November 26, 2010

Animals Quilt

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I made two of these quilts four years ago for my son's bunkbed.  One is a full size, and the other is a twin size.  I had them professionally quilted at that time but had never bound them.  Another unfinished quilt project on a bed.  I finished the full size one today!  Yeah!

I was a fairly new quilter at the time I sewed these and made them too small for the beds, not realizing how the quilting process reduces a quilt's size and how much shrinkage occurs when they are washed.  Plus, by the time I made enough blocks for the two quilts, I was sick and tired of making the blocks, and I also didn't want to get the quilts too big for the beds by adding another row of blocks.  Add another border, you say?!  I now know that is the easiest way to enlarge a quilt, but I was a beginner then and didn't know that!

I'll be posting a tutorial on how to enlarge a quilted quilt before binding it.  I hope you never have to use it.  Trust me, it is much easier to make the quilt large enough before quilting it.



When I saw this fabric, I knew it was it; it was totally my son.  I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I knew this was him, completely.  He loved it when he saw it and still loves his jungle/animal room four years later and doesn't want to change any of it.


My apologies - the pictures are a bit light.  The colors are more vivid than they appear on my screen.  The quilt is hanging on the clothesline.  The sun isn't very bright today, but our 3" of snow disappeared overnight, and it's now 45 degrees.

Linking to:
Tuesday Archives

November 4, 2010

Castle Quilt

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I made this Castle Quilt for my oldest son five years ago when we moved into our new house, and I wanted all fresh bedrooms.  To a quilter, making a quilt for someone says, I care about you, I love you, and I wanted this quilt to tell this message to my son. 

She is a queen-sized quilt, and this was the first large one I made.  I used a castle quilt pattern that I found online and added the border strips in a brick fashion.  The top of the quilt is a McKenna Ryan fabric of blue trees in the distance, chosen as a background for the castles.  I had it professionally quilted as I didn't have a long-arm quilting machine at that time.  To tell the whole story, I just put the binding on her yesterday!  Yes, just yesterday, five years later!! It has been on his bed unbound for all these years!


Linking to:
Val's Quilting Studio

November 2, 2010

Living Room Quilt

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I have begun a quilt to replace the one that has been hanging on the living room wall for almost five years.  Time for an update.  Mr. Hearts thinks so, too.  Hey, I'm willing to make a quilt if it keeps him happy!  Making a quilt is a way better request than some others he could think of!  It kinda sounded like an invitation to spend money, so I gleefully headed out to buy fabric!  Uhh, no, it was a suggestion to use some of the fabric that is bursting out of my closet!


This is what I have chosen.  Ain't she pretty!  I haven't been able to find the pattern anywhere.  This past week I decided to make the pattern myself since it isn't very complicated.  I am using these colors in florals rather than stripes and plaids.  The colors will be lighter than what is in the living room now - which means, of course, that other things will need updated, too!  Like the valances at the six windows...sounds sew fun!



These are the delightful fabrics I'll be using.  The top fabric is the light color that is common in all the pieced blocks.  Hmm, they look even yummier in person!



This is the test block.  I am sew glad I made a test before cutting out all the pieces because I had the measurements figured wrong.  Amazing how this rather blah block will end up so striking when pieced together with other blah blocks, isn't it?!  Please leave me a comment if you know this block's name, or even if you don't know its name!



And this is the quilt that will be coming down.  Would you believe that is a full/queen sized quilt?  The wall is huge, and what else would a quilter put there but a quilt!?  I am planning on selling it on Etsy.  What?  You haven't heard of Etsy?  It is the neatest place online!  A marketplace exclusively for handmade items with much lower fees and four-month long listing periods.  WAY better than that other site.  Well, I confess.  I have gotten stolen many great finds at that other place. 

November 1, 2010

You Know You're A Quilter If...

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There's more fabric in the house than food.

"Fat Quarters" are not the heaviest part of your body.

Your ironing board is always set up, but you never iron clothes.

You think of your job as an interruption on your quilting time.

You pet fabric.

People are always picking threads off of you.

You can measure a scant 1/4 by eye.

"Featherweight" doesn't mean boxer.

Your "UFOs" are not from outer space.

You clean up your sewing room and they think you are leaving.