Blogger's Quilt Festival

Hello there!  It's been a while, but I'm still here.  I'm feeling a little rusty so bare with me...

I'm entering a mini quilt I recently made into Amy's Bloggers Quilt Festival!  This will be my first ever entry into any type of contest so I'm a bit nervous, but overall I'm pretty excited!

After coming across this pillow on Pinterest and this tutorial by Kati, I had been itching to make a foundation pieced star. So one day (when I actually felt like sewing) I decided to to draw up a pattern and get busy. I had never foundation paper pieced before so it was a little slow going at first, but I quickly got the hang of it.

 

 

Making sure I had the proper seam allowance was probably the hardest part for me.  As you can see in the pictures above they are a little short in spots, but I made it work. 

 

I chose to make it out of solid Kona Cottons in a ROYGBIV orientation based purely on the fact that I had a bunch of scraps left over from my not-so-scrappy trip around the world quilt.  (Hopefully I will get around to blogging about it soon.)  From the very beginning I knew I wanted to use this black and white stripe for the binding to add contrast.  I love how it turned out!

 

 



 

 

 

 

This beauty is currently cheering up my sewing area making my quite happy every time I look at it!

 

Size - 19.5" x 19.5"

Fabric - All solids are Kona Cottons

Binding - All that is on the selvage is "Kensington for Quilting Treasures"

Quilting - Straight line with a walking foot, by me

 

Thanks for stopping by (and sticking with me)!

 

Christine

New and Old...

Why is it so impossible to not start a new project?!  I just can't resist.

These are the fabrics from the first quilt I started for my niece. They're already cut into triangles and they aren't cut incredibly accurate so it's a bit difficult to get things to line up, but I'm not terribly worried about it.  I'm just glad to find a way to use up all this fabric I've had packed away.  This is the tutorial I used for this block.

I also thought I would share attempt #2 of my niece's quilt.  Keep in mind that she is 16 years old, LOVES bright colors (her favorite being orange) and she almost equally loves zebra print.  So be warned, it's a bit bright and wild!

So without further ado...

The back is solid orange with the exception of the strip of zebra print and I am thinking I am going to bind it in the same print.  I really like the contrast between the bright colors and the black and white.

She loved the look of a rag quilt, but I didn't want to do a true rag quilt so I put my own twist on it.  The further I get into it the clearer it became that I was doing things backwards.  I pieced each block wrong sides together and attached the blocks right sides together, which was my intention.  The entire time I was trying to figure out how I would quilt it.  I now realise that it would have been much easier to piece the blocks right sides together and then attach the blocks blocks rag style.  Live and learn right?  Regardless, I think it is turning out just fine. 

I think the quilting works and I like the look of it.  I decided to do circles to compliment all of the dots and circles in he fabrics.

Another sign I might be crazy...deciding to free motion quilt my very first quilt, which measures 54 x 72!  I had originally planned on making it twin size!  Talk about diving in head first.

Oh well...  It's been worth it.  I've learned so much since starting this whole process and my sewing skills have improved immensely!  I have about three rows left to quilt...and I keep putting it off.  It's a pain in the butt and takes forever.  Not to mention since I nicked my strike plate the thread has broke a few times.  That alone makes me want to pull my hair out!  I just need to suck it up and finish...

Christine

P.S.  I found it amusing that as soon as I threw this quilt up on my cutting table in front of our giant living room window a humming bird was right there and hovered for a few seconds before flying away.  It sure got it's attention!

EPP Star Quilt Progress

Progress as of June 3rd.

After going back forth about how I wanted to do my layout I have decided on doing these seven star groupings using one star of each color. I plan on "squaring" this off by adding grey diamonds and triangles around the edge to make a hexagon. Then piece the hexies together. I haven't totally planned it out, but I know I will have to make some half hexies for it to all come together.