April Progress

I'm wrapping up April with a look at The List . This was my big quilt-a-thon month, which kicked off which great success on Grayson's quilt. Then the throw I planned to quilt next morphed into a full size quilt and has been a pain in the neck ever since. I am taking a break from it, then I am going to rip out that quilting and try again with better thread!

Since I only finished one quilt (and a mini!) I am going to continue the quilt-a-thon into May... and as long as it takes!

Finished Quilts of 2011

12 x 12" mini

1. Christmas Tree Mini Quilts done 1/11
2. Baby quilt: spring strings (top done 3/10), basted 8/10, done 1/11
3. Bloom Mini Quilt done 1/11
4. 3 Quilted Book Covers started and done 1/11
5. Girly I Spy Quilt done 2/11
6. Baby Blocks: Blue #1 done 3/11
7. Garden Path baby quilt done 3/11
8. Grayson's baby quilt done 4/11
9. 12 x 12" Mini done 4/11
   

2011 WIPs:
This list actually got smaller! I finished one quilt, and added and finished another for the 12" x 12" mini quilt swap.

1. Stars & Strings tabletopper (started 2009) top done 7/10, basted,hand-quilting in progress *
   
2. Houses Donation quilt top done 8/10
   
3. Bright Snowballs (started 2009, top done)
4. Applique Flowers Wall Quilt top done 8/10
5. Indian Summer top done 12/10, expanded 4/11*
   
6. Gypsy Madness Leaders & Enders top done 1/11
   
7. Wedding Ring Table Runner top done, quilted 10/10
8. Amish-ish Mini Quilt top done & basted 2/11
   
9. Triumph Star top done 3/11
10. Stash Busting Bee International Log Cabin
11. Say Cheese Self-Portrait
12. Seasons Mat for R's preschool *
    
13. Crumb Blocks-->stars
14. Pinwheel Quilt
15. Holy Night
16. Soup Dragon
17. Yellow & Orange Log Cabins
18. Rainbow String Quilt*
19. Scrappy Sixteens*

* Quilts I worked on this month

On the design burner (fabric has been pulled or cut, but no sewing has been done):

1. Bricks & stones baby quilt
2. Girl blocks baby quilt
   
3. 2233 Pineapple
4. Bento Boxes for S
5. Leopard Roses
6. Christmas quilts
   
7. Donation quilt for A's school auction
8. Retro Rail Fence
   

Quilting
I had a great time free-motion quilting Grayson's Quilt. Then I tried quilting with a different kind of thread for Indian Summer and it has been a real disappointment. Lesson learned! It's time to go back to the stuff that works, even if it costs a little bit more.

I am hoping to finish at least 2 quilts this next month... with decent thread this time!

Stash
My stash situation has not improved. There were a few thrift store finds that I could not pass up, then some reds that needed to be restocked, and then the cuteness of the new Denyse Schmidt collection. The good news on that front is that all this beautiful fabric makes me so happy and gets my creative juices flowing!

Happy Easter!

I made these adorable felt bunny finger puppets for my daughters' Easter baskets. How cute are these? We're hunting for eggs at our house today, having brunch at a favorite restaurant and visiting with family.

Things I love about Easter:

1. Spending the holiday with family
2. A time of renewal
3. Lots of baby animals!
4. Pastel colors everywhere
   
5. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate
   

For my Easter gift to myself, I found the new Denyse Schmidt collection for JoAnn's at my closest store. So cute and spring-y! I could not resist getting a few of the prints. (I got some chocolate, too.)

Wishing a very happy Easter to all!

Over the Rainbow

I've been working on my rainbow string quilt bit by bit... I thought it would be fun to lay all the blocks out together to see how they look...

Stunning!

I have 32 blocks so far, so I'm less than halfway to the 80 I need for a twin size quilt. Unfortunately, some of my color-sorted bags of strings are still bursting and some are dwindling. I have a serious purple string shortage! I guess I need to do some more sewing to restock those strings!

In other scrap sewing news, I made this mini quilt for the 12"x 12" Something From Nothing Challenge Swap over on the 15 Minutes Play site. I love all these bright bits!
And now- back to more quilting!

End of Bobbin Sewing

I have this intense dislike for half-wound bobbins, so whenever I need to change my thread color, I try to use up the end of the bobbin in my machine. You could also call it procrastinating on starting to quilt the dauntingly largest quilt I have ever quilted, but you could also call it resourceful and scrappy. Right?

In any case, while using up the end of my bobbin this week, I made more Sweet Sixteen blocks... bringing my count up to 42. Since these are 6 1/2" blocks, the 6 x 7 setting is pretty small, so I think I need more of these. Part of me wonders if this quilt will venture into the Land of Giants too... we'll see!

I also made this signature block for Victoria...

And made a few more blocks for the Rainbow String Quilt. Now the quilting thread is in the machine, and I have started quilting Indian Summer. Hopefully I will finish it this weekend. Happy sewing!

Tonight's the Night

Here's the next quilt up for quilting in the April Quilt-A-Thon, Indian Summer. I was planning on quilting it last week, but it's been through quite a journey since then.

First, the vintage sheet I was going to use for a backing was more "used" than "vintage." I couldn't find something else I liked for a backing for it...

Then, it was throw size and let me know that I really didn't need another throw, I needed a full size quilt for my guest bed. It got wide red borders, using up all the solid and semi-solid red in my stash (eek!)

Next, I did find some backing fabric for it, pieced a back, and decided I had just made the back for another quilt, that I have made one block of. So I put that aside for later.

Finally, I pieced it's own back, and basted it. It's ready to go... tonight.

And I wonder why I have such a hard time whittling down my stack of unquilted tops?

Grayson's Quilt

I finished this lovely, squishy quilt for baby Grayson last week as part of my April quilt-a-thon. I am so excited- it's the first larger quilt I've free-motion quilted and I love the way it turned out. I used a meandering line pattern, inspired by Trisha's DQS quilt.


I used a lot of scraps and strings for the center panel and the detail of this quilt, using gray, black, orange, brown and red. I decided to break up the dark gray border with this little bit.


I went with a gray Robert Kaufmann flannel on the back. This flannel is so thick and soft! Since Grayson lives in the cold northern plains of Canada, he'll need a nice warm quilt most of the year.

I added some red and brown flannel from my stash when I realized that I had bought not quite enough gray for the back. That's what happends when you design on the fly- it is harder to plan yardage for quilt backs, but you get to make fun improvisational choices that lead to a more unique and exciting quilt!

The binding is mostly a gray on black dot, but I had just a few inches shy of the length I needed, so in went the white and red polka dot! It ended up being the perfect place to label the quilt.

My wishes for Grayson are stitched into this quilt- may he create a life of beauty and warmth with all the bits and experiences he encounters!

Flower Garden

The last quilt I finished in March was this Flower Garden, based on the Garden Path quilt from Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again. I free-motion quilted this in the ditch (a long story involving a broken walking foot) and machine bound it with solid dark gray. The quilting gives great texture and leaves the quilt nice and soft- perfect for the little baby girl it is going to.

It turned out that I had the perfect backing in my stash- this vintage floral thrifted find. It was exactly the size of my finished top- no piecing required! I love that serendipity- it was obviously meant to be!

Here's a closer look at the backing- the gray and yellow background tie in perfectly with two of my cornerstone colors from the front. The blue and red flowers are so vibrant and brilliant! I handwrote the label on the leaves on the back.

Flower Garden was truly a joy to make- the way it all came together so graciously was a pleasure. Made from scraps and stash, it's truly a testament to beauty we can find in what is around us every day. I hope it brings lots of beauty and brightness to it's recipient!

Weekend Sewing

How cute are these? I spent a big part of my weekend hosting a stuffy sewing birthday party for my daughter and 3 of her best friends. We based the project on the cat, left, that I made with my daughter a few months ago. The girls did all the sewing and embroidery on their own.

Maybe because I had to clear out my craft area for this activity, I was super productive this weekend- I also finished 2 quilts (that I will show you later) and made my April bee blocks. I hope I can roll all this energy into the week, but looking at my calendar, I doubt it. How was your creative weekend?

April Quilt-A-Thon

Here they are: my finished tops and one quilt in the hoop... the subjects for this month's Quilt-A-Thon! There is 9th quilt, too, I just don't have a picture of it (you know your pile of tops is out of control when you don't even have pictures of all of them!)

My goal for April is quilt as many of these as possible. If all goes well that means at least 3...

They are:

1. Grayson's Quilt done 4/11
   
2. Triumph Star
3. Amish-ish Mini Quilt
4. Gypsy Madness
5. Summer Flowers
6. Bright Snowballs
7. Stars & Strings
8. Calico Houses
9. Indian Summer

I am looking forward to showing off some finishes. If you've got tops... feel free to join me... April is the month... let's quilt it up!