Thursday, March 21, 2013

plus quilt quilted....but not finished


 The plus quilt is quilted and bound, so it may look finished, but...... I still have plans for it to be made into a zip up picnic blanket

I chose the backing fabric from this adorable set of novelty prints, its called Sherbet Pips- play dot by Angela Hoey for Moda Fabrics...look at the coordinates, they are so cute!

I chose to add left over squares into the binding to keep with the scrappy look of the quilt


I plan on writing a tutorial on the steps taken to turn any quilt into a zipper tote picnic blanket....
coming soon!



Wednesday, March 13, 2013

plus quilt picnic blanket

Well I finished 2 quilts already this month and now I can't stop!
I have been wanting to make a quilt entirely of my scraps, and since I buy new fabric for most projects, my scraps have added up.   I store them in clear bins by color and knew that I had enough of each color to make a spectrum quilt.  This quilt is a gift and I plan on turning it into one of my  picnic blankets in a bag.
Here is one of my inspirations, as there were many on pinterest of course....I was considering using soilds like FITF to break it up but after I finished cutting I had enough to do the whole quilt.
Here is the top half, I had to lay it out in sections my table is not large enough for the whole thing......more to come soon im sure.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

finished quilting and binding

this was my first large scale free motion machine quilt project since I got my new Bernina last year.  I learned a few things along the way, but over all I love the finished product and it just fueled my desire to continue and quilt some more.....so we'll see whats up next, I am thinking something with the scraps I already have in the stash since the beautiful backing fabric from this quilt broke the fabric allowance for a bit, but well worth it!
Since the almond trees are so pretty the quilt wanted its photo shoot outside so here it is.



Monday, March 4, 2013

scallop quilt update


It has been time for finishing up projects.
First the hankie quilt.... I needed to find a way to display my Grandmas hankies in a useful and beautiful way. I used a white swiss dot for the sashing and boarders as well as the binding,  my goal was to let the colors of the hankies be the main focus of this quilt, I also backed the quilt top with interfacing and decided to hand tie rather than machine quilt.
Then I got to work on the scallop quilt.
The quilt pieces were set aside for other projects and when I went to pick them back up I found that I needed to re-iron them.  The ironing technique using the foil goes quickly, but still time consuming.  So the only other thing I have to say about the construction of this quilt is that the pieces are round so they are stretchy which can pull and become esque.  So this quilt is less than perfect....but colorful and pretty non the less.  I have the scallops, boarders and back ready to sandwich and quilt.
I have a little quilt corner where I can display quilts and linens on an old ladder.  I have hung my hankie quilt, and below that is a quilt my  great-grandmother hand embroidered, all 50 states and the sate bird.  Then she hand quilted this large King size quilt.  Such beautiful craftsmanship.


scallop quilt before the boarders
A sneak peek at the boarder and backing.....I cant wait to get this thing quilted!  I used Joel Dewberry Notting Hill Voile for the backing, I you have not touched this fabric yet......let me just say you need to!!!