Friday Finish: Blog Makeover and a Quilt Top

Happy Friday, friends! I am publishing this post both on Blogger and Square Space.  Hopefully if I didn't screw this up, you will soon find me on Square Space.  I am still renecreates.com but after the Photobucket issue and other blogger blips, I made the move that I have been contemplating for a while.  The site isn't 100% complete, but the blogging basics have been set up.

Edited to add:  Currently, my URL directs readers to Blogger.  I am unable to make the transfer until 8/15/17.  If you want to see how the "new" blog looks on SquareSpace, you can click here.

With that out of the way, let's get to quilting!  My daughter's graduation quilt top is finished and now the quilting agony begins.  Sometimes I believe I drag on the piecing process longer than necessary because I dread the quilting design decision.  

My friends at Crafty Tuesday helped me get a picture of the entire quilt.  The day was quite sunny so the colors are a bit washed out.  Hopefully I will have a better picture (and of a finished quilt) soon.

Please let me know if you experience any issues with accessing, commenting, or clicking through my blog.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Finish: One Little and One Big

Happy Friday!!  Today I have a small, quick finish to share and a not so small and quick quilt finish.

 

First up is this cute pincushion made with trimmings from my Chawne Kimber small piecing class at QuiltCon. You know the trimmings are small when the actual block is less than one inch!

I included the pin cushion in our guild raffle basket along with lego sewing machine and other goodies from my sewing room.

Next up is a quilt finish that I have been working on in between other projects and finally completed when I had a specific recipient in mind.

Here are some progress shots.

Using my favorite Aurifil thread (2600 in 50wt) and my longarm, I quilted organic horizontal lines across the quilt.  Every so often, I changed the thread to red, yellow, blue, green, and purple (didn't write down the thread numbers) and quilted a color line.

The backing is a Carrie Bloodstone wide back; the binding is a black graphic from my stash.

This quilt was shipped to its new owner last week...hoping she likes it!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.
Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great stichy weekend!

Christmas Sewing

I didn't do much Christmas sewing this year at all.  I'm already planning to redeem myself in 2015 ;-))  Below is the quilt I made for my grandson and a few other small gifts made.

photographed at our holiday rental house

This quilt was made for Leo following the same design layout as quilts made for my mom and sister.  Those quilts were made using three leftover BOMs (my mom's quilt) and three extra great granny square blocks (for my sister's quilt).  This time around I specifically made three blocks to feature certain Cotton+Steel fabrics from my stash.

fussy cut tigers

 All blocks finish at 12" and instructions can be found in 501 Rotary Cut Blocks.  This one called Carrie Nation was selected to showcase fussy cut tigers.  The only non-Cotton+Steel fabrics are by Carolyn Friedlander like this ledger fabric that I can't get enough of.

made sure Florida and Washington were represented

I chose the London Square block for that large triangular piece that is perfect for the States fabric.

X block

Notice the lion background fabric?!  Lions for Leo!  Basically, the entire quilt was planned around this lion print.

the back

This quilt is an example of how the backing doesn't necessarily have to match the front.  It's difficult to see in the picture, but the backing is the Mustang print and a sparkly Basic print.  Leo loves horses!  The navy binding  (another Basic print) ties the front and back together.

Lions, Tigers and Horses...oh my

Quilt Stats:  3 Blocks Quilt for Leo, quilt designed and made by me, quilted using Aurifil #2600 and my walking foot, Cotton+Steel fabrics with a little bit of Carolyn Friedlander, finished size 54"x72"

hand warmers

Another gift for my grandson was a pair of hand warmers.  These are quick to whip up and I plan to make more of these....next time in a smaller size for toddler hands.  These were made with 5" squares lined with two pieces of batting and filled with rice.  Zap in the microwave for about 25 seconds and you're good to go.

Christmas tea towel

Sewing a 3.5" wide strip of Christmas fabric to a flour sack towel makes a nice gift.  I paired this with an Amazon gift card for a friend.

foot warmer

Under Leo's hand warmers is a rectangular-shaped warmer that can be used as a neck warmer or placed under a blanket to warm the feet.  This was made the same way except I added scented oils to the rice.

sachets

In keeping with the scented rice theme, I filled pairs of 3" Liberty of London squares for pretty and nice smelling sachets.

That pretty much sums up this year's Christmas gift sewing.  Did you do a lot of handmade gifting?  Are you like me and already making your list for 2015 gifts?

WiP Wednesday 9/3/14

I had computer issues all weekend so did not get to sew as much as planned.  My Mac has a doctor's appointment with the Genius Bar later this week, and in the meantime I am taking photos and posting with my iPad.  Again, more progress on my spiderweb blocks.

spiderweb bee block

One more completely pieced spiderweb block....another spiderweb block with all its wedges ready for assembly...and a filler block also ready for assembly.  

I spy some scraps from a friend as well as some new fabrics

I like to wait until there are enough wedges to assemble several blocks - more design choices that way.  Since last week I can report two more web blocks and one more filler block.

filler blocks to go in between the spiderweb blocks

I pulled out my Dear Jane project from longer than I can remember and pieced two more blocks.  That makes all of four to date!  Only 220 more to go!

All four DJ blocks

If you didn't read my post yesterday, Frustrated Quilter, Live a Colorful Life and I have formed a support group (not exactly) for these type of projects.  They are making Tula Pink City Sampler blocks while I'm working on my DJ blocks.  Care to play along?  It's a customizable quilt along - Choose Your Own Blockalong - decide which quilt project and how many blocks per week you aim to make.  Easy!  Click on the links above to read their take on the blockalong.

crappy ipad photo

At this week's guild meeting, I'm dropping off the finished baby quilt made for the Michael Miller fabric challenge.  More info on last Friday's post in you're interested.  Here it is fresh out of the dryer.

Linking up with Lee.  Thanks for stopping by,

Rene'

Around the World Blog Hop

My MCM Bee friend Linda tagged me in the Around the World Blog Hop.  Welcome to those of you here for the first time as well as frequent visitors ;-)  Linda and I live in the same state but have yet to meet.  We plan on doing that in Austin next February at QuiltCon!

This quilting community has introduced me to so many wonderful friends - some I've even been fortunate to meet in real life.  Blogging provides that initial means of getting to know one another, and this blog hop is a great way of introducing bloggers you may not be familiar with.

So here are some questions asked to facilitate the process:

WIPs on the design wall

What are you working on?

There is always more than one project going on at a time in my sewing room.  My spiderweb bee blocks are taking up one whole design wall and I'm making this quilt a priority even though it is for me to keep.

extremely old WIP on second design wall

Usually if the quilt is for me it gets put on the back burner like this Cowboy/Cowgirl quilt that I started three years ago at retreat.   I put the blocks up on my second design wall in the hope of motivating me to finish.

M-5 Mother's Point

A new(isn) project is a Dear Jane quilt in all Kaffe Fassett fabrics similar to this beauty.  It has been on my list for a very long time and I have stopped and started working on it more than once.  During conversations with friends I find I am not alone when it comes to big projects such as this.

M-12 Hopscotch

For that reason, my sister Michelle, good friend Cindy and I are starting what we call Choose Your Own Blockalong.  While I am making blocks for a Dear Jane quilt, Michelle and Cindy have decided to sew blocks from Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks.   In the spirit of accountability, on Mondays (starting today) we are each posting (at least) two blocks from our respective projects.  Feel free to play along if you need some motivation for an ongoing quilt project - it doesn't have to be either of these.  It's fun sewing with friends and seeing weekly progress.

How does my work differ from others?

I don't know…does it?!  Like most everyone, I make what I like.  My tastes have changed over the years, and my skills have improved which translates into evolution of quilts made.  There are times when I would like to ask for all my earlier quilts back from their recipients so I can redo them ;-)  I learn something from each quilt made.  Surely, I'm not alone in this.

Why do I create what I do?

Home…. quilt for a special family

For family:  Most of my quilts are gifted to family and friends. You can read more about the Home quilt for my son and DIL here.

Baby quilt for charity

Charity:  There was a time when I made mini quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, but they are no longer active.  The latest charity quilt I made was just finished this weekend and will go to our local Beta Center.

Sewing Circle DWR

Guild challenges:  Our OrlandoMQG encouraged participation in the Double Wedding Ring challenge.  Normally I would not contemplate such a quilt, but I did participate by making a small DWR.  I'm excited to say this Sewing Circle was invited to join Victoria's DWR Traveling Exhibit with the Original Sewing & Quilting Expo.

Peace, Love and Happiness - 50th birthday

Milestones:  I wanted to write a pattern for my peace quilt as a turning 50 goal and photograph the quilt at the top of our favorite hike on my 50th birthday.

Have a Heart celebrating 30 year anniversary

This quilt was made for my husband to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary and was inspired by a Pandora jewelry ad.

Liberated just for me

Just because:  Isn't this a good enough reason?!  It should be, but I don't use it enough.

Hope you enjoyed this stop on the blog tour.  I am tagging three awesome bloggers for next week so be sure you visit them.

Michele of Nostalgic Cafe is my guild buddy, QuiltCon roomie and fellow founding OrlandoMQG officer.  If you are not a regular reader of her blog, you don't know what you're missing!

Jessica of  A Little Gray made the quilt I received in my very first Flickr swap.  I was happy to meet her recently in Nashville during Sew Down.

I have followed Nina Lise of Mrs. Moen ever since I  read her Blogger's Quilt Festival entry in 2009 shortly after I started my blog.  Nine Lise is an incredible artist, and her words on that particular day especially drew me in.   As she lives in Norway, I don't know that I will get the opportunity to meet her in person.  I will settle for her lovely inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by,

She Did It Again

So this arrived in the mail over the weekend.  A box full of happies and a gorgeous mini quilt all from my sister!

"I smile because we're sisters...I laugh because there's nothing you can do about it!"

As Michelle pointed out, I know she loves me because she used her precious Cotton and Steel fabrics in this mini spool quilt (pattern from Thimbleblossoms).  I absolutely love the quilt, and it looks perfect hanging over another beautiful mini quilt, also made for me by Michelle!  My sister rocks!

two gorgeous mini quilts

Here's a closeup of the quilt where you can really see how gorgeous these Cotton and Steel prints are and how perfect the quilt looks on my blue walls.

closeup of mini spool quilt

Michelle sewed the fast finish triangles on the back for hanging, but I didn't have a hanger and I was anxious to get the quilt up on my wall.  

My new quilt is hanging in my happy place and makes me smile when I walk in!

Thanks for stopping by,

Friday Finish: Home is... quilt

Last year my oldest son was married in Washington, and at the Florida reception we had guests sign quilt blocks. You can go here to see the quilt for their wedding (delivered just a little bit late), so I was happy to give them the quilt made with the signature blocks in person on their one year anniversary (which was celebrated in Montana).  We're all over the place ;-)

Leo with his parents

The theme of their wedding and the subsequent Florida party was based on the Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros song Home.  My daughter even played this song on the violin during the processional, so I decided to make a wall hanging with the song's chorus on the front and piece the signature blocks on the back. 

some guests have a wicked sense of humor!

During the process, I randomly came across this quilt which also has the lyrics but uses a different piecing method.  (Has this ever happened to you?) Using the techniques in Tonya's Word Play Quilts, I free pieced the letters using natural linen, quilter's linen and a variety of my favorite fabric scraps.

individual letters making the words

from design wall to design floor

 As I mentioned the signature blocks were written last summer, and the individual letters have been pieced for a while.  I brought the "parts" with me to Montana in order to finish the wallhanging by the anniversary date.  Working with a design wall is so much better than a design floor ;-)

it's growing

The assembling of the quilt top, quilt back and most of the quilting was done before the "newlyweds" arrived, but a little quilting remained as well as the binding.  This called for some sneaky stitching ;-)

straight line quilting

 Straight line quilting was done with Aurifil #5011 to match the linen and a variegated #4060 to give a little texture.  There is also a line of a bright King Tut variegated (#944) stitched randomly here and there just because ;-)  

only quilted through the top and the batting

I worried the numerous lines of quilting would interfere with the handwritten messages on the back, so when basting I left off the backing.  This meant the quilting only shows on the top.

another humorous message

I learned this trick from Juanita Yeager's workshop.  The backing was then stitched to the back of the quilted piece and bound.  This technique probably wouldn't work on a large quilt but is just fine for a wallhanging.

Home is... quilt

Here's the completed quilt hanging temporarily in Montana.  Looking forward to receiving a picture of the quilt hanging in its new home.

beautiful family

Quilt stats:  "Home is...." quilt, free pieced letters in linen and quilter's cotton on front, signature blocks in Kona cotton solids on back, binding is Weave by Moda, measures 26"x39"

If you want to see other letter quilts and/or lyric quilts, check out the Unruly Quilter,  The Proverbial Quiltalong with Poppyprint using Denyse Schmidt's pattern,  Elizabeth Hartman's Billboard Quiltalong, and of course Kaye's beautiful version of Home I mentioned above. 

Linking up with finish it up Friday and crossing this off my WIP list for our OrlandoMQG challenge.  

Thanks for stopping by,