Allie's Quilt

 Another recent finish was this graduation gift for my son's girlfriend. A week before her graduation, I was cleaning up my sewing area and rediscovered this fabric. I knew it would be perfect for Allie, so I started cutting and stitching.

 I started with 3 mini charm packs of Kate Spain's Paradiso line. The mostly blue squares were combined with Kona Snow for some yummy 9-patches. Those were set on point, and alternated with plain square-in-a-square blocks with Kona Bahama blue. Very simple piecing. The points were extended around the perimeter to complete the design. I used every bit of Paradiso yardage that I had for the borders.

I absolutely love quilting a continuous curve (aka orange peels). It's an effective design for the 9-patches, so I marked a grid in the alternate plain squares to repeat the design. I normally don't do any marking but it was necessary on this one and well worth it.

Below, you can see the Angela Walters-inspired quilting in the large triangles. You can also see what happens to my thread when I use a needle that is too small! I was using Superior needles and thread and they very quick to respond on Instagram with some suggestions. The right size needle was all I needed.

 

 Allie and Pete came in just as I was finishing the quilting (the day before graduation). I asked her if she liked it and told her it was hers! Surprise!

 

Check out the awesome texture on the back!

 

I used an ombre on the back. It is light at one selvage and dark at the other. I pieced it along the light edges so it glows in the middle! 

I found out toward the end that Allie loves flamingos. I dug deep for this paper pieced pattern by Margaret Rolfe. In a previous quilting life, I used to shrink all these patterns to make lapel pins. It was fun to be reminded how much I enjoy tiny paper piecing. We've known Allie since she and Pete were six or seven years old. I'm hoping she'll stop calling me Mrs. Craig soon!

 

 I think she likes it. As soon as she got home, she put it on her bed and sent me a picture of how well it matches her decor.

Allie's Quilt

60" X 77"

Started May 1, 2017

Completed May 20, 2017

Delivered June 20, 2017

Pieced on Singer Featherweight

Quilted on Bernina 153

 

Christmas 2015

 It's a little late to be blogging about Christmas, but I just finished my new Christmas quilt. I had hoped to finish it in time to cuddle up under on Christmas Eve, but it wasn't meant to be.

I used 2 charm packs of Flurry by Kate Spain plus about 1.5 yds of Kona white cut into 5" squares. I also bought some yardage for borders and binding. The pattern is Jewel Toss from the Moda Bake Shop, but I modified the construction quite a bit. I cut up the white on 12/22 and pieced the whole top on 12/23. I made 4-patches from one charm pack and half-square triangle units from the other pack.

 

I finally had a chance to get it basted and quilted yesterday. The backing is another Kate Spain print from her Jingle line. Funny story about the quilting. I forgot to drop the feed dogs before I started the free motion quilting. I didn't realize it until I was ready to attach the binding and went to set the machine back to normal. oops! Turns out it didn't make much difference.

I used Superior So Fine! 50 weight #401 for the quilting. Gladly, I didn't have any trouble with thread breakage. Last winter, I was having trouble with that thread. We thought maybe it was the dry air, but maybe I was using the wrong needle. For whatever reason, the stars aligned, and all went well.

It was such a joy piecing and quilting this beautiful fabric.

Christmas 2015

started 12/22/15

completed 1/16/16

51" X 75"

Quilty Catch Up

I'm so sorry that I've been away from the blog for almost two months! November and December do seem to be the busiest months of the year, what with all the holidays and partying. Here's what I've been up to on the quilting front.

 

Two of my quilts were accepted for exhibition at A Quilters' Gathering in New Hampshire at the beginning of November. Engineer's Wife was awarded a codirector's ribbon from Kate Sussman. She liked the Morse Code anniversary quilt, too.  

  

During the same weekend,  the Rhode Island Modern Quilt Guild presented an exhibit during the Fine Furnishings Show in Pawtucket. Three of my quilts were included: Diamond Party, Sugar Wave and Picture Perfect.

 I had an opportunity to meet Mary Fons! 

  I quilted up an old WIP/UFO before to fill out my craft show booth. It was made from a really cute collection of Debbie Mumm lighthouse prints and coordinates. I think I pieced it in 2008. It can be a baby quilt of small lap quilt, perfect for a beach house.

Finished size: 48" X 54" 

 Another pre-craft show finish was the scrappy pyramid quilt. I really like this fun collection of modern scraps. The green binding works because green goes with everything!

Finished size: 48" X 64"

Started 2/22/15

Completed 12/2/15

While I was in a free motion quilting mood, I quilted up a guild quilt for a Habitat home dedication.

 The RIMQG hosted a postcard swap in November and there were the 2 fabric postcards I sent out. I bust out a paper pieced New York Beauty whenever possible!

On December 23rd, I decided I wanted to make a Christmas quilt for our cuddling up on the couch on Christmas Eve. Well, I got the top done that day and haven't taken another stitch since. I hope to quilt it this coming week. I used two charm packs of Flurry by Kate Spain and two yards of solid white Kona. Yummy!

And there you have it!

Jekyll and Hyde

This is my take on a One Block Wonder. I know I own the book by Maxine Rosenthal, but when it came time to cut my fabric, I couldn't find the book. I had to wing it, and I think my hexagons are a little bigger than others I've seen. The geranium print is so obnoxious, and I love it!

The backing is a sweet, soft print by Kate Spain. I was so enthralled by the texture created by the quilting that I was laying on the floor petting it!

The geranium print is by Phillip Jacobs. I bought it on clearance with this quilt in mind. Here it is before cutting.

I used a chrysanthemum quilting design, starting at the center of each hexagon, working my way out. I didn't want to travel to the center of the next hexagon, so I started and stopped stitching with each one. It was a lot of threads to bury, but that's the price you pay when the design in your head has to come out!

I tried and tried to find a fabric that would work as a binding on the front and the back, but nothing in my stash worked. It was time to break out the two-sided binding again. I used it on my selvage spiderweb 2 years ago. It looks tricky, but the tutorial on The Pattern Basket website makes it quite easy. The two color binding amplifies the hot/cold nature of the quilt.

This is one of those patterns that you could move blocks around forever and never feel like you've got it quite right.  It's done now, so no more rearranging!

 

Jekyll and Hyde One Block Wonder

56" X 62"

Cut & Pieced: January 2015

Completed: 6/26/15

Mark & Heidi's Wedding Ring

 It's time for the big reveal...

Last June, I invited my nephew Mark and his fiancee Heidi to a quilt design consultation party. We looked at patterns and took a field trip to the LQS. We didn't find the focus fabric we were looking for, so we jumped online and found Kate Spain's Sunnyside line. Heidi wanted blues, and Mark wanted a bit of orange (note the Syracuse hat). I happened to have a mini charm pack of Sunnyside in my stash, and we decided on the main print from that 2.5" square!

Quite a few of the other prints in the quilt are from Sunnyside, but I needed to add in more blues for the gradation. I think I traveled to five or six quilt shops until I was happy with the fabrics.

If you've visited my blog before, you know I love paper piecing. Judy Neimeyer's patterns just make me happy! I love her methodical process and perfect patterns. This was my third time making a wedding ring star and I just love it. 

It's hard for me to complete a pattern without making some modifications. This time, I designed a border to echo the curve of the rings and added some simple applique. It took some time and consultation with my friend Maria to figure out a process for adding the scalloped border with bias edging. (I love Maria! We speak the same quilting language.)

The backing fabric was Plan B. My first purchase was a white on white that was just boring. I love this more modern option. (If I find the receipt, I'll add a link to the shop.) Oh, the binding! I cut up a whole yard of fabric into 2.25" strips. Overkill. I have extra, so you'll be seeing it again! I spent a few nights on the couch watching listening to TV while I hand stitched.

I'll step back and let the machine quilting by Pat Harrison speak for itself...

The queen size bed in Pete's room is dwarfed by this massive quilt.

My brother put me in this photo for scale! The portable quilt rack is just barely big enough. We had to bring it out on the deck for photos because our ceilings aren't high enough.

Mark & Heidi's Wedding Ring

Started June 2014

Completed April 2015

Working Time: 140 hours

Size: 112" square

Machine pieced and hand appliqued by Tina Craig, Seaside Stitches

Professionally machine quilted by Pat Harrison, Ocean Waves Quilting Co.

Bali Wedding Star Pattern by Judy Neimeyer, Quiltworx

Original border design by Tina Craig

Process blog posts:

Fabric selection

Block 1 and mockup

Piecing Arcs

Progress

Melons

Piecing done

Border applique

Top done

Binding

Awards:
Ninigret Quilters, October 2015:
Best Large Pieced Quilt
NQA Certified Judges Ribbon
Vendor Choice-Bob's Featherweights

Narragansett Bay Quilters Association, April 2016:
Best of Show
1st Place Exemplary Machine Quilting- Track
1st Place Exemplary Use of Color
2nd Place Exemplary Piecing

Sunnyside Mini

 I finished two more small quilts yesterday. I'm avoiding other work like the plague.

Back in June, I designed this mini in EQ7 for the Schnitzel and Boo mini quilt swap.

 

I used Kate Spain's Sunnyside Buttercup Blaze as inspiration and pulled the rest of the fabric from my stash. The little top was done in no time.

 

When I decided to work on it yesterday, I went a little crazy with quilting!

 

 There's a pretty Kaffe print on the back. The binding was attached by machine with a little help from Elmer's washable school glue. (Watch Sharon Schamber's video for perfect competition-ready binding.)

It looks great on my front porch, if only for the photo shoot.

 

Last one, complete with dirty pumpkins and porch steps.

 

Sunnyside Mini

19.5" square

Started June 15, 2914

Completed October 23, 2014

Original Design