Table Toppers and More

My boys were home for fall break, so I decided to work on small projects.  

While I loved having Broomzelda on my kitchen table, she has flown downstairs to the entertainment center.  This made room for a newer, brighter, table topper. 

I originally made this one with 2.5 inch strips, and thought it was a little too big for my table.  It is about 24 inches from side to side, and a little more point to point.  (As a side note I could only cut 5 of these rectangles out of the WOF strip set.  The sixth was made with short strips and cut to size.)

So I decided to make a smaller topper which was just orange and black.  I cut these strips out at 2 inches and was able to get all six triangles out of the WOF strip set.  It is about 18 inches from side to side. 

On both hexagonal webs I put right sides together with the batting and sewed around.  Then turned it right side out, closed the opening, and quilted in the ditch.  It is difficult to get a good picture of the back.

I am loving it in the kitchen, and my friend (who I gave the larger one to) is loving hers.  :)

I also finished a mini quilt made with the scraps from the Scatter Sunshine quilt I made this summer.  It is about 16 x 18 inches. 

I quilted it simply with a single loop in each square.  It was so much fun to quilt, and I love how puffy it is with the Hobbs 80/20 batting.  (I have been using a lot of Warm and White lately.)

I backed it with a blue and yellow flower print. 

While these aren't my favorite colors, it looks neat with my fall flowers.  So I have decided to call it "Fall Sunshine." 

So while this was going to be a doll quilt, it is now a table (or piano) topper. 

I also have an older (surprise) finish to share.  It is this cute flower/heart table topper.  I used the Hex-n-More ruler to cut out the gem shapes from 9.5 inch strips.  I made two.  :) They finish around 18 inches. 

I also put these right sides together with the batting, and then turned it right side out to top stitch and quilt. 

One of these has already made it to Wales for my friend Jennifer of Glinda Quilts. 

Mine was on the piano for a month (before I put the fall topper on last week). 

And speaking of gifts, I never mentioned this super cute hot pad that Vicki of Vicki's Crafts made for me.  (Thanks again, Vicki!)

My husband saw it and made a table topper out of it.  I came into the kitchen one morning and saw this: 

Just don't ask why this Easter basket/spring floral arrangement was still on the top of my fridge in September.  So this was on my kitchen table for a month until I put my Halloween decorations out.  In fact, it is back on my fridge again.  I am either six months late or six months early.  ;)

Now that the big boys are back in school, I hope to get to some more sneaky sewing. 

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I am linking up with Tuesday Archives (for my Halloween Hexagons) and Let's Bee Social.  The buttons are on the sidebar if you want to see what other's have done. 

Happy Haunting: A Finished Quilt

I am very happy to say that my Halloween quilt, named "Happy Haunting" is finished!  This was my October goal (link #31) for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  I bought the fabric (Jeepers Creepers for Henry Glass) last November when it went on sale 50% off at my LQS.  I talked about the piecing of this quilt in this post. 

I have had so much fun quilting it, and it is the most dense I have ever quilted.  So be prepared for lots of pictures.  :)  I used matching thread on most of the prints, but used the clear thread on the house and characters.  I used the white Aurifil in the bobbin. 

 
It turned out so cute!  I didn't quilt on the trees and love how they puff out a little bit.

I spiral quilted the moon and quilted swirls in the orange background. 

I quilted barbed wire and eyeballs in the borders. 

I quilted on the printed webs in the spider border. 

My boys love this quilt so much that they have each claimed a character.  Cheetah is the grim reaper. 

Panda is the pumpkin guy.  (I think grandma and grandpa are the birds.) 

Monkey is the little ghost. 

Because daddy is the big ghost. 

I am the witch by default, because I am the only girl.  ;)

I think the little spiders (or is it the bats?) are Nana and Grandpa.  The spiders in the border represent all the aunts, uncles, and cousins.  LOL. 

I ended up using the green and yellow polka dot fabric for the backing. 

Did you know that hanging sleeves make great labels?  (I attach my hanging sleeve when I sew on the binding. Then hand stitch the bottom so that it has some extra give.) 

My boys love that you can see all the shapes on the back. 

In fact, they love it so much that they told me I had to hang it in the kitchen.  I couldn't hang it up downstairs like I was originally planning.  Vetoed in my own house!

It bugs me that it doesn't match the colors in my table runner.  I am told that I just need to make a new one, but I love Broomzelda. 

 

Quilt Stats #116

Name: Happy Haunting

Fabric: Jeepers Creepers for Henry Glass, Kona Black

Amount Used: 3.5 yards

Batting: Warm and White

Size: About 40 x 44 inches

Date Finished: October 2014

What I Learned:

• I can quilt really close together.
• Dense quilting makes the quilt stiff. 

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I am linking up with Finish it up Friday and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop. 

P.P.S.  Maybe Broomzelda needs to find another place and I really do need a new table topper.

Beary Blue: A Super Sneaky Finish

I am very happy to say that Panda's Christmas quilt is finished!  I have named it "Beary Blue" because it was completely inspired by the quilt Bear receives for Christmas in the book Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson. 

We love the Bear Books, and blue is most often Panda's favorite color.  Here is what Bear's quilt looks like. 

And here was my fabric pull. 

I had to be super sneaky with Panda's quilt.  I worked on it a little at a time: and hour here, and an hour there.  Those little bits sure add up!  After I finished my hubby's quilt, I put his squares up on the design wall and took a picture.  Then I labeled each of the columns, stacked them up, and hid the squares again.  Thank goodness for chain sewing which keeps everything in order. 

I finished the quilt top earlier this week. 

Then I stayed up late one night and got the quilt basted.  I am not normally a late night sewer, but I had to make sure that all three boys were asleep.  That night I draped it over my cutting table and locked the craft room. 

I was hoping to quilt it while he was at school, but he ended up staying home sick.  I knew if I left it on the table he was more likely to see it, so I decided to quilt it while he watched a movie. 

But every time he needed something I had to hide it with another quilt. 

I am grateful that Panda was more interested in his own agenda rather than what I was doing.  :D

Early this morning before he woke up and while he was at school I added the binding.  I added a label and had less than ten minutes to take pictures of it before picking him up at school.  (It was an extra short day today.) So these are not the best pictures and some had to be taken indoors because it was wet outside. 

Here is his quilt all nice and finished:

I just quilted it in the ditch to keep it soft and cuddly. 

I love how it looks on the minky backing. 

I did have to go buy more fabric yesterday for the binding and disguised it by a trip to the post office.  I love how the different blue frames the quilt but still looks good with the almost turquoise backing.  The binding fabric is a Quilter's Linen by Robert Kaufman. 

A friend stopped by and thought it really did look like the quilt in the book.  (This picture is from Bear Feels Sick). 

I look forward to lots of story time reading these amazing books while my Panda Bear is snuggled up in his own "Beary Blue" quilt. 

Quilt Stats #115
Name: Beary Blue
Pattern: 6 inch finished patchwork squares

Inspired by: Quilt in Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson

Quilting Design: Stitch in the ditch

Fabric: Miscellaneous blues and a yellow from my LQS

Amount Used: 7 yards

Batting: Warm and White

Size: About 60 x 72 inches

Date Finished: October 2014

What I Learned:

• I can be very sneaky with my sewing.
• Sometimes it is better to choose a binding after the quilt is put together.

So I now have two sneaky Christmas quilts finished and two more to go!

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I am linking up with Finish it up Friday and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop.

P.P.S.  I completely recommend the Bear Books by Karma Wilson.  They are so much fun to read aloud with their rhythm and language.  Plus Jane Chapman's illustrations are so cute.

P.P.P.S.  I am also linking up with Jennie of Porch Swing Quilts for her Santa's Sweatshop linky party.

Halloween Quilt in Progress

I have made some good progress on my Halloween quilt which is my October goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  I decided to keep it simple.  I cut apart the panel of Jeepers Creepers made by Henry Glass last year and tested it out with the companion spider print for borders. 

I like how the gray tones down the orange, yellow and green, but I thought it needed something between the orange border and gray spiders.  So I decided to add a narrow black border. 

As a side note, I just have to say that this is why I love my LQS.  I realized to sew the borders without piecing one of the sides I would need 37 inches and I only purchased one yard during the after Halloween sale.  They gave me more than 38 inches!  And I had enough.  :)

I worked on it some more today and was able to finish the top.  Here it is finishing at 40 x 44 inches:

I plan on binding it in black to give it a nice frame.  The backing will be a combination of the yellow and green polka dots and the candy corn from the top picture.  I still need to decide on that. 

And here is my sneaky sewing update...  Panda's quilt top is finished! 

I will post more about the inspiration behind it later. 

Plus, I have already made two more draw string bags from Jeni's tutorial.  These were made with the dimensions she gives in her free tutorial.  One is for my niece A who just turned six, and the other is for me.  :)

My husband was surprised that I made two when only one was needed.  I told him that it was just to use up the rest of the fabric and not create scraps.  ;)

My boys are still deciding what fabric they want for their bags and I am still deciding on how big to make theirs.  

XX
Jasmine

P.S.  I am linking up with Let's Bee Social and Needle and Thread Thursday.  (Buttons on sidebar.)