Lots of sewing and quilting!

I got a lot of sewing and quilting done last week but then the holiday weekend happened and I did not have time to post. 
My daughter and her boy friend came to visit and the weather was so nice we spent most of the time out doors.  My daughter also put in a request that I make one of her friends a baby quilt.  She just gave birth to Baby Leo last week.  Here tis:

I have collected so many cute kid fabrics in recent years that it was a real pleasure to browse them and find something to make for Leo!

I made a quilt last year for the grandchild of another friend and I had a lot of leftover blocks from that quilt.  I put them together last week thinking maybe I could use them for Leo's quilt but i showed Naomi the personalized design and it was a no brainer.

Here's that other top.  You can see the variety of kid fabs.  It still needs a border but it will be done soon!

Besides those two projects I also finished quilting that top I posted about a few weeks ago.  

I't's also half way bound!

I quilted it very simply with squiggly lines on the diagonal through all the squires and ditch work around each patch.

This last quilt was a top a friend asked me to quilt for one of our Guild's charitable groups.  It was a really odd size, 41" x 66".  I decided to give it a little snip and re-sew to make it a better dimension for a lap quilt.  I cut a strip off the bottom and top and sewed those two pieces at one end and then took that strip and sewed it along one side of the top.  Finished  45" x 57".  I think that's a much better dimension ?!  Of course it would have not been possible with many quilts but with these big scrappy patches it looks perfectly normal!

Some pretty dated fabrics in there but still a nice scrappy top.  I quilted it with a nice open all-over patten.  The gal who made the top wanted it to be donated to one of the kids projects but I think all those florals make it more of an adult quilt,  maybe for a hospice patient?

We shall see...

Have a happy healthy weekend!

cheers, CW

UFO from 2011

I just finished this quilt top today!  The beginnings of this top date back to 2011.  My friend Sandy H. (My Material Creations) had made and displayed a modified 9 patch- in- 9 patch at our local Quilt Show 

( sorry I can't remember the designers name).  My friend Randy D. (Barrister's Block) saw the quilt at the quilt Show and just loved it.  She was working on top when I came to visit her for a little Winter retreat at her house in Sunriver.  I know it was 2011 because I actually found the post that Randy made about it:

http://barristersblock.blogspot.com/2011/12/toile-be-happy-camper.html

 I decided to make the quilt too.  I found a print that I thought might work well for the pattern.  I just guesstimated how much yardage .  It wasn't 'til I'd made the first few blocks back home that I realized I did not have enough of the print.  Into the UFO pile it went.  

 I brought it out once or twice over the years and made more 9 patches but always stalled out due to lack of fabric to finish.   I'm not sure what prompted me to dig it out last week but I just decided I was going to take what I had and make something out of it!

                     50" x 68"

The original quilt was 7 x 7 blocks.  I managed to get enough sewn to make 3 2/3's x 5  blocks with some adjustments to the configuration.  I think it kind of captures some of the flavor of the original.  But for this Ancient UFO to finally be done I am very glad!!!!!!

I still like the fabric.

But I don't think it is as successful as the blue and white fabric that Randy used in her's.

But it's DONE!  Yeah!

I hope you are all well and safe.

Take care, CW

Something new and something old

The new thing is this quilt top. Which I started and finished this week. 

 The idea was to use large rectangles arranged in a loose half drop fashion. 

All of the rectangles were suppose to be of similar style print and intensity.

I got the general idea from this advert out of an old Country Living magazine from 2011. 

 I liked the look of the big rectangles of fabric but I did not want to make a queen size quilt so I scaled it down 

and played with the layout.

But I did not really have enough prints with same intensity in their colors so I don't think it was as successful as the inspiration.

But it was easy and fun to experiment and it will make a fine donation quilt.

This next top was all but finished 5 years ago but not quite the right size and I just could not settle on 

that last fabric choice.  These Amy Butler prints are wonderful but I have a hard time matching

 them with fabrics outside their line.

I recently found the blue and green fab (top and bottom borders) at my local quilt store.

Bought a !/2 yard for the borders.  Brought it home, auditioned it and then began to dither...so it sat for awhile longer.

Finally got it out this week,  didn't really like it any better or worse but thought 'it's just time to get it done!'

It's on the quilt frame now.  I'm OK with the borders but think maybe I should have made it solid?  You know how it goes,  all that second guessing...

I did however decide to make a pieced back for it which I think came out quite nice and used up a fair bit of '30's fabrics which have been sitting around for bout 20 years!

I'm really liking these pieced backs.  They're fun to make and 'tho I'm not really making a dent in my stash it kind of gives the illusion that I am!  LOL

I hope you are all safe and sound!

Have a good week!  CW

Purple Scraps

This past week I've been kind of busy making hospital smocks for the local County Health office.  Not real fun sewing but I figured I'd do my bit since I haven't sewn any masks lately and I have a serger which makes the garment sewing much faster and easier.  Here and there I have been working on an all purple scrap quilt for my daughter-in-law.  Purple is her favorite color and she is Graduating from Nurse anesthesia School this weekend and I wanted to make her something special to celebrate.

As usual it won't be in time for the Event but it won't take to long to finish this one.

Monochrome scrap quilts are so much fun to make!  You don't have to think to hard as to What-goes- with-What 'cause, well, it all goes together!

Here's one I made for my mom on her 90th B-day!

The colors are always so rich!

I hope you are all well and safe.

Take care, CW

Back to Front

Here's the Front (top) that went to the back in the last post.  I still look at it and think hmmmm,  But I've got it quilted and half way bound now and It's a nice feeling to check another UFO off the list.

It was fun to quilt.  All those different borders provided lots of opportunities to doodle around!

 

I should have practiced my 'Japanese' water quilting pattern a bit before attempting this blue section.  I have not quilted that pattern in a long time I don't think I quite caught the flavor of it.   

Here's the back again.

The quilting resulted in some interesting effects on the back. 

I was going to donate this to Hospice but a friend came over and commented on how pretty she thought it was so I think I will surprise her on her next Birthday!

Hope you are all well and safe,

Peace, CW

Backings

I recently finished a top with a Japanese / Geisha theme.  I was not real thrilled with the project.  I'd saved the fabrics for a long time but when I finally got around to making it I could not really remember the original inspiration, except that I liked the apple blossom print that I intended to use in the border....Oh well press on!  I got the top finished and stuck it away for several months.

Meanwhile it made me think about my stash and how I have a stack of Asian fabrics that I've collected over the years and yet how few Asian themed quilts I've actually made!  Not to mention my collection of South East Asian Batiks and indigos from around the Pacific Rim and then there's the Yukata fabrics from Japan.  All of which I love to pull out and look at but rarely use.

I think the large Japanese prints are really beautiful, but who wants to cut them up?  The're so pretty just the way they are!  I decided maybe it was time to give them away or find another way to use them!  Which brings me back to the afore mentioned top.  What better way to use up some of those large scale prints than to use large pieces of them to make a backing for that Top!  Sounds like a win-win!

I know this is nothing New,  but I've always had what I might call 'backing fabrics' that were not great for one reason or another and I used those to put together backs.

But I always considered the fabrics pictured above 'to good' for using in backs.

But good heavens I have more fabric than I can use in 10 life times of sewing, so  I told myself get over it and use the 'good stuff' on the backs!

Going through my Asian fabrics yet again was a lot of fun.  And the simplicity of sewing the pieces together was fun too!  Win-Win!

Stay safe, Stay Healthy!

Peace, CW

More Orphan blocks

This project developed quickly and I'm happy with the results!  A cheerful kid quilt!  I might have to redo the lower left corner.  I think I should of put the coping strip on the inside of that block inside of on the end.  It looks like a dangling participle!  (Not sure that applies here but it sounds good!)

The boat hull was this really ugly brown so I just sewed the nice red over it and that tied it in with all the other  red blocks.  I wish all of my orphan block designs came together as easily as this one...or maybe not.  It's fun to struggle a bit and then work things out. 

Parting shot:  another of my favorite Spring blooms, Apple blossoms!

Let's hope for blue skies ahead for everyone!!

Stay home, stay safe!

cheers, cw