Radiant heart

I finished up this quilt just under the wire for the 2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge with On the Windy Side and play crafts.
 
I've been wanting to make a pixelated heart quilt ever since I saw ones by Jolene at Blue Elephant Stitches, Kelly at Kelby Sews, and Amanda at A Crafty Fox. I used Amanda's dimensions to make this quilt for a purple-loving friend who is getting married soon. The finished quilt is about 68x86.




I had some random HSTs left over from this quilt, and I put those to use on the back along with some random purple solids I had in my stash.



I made my binding strips from the extra backing fabric, so I was able to do a little matched binding a la Deb from A Quilter's Table.

 
I'm linking up with the 2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge!


 

Heartstrings

Earlier this month, I finished up our Heartstrings quilt for the Peace circle of do. Good Stitches.


We used the String Heart Block tutorial from Elizabeth/Don't Call Me Betsy. The tutorial makes big (18-inch) blocks.


I put the quilt together and used up my binding scraps. The backing is a favorite Ikea print (need more!).

 

It came together really quickly in the end. No idea why it took me so long! This quilt will be heading off to My Very Own Blanket.

Minky mania

The weather outside may be frightful, but the minky is so delightful.

Just kidding. Minky is of the devil, but some of my favorite people really love it, so three minky-backed quilts were made for Christmas!

Up first, my friends in That Stash Bee (thank you, thank you!) helped me make quilts for two of my nephews.
I love the Rugby Stripes quilt by Teaginny, and I thought the design would be perfect for my nephews. These quilts came together pretty quickly with the help of my bee friends. They're simple, graphic, and they're great scrap busters!
My 6-year-old nephew got an orange one.




This one is backed in orange minky and quilted using orange thread. The binding? Orange stripes.
Notice a theme?

 
The navy one went to his 11-year-old brother. They've had some crazy cold weather these last few weeks, so I hope they're being put to good use!

Then, I made a quilt for my husband. See, before this quilt, we were a three-person household with two minky quilts (Luke's dinosaur quilt and my Arcadia quilt), and it just wasn't working. For a harmonious family, each member needs a minky-backed quilt. My husband  kind of bogarted my Arcadia quilt, so I made him one of his own. There are no selfless good deeds.
 I made him a man quilt using Waterfront Park and a pattern from Skip the Borders.

 After making 5 minky quilts, I've learned a few things. Here are my tips from working with minky.

1. Don't cry. It's really not that bad. Okay, it kind of is, but it will be over soon.
2. I use the double-sided minky fleece and no batting. (I've seen this type of minky at Joann's too.)
3. Buy minky that's wide enough so you don't have to piece the backing. I found some at 60-inches wide. 
4. Use lots of spray baste. Also, use some pins too, especially around the edges. Minky is some shifty stuff.
5. If possible, match your quilting thread to your minky. The minky tends to pull up a little to the front of the quilt. It's less noticeable if you use the same color thread.
6. Go with a simple quilting pattern. A loose stipple works well for me.

  Now, go forth and conquer the minky!

Trifecta

Last year, my mom's friend asked me to make quilts for her 10 (!) grandchildren. She chose fabric to match each child's interest, which made for some fun quilts! I was really relieved to finish them up at the end of November so I could have some time to work on other Christmas sewing.

Zig-Zag Campers

 I came up with this pattern on my own after not quite finding what I was looking for online.

 
 The fabric is Summer Camp by Mark Cesarik.

  International Colorblock

  The Colorblock pattern by Bijou Lovely seemed like a good fit for these large-scale prints. I altered the pattern a little to change it from a baby size to a throw.

 

  Doglandia

Finally, a simple quilt using Peter Horjus' Doglandia fabric.

 

I knew I wanted to keep the Brady Bunch-style dog fabric in tact, so I cut other fabrics in large (about 12-inch) squares.

 

 On the back of this one, I framed some yardage of the dog print with leftovers of the other prints. And here they are: all 10 finished quilts.

 

Time to wrap up the Christmas sewing.

I have a few more things to finish up, but I'm getting close! Here's what has kept me busy over the past few weeks.


Pillow for Grandma 

 My Grandma bought a new aqua chair, so I made her a pillow for it using my mirror ball dots and the Modern Plus Pillow tutorial by Jeni/In Color Order.

  Stocking for Charlotte

It's my niece's first Christmas, so she needs a stocking for my mother-in-law's house. I used the Merry pattern by Thimble Blossoms.

  Road Trip Pillows



 My cousins will be traveling with their little kids this Christmas season, so the kids are getting Road Trip Pillows. (Tutorial here.) I made them a little smaller than the directions said and left off the handles and rickrack. I put a few books from the Target $1 bin in the pocket, and I'm calling them done.

  Doll quilts

My little nieces are getting doll quilts. I made this one using a charm pack of Wallflowers fabric.

 
And this one using the Downtown fabric line. (Thanks for the charms, Elizabeth!)


 That's all for now! I'm finishing up a few more things, and I think I'll have 6 (!!!!!) finished quilts to show you. Back soon. :)

Lights! Cameras! Quilt!

The Loulouthi Tiles tutorial from Stitched in Color comes together quickly and highlights large-scale prints nicely.
 


 The quilt started with this camera print from Kelly Panacci's Passport line. I added in some Joel Dewberry, Amy Butler, and Anna Maria Horner.

 

 Finito.

Super quilt: To the rescue!

 This quilt started with Ann Kelle's super-cute Super Kids print. I added to that some other coordinating and equally super prints, plus a blue solids. The pattern is Rows of Bricks from Julie Herman's book, Skip the Borders.


 I quilted it in a boxy stipple with blue thread on top and white on the back.

 
And...speaking of the back: More Super Kids, along with a panel and super hero words from Illustrated Ink by Robert Kaufman.


 

Done!

Festival quilts

My son's school has a big fall festival each year, and it culminates with a silent auction. Each class is responsible for putting together a basket for the auction. I use the word "basket" lightly--it's really a huge display of themed items that will go home with the highest bidder. This year, we're doing a zoo-themed basket, and I'm sure you won't be surprised that I made a quilt.


I had some half yards of Happy Drawing fabric left over, so I staggered them with fabric from my stash. Simple, but it shows off the zoo-like animals in the prints.


I did some loopy quilting.


The dragon print got relegated to the back, because dragons aren't technically zoo animals, I'm told. Sorry, dragons. I just had a bit of the giraffes left, so I squeezed those in on the back too.



Just as a point of reference, I also bought this polar bear for the "basket."

Another class asked me to make a quilt for their basket too. They collected a bunch of T-shirts and requested a picnic-size T-shirt quilt. I'd never made a T-shirt quilt before, and I found them frightening, but I couldn't say no. So, after seeking out some online tutorials (I found this one particularly helpful),  getting some advice from Michelle, and procrastinating a whole lot, I got to work. I have to say, it wasn't as bad as expected (I expected it to be really bad, so I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't live down to my expectations!).


Yes, they're heavy, and the T-shirts were tricky to work with (I used interfacing, but they're still stretchy and rolly). But I think it will make a nice picnic quilt!




Really not worth showing you the back, but I used a blue Kona solid (along with a bit of red Kona because I ran out of blue).

 
 I quilted in vertical lines, about 3 or 4 inches apart.


And now...back to my regularly scheduled Christmas quilting.

Guitar hero

I'm glad to be done with this one.

 
 The piecing was simple enough (I used the Big Braid pattern from Jeni/In Color Order). The color palette is based off of the guitar print--Groovy Guitar in Boy by Michael Miller. Then I added in lots of coordinating prints. But the quilting almost did me in. For some reason, I had lots of tension problems, which resulted in some thread breakage, ripped out stitches, and (more than) a few curse words. BUT. It's done.

 

I'm very pleased with the binding! I had this Kumari Garden print in my stash, and it's just about perfect.

I have another finished quilt that I need to show you. Back soon!

Modern Bee blog tour and my quilt!

Hi, friends! Today is my stop on the Modern Bee book tour! Early last year, I was a part of a bee with some of my favorite quilty people, and it became a book written by Lindsay Conner. The book, Modern Bee: 13 Quilts to Make with Friends, is finally out!

Each member of the bee designed a quilt and made blocks for the other quilts.
Want to see my contribution?

 
I based my design off of a quilt top made by my great-great grandmother and finished by me! You can read more about her quilt here.  One of my favorite things about her quilt is that it very much fits into the definition of what we consider modern today, so I thought it would be fun to remake it with the help of my bee friends.



My great-great grandmother used diamonds and sewed everything by hand. Well, ain't nobody got time for that today, so I used half-square triangles (and other fancy tools like a sewing machine!).

 
I added in a few reverse blocks and sewed solid strips to the top and bottom for a little added something.


I'm really happy with the way it turned out!
By the way, this book isn't just for people involved in quilting bees. There are lots of tips for participating in bees, but if that's not your thing you'll find 13 great quilt patterns.

Modern Bee Blog Tour
Monday, 10/7:  Sew Mama Sew + Stash Books
Tuesday, 10/8: SewCraftyJess + Sew Sweetness
Wednesday, 10/9: Ellison Lane + Diary of a Quilter
Thursday, 10/11: Katie's Korner + Pat Sloan
Friday, 10/12: Fat Quarter Shop + imagine gnats
Saturday, 10/12: Quilting is My Therapy + Hot Pink Stitches
Monday, 10/14: Live a Colorful Life + Craft Gossip
Tuesday, 10/15: SewCanShe + Maureen Cracknell Handmade
Wednesday, 10/16: Craftsy + Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores

Learn more about the book!
Order now on Amazon

And of course no blog hop is complete without a giveaway!  To enter to win, click here to complete the Rafflecopter form for your chance to win a Modern Bee gift bag* filled with sewing goodies from Coats and Clark, FreeSpirit Fabrics, Olfa, Pellon and Timeless Treasures!

*Winners will be randomly selected after October 18, 2013 from all comments received. If the winner lives outside of the U.S., they'll win a Modern Bee e-Book of instead of the gift bag.

Down on the farm

Of all the quilts I've made, I dare say this one might me the most loved by its recipient.
 I used this tutorial from Moda Bake Shop. Just framed squares and 16 patches. (If you want to make this tutorial, read it all the way through. It's made for precuts, of course, and it makes way more squares than you need.)

 
John Deere fabrics from Wal-Mart (naturally), along with some other matching prints. I'm actually pleasantly surprised by how the Wal-Mart prints washed up. They're soft, and there was no bleeding. I did not prewash (!).

 
More tractors and excavators and such on the back. I used leftover strips from the 16 patches for binding.

Back soon with another finish! Kind of on a roll.

WIP Wednesday!

Stuff is getting done around Katie's Korner! Still...much left to do.



Finished:
Orphan no more pillow!

Pretty pleased that my lone dresden (circa 2011) became a pillow.

 Pow Wow and Giraffe Quilts


 

 
More on these here and here.  

Guitar quilt
 
Pulled this one from the dryer yesterday. More soon.

In progress

In all its glory. This one is quilted. Just waiting for me to finish the binding.

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Heartstrings
Giraffe quilt
Guitar quilt
John Deere
Boom Boom Pow Feathers
 Pump Up the Volume

To-do:
Christmas stockings
Camera quilt
Dog quilt
Camping quilt
Travel
Zoo quilt
T-shirt quilt

Head to Lee's for lots of WIP inspiration!

On safari.

Another finish, coming at ya.

I used the Jack's Blocks pattern (the same one I used for Luke's dinosaur quilt) from A Bright Corner for this one.

 
The focal print for this one is Giraffe Garden from Mod Prints by Michael Miller. Then I picked out some coordinating prints (lots of dots!) to add some variety.

 
The back is...well, a little wonky, as you can see. I'm having trouble lining up my backing fabric when I spray baste. Any tips?

 
 Glad to mark this one off the list! I have two more quilts in the binding stage...hoping to finish those this week.