Charity Quilts of Late: Do.Good Stitches and a Baby Jelly Roll Race

Whew!  Guys!  I got a new laptop for Christmas and I LOVE IT!  Lets all cross our fingers that 2018 will be the year I blog a lot.  No more excuses. :)

But first - lots of catching up to do.  I'm more than 6 months behind!  Yikes!

First up is a bunch of charity quilts from 2017.

Back in March, I was in charge of choosing blocks for Do.Good Stitches Believe Circle.  I wanted to do a two color quilt and I love green, so that's what I went with.  I wasn't even thinking about the fact that St. Patty's day is in March.  That was just a lovely coincidence.

I went with the Pinwheel Churndash block from Missouri Star Quilt Co. (love their tutorials!  They are perfect for Bee blocks).  You can find the tute we used RIGHT HERE.

This was my favorite block (I believe Ben made it).  Isn't it great?

For the back, I used up a bunch of my larger green pieces and made this giant churn dash (with one of our extra blocks in the center).  Not the prettiest greens, but I was happy to use up some of the stash.

I actually quilted this one from the BACK.  I was hoping the quilting would sort of show a shadow of the giant churn dash on the front.  So I echoed around the churn dash a few times and filled the rest in with swirls.

You can sort of see the design on the front here:

It was only kind of effective, but it was still a fun experiment.  :)

This quilt was shipped off to "My Very Own Blanket," an organization that donates quilts and blankets to children in foster care.  :)

Quilt stats:

Started: March 2017

Finished:  May 2017

Fabrics: Various Greens and Low Volumes

Batting: Pellon 80/20 Cotton/poly

Finished size: Approximately 40" x 50" 

Recipient: MVOB

Methods used: Piecing, FMQ

Binding: Machine 

Next quilt!

In December (2016), I asked my Do.Good Stitches Bee-mates to make giant log cabin blocks for me.  I think these finished at 18" square. 

We used this piece of fleece (it had been in my stash for a long time) as our color inspiration.  Then I used it for the backing of our quilt.  It's super soft and snuggly.

Once I got the blocks back, I sliced them up on the diagonal and put them back together.  It's another experiment I've always wanted to try. 

I think it turned out kinda cool.  I'd like to try it with smaller, non-improv blocks.

I totally bound this one by machine!  I'm getting a little better at it.  I still prefer hand binding because I feel like it takes LESS time (time sitting at the couch hand sewing with the TV doesn't count - it's the sewing machine time that is valuable around here).  But I tried a fancy stitch on this one and it was kinda fun. 

I quilted this one with a nice overall meander - except I threw in a bunch of basketballs and footballs for fun.  I think you can see a basketball in the above photo if you look very closely.

This quilt was also donated to My Very Own Blanket.  I hope some little boy is loving it right now!

Quilt stats:

Started: December 2016

Finished:  May 2017

Fabrics: Various

Batting: Pellon 80/20 Cotton/poly

Finished size: Approximately 45" x 62" 

Recipient: MVOB

Methods used: Piecing, FMQ

Binding: Machine 

Last up is my Jelly Roll Race baby quilt:

You may remember that I snagged myself a "midarm" quilting machine last year around the holidays.  This was one of the quilts I made to practice my quilting on. 

I've always wanted to try a Jelly Roll race quilt, and the top took me just under 2 hours to make (including borders).  I used a smaller jelly roll with only 21 strips, which yielded a super long and skinny quilt.  So I unpicked a couple of rows and added them to the sides for a nice little baby sized quilt.

The quilting was just sort of okay.  I never really got the hang of the quilting machine.  I had lots of issues with tension (particularly side tension - I think I finally get why long-armers really need their backings to be so much bigger).  Plus the machine I got was big and bulky and not very smooth and it hurt my back.  Among other things.  In the end, I found another buyer for it and I'm happy to continue quilting on my little domestic.  It's funny - moving the quilt just makes sense to my brain.  Moving the machine is strange.  That's not to say I would LOVE to try out a REAL, GENUINE long arm machine someday (as opposed to a home-made, jerry-rigged setup).  ;)

Anyway.  Back to the quilt.  I knew I couldn't give this away to a friend or family member, but I was happy to donate it to charity.  :)

I tried another fancy stitch on this machine binding.

The back is this print that my friend Abby gave to me when she was destashing.  A lot of Abby's fabrics went into my backings in 2017.  Abby is the best. 

The end. 

Quilt stats:

Started: March 2017

Finished:  May 2017

Fabrics: Joel Dewberry True Colors Jelly Roll

Batting: Pellon 80/20 Cotton/poly

Finished size: Approximately 36" x 40" 

Recipient: Charity 

Methods used: Piecing, "Mid"arm quilting

Binding: Machine 

Total time to make: 4.25 hours

Ombre Bargello Optical Illusion

Back in June, our guild (the Nebo Modern Quilt Guild) hosted a challenge to make an optical illusion quilt.  The timing was perfect, since I had recently discovered The Fleming's Nine and her awesome Rainbow Bargello Quilts.

I decided I wanted to see what would happen if I used an OMBRE jelly roll to make my quilt.

I did mess up my cutting just a little, so the ombre effect is a little choppier than I would like, so now I'm just calling it "color blocking."  What do you think?

I wanted the quilt to be big enough for a twin bed, so I added the white and teal borders.  Isn't that teal ombre triangles print just perfect?

For the quilting, this design was begging to be covered with some fun graffiti quilting.  I even used a blue variegated thread.

For the borders, I took my inspiration from the backing fabric.

Can you tell?

The binding is another ombre triangle print, this time in Navy.  I just love the colors in this fabric line.

For the backing, I bit the bullet and used a precious bundle of Birds and the Bees Fabric by Tamara Kate.  I've been saving it for something special, but didn't have anything particular in mind for it yet.  It just so happened to match this quilt so perfectly, so I went ahead and used it up.

I just love these prints!

This quilt is now listed for sale in my Etsy shop! It was SO MUCH FUN to make!

Quilt stats:

Started: February 2017

Finished:  June 2017

Fabrics: V and Co "Ombre" jelly roll, "Spectrum" Ombre HSTs

Batting: Pellon 80/20 Cotton/poly

Finished size: Approximately 60" x 86" (twin)

Recipient: ??? ***UPDATE*** A sweet neighbor bought this from me!  YAY!!!

Methods used: Piecing, FMQ

Binding: Machine to back, hand to front

Time to Make: About 18 hours 

Kaleidoscope in The Sweet Life

Okay friends!  It's time to share my Kaleidoscope quilt! 

Back in 2016 or so, a friend brought a quilt made from this pattern to our guild meeting and I loved it so much I decided right then and there that I need to make one!  (The pattern is Kaleidoscope by Lella Boutique.)

I had a jelly roll of Pat Sloan's "The Sweet Life" fabric (that I won in a giveaway from Happy Quilting back in 2015 - WOOHOO!) 

The pattern results in a whole bunch of tiny triangles and since I was in a non-wasting mood, I decided to sew them all up into teeny tiny (1" finished) HSTs.  Yeah, I timed myself to see how long it would take to make this skinny little HST border.  SEVEN HOURS!  Yikes!  I think next time I won't feel so bad about tossing the leftovers.  ;)

For the quilting, I went with a swirls/pebbles combination in the background and borders, leaving the rest unquilted so that the design would pop a little. 

For the back, I used up a bunch of large pieces from my stash (many of which were given to me by my sweet friend and neighbor Abby - YAY!).

And of course, the binding had to be scrappy - made with all my leftover jelly roll strips (mostly the neutral colored ones).

AAAAND this quilt was just "for fun," meaning there was no intended recipient in mind.  So until I can find someone to give it to, it's listed in my shop.

Quilt stats:

Started: September 2016

Finished:  May 2017

Fabrics: "The Sweet Life" by Pat Sloan

Batting: Pellon 80/20 Cotton/poly

Finished size: Approximately 66" square

Recipient: ???

Methods used: Piecing, FMQ

Binding: Machine to back, hand to front

Time to Make: About 30 hours (including the 7 hour HST border)

A Few Shop Highlights: Quiet Books, Photo Books, and a Quilt!

As I mentioned before, I've been busy making things for the shop lately.  I'd like to share some of the things I've been working on.

First up, I've made a few fabric photo books, each with something new to it.

This book is the first one I've made with an odd number of page spreads.  Because of the way they are put together, I made this one with a binding along the edge.  Yeah, I stitched that baby through 12 layers of fabric.  Any more than that and my machine might have exploded.  

This book was made completely from organic fabrics.  I was more limited in my fabric selections for the inside (I so wish I could show you - but out of respect for my customers, I won't).  I do wish I had used something else for the letters, though.  And don't you love the little family of owls?

This book was made for a family who is adopting a little girl from China.  They had me make this book to send to her in the orphanage while they wait to go pick her up.  How cool is that?  Each page has words in English and in Mandarin. 

Next up is this set of bibs. I tend to make bibs for my shop, but then pull them out because they are difficult to sell (the Etsy market is very over-saturated with bibs right now), and they make the BEST baby shower gifts - particularly since I always seem to have a few on hand.  Why did it take me this long to think of adding rick rack to my bibs???

I was super excited when a customer contacted me on Etsy and asked if I would finish this quilt for her. She had the top finished, just needed it quilted and bound.

Oh, and it was Queen/King sized.  Nothing I can't handle though, right?  ;)

I just did an overall stipple to keep things nice and simple.

I pulled this binding from my stash and it seemed to fit perfectly with the colors and prints in the quilt.  Woot!

Next up, quiet books.
I bought some new buttons and couldn't wait to use them in one of my color books.  Can you spot them?  I'll give you a hint - the new ones are a car, a giraffe, and an elephant. )

I also made a TON of these baby quiet books for Easter/Birthday orders.  Here are two books for Eliza and Kendall all ready to sew into books.

I also got to make these cute books for twins Liam and Quinn.  I don't get to make these bigger books very often (they are a little more expensive), so that was fun.

And lastly - some new Rummy mats.  I actually had two different customer requests last month.

For this mat, my customer wanted something extra long, with beige backgrounds and this touch of ADPi blue.  This Rummy mat is big - 24" by 48".  It was fun to make something a little different.

And lastly, this customer requested some extra personalization in the center of his mat.  It's inspired me to add a personalization option to my listings - soon.  :)

Whew!  What's next?

Aviator | Up and Away Quilt

Several months ago, my friend Emily (CrazyOldLadies) asked me to make a quilt for her to display in our local quilt shop using her most recent fabric line, Up and Away.

Naturally, she picked Lella Boutique's Aviator pattern.  Aren't the airplanes the cutest?

I loved this pattern, by the way.  It's written so that it uses the ENTIRE fat quarter, which I LOVE (also - detailed cutting instructions for the win!).  I hate it when fat quarter patterns have tons of excess left over.  I'd rather just use it all up. 

This quilt told me it wanted crosshatch quilting in the airplanes and swirly/billowy air currents in the backgrounds.  It was a bit of extra work, but I obliged. Thank HEAVENS for matching thread (wink, wink).

To save time (and because this fabric was perfect), we used the same fabric for backing and binding.  I used Cluck Cluck Sew's life changing tutorial and just folded the backing to the front. 

And there you have it!  I made something that is going to hang in a quilt shop!  It was so much fun and I hope I get to do it again someday.  Any quilt shops out there want to hire me?  ;)

Quilt stats:

Started: February/March 2017

Finished:  April 2017

Fabrics: Up and Away by Emily Herrick (plus one or two blenders)

Batting: Not entirely sure - I'm guessing Warm N Natural

Finished size: Approximately 48" x 65"

Recipient: Corn Wagon Quilt Co. (for now)

Methods used: Piecing, straight line quilting, FMQ

Binding: Backing to front

Time to Make: About 14.5 hours

Lisa's Baby Quilt

Yay for baby quilts!  And yay for new babies!

I was so excited when my friend Lisa announced that she was having her first baby.  :)  I immediately hounded her about her nursery colors/theme so that I could make her a quilt.  She requested navy, gray, and lime green with elephants.  Here was the fabric pull I put together for her:

Her husband worked for Boeing for a little while (I think), so the airplanes were perfect.  The castles print reminds me of Lisa because she has been lucky enough to travel in Europe a few times.  :)

She even had a triangle quilt on her Pinterest board - probably for the colors, but I decided to run with that.  Equilateral triangles have been on my bucket list for awhile and I had just gotten a triangle ruler for Christmas, so maybe it was meant to be?

I used this cute (and SUPER SOFT) minky for the back.  Since baby was due in the spring, I decided to try skipping the batting on this quilt.  It worked okay.  I like the light, drapey-ness (why can't that be a real word?) of it, but I almost went bonkers trying to hand sew the binding.  I think next time I'm just going to use batting.  Or maybe a layer of flannel?

Since the greens in this quilt didn't end up quilt as lime-y as I wanted, I picked this bright lime green for the binding.  :)

And there you have it!  My first triangle quilt.  It was fun!

 Quilt stats:

Started: January 2016

Finished: March 2017

Fabrics: Dear Stella (pluses), Up and Away (green airplanes), Flight (navy airplanes), Magic (castles), Equestrian (arrows), and some others I can't remember

Batting: NONE

Finished size: Approximately 44" x 52"

Recipient: Lisa and Baby Boy

Methods used: Triangle piecing, straight line quilting

Binding: Hand Stitched to the Back

Time to Make: About 8.5 hours