ProsperityStuff Quilts

MORE English Paper Piecing!

2012-02-28T11:48:00.000-05:00

Remember the fabric from this post?

And remember how I mentioned in yesterday's post that I'm always on the lookout for my next English Paper Piecing Project?

I think I've found it!

After getting some inspiration from this blog and especially the vintage mini-quilt mentioned at this blog, I decided to start the next project (as if I need another one!)

You can't tell it from the pictures, but each short straight seam is 2 inches. (Each side of each hexagon, and each side of each triangle and square is 2 inches.) That's HUGE compared to my usual English Paper Piecing sizes ... so, I think it'll go fast.

Not sure what this project will turn into, but I'm having fun so far!

I'm linking this post to this week's Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story. Check out the links there for some great project inspiration!

Vintage-Inspired Diamond Stars

2012-02-27T14:20:00.001-05:00

... are coming along!

I'm pleased with the progress!

I like the color variety, and I even like the occasional shocking reds and blues that give it some extra interest.

For size reference, this is 35" inches at its longest, and 27" at its widest ... I'm still deciding where to go with it from here ... Enjoying it all the way.

This one's taking a while, but still, for some reason, I'm always on the lookout for what my next English Paper Piecing project might be! :-)

I'm linking to Little Quilt Monday at Pieceful Life:

Here's a link to this week's Little Quilt Monday.

Another Fleece and Jeans Quilt!

2012-02-24T10:07:00.000-05:00

In the past few months, I've made a lot of jeans quilts. I finished another one this week!

This one is for my youngest son. He's the only kid that didn't have a fleece-backed-jeans-quilt yet.

So he's a happy guy. He's had his fleece blanket on his bed for a while, so I (finally) sewed up the jeans, and stitched them onto his fleece.

As always, I've had fun with all the jeans-y details on the quilt.

As usual, these are partly jeans we've used, and partly thrift-store jeans. (Love it when they have those 50-cent sales!) For a change, I decided to alternate big squares (cut at 13") with my usual small ones.

For other jeans quilt history, click the "Jeans" label in the sidebar ... This makes my #5 jeans quilt for my kids ... plus I've made occasional other jeans quilts for gifts ...

Anyway, now that each of the kids has a super-cozy, fuzzy fleece-and-jeans quilt ... for some reason, we're thinkin' that the grownups around here might need one ...

Working on that ... more details later, but here's a sneak peek ...

Finish It Up Friday is happening at Crazy Mom Quilts, and Sew and Tell Friday at AmyLouWho ... Links are below ...

This week's Finish It Up Friday

and

This week's Sew and Tell Friday

Happy Friday to you!

Organized Randomness ...

2012-02-20T21:54:00.001-05:00

A while back, in another post about little quilts, I posted about the fun randomness of my yo-yo quilt project.

Progress is happening, and I've found a way to organize the randomness just a little.

Just enough to give it some consistency.

Oddly, if my calculations are correct, putting green yo-yos between each of the 16-patches will make the quilt take more green yo-yos than colored ones. I've got lots of green, though, thanks to a couple of great upcycled bed sheets that were recently given to me for my quilt projects ... Nice!

Another view of the same yo-yos ...

Yeah, this project is going to take a while.

Enjoying it, though!

I'm linking this post to this week's Little Quilt Monday at Pieceful Life. Take a look at some other fun little quilt projects happening over there!

Very Pink Irish Chain quilt top ...

2012-02-16T17:04:00.000-05:00

A while back, I mentioned the cutting and sewing processes I'd started for some Irish Chain quilt tops.

Here's a quick look at some more of the quilt-top-making process.

After all the sewing and slicing that happened earlier, there was a lot of this going on ...

... stitching those units together ... to get this effect ...

... multiplied by about a dozen ...

Along with about a dozen of the mostly-darker-pink blocks ...
all laid out on the carpet ...

... and sewn together!

It's a 39" x 58" Quilt Top that's listed on eBay for somebody to have fun quilting some day.

Things I love about Rag Quilts ...

2012-02-16T16:14:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I decided to try making some rag quilts ...
I'd seen some online, and after seeing a friend's rag quilt in person, I decided rag quilts would be worth a try.

Here are some things I love about Rag Quilts ...

The cozy, furry flannel ...

Lots of raggedy ruffles ...

The smooth back of the quilt ...

Compared with the ruffly, messy front of the quilt ...

Rag quilts are casual and cozy and lots of fun!

This one's 40" x 56", and it's listed on eBay right now ...

A couple things finished ...

2012-02-16T11:46:00.002-05:00

A couple of new things are listed in my eBay auctions today ...

a fun, pink, Irish Chain Quilt Top for somebody to quilt ...

and a cozy, fuzzy, Flannel Rag Quilt ...

[Update: I blogged in more detail (more pics!) about these items here and here.]

More details are in the eBay Listings ...

Since I'm so pleased to have finished these this week, I'll be linking this post to a couple of my favorite Friday-finish link parties ...

This week's Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

and

This week's Sew and Tell Friday at AmyLouWho

Progress ...

2012-02-15T10:50:00.004-05:00

I've had lots of works in progress ... Here's one ~ The vintage-inspired English Paper Piecing ...

I think the colorful part is about a third of the way done. Then there will be the white/off-white border (a little wider than shown), and probably another row or two of colored diamonds, and more white/off-white ...

Another view of the same layout ...

I've finally made a little progress on the flannel rag quilt, and pink Irish Chain quilt top, not to mention my leaders and enders ... and I've got a big stack of denim happening for my jeans-quilt-project ... but, those will have to be other posts for other days.

Work In Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced shows lots of other quilters' works in progress ... I'm linking this post to this week's Work In Progress Wednesday. Check the link or button to see the latest!

Vintage-Inspired Edges

2012-02-06T13:06:00.000-05:00

On my English Paper Piecing, I made one whole star this week. Yay. (Compared with a whole bunch of stars last week! Oh, well.)

On the bright side, though, I decided something important and got started on that: The edges. I decided what to do for the edges around the diamond-star-hexagons. More diamonds! (Big surprise, huh?) Diamonds in a bunch of different whites and creams.

I'm going for solids for the edges, no prints. I'm loving the subtle variations in texture and color. I think it works well with the vintage inspiration.

So, this week, I cut a ton of fabric diamonds in white and cream.

This is the perfect use for my stack of miscellaneous white and cream fabrics ... (In fact, a friend recently gave me some leftover bed sheets that nobody is using ... lots of white and cream. Wonderful! Just right for this project! And, I'm barely making a dent in the stack ... more projects in the works, as always!)

While I was at it, I cut some white and cream squares and rectangles for the continuation of my Leaders & Enders project ...

So, overall, I'm pleased with getting some progress made on the English Paper Piecing project. We'll just call it the "Vintage-Inspired" diamonds quilt, since the percentage of "actual" vintage in the project keeps changing ... but I'm totally OK with that, and I'm enjoying the look of this quilt already!

Quilty inspiration from other people's projects has made me a better quilter. I love to get ideas and inspiration from other people's work, and to share any tidbits I can. So ... when I can, I add links at the ends of some of my posts, to places where people are sharing their work. I'm linking this post to Little Quilt Monday and, when Tuesday comes, to Fabric Tuesday. (Links for this week are below.)

Elizabeth at PiecefulLife has a fun Little Quilt Monday link party every week. Check out this week's Little Quilt Monday for some other quilters' neat projects happening there. (You have got to see the little quilt Elizabeth blogged about this week - she made it from a Bobbin Lace Doily! Brilliant!)

Here's the link for this week's Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story!

Finished Green Floral Kaleidoscopes!

2012-02-03T08:56:00.002-05:00

Remember these kaleidoscopes from this post? The picture was taken at least two years ago.

These kaleidoscopes have finally become something useful! My new favorite living-room quilt!

This was the quilt top I just couldn't sell. I was going to, and I sold a few similar ones on eBay, but decided this one was definitely a keeper.

I found a great backing fabric on sale a few weeks ago that's just right ...

And, with a chance to do some late-night-quilting this week, I got it finished up!

I did some simple (un-perfect) free-motion meandering all over, and straight lines on the border. The backing was just the right size to turn the backing-edges around to the front. (Which was a good thing. Because I forgot to buy any extra for binding!)

Here's a little before - and - after ... Pin-basted, then quilted.

Needless to say, everybody at my house has had fun trying out the new quilt that's on the couch. (Although the kids did protest my putting away the Christmas Quilt that has lived in the living room since I finished it in December! Time for a spring quilt!)

So, my springtime living-room quilt is done! It's 65" x 56", which is a great size. Not too big, not too small.

And, no, I don't generally make myself seasonal quilts. But when I realized how nice it was to have a Christmas Quilt around, a cozy quilt that was already in the living room when anybody wanted it, I decided I could probably come up with a springtime quilt. So, here it is. We probably don't need a summertime quilt, although the kids think the yo-yo project would fit the bill for a summer quilt! (I think that one's going to take a while, and I'm not convinced that yo-yos would make a sturdy enough livingroom quilt. We shall see.) And, my daughter's quilting project looks like a good fall quilt. She thinks so, too, and that should give her plenty of time to work on it.

One more look at the springtime quilt ...

When I first started following quilt blogs, Crazy Mom Quilts caught my eye, and I've been loving that blog ever since. Great inspiration. Crazy Mom Quilts has a fun link party weekly, called Finish It Up Friday. I'm linking this post there. Check this week's Finish It Up Friday for links to lots of other things that other quilters have been finishing up this week!

Another fun blog with a Friday link party is AmyLouWho ~ At her weekly Sew and Tell post, you can see pics & links for some great projects that have been in the works & finished this week.
Here's the link for this week's Sew and Tell Friday.

Have a great Friday!

Fat Quarters!

2012-01-31T08:30:00.000-05:00

The other day, I found, to my delight, FABRIC at a store that doesn't normally sell fabric! Eureka!

'Round here, people have to drive half an hour or more to get to any fabric store ... so, finding fabric for sale in any form at one of our "regular" stores is awesome.

In celebration of the find, and in support of the store's efforts to make fabric available, I had to buy some. Even a little.

Besides, little fat quarters are so fun for little helpers to stack, unstack, arrange, and rearrange!

Since the fabric print & colors seem simple and suitable, I think I'll add bits of these to my Vintage English Paper Piecing, even though these are neither vintage nor reproduction prints ... just because I can.

Little Quilt Progress ...

2012-01-30T11:29:00.000-05:00

Lots of progress is happening on my English Paper Piecing!

Eleven stars are done! (That's more than double last week's total. The "doubled in a week" statistic is not likely to happen again!)

(Not sewing the stars to each other just yet.)

Here's another look at the same stars ...

And, in other handsewing news, I have not forgotten about the yo-yos that have been in progress for such a long time ... Here is the latest group of yo-yos ... Long-term project ...

I almost feel like I should mute the colors on this yo-yo photo, after the delicate rainbows of the vintage-y diamonds! The random look of this yo-yo project is fun. It's kind of relaxing to get to put colors together that DON'T coordinate or "look good together". (My oldest daughter laughs at that statement.)

It's nice to have several handwork/armchair projects going, for those times when it's not convenient to be at the sewing machine. I'm trying to remember to work the yo-yos into the mix, in between the vintage diamonds, the mini hexagons, and the sock-knitting...

Pieceful Life has a "Little Quilt Monday" link-party every week. Since this is a little quilt in progress, I'm linking this post there. Check out the other neat projects at this week's Little Quilt Monday!

Take Your Time Tuesdays are a fun place to see hand-stitched work at So Happy To Sew!
I'll be linking this post to this week's Take Your Time Tuesday!

Socks ...

2012-01-26T08:30:00.000-05:00

In case anyone was wondering, I'm getting a lot done on those socks I mentioned last week. I like the idea of working on having two sets of knitting needles, and knitting both socks at once ... it's working well. Between a couple hours a week of sitting at kid-basketball practice, and the occasional knitting-during-a-movie, I've gotten lots knitted.

I love the stripes. These stripes are more predictable than the ones in the other striped socks I made (below), but they're still fun! And, I'm loving how fast the "just knit" stitch goes. My lavendar socks had a fun mock-cable pattern, and my favorite socks (below) are nice and snug with ribbing all the way, so this "just knit" seems like a breeze, and it's going fast!

My favorite knitted socks (below) get a lot of use ... they're partly wool (washable!) so they're super warm, and great for chilly days, and I love the color combination! (I knitted these a couple years ago from Heart & Sole "Berry Bliss" yarn from Red Heart).

I figure, with so many colors, these socks go with everything, right?! :-)

I love them.

Vintage (and Reproduction) Diamonds ...

2012-01-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

For my Vintage Diamonds English Paper Piecing project, I mentioned that I was thinking about buying some reproduction 1930s fabric, so I'd have more volume and more variety in the project. So, I picked some fabric (on eBay) and was so excited to get a tiny stack of fabric in the mail!

I'm loving the rainbow-y look! I bought a stack of 40 squares that measure 4 1/2 inches each ... So, out of each square, I cut three diamonds, and there's a little scrap leftover from each that will work with my mini-hexagon project.

The perfectionist in me wanted to keep the "real" vintage-fabric part of the project separate from the "fake" vintage (reproduction fabric) part of the project. Like maybe using the real vintage fabric as the centerpiece of the quilt, and the reproduction fabric for an elaborate border. But I'm getting over that, and I'm liking the depth that the added fabrics give the ones I had.

The progress is fun to see! This makes five completed diamond-stars, up from the three I mentioned in last week's post!
Take Your Time Tuesdays are a fun place to see hand-stitched work at So Happy To Sew!
I'll be linking this post to this week's Take Your Time Tuesday!

Also, Work In Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced shows lots of other quilters' works in progress ... I'm also linking this post to this week's Work In Progress Wednesday. Check the link or button to see the latest!

Scout Fleece ...

2012-01-23T20:12:00.000-05:00

A long time ago, we saw this Boy Scout fleece at the store. 'Round here, we have a Cub Scout who was eyeing the fleece & wanting one of those Boy Scout fleece blankets. (Boy Scouts turned a hundred years old in 2010, hence the 2010...)

But after a while, when the fabric went on sale, it turned out to be a really awesome deal. The future Boy Scout wanted one of those fleece blankets. Actually, both future Boy Scouts wanted one.

The fleece panel was 50" x 60" -- which is the EXACT size of a few solid-colored fleece throws I've got. Since the blanket would be sturdier and warmer with two fleece layers ... I decided to "quilt" the fleece layers together.

In addition to backing one blanket in blue, and one in brown, so they're easy to tell apart, I decided to add some iron-on letter patches with the boys' names. (Sewn on, too, so they don't fall off!) I was figuring I'd put the letters on the back, but when I asked my oldest son about them, he declared, "That is COOL!", and decided the name needed to be front and center. Right above the Scout logo. Perfect.

I like that the Boy Scout oath is around the edge (good stuff).

It's fun that the guys are planning to put their extra Scout badges (like the Cub Scout ones that they earn but can't wear on their Boy Scout uniforms when they move up) on their blankets, along with any other patches they deem appropriate to the blanket ...

I like that my almost-a-Boy-Scout has pronounced his blanket "COOL"! It's a high compliment from a boy his age.

Since Pieceful Life has a "Little Quilt Monday" link-party every week, and since this is kind-of-a-quilt, and it's kind-of-little, (or at least, it took just-a-little quilting) I'll suppose it qualifies. Check out the other neat projects at this week's Little Quilt Monday!

Kaleidoscope Layouts ...

2012-01-18T08:30:00.000-05:00

Recently, I mentioned Kaleidoscope Quilts ...

Here's the latest one I'm working on.
In my earlier post, these pictures showed up:

Here's what those pieces are up to right now ...

It's looking like a 5 x 5 layout of 25 kaleidoscopes that are about 12" each ...

The question is what to do with borders and the little square kaleidoscopes ...

The squares look good on-point as shown at the bottom of this photo ...

But I also like the idea of the little squares laid out as shown below ...

And, for borders, I've got some more of the same white-on-cream background, and some of the fabric from the kaleidoscopes. More details coming up another day ...

Work In Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced is a fun spot to see stitching works in progress ... I'll be linking this post to this week's Work In Progress Wednesday. Check the link or button to see the latest!

Progress: Upward, Backward, and Very Tiny ...

2012-01-16T22:58:00.004-05:00

So, since I finished the Lavendar Socks a few weeks ago, I've been wanting to start some new socks with some self-striping sock yarn I've had for a while.

I decided to try a "toe-up" sock pattern this time ... I've only ever knitted socks starting at the top, so this is new. So far, so good. I'm using this pattern (free, online. Yay!)

It's Upward Progress ...

In handsewing news, on my Vintage Diamonds, I was using a loosely-woven muslin for the stars. I thought it would go well with the vintage fabrics, in keeping with the "homespun" feel. I convinced myself it would be fine. Even though the muslin was SO loosely woven. Even though every completed star felt loose and unstable. Even though my cardstock diamond "papers" poked through the loose weave at the diamond corners.

So. I'm done trying to talk myself into that. I'm redoing the muslin stars with some REAL muslin. I'm much happier with it. Delighted, in fact.

So, it's Backward Progress, in a way. Because, now I have 3 completed stars, instead of the 6 I mentioned before. But they're so much nicer.

I might leave these assembled stars un-sewn-together, as is, for now. Because, needing more fabric for this project, and not having any more actual vintage fabric around, I recently bought some cute new 1930s reproduction fabric. I'll probably reserve the reproduction fabrics for the border, with the vintage as the centerpiece of the quilt.

We shall see ...

And, in Very Tiny Progress:
The Mini-Hexagon companion to the vintage English Paper Piecing ... I've been keeping this project handy for the occasional quiet moment ... (Earlier notes on this project here and here.)

Little Quilt Mondays at Pieceful Life are a great gathering of tiny quilt-y projects - I'm linking this post to this week's Little Quilt Monday ...

Take Your Time Tuesdays are a fun place to see handwork at So Happy To Sew!
I'll be linking this post to this week's Take Your Time Tuesday!

Pink Irish Chain progress ...

2012-01-16T08:30:00.000-05:00

Recently, I mentioned starting on some (very) pink Irish Chain quilt tops ...

I did a bunch of sewing pieces together ...

And then a bunch of pressing and cutting ...

Looking forward to getting this looking like an Irish Chain!

Kaleidoscopes!

2012-01-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

A few years ago, I discovered quilty Kaleidoscopes. I love them!

There are several kinds, but the common factor involves the use of identical pieces arranged into a kaleidoscope. (When I was trying out the concept for the first few times, I searched Google for "quilt kaleidoscope" or "stack & whack quilt" for pictures and tutorials.)

Here are a few Kaleidoscope types I've made:

The six-triangles kind ...

The four-squares kind (also called "stacked posies") ...

And the eight-pointed kind ...

A couple of these kaleidoscope-y things will be showing up in other posts soon ... so, stay tuned!

Leaders and Enders ...

2012-01-11T08:30:00.000-05:00

Progress is happening on my stack of Leaders & Enders (I mentioned them here)

After sewing blue (and purple) squares to white (and cream) squares, I stitched them into four-patches.
So, I'm getting quite the stack of blue-and-white four-patches.

To keep things interesting, I'm also working on some square-in-a-square pieces that will be about the same size ...

For an eventual layout that will look something like this ...

It's a work in progress ... more to come ...

Another Fleece & Jeans Quilt

2012-01-10T08:30:00.000-05:00

My middle daughter's Fleece & Jeans quilt is done.

She loves it, I love it, everyone loves it.

There are a lot of things I love about fleece-and-jeans quilts. The softness, the warm-ness, the heavy-ness.

Here are some of my other favorite things about jeans quilts ...

Embroidered or appliquéd details that were on whatever-garment-that-denim-used-to-be:

Pockets! Every jeans quilt needs some working pockets!

Belt loops! Just for fun, some of the belt loops got preserved in the quilt ..

Did I mention the fun of embroidered details?

I've started looking at thrift-store denim differently: I see something cute embroidered on a denim garment, and I picture it in a quilt!

So, for my kiddos, that's 4 jeans quilts down, one to go!

Fabric Tuesday at QuiltStory is another fun place to see fabric projects of all kinds, and I'm linking this post to this week's Fabric Tuesday, as well. (Click the button below for the most recent Fabric Tuesday).

Starting some Double Irish Chains ...

2012-01-05T08:30:00.000-05:00

A work (or two) in progress ...

Lots of pink in a couple of Double Irish Chain quilt tops ...

One will have Hello Kitty; one will have hearts ...

That's a lot of pink!

I'll probably list these on eBay when they're sewn into quilt tops, so somebody can quilt them and enjoy them ...

Vintage English Paper Piecing ...

2012-01-04T08:30:00.000-05:00

Progress is happening on the Vintage Diamonds ...

And, while I'm progressing with this step, I'm making layout plans for the next step ...

The center section, in color, is the exact amount of diamond stars I can make with the neat vintage fabric I've got right now. Naturally, I want it to be the centerpiece of a bigger quilt. So, it'll need borders.

I've got a couple of ideas going, so it will be interesting to see which direction I go with the border. (Will it be postage-stamp-nine-patches, or diamond-cubes? Or rows of end-to-end diamonds?) Aaand, it will be interesting to see whether I decide to go with coordinating solids for the border, or whether I talk myself into buying a little more vintage fabric for the border ...

Stay tuned ...

In other news, I've been doing a lot more of this:

Look for another denim-type blog post soon ...

Work In Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced is a fun spot to see stitching works in progress ... I'm linking this post there. Check the link or button to see the latest!

New quilt, new quilter ...

2012-01-03T08:30:00.000-05:00

My oldest daughter has been wanting to learn to use the rotary-cutting tools ... She's getting good at quilt-sewing, but she hasn't tackled rotary-cutting yet.

The time has come.

We've had some fun fabric around that we thought would make a great "living-room-quilt" for football season. Since we just got another piece of said sports-fabric, she set about designing what this quilt might look like. Triangles, big squares, little squares, borders ...

The calculations got done, and the fabric-cutting went well.

I had the rare opportunity to get out BOTH cutters and BOTH mats, since she got the hang of the cutting process, and she thought I should go ahead and do some cutting at the same time.

Stay tuned for progress reports ...

More Very Tiny Hexagons

2012-01-02T08:30:00.000-05:00

The other day, I mentioned the very tiny hexagons I started working on. Here are the latest cute tiny hexagons ... too fun. Tedious, but so cute, and so fun.

And, in case you've forgotten how tiny those other ones were ...

Still planning to stitch them onto something square-ish and white-ish so that they can be Christmas tree ornaments when they grow up ...

Oh! Link Parties are back for the new year! I'm linking this post to the ones below. Click on the links or buttons below to see some great collections of recent sewing projects!

Little Quilt Monday is back at Pieceful Life! I'm linking this post there!

And, Take Your Time Tuesdays are back at So Happy To Sew!

Christmas Inspiration ...

2011-12-31T09:45:00.000-05:00

Since I've finished the Christmas Hexagons, I've been getting inspired to work on some related things ~ I got started on Diamond English Paper Piecing, and Very Tiny Vintage English Paper Piecing ... But also, since it was so fun to prepare something neat for Christmas, I've also been inspired to work on something Christmassy sometime between now and next Christmas.

I've got just enough of this sweet Christmas fabric to make a Christmas tree skirt:

Since I want it to look quilty, I'll be trying out some bits of coordinating fabric and some layouts to see what I like ... but hey, I've got time, right? It's a looooong time till Christmas!

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Little Quilt Circles

2011-12-29T08:30:00.000-05:00

I had such fun making this quilt for my newest baby niece ...

Here's a close-up ... I was pleased with how the hand-quilted circles in matching colors turned out ...

There were more pictures, but the computer ate them somewhere between the SD card and the hard drive. (Yikes.)

This quilt has been in progress for a few weeks ... I mentioned it in this post and in this post ... And I drew a lot of inspiration from this quilt and these blocks, as well as a circles quilt in this book ...

The rainbow look was fun (I love variety!), and the crazy-quilty-ness was fun (I love "made fabric"!), and the circles were fun (I love quilt circles!).

Fun quilt. And I'm excited for my sister and her family as they welcome their newest little one.

Vintage-Fabric Hexagons

2011-12-28T08:30:00.000-05:00

Since I had some scraps leftover from the vintage fabrics I cut for my Diamond English Paper Piecing, I wanted to make something "mini" ... but I wasn't sure what.

After I finished the Christmas Hexagons, I thought I might take a break from hexagons for a while. I started on the Vintage Diamonds, and then I kept thinking of cute things to do with hexagons ...

Voila! Perfect solution! With the vintage scraps ... I made a few hexagons ...

And, for perspective ... this is what size this is:

Yes! That tiny! Even my little helpers are overwhelmed by the cuteness.

I'll probably turn this into some sort of Christmas ornament for some other year. More to come, probably. And, since tiny hexagons are such a tiny project, they're very portable. Nice.

Finished Socks ...

2011-12-27T15:13:00.004-05:00

A couple of times, I've mentioned the lavendar socks I've been knitting ... This weekend, during some Christmas-Eve-relaxing time, I got the toes finished on the socks!

The timing was perfect for finishing these - partly because I had just enough time to sit and knit over the weekend, and partly because a certain small helper of mine had spilled my coffee on the sock-project the day before. (Yes. Coffee. With sugar and cream. Right into the partly-open-ziplock-bag full of sock-knitting.) So, my dilemma was whether to finish the socks soon so I could wash them, or whether to somehow wash the socks-and-yarn and then let-it-all-dry before finishing. I just knitted the socks-that-smelled-like-coffee ... and washed them afterward. Too funny!

I mentioned these socks in a couple of previous blog posts (here and here) - I'm so pleased to have these finished!

Stay tuned for more knitting news! I've got some really cute self-striping sock yarn to start my next pair of socks ...

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T09:45:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

May we always be amazed at the goodness and mercy of God, who gave His son Jesus to be Emmanuel, God with us!

It's been fun to have the Christmas decorations around ... reminding us of Christ's birth, and making the season look festive ... reminding us, too, of friends and family who are far away ...

Merry Christmas!

Blue Yo-yo Bits ...

2011-12-20T08:30:00.000-05:00

Not long ago, I mentioned my quilty yo-yos in all different colors. I also mentioned that I was working on some blue ones.

When I started these, I was going to use them single-file on a wide border of a small project that never took off ... so, they're sewn in little rows of 3. Now that I'm thinking about sewing tons of them together, I'm thinking I might not want them looking this organized ... but when I get a few more blue yo-yos made, I can figure out whether or not to disassemble my little rows of 3 ...

I could add these to my random yo-yo stack, but I'm liking the just-blue look. Maybe it's to balance out the uncharacteristic randomness of the other yo-yo project, but I'm thinking it'll be fun to ALSO work on a mostly-blue yo-yo quilt.

So, here's a question for my fellow-quilters: How do you like yo-yo quilts assembled?

JUST the yo-yos sewn to each other, as a "coverlet"?
The yo-yos stitched to something lightweight, like a sheet, to give it some stability?
Yo-yos assembled and sewn onto a "traditional" quilt with batting?
Something different, like yo-yos stitched onto fleece?

I realize that the possibilities are endless, so I'd love to hear from some folks who've made yo-yo quilts (or loved yo-yo quilts!), to give me ideas as I consider what to look toward in a finished product.

Scrap-Quilting thoughts ...

2011-12-17T09:45:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that Christmas is nearly here! Time has flown so fast this year, and another year is on its way.

This week, I was pondering some quilting analogies while thinking about the busy-ness of life ...

During the past year, I've enjoyed making some real scrap-quilting projects. Out of actual scraps. Whereas many of my quilting projects have been made out of big pieces of intentionally coordinated fabrics, I've made a few things this year out of little pieces of fabric that were too small for my regular projects. Pieces of fabric that I wouldn't necessarily have thought would go well together.

And, for me, it's a great reminder that the little things do add up. My tendency is to wait for the "perfect" timing and the "ideal" situation to work on important projects or priorities. But I'm seeing that even little bits of time spent on important things make a big difference. Little bits of effort spent on right priorities really add up. A small effort on a consistent basis goes a long way ...

Bits and Pieces ...

2011-12-15T16:39:00.003-05:00

What I've been working on lately ...

Bits and pieces of things in little bits of time ...

Another star added to my English Paper Piecing ...

A few tiny quilt-y Christmas ornaments ...

Putting some made-fabric circles on a quilt top ...

Tiny bits of Mary Engelbreit fabric for I'm-not-yet-sure-what ...

A few more rows on each lavendar sock. Almost ready for the toe. (I decided not to take the pics with my toes in the socks, although I thought about it. You're welcome.)

Hope you and yours are having a great Christmas season so far!

Vintage Quilt-y Bits ...

2011-12-13T08:30:00.001-05:00

A really long time ago, I came across a little stack of vintage fabric, already cut into appliqués (butterflies, I think), with the edges turned under and basted. Cute. Vintage.

Quite old, as far as I can tell ... "actual" vintage, not reproduction fabrics, so I was kind of hesitant to do anything with them ... On the one hand, I didn't like the butterfly shapes, and didn't want to appliqué; on the other hand, I didn't want to cut the fabric; didn't want to mess up the cute vintage-ness.

But I finally decided that since I like the fabric, I should turn it into something cute that I will like.

I've been seeing pictures of diamond English Paper Piecing (mostly at lifeunderquilts Just. Wow. And also here. Wow again.) I really like the diamond-star-tumbling-block look.

So, finally, a couple weeks ago, I dared to cut the cute vintage fabric (yes! I did!), so I can try diamond-shaped English Paper Piecing. Here's the design idea I'm going with - the colors are random, just to give me an idea of where the colored pieces go, and where the plain muslin ones go.

(Yay for free printable graph papers ... got this paper here and the printable diamonds to print on cardstock here)

And, since coloring on neat shapes is nearly irresistible, a small helper did some color-designing, too ...

And, as for the sewing, I'm super-pleased to report progress! I'm loving it!

Here's the first star ...

And the next one ...

Working on the 3rd star ...

And here's the combination of all of the above ...

Take Your Time Tuesday at So Happy is a fun spot to mention hand-stitching work like this ... So I'm planning to link this post to this week's Take Your Time Tuesday ...

(By the way, if you've seen a couple of my previous Tuesday posts, you might want to check out the finished product on my Christmas Hexagons Quilt ...)

Mini-Quilts in Progress ...

2011-12-12T08:26:00.001-05:00

I don't have much mini-quilt news happening, since I haven't finished anything miniature in the past week ... but I've got some things in progress ...

A bunch of green, crazy-quilty 3-inch "made fabric" squares that are trying to become Christmas ornaments ...

... and a bunch of these little bits for a mini Lone Star ...

... influenced by this book that was given to me a few years ago, which is full of little tips and tricks ...

I'll share pictures when I finish up some of these cute little mini-things ...

Keep an eye out for some fellow-quilters' mini-projects shared at

Little Quilt Monday at Pieceful Life's blog ...

Nativity Scenes ...

2011-12-10T09:30:00.000-05:00

Christmas is coming, remarkably fast. It's so fun to see Christmas through my children's eyes, and to watch them discover more and more what Christmas is about: JESUS!

My oldest daughter, on her own initiative, updated our kitchen markerboard for us - with candy canes, Christmas trees, a list of Christmas-related events this coming week, and these two verses:

Matthew 1:21

And she shall bring forth a son,

and thou shalt call his name JESUS:

for he shall save his people from their sins.

Luke 2:7

And she brought forth her firstborn son,

and wrapped him in swaddling clothes,

and laid him in a manger;

because there was no room for them in the inn.

This weekend, we'll probably (finally) get our Christmas tree up; but for now, we're feeling festive (and reverent and grateful) having these out ...

The glass nativity scene from the thrift store, on my Christmas mini-quilt ...

And, my personal favorite, the cross-stitched nativity scene that my sister made for us ...

I hope that you and yours are having a memorable time getting ready for Christmas! Have a great weekend!

Finished Christmas Hexagons Quilt!

2011-12-09T10:59:00.001-05:00

I'm really pleased to have FINISHED my Christmas Quilt!

It's a nice throw-size quilt for the living room. It measures about 58" x 58". I was surprised when I was laying out the background that a square was what I needed. The hexagon design looked so much taller than it was wide. Not so. It needed an exact square. ( I know, the picture looks long, but it's square!)

A certain little person keeps showing up in the living room and saying "My toes are cold ...", which is a hint for "I need to test the new quilt again!"

In the past couple of days, I've been doing a lot of this:

And the backing is an awesome beige floral. The backing was surprisingly cooperative with the quilting process. Even so, this is the only view of the back that you get to see, because, actually, a lot of the rest of the back is really quite un-perfect. But I'm totally OK with that, and soooo pleased to have this fun quilt useable. :-)

A little before and after:

This quilt is very densely quilted! And here I thought I was going big on the free-motion "doodles"! Actually, I used up more than an ENTIRE bobbin of NYLON thread. My nylon thread is so fine that a TON of thread fits on a bobbin ... and I've NEVER used up a whole bobbin in a day! But then, this is the biggest quilt I've ever quilted this way. (It's about 58" x 58".)

It's been fun to take this quilt from these pictures below (taken in June, while I was figuring this out) to the finished product that's folded and sitting in my rocking chair. Merry Christmas!

In other finishing-things-up news, I blogged earlier this week about a couple of neat quilt tops I finished:

The Mini-Kaleidoscopes Quilt Top was lots of fun, and I really love the big Color Splash Quilt Top. Busy week!

I'm linking this post to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, and Sew and Tell Friday at AmyLouWho ... Both of these are great places to see what others have been working on! Lots of projects being finished up!

Flannel Squares ... and Leaders and Enders ...

2011-12-08T08:30:00.001-05:00

Lately, I've been sewing flannel squares ... Making a cozy flannel rag quilt ...

A few weeks ago, I came across a neat concept at a blog called Jo's Country Junction ~ Her post about Leaders and Enders caught my eye ... and she linked her post to her inspiration at Quiltville ... fascinating stuff.

Both of the links above have great, lengthy explanations ... but the short version is, if you sew together a couple of tiny squares, in between each seam of what you're really working on, the tiny squares keep you from having all those long threads at each end of what you're really working on. You sew straight from one piece onto another, then afterward, you snip the tiny thread between ... So, what you're really working on gets sewn, and the little squares you're sewing together for something else also get done.

I have to remind myself often how much little bits do add up. Little bits really do add up! A while back, I mentioned the first denim quilt I made. I decided that since there was "no time" to make something that big, my only option was to worked on the denim quilt every Sunday afternoon, even if it was only for 15 minutes. Sometimes I only worked 15 minutes on it. But it got done!

So, I decided to try the Leaders and Enders idea ...
I cut some little squares ...

And started sewing them before ...

... and after ...

... and between ...

... the pieces of the project that I was really working on ...

So, afterward, I just snip that little thread between the pieces, and I don't have to give everything a "haircut" afterward from all those long threads ...

AND, I end up with not only my stack of these sewed ...

... but ALSO my stack of these:

So far, it sounds like a win-win!

While working on my "Made Fabric" circles the other day, I also stitched some of the Leaders and Enders ... Here's how the whole stack of blue-and-white is looking after being pressed ...

As for what the Leaders and Enders turn into, I'm not sure yet ... I'm thinking about trying for something like a {small} version of the blue-and-neutral quilt shown at Quiltville ... The power of suggestion is strong, and that quilt looks awesome ... so stay tuned for more on the Leaders and Enders project.

The flannel, though, is looking promising ... here's the layout I'm looking at for the rag quilt. It's probably going on eBay when it's done. We'll see.

Color Splash!

2011-12-07T08:30:00.000-05:00

I'm pleased to have finished the "Color Splash" Quilt Top that I mentioned in this post, and this post, and this post.

I had a lot of fun with the crazy-quilty "made fabric", and I like the way the blocks all seem to "float" on the light background.

A lot of my inspiration came from these awesome quilt pictures at psiquilt.com, and the tutorials on posts like this at 15minutesplay.com

It was a lot of fun to go from my first few blocks, and my first few tries at layout ...

...to a lot of finished blocks, and a lot of blocks in a layout ...

... to a finished quilt top! (This thing is huge! 74" x 96"!)

I'm listing it on eBay as a quilt top, so that somebody can buy it and have fun quilting it! Take a look at it at this eBay listing, or check out my whole list of auctions.

The crazy-quilty-look isn't usually my favorite style, but I LOVE the way these crazy-quilt blocks turned out with the color-coordinated scraps turned into a block. I'm definitely planning to do more with this style ... Stay tuned ...

Random Yo-Yos ...

2011-12-06T08:30:00.000-05:00

A couple of years ago, a friend mentioned that she'd love to learn how to make old-fashioned yo-yo quilts ... neither she nor I had ever made a yo-yo, but we both thought it would be fun. As it turns out, each of us went home and searched Google for the how-to details!

I recently rediscovered my stack of little yo-yos, and I'm once again delighted with the fun randomness of these. Even though I usually like an "organized" feel to my quilting, I'm loving the non-organized look here.

Lots of these fabrics make me smile, because they remind me of what else I made with that fabric, or where that fabric came from ... I love the colors and the circles and the spaces between ...

Since the Christmas Hexagons are just about done, I needed some hand-work to put in my favorite bag-to-grab-when-I'm-going-somewhere ... Recently, I pulled out the fun, random yo-yos and worked a little while.

One of the fun things about sewing when other people are around (which is all the time unless everybody's asleep) is that sometimes, somebody wants to learn "how you do that". That's neat, because usually they discover that it's not hard, and it's pretty fun! My middle daughter sat with me and made a couple of yo-yos ...

Right now, I'm sewing the random yo-yos in groups of 16, so that they're partially assembled, with some flexibility in how I eventually work the layout.

I also have some blue yo-yos happening in another project-bag ....
Maybe I'll blog about those another day ...

Take Your Time Tuesday at So Happy is a fun spot to mention hand-stitching work like this ... So I'm planning to link this post to this week's Take Your Time Tuesday ...

Fabric Tuesday at QuiltStory is another fun place to see fabric projects of all kinds, and I'm linking this post to this week's Fabric Tuesday, as well. (Click the button below for the most recent Fabric Tuesday).

Mini Kaleidoscopes ...

2011-12-05T10:01:00.001-05:00

This weekend, I finished up a cute Mini Quilt Top ...

There are a lot of things I like about this kind of Kaleidoscope. This is the "stacked posies" kind, made from just 4 identical squares. Easy to cut. Quick to sew. Here's my little stack of pieces ready to sew.

I love the symmetry, and the beautiful simplicity ... Here are a few of my favorite blocks ... and they're all made from the same floral fabric!

Layouts are fun ...

Setting them diamond-style meant that in addition to setting squares, I needed triangles for the sides ... Here are the blocks sewn to the setting squares, ready for the triangles ...

Stitched up, with borders in the same floral print and the same white-on-cream as the background ...

And, now the Kaleidoscope Mini Quilt Top is listed on eBay, so that someone can have fun quilting it! See this eBay listing, or if that link doesn't work, try this list of all my eBay items.

I love seeing mini-quilt projects come together. Elizabeth at Pieceful Life has a weekly spot for bloggers to report on their latest Mini-Quilt projects. If you have a minute, stop by and visit this week's Little Quilt Monday ... I'm linking this post there ... Have a great Monday!

Advent Calendar Time ...

2011-12-03T08:30:00.000-05:00

Last week, I mentioned some of what's been on our kitchen markerboard ...

Since we try to keep something spiritually encouraging, or at least inspirational, on our kitchen markerboard, I might write a few Saturday posts related to what's been on our kitchen markerboard lately.

Right now, our markerboard still carries a Thanksgiving theme, since an attitude of gratitude should always be in season ...

But for this month, next to the markerboard is our Advent Calendar ...

This Advent Calendar was given to us a couple years ago by a friend (Thanks, Heather!) and the kids LOVE it!

In each pocket, I put a little piece of paper, with a couple of Christmas-related Bible verses, and the title of a Christmas carol to sing. Each day we open the one for the day (and sometimes the one for yesterday, if we forgot!) and one of the kids read the verses, and we sing the first verse of the song.

Even though it's a simple thing, it's been a great way for us to get some more Bible into our day, to keep some more Bible in our Christmas celebration, and to open some more Christ-centered discussions in our conversations.

"Made Fabric" circles, Christmas Quilt progress

2011-12-02T19:55:00.001-05:00

Lately ... I'm working on more crazy-quilty "made fabric". Fun! The other blocks I made were giant 12" blocks, so these small ones (less than 6") were really fast and fun.

Here they are before trimming ...

And after trimming ... aren't they cute?

I'll probably make a few more in different sizes, and then applique them on a neutral background. I don't have a lot of experience with applique, so I'm thinking about the merits of a couple of simple applique methods I've found ... The cookie crumbs one at 15minutesplay's blog ... and the one that I saw SOMEwhere a long time ago, something like this dryer sheet idea ...

In other news ...

The Christmas hexagon quilt is getting there ...

Here's the background, all ready ...

Aaaaand, this is the hexagon portion just laid on top ... need to baste/pin, add batting, backing ... I'm excited that it's almost done!

Christmas Hexagons Layout

2011-11-29T08:30:00.000-05:00

I'm really pleased to have FINISHED the hexagons for the Christmas Quilt! If my calculations are correct, that's 364 hexagons (but who's counting?!)! I'm pleased with how this is turning out!

So, now, it's time for working on layout ...

I've decided to do the solid cream color for the rectangular "background" behind the hexagons. The Christmassy plaid with the metallic gold threads is going to be cut on the bias as a border. More cream for an outer border, I think. Near the top of the photo is the backing fabric, which is a white-on-tan floral, (but it's actually a much darker color than it looks in this picture).

I'm excited about getting near the end of this project. I'll probably do the assembling and quilting by machine, just to make sure it gets done sooner, rather than later!

[UPDATE: To see the finished product, see this post. ]

I've mentioned this quilt in progress a time or two at Take Your Time Tuesday ~ which is a weekly group of links especially for sewn-by-hand projects. So I'm linking this post to this week's Take Your Time Tuesday at So Happy...

And, when Wednesday rolls around, I plan to link this post to Work in Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced ... Click the button below to see some other great works in progress!

Mini-Quilty Coasters ...

2011-11-28T08:06:00.000-05:00

Lately, I've wanted to try some more free-motion quilting ... without the pressure of a big project.

So, I decided to make some rag-quilty coasters. With free-motion "quilting" attaching just two layers of denim (no batting).

Quick and easy, relatively speaking. And lots of fun!

So, with some fun sewing, and a lot of clipping ...

I made some little coasters ...

And after washing them, the edges turned out cute and fuzzy ...

If you have a minute, stop by and visit Little Quilt Monday at pieceful life ... I'm linking this post there ... Have a great Monday!

Finish It Up Friday ...

2011-11-26T01:23:00.001-05:00

A couple of my favorite quilting blogs host Friday roundups where bloggers can share their recently-finished projects. (See a couple of links at the end of this post.) These are fun motivators to finish projects, not just work on them!

I got a couple of quilty things finished this week, which is very satisfying.

Here, for now, I'm going easy on the pictures, because both of these will be gifts ... so, you get a couple of quick pictures, but not much detail ...

This one involves fleece, and crazy-quilty work, and cute Winnie-the-Pooh fabric:

And the other one involves jeans and rag-quilty fuzziness:

I'm looking forward to seeing the projects fellow-quilters have been finishing up at CrazyMomQuilts' Finish It Up Friday!

Also, AmyLouWho's Sew and Tell Friday has a bunch of fun links for recent projects, so I'm linking this post there, as well.

Thanksgiving Miscellany

2011-11-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

Here's a link for a fun, Google decoration for Thanksgiving ... Open the link, click on the turkey feathers, or better yet, the hat, the shoes, the wing ... It's one of those random, funny things your kids (or you?) could play with for a while ...
(Update: The cute Thanksgiving Google decoration is gone now. It was a cute turkey-in-the-shape-of-a-hand, with feathers, hat and shoes that would change if you clicked on them. It was fun while it lasted ...)

Our kitchen markerboard includes these right now:

"In every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." I Thessalonians 5:18

"O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever," Psalm 136:1

Something to think about ... "What if you woke up today with only the things you specifically thanked God for yesterday?"

My kids and I had an interesting discussion on that quote at the end ... it makes you think about all those little things that are too easy to take for granted.

My friend Cassandra writes an eloquent and thought-provoking blog, called Moonboat Cafe. She shares some of her thoughts on Thanksgiving in her Monday post Growth and the Holidays. Definitely worth reading.

I hope you and yours have a great Thanksgiving Day. We have much to be thankful for.

Quilt Top a Dozen Years Later ...

2011-11-23T08:30:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I reached a milestone in an ongoing project of mine ... After a very (very) long time, I finished piecing a quilt top that I've been working on (off and on) for a dozen years! Yes. A dozen.

You know those projects that you love, that you want to do "just right", that you procrastinate about? (Do you have those kind?) This is one of those. I love it.

This one started out ages ago when I had made about one quilt. I knew I could quilt, so I was gathering fabric here and there, when I found fabric I liked.

When I saw a quilt at my friend Dianne's house, I fell in love with it. There was an awesome quilt on her guestroom bed. So I drew her quilt on the only scrap of paper I had handy.

Since I had the fabric, and loved the quilt pattern, I decided to go for it, even though this quilt involved diamonds. I'd told myself I wouldn't mess with diamonds again after piecing the other diamonds quilt.

I figured and measured and computerized my quilt design (back when I didn't even know they had computer-quilt-design software) ... I'm pretty sure my mom helped me figure and calculate and plan ...

I colored in the "pattern". And cut fabric. And sorted. And put pieces in little baggies. All organized.

The quilt top, and its backing fabric, and its extra scraps have spent a lot of time in this box ... It's a good feeling to finally have the quilt top constructed.

In fact, the same afternoon that I got the quilt top done, I immediately went to the store and bought batting and safety pins. For the next step. So that I can pin it and start to quilt it. Because I've had the backing fabric ever since I started the quilt. A dozen years ago.

So, yes, it's not quilted yet. I'm planning to machine quilt. Because I know myself. And I know that the last time I decided to hand-quilt a big project, it was a decade-long process of off and on ... Like I said, that hand-quilted quilt was, and is, awesome. So awesome that it has lived on my bed ever since I finished quilting it. But I think I'll machine-quilt this newest quilt, so that it won't take another decade ... Stay tuned ...

Since this is definitely a work in progress, I'm linking this post to Work in Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced ... Click the button below to see some other great works in progress!

Christmas Hexagons and Jeans Patches ...

2011-11-22T08:30:00.000-05:00

The vast majority of my sewing happens on the sewing machine: that way, the work is (relatively) fast, sturdy, efficient.

But the nice thing about projects that are sewn by hand is that they can be done from the comfort of a rocking chair. Very nice.

Last week, I mentioned a blog called So Happy, with a fun link party called Take Your Time Tuesday ~ especially for sewn-by-hand projects. So I'm linking this post to this week's Take Your Time Tuesday ...

Here's the latest on my sewing-by-hand:

In my rocking chair, I've been finishing up the last few hexagons for the Christmas Quilt ... Just those last few at the bottom need to be sewn together and into the quilt ... then the finishing process can begin ...

In other sewing-by-hand news:
My youngest son's jeans have been sprouting holes at alarming rates. Since it's getting too cold to turn them all into cutoff shorts, and since I'd like him to get a little more use out of these jeans, I decided to patch the jeans.

I never patch jeans. But I've seen some really cute tutorials (which I can't find right now, to give them credit ... sorry!) that make the patches look great ... so I thought I'd try.

So, here we have ...
A cute soccer iron-on patch on top of a not-so-cute plain iron-on patch ... Stitched the edges so they won't "peel" off ...

This required a lot of thimble work. Two thimbles. Yeah.

Orange thread, for the jeans that already had orange details ...

I think they turned out pretty cute. The little dude is not sure if he likes the "black" patches, as he calls them, but he's getting over it, and I'm hoping they'll fade a little in the wash. Anyway, navy twill patches were what I had on hand.

About the time I finished those, a couple more pairs of little pants-with-holes came out of the wash, so I did some more patches. Might as well ...

By the way, whatever size the patches came in (5x7? 4x6?) turned out to be just right for me to cut a patch in HALF, round the corners, and iron onto the little-guy jeans.

I used embroidery floss for the stitching, to give the patches some color ... not sure how well that'll hold up, but we'll see.

Speaking of embroidery floss, did I mention that I recently came across a TON of embroidery floss, and that some of it is listed in my eBay auctions (with free shipping!), so if you need any this week, check my listings!

"A Year In Denim" Mini Rag Quilt

2011-11-22T00:37:00.001-05:00

years, I've been wanting to make something quilty that's "Block of the Month". Not in the sense that somebody sends me something to work on once a month. More in the sense of "reminds you of a calendar", with a block to represent each month.

I've got doodles on graph paper with cute layouts for elaborate pieced blocks for a really big quilt. I've got some of the parts cut for some of the months. But there are still a lot of missing pieces to that puzzle, so I haven't really "started" that one.

While I was playing with some of my latest thrift-store denim, it hit me: A MINI-QUILT would be a great way to try some block of the month ideas AND a great way to try out the raw-edge-applique techniques I keep reading about in other people's blogs. Quick project, new techniques: win-win!

Here's a quick run-down of the process:
I drew the cute little shapes on the paper-side of Heat n Bond Lite. (Awesome stuff. Haven't tried anything like this lately. Works like a charm.)

I cut out my little shapes out of Heat n Bond Lite, and picked cute fabrics to go with them ...

I ironed all those little Heat n Bond Lite pieces to my cute fabrics (and wondered what in the world I was getting myself into with all those tiny little pieces!) ...

Then I cut out all those little pieces (trimming the fabric to match the ironed-on paper-stuff) ...

And then I was floored by the cuteness ...

Then I ironed all those pieces onto my denim squares (which, for size-reference, were cut at 5 ½ inches). Yes, I did have to number my denim with chalk, so that I could figure out some lighter/darker balance in the denim colors ... AND to prevent myself from accidentally sewing the months out of order ...

I decided to sew the blocks together rag-quilt style, with the seam allowances showing, and with the seam allowances clipped, just to see how the raggedy look would work. Not bad! I like it.

I'm hard-pressed to pick a favorite block ... This thing really turned out cute!

Since this is going in my eBay auctions, my big dilemma after making this quilt was whether to wash it before listing it or not. I usually prewash rag quilts, to start getting the fuzzy raggedyness going ... but I also like the just-clipped-and-brand-new look of the not-yet-washed rag quilt ...

In the end, I decided to wash it. And I'm glad I did. The denim frayed perfectly!

Click here to see this item on eBay ... and I have a feeling I'll be making more of these.

Oh. I almost forgot to mention the finished size: 18" x 14".

(Speaking of eBay, I happened across a TON of new DMC floss recently, so if you need any, I've got some listed there this week, with FREE shipping!)

I'm linking this post to Pieceful Life's Little Quilt Monday - Thanks again to Elizabeth and friends for the continued inspiration of sharing recent mini quilt projects!

ALSO, Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday is a great, inspiring place, and I'm linking this post there as well. Head on over and see what else is going on at Fabric Tuesday!

The first big quilt ...

2011-11-21T08:30:00.000-05:00

This is the first big quilt I made ... Machine-pieced, hand quilted ...

I've always loved variety, and so, the color scheme (or lack thereof?) reflects that.

This is the quilt I decided to start making when I was a teenager. (Yes. That long ago. More on that later.) My mom and I shopped for fabric, and I used her rotary cutting stuff to cut allllll those diamonds. And triangles. And squares.

After I got all the piecing done, I decided to quilt it by hand. By. Hand.

Flowers in the empty navy blue squares ...

Stars around the stars ...

Waves and curlicues on the edging ...

As often happens to my projects, I got a little distracted from the project when I was nearly done. I had half of the hand quilting done, and then I stopped. (At least I had a good excuse ... During the decade that I didn't work on the hand quilting, I got married, moved to a new state, and had five awesome kids ... )

When I finally realized that the quilt was halfway quilted, I decided to try for a little bit of consistent work in the evenings when the kids were in bed. Sure enough, it got done. More than a decade after starting ... Voila!

I finished it a couple of years ago. It has lived on my bed ever since.

Quilt Circles ...

2011-11-18T08:30:00.000-05:00

I love the fact that quilting gives me chances to make and accomplish things. I also love that quilting gives me the occasional satisfaction of trying (often even succeeding at) something new.

Not too long ago, I tried a new quilt pattern/style for the first time: The "Drunkard's Path" Block. Curved pieces and curved seams have always seemed a little intimidating ... but after watching how "do-able" it seemed in the online tutorials/videos, I figured I should give it a try.

Here are a few of the blocks I put together, just laid out on the table:

When I started assembling these blocks into circles, my youngest son declared that "They look like moons!" Which is true. So this one got dubbed "Harvest Moons".

It turned into a nice-sized quilt top for my eBay listings ...

Looking on Google for layout ideas for this block, I found no shortage of ideas ... It's amazing what you can do with that quarter-circle-sewed-into-a-square ...

Here's a totally different layout I tried - The whole center section of this quilt top was made with Drunkard's Path Blocks ... I was pleased with how this little quilt top turned out.

Jeans + Fleece = Awesome Quilt!

2011-11-17T08:30:00.000-05:00

I've been blogging about making quilts out of jeans and fleece. While I was working on the latest one, I was also sewing together a lot of denim that looked like this ... (And you can't tell it from this photo, but those denim stripes are each about 16" long) ...

I couldn't really blog about it at the time, because this one was a birthday present for my oldest daughter, who DOES read my blog!

Lots of diagonal quilting ...

And around the edges, lots of cute girl-y denim details ...

For another birthday Princess ...

Since this is a project I finished this week, I'm linking this post to amylouwho's Sew & Tell Friday ... So, if you're visiting from Sew & Tell Friday, HI & thanks for visiting! Click the button below to see the other great projects that are linked to Sew & Tell Friday!

AND, one of my favorite quilting blogs, and one of the first quilting blogs I started reading regularly is Crazy Mom Quilts -- Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts has a Finish it Up Friday link party going on, so I'm including a link to this post there, as well. HI to all of Amanda Jean's fellow quilters, too! It's so fun to see the other projects being finished up! Thanks for sharing!

A Non-Quilting Project ...

2011-11-16T08:30:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I've done any knitting ... Actually, I haven't done much since the last time I went to my kids' basketball practice. That was in February. But I have two mostly-knitted socks that I'm going to love. (I followed my sister's advice and got two sets of double-pointed needles, so I could alternate between two socks & finish them at roughly the same time.)

Basketball starts again this month. (We highly recommend Upward Basketball, by the way!) My kids will have weekly practices ... Which means I can knit during practice again. Maybe nobody will notice it's the SAME knitting I was working on last year! :-)

Denim Quilt ...

2011-11-14T08:30:00.001-05:00

A few days ago, I wrote about the Fleece and Jeans Quilt I made ages ago, and the new one I've been working on. Here's the latest on my newest Fleece and Jeans Quilt:

One bright red fleece blanket, 66" x 90" ...

One hundred forty denim squares ...

A package and a half of shiny new safety pins ...

A lot of late-night and early-morning sewing ...

A Denim Jeans Quilt ...

for a little Princess ...

I think she likes it. I think all her siblings like it, too. As you may recall from my earlier post, only one of her siblings has one. I think I've got my work cut out for me! :-)

P.S.

The Quilt Story blog has a "link party" called Fabric Tuesday, and there are lots of impressive projects to see, so when Tuesday comes, I'll plan to link this post to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday. Click the picture below for more ...

More English Paper Piecing Hexagons

2011-11-12T09:45:00.000-05:00

Newest hexagons for my Christmas Quilt ...

Here's how it's looking ... Once I sew these two in, along with the white/neutral one from my earlier post, then I just have three more hexagon-flowers to add. (See the resemblance between the quilt top and its "pattern"? Fun, huh? Really, the pattern is paper-sized, and the quilt is about 3 feet wide.)

After I finish the quilt top, I "just" have to stitch this part to something (I'm debating between two different cream/tan sheets I've got for background), then add some sort of border (I'm debating between sewing a bunch of leftover red-white-green squares together, or stitching on some random hexagons as border), then add batting and a backing (I'm debating between the "elegant" Christmas fabric, the Veggie Tales Christmas fabric, and the "other" sheet that I don't use for the background on the front.) So, yeah, plenty to do.

Stay tuned for more on the Christmas Quilt project ...

Since this IS a work in progress, I'm hoping to link this post to Work In Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced ... So if you're visiting from Freshly Pieced, HI, and thanks for stopping by! I love the inspiration of seeing what others are busy sewing. Have a great week!

AND, since this is a "made by hand" project (so far, anyway), I'm linking this post to a new Take Your Time Tuesday at So Happy - So, thanks to Kristen for the encouragement on needle-and-thread projects, and Hi to anyone visiting from her links!

A Christmas Mini Quilt ...

2011-11-11T08:30:00.002-05:00

This is a new addition to my homemade Christmas decorations ... It measures 13" x 13".
Here's how this Mini-Quilt came to be ...

Not long ago, I found a great deal on some little glass Nativity figures. They came with a little mirror to sit on, but I thought something quilt-y might be a nice addition ...

The Mini-Quilt Challenge at amylouwho provided just the mini-quilt motivation I needed.

(Click on the picture below to see what I'm talking about.)

(Also, I'll probably link this post to "Little Quilt Monday" at Pieceful Life when Monday rolls around.)

So, I started playing with my scraps. I wanted a lot of white, and something with red-and-green squares. I still wasn't sure about an overall shape for the mini-quilt.

After making some nine-patches out of 1 ½" squares, I decided to try for something sort of circular in the center, with the nine-patches around the edges ... So I ended up with an octagon in the middle, and 8 little nine-patches around the edges. I had some (too big) triangles left over from another project, so I put those in the extra spaces ...

Got it all stitched ...

When I trimmed the excess off of the giant triangles ... I also cut the backing at the same time ... With the 8 triangles, and the 8 nine-patches, it became more than just an octagon ... more like a ~~hexadecimal~~ polygon whose name I don't know. (Is there even a name for that shape?)

Since I wanted this mini quilt to be like a little doily, flat enough for the glass Nativity figures to stand on, I didn't want to add puffy batting ... So I used a piece of white sheet for the backing, with no batting in between the layers. After cutting, I "basted" the quilt top to the backing layer with safety pins.

For the binding, I made some bias binding out of the same white sheet. I folded the bias binding in half, and stitched both raw edges to the quilt-and-backing "sandwich". As I was stitching the binding on, I gently rounded the corners of the polygon, to give the finished piece a rounded edge.

After stitching the binding on, and turning the folded binding-edge around to the back, I quilted in the ditch around the edge, and again around the edge of the center octagon.

Voila! It measures 13" x 13".

I'm really pleased with how this Mini-Quilt turned out.

Making some of my own Christmas decorations helps me look forward to Christmas a little more, and helps me enjoy the process of teaching my kids more about the true meaning of Christmas.
"For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10)

Still working on "Made Fabric" blocks ...

2011-11-10T08:30:00.000-05:00

Recently, I had time to put together a few more 12" x 12" blocks of "made fabric" for a quilt top ...

Since I'd already made some primary-color blocks, and some secondary-color blocks, I wanted some other colors ... so that there would be 12 blocks, each with a different color-scheme ...

These colors came out well ... The crazy-quilty idea is lots of fun. One of my daughters was helping me sort colors, and she was amazed at how many scraps I have. Yes. Yes, I do. But I'm using them! See?

The ivory borders are all sewn on, like the others, so these are ready for whatever's next ...

Mini Quilts are fun ...

2011-11-09T18:35:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned that mini quilts are fun? They are.

A few days ago, I heard about this, and it sounds fun, too:

So, on Friday, I'll be telling you about my newest mini quilt project ... which I just made last night!

And, on Friday, you can check out the other awesome entries that will be featured in AmyLouWho's Mini Quilt Challenge (click the picture link above).

Mariner's Compass

2011-11-09T08:30:00.003-05:00

I mentioned English Paper Piecing in a previous post ... It's a hand-stitching method that I love.

Recently, I tried a new kind of paper piecing. It's called, not surprisingly, "Paper Piecing". Yeah. Despite the similar names, they're nothing alike. Read on.

Lately, I've been fascinated by pictures of a quilt block design called Mariner's Compass. Really impressive. So, of course, I had to try the paper-piecing technique that's used to make a Mariner's Compass block.

One version of paper piecing instructions involves freezer paper, which was not handy; the other uses tracing paper, of which I have plenty. I found a free pattern online, printed it on my tracing paper, and got out a big piece of multi-colored fabric.

I figured the stripes would give me a wide color-range, and it was a non-favorite piece of fabric, so I could relax about my first try at this. As it turns out, I do not recommend stripes for paper-piecing Mariner's Compass blocks ...

It's taking a while to get used to this paper-piecing process ... and this is not likely to become my favorite method of patchwork-ing anytime soon ... but I got a Mariner's Compass done.

You can't tell it, but there are 32 pieces in this compass. (Like I said, it's the stripes ...)

So, next time, I'll try something more solid-like. Nifty-looking anyway, and it was a pretty satisfactory first try.

A Bargello Rainbow Quilt Top ...

2011-11-08T08:30:00.020-05:00

A while back, I discovered a fun quiltmaking technique called Bargello. There are tons of "how-to" sites & tutorials out there ... so I won't go into the details.

This was a fun bargello project. This quilt top is listed in my eBay auctions right now. I keep thinking it would be a fun baby quilt, with maybe some cloud-shaped quilting ...

This is a fun technique because, for bargello, you sew lots of long fabric strips together, then cut them up, shift them up or down a little, and sew them back together. (Clear as mud? Yeah. Sorry. Look for a tutorial with good pictures, like the ones at Quiltville or Big Horn Quilts )

I love having vivid colors in my quilt projects, and I love that rainbows make me think of the things God remembers (Genesis 9:13-16)

English Paper Piecing Hexagons Quilt

2011-11-07T08:30:00.002-05:00

Even though most of my quilts are sewn on the sewing machine, there's something nice about being able to sew from the comfort of the couch or the rocking chair, so I've got a handsewing project going on right now: The Christmas Quilt. It's not going to be a very big quilt ... but it's been fun.

This is made using a technique called English Paper Piecing. It's easier than it looks, and there are plenty of tutorials online. Here's a link to my favorite tutorial: Sunshine's Creations.Vintage Threads Inc.: Tutorial on English Paper Piecing : Grandmother's Flower Garden

It's been fun to get little bits sewn together during little bits of time. It's turned into a neat project, preparing for, and looking forward to, Christmas.

So far, so good. I'm almost done with the hexagons-part-of-the-quilt. Then I'll put it onto some sort of backing ... If it's done by Christmas, I'll snap a picture for the blog.

The nice thing is that, at least for now, it's a very portable project, since it fits in my favorite tote bag. It's one of my crocheted-plastic-bags tote bags. But that's another post for another day.

P.S. A few days after posting this, I found out about Fabric Tuesday at a blog called Quilt Story - Their Fabric Tuesdays are a place to share current projects, and be inspired! So I'm linking this post to this week's Fabric Tuesday!

A New Pumpkin Mini Quilt

2011-11-07T00:31:00.001-05:00

Have I mentioned how fun it is to make mini-quilts? It is! Have I also mentioned that my quilting inspiration often comes from other quilters' ideas & pictures that I find online? Pictures and tutorials and ideas abound. Lately, I've noticed that some quilty bloggers invite quilters to post links to their latest mini-quilt projects ... for example, Elizabeth at Pieceful Life hosts a Little Quilt Monday, so here's a link to this Monday's roundup:
pieceful life: little quilt monday~~~jungle stripes mini quilt

In a previous blog post, I shared about Patchwork Pumpkins ...

Lately, I've been having some more fun with mini-pumpkins.

This mini-quilt is going in the mail tomorrow, as a sort of

housewarming present to a dear friend who has recently moved.

The quilting was fun and simple -- criss-cross quilting on the pumpkin, and wavy lines in the "white space".

Each of these little orange squares finishes at less than an inch across ... So tiny!

Pumpkins are so "autumn-ish", they remind me how fast time is flying.

It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is already almost here!

It's a great reminder to be grateful to God for numberless blessings.

Fleece-and-Jeans Quilt

2011-11-05T08:45:00.012-04:00

A few years ago, I made a jeans-quilt for my oldest son ... I put it together in a couple months of Sundays (literally) - it was my Sunday-afternoon project, since I "didn't have time" but wanted to get it done.

It's jeans squares on the top, and the backing is a twin-sized fleece blanket. The fleece makes the perfect backing, and it's warm and fuzzy, and there's no need for batting in between the layers!

Ever since then, I've been buying fleece blankets on sale and meaning to get around to making some more denim quilts - So, lately, I'm sewing a lot of plain denim squares and a few flowered denim squares ...

This one's for my youngest daughter, whose birthday is coming up ... (Shhhhhh ... she doesn't read my blog, although she is learning to read remarkably well ...)

I'm loving the cute little details on the denim ... And the kids think that pockets on their quilts are really neat.

I'm hoping to finish the new jeans quilt soon ... stay tuned ...

Patchwork Pumpkins!

2011-11-04T00:04:00.001-04:00

Mini-Quilts are fun, and remarkably satisfying to put together. I've been meaning to try making patchwork pumpkins like this for a long time ... each of the little squares in the pumpkin are less than an inch across (finished size).

Some day, I'm going to design a "block of the month" quilt, and some kind of patchwork pumpkins will definitely be in there ... for the October or November block ...

Layout idea for "Made Fabric" blocks ...

2011-11-02T21:48:00.002-04:00

Here's what I'm thinking about doing with my "Made Fabric" blocks ... sort of a "color splash" quilt top, with lots of vivid color and lots of white. I added ivory fabric borders to each of the 12" x 12" blocks, making them finish around 16" x 16". The in-between blocks are Tossed Nine-Patch blocks paired with ivory squares.

I love the way each of these "made fabric" blocks turned out ... There's a great picture tutorial for the technique of "making" fabric out of scraps at 15minutesplay ... so, many thanks to Victoria!

"Made Fabric" Blocks

2011-11-02T16:49:00.003-04:00

Lately, I've had fun making crazy-quilt-style quilt blocks with extra scraps. It's what quilters like to call "made fabric", for obvious reasons. So far, I've got 6 blocks that finish at 12" x 12" ... it's looking like they're going to become part of a larger project.

Stay tuned ...