Believe Circle July Blocks

The assigned block for July comes from a tutorial over at Fresh Lemon Quilts. Allison is our quilter for this month and she wanted us to make these blocks using turquoise/teal/aqua, orange, and white.

The center of the block is supposed to be a focus of sorts, incorporating all of the colors if possible. I only had two prints in my stash with more than one color and both of them happen to be stripes.

I'm always happy to revisit my paper piecing skills and enjoyed making these blocks.

I really like the secondary design that is going on with the oranges and can't wait to see how Allison decides to arrange them in her quilt.

These will be shipped off to their new home tomorrow.

Can't wait to see what is in store for August's blocks.

A Quilt to Celebrate Independence

My first born and only daughter moved away from home recently. She is a sometimes quilter who has to run with those bursts of inspiration whenever they happen. Most of her quilting projects have been as gifts for others. After she graduated from college last December, she decided it was time to make a quilt for herself, one that she could take with her into the big wide world whenever that day came along.

When the days started counting down to her move, the anticipation and preparation of moving took over every other activity. She had designed the quilt. She had pieced the top. We had even worked together on selecting the backing fabrics. A few days before she moved, she asked, "Mom, will you finish this for me. I just didn't have time." Of course I'll finish it. It has been great separation therapy for me.

She decided to play with the contrast of warm and cool colors in her design and stash buster her way through most of my fabric, making half square triangles with a warm side and cool side. Then she played with it on the design wall until she settled on this asymmetrical square in a square design.

Her living room furniture is very plain and neutral so this quilt is going to bring a bright splash of color to the room.

The fun striped back is just another great way to make use of the fabric on hand. Because this quilt is so bright and colorful, the quilting is a simple straight line design.

This quilt even gets a special label. Happy birthday sweet daughter of mine. Love this quilt. Love your independence. Love your life. I'm calling this quilt "Celebrating Independence". Thank you for allowing me to create this one with you.

Believe Circle Quilt Finish

This Independence Day long weekend gave me some much needed sewing time.

The idea for this quilt started back in May when it was my turn to be the quilter for the do. Good Stitches Believe Circle. Here's where I first wrote about it. Eight other stitchers contributed two blocks each to this quilt. The block comes from Sew, Mama, Sew BOM2. Those were some good mail days as the blocks began to arrive.

Originally, I thought I would use white or cream thread for the entire quilt, but one of the stitchers sent a special surprise with their blocks.

And it was filled with these beauties:

Once the blocks were arranged, I decided that sticking with white or cream thread for all of the quilting was going to make it too pretty. I didn't want "pretty", I wanted "fun". These brightly colored Aurifil 50 weight threads were just the touch of "fun" this quilt needed.

I did stick with Aurifil 50 weight cream thread to anchor the quilt with three lines of quilting going diagonally through the colored blocks. Each one of the spirals that occupies the white space is stitched in a different color of thread.

To finish it off, it is bound with a black and bright geometric print.

To keep it symmetrical, there are sixteen blocks on the front in a four by four design. The two extra blocks make a great statement on the back so that this quilt can be enjoyed from either side.

Each of the spirals is free motion quilted, which showed me that I need many more hour of practice before my hand will be steady enough for a larger design. I used a blue water soluble pen to draw the spiral before quilting. I can freehand fairly well in small area, but these spirals are about fifteen inches wide. Those drawn lines helped keep the design relatively consistent.

The binding was machine stitched to the front and hand stitched to the back. I know a lot of quilters love the speed of a binding sewn completely by machine. However, I'm a sucker for the slow finish. The binding is the last hurrah of being able to handle a quilt while it's still in progress. I relish that time to quietly hand sew the binding. After I finished this one though, I started thinking about sending it out into the world, and that it had the potential to be handled roughly. So I went back and machine stitched in the ditch from the front to catch the back binding and secure it much better than any hand stitching ever could. It' now ready to be wadded and drug and sat on and snuggled and whatever its future owner deems worthy.

This quilt is being sent to My Very Own Blanket who will put it in the hands of a foster child in need.

This was such a fun quilt to make. I can't think of a better way to spend those few extra hours this holiday weekend gave me.

Coasters as Sewing Therapy

While I'm a long way from an empty nest (my youngest is ten years old), we helped my oldest move to her first apartment this past weekend. All those years of schooling and parenting were supposed to lead to this, right? I'm very happy for her and I'm sure she's going to be quite successful in her adulthood, but still, I miss her. She's five hours from home, too, so it's not like I can drop by for a visit or that she can easily run home or that we can meet for lunch every couple of weeks.

While we were helping her set up her apartment, I made note of the table topper she had made and decided to use on her kitchen table. I also noted that there were no coasters. This mom needed a little sewing therapy and a special something to send in the mail for special love.

She doesn't have her own sewing machine (yet) and left all her fabric at home. I raided it when we got home and found a scrap of this fabric, which was the focus fabric in the table topper. There was enough left to cut two 4 1/2" squares. I also found a scrap of the same fabric with a white background and cut two 4 1/2" squares from it as well. That was enough raiding of her fabric, so my stash provided the rest.

Everything is cut in 4 1/2" squares, with each piece on the bottom pressed in half. This common coaster pattern is very easy to make.

The key to remember is that the fold goes toward the center and the raw edges go toward the outside.

Add the second piece.

 Add the third piece.

Add the fourth piece and tuck it up under the first. Lay the backing wrong side down on top of that, then a layer of batting. Sew all the way around the outside, then turn it right side out through the center of the folded pieces. I usually curve the corners rather than try to make sharp points.

 In about an hour, start to finish, a set of four coasters was finished.

Cute from the front and the back.

Finished them with a ribbon, and shipped them off. Good therapy for mom, and a good addition to a new apartment for the daughter.

Wonky Bulls Eye Blocks

When the sewing table gets this messy, you know there's something fun going on. This Wonky Bulls Eye Block is the June project for the do. Good Stitches Believe Circle. It had been a while since I tried any curved piecing, and this was improv curves, too. 

I'm not sure I would have been able to make enough of these for an entire quilt, so I'm glad I was able to contribute two blocks to the group. This is going to be one fun quilt. The block design comes from Katy Jones of I'm a Ginger Monkey. She granted permission for our group to use her design.

Our instructions were to use yellow, gray, white, and cream. My stash isn't strong in yellow or gray, but I managed to pull it off without making any additional fabric purchases. Another win for making use of what I have on hand.

This is my third month as part of the do. Good Stitches organization. I am enjoying the challenge of completing blocks based on the instructions of others, the opportunity to get to know other quilters, and the chance to do a little something for someone else.

Circular Reasoning - A Finish

At the beginning of May, I committed to finishing this quilt as part of the Lovely Year of Finishes. While I didn't meet the May 31 deadline, it's still a lovely finish.

The pattern is Circular Reasoning by Emily Cier at Carolina Patchworks. I fell in love with it from the moment I saw it. It's been a great stash buster and the perfect project for practicing machine quilting.

I reduced the backing size to 58" square so that it will fit perfectly on a wall in my office. I work in an IT department so a quilt with the title "Circular Reasoning" seems appropriate.

The binding is scrappy, made from the same fabrics that were used for the letters. And, just for fun, they are in alphabetical order. The fabric used for letter "a" is first, then the fabric used for letter "b" is next...all the way to about the letter "v". I didn't measure the segments to make sure they would all fit, so there were a few letters at the end that were left out. It's still a fun piece of trivia to go along with a fun quilt.

The quilting is done with 50 wt Cream Aurifil thread. I love the way it looks on the back. The quilting really stands out on the solid backing and shows off all the letters in reverse.

I am very happy with this finish. Work has started taking more time and the kids are out of school for the summer so for now, the quilting and blogging have slowed down. It's okay though...I like my job...I love my kids...there will be time for quilting...just not so much right now.

I expect there will be a finish or two during the summer months and I'll be sure to share them when they happen. Enjoy your summer, and enjoy your time, be it working, spending time with the family, or quilting.

Mother's Day Gift Making - Improv Pot Holders

Recently, my mom moved away. She decided that life needed just a little more adventure, so she moved to Florida to be near her sister. The two of them enjoy spending time together, and now, they're in the same neighborhood and can get in all kinds of trouble enjoy each other's company even more.

With the move came the need for a fresh start in all things, including decorating. All I know is that she's going for less traditional, more contemporary look in citrus colors. I thought I'd do my part by sending a couple of kitchen accessories for Mother's Day.

My daughter, Erica, and I went through my stash and pulled a wide range of citrus colors.

This is just one of several groupings we put together. I really did not have a plan for what the design would look like.

First, I cut 2.5" strips from the yellows/oranges and made a wonky strip set. This made me think about the sun's rays, so I cut the strip set apart at angles and separated them with lime green strips.

None of this was measured. I played with my ruler until I liked the look, then cut the strip set apart. The green was handled in the same manner. It's all  by eye. Once everything was sewn together, the block was squared up to 8.5".

The second block is a simple square in a square. For both of these blocks, you can see from the original stack of fabric that some was added and some was taken away as the block progressed. Sometimes it's fun to be free to change as you go rather than to be constrained by a predetermined set of fabrics. These blocks needed fun backs, so it was back to the stash for that.

Because these are going to be hot pads or pot holders, I added two layers of Therma-Flec to the batting.

The square in a square version was quilted in a big spiral. I love the look of this quilting and I'm thinking about trying it on a bigger project soon. Small projects are so great for trying out quilting designs.

It looks good from the back, too.

Here's the quilting on the sun rays block. I was hesitant about the squiggly lines on the green, but am pleased with the result. Much more fun than sticking with straight lines.

The back of this one is fun, too. It's always good when a project can be used from either side.

My mom is a sometimes blog reader. It's okay if she gets a sneak peek; projects are always better in person than in pictures. Some happy mail will be coming her way in the next few days.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!