could see the line.


Frog prince!


The owl and the pussycat!


Dandelion moon!


Hope you enjoyed seeing it as much as I enjoyed making it. Cheers!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Modern Baby Quilt Top

Edited to say: click here to see the finished quilt!

The baby quilt top is done! Click photos to see them better. It was fun and easy to do. See the quilt it's based on and my applique circle notes here.



I love this Heather Ross Far Far Away II owl and pussycat circle. I only used three novelty prints, but I made sure they read as solids from far away.



Here's three bunnies dancing in the mushrooms from some Japanese fabric I had. It's Sarah, Matt and the baby, Lilly D. I like how it echoes the Japanese folklore of a rabbit in the moon.

Do you guys like it?

Monday, January 31, 2011

Modern Baby Quilt Beginning


I started a new baby quilt for a dear friend Sarah who will soon be bringing home a sweet baby girl. Sarah chose this design, Sun and Moon from Squareonestudios from my inspiration file. It's all modern square blocks with appliqued circles.

I used the super circles tutorial from Anna Maria Horner's blog, and the tinfoil method worked perfectly! Give it a try.



I edited the photos to show just the blocks, so consider the white of this blog the design wall, and the blocks are thrown up here. Sarah wanted mostly solids, but I made three novelty circles and used a little patterned fabric.

Above is the enchanted frog from Heather Ross' Far Far Away double gauze collection.



Here are some solid and patterny blocks.



The blocks do look like the sun and moon, don't they?



The most fun part is how they change when you put them together in rows. The neighboring blocks give them a different look than they had on their own. I will show the whole top in a few days so you can see what I mean. Click on the below photo to see it better. Enjoy!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Starry Heather Ross Quilt Finish!



I really like how this turned out! The cold, rainy weather here is not cooperating for photos, but trust me, it's gorgeous. My sister gave me her whole stash of Heather Ross to make it, and I used almost every scrap. It's a copy of this quilt I made for a baby, I just figured out different measurements. I was pretty proud of myself, considering all I had was a photo to start with!



I quilted every six inches, outlining each star and circling little motifs like I did in this Heather Ross quilt.



I included three selvages too, for fun. Here's my favorite one above.



There are even a few stars using the coveted seagull fabric, that you really can't even buy anymore. I just did a quick search and couldn't find ANY for sale on the internet.

l

Here's a cute weiner dog outline. He needs a sweater here in Texas today.



For the back, my sister sent a soft flannel twin size sheet that worked perfectly to bring to the front as binding. Also shown above is my second favorite selvage, including the color dots.



And here's Ty enjoying his quilt. Have a good weekend!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls



It's raining and freezing here today so I'm making the most comforting thing I can think of, homemade cinnamon rolls! I'm using this recipe if you get inspired to join me. The dough is really beautiful and easy to work with. I also think I'm going to drizzle with a powdered sugar glaze and I left out the nuts because I didn't have any.



Here's a process shot. Definitely not a diet dish! My two tips are: use real cinnamon, not Cassia cinnamon and use quilting thread to cut the rolls. It says to use a serrated knife, but that just squishes them. Hold one end of a piece of thread in each hand, slide it under the rolled up log, cross the pieces over one another, handing each piece to the opposite hand, then pull. The thread will cut and come out straight.

Edited to say: OMG these are the best ever!!! They taste just like Cinnabons used to taste in the 80's when they were still good. I didn't need the glaze because you just spoon the stuff on the bottom of the pan over the rolls. Sooooo good.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Galaxy - Heather Ross Quilt Continues


Happy New Year! Today I wish you all happiness and love in the coming year, and a little bit of luck too :)

Enjoy the full galaxy of stars. I just threw them up on the design wall, I have yet to lay them out as they will be sewn. Coming next, top completed!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Pink and Black Quilt - Finished



I still don't understand why I keep taking on king size quilt projects here in all-by-hand land, but here's another one! I made this for a friend of the family, Chris. He's a very sweet 23 year old who needed something that was just his. I gave this to him last night and he was thrilled! He loves pink and black and skulls, so when I saw the border fabric I knew it was for him. That's Mr. Babyquilts posing with the quilt, for scale.



Chris picked out the centers, but I adjusted his choices to be mostly black, white, pink and purple. I just tied it on the corners this time.



Enjoy!