Trim the Tree

Snow came early to New England this year so I used it as an opportunity to hide away in my studio and make something.  I still have a ton of scraps left from various Kate Spain holiday collections so I dragged those out and got started.

This is a great Christmas Tree pattern by Jitka Designs.  The pieces are tiny but since it's paper pieced it's not a problem to get everything lined up.

Tuesday we had a snow day so I was back at it.  I kept the quilting simple and just did a simple grid.  It's almost soothing to just power thru all those straight lines.

And now my foyer is that much more festive!

Trimming the tree with with this week's Brag About Your Beauties Pageant by Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty.

Pillow Stats:
Finished pillow is 12" x 16"
Pattern: Christmas Tree by Jitka Design.
Fabrics: Assorted Solstice, Flurry, and Jingle scraps by Kate Spain, Bella Solids Bleached White
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in Natural White (2021).

Oh Christmas Tree!

I've been obsessed with this Christmas Baubles quilt ever since last year's tempest in a teapot.  In my mind it was just absolutely perfect for my holiday foyer.  When I found myself with a little break in the action prepping for our annual cookie party I decided it was time to try it again.

I'll admit I had to psyche myself up a bit for making all those snowball blocks again...  sewing 88 1 1/8" squares on to the corners was bad enough the first time.  Doing it again was painful!

Once that's done the rest goes together pretty quickly.  I took my own advice and added a white border to give the tree some breathing room and provide room for more quilting.  Definitely an improvement!  I went with the same BettyCrockerAss inspired snowflakes but did a better job spacing them this time.  Practice makes perfect;-)

Audrey wandered thru as I was putting on my binding and asked, "Mom, don't you ever learn?"  Apparently I'm incapable of working without a cup of tea at hand...  luckily no spills this time.

I got the binding on just in the nick of time so I'd have something to do at the basketball game.  Cheer season never ends but at least it makes time in my schedule for hand work.  I don't think I'd have finished this in time for the holiday otherwise.

And now I have the foyer I dreamed of...  wait, maybe it needs another pillow;-)

Feeling festive with this week's Finish it Up Friday by Crazy Mom Quilts.

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 20" x 26"
Pattern: Christmas Baubles by Jen Daley for Moda Bake Shop.
Fabrics: Assorted Solstice, Flurry, and Jingle scraps by Kate Spain, Bella Solids Bleached White
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in Natural White (2021).

Quilt Fail

Keeping it real here!  If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you've watched this bit of drama unfold...  I was so thrilled with my Kate Spain Christmas collection I decided I also needed a wall hanging.  I still had plenty of Flurry scraps and I may have picked up a few pieces of Jingle on one of my recent trips to Quilter's Way:-)  After a hop down the Pinterest rabbit hole I decided to make the Moda Bake Shop Christmas Baubles quilt by Jen Daly.

I couldn't resist trying to squeeze in one last holiday project...  I had plenty of scraps left from my various Kate Spain Christmas collections to make this Christmas Baubles mini quilt by Jen Daly Quilts for the Moda Bake Shop.  I'm not sure I agree with the Easy classification on this pattern.  It's not so much that there are any difficult techniques and Jen's instructions are clearly written and illustrated but sewing 88 1 1/8" squares to the corners to make 22 snowball blocks is not for the faint of heart.

Also, 1 1/8" inch sashing?  That's just annoying!  I would definitely suggest that you not cut the 1 1/2" strips that go across the top of each ornament grouping until after you've assembled them.  My units all ran a 1/4" longer than the designated length.  I could have eased them in to the smaller length but it seemed better to cut the sashing to fit since they were consistently off.

If I did it again I would increase the size of the sashing between the ornaments to 1 1/4" and I would add a bit more white space around the tree.  I left off the pieced border and got right to quilting this.  I copied Jen and did straight lines to emphasize the tree shape.  On the bottom I did free form lines to look like snow drifts and I stole the idea to quilt snowflakes along the top from the awesome BettyCrockerAss.

Everything was going fine until I tossed it in my bag to tack the binding during the day's inevitable wait times.  Also in my bag was my almost empty travel mug of tea.  At some point the bag got tipped enough that my tea dregs leaked out onto my quilt.  There were some choice words used when I got home and saw what had happened.  I immediately turned to social media for help and got tons of sympathy and suggestions for removing tea stains.  I tried:

• Soaking in Oxyclean
• Dawn dishwashing liquid
• Vinegar
• Wisk
• Blotting it with Color Catchers
• Oxy MaxForce
• Resolve
• Zout
• Lemon Juice and Salt
• Spot Stop
• Hydrogen Peroxide & Baking Soda

I'd say the lemon juice and salt seemed to be the most effective but it's hard to say for sure given everything I tried.  In the end while I was able to fade the stains they are too obvious for me to want to use this.  I'm also a bit concerned about the integrity of the fabric after all the chemical treatments.  I will say that these Moda dark reds (which I didn't prewash) didn't seem to bleed a bit.  So have I learned the lesson quilts and tea don't mix?  Probably not but maybe Santa will bring me a travel mug with a top that closes:-)

With Christmas rapidly approaching it's a good thing the rest of my holiday making has gone smoothly though I will admit to some last minute applique on our flight down last night:-)  Have you finished all your holiday projects?  

'Tis the Season

Another better late than never post, when pulling out our holiday decorations I found this fun Kate Spain Christmas quilt I finished in January.  It's perfect for Christmas but really needed something to go with it.  I dug out the remaining scraps and decided a Swoon pillow would be the perfect accompaniment.

I love this block by the adorable Camille of Thimble Blossoms, it's complicated enough to look fabulous standalone yet is easy to assemble.  I did a little math to resize it to 16" and got to work.

Once I had it pieced together I decided I wanted to quilt it with 1/4" spaced lines.  I started with an X through the middle and then quilted each quarter.  It was a bit tedious but it goes faster the closer you get to the center and it was a great way to relax after all the holiday craziness.

Once the quilting was finished I went with a simple envelope closure for the back and a bound edge.  In no time it was ready for service on our couch.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas:-)

Pillow Stats:
Finished pillow is 20" x 20"
Fabrics: Solstice, Flurry scraps by Kate Spain, FSDS Mist.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in Natural White (2021).

Over the Rainbow

My Walk in the Park quilt definitely has a yellow brick road vibe so when I started playing with the leftover scraps for a pillow my mind immediately jumped somewhere over the rainbow:-)

I was determined to use up every last scrap of this layer cake and the rectangles were perfectly sized to try out my new Mini 60° Triangle ruler from the Quiltcon 2016 Triangle Quilt Challenge.

I wanted to keep it simple so for the quilting I just did a stitch in the ditch along the white stripes.

If you can believe it I didn't have a matching zipper big enough for the cover so I went with an overlapping edge on the back.  Please pretend not to notice that I sewed the top panel on upside down:-)

Now if I just had a matching mini quilt my foyer would be complete.

Linking up to the fabulous Finish it Up Friday by Crazy Mom Quilts.

Pillow Stats:
Finished pillow cover is 18" x 18"
Fabrics:  Central Park by Kate Spain for Moda,  Kona Snow.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo
Thread: Aurifil 50wt. in Natural White (2021)

A Walk in the Park

Another one from my Q3 list for the 2015 Finish Along hosted by On the Windy Side.  This one has been a long time coming! I started it on the 2014 BMQG retreat. Then I dragged it back to baste at this year's retreat.  The blocks were made from a Central Park layer cake using this awesome Garden Fence tutorial by Hyacinth Quilt Designs.

For the quilting I used loopy flowers in the centers of each green square.  I didn't do a very good job filling the space but I still love this pattern.  I wanted the yellow bricks to really pop so I filled the printed blocks with free-form feathers.  They're not perfect but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out and will definitely use them again.  I must have got a magic spool of Aurifil for this one...  no thread emergencies, in fact I still had half a spool left after I quilted all the feathers.

I was angling for a trip to Central Park for the photo shoot a la Murray the Whale but had to settle for a visit to our local arboretum.  I'm always grateful for beautiful "summer" days like this.  Fall is NOT my season so I hang on to summer as long as I can.

A huge thank you to A Smidgen of Joy and A Quilting Jewel for sharing their stash where I was a bit low!!!  I truly couldn't have done this without you:-)

I don't usually get too fancy piecing my backs but in the interest of using what I have I made a couple extra blocks to stretch the zoo animal yardage I had in my stash.

I was so proud of myself for piecing the label in to the back when I made it.  Obviously I was a bit optimistic about the finish date... better late than never!

Linking up to the fabulous Finish it Up Friday by Crazy Mom Quilts.

Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 58" x 80"
Pattern: Garden Fence tutorial by Hyacinth Quilt Designs
Fabrics:  Central Park by Kate Spain for Moda,  FSDS Olive.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo
Thread: Aurifil 50wt. in Natural White (2021) and Light Leaf Green (1147)

W.i.P. Wednesday: A Fresh Start

September always feels like a fresh start.  I've still found time to fit in some sewing this summer but it's kind of been all over the place.  It feels like a good time to reassess and plan for the rest of the year so here's a round up of what I've got going...

I've actually may pull off a few finish from my Q3 list for the 2015 Finish Along.  Driving to Maine this weekend I quilted the last block on my Beatrix Potter quilt so it just needs a binding.

The binding is on A Walk in the Park.  Even with Labor Day traffic coming home I didn't finish tacking it down but I'm so close.

While I was at it I pulled all my scraps to make a coordinating pillow.  The top is together and ready to be quilted.

And since it's too hot to quilt when I spotted the new collection of low volume Modern BQ Paper at Quilter's Way I went back to work on my Sunkissed Strawberry Fields quilt.  The top is all together so I just need to piece a back and that will be another one for the TBQ pile.  It's getting a bit out of control so I'm thinking October should be all about quilting...

but that may have to take a back seat for this bundle of Cotton + Steel awesomeness.  I need another Halloween quilt like a hole in the head but I'm Spellbound;-)

Getting focused with this week's W.i.P. Wednesday:-)

W.i.P. Wednesday: Scrap Happy

This is the last full week of summer vacation so we've been trying to make the most of it but I've still managed to sneak in a bit of sewing...

The binding is on my Walk in the Park quilt and just needs to be tacked down.  It's been too hot to even think about sitting with a quilt in my lap but with football season about to kick off there are sure to be some cool evenings at the field in my future.

In the meantime I'm putting what's left of my Central Park scraps to use to make a coordinating pillow.  My vision was for a rainbow of monochromatic stripes.

 And then I realized the rectangles were perfectly sized to try out my new Mini 60° Triangle ruler from the Quiltcon 2016 Triangle Quilt Challenge.

I've got my rows cut and I'm ready to get piecing once there's a break in the action.

Still stitching along with this week's W.i.P. Wednesday:-)

W.i.P. Wednesday: Lazy Days of Summer

It seems like it's been forever since I've just been able to hang out in my quilt studio and sew for fun.  With my slipcovers finally finished and my La Passacaglia prepped and ready for our next road trip I decided it was a good time to tackle some UFOs.  Last fall I pieced together this Out to Sea Penny Patch for Audrey's bed in Maine.  Of course by the time the top was together we'd closed up the house so I couldn't see it on the bed.  This summer I tried it out and decided it was too small and needed another couple of rows.

It was really fun to revisit this pattern.  I stuck to my all stash rule but I got to add some new nauticals that I collected over the year.  Here it is, bigger and better than ever.  I even managed to come up with enough stash to put together the back but then realized if I was going to baste it I either needed to buy more safety pins or quilt something from the TBQ pile.

Since there's nothing quite like quilting during a heat wave I grabbed this Central Park Garden Fence.  I'd already quilted all the center flowers but I wanted to quilt something in the printed areas to make the brick path pop.  In the end I went with a free-form feather that fills the space.  This was a new pattern for me.  They're not perfect but I'm pretty happy with the effect.  

And after a quilting marathon I'm on the very last square...  now to slap a binding on and finish this up!

Keeping cool with this week's W.i.P. Wednesday:-)