Finally - A Quilt Finish

Hold on to your hats. I've actually got a finished quilt to share today. It's been a while.

A few months ago our son mentioned that his girlfriend would really LOVE a quilt. It makes my heart happy that the kids enjoy and appreciate the quilts I make because I love making quilts for them. When they come to visit she often walks around admiring the ones I have out and it's always heartwarming to see everyone curled beneath them in the evenings. She loves turquoise and horses and when I stumbled upon this fabric, I knew it was the perfect fit.

I wanted something youthful and modern for the design and this pattern made the cut:

                                              

I chose a turquoise minky for the back and Jackie quilted this fun design across it with turquoise thread:

                             

I enjoyed stitching on the binding in the evenings and it finished at 53 x 67:

                                    

Western Rag Runner

With the daylight hours getting shorter, I finally finished my rag runner:

                 

This is a Sweetwater pattern that can be found here: Rag Runner

I don't like to sew in the evenings once DH comes in the house, but I will work on hand stitching projects if we are visiting after supper together and there is a lot of hand stitching on this one.

For this project, I pulled  about 25 of my favorite western prints from my stash and used 3 of each print. At 95" x 14" it's a whopper of a table runner, but it fits perfectly in my entry way - mudroom - laundry room.

                                                 

The funny thing is, the fringe in one of the things I loved about this project and I didn't add it to mine.

 It just doesn't fit this space - spurs and reins that are often deposited here would just get tangled up in it. I like things to look nice but practical trumps looks in my world - although that fringe sure would look cute against the hay. :)

Paw Patrol Quilt

When I was looking for a post of a quilt, I realized that I never did share this one. This was the last quilt I made last year and with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I just plumb forgot.  I made it for a special little fella at Christmas:

                               

I think he likes it:

                                        

He's a big fan of Paw Patrol and when I saw this fabric at Hobby Lobby, I knew it would make a great quilt to add under the Christmas tree so I pulled coordinating fabrics from my stash:

                                          

I've had this pattern pinned for quite some time and finally got one made. This is a simple disappearing 9-patch. I like the fact that you can showcase a special fabric or make it scrappy and it was the perfect pattern for putting this novelty fabric front and center:

                                         

This is the quilt I quilted when my friend, C, offered to show me how to use her new long arm.

                                 

I learned so much...like it's not a good idea to keep a death grip on the handles or to lock your knees because you might get dizzy:
                                             

I was cutting it close, but got it trimmed and bound a few days before Christmas:

                           

My quilting leaves a lot of be desired, but  I'm happy with my maiden voyage on a long arm. Thank you for showing me the ropes, C! T loves the quilt and he doesn't complain about the bobbles in the quilting:

                                       

I hope it continues to be snuggled and loved, just like the little boy that it belongs to:

 I backed it with a gray Minky for added snug-ability and added red binding:

                          

It finishes at 48" x 60"

                                       

Woodland Critters Baby Quilt

Finally! After all of my indecision last week, I settled on a design for this baby quilt using this fabric:

                             

I cut more squares:

Whipped up some HSTs:

Turned them into QSTs:

and pieced the top center:

I was in town for our Quilt Squad meeting and I took it to Jackie. I had called her on Friday and asked if I could drop of a quilt on Saturday. She said , "Of course!"

I replied, "Well then I had better go make it!" She laughed. She is such a dear lady. I rarely ask for a quilt to be rushed out, but I asked if I could have it 9 days later. She said she'd have it for me in 2 days.

I told her I didn't need it THAT fast and I went to my meeting. I heard from her 2 hours later. My quilt was ready. This time I was the one who laughed. More laughter ensued when I shared my story and how I had 2 more tops sitting at home.

I love this brown gingham:

The sun was out in full force when I went to take pictures, but I love the texture and movement the quilting  gave it

After a trip through the wash, it finished at 40" x 40"

I'm telling you - she's a gem. She and her daughter make a crack-shot team.They quilted it with these rambling leaves in a green thread that are once again, perfect:

                             

I backed it with the same focus fabric because my mom just loved it and asked me to use it on the back and I bound it in the brown gingham:

                                            

It took me longer to bind it than it did for her to quilt it, but I finished it on Wednesday and sent it off to my Mom on Thursday.

It arrived on Saturday and I received a phone call as soon as she opened it. She was SO tickled with it.

                              

Now I've got to finish off the other 2 I pieced during my indecisive phase. I generally don't work this way, but I think I was feeling the need to get this just right since my mom was the one giving it as a gift. I hope it will be well received and loved. Thankfully, babies are not that picky. 😉

Sequoia Quilt

This quilt was made especially for our girl. Today's her birthday and she had requested a new quilt for her bed. I love that the kids both appreciate handmade gifts and that they especially love their Mama's quilts. :) I told our girl that I wanted her to have some input on this and I made her scroll through my Quilting Inspiration Pinterest board. She loved everything about the Sequoia quilt so I ordered the book (that cover quilt is on my list too!)

I fretted over fabrics. The original quilt is only  56 x 70 so I enlarged my blocks to 6", but she loved the color of the original so I went in search of something similar. I stayed with a solid black and gray, but chose textured fabrics for the lagoon and white:

 This is such a simple quilt, yet the design is striking. Simple HST's...lots of them, 176 to be exact, but I love their versatility. Simple masking tape marked the rows:

                          

I marked off each one on a copy from the book in order to keep from turning anything around and it worked like a charm:

                                   

I made them over the course of a week and I took the time to sliver trim each one:

                                 

I was stumped as to what to use for a backing, but we settled on this wide gray

 and I bound it in the lagoon.

                             
                             
 A Sarah Plain and Tall marathon was on TV as I worked on the binding. The scene I captured is when Jacob falls to the ground as it finally begins to rain, bringing an end to a prolonged drought. That's exactly what it'll be like when we finally get a good rain here:

                                        

After a run through the washer, the quilt spent some time on the line, soaking up as much of the New Mexico sunshine as it could hold for our girl:

                             

See how dry we are. Not even a weed. I especially love the quilting pattern that Jackie chose:

                             

It gives the quilt great movement and an additional southwestern design element to the graphic piecing:

When it came time to photograph it, I was stumped. My usual chicken yard fence location wasn't quite tall enough:

Although the wind was blowing quite nicely and it held up that big ol' quilt without nary a clip. Honestly, I just climbed up the ladder, laid it close to the fence, and the wind just sucked it up against the fence. It finishes at 90 x 110 so it's a pretty good size. There wasn't a spot on the hay stack that worked either, but the side of the barn turned out to be perfect:

Guess it's soaking up some of the New Mexico wind to send to our girl too:

                                             

Heck, I think it was trying to get to her without being sent in a box. Air mail...or wind mail:

                                   

I love everything about this quilt from the first stitch to the last,

                         

but the thing I love the most about it is that it was made for this pretty incredible kid:

Happy Birthday, Sprout! Love, Mama and Daddy

                                             

The Honey Man Quilt

A while back I shared that our girl was telling me about an elderly gentleman that sells honey on a roadside stand 7 days a week and I just felt the need to make him a quilt. That very day, a bundle of bee fabric was showcased as the deal of the day at Missouri Star. Alas, it had metallics in it and I wasn't so sure about that, but I figured it was a sign that I DID need to make this gentleman a quilt. So when I found a bundle of honey/bee inspired fat quarters on Etsy, I ordered it. I added this burlap-honey-colored fabric

from my stash and asked our girl to choose from 2 patterns. This is the one she chose:

It's called Slice of Life and it's a Missouri Star pattern. I subscribe to their Block magazine and it's in one of their issues.

I cut out the fabric on a Monday morning before work. The pattern calls for a layer cake, but I edited the pattern to make the best use out of my fat quarters and began making the blocks. Instead of making the giant 9-patches with 10" squares, I used 8" squares and the sashing called for 2 1/2" strips, but I down-sized mine to 2". This is a fast and easy pattern and as a bonus, there are no seams to match:

I put the top together on Tuesday, as my friend, C and I, had made plans for a road trip to Texas and I was hoping to find a backing. I hit paydirt in the first shop with this fabric from the clearance shelf.
There wasn't quite enough so I added a strip of the sashing fabric down the middle to add the needed length

and I bound it with more of the sashing fabric

                          

The finished quilt is 50"x 62"

 Jackie quilted a pantograph that has flowers and bees on it...so perfect

And she loved this quilt and mentioned a sweet couple that sells honey and produce locally. The wife is a quilter and makes quilts for charity. I took my scraps to Jackie and her daughter made this quilt for the couple:

Isn't that great?! Jackie and Sandy are so clever and generous.

And we were back in the mountains this weekend so I took advantage of  my in-laws' deck to show off this quilt:

                                                   

I hope the Honey Man likes it.

                           

Our girl said he is quite the Casanova. LOL