Vintage August

I showed a few pictures of this quilt when I started blogging again in September, but I thought it still deserved its own post in chronological order.  I purchased the fabric a few years ago as a kit from Craftsy.  It was for a beautiful medallion quilt, Glorious Dawn, designed by Myra of Busy Hands Quilts.  I had every intention of making that beautiful quilt.  However, Panda was looking through the pattern one day.  He said, "This doesn't look like you." The rest of the family agreed.  So I changed my plan.  

This pattern is from Camille Roskelley's book Simply Retro.  It is the Vintage pattern.  I just added four more blocks, sashing, and borders.  My quilt is actually king size finishing at 104 by 104 inches.  I started out sewing one test block.  

I changed the background a little bit from her instructions and used quarter square triangles (5" finished) and half square triangles (3" finished) as the setting triangles for each block.  That made it so the edges of the blocks were not cut on the bias.  It also saved a lot of fabric.  

I even used one of the strip dies to cut out the blue and green pieces.  

The strips cut out very quickly that way.  

I was extra careful cutting out the fat quarters so that I could keep a 2.5 inch strip of each fabric for my scraps.  I love analogous color schemes.   

Another day I cut out all of the background fabric with the AccuQuilt.

But I didn't enjoy piecing these blocks as much.  So it sat on the shelf while I pieced two and a half more quilt tops.  After sewing some plus quilt blocks I got the urge to finish this quilt.  I did assembly line construction and finished the remaining 15 blocks at the same time.  

These are big blocks!

I had to lay them all out in the family room to determine a layout I liked.  

Then I could finish the quilt top. 

I quilted it on the Bernina Q24 with a light blue 108" wide backing.

It was so pretty when I took it off the rails.

I decided to use the last bit of the cream background fabric as a binding.  

I took one picture of the whole thing while standing on the stairs. 

Then I enjoyed having it on my bed for a month. 

I am so grateful I stuck with it and finished this quilt!

XX,

Jasmine

Four Custom Quilts

In April 2022 my husband's boss once again asked me to make some quilts for clients.  This time they wanted four identical quilts to congratulate a client for 80 years in business.  It is a family owned business and so they wanted a quilt for each family member working there.  The requested colors were to match their logo and their website.  I told them I would need two months to make four quilts.  I decided to keep them simple and make twenty inch star blocks.  

 My quilts were inspired by Missouri Star Quilt Company's Dashing Star.  I just used a different method (the AccuQuilt) and a smaller block.  My stars are twenty inches, my sashing two and a half inches, and my borders five inches.  So these quilts are big finishing about 80 by 102 inches.  Once my design was approved I went shopping for the fabric.   

I decided to make some medium with dark stars and some medium with light stars for added dimension.  Each quilt would have two stars of each fabric combo.  Here is my first block.  

I cut out and pieced all eight stars of each fabric combo at a time and kept updating my design wall.  

I enjoyed the view out my window as I pressed and pressed.  

That way all four quilt tops were finished within a couple days of each other.

They were all quilted on the Bernina Q24 with a 90 inch wide blue minky backing.  

They were all quilted with the same loopy spiral design.  

Then they were all bound by machine in navy blue.

They all received labels hand stitched to the backs (not pictured).

Then they were all photographed.  

Seriously, if you've seen one you've seen them all.

Except I couldn't make them all exactly identical.  They all have a different shade of blue minky on the back.

And they all have a different navy blue print binding.  

I'm such a rebel.  ;)

While I asked for two months to make all four quilts, I actually finished them in less than five weeks.  That even included breaks in the middle to make my giant purple log cabin.  

I believe these quilts were a big hit.  One of the recipients told my husband he uses his quilt every day.  That's the best compliment a quilt can receive--to be used and loved.

XX,

Jasmine

April Bed Quilt

 

I made a quilt for someone going through chemotherapy back in 2017 and called it Cheerful Patch.   I loved it so much that I wanted to make a similar one for me.  This quilt uses a lot of the same fabrics but is bigger with bigger squares.  

I selected the fabrics and cut six squares out of each that were seven inches big.  Then I laid them on the floor.  The quilt is 16 by 16 squares and finishes about 104 inches square.  

I wasn't able to sew them together at the time (April 2021). It was another year before I was able to piece the squares all together.  

I quilted it on the Bernina Q24 with a simple loopy line.  

I had darling company who was shopping and having a baby doll day care.  

For such a large quilt, it quilted up pretty fast.  

I bound it in one of the darker pink fabrics.  

I know I say this a lot, but I love how it turned out.  

It is definitely cheerful in my bedroom.

XX,

Jasmine

Custom Winter Jewel Box

This is the second quilt I made at the request of my husband's boss.  It was for one of their clients who was retiring.  She loves winter and snowmen so I chose to make a blue and white jewel box quilt.  It is made from eight inch blocks and finishes about 76 by 92 inches.  

This is the fabric I purchased for the quilts.  I bought 20 blue fat quarters for the blocks.  With there being 80 blocks I knew a fat quarter was enough for the equivalent of four blocks with some left over.  

I cut out both the half square triangles and the four patch squares out with the AccuQuilt.

Here are all the pieces for the 80 blocks.  

This is my first block (sewn scrappy style.)

I decided to swirl the seams on the four patches and the blocks.

That way all the seams still nested when sewing the blocks together.

I got a wool pressing mat for Christmas and must say that I love it.  It makes pressing the blocks without steam so easy.  And my blocks are nice and flat.  I sewed up the 80 blocks and laid them on my design floor.  

Then I added the two borders.  

Cutting the extra threads off the back is tedious but so important on a blue and white quilt.  

I quilted it on the Bernina Q24 with a 90 inch wide minky backing.  

I think pointed spiral quilting is so elegant.  

Then I trimmed the quilt and got the binding on.

I love how this quilt turned out and would like to make a green and white quilt similar to it for me.  

I still finished this quilt in less than a month even though her retirement ended up being postponed until April.  

XX,

Jasmine