Two of a Kind

I made these two quilts at the request of my husband.  One is for someone whose spouse has terminal cancer and the other is for someone who just had a heart transplant.  They use the Modern Pearls quilt pattern by Julia of Red Rainboots Handmade.  She offers the pattern for free here.  I did make the quilts smaller by leaving off two columns.  My quilts finish about 60 by 76 inches.  

The two fabrics I chose are Kona Lighthouse and Kona snow.  I think those colors looks so pretty together.  The backings are an off white minky.  

I cut the quilt out and basically followed her pattern with the lights and darks reversed.

Pretty soon I had one quilt on the design wall and another quilt top made.  

Then there were two quilt tops.

I loaded one large piece of minky a little bit differently.  I rolled the backing onto the bar normally used for the top.  I had to be careful when advancing the quilts, but it helped to manage the bulk of the minky.  

The first quilt was quilted with loopy spirals.

The second was quilted with a plain spiral. 

They were loaded one right after the other and came off the frames one right after the other.

I trimmed them at the same time.

On Halloween my husband asked me if I could hurry and finish one of them.  He wanted to gift it the next day.  So I did.

I got the binding on...

And took a couple outdoor photos before the trick-or-treaters came.

The other quilt sitting unfinished was bothering me, so I finished the binding after the kids were in bed on Halloween.

I had hoped for some more sunlight to take photos, but my husband checked the weather forecast.  It would be at least a week if I waited for a sunny day.  He wanted to gift the quilt before then, so I did the best I could.

I really enjoyed making these quilts, but I must admit I missed bright colors.  I just hope that these quilts can bring the recipients and their families some comfort.  

XX,

Jasmine

Quilts for Kids

A couple months ago I found out that there is a Quilts for Kids chapter based in Salt Lake City.  The chapter has only been going for a few years.  I was so excited to discover this because I missed making baby quilts for Primary Children's Hospital. My friend who used to take my quilts there stopped doing it.  

I made arrangements with my family to go to the October scrap quilt workshop.  I didn't want to go there empty handed, so I pulled out this cute pinwheel fabric by Tasha Noel and made a whole cloth quilt the day before.  I quilted it on the Bernina Q24.   

I kept it simple with a loopy line.  

After the quilting was done I trimmed the edges and added a red and white polka dot binding.  

It may be busy but it is super cute.  

Quilts for Kids likes the quilts to be prewashed, so I washed it right away.  I love the crinkle of washed quilts.  

Once I got to the workshop I was able to add a label.

The workshop was at the Quilter's Lodge.  Kits were provided and we worked on a fun I Spy quilt.  

I had not been to the Quilter's Lodge before.  It is about a 30 minute drive from my house.  It is a beautiful retreat center and quilt shop.  

I had never seen so many Aurifil colors in person before.  

Such a pretty rainbow! I was able to buy a light purple thread that had been on my wish list for awhile.  (The last time I tried to order a light purple online I ended up with a medium purple.)  I will share more pictures of the I Spy quilt I worked on in another post.

While I was there Sandy, the chapter leader, asked if I would like to do long arm quilting for them.  I said that I would love to and also brought home six more baby quilts to finish.   I am really excited to be helping Quilts For Kids SLC.  

XX,

Jasmine

Peaches and Cream

While this quilt is orange, I made it for me and not Miss Kitty.  But I will share.  It is a fall quilt that I have been wanting to make for years.  The blocks just changed from an hour glass to the 2 by 4 quilt (tutorial here).  This is my third 2 by 4 quilt and probably won't be my last.  I already want to make one that is black and orange with the blocks rotated 90 degrees.  

I call it Peaches and Cream because it is one of my favorite fall treats and it matches the colors.  This is my original fabric pull. I actually cut out the strips at the same time I cut out Kitty's orange and pink quilt.  

 I sewed the strip sets together in the middle of other projects.  My quilt inspector was sleeping and snoring on the job.  

I think she just had to stay so close because I was using orange fabric.  

After I finished the propeller quilt I pulled this out to work on.  I finished it up in just a day.  I really love Saturday quilt days.  

I finished the quilting after the kids were in bed.

But I had to stay up to finish the binding.  

I think the orange stripe binding is my favorite part of the whole quilt! Then next day I put it on my sofa to try it out.

But Kitty was the first one to test it.  

I hope to get some better pictures outside when I can, but the weather and my schedule hasn't cooperated.  

Edited to add: I haven't braved the cold yet, but I did get some pictures in the morning inside my house.  

I think it looks so pretty in the morning light.

XX,

Jasmine

Custom Propeller Quilt

This is another quilt I made at the request of my husband's work.  It is for one of their clients who was having their first child.  My original plan was to make a simple half square triangle quilt out of boy colored solids.  Then they found out that the client loves propeller airplanes.  My second plan was to find some propeller airplane fabric and alternate squares of that with hour glass blocks.  Then I remembered a quilt I had seen and loved which Connie from Free-Motion by the River made.  She called it her Pinwheel Batik Baby Quilt and provided a tutorial for an eight inch block.  A similar quilt to hers became my final plan.  

This was my original fabric pull.    

I was going to do eight inch blocks and tested out two different AccuQuilt dies to make part of the pinwheel.  (The grid on my cutting mat is in half inch increments.)

I realized that sewing those pieces to finish at 2 by 4 inches would drive me crazy and quickly changed my plan to be twelve inch blocks.  So much better!

Plus I would only need twelve blocks instead of thirty.  A much better plan.  I just needed to add another red fabric and another blue fabric from my stash to balance it out.  

I made all the big propellers warm colors and the little pinwheels cool colors.  I like how that turned out.  Then I added a three inch border.  

I love how it looks like the propellers and pinwheels are spinning in the sky.  

I quilted it on the Bernina Q24 with spirals to keep the spinning look going.  

I put the binding on later that night.  (I seem to do a lot of bindings late at night because I love finishing quilts.)

This simple baby quilt only took me one day to cut, piece, quilt, and bind.  A couple days later I took photos outside.  

I love a fast finish!

I hope the recipient enjoys lots of baby snuggles until their son is big enough for the quilt.

XX,

Jasmine