Christmas Topper Finished

I am happy to say that I have finished my Christmas wreath table topper.  It was my December goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes (link #8).  It is a very simple finish made with one of the Northcott Starry Night wreath panels.  I just cut off the snowflakes to make it about 23 inches square.  I quilted it simply by stippling to let the pretty print show. 

I added a green and gold fabric for the backing (also made by Northcott).  I think it will work great for St. Patrick's Day as well. 

The binding was left over from the quilt I finished last Christmas and they look so pretty together. 

Plus, I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from the Quilt Kisses Family. 

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I am linking up with Finish it Up Friday and the A Lovely Year of Finishes Party.

Christmas Addition: A Finished Quilt

I didn't think I would have much to blog about this month, but I already finished another quilt.  Then I couldn't resist blogging about it.  ;)

I won a layer cake from one of Jennie's giveaways, and I selected Solstice by Kate Spain.  Jennie ordered it from the Red Chair Quilting etsy shop, and Tiffany sent a few extra goodies.  I was happily surprised (once Jennie told me it wasn't a mistake).  It came in the mail on Monday. 

My first thought was to make a plus quilt, then I spent couple days looking at layer cake and charm pack patterns.  I nearly made a four patch quilt with sashing, but decided to make a plus quilt at the last minute.  I'm so glad that I did.  It was an excellent use of the layer cake and matching charm pack.  I used all but two charms and made my favorite size lap quilt.  It is about 59 x 72 inches. 

Here it is up on my design wall on Wednesday night. 

The top went together very quickly Thursday morning. 

And I was able to get it basted that afternoon before we took the older boys to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform with the Sesame Street Muppets.  (Totally awesome, by the way.)

Friday morning I got it quilted and worked on the binding that afternoon during nap time.  I ran out of bobbin with less than a half inch to go when top stitching the binding. 

I finished it up and did the handwork on the label.   

I said, "It's finished!"  15 seconds later it was swiped out of my hands to be tested by Cheetah. 

The minky thief has tried to convince me that this should be out year round.  But I think it really is a Christmas Quilt. 

We had to strike a deal so that I could use the quilt for a little bit just to take pictures.  We really love minky here! 

I quilted it simply with a meandering design.  And it was the first time I could see little bits of minky from the top.  It doesn't bother me, because you don't notice it from farther back. 

All in all, I am so pleased with how it turned out.  Thank you Jennie and Tiffany!

I was thinking of calling it "Positively Christmas," but when I discussed it with my husband he suggested, "Christmas Addition."  He really liked the play on words, and that is the name which stuck. 

Quilt Stats #121
Name:  Christmas Addition
Pattern: Plus blocks made from charm squares
Fabric:  Solstice by Kate Spain
Amount Used: 6.5 yards
Batting: Hobbs 80/20
Size: About 59 x 72 inches
Date Finished: December 2014
What I learned:

• The pinked edges on pre-cuts make it a little harder to be exact.
• You can make an awesome plus quilt with a layer cake and matching charm pack or five matching charm packs with very little waste. 
• Minky backings do sometimes peek through the top. 

I also spent five hours adding the cuffs to these darling minky Christmas Stockings for my mother.  She and her friends embroidered them (Anita Goodesign pattern) for the residents in the assisted living center in their neighborhood.  They will fill them before delivering them sometime next week. 

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with Can I Get A Whoop Whoop, Finish it up Friday, and Let's Bee Social. 

Lap Quilts

I just recently finished another lap quilt.  It represents a big first for me, because it is the first time I did free motion quilting with minky on the back with my Tiara.  It was slow going at first because of the extra bulk, but once I got the hang of it things moved faster.  :)

I am thrilled with how it turned out and have plans for more FMQ with minky backings. 

What can I say?  My family LOVES quilts with minky backings. 

Yes, that is my little Monkey rubbing his face on the minky.  This is what happens every time I lay the quilt on the floor for photographs or to show someone. 

You will be able to see the front of this quilt later in January, but I couldn't resist showing you the back.  :)  This is quilt number 120 for me and it finishes at 57 x 67 inches.  It has 100% cotton fabric on the top, and a Hobbs 80/20 batting. 

My friend Val, over at Val's Quilting Studio is having a link up for lap quilts as part of her Tuesday Archives.  So I thought it would be fun to share my lap quilts here.  I have now made 31 lap quilts which to me range in size from 50 x 60 inches to 60 x 80 inches.  So lap quilts represent 25% of my finished quilts.  The funny thing is that my love of lap quilts is fairly recent (like in the last 2 years).  Over the course of my first 20 years of quilting and making 50 quilts, only one of them was a lap quilt.  And it was just a whole cloth quilt turned quillow to practice free motion quilting.  The rest were wall hangings (23), baby quilts (7), and bed size quilts (19). 

Then once I started quilting more and more in 2013, I made 9 lap quilts.  That is about one third of the quilts I made that year. 

I learned to love lap quilts and realized that they made great gifts for family.  Four of the above quilts were given away. 

So in 2014 I have made 20 lap quilts in addition to the minky one above.  That is half of the quilts I have made this year. 

Four of these quilts are for my boys, one was for me, two were for my home, and the rest have been given away.  I guess you could say that I really love lap quilts now!  Now I need to figure out what kind of lap quilt I want to make with a Solstice layer cake I won in Jennie's giveaway. 

What about you?  Do you love lap quilts? 

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  If you are interested in learning more about any of these quilts there are links for them on the My Quilts ~ First 100 and My Quilts ~ 101+ pages.

P.P.S.  I will be linking up with Lorna's Let's Bee Social and Val's Tuesday Archives. 

The Month of November and December Goals

November was a great quilting month!  I was able to finish up three quilts to give as gifts, my niece's binding, a table runner gift, bags for my boys, and the tree skirt my husband wanted. 

My tree skirt is a simple hexagon I made a lot like my spider web table toppers, just bigger and with binding.  It measures about 36 inches side to side and 40 inches point to point.  There isn't even a hole, because my cast iron tree stand sits on top. 

I made it to the size specifications of my husband, because he wanted it to fit inside a simple circle of his LGB Train track.  But wouldn't you know, he made the track HUGE this year. 

This is definitely a case of  "You can tell the men from the boys by the price of their toys."  I also see a lot of "Like father, like son" going on at my house.  ;)

The table runner I finished is for my sister S for Christmas. 

I made to to match the quilt I gave her earlier.  For some reason, every time I told her I was making her a quilt, she thought I meant table runner.  So when she came to pick up her table runner, she was in complete shock.  But she has told me that they love the quilt, and even her boys will cuddle up with it. 

And just in case you missed my other November finishes, here they are: 

Helping my niece S cut, tie and bind her second quilt.

Summer Twist for my sister-in-law for Christmas. 

Bags for my boys:

Wild About You for my Cheetah for Christmas.

Things that Go for my Monkey for Christmas.

I am tired just thinking about everything I got done. 

So now all of my important Christmas sewing is finished, and I have no deadlines.  My house is even all decorated for Christmas.  :)  However, you can always use more quilty Christmas goodness, right?  My A Lovely Year of Finishes goal for December is to make a new table topper for me.  I want to use the wreath panel.  I may even use the extra tree panel for something else this month.  We'll see. 

December is one of my favorite months every year.  My husband and I purchase and wrap all the gifts early so we can relax and enjoy a wonderful family filled month.  So don't be surprised if things are very quiet here at Quilt Kisses.  I try to teach my boys that Jesus is the reason for the Christmas season.  I hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas season too! 

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  To my dear sweet niece, R, who reads my blog:  Don't tell your mom what her runner looks like.  :D

P.P.S.  I will be linking up with Let's Bee Social for my tree skirt and runner finish.  :)

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

Helping My Niece

First off, "Happy Thanksgiving" to everyone celebrating in the United States.  And I hope everyone else still has a very happy day! 

  

As I mentioned in my last post, my niece is visiting for Thanksgiving.  While here she wanted to make her second quilt.  She picked out all the fabrics, and we cut them into five inch squares together. (I added a few fat quarters from my stash so she would have enough fabric.)  Then she laid them out and sewed them together with my mother-in-law (Nana) helping with the ironing. 

Then they came over to my house and we tied it together in my basement.  She did a fantastic job putting the quilt together. 

After it was tied...

I added the binding for her to complete the quilt. 

We had so much fun together.  I love helping and teaching others to quilt.  And while this was her second quilt, it was much bigger than her first.  It finishes at about 68 x 86 inches.  So now she has two quilts to take home in her luggage.  What a sweety. 

XX,
Jasmine

Summer Twist: A Finished Quilt

This quilt became a fast finish, because I was making it for my sister-in-law who lives in New Hampshire.  I found out that my niece was visiting for Thanksgiving and would be happy to take it back with her saving on postage.  Sweet! 

Both Cheetah and my hubby came up with the name "Summer Twist" because it has summer roses and is a twister quilt. I made it my way by cutting ten inch squares into four equal pieces and putting them up on the design wall.

I have never been to my sister-in-law's house so I had to ask her what colors she likes and uses.  She told me that one room has denim furniture and the other room has beige furniture.  I asked her if she liked neutrals or would want an accent.  She said that they like all colors, except Kelly green.  Then she left it up for me to decide.  I thought that red would be a good accent color and went shopping. 

This is what I brought home.  It is mostly StudioE Essentials 8 and 9. The solid is Kona Black.

But when I got it up on my design wall, it looked too busy and not long enough. 

So I went back to my LQS (thank goodness their Pre-Thanksgiving Sale was extended) and bought more fabric.  Using only two of each fabric made it so I had enough for a second quilt.  So this quilt will have a twin which will live with me.  I'm thinking of calling the second, yet to be made, quilt "Twister Twin." 

I added some Kona Crimson, Robert Kauffman, and Kimberbell Designs in addition to some more StudioE.  Plus I added one more row.  It looked so much better on the design wall. 

This made me really appreciate my way for doing the twister quilt.  It was easy to add a row and change the fabrics because the pieces weren't sewn together yet.  The hardest part of this quilt for me was deciding on the layout.  As you can see it changed from the picture above to the layout below. 

I love it and will be so happy to keep its twin at my house.  ;)

I quilted it with a pointy spiral because the twister blocks always remind me of pinwheels.

 
I added one of my corner labels (not pictured) and bound it in Kona Black like the border. 

I put one of the leafy prints from Essentials 9 on the back. 

I took this quilt to show my mom because she also bought some of the same fabrics to make a quilt.  My dad saw it all folded up with the backing showing and said, "That is striking." 

Turns out my dad like the top even more.  I hope my sister-in-law feels the same way. 

Quilt Stats #119
Name: Summer Twist
Pattern: Twister quilt from 10 inch squares made my way
Fabric: Mostly StudioE Essentials 8 & 9 and Kona Black
Amount Used: 6.5 yards
Batting: Hobbs 80/20
Size: About 53 x 70 inches
Date Finished: November 2014
What I Learned:

• Multi-color prints need some one color prints to balance them out. 
• I like adding fabrics from another line.
• I love my way for doing the twister. 

I also finished up the gifts for my two nieces who live in New Hampshire.  I told S that she couldn't peek at her gift until Christmas.  I wrapped the pillow cases in large mailing envelopes, hoping they would be easy for her to pack. 

Pillow cases and lap quilts make great gifts! 

XX,

Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with Let's Bee Social, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop, and Finish it up Friday. 

P.P.S.  Congratulations for Vicki who won the Halloween panel and candy corn fabric from my last post. 

P.P.P.S.  I am also linking up with Jennie of Porch Swing Quilts for her Santa's Sweatshop linky party  (Twice-quilt and pillows).