Quilting Another Niece's First Quilt

This bright and beautiful quilt was pieced by my niece C.  She worked on it with my mother (at the same time as my niece R) who teaches her granddaughters to quilt once they are teenagers.  Once again it is the basic Turning Twenty pattern.  Most of the fabric from this quilt is from the "Ooh La La" fabric line.  It was so much fun to help C finish her first quilt.  :o)  All she has left to do is the handwork on the binding. 

I quilted the center section in a golden yellow thread in large and small circular loops. 

The quilting was inspired by the cover quilt on this new magazine.  (Which I really enjoyed.)  MSQC calls the design "Loops and Swirls," but it reminds me of old phone cords. 

I stitched in the ditch around the stop border, and quilted the outer border with small circular loops. 

The backing is this fun yellow floral from the line. 

There were a few more puckers than normal on the back.  I really hope my niece doesn't mind.  That is what makes me so nervous about quilting for others.  I know that once the quilt is washed the puckers won't show as much.  This quilt is twin size measuring about 76 x 92 inches.  It has Hobbs 100% cotton batting in it and I love how it quilted up.  My mom will be helping my niece A make her first quilt this summer.  I am so excited to see how hers turns out!

As a side note, things are really busy with the boys right now as it is the end of the school year.  It won't slow down much once summer starts, so I might not be blogging as much for a little while.  ;)

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with Lorna for Lets Bee Social and Kelly for Needle and Thread Thursday.  Check out the links on my side bar to see what others and working on this week. 

Sunrise, Sunset: A Finished Quilt

This week has gone by very quickly.  I have been busy with my little family, but have managed to sneak in some quilting time.  In fact, I was able to finish this quilt for my sister T.  I am excited to have it finished because it was my April goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes (Link #19). 

I decided to call it "Sunrise, Sunset"  because I love how the colors blend together and how one strip is going in the opposite direction.  (Is anyone else singing the song from Fiddler on the Roof yet?)

The design was inspired by the Strip and Flip quilt, but I made this with 4.5 inch wide strips and added borders.

Originally, I was going to quilt it like this:  (I drew the design on clear vinyl with a washable dry erase marker.)

But when I sat down to do the quilting, it really wanted to be quilted like this:

I really like how it made the strips blend together better.  I did decide to keep the quilting in the border the same. 

It was my first time quilting feathers in the border with Princess.  I like how it turned out, but I still have a lot to learn about feathers.  :)

I like how the cream framed the colors, so I decided to use it for the binding as well.  I stitched it down completely by machine. 

The backing is just the tan fabric peeking out in the picture above.  You can also see that I added my corner label again. 

I made this as a gift for my sister (so I didn't do it for the money) but I did hear that quilts are more valuable if they are labeled.  ;)

Quilt Stats #102

Name:  Sunrise, Sunset

Inspired by:  Strip and Flip Quilt
Quilting design: Spirals with hooks plus a feather border
Fabric:  from my stash
Amount Used:  7 yards
Batting: Warm and White
Size: About 58 x 72 inches
Date finished: April 2014
What I learned:

• It is okay to change your mind about the quilting. 
• Sometimes I like lighter bindings. 

XX,

Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes, Let's Bee Social, Needle and Thread Thursday, and Can I get a Whoop Whoop.  (Links all on side bar.)  I will also be linking up with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.   



A Custom Family Quilt

I just finished quilting this beautiful quilt for my friends A and T.  It is a gift for their mother-in-law. They traced all of the grandkids hands, and A did the beautiful embroidery.  I am always impressed when people do things I can't.  :)  A also pieced the quilt top together. 

I did some echo quilting around the hands, and stitched in the ditch between the yellow and white squares. 

I then echo quilted around the ric rac border, and quilted the names of all of the adults in the family on the white squares.  I connected all of the names with a loopy line. 

They also had me do the binding by machine for them.  It is the same red as the backing. 

And here is a peek at the entire back. 

Thanks A and T for letting me quilt your beautiful quilt and post about it online.  :o)

XX,
Jasmine

Spring Quilts

My friend Val, from Val's Quilting Studio, hosts a Tuesday Archives linky party.  The theme for today is Bunnies and Baskets.  I just so happen to have a quilt of both.  A bunny with a basket full of carrots!  As this is a pre-blogging quilt I only mentioned it once, here. 

This quilt was pieced by my sister-in-law JoAnn, but quilted and finished by me in 2013.  Right now it is hanging in my basement on this quilt rack my awesome husband made for me. 

Notice the silver knob sticking out on the left.  He added that because when it was just a plain rod my boys kept bumping the quilt and it would fall down with the rod.  Now I just unscrew the knob and put the quilt on.  The rod cannot fall down and my boys are safer.  :o)

While I was at it, I thought it would be fun to show you all the other spring quilts throughout my house.  I love how they brighten and bring cheer in my house. 

This is what my kitchen looks like: 

It has my Irish Rose quilt on the wall with a Diamond Jelly Roll table runner on the table. 

Above my pantry is this turning twenty quilt draped over a quilting hoop stand. 

I have a pineapple table topper on my piano in the living room...

And this jelly roll race quilt on the sofa next to it. 

By my front door is another spring quilt which I designed to look like some Thimbleberries Coverstory Quilts.  I have one quilt for every month that hangs on this quilt rack my husband designed specifically for these quilts.  I mentioned the Thimbleberries quilts here and my original quilts here. 

Then downstairs, I have my Springtime Kisses quilt draped over my sofa.  This is the quilt from my header. 

Near the sofa is this cabinet which holds my pretty pastel quilts.  My boys seem to ignore them.  ;)

On the computer desk right next to the cabinet is a spring table runner. 

Around the corner by my sewing and laundry rooms is this Compass Rose quilt. 

Yes, that is my breaker box hiding behind the quilt.  Someday I will make a quilt specifically for this spot to completely cover it.  I am thinking a Dresden plate flower. 

I think that is all the spring quilts in my house, but I wanted to include this picture I took only a half hour ago.  It really shows what spring is to me.  Flowers on the trees and snow on the mountains.  It is the quilt I finished last month called April Showers bring May Flowers. 

I hope you are all enjoying whatever weather you have.  I really do love spring.  :D

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  You can't have too many quilts throughout your house, right? 

Thomas the Train Bag

I was able to sneak in a little sewing and quilting time during spring break.  I made this cute Thomas the Train tote bag for my little Monkey.  The blue lining, red outer part, train pockets, and handles are all quilted with Hobbs 80/20 batting.  So the bag ended up with a double layer of batting.  I love how soft it is and how it turned out.  (Thanks go to my friend, Vicki, for the batting suggestion.) 

Monkey was very good on one of my trips to the quilt shop and told me he wanted to look at car fabric.  We found a Thomas the Train panel and he fell in love with it.  He stayed in the stroller and held that bolt of fabric for a long time.  Once we paid for the fabric he held it and hugged it the whole time we were at the shop.  Which was over an hour, because my mom joined us and I helped her pick out fabric for a quilt.   

I love how his clothes match the bag in this photo.  :D  He told me that it was "hevy."

This bag only used part of the panel, so I have more for another project some time.  I cut out red and blue pieces 18 x 21 to make the tote.  It was a little bigger than the 18 inch square pieces I have used for other totes.  That three inches made a big difference, and I really like this size.   It used 1.75 yards of fabric and I purchased 1 yard of fabric. 

The rest of spring break looked more like this...

Yes, we are one of those crazy smart families who dress the kids alike.  It is easier to keep track of them that way.  My husband took the week off of work, and we played hard.  Monkey was often heard saying, "Daddy do it."  Which was fine by me, especially when it was time to change his diaper.  ;) 

As fun as the play time was, it was nice to have more routine today.  I was even able to finish this cute baby blanket for a friend. 

Hopefully, I can get more done the rest of the month. 

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with Let's Bee Social.  Check out the button on my side bar to see what everyone else is doing. 

Elk in the Woods: An Older Finish

I was right that I wouldn't have time to quilt during Spring Break, so I thought I would post about a slightly older finish.  :D 

I finished this quilt in January, but I didn't want to blog about it until after someone's birthday.  I call it "Elk in the Woods" and gave it to my sweet husband for his birthday.  He was really surprised, and wondered where I got the fabric.  ;)

[Panda loved the little quilt (coaster) that came with it, but Monkey was more interested in helping daddy open the next present!]

The fabric is a Riley Blake and actually came from the scraps of these two quilts which I made for the grandfathers last year.  It was their Father's Day/Birthday gifts last year. 

The only thing I had to purchase was the backing.  It is a Thimbleberries print. 

I think it is so funny that I could surprise my husband, because I know he saw me cutting out the fabric once or twice, and it did hang on my design wall at one time.  Sometimes I am glad he is a little forgetful. 

I cut out all of the squares at 3 inches except for three which I cut out at 5.5 inches.  I kept three big elk in the quilt.  I was careful when fussy cutting out the elk fabric, because I didn't want any squares with just elk behinds.  Having three boys, I did not want to go there.  Lol. 

I really like the way it turned out and my husband loves it.  He plans on hanging it in his office at work.  What a sweety! 

I had four left over 3 inch squares, so I used them to make a little coaster.  Panda thinks it is so cool and likes to use it to rub his face.  He told me that his Pooh Bear now needs a little quilt. 

Quilt Stats #84
Name:  Elk in the Woods
Pattern:  My own scrappy design
Fabric:  Riley Blake and Thimbleberries
Amount used: 2 yards of fabric
Batting:  Warm and White
Size:  about 25 x 30 inches
Date finished: January 2014
What I learned:

• I love making smaller quilts with scraps that are all from one line (especially when they don't play so well with my other scraps). 

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with Let's Bee Social and Needle and Thread Thursday.  The buttons for these fun linkys are now on my side bar. 

P.P.S.  I am also linking up with Oh Scrap at Quilting is More Fun than Housework. 

The Month of March & April Goals

March was an awesome and productive month for me.  I am calling it "March Machine Madness"  because my focus was on playing with and learning my new machine.  My sit down Baby Lock Tiara. 

I am sure all of my regular readers know how much I LOVE this machine.  I call her Princess. 

The first project I did was that sample you can see with the machine above.  Cheetah thought that it would be fun to make it a finished quilt, and I love that I will have a sample to keep of the first quilting I did with my new machine.  It will be fun to compare differences in a year or so.  :)

Then to learn my machine I quilted six whole cloth quilts which ranged from 36 x 42 inches to 42 x 60 inches. 

After all that practice I was ready to tackle my twister quilt.  It was so much fun to quilt. 

I did so much that I almost forgot finishing this quilt for my brother M. 

After that I finished this quilt for my sister S. 

Then I quilted my niece R's first quilt.  She did an amazing job putting it together with my mom. 

Then I made this fun simple quilt for the Hands2Help charity quilt challenge. 

I have one other small finish from last week.  I pieced and tied this blanket for Panda's friend M.  He gave it to her at her birthday party. 

It looked so cute all wrapped up!  And she loved it! 

It used up 3.5 yards of flannel.  Plus, I added 1 more yard of fabric to my stash.  It was Thomas the Train fabric to make something for my Monkey. 

So here is my Stash Report for the Month of March... 

March Stash Report
Quilting Cottons
Fabric purchased this month:  6 yards
Fabric used this month:  51.75 yards
Net stash this month: 45.75 yards less
Fabric purchased year to date:  6 yards
Fabric used year to date:  138.5 yards
Net stash year to date:  132.5 yards less

Oh, my!  I can hardly believe how much sewing and quilting I did this month.  I don't think I will be as productive (quilting wise) in April, because we have a lot of family stuff going on.  Next week is Spring Break for us, and I doubt I will get any quilting done.  So don't be surprised if you don't hear much from me.  :)

Knowing everything going on, I am planning on a simple goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  I want to make a quilt for my sister T out of this fabric.  I already have a simple stripe design figured out, so it should go together really fast. 

These are all five inch strips, and my sister's quilt won't use all of them.  So I will have to decide on what to do with the rest. 

Plus, I will quilt my niece C's first quilt this month.  Then I will work on more quilts for more siblings.  I have three sibling quilts done, and seven to go!  Hopefully I can make them all a quilt sometime this year.  (I thought that would be a good cause for a lot of my stash busting.) 

I hope you all have fun stuff planned for the month of April.  Can I just say, "I LOVE SPRING!!!"

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with Lorna for Let's Bee Social and the April Goal Setting Party for A Lovely Year of Finishes...  The buttons for these linkys are now on my side bar.  Go ahead and check them out to see what others are doing.  :o)