Plant Kindness mini finish

My mini quilt finished at 14'' square.

The stitching pattern was free at Fort Worth Fabrics.  I used a mini charm pack of Sweetness from Sandy Gervais to surround my stitching project.  I framed the stitching with a dusty red from my stash and used the same for a border.   I love the way it turned out!

My straight line quilting was fun to do but I should have used some more pins.  Got a bit wavy in spots.  (I did not quilt over the stitching itself.)

My goal setting post was here.  I'll be joining the linky party for OMG.

I'll be linking my Plant Kindness quilt at  Blossom Heart Quilts,  Sew Fresh Quilts and Freemotion by the River.

Happy Stitching!

February

Meet February - both the month and the mini quilt!

Why am I calling it February?  No idea.  I always like to name my projects and inspiration comes from wherever you can get it.

I had fun doing simple straight line quilting.

This runner is my interpretation of Sheri's Hope Chest mini quilt pattern. When I started the project, I had every intention of making the whole thing but other things kept jumping up and down for my attention.  I like this 3 block version!

Sheri of A Quilting Life and Michele of Island Life Quilts gave us the challenge for the January's Minis and More QAL.

Here in NC, it looks like we are easing into February with several days of warm temperatures.

February is also the beginning of Elm Street Quilts Hugs and I would like to turn February into a month of handmade hugs.

My blog series kicks off today on my Elm Street Quilts blog where I'll be posting all month about different groups that accept handmade items - quilts, pillowcases etc - and distribute them to someone who needs extra support.  Someone who needs to know that people care.

Do you have some fabric in your stash that would make a fabulous donation quilt?  Some UFO blocks that could be assembled into a baby quilt for donation?  Or maybe some novelty fabric that would make a terrific pillowcase.

Or maybe there is a friend or family member going through a rough time and a gift of handmade would help.

Share via blog, Facebook, Instagram and join the linky party here.  Please help me spread the word and let's spread kindness with some handmade hugs.  The social tags are #handmadehug and #ESQHugs.

Read more about turning that novelty fabric into something useful on today's post on Hugs: Give a Pillowcase.

I'll be linking my February quilt at  Blossom Heart Quilts,  Sew Fresh Quilts and Freemotion by the River.

Happy Stitching!

VW Bug

When I was a kid, my dad had a red VW.  He loved that car although he couldn't drive it in the rain (no working wipers) and it had rusted all the way through in spots.  He eventually sold the car and then bought a 1974 yellow VWand fully restored it.

This car can be driven in the rain although he probably doesn't take it out of the garage on days when it could get muddy.  He enjoys showing the car at local car shows and taking it out for a drive on a nice day.

His VW was my inspiration for this mini quilt I made him for Christmas.

I really wanted the VW applique to pop so I used an extra layer of batting and did some initial quilting to just outline the car.

And from the back

And then carefully trimmed away the excess batting.

Then I made my quilt sandwich.  In addition to some thread painting, I made some waving lines as if to suggest it was flying driving a light speed.

My dad loves it!

This mini sure was fun to do.  In hindsight, I do wish I put it on a neutral background with some amount of a low scale print on it or maybe even gotten all fancy and made a road scene.  When I was creating it, my head kept thinking it would take up more of the space than it actually did.  (I sized this to be placemat sized so my dad would have that option.)

I'd never tired this technique with the batting before - it was fun!

Happy Stitching!

Let it snow, let it snow!

I know parts of the US have gotten snow already this season.  Winter starts tonight officially at 11:48 pm EST in the US.

No snow yet here in central NC.  (This is a photo of my back yard after a storm last winter.)

With no snow in the forecast, I decided to make my own and turn it into a hot pad for the table.

Interested in making your very own fabric snowflakes?  I posted my tutorial here on my Elm Streets Quilts blog.

Happy Stitching!

Holiday wishes

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  Ours was wonderful and relaxing and there was some time to sew!

First, a finish - 

I made this mini using this free paper piecing pattern.   I fussy cut the geese so that each of the 12 Days of Christmas are front and center.

Once this mini was done, I was ready to start a smaller project so found a whole box of scraps and starting creating mittens!

This fabric is from a Kate Spain line from a few years ago.  I won a giveaway on her blog and the prize was a 20 lb (yes!) bag of fabric scraps.  I used some of them right away and then spent time this weekend(finally) cutting them into pieces good for the mitten block or just some 2 1/2 '' strips.  Gonna have some fun!

 Finally, did you take advantage of any Black Friday fabric shopping?  I know I managed to add some things to my stash - some AMB solids in yummy colors.  Can't wait for them to arrive.

There are a bunch of Cyber Monday sales out there and I wanted to pass on the deal from one of my sponsors - Fat Quarter Shop sale on precuts runs through Tuesday, December 1 (midnight)!

Making my min quilt Holiday Wishes was part of a monthly sewalong called Mini Quilt and More hosted by Sherri from A Quilting Life and  Michele of Island Life Quilts .  There will be a parade of minis next week so I'll perhaps be inspired with other fabric combinations.   Finishing this mini was also my November goal for ALYOF.  (Goal post here.)   You can check out more information on ALYOF on Sew Bitter Sweet Designs.

 Happy Stitching!

Puppy Parade

Lorna is hosting a link up this week of all the puppy quilts made from her Dog Gone Cute QAL on her blog Sew Fresh Quilts.

I think my puppies are looking for trouble, don't you?  I made at least one dog of each of the variations in the pattern posted.

This is my favorite puppy.  I did all my puppies in possible puppy color except for maybe this one.  Not sure you'd spy a cutie like him out and about.

I had the blue in my stash that I used for the cornerstone, inner border and will use for the binding.  My quilting lines are intentionally curvy straight lines.   I've not put the binding on yet because I want to stare at the quilting density for a few more days.  I'm liking the way it looks - lines are about 1 inch apart.

What a fantastic pattern!  I very much enjoyed making a dozen pups and will tuck this sweet quilt away for a baby gift.

Ill be linking up here at the Dog Gone Cute linky party.

And go check out my Elm Street Quilts blog where I am running a series this November to create small zipped (and non zipped) bags and pouches this month.  You can win great prizes - see this post for the overall series summary and this post for the sponsor post and giveaway!


Happy Stitching!

Harvest Scarecrow - Haunted Halloween Blog Hop!!

Look at this scarecrow!  He is sitting down on the job and might just be flirting with the young scarecrow lady!

Shouldn't he be out there, faithfully guarding the pumpkin patch and waiting for the Great Pumpkin?

Awesome

I first saw this Awesome saying on a hand painted sign at a craft fair.  I bought that sign for my daughter and she has it hanging in her room.   (When she was younger, she played in buddy baseball league and her nickname was "Megan the Awesome".)

My Awesome quilt (see what fun it is to call a quilt Awesome) was one of two quilts I entered into Clothworks Tiny Quilt Challenge made entirely with AMB solids.

Even though I didn't win with either quilt, it was a lot of fun to enter the challenge and I'm very glad I did. Information about the winners is posted on the Clothworks blog.

My other entry was the better of the two but I'm not going to publish it here on the blog yet because I'm thinking about submitting the second mini to a magazine for publishing.  Has anyone ever done this?


 Happy Stitching!

The Gang is All Here - ALYOF

Aren't they so cute?

Thank you Alida from Tweety Loves Quilting  for these fabulous Peanuts paper pieced patterns.  Each of these were so much fun to assemble.  Snoopy and Charlie Brown are my favorite.  I could make them again as a small mini quilt!

Pumpkin colored tulip!

Sherri from A Quilting Life and  Michele of Island Life Quilts are running a monthly sewalong called Mini Quilt and More.   

I missed participating in July and August so I wanted to make sure to play in September.

I made a single block and chose to use my stash of pumpkin colored fabric for my tulip.

I was a tad lazy on the basting so my straight line quilting managed to distort the block a bit.  However,  I am choosing to think of it as a design element - looks like the flower is blowing in the wind!


Happy Stitching!

Summer Stars

Sheri from A Quilting Life has been hosting a summer block series with a variety of star blocks - one of my favorite. 

I finally made the last two blocks.  The block on the right actually has a light, light blue center.  I opted for that instead of a scrappy 4 patch.

All  assembled it into a quilt!  I did some wavy straight line quilting (is that a thing?)

I am very happy with the way it turned out.  I used all AMB solids and the cornerstones are actually a bright red.  Love the way they pop on the quilt.  For the binding, I tried a single fold binding an really like the way it turned out.

Sherri will post a parade of photos later this week.

Finishing this mini was also my August ALYOF goal  (goal setting post).  Finishing this mini was my August goal - I'll be linking up at Another Lovely Year of Finishes.  

   



Happy Stitching!

Another Welcome stitching mini

For this one, I went with 2 sunflowers from the stitching pattern here on Fort Worth Studio's blog.

Remember when I blogged about my first two and I wasn't happy on how 'floppy' the one with minimal quilting was?

I fixed it!

Much better!

I experimented with 3 different types of edging:  Folding over the back piece, completely bindless and using a very narrow black binding.

And from the back -

I like the one with the black binding the best.  It was a worthwhile experiment.  I recently saw a tutorial for a single fold binding.  I've got to make another mini to try it out.


Happy Stitching!

Diamonds

I've been playing with a collection of HST that I made using scraps of my batiks fabrics.

This mini is 9 1/2" square.  I did a whole series of straight lines using my walking foot, the distance between them varies but might be described as matchstick quilting.

The finished pieces has such great texture and stability.  I just used a normal piece of batting so it is surprising how much stability it has.

I sewed around the edge of the piece before I started to stabilize and to avoid distortion that tight quilting can bring.

Haven't decided if this is for me or a gift!

I'd be happy to write this one up as a quick tutorial - please let me know if you are interested.

Happy Stitching!

Welcome!

I found a stitching pattern here on Fort Worth Studio's blog.   (Do check it out - there are lots of cute little patterns and projects.)  

I really like the texture and stability that all my straight line quilting gave to the piece.   For the binding, I cut it at a very small 1 1/2" and then sewed it on at something less than 1/4".

This finished mini is 9" by 6 1/2".

I made another one without all the quilting.

For this one, I also skipped the binding by sewing front and back right sides together almost all the way around and then turning it inside out.  I am not happy with the lack of stability and texture so will likely undo my binding-less treatment and add some straight line quilting.

This was quick and fun and I've got more of them in my future!

Which one do you like better?

Happy Stitching!

Farmer's Wife is done!

In July of last year, I started my Farmer's Wife quilt, making 3 paper pieced blocks most weeks.  The quilt went off the the spa in late May and I finally finished the binding last weekend.

This photo is just a teaser.

I want to do a real photo op with this one during a time when my quilt holder has more time (and patience) for the job.

I went with a red solid for the binding and really like the way it came out.

Hopefully a photo shoot this weekend and then I'll do a blog post with heavy pictures!

Until then, have a good weekend!

Happy Stitching!

Sandcastles on the beach

My family and I are fortunate enough to vacation for a week each year at the North Carolina beach.  The Outer Banks are just beautiful.  I bring my machine along each year to sew during the times we are not down on the beach.

This year, I created Sandcastle!

I waited until the last day to capture a photo on the beach which meant I had to deal with lots of wind.

The photo op was still fun .... until I had to chase it down the beach after a big wind gust!

This pattern is now available in my Elm Street Quilts pattern store on Craftsy.  It is my 6th pattern and could be my favorite one!

You need 2 fat quarters for the castle and then scraps for the flags, windows and doors.

My kids are teenagers and have lost interest in building actual sandcastles.  My quilty one will just have to do!!

Happy Stitching!