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

 

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!

Today I'm ...

Stippling. I've gone through three bobbins already and I have a looooong way to go.

Just keep stitching!

WIP Wednesday

I've been getting a lot done, but not what I should be working on. It's productive procrastination!

Finish: Cactus Flower table runner started in May, finished last week. See the reveal post here.

New: I started playing with fussy cut hexies on a day when I didn't want to move off the couch. Productive laziness? The gray and white one is my favorite so far. I'm not sure if they will get centers or stay as rings. I might add some other sizes (these are 1" sides) and scatter them across a quilt top. We'll have to see how this evolves.

Finished, but not posting until tomorrow: Tangerine and Teal Triangles. The colors in this quilt radiate out from the center, so I quilted my first spiral. It was more fun than I expected.

Family news: My husband and I are enjoying our new phones more than we should. It takes two of us to take a selfie. You can see the reflection of our arms in his sunglasses. (It was hot and windy- please ignore how bad my hair looks.)

 

Julia is enjoying her summer job as a camp counselor at a nature center. She's teaching her 4-6 year olds about ecosystems this week.

Our Marine in reconnaissance training is our biggest work in progress. Pete is gearing up to head back to Coronado for more swimming, zodiac riding and jumping out of helicopters. OOH RAH!

It's house cleaning day, so I'll be hopping around the WIP Wednesday posts when I need a break.

Scattered Tuesday

This is what my kid did at work today! OOHRAH!

(He's not in the picture. I'll probably never get a picture of him doing anything this cool.)

I couldn't focus on any one project today, so I worked on four! I made this cute drool bib/bandana for Mollie. It was a request from her mom, and I'll make more if this one works for them. I used the dimensions in this post from Begin with B.

 

I quilted a few rows on this donation quilt so I could remove most of the pins. I'll need them for my father-in-law's quilt.

 

Speaking of my FIL, I pieced the backing for Garnet and Gray, but no picture. 

I picked up this quilt from a customer who wants me to replace the worn out binding. This is one well-loved quilt! Judging from the calicoes that I recognize from my own wedding quilt, this log cabin was pieced in the late 80's. Other than the binding, it's in fairly good shape besides being very faded. It's super soft and cozy, so I can see why she wants it repaired.

I'll let you know when Pete starts jumping out of helicopters, instead of just dangling from them!

A Quilted WIP

I picked up this quilt from Pat on Friday and I love it again! When I brought it to her there was not much enthusiasm on my part. Which quilting design did I want? Which thread? At the time I really didn't care much. But now I'm really happy with our choices!

The quilting design is called Ink Blot, and Pat had it stored in the juvenile file. I'm not sure what that says for my taste, but I really like it on this quilt. The thread is a rainbow variegation from Superior. Variegated thread has become a theme for me in the past week!

My new mattress is ridiculously high, so this quilt does not begin to drape far enough on the sides. Bummer. It will need to live at the foot of the bed.

But it still needs to be bound, probably in green (another recent theme). Hand stitching the binding to the back will be the perfect job for long nights watching the Olympics on TV.

Quick Quilting

Just a quick post to show you what I'm working on today.

Enjoying a beautiful, sunny day!