Great quilt finish from Quokka Quilts...

Great quilt finish from Quokka Quilts, and fun story, some of these quilts take a while to finish...even 12 years!  Ahhh, look at the puppy patches on the quilt! We introduced Quokka Quilts last week, with the competition from Fat Quarter shop, read up on it here...Make sure to visit her blog, and be sure to view her finished quilts...

TFIFF (or almost Friday) - Genesis of a quilter

No, TFIFF is not a typo. I'm just SO freaking relieved this is finished. It has taken a lifetime. Literally. This guy's lifetime:

Patches when quilt was started

Patches when quilt finished (yesterday)

Let me tell you a story...

1999: Girl gets Elna sewing machine as present. Girl decides to learn to quilt. On her own. (This is before the internet got big, when we learnt quilting from stone tablets these things called books).
2000: Girl starts a quilt involving triangles, cuts with scissors, buys polyester fabrics and poly batting. It ends up in the Salavation Army bin. Salvation Army gives it to the Lost Dogs home (for all I know). Girl gets puppy and names him Patches after new hobby.

2002: Girl takes classes, discovers applique and starts baby quilt for pregnant sister in law. Finishes quilt. Feels triumphant. Has BRILLIANT idea of designing own KING SIZE quilt as wedding present for friends. Finishes top in time for wedding (regularly tested by Patches). Grinds to halt.

Girl discovers fitting King size quilt through baby-size Elna potentially similar to giving birth. Takes 3 years to complete in-ditch quilting. Grinds to halt.

2003-2007: Couple intended as quilt receipients have first child. Girl thinks "gosh/darn/damn/crap/s$&#*/[insert increasingly rude word for each year here], I really should finish that quilt".
2008 - Girl gets Bernette. Girl discovers fitting King size quilt through standard size Bernette is still only slightly more feasible (and a lot less fun) than trying to fit camel through eye of a needle. Grits teeth and wrestles quilt through for straightline in-the-ditch quilting, bit by painful bit. Girl is faced by insurmountable problem of how to finish off quilting given large triangles of blank space. Grinds to halt.


2009-2010 - Girl either:
a) acts like dog that has had encounter with particularly nasty cat and pretends not to notice quilt every time she opens spare-room door or
b) wastes inordinate amounts of time pondering what to do with blank spaces in quilt.

2010: Original intended recipients of quilt celebrate 10th wedding anniversary.

2011: Girl suffers quilt induced nervous breakdown, buys new sewing machine with BIG space and extension table, works out what to do with the big triangular gaps in the quilt, starts TGIFF with M-R and FINISHES THE FREAKING THING.

So THAT, my friends, is why it is a TFIF Friday instead of a TGIF Friday.

Thank FREE-MOTIONQUILTING It's Finished Friday!
(That was what you thought the F stood for, wasn't it?)

Enough teasing, here are the proper photos. (For Giles, it's a black homespun solid with stars in very bright, marbled colours, set on diamond points, with little 1.5" squares crisscrossing diagonally across the quilt around each star. One very thin border with all the rainbow colours graduating and melding from red through orange, yellow, green, to blue, to purple, to pink and back again to red, all the way around, with a wider black border to finish off. Which is why it's called a jewelbox quilt - the colours fairly sparkle.)

Held up by camera assistant

Before nearly falling off wall with camera

Late afternoon sun on quilt in my bedroom

(I didn't get to wash it as it didn't fit in the washing machine!!! But I did sleep under it last night - first night sleeping under my own quilt!)

I have climbed Jacob's Ladder quilt....

Do you love this quilt! I love the contrast of the lights and blacks. Very well done! Rachel from The life of Riley made this gorgeousness! Check out this list of tutorials, I really like the grid mini quilt tutorial. And here are some finishes, go have a visit...

 The front and bindings are all batiks.

 I received 13 blocks and made 20. I would have made more, but I ran out of the green, plus I really like the layout.

 12 mitered corners.  That's a lot of sewing, un-sewing, and re-sewing to get them matched up.  Some went together the first time.  There was one seam I did four times.

 Green straight line quilting in the black areas.

 Black straight line quilting in the block areas.

 The back is a Kona cotton in black.  I just love the texture of the quilting lines.  Someday I will do a whole cloth quilt.

I just couldn't make this one fit in the layout, so he's high lighted on the back.

Little Miss Shabby and another darling quilt!

Corey from Little miss shabby is always making the most darling quilts! I am always blog stalking her! She offers the cutest Birdie stitches embroidery patterns for free on her blog, then a pattern to put the quilt together. And she has several darling quilt patterns she has made for Moda bake shop! Check out her fun tutorials, this is one of my favorites!

Flea Market Fancy & Katie Jump Rope Quilt

I’ve shared peeks of this quilt previously but this is the first time you are seeing it in its entirety.  Of course you all recognize this quilt as the quilt I had intended to donate to Japan Project modern–however, with that project no longer taking place this quilt is currently residing in my family room until I decide where it will end up. =)

Hand Quilting Detail

This quilt is made up of a combo of Flea Market Fancy and Katie Jump Rope fabrics which I think work so well together.  My mom and I did the hand quilting on this quilt using Finca Perle Cotton size 8 in Dark Brown.  The quilt pattern is a slightly revised version of this free pattern.  I preferred the framed squares as opposed to the solid squares and I also made the quilt a bit smaller than the pattern called for.

Back Detail

For the back of the quilt, I opted to use a solid white.  This isn’t something I normally do but I wanted to show off the hand quilting pattern–I think it looks pretty neat (you’ll have to ignore the wrinkles). 

Fun Coffee quilt finish...

Angie from Stitching by Starlight submitted this fun Coffee quilt, don't you love all the fabric options out there? What great prints! Check out Angie's tutorials here, and look at her finished projects here. I really like the colors, I love the quilting, and I really want to go on vacation where Angie was taking these photos!


OK - I don't know whether it was the Sew Shine WIP Challenge or the fact that I was on vacation, but I've finished yet another quilt. Maybe it was the timing of the two. Who knows - but whatever it was, I'm on a roll and I'm loving the momentum I'm feeling.  Sorta like a dieter who has lost her first two pounds - it's inspiring me to keep moving!!

Yesterday, I finished the last stitches on my husband's coffee quilt - a quilt over a year in the making!!



He and I are avid coffee drinkers - though not coffee snobs - and when I saw this collection at a quilt show last spring (2010!) I wanted to make a quilt for him.  The panels have the cutest sayings...my favorite is "Without coffee 'Good Morning' is an oxymoron."  Oh, so true.



This is also the first quilt I designed on my own - sort of.  The outer ring is a block that was featured onMoose on the Porch Quilts as part of a sampler sew-along.  (Just FYI for inquiring minds - it's Block #2.)  I didn't do all the blocks, but of the few I did, this one was my favorite.  It was simple and quick!

The inner four blocks are my own.  I wanted to highlight the panels, so I measured and cut them, then worked with the remaining prints and panel scraps to make the blocks fit. It's basically a wonky nine-patch, with the middle "row" being much thicker.  If I remember right - and forgive me for not actually measuring - the panel cuts were 6-ish inch squares and the outer rows about 3.5".

I pieced the back, out of sheer necessity.

Because I didn't have a clue as to what I was going to do with the fabric when I bought it, I bought what I thought was enough.  All I knew is I wanted a lap quilt.  The lady at the fabric booth helped the best she could with estimates, but let's face it - she didn't have much to work with!!  By the time the quilt top was finished, I had a veritable mountain of turquoise, brown, and cream scraps, but not enough floral to cover the back.  And I had no binding...something that apparently slipped my mind back then.  (But hey - I had only finished two quilts at that point and both were under the watchful guidance of a teacher at my LQS.)

So, a few weekends ago, I sat down with my graph paper, pencil and eraser and got to work.  After about three hours, I finally had a combo that would both use my scraps and leave me enough for binding.



The next struggle was the quilting, which is no news to those who have read my previous grumblings about the actual quilting step.  I had decided long ago that I would straight-line quilt, but I wasn't sure how to do it with the seams between the two blocks (the outer and inner rings) not even.   I finally decided to start in the middle and quilt a square spiral in the center section and then parallel the seams in the outer ring blocks.  Except for running out of top thread a little over two-thirds of the way through, it went pretty smoothly.  I prepped and attached the binding, then packed it up for my beach trip.

As I was finishing it, I couldn't help but think about how much has changed in a year.  The quilt show (where I purchased the fabric) was in May 2010 and I had only "restarted" my quilting in January.  I had not found any of the blogs I follow and had never heard of "modern quilting".  I hadn't started this blog, either.

Shortly after starting this quilt, I began falling in love with quilts from people like Rita, Rachel, and Julie - who I still admire to the point of near stalking.  They had a crisp, clean look that often made me catch my breath (and still do!).  I began seeing that, yes, it is ok to use solids in a quilt and - gasp - I liked it!  I found straight-line stitching and gave it a try.  I started perusing websites more and more, and my list of  must-read blogs and must-try projects continued to grow.  I grew, too.  And it makes me wonder what my style will be like next year.

Looking back, I'm not sure I would have made the same quilt today as I started back then (even though "back then" was only a year ago).  Not that I don't like it.  I love it... it's cozy and warm and I love the chocolate/turquoise combo.  It's incredibly special to me because it's for my husband, my schmookie.  It's themed around a quiet cup of coffee, one of the simple pleasures we both adore.  I know it will get lots of use. 


But, for now, it's back to packing.  We leave this beautiful piece of heaven tomorrow.  I swear the weeks go by faster each year.  Fortunately, the weeks in between trips seem to go just as fast.  I leave here refreshed and rejuvenated - just the way it should be - and I'm already looking forward to next year.

Baby boy quilt from Heidi...

Heidi made this quilt, and found that it was therapeutic since she lost her little girl 2 years ago. She finished this little sweet quilt for her new little guy. Sweet colors, sweet baby. Make sure to visit Heidi's blog for more information and inspiration!

I finished little Button's quilt!!

I think Button is excited too!

I have only made one other quilt for one of my children, and that one sits with her memory box.  

This quilt was therapuetic in many ways.

  I bought the "if its a girl" and "if its a boy" quilt kits from Joann's.  

I planned to do them BEFORE he arrived, but I think there was fear.  

Fear that if I made a quilt, I would be coming home empty armed again.  

So demons where vanquished as I worked on it. Cutting went smoothly.  Placing the squares?  Not so much.  Too many mishaps to explain the amount of times my flannel fell and squares fell on the floor.

  I was very anxious about deciding on my quilting plan.  I let the quilt hang out in the studio for a while. 

The usual struggle in my head occurred!  Should I free-motion?  Should I do even lines.  Should I cross even lines to make small squares.  Should I try to make hearts in each large square?

Then I started to doodle. 

Don't you just love post-its?

I decided that I would meander, but cross my lines.  And every so often I would add a heart. 

My heart!

  I emphasized a few of the larger hearts by mimicking the pebble quilting effect.

I will be honest....I let my stitch lengths go a little long.  I have to practice getting them a bit shorter.  My new machine was a bit quick for me!

But I don't think Button cares!

Or maybe he wonders about my ability to quilt?

 

 

He should be.  

 Ewww......YUCK!

I was back in business!

Phew, Mom....That was a close one!

I'm so glad that I pushed through all the difficulties to finish it.
  It sure was worth it for this little guy!

Two Little Banshees blog and a fun bright quilt!

First, our winner from The Stitch Sanctuary giveaway

 Jessica said...

I love the Giselle collection - which they are carrying! Thanks for the chance to win!

June 9, 2011 5:48 PM

Thanks Jessica, enjoy your quilt kit!

Kate from Two Little Banshees, or never enough hours,  worked up this darling quilt from her fabric stash. I love her color combination! Be sure to check out her blog for some fun ideas, she makes fun little stuffed animals, knits, bags, she does it all! Here are her tutorials, and some super cute downloadable patterns here and here...go check her out!


I think my favourite part of quilting (and any sewing) is choosing the fabrics. I love to get them all out on the floor and make piles. My sewing room is never neat and organized. I need mess and little stacks of fabric everywhere. This quilt grew out of that. 

It started as a pile of aqua and red fabrics and as it grew I added in some green. I chose a simple block that required one fabric and a background fabric so I could just do a few blocks here and there and work out how big I wanted it as I went.

 I remember having a few ideas for borders but I do love flying geese. I don't think you can go wrong with flying geese. Originally I sewed them on the opposite way with the geese pointing in, but it did not look right so they were unpicked and sewn the other way. 

As I pieced this quilt I had amazing plans to hand quilt with perle cotton, but I realised when it was finished that this would take too long and this was when I learned to free motion quilt.

 Definitely not the most perfect quilting, but it had greatly improved by the time I had finished!
I have made quite a few quilts in the 2 years since I finished this one, but I think this one is still my favourite.