Quilt backs!

Rebecca at Chasing Cottons is hosting a link up of quilt backs. I've seen posts by Angela, Lee, and Kati, so I figured I'd join the fun!

I love coming up with an idea for a quilt back (wrestling with the larger pieces of fabric...not so much). I've made quilts with just one fabric on the back, but I prefer a pieced back because it allows me to use up scraps and it's often more fun! When I make a pieced quilt back, I have two goals: 1. Try to somehow reference the front of the quilt and 2. Spend no money. Sometimes I'm more successful than others!

Here are some (okay, maybe all...) of my pieced quilt backs!


Sanctuary Slices back


Supernova back


Modern Sliced Scrappy back


Dirt bike back


Colorbrick back


Finn's quilt back


Pinwheel back


Scruffily back


Simple Abundance back


Arcadia back. Saved my favorite for last. I used up my stray honey bun strips for this one. I get a little misty every time I see Arcadia...

P.S. When I was looking back through my old blog posts, I was surprised to find out that I used to, like, read and cook and stuff! So weird. I was also a little surprised (and somewhat concerned) to find out that I've finished 13 quilts this year. My name is Katie, and I'm a quiltaholic...

Scrappy Scottie

I bookmarked this pattern (free! from Denyse Schmidt) a long time ago when there seemed to be a Scottie population boom on the internet. (See cute versions here and here.) But then I kind of forgot about them until I saw this version by Kirsten at Gemini Stitches. We have a birthday party for a 4-year-old girl tomorrow, and I figured this would be a great gift!


I grabbed scraps from my bin pretty much at random. The side panel is white flannel. I added button eyes and a pink velvet ribbon collar. Easy!


Wish me luck getting him away from this kid (who insists on calling it a donkey)!

Black, white, and red all over

Houndstooth, all finished up. This quilt is a gift for my neighbor who just graduated high school and will be going to the University of Alabama in the fall. (In case you're not an SEC football fan...Houndstooth is a thing at the University of Alabama.) You can see I opted not to fix my backwards blocks. I chose to take the advice of those of you who said it added character to the quilt (and thanks for that!).


I went with an all over stippling with white thread. (Kristie said black thread would be badass, and I know she's right...but I chickened out and went with the decidedly non-badass white.)


Black seemed like the only option for binding.


For the back, I went with this jumbo polka dot from Sugar and Spice by The Quilted Fish.


I took a photo of the backing fabric with a quarter for scale...because I love it when people take a picture with a quarter for scale.



The pattern is from V and Co. Vanessa's pattern is for a square baby quilt. I added some extra rows to make it a throw. I made it a little on the small side so it would be dorm room appropriate. I gave it to my neighbor tonight, and she loves it!

City Weekends Patchwork

I had 2 charm packs of City Weekend languishing in my stash, so I put them together to make this little quilt for Craft Hope Project 13. It's lovely fabric. I feel a little guilty for neglecting it!


I have lots of this yellow Flower Sugar print, so I put some to use as the back of this quilt.


Quilting? Loopy.


I love the range of colors in this line, but it made it hard to pick a binding fabric. I ended up getting this little print from JoAnn's (spoiling my effort to make this a 100% stash quilt).


My buddy approves.

I'm hoping to get a few more things together, and then it's off to Craft Hope!

A little stitchery

When I saw this pattern (designed by Kaye of Miss Print) I knew I wanted to make it for my friend Leah's sewing room. Her birthday is coming up, so I got to stitching.


I love the little tomato pincushion!

WIP Wednesday

Back in action! I had a great Memorial Day weekend, with more time at the pool than behind the sewing machine (I have the sunburn to prove it) but I made a bit of progress.



Finished:
hmm...nada

Ongoing projects:

City Weekends charm quilt for Craft Hope project 13


"Someone finish my binding!"

Kaleidoscope Quilt-Along with Don't Call Me Betsy




Of course I'm in! I'm excited about this one, and I'm thinking I may use it as my excuse to pick up some Loulouthi. Head to Elizabeth's blog for the details. She just announced it today, so there's plenty of time to join.



Completed tops awaiting quilting:


Houndstooth quilt
Red Letter Day quilt
Postage Stamp quilt (Long arm? Hand quilt?)

To do:
June blocks for do. Good Stitches
Central Park quilts
Blankets for Craft Hope Project 13
Deer quilt


We're linking up at Elizabeth's this week, so head over to see what everyone is working on.

Yes!

Houndstooth quilt top...finished!



Of course, the blocks I sewed on backwards are screaming at me now.

Any thoughts on how I should quilt this??

(Pattern from V and Co)

Houndstooth in progress

I was hoping to have this quilt top finished this weekend, but it's proving--ahem--tedious.

A winner! And a public service announcement

Thanks to everyone who entered my Hideaway giveaway! The lucky winner is #490!















And that's Sadie from Scotland!








(It says 90, but my comment counter resets at 200.)
Congrats, Sadie! You should have an e-mail from me.

Now, for my public service announcement. Lots of you said you'd never heard of Hideaway. It is getting a little hard to find. There is a decent amount available on Etsy, as well as some precuts here. So if you're in the market for some, I'd go ahead and scoop it up soon!

WIP Wednesday

If you're here for my Sew Mama Sew giveaway, scroll down to the next post!

It's Wednesday! I managed to get a bit done in between all of the giveaway surfing.



Finished:

Modern Sliced Scrappy Quilt for do. Good Stitches

More on this here.

Teacher gifts


Luke's teachers are getting these little zippered pouches made using the Gathered Clutch tutorial from Noodlehead. I put a gift card inside. Done!


I had fun making these. You can see the linings in this photo. I had trouble getting the top corners (beside the zipper) to behave. Any tips?



Ongoing projects:

City Weekends charm quilt for Craft Hope project 13
just needs binding.


And...

crickets....

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Red Letter Day quilt
Postage Stamp quilt (Long arm? Hand quilt?)

To do:
June blocks for do. Good Stitches
Blankets for Craft Hope Project 13
Houndstooth quilt (this one is getting bumped up)
Deer quilt


Head to Lee's to see what everyone else has going on.

Giveaway Day!!!

Hi there! Happy Giveaway Day! Let's get right to the good stuff.


I have accumulated quite the stash of my beloved Hideaway fabric, so I'm sharing some with one lucky winner. (Don't worry--I'm leaving more than enough for myself.)


Up for grabs: a charm pack of Hideaway and the 5 fat quarters you see here.

Want to win? Just leave a comment on this post telling me where in the world you live. (And if you don't feel comfortable being specific, be general. Like I live in the right half of the U.S.) I'm happy to ship internationally. I'll close the giveaway on May 26 and pick a winner using Random Number Generator. Just make sure I have a way to contact you!!


Now, head back to Sew Mama Sew for more giveaway fun!

Modern Sliced Scrappy quilt for do.Good Stitches

Done! I know I've shown this quilt top to you many times, but I'm back now with the finished quilt!


Each member of the Peace Circle made two blocks using their own scraps an Elizabeth's tutorial. I put them together and quilted it using double random straight lines. Now, I have to say that I did a lot of thinking and research before I starting quilting. I know, that kind of goes against the whole random thing, but I tend to overthink (are the lines too random? not random enough? do I need more? etc.). I spent a lot of time looking at Ashley's quilts before starting, but I'm happy with the result. And my sewing machine was much more agreeable to the straight line thing this time.






I love all of the little details in this quilt, and I know the recipient will too.


I thought about using the leftover stripes from my Bottled Rainbows as binding, but I decided it might be a bit too much (not so much from the front but the back is a bit...busy. Stay tuned.). SO instead I went with this black-and-white polka dot from my stash. I tried machine stitching the binding for the first time! I love stitching binding by hand, and that will always be my default, but stitching it by machine is handy when you're in a hurry. I used this great tutorial from Emily at Mommy's Naptime--she presses the binding fabric in place instead of using pins (yay!). It worked very well, and I'll definitely use this method again.


I used white for my top thread and black in the bobbin so it would blend into the binding a little better. Looks pretty good!


For the back, I used this fun blue houndstooth print from Summer Soiree by Paula Prass. Mainly because I have a lot of it, but also because it looks fun. I added a little rainbow strip bordered by some Kona Coal.


I didn't have the right solids for all of the rainbow colors, so I used some prints too. (This is a particularly busy quilting intersection!)


Here it is--all ready to send off to My Very Own Blanket! It's an organization that provides quilts for children in foster care.

Thanks to Michelle, Lisa, Paula, Melissa, Allie, Meg, Naomi, Tanya, and Laura!

W.I.P. Wednesday

It's Wednesday. I've been a busy bee this week! My list is getting mighty short...



Finished:

May blocks for do. Good Stitches





Lisa asked for bright, colorful blocks. I hope she meant that, because I certainly took it to heart! We're making blocks using the Sugar Pop n Change block from Moda Bake Shop.

Tracey's block for the VIBees



Tracey asked for petal blocks. I remembered this block from Penny at Sew Take a Hike. She told me that the tulip template came from Material Obsession 2, so I picked up the book from the library.


Tracey is making a baby quilt, so I didn't want raw edges. I found this tutorial for using freezer paper for turned-edge appliqué. Very clever!

Angela's block for Sew Beautiful Bee

I've showed you this before, but it's in the mail, so it can officially come off the list. I'm pumped to mark all of my bee blocks off the list!

Charms for Japanese Import Charm Swap

Cut up and in the mail!

Ongoing projects:

Modern Sliced Scrappy Quilt for do. Good Stitches

I basted this tonight, so it's time to get started on the quilting! Maybe I'll finish this up this weekend.


Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Red Letter Day quilt
Postage Stamp quilt (Long arm? Hand quilt?)

To do:
Blocks for do. Good Stitches
Tracey's VIBees block
Angela's Sew Beautiful Bee block
Cut up (and mail) charms for Japanese Import swap
Blankets for Craft Hope Project 13
Houndstooth quilt
Deer quilt


Head to Lee's to see what everyone else has going on.