Sinta and Sherri hosted a full year of Schnibble challenge in 2012. I enjoyed the whole process of the pattern choice surprise and the parade reveal. They promise to restart the parade for 2013 in May so I've my calendar marked!
To celebrate, they asked we post about out favorite Schnibble of all time. That is really hard because I love all of them!
Instead of one quilt, I decided to choose the pattern I made twice, in the small size and in a larger size - Lincoln.
Here is my Schnibble sized Schnibble which used Fig Tree fabric. I made this quilt in January 2012 and call it Butterscotch.
Because I loved the pattern so much, I decided to made the larger size. I did slightly modify the pattern to keep my sanity on all those geese blocks so went with 4 strips instead of 3. This queen sized quilt used Sweetwater Pure fabric. I named it Pure & Simple.
My stash of charm packs awaits.
Happy Stitching!
I had a craving for Cinnamon Buns this weekend so decided to make some. I found a recipe which had a step were they could be frozen. Delicious! (4 enjoyed by the family, 11 more frozen for another day.)
While the dough was rising, I had plenty of time to made the block for Votes for Women block of the month. This one was called Jack's Delight and was a lot of fun to assemble.
This week's block from the tiny quilt along at Heartspun Quilts was a paper pieced court house steps. My accuracy could use a little work but it was fun and good paper piecing practice.
Happy Stitching!
Icy weather Friday in NC so the best place to be was home with your sewing machine! I didn't really need the weather to motivate me to sew - it was FNSI!!
You see these scrappy trip around the world blocks all over blogland. I broke into my jelly roll of Butterscotch.
Laid out the traditional block.
But then decided to go take a right turn and mix things up.
The light fabrics should be all aligned so I'll get some effect this way but the fabric placement will be much more random. Everything is ready to go to assemble more and more blocks.
So, while the ice melts, you can find me in my sewing room today! (If you look carefully, I managed to catch drops of water falling with this photo - see by the watermark!)
Happy Stitching!
I gifted - in a very incomplete state - my DD a quilt of a TARDIS for Christmas. Her squeals of delight were the kind everyone should hear when they gift a quilt. The top was pieced, the quilt was sandwiched and I had outlined the TARDIS (in the ditch) and then basted the quilt on my machine.
January 1st rolls around and I still hadn't gotten any further than the basting stage. My daughter was - rightfully! - getting impatient. I did delay a bit because of a thread purchase that I was waiting for but ... This was my finish goal for January.
The TARDIS is designed by the time lords of Gallifrey.
This quilt, however, is an original design by me. This is my favorite way to make a quilt - have a general idea what I am going for and then make it up as I go. Putting the TARDIS 'on point' to imply flying through space (and time) was a bit of a risk as I cut the background fabric but it worked!
Fabric used was Bella Admiral Blue and Slate Gray along with two panels from Spoonflower, one of them gifted from a new blogging friend Rebeckah. The background is Kasuri Woven Texture in gray. The back is a gray flannel.
The was by far the largest quilt that I did FMQ on my home machine. All the features of the TARDIS were outlined and then I did a basic stipple section by section.
I had fun with the quilt label, wishing her well through adventures in time and space!
There were really two things that gave me the confidence to FMQ this one by myself on my home machine. The first was the year long FMQ series that SewCalGirl ran which game me much practice and really built up my confidence. The second was my deliberate choice of thread color to match the fabric. For me, knowing that every issue wouldn't be visible was a big deal. Using flannel on the back was also useful - it can be quite forgiving.
TARDIS has not yet been washed but she is very much being loved. My DD thinks the flannel is the best. She is 5'6" so if she curls up just a bit and lays on top of the quilt, she can 'fit' in the TARDIS (which as all who-vians know is larger on the inside.)
I am going to link up my first finish of the year with A Lovely Year of Finishes.
I am also linking up with SewCalGal's FMQ posting.
Happy Stitching!
I had several projects under the needle at once (or at least intermingled) over the weekend. I felt so productive!
First up was the block for Votes for Women block of the month. I am not certain that I like the block especially as it relates to the other blocks. However, it turned out to be fun to make. I pieced it together and then needle turned appliqued it to the background square.
Next up was the 3rd block from the tiny quilt along at Heartspun Quilts. Shown are the three blocks to date - the one furthest to the right with all the HST is the newest block.
Finally, I decided to play along with the Blogger Girls Block of the Month. There are 6 blocks in total and you can choose to make each block twice using very different fabric placement. Right now, I decided to make just 6 blocks and I cracked open my Sew Mama Sew layer cake for this one. I always enjoy geese and star blocks so this was right up my alley.
Fun, fun, fun for sure!
Happy Stitching!
Spent time assembling Easy Street!
As the mystery went along, I made 1/4 of the block count that Bonnie suggested. That yielded the top two rows. I decided to add one more row so that = before borders = so that the measurements are (roughly) 42 X 63. I'm thinking a one inch border and then a 4 inch border so it will finish at a 52 by 73.
But now what color for the borders? One idea is to do the narrow border in white (Bella Porcelain) and then the outer in either the green or perhaps the gray.
Thoughts?
Fabric is Good Fortune by Moda.
Happy Stitching!
The internet has proven to be a great source of inspiration and friendship. As a result, I know that I've been introduced to new ideas, new designers, products, fabric stores. Here is your chance to nominate your candidates in each of the following categories:
- Best Quilt Designer
- Best Fabric Designer
- Best Quilt Book Author
- Best Teacher/Instructor
- Best Quilt Store (physical)
- Best Quilt Store (online)
- Most Innovative Product (physical)
- Most Innovative Product (software)
- Best New Product Introduced in 2012 (physical)
- Best New Product Introduced in 2012 (software)
- Best Quilt Book Published in 2012
- Lifetime Achievement Award
You can find more information on SewCalGal's blog page here including a list of the 2012 winners.
And best of all, there are prizes for participating in the nomination and voting process!
Happy Stitching!
One of the fun to assemble gifts I gave for the holidays were these fabric buckets. You can find detailed instructions for these all over the web. While not a tutorial, I did snap these pictures as I went through the process.
- Trace a circle for bottom of lining and bucket
- Assemble lining. Leave small opening in bottom to enable turning things inside out
- Iron on fusible batting to outer fabric (including bottom) and assemble into bucket.
- Right sides together, sew along top seam between lining and bucket.
- Turn inside out through the opening you left in step 2.
- Sew opening by hand (or machine if you want).
You can decide how much of the inner fabric you want to fold over.
These were all gifts for my sisters and everyone loved them. I really liked working with the canvas - these are two different prints from Sweetwater - one is Pure and the other is Authentic.
You can use these anywhere. Put a plastic tub inside (something you might get from the deli) and you can give your basket extra protection from anything you put inside that might spill.
Happy Stitching!
I found a very tiny quilt along at Heartspun Quilts. It is just 5 weeks long and the blocks are small but fun to put together.
I am using leftovers from a charm pack I've had in my stash for awhile. The line is called Park Avenue and I remember buying it several years ago, used a few squares but then never really did anything with it. I think it has just the right colors for this mini.
The final block measures 4 1/2 inches. The first block was some geese
For the 2nd block, Pam offered a unique way to construct these tiny units as well - go take a look here.
Now back to the blog post title. I really, really do want to make a true scrap fabric quilt someday but the first vision I have for these various scrap quilt a longs is always to stay within a fabric line. Crazy, isn't it?
All over blogland, people seem to be making scrappy around the world quilts - you can find the fun instructions of the scrappy trip around the world on Bonnie Hunter's blog. So, I had to give it a try. I'm using the other half of my batik pack leftover from my Tetris quilt. I am going to make this wall hanging size ... but see? Can't go scrappy.
Happy Stitching!
This week's block in the Votes for Women BOM was called Memory Wreath. It would clearly lend itself to a fussy cut fabric for the center. This one went together well - no seam ripper required!
Unlike last week's block which was tough..... All those HST almost did me in!
20 blocks so far ... getting close to the halfway mark in the 49 block BOM. I still like my red blocks the best but part of that is they really photograph better. There is much more contrast between the blue and white than my photos seem to capture.
Blocks 1-9 and 10-18 ....
1. Grandmother's Choice
2. Amethyst
3. Union Square
4. Kansas Sunflower
5. New Jersey
6. Aunt Eliza's Star
7. Alice's Flag
8. Rocky Road to Kansas
9. Brick Pavement
10. New York
11. Little Red Schoolhouse
12. Little Boys's Breeches
13. Everybody's Favorite
14. Bride's Knot
15. Centennial
16. Capital T
17. Mother's Delight
18. Cheyne
On a different note, do check out all the wonderful projects from the In Your Words blog hop hosted by Mdmn Samm and Linda. It is so much fun to see all the different interpretations. Here is the full schedule on Linda's blog. My entry was last Tuesday (my blog).
Happy Stitching!
One of the fun quilt-a-longs in 2012 was the TETRIS quilt along. I gifted my final project to my son for Christmas.
I did circular quilting on this one - quite fun - as long as you don't look too closely at my circles!
My son says he intends to hang it in the common area of the dorm suite he is sharing with 7 other kids. (Quite the compliment for me!)
We debated the merits of which way to hang it - vertical (above) or horizontal (below). I am going to put tabs on the back to make either option possible but he believes he will go with vertical.
This was a very entertaining quilt-a-long. I used roughly half of a batik strip set I had purchased quite some time ago and love how bright this quilt is. It finished at approximately 37" by 26". I want to thank Melissa from Happy Quilting for all the fun!
Happy Stitching!
What a fantastic mystery that Bonnie posted for us called Easy Street.
I am made a smaller version of the quilt - 1/4 of the blocks. The blocks are done and just placed on the floor. (I will take another careful look at my block placement before further assembly because it is very easy to misplace a block!)
Without borders, this quilt would measure 42 by 42. I've decided to make it a bit bigger - another row - so that it would be 63 by 42 before borders. I will gift it to my sister in law who has a significant birthday coming up in February.
I'd like to make the border without buying any fabric so I am thinking a narrow white border and then a wider gray border - or perhaps green if I have enough.
The fabric I used was Good Fortune (Moda) and the oranges, blues and greens are all a bit brighter in person.
I also want to thank everyone who stopped by my blog yesterday and left such lovely comments on my entry to the In Your Words blog hop. Mdmn Samm and Linda pulled this together and so much fun to see all the different interpretations. (Here is the full schedule on Linda's blog.)
I really enjoyed the opportunity to share my family quilt which was so much fun to put together for my mom and dad. Family is important to all of us. My very best to yours!
Happy Stitching!
My word for the In Your Words Blog Hop is a simple one. It is a word that is special to all of us.
Family.
At the roots of the tree are my grandparents.
The trunk is for my mom and dad. (See the cute heart carved into the tree?)
There are seven kids - all girls - so the tree has seven branches and then leaves for the 7 of us, our husbands and the collection of our 16 children.
Everything was appliqued on. The leaves have an extra layer of fusible batting to make them really pop. I used my machine to put all the names on the leaves as well as the years each of the families branched out.
I think the tree came out really amazing just in and of itself.
But adding the word family to the bottom, makes the quilt even better.
This quilt (wall hanging size) was a gift for my Mom and Dad for Christmas.
Thanks for stopping by.
A special thanks to Mdmn Samm and Linda for what is going to be a fantastic hop!!! Make sure you go visit the other lovely quilters I have the privilege to share the day with.
Today is day 2 of the hop - here is the full schedule on Linda's blog.
Happy Stitching!
