Spring 2013 Quilt Festival - Post Two

This is the second quilt that I am entering into the Spring 2013 Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative side. Go HERE to see lots of great quilts. Just click on the different categories.

I am entering my "Winter Quilt" in the Throw Quilt Category.

This quilt was made as part of the Bloggers Block of the Month Quilt Along.  I used winter fabrics and ended up with a Winter/Christmas quilt in a throw size.

I enjoyed having it laying on the back of the couch all winter!

This fabric with the Holly and Cardinals was perfect for the back.

Spring Quilt Festival 2013 - Post One

Its time for the Spring Quilt Festival for 2013 at Amy's Creative Side. Go HERE to read about the festival.  Just click on the different category links to see all kinds of wonderful quilts.

This year the festival is divided into categories and each post will need to be entered into a particular category.  I'd like to enter my "Just Another Day in Paradise" quilt in the photography category.  I'm certainly no professional photographer, but I do enjoy "trying" to get a few good shots...

The name of this quilt is "JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE".

The quilt was made using a Disappearing Nine Patch pattern as part of a DP9 Patch quilt along that I participated in earlier this year.

When I photograph a quilt in front of this field behind my house, you never know what will be in the field.  This time, it was freshly plowed and prepared for planting.

Here are more pictures taken in other spots:

The back of the quilt.
 

Be sure to visit the quilt festival HERE to see all kinds of wonderful quilts!

Little Eli's Finishing Touches

God is working on the finishing touches of little Eli. His mom says he is a very active baby and is wondering if he will sleep much after he is born, if he moves around this much already!

Here is the finishing touch on his warm and fuzzy quilt.

I am in the process of gathering fabrics to make him a traditional quilt in colors of aqua blue and orange. I'm thinking swirls and maybe feathers in the quilting. Planning, planning, planning.

Eli's Warm and Fuzzy Quilt - Finished

This post is linked to A Cultivated Nest (The Creative Home Acre Blog Hop)

ELI'S WARM AND FUZZY QUILT

It was a little emotional for me to realize this was my first sewing for little Eli. I love that baby already!  Here is the finished rag quilt, after one washing and drying.

As promised, here are the rest of the pictures of the process for making this quilt.

Part One of Eli's Warm and Fuzzy Quilt is HERE.

PART TWO:

Make little quilt sandwich blocks with the back fabric face down, the quilt batting centered on top and..

Another fabric face up on top.  I only used 2 coordinating fabrics and the back and front look the same.  A solid color on the back would be nice.  Using 2 fabrics made it very easy to keep everything straight for this grandma.

 

Then I sewed Xs across each sandwich.

I chain stitched them and it went really quick.  I didn't pin, or use a walking foot.  I just held on to the fabric and headed across the square using the same hand position I use when free motion machine quilting.  I stopped about half way across and smoothed everything out to make sure the edges were straight.

They look like this when you get the X sewn...

And then you end up with a stack like this... or

This!

I did pin together the rows to make sure the seams matched up.  A walking foot would have been helpful, but I got along ok without it.  I just hate to stop and switch the feet! 

All of your raw edges will be on top like this.  I used a generous half inch seam allowance.   Then came the hard part!  Clipping all the seams was very hard.  The only hard part about the quilt.  I almost got blisters on my knuckles from using the scissors.  But I kept on until I got all of the seams clipped and then I washed and dried it.  I stopped the dryer frequently to remove the lint and threads from the lint thingie. 

Now comes the fuzzy part!

The back is very smooth and neat.  So the baby can use which ever side he likes the best.  Either way its WARM AND FUZZY!

The back.

 

THE FRONT OF ELI'S WARM AND FUZZY QUILT

Eli's Warm and Fuzzy Quilt, Part One

Our newest grandbaby, due to be born in August, is a boy and his name is Eli.   This week I am working on a sweet and soft flannel rag quilt for him.

This is my first rag quilt, so I am learning as I go.  I made some rag edge burp cloths for my last grandson, Walt,  shown HERE.  They turned out really well, so I have just a little bit of experience in the rag quilt process.  I'll be making some of the rag edge burp cloths for Eli, as well.

You can find many tutorials for making rag quilts on the internet. But, I'll give you the instructions for this quilt as I go along, in case any one is interested.

It seems to me to have the least waste, that it make sense to cut the squares in a number that is divisible by the width of your fabric.  In most cases the biggest size would be 7 inches.  You can get six 7 inch squares from one strip cut 7 inches by the width of the fabric.

7 inch wide strips

This quilt is made from two fabrics, so I cut seven 7 inch wide strips from both pieces. 

Then I cut the strips into 7 inch squares which yields 42 squares of each fabric.   This quilt will finish at approximately 36 by 42.    I worry that its a little big for new born, but he will grow into it.  I might make more of these for baby shower gifts later and will make them smaller.  Maybe 36 by 36?

Then I cut 42 five and 1/2 inch wide squares of quilt batting. This is such a great way to use left over pieces of quilt batting! 

Squares of fabric and batting ready to sew.

Close up of fabrics

In my next post, I'll show you more of the process of quilting the squares and putting this quilt together.  Its a very quick quilt!  I expect to finish before the weekend is over.

Happy Thursday!

Grandma's Stars

(This post is linked to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.)

Actually these quilt blocks are called Aunt Eliza's Stars. 

Recently, I came into possession of 32 star quilt blocks that my grandmother made. At first I thought they were a pretty standard star.   But when I started looking closer, I realized that since that center square is set on point, making this block is more complicated than I first thought.

Each block is made from three rows going diagonally. I was able to find the name of the block in one of my quilt books and then an Internet search yielded the instructions and the very interesting story of "Aunt Eliza" HERE  The instructions are for an 8 inch block, but my grandmother's version is 16 inches.

There is also some information on THIS SITE that states that this pattern was first published in 1895 in The Ladies Art Company catalog. So, its an antique quilt block pattern.  But, then aren't they all?

I hope to put these blocks together to make a quilt in the coming months.

It will be scrappy, of course.  I must take after my grandmother!

Swirls for Michael Gideon

I finished Michael Gideon's baby quilt, but almost forgot to get a picture. Dear son-in-law held it up for me just before the quilt left my house!

Label:

Front:

Back:

Close up of back:

Close up of front:

Tutorial for the quilt (QUICK STRIPPIE) is HERE.  Thank you Mary's Quilts!