Thứ Ba, 30 tháng 4, 2013

Marcelle Medallion finish...

I'm home from snuggling babies (it was a tough job, but someone had to do it :) The night before I left, I finished the binding on my Marcelle Medallion found in the book Liberty Love.


I have to say this is one of my all-time favorite quilts. I loved making it, especially working with a big pile of scrap fabrics.


With all the different blocks and borders in this quilt, I had fun using a variety of quilting designs. I was really happy with how the flying geese turned out using a half dogwood quilting pattern.


I tried some loopy-loops and wood grain patterns from Angela Walter's book.


I even added some hand quilting in a few areas...





And here's the back. A combo of Charleston Farmhouse, a black and white chevron and one of the first pieces from the DS collection for Joann's.


I really need to find a place to hang this quilt. It's just too lovely to be folded up in a closet! . . . Cindy

Thứ Tư, 17 tháng 4, 2013

Some exciting news!

 The quilt posts have been put on hold for a bit while bask in the joy of a new grandson! Little Sam was born early Saturday morning...

Healthy and so adorable...


He joins his 2 older sisters! {Wearing those cute little shoes!}



I had planned on writing a few posts with some new quilts for you to see while I was preoccupied. He came 2 weeks early - so that didn't happen. I'll be back soon with more ...
. . . Cindy

Thứ Hai, 8 tháng 4, 2013

Flowers - real and appliqué

Finally! Some real Spring flowers!


And I'm prepping some fabric flowers also. My color inspiration for Denyse Schmidt's Flowering Vine quilt is this piece from Honey Honey by Kate Spain.


I'm using a navy background...


And have everything prepped, basted and ready for some hand-stitching...


. . . Cindy

Thứ Năm, 4 tháng 4, 2013

Nine-Patch/Snowball Quilt Tutorial

My happy-go-lucky charm packs arrived today, so I made some progress on my quilt. A few of you asked about making it, so I thought I'd do a quick tut on what I'm doing.

BTW- I also ordered this grey diagonal stripe. It will be great for binding - don't miss that one!


The quilt is a combination of 2 simple blocks - a nine-patch and a snowball. It's one of my favorite classic combinations and I don't think I've ever made one! Mine are 6" finished. I'm making 99 blocks, set 9 blocks x 11 blocks. I'll add a 1" finished inner border of white and a 3" finished outer border for a quilt that's 62" x 74".

To make 50 nine-patch blocks and 49 snowball blocks, you'll need:
4 charm packs or 162 charm squares (5")
2 1/8 yards of white for the snowball blocks and inner borders

To finish the quilt like mine, you'll need:
7/8 yard for borders
5/8 yard for binding
4 yards for backing

To make the Nine-patch block, sew 2 charm squares together on one side. Cut them in half as pictured in both directions.


You'll end up with 2 sets of squares sewn together and 4 squares 2 1/2" (these are all print squares even though the light blue ones look white!)

Do this with 75 pairs of charm squares. Cut the remaining 12 charm squares in half in both directions, for 48 additional 2 1/2" squares. (You'll have 2 extra)


Sew one 2 1/2" square to each of the sewn pairs above for a row of three squares, Press the seams in one direction. Sew three rows together to make the block, alternating the direction of the seams so they fit together nicely. Make 50 blocks.


From your white fabric, cut 49 squares 6 1/2". For this you'll need 8 strips 6 1/2", plus one additional square.

Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the remaining 2 1/2" squares or use an Angler to sew a small square on the corner of each white square.


Press and trim the seam allowance to 1/4". Make 49 Snowball blocks.


Set your blocks by alternating the two. Here's what I managed to finish today! I'm liking how scrappy it's looking. I'm adding in a few navies, some Simply color and some previous lines of Bonnie and Camille.


Mmmm... I'm trying to decide on a border and binding using my charm squares, so I'm ready when the yardage is available! What do you think?


. . . Cindy

Thứ Tư, 3 tháng 4, 2013

Unplanned Sewing...

My sewing seems to be very unplanned at the moment. A bundle of Tsuru sat on my table and in a bit of spur-of-the-moment sewing I made a block (top left)...


Then I made another...


and another...


The block-making continued until I ran out of solid navy and impatiently waited for more to arrive.


I ended up with a figure-it-out-as-you-go sampler quilt, full of gorgeous color and a modern take on some traditional blocks!


Tsuru has this wonderful border print that with some math and fussy cutting, I was able to sprinkle some flowers around each corner.


And to keep the unplanned projects going, yesterday I cut up a Happy Go Lucky Charm pack and pieced these cute 6" blocks. Sheesh! Now I'm waiting for a couple more Charm Packs! Planning does have it's advantages!


Happy Sewing! . . . Cindy