Quilt Bliss Retreat

I had an absolutely fabulous time at the Quilt Bliss Retreat last weekend.  I went up for just Saturday and was privileged to spend the whole day with Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl and Renee of Quilts of a Feather.

Quilt bliss was held in the beautiful Timber Moose Lodge in Heber City, Utah.  (Not too far from my home.)

Photo courtesy of Yvonne

I was very lucky that Yvonne was able to save me a seat right next to her sewing station.  :)

Photo courtesy of Yvonne

That is her Bernina between Renee and I.  Don't you just love the color of Renee's machine?

I had fun preparing for the retreat by making a pincushion for a swap and selecting a couple bags for gifts.  I used scraps of wool batting for the pincushion because I heard that the lanolin is good for your pins.  I added some butterfly pins and rainbow of ribbon scraps for cuteness.  

I also cut out a quilt for my dad which is very similar to one I made for my husband earlier this year.

I took two classes while I was there.  The first was a house (turned castle) pillow from Heather of Quilt Story.

It was so much fun making a project like this in a class with friends because my project evolved.  The chimney became a turret, the windows were rounded with little ledges, and the door was rounded and added to the back.  Here is a picture of the class projects.

The second class was a curves class taught by Anna and Kristen of the Utah County Modern Quilt Group.  They taught four methods for appliqueing circles.  I am looking forward to quilting this mini.

While I was there I was able to sew half of the blocks for my dad's quilt.  It was fun sewing moose, deer, and bear blocks in the rustic lodge setting.

All in all it was a great time at the retreat.  I loved spending the day with Yvonne and Renee.

Life has been kind of crazy (more on that next week), but I look forward to finishing up these projects when I can sneak in the time.

XX,
Jasmine

Eagle Scout Project Progress

Cheetah has made some excellent progress on his Eagle Scout Project (making 20 crib quilts for Project Linus).  The quilts are almost ready to be tied at his big service day.  I think he has learned that even when doing big projects involving lots of people, that there is still a lot of prep work that has to be done for there to be something they can all do.

First Cheetah gathered all of the supplies for the quilt which were donated by friends and family.   Then his project took over the kitchen and living room for a couple days.  We cut the donated batting up into twenty crib quilt size pieces.  He even used the rotary cutter.  All 20 battings were piled up on our railing.

Panda and Monkey helped set up and clean the tables for the trimming.

Cheetah did all of the starching and ironing in the kitchen.  I did trimming and pining using the methods in my Pre-Bound Baby Blanket Tutorial.  (Cheetah took this picture.)

Pretty soon the living room and hallway looked like this.

Another day Cheetah asked several people to come help do the sewing.  He promised them some light refreshments: water, grapes, homemade bread, and homemade strawberry jam.

His project took over the basement family room for the sewing day.  Eight people worked on it that day.

Cheetah sewed around three of the quilts with the right sides together, then took over the job of turning quilts right side out.

At the end of the four and a half hour marathon, all twenty quilts had been turned right side out and five had been topstitched.

Cheetah decided to ask seven different people to help out with topstitching the rest at their own homes at their convenience.  He already has the church building scheduled for the big tying quilts service day and is now working on promoting attendance.  I really am such a proud mama.

XX,
Jasmine

My First Sew Together Bag

I recently finished my first Sew Together Bag, and I absolutely love it!  I have already put it to use holding my hand sewing tools.  I purchased the pattern back in May at the HMQS with my birthday money, so this is like a belated birthday present for myself. ;)

I purposely made it to match my Beatle Bag which pattern I also purchased at the HMQS.  I love that one holds my sewing machine tools and the other holds my hand sewing tools.

When I mentioned to Jennie of Porch Swing Quilts that I was going to make a Sew Together Bag, she said to be sure to check out the Sewalong at The Quilt Barn.  I am so grateful for her advice, because while the pattern was awesome and clever, I couldn't have done it without the extra pictures and tips shared in the Sewalong.

For the outside of the bag, I used some Soft and Stable as the interfacing.  While it added thickness (and I cut my binding a little wider), I absolutely love how well it stands up on its own and how the quilting looks around the large Riley Blake Quatrafoil.

The print almost matches up at the top of the bag, which I think is pretty cool.

You may have noticed in the picture above that I accidentally bought an invisible zipper for the outside of the bag.  I do not recommend that at all.  It would have been so much easier if I had just made another trip to the store and purchased a different zipper.

On the inside of the bag I used some Riley Blake Swiss Dots and a light Kona gray solid.

I used a slightly stiffer interfacing for the pockets and love how they stand up.  Another thing I did was purchase zippers for the pockets a little bit extra long.  The extra length made it so that I didn't have to keep moving the zipper itself as I sewed it in.  I will definitely do that again.

As soon as I finished the bag, I had to fill it up.

It is pretty awesome, and I will definitely be making more of these bags.  I know my mom wants one...

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties on my sidebar.  Check them out to see what others have been making.

Dancing Daisies Progress

I have made some progress on my WISP:  Work in Slow Progress.  I am using the Dancing Daisies tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop, but I am sewing it by hand instead of machine.  I have enough fabric for 20 blocks, but I have decided I want to do just 12.  I think I will like a smaller quilt.  I want to do some fancy quilting and hang it on the wall and the smaller size will work better.  :)  Not to mention that it will be faster.  

I really enjoy the hand piecing, but me being me, I really like faster finishes.  So this is a win-win situation for me. Then end is getting closer.  

XX,

Jasmine

Mini Vortex: A Finish

I enjoyed making my Scrap Vortex quilt that I couldn't bear to just put away the rainbow scraps I had left.  Some had already been sewn into groups ready to be used as fillers that were not needed.  So I put the pieces on my design wall, just to see what they would look like.

Once I saw how cute it would be, I couldn't leave it alone.  Later that afternoon I had a finished quilt top measuring about 21 inches square.

Then on another day I pieced a batting and backing for the quilt.  I basted it and began the quilting.

Using my built in walking foot I outlined the center of a daisy and began spiraling outwards.  It seemed a little uneven as I was quilting, but once I stepped back I loved it!  After awhile I was able to just gently guide the quilt in a circular motion while I stitched pedal to the metal.

While I absolutely love the look of the spiral quilting, I am not sure I would do it on anything bigger than a baby quilt.  It was the perfect design for a mini, taking about an hour and a half.

I was so excited to get it finished that I did the binding by machine.

The blue fabric was leftover from the binding of the big vortex quilt.

In keeping with the similarities to the big quilt, I chose purple for the backing.  It is pieced and made with leftovers from two different quilts.

I used a silvery gray polyester embroidery thread for the quilting.  It seems almost metallic which is the effect I was going for.

I seriously love the texture on this quilt.

I am so glad I decided to make this mini.

And Monkey wants everyone to know that it is still big enough for him.

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties on my sidebar including Oh Scrap! and Finish it Up Friday.

Binding Fairy

Last year I quilted my niece C's first quilt.  My mother helped her with the binding and taught her to do the handwork.  I told her that if she ever needed me that I would be happy to be her Binding Fairy.  She got most of it done, but then got really busy.  So she decided to take me up on my offer.

I finished the binding for her and then added some stitches where hers were a little too far apart.

It is now waiting for her to come pick it up.  I think she's excited to be able to use her quilt now.

I recently got a picture of my niece R's finished quilt.  I also quilted it for her last year.  She had a Binding Fairy too.  However, her binding fairy was her mother, my sister.  I love that she decorated her room to match her quilt.

I have one more niece who needs to finish the binding on her quilt.  Three other nieces are still working on their quilts with my mother.  Cheetah has picked out fabrics for his second quilt to be made in the same pattern with Grandma.  He chose cheetah prints.  Surprised?  I thought not.

Have you ever had a Binding Fairy help you?

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  Hi, R.  I love your quilt in your room!  (R is really the only one in my family who reads my blog regularly that I know of.)

Into the Vortex: A Finished Quilt

I just recently finished my Scrap Vortex quilt.  I am entering it in the Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival in the scrappy category.

Be sure to check out all the fabulous quilts entered into the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  There is always lots of inspiration!  You can even vote for your favorites.

I named my quilt "Into the Vortex" because once I started piecing the blocks, I just couldn't stop.  I was really sucked into the vortex of the Scrap Vortex quilt.  Pretty soon I had a whole quilt top which I quickly and simply quilted on my Baby Lock Tiara.

It is one of the very few I have quilted with my Tiara without the stitch regulator.  The backing was so bulky that It was difficult to maneuver the regulator.  I was able to get into a good rhythm and will probably have more quilts in the future quilted without it.

Be prepared for lots of pictures, because I really love this quilt!

I always love seeing the difference between quilts photographed in the shade (like the one above) and quilts photographed in the sun (like the one below).  I don't know which one I like better, so I included both.

This quilt contains my one and only orphan block, the fun hourglass from my Modern Farmer's Wife quilt.

It also contains a super cute fabric from Little Red by Tasha Noel.  I spy Little Red, the Big Bad Wolf, and Grandmother's Cottage.

I also spy fabrics from 25 different quilts, including the left over bindings from 15 of them.

I also spy fabrics from 15 different draw string bags.  (Really that makes 30 because I usually make two of each.)

I am not the only one who loves this quilt.  Monkey and Panda both love how fuzzy it is.  Minky is awesome!  And this minky is super plush and fuzzy.  That is the main reason why I didn't quilt it in a spiral.

However, Cheetah has informed me that he does not like this quilt.  At all.  Evidently even the purple minky doesn't make up for the chaotic and not symmetrical front.  He said he didn't like that color of purple, but look at this drawstring bag I made for him (scraps of which are on the front of the quilt).

He has now given me two rules for all future quilts.  Number one: it must be symmetrical.  Number two:  It must have minky.  I find it hilarious that being symmetrical is listed first.  Ha!

My sweet husband is very diplomatic, but it is easy to tell that he doesn't like it by what he doesn't say.  Well that, and how he looks and reacts.  That's okay, because it just means I only have to share it with Monkey and Panda.  They are quick to tell me that it is the wrong side up when I want to look at the scraps.  They want to make minky angels on it and nuzzle it.

So what do you do with the scraps of a scrap quilt?  You make a minky scarf (which even Cheetah tries to steal from me.)

And a mini quilt, quilted in a spiral. (More on the Mini Vortex next week.)

This quilt is probably one of my top ten favorites.  I love remembering all of the original projects the fabrics came from and how cheerful the colors are.  I also love the blue binding which looks great on both sides of the quilt.

Quilt Stats #169
Name:  Into the Vortex
Pattern: Scrap Vortex by Amanda Jean
Fabrics Used: My rainbow scraps
Amount Used: 8 yards (estimate)
Size: About 60 x 77 inches
Batting: Frankensteined Hobbs 80/20
Date Finished: October 2015
What I Learned:

• I love the puzzle that is putting this quilt together.
• If you are spray basting with minky and it doesn't seem to stick, you can spray both the minky and the batting.  Then it will hold together so much better.  
• Painter's tape is great for a guide when you are quilting a design on the diagonal.  

I think I'm going to go pull it off of the sofa for a good cuddle right now.  ;)

XX,

Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties listed on my sidebar as well as the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  There is something fun for every day of the week.