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!

Friday Finish: Quilts for Pulse

I haven't found the words to describe the Quilts for Pulse project, the impact it has had on our community, our guild, myself, and I am not sure I ever will.  The QFP top that was started at our annual Gruber's retreat has now been quilted and photographed, so it's about time I at least blogged about that.

Nine of us made the retreat this year; each of us made an oversized heart block from Happy Zombie's Love Quilt pattern.  

We each selected a color; you know I don't even remember for sure which color I chose ;-)

Lovely Mary!

 Mary, of course, selected turquoise blue!

Coming up with the block layout was a group effort and was not taken lightly...sure wish I had input from eight others all the time!

Love these girls!!!

The quilt top was finished in July at our retreat.   It sat patiently waiting to be quilted while I helped with other aspects of the QFP project.  Due to the overwhelming generosity of the worldwide community, our Orlando Modern Quilt Guild set about making quilt tops from the incredible number of heart blocks sent in, quilting and binding those tops, photographing each completed quilt, distributing quilts to those affected by the Pulse tragedy,  and writing thank you notes.

As for the quilting, I quilted various patterns in the heart blocks and the phrase "love is love is love" in the negative space.  I didn't mark the letters or lines, preferring to quilt organically as if I were writing those words.  I have messy handwriting ;-)))

Serendipity has been a common theme when discussing QFP with my guild friends.  (One day I hope someone writes all about that.)  When it came to the binding, I was in a hurry and grabbed from my leftover binding collection.  While stitching the binding to the front, I realized the fabric was all from Amy Butler's LOVE fabric collection!  During our Gruber retreat photo with the quilt, Stephanie and I realized we were both wearing our Glamp Stitchalot t-shirts designed by Monica aka Happy Zombie (not planned).  The backing is Amanda Jean's Good Neighbor's fabric line.  Serendipitous, indeed!

photo by Paula Kennedy Photography

Our heart quilt was finished (just) in time to be professionally photographed (thank you Paula Kennedy!) for QuiltCon's Quilt For Pulse exhibit.  After the photo shoot the quilt was gifted to a 911 operator who had to listen to and transcribe all the horrific emergency phone calls from that terrible night.

Our quit label

Quilty friends definitely do rock!  I am so grateful to my retreat friends for helping make this quilt for someone in need and so appreciative of the generosity of the worldwide quilting community that made it possible for the OrlandoMQG to deliver almost 1,800 quilts.

If you will be in Savannah next week for QuiltCon, please stop by the QuiltsforPulse exhibit and see photos of all the quilts made and donated.  There is an official meet up at the exhibit Saturday at 12:30, but at least one member from our guild will be there during all hours of the show.  

Hope I get the chance to say Hi! and Thank You!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Friday Finish: Not One but Two Bee Quilts

I am SO excited to share two Mid Century Modern Bee quilts completely finished!  The binding was finished up over the Thanksgiving break and photographs taken with family help.

First up is my Dresden quilt (which has shown itself to be extremely difficult to photograph!) made with blocks requested in December, 2014 from Anne, Carla, Carla, Cindy, Debbie, Elizabeth, Linda, Mary, Mary, Susan and myself.

I requested fabrics using this color palette as a guide and suggested this tutorial for making the dresden plate blocks.  After mulling over many layout ideas in my head, I got tired of waiting for some brilliant plan to emerge ended up stitching the dresdens in a random placement onto a wideback Carolyn Friedlander print.

I handed over my quilt top and Tula Pink wideback yardage to Frank and told him to work his quilting magic.....which he did!!!

Like the quilt top, it was difficult to photograph the quilting properly.  Frank used green thread on the top but not the bottom.  This closeup of the backing gives you an idea of how wonderful the quilting is.  The binding is a Carolyn Friedlander botanics print.  Finished quilt size is 72 x 90.

My Bubble Bee quilt is also finished making me all caught up with my MCM Bee!!!

These blocks (pattern by Aylin and used with permission for bee purposes) were requested in June, 2015 and made by Anne, Carla, Carla, Cindy, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Mary, Mary, Michelle, myself, Stephanie and Susan.

The paper pieced pattern has templates for multiple size bubbles, but I sent each member the same 12.5" finished instructions and asked them to select a color and use fabrics in that color for the bubble shape and low value for the outer section.  When the blocks were returned, I enlarged the blocks to finish at 18" by adding low value strips in a log cabin fashion.

My original plan was to make additional blocks in various sizes more in keeping with the pattern sample.  In the end, I chose to stay with the twelve blocks and a three block across and four block down layout.

I am so glad because I love it!  With both these quilts, I can look at each block and remember which friend made them for me!

Again, I gave the quilt top and back to Frank, and again I am not disappointed.  He has some mad quilting skills!!!

I love that the backing fabric is my friend Amanda's.  It is the wideback print from her Good Neighbors fabric line for Connecting Threads.  I don't think I could have chosen a better print for the back.  Can you see the gorgeous quilting!  The binding is a Carolyn Friedlander crosshatch print.  Finished quilt size is 54 x 72.

This morning I attempted to get a photo of the Bubble Bee quilt by the pool with bubbles from my grandson's bubble maker.  It was not a huge success ;-)

Thought I would share them anyway (along with the bubble maker).  You have to look really hard to see any bubbles.

Thank you SO MUCH Mid Century Modern Bee friends!!!  I love and treasure you and my quilts!  Y'all are the best!!!

Spiraling Butterflies

Spiraling Butterflies is my finish for the QuiltCon Michael Miller Glitz Fabric Challenge.

The butterfly blocks were made using Little Bluebell's paper pieced Modern Butterfly pattern.  I just love this pattern and have so many other butterfly quilt plans!

The background fabric is Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Blush and also in Love.  The color variation is quite subtle, but I like the depth using two different colors provides.

I finished making the blocks and determined the layout while at our Orlando MQG retreat (still need to post about that!).  Having creative input from others was awesome!  After that, the top came together quickly.

I used my walking foot to quilt spirals (THANK YOU Jacquie and Craftsy for the refresher) starting a little offset from the center.  Aurifil 2410 in 40wt was the thread I used.  I had just enough left over from this quilt and the color matched perfectly.

Twice before, I quilted spirals, but one was a mini quilt and the other was just on a portion of the quilt.  I said I would never do it again, but this time I found the process quite therapeutic.  Crazy, right?!

The Cotton Couture solids are SUPER soft, so possibly that made a difference in the quilting?  All I  know is, the {continuous} turning of the quilt through my Juki didn't seem as difficult as I remembered.

 
The backing fabric is Michael Miller What's Your Angle? and the binding is the pink pearlized dot from the Glitz line.

 The binding was hand stitched to the back while on Thanksgiving break.  I finished just in time to photograph and upload before the deadline.  This is my first time entering a quilt into a show.  I must admit, it was quite exciting and nerve wracking at the same time.

I saw on Instagram this morning that a record breaking number (1,810) of quilts were entered in QuiltCon 2016 and approximately 300-350 will be accepted!  What an incredible show it will be!

To me, it's a win-win.  If my quilt gets in...Cool!!!  If it doesn't....I don't have to make a hanging sleeve and ship it have to part with it!  Good luck to all who entered!

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Spring 2015

Welcome to the Spring 2015 edition of the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  It's the perfect time to showcase a favorite quilt, and best of all no sewing on pesky quilt sleeves is required!

"Soar" flying geese quilt

This time around I am sharing the flying geese quilt I made for my son's college graduation quilt. As soon as Carolyn Friedlander's Doe fabric was released, I bought every print in every color way with a quilt for my son in mind.   I eventually went with flying geese as it seems appropriate for this milestone.  I have to say though, family members (the nonquilty ones) were confused as they didn't see any geese pictures in the quilt;-)!

This ledger print is one of my all time favorite fabrics.

While most of the fabric in this quilt is from Carolyn's Doe line, there are also fabrics from her Architextures and Botanics lines.  The binding is a ledger print and the backing is the wideback widescreen in black.
{{How cool that the fabric for his Florida State University graduation quilt is designed by Carolyn who is a Florida local?}}

Accuquilt for cutting

I cut all the flying geese blocks with my AccuQuilt Go!  This was a huge time saver.

wall basting

After playing around with various design ideas, I went with a basic alternating columns of geese going up and then back down.  I originally wanted something more unplanned if you will, but in the end it just looked a mess.

 I pin basted the quilt on my wall.  Has anyone ever tried that?  This was a first for me, and I really liked the method.  If anyone is interested I could do a more detailed post later.

The quilt needs to be in the picture too?!

 I used my walking foot and Aurifil #2846 40wt to quilt organic lines going down the quilt.  Matchstick quilting was my first choice, but as I was determined to bring this quilt with me to graduation, the lines were spaced a bit further apart ;-)

Photo shoot on campus

Quilt stats:
Name:  Soar
Pattern: Flying Geese block
Finished Size:  54"x 72"
Fabric:  Carolyn Friedlander Doe, Architextures, Botanics; binding Architextures Ledger print; backing Black Widescreen
Quilting: Organic lines with my walking foot; Aurifil #2836 40wt for quilting; Aurifil #2021 50wt for hand stitching binding

Contemplating the universe

I bragged about my son in yesterday's random post in case you're interested.  I'm linking this post to Blogger's Quilt Festival {large quilt category} and Crazy Mom Quilts finish it up Friday.  Be sure to check out all the beautiful finishes in both locations.

Thanks for stopping by,