North of Disappearing

Another family wedding leads to another quilt project for me and my mom. This was for another cousin.

(I have a lot of cousins.)

Matt and Christina had a destination wedding in Curacao. But they also had a party back in the states. Which was nice because I was able to see them open their present.

 

The pattern is the Disappearing Nine Patch. My mom had done this pattern several times and it goes pretty quickly. Christina had requested black and gray with sage green. This quilt ended up being much bigger than we anticipated. Isn't it funny when that happens?

 

Bridesmaid to Baby

My friend, Jen, recently asked me to make a baby quilt for her to give to her friend who is expecting. Jen was a bridesmaid in her friends wedding so she wondered if I could make a quilt from the bridesmaid dress that she wore. I was a little unsure - the dress was made of chiffon and satin - but decided to give it a try.

(Talk about pressure!)

Jen picked out the following pattern, taken from Pinterest.

The Pinterest quilt is made with denim. I decided to use a mixture of fabrics. Since I didn't want to use all chiffon and satin, plus different textures are good for babies to explore, this seemed like the best option. Before starting the project, I went to Joann's and shopped the whole store, picking out different blues. Here's a tip.... When I went to the cutting counter at Joann's, I asked for 1/8th of a yard of several bolts. The employee at the cutting counter said she would give me a sample off the bolt of 4 inches of fabric. I chose to go that route so several of the fabrics I chose were free. I kept asking her if she was sure it was okay to just take 4 inches and she assured me it was. Bonus!

Here's the first block I made. The sashing is 1 inch. Notice the rectangular piece.... It's from the bodice of the dress.

(I didn't think about taking a photo of the actual dress before I cut it up. Doh.)

The biggest challenge of this quilt was working with the little 1 inch squares. It would have been easier if I had been using just calico fabric. But the jersey and minky and flannel and several other pieces tended to stretch. I did use stabilizer on the back of several, just help with the stretching. It did help but not completely.

I loved working on this project. It was a challenge but it was a different type of challenge. It came together better than I expected. Having the sashing in between the different textures really helped. I quilted it down the middle of the black sashing.

The textured fabric really added a lot to the look of this quilt. It's fun to run my hands over the different blocks. Jen loved the finished project and said her friend gave it rave reviews. I would definitely make this quilt again and I would use this pattern if I ever made a denim quilt.

Rainbow Block of the Month

It seems like I have many quilting books but rarely do I ever make something from one of their patterns. I tend to lean toward more modern looking quilts as well as improvisational quilts and the quilts in the books that I have are really boring.

(Don't get me wrong... there are a lot of really cool books out there. I just don't own many.)

(Perhaps its time to update my library.)

But there is a quilt in one of my books that I've really wanted to try. It is meant to be a block of the month quilt which doesn't appeal to me. I've never really done a sampler quilt before. But I fell in love with the rainbow effect of this quilt.

I didn't love the "weird" dimensions. Who wants to cut something at 3/8th or 7/8th of an inch? That said, I realize I need to work on my precision - both in terms of cutting and piecing. So I decided to take this project. 

It wasn't easy. I had to remove seams and resew often. But I was determined to take my time and do things the right way.

AND I'M SO GLAD I DID! I love, love, love it! 

This is definitely a quilt I'm keeping for myself. Unfortunately, we no longer have a twin bed in our guest room so I thought I'd put this quilt away until it could be used. But my husband loves it so much, he insists it hang over the back of the recliner in our family room. 

What a great decision... I love seeing it on a daily basis.

Family Jewels

I always enjoy working on quilt projects WITH family members FOR family members. Over the winter, my mom and I made a wedding quilt for my cousin, Steve, and his bride-to-be, Ellen. They requested green and jewel tones. We decided on this pattern from Pinterest. (We didn't have the actual pattern but it was pretty easy to replicate.)

It took some digging to come up with jewel tone scraps as it's been many years since I've done a quilt in those colors. We worked on putting it together during a quilt retreat weekend. When one person does the sewing and the other person does the cutting and ironing, things sure do go fast.

We layered the quilt when my mom was visiting me for the weekend and then I did the actual quilting at another quilt retreat weekend. (I get so much done during "quilt camp".)

The back was teech too short but luckily we had leftover blocks. I love the look of pieced backs.

The wedding was in April, held at a windmill museum and my youngest was the ring bearer. Here are some family photos from the event.

IU Chevron

 Since moving to Bloomington and working at Indiana University, the amount of red in my house has quadrupled! So it's only fitting that I actually started collecting red fabric to go along with everything else red in my life. I've been collecting some true red (aka red, red) fat quarters for a few years and wasn't sure what to do with the material. Unfortunately, it's impossible to get IU themed fabric (trust me, I've tried!) therefore I finally decided on a chevron quilt (similar to my Purdue chevron from a few years ago.)

My strips were different sizes which gave some visual edge to the quilt. I ended up with a baby size project and donated it the Boys and Girls Club Holiday Auction along with some other IU baby items. Unfortunately, I didn't get a great picture of the finsihed quilt. Oy. This one will have to do.