I'm finally getting back to my regular sewing schedule:-) This week I finished putting the binding on this beautiful quilt. The completed quilt top was donated to the BMQG Quilts for Boston project to send a little extra love to those affected by the Boston Bombings.
The fabulous Val quilted this on the longarm at Quilter's Way. I love the circles within the circles, it's all so swirly:-) The binding is actually leftover from my British Invasion quilt. It was a perfect match and I had just enough so obviously it was meant to be!
We'll be splitting our time between Massachusetts and Maine this summer so I've got two more bindings ready to go for these beautiful quilts also made from donated blocks. It makes the ride go so much faster!!!
Another month, 2 more blocks done for the fabulous Jaybird Quilts'Toes in the Sand. Leading this group at Quilter's Way has definitely helped keep me on track and it's so fun to see everybody's blocks come together!
I think this was the easiest month so far. I figured out that if I stacked my fabric pairs right sides together I could cut all my strips at once and just take them to the machine and sew. It went so quickly!!! I also realized that I could get 6 triangles out of each strip rather than 4 as the pattern suggested. Only needing to make 3 strip sets definitely sped things up.
Of course faster isn't better if you aren't paying attention... I knew there was a problem when all my points weren't matching up. What's a sewing session without a little un-sewing ;-)
Check out what everyone else is up to at this week's W.i.P. Wednesday:-)
I'm so excited to finally be able to share this quilt. I absolutely love, love, love it!!! I made this quilt with Audrey's sixth grade class for the fabulous teacher they've had the last two years. I've been quilting fast and furious to finish it up in time for graduation. Note to self: Keep It Simple when you're on a deadline.
I did blog about making this quilt back in the spring but I was reminded by Audrey, "this is supposed to be a surprise and you just don't know who's reading your blog!" so I've been keeping it under wraps. The kids did an amazing job making the flowers and some of the other class Moms pitched in to help with sewing them together.
Once I'd sewn all the flowers together into a bouquet I used spray baste to stick them to the background and then basted that into a quilt sandwich. I stitched in the ditch around each flower and it's center so I didn't have to applique the flowers to the background.
For the background I did my favorite "happy paisley" FMQ. It's based on the amazing Angela's paisley design but with some hearts and flowers thrown in for good measure. All the good karma and positive energy from the kids must have helped... I managed to narrowly avoid my usual emergency thread run;-)
I loved seeing the kids find their name on the finished quilt. They were so pleased with the result, I hope I've inspired the next generation of quilters:-)
It's been a little quiet around here while I was busy working on some very special gifts! Can't spoil the surprise quite yet but the big reveal will be coming soon;-)
How fabulous are these pb&j fabrics from basic grey for Month 2 of Jaybird QuiltsToes in the Sand!?! I just love this combination of navy and teal with hints of coral!
The Hex N More ruler is awesome for cutting both the triangles and hexagons but I did find this block a little more challenging. It's hard to get your points to match on all those intersections!
But when it does come together the results are beautiful!!! I've been hosting the BOM at Quilter's Way and it was so amazing to see all the different ways people chose to put this block together. The fabric placement really makes a huge difference. It's so fun to see this coming together month by month:-)
Check out what everyone else is up to at this week's W.i.P. Wednesday:-)
I was lucky enough to get to go to Quilt Market a few years ago so I'm feeling a little sad that I wasn't there again to see all the new fabric that's coming out. Fortunately, Amy gives us Blogger's Quilt Festival to inspire us to use all the fabric we do have:-) For my second entry I had to go with my current fave, British Invasion.
I'm entering in this in the Quilt Photographer category. Not that I consider myself a great photographer but I did spend a morning freezing to get these pictures and it's a beautiful location. The Old North Bridge in Concord, MA is the site of the first American victory in the Revolutionary War, the perfect place to photograph this quilt!
The Grave of British Soldiers commemorates the 3 British soldiers who died at the bridge. I pulled a massive pile of fabrics from my stash for this quilt based around a Lecien Flower Sugar bundle I scored at Sample Spree. I love that this uses fabrics by some of my favorite designers... Jennifer Paganelli, Tanya Whelan, Heather Bailey all playing together quite nicely:-)
I actually made this for a friend and it looks totally fab hanging in her house. In some photos from Spring Market I saw Lecien has released an adorable new Flower Sugar collection so I may have to make another one for myself:-)
A huge thank you to my fabulous husband for patiently playing the role of quilt rack on a cold, windy morning and managing to keep my quilt out of the mud (and the river)! Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 63" x 70"
Pattern: Victory Garden by Busy Bee Quilt Designs
Fabrics: Lecien Flower Sugar. Stash by: Heather Bailey, Ann Kelle, Jennifer Paganelli, Joel Dewberry, Tanya Whelan and more.
Sashing: Spot On by makower uk.
Binding: Pilgrim Stripe by Lizzy House .
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient
Thread: Aurifil 2000
It's hard to believe this 16" square has consumed most of the last year of my life:-) I guess that's the difference doing things entirely by hand.
I started working on these last August with the fabrics I used for the BMQG/Quiltcon challenge, That's So Random. There are tons of great tutorials on how to make hexies but I make mine the way the awesome Jaybird Quilts does it... all 110 of them.
The one tip I will share is to use YLI silk thread when you stitch your hexagons together. It's a pain in the a** to work with but your stitches will be invisible! This shot gives you a great sense of the scale. These are all 1" hexagons.
For the quilting I started with an offset hexagon around one of the hexagons and then just echoed that shape out to the edges. For the smaller hexagons I just eyeballed it but as I moved out I got pickier and used masking tape as a guide. I loved working with this orange pearl cotton!
Quilt Stats:
Finished quilt is 16" x 16" Fabrics: Kona Cotton Cyan, Azure, Candy Green, Lime, Chartreuse, Buttercup, School Bus, Tangerine, Medium Gray, Coal, White. Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Thread: YLI Silk 224, Valdani Pearl Cotton(12) - 204
Sharing this at Amy's awesome Blogger's Quilt Festival in the hand quilted category. Be sure to visit all the fabulous quilts over there and don't forget to vote for your favorite;-)
