Gingham Geese Quilt from The Life of Riley

Another fabulous finish to share from Rachel of The Life of Riley.  A sweet modern flying geese quilt! I myself just finished a flying geese quilt top...such a great block you can do so much with.  Rachel's a lot like us and probably many of you...stay at home mommy of four little ones, likes to cook, sew, craft!  My kinda girl :)  Check out her great tutorials and finishes from this year.

 This quilt ended up with Three names!

 Mr. Riley dubbed it The Mario Kart Quilt - because in the game you drive over arrows to speed you up.

 I dubbed it the Bubble Wrap quilt after all the circles were quilted in.

 Officially I think I would call it Gingham Geese.

 It went to my sister, who just turned Thirty!  I figured there was no way a mostly white quilt would survive long in this house.

 It is backed with a woven turquoise gingham.  Nice and soft!  Bound in a solid magenta.  Final measurements: 49" x 69" (I think.  I wrote it down, but of course now I can't find it! Grr!)  Anyway, its a good couch snuggling size.  Not quite twin.

A huge Thank You to Elizabeth at Occasional Piece-Quilt - who sent me the gingham and got me going! 

My Quilt Diet quilt for Anne...

This lady Marion, is my kind of lady! She has only been quilting since January and has 31 quilts finished!!! Are you kidding me! No, seriously. She started quilting to help her with her diet, to have a hobby to distract  her from food! Smart lady, addiction transfer, she has done it well! Marion blogs at my quilt diet, be sure to visit her. I wonder if she will pass 50 by the end of the year??? Good challenge? This pretty quilt is for her sisters friend Anne, who is going through chemo, so sad...

I am so happy to have made this quilt for my sister Aly's friend Anne who has end stage cancer :(

There is not much that can be done for her except to administer chemo every 3 weeks to give her a bit more time with her family.

Anne is 41.

Anne has 3 children.

Her oldest is 18 and her baby is 11.

This quilt is for Anne to take with her to chemo and to cuddle up with on the sofa after.

The following are the "post wash" pictures.

I LOVE how quilts look after they have been washed :)

The raw edge applique looks so cool :)

The quilt is heading off to Anne's Thursday afternoon with all of the love and comfort I can squeeze into it.

Twister Quilt from A Quilting Jewel

One of the fabulous things about doing features weekly not only is inspiration...but it reminds me of projects I want to do! :)  I had a Twister Quilt on my list for a while and I forgot about it until I saw this quilt by Jen from A Quilting Jewel!!  I love the design, love the bright colors (It's A Hoot is such a great line!) just love it all!  Jen is a modern quilter with a great list of completed quilts and some awesome free patterns and tutes.  Check out A Quilting Jewel!

This weekend I finished putting the binding on my twister quilt.

I love the way it came out.  I used two It's a Hoot charm packs for the twister portion.  I then used coordinating fabric for the binding and backing.  The white around the outside of the quilt is a Kona white.

I quilted this little quilt on either side of the horizontal and vertical seams.  I was trying to think of some way to play off the twisting pinwheels, and realized that with this type of quilting, the quilting would go through the long point of every pinwheel.

 I love this mini quilt.  I think it would be a perfect baby quilt.  I know so many people having babies this year, so who knows, it could wind up being for one of them.

I can see myself making more of these twister quilts in the future.  They come together so quickly and look great.

HST Doll Quilt from Plum and June

Happy Monday! :)  Sometimes the simplest quilts are the most interesting!  I love this doll quilt by Beth from Plum and June.  And it's her first go at HST...I would not have guessed! Stop by Plum and June, I was just going through her last few posts and saw some really sweet baby quilts!  I love this quilt she entered into the blogger's quilt festival and this simple patchwork quilt...cute stuff.  Thanks again Beth! 

I finally tried making Half Square Triangles and now I know what all the fuss is about!  They really are fun and easy to put together.  Whoever came up with the right sides together, draw a line down the middle, sew two lines, and cut was genuis! 

I used this charm pack from the "big order" from months ago that I had regrettably prewashed.

Made one and squared it:

Made many more and squared them:

Then I just started arranging and rearranging and mixed in some of the now completely gone solid yardage that I had in my stash (actually, I had to cut some off one of my WIPs - Yikes!) 

And, the Sun and Water Blocks doll quilt was born (have I mentioned that my kids name the quilts???)

I'm again not sure this is exactly my aesthetic but I guess my aesthetic is growing.  And I really enjoyed the HST method so I think when my new fabric order comes, I'll make another one. 

This was another doll-sized, stroller-size quilt.  I like making this size because it can be done in a few nap times, allows me to experiment with new techniques, and it is actually the most practical size for me right now - great for the stroller and floor for the baby AND great for my older girls for their dolls and for gifts for other little girls who love getting things for their dolls.

Darling girl's quilt by From Three to Insanity

Julie of From Three to Insanity is such a fun read!! I love when I get features that I read the whole thing without even thinking :)  Super sweet quilt and super sweet room :)  Check out From Three to Insanity, her darling shop and her flickr after reading her feature! :) Thanks Julie!

I'm lucky Sprout's so patient, because I've been working on her quilt for the better part of the year.  It's been 9 months since I first saw the inspiration for it while we were running errands together.   And it was well on it's way 6 full months ago when I made the label for the quilt quilt.  I had hoped to have it done for her 3rd birthday back in July.  Wishful thinking. 

But now, just under the wire for the year, it's done.  The pink and orange combination that I love so much looks perfect in the [very] pink room that she loves so much.  

The quilt is filled with lots of my favorites - AB Full Moon Dots, Swell, Mendocino, FMF, Cake Rock Beach, Tula Pink Ladybugs, and tons of other goodies that I thought would be harder to cut up than they actually were.  It's backed with a Valori Wells flannel that I wouldn't have chosen but that you did, and is bound with these dots that I recently went a little overboard with.  They ended up being perfect. 

  

Finished size after a trip through the dryer is 60" x 83" - it's a bit narrow since she doesn't use a box spring, but it's definitely twin-sized, and is by far the largest quilt I've ever stuffed through the tiny shank on my machine quilted myself.  The quilting is hard to see, but at random intervals I've traced the inside of the squares.  I'd say maybe 60% of them have quilting and the rest do not.  This loose quilting has made for a great drape.

I love it, (and so does Ginko) and I hope that my sweetie-pie girl does, too.

Ruby Hexagons Quilt by The Life of Riley

I'm excited to show you today's quilt! It's a gorgeous baby gift made by Rachel of The Life of Riley.  I'm excited because it is a little different than most quilts we feature, it's all hexies!  So sweet and a great baby gift.  Check out The Life of Riley, she's a great quilter as seen here on her 2010-2011 finishes and 2012 finishes but she's also a great cook!  She's got a great list of yummy recipes too!

The quilt is finished and delivered!  Welcome baby Lucy!

 99 Hexes.  33 fabrics - 3 of each in the quilt top.  80 diamonds.  20 half diamonds.  8 triangles and 4 half triangles.  The hexagon fabric is from  the Ruby line by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.  The white is a white on white leaf pattern.

 The hexes were pieced into rows by machine, the diamonds and triangles were pieced in by hand.  The border was done by machine.

 The back is a solid piece of flannel also from the Ruby line.  Soft as butter!

 I did some free motion quilting of flowers and leaves.

 A picture of the label which you can read about here.

Posts about how I put it together  Here.  Here.  & Here.
The quilt label post Here. 

Granny Squares Quilt from s.o.t.a.k handmade

Today's feature is from Svetlana of s.o.t.a.k handmade and I am convinced!  I've seen these Granny Squares quilts everywhere and been tempted, but she may have pushed me over the edge!  I love how bright and cheery her finish is.  Love all the colors she uses too.  She's already busted out a 2nd Granny Squares Quilt!  Check out her great quilt finishes , other projects and tutorials for some inspiration.  Thanks for sharing Svetlana!


I am so excited to be able to show you my finished Granny Square quilt. Isn't she a beauty? Just the way I like my quilts, bright, colorful, and cheery.

It was, of course, inspired by Jolene's fantastic Granny Square quilt. I was able to use up lots of my scraps, I only had one rule for the fabric to get into this quilt - I had to love it. This was the first block I made and it still is my favorite. Adore those little owls. 

I decided to use Anna Maria Horner's voile for the back of the quilt. I've heard so many great things about  voile, it was time to give it a try.

What I did not know, however, was that voile did not stick to the batting when I tried to spray baste my quilt. Noooooooooo!!!! Seriously, that was a major setback. The thing is, I am horrible at pin basting. I thought about using some other fabric for the backing, but at the end I went with the original plan and pin basted just the back of the quilt (the top was spray basted). I know, does not make much sense, right? I ended up with pins on the back side of the quilt. I wanted to hand quilt around the squares anyway, so I just took out the pins as I went. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I actually enjoyed hand quilting.

I used my trusty black and white stripe fabric to bind the quilt. I think it frames all those happy squares rather nicely. 

So, there you have it. My Granny Square, all finished , washed, and dried, ready to be snuggled under. 

You can read more about the process of making this quilt here and here. How about you, did you get on the granny bandwagon, also?

Hope you have a wonderful and relaxing weekend, Svetlana.