Crochet

One of the things I should do more often is write blog posts.

Sometimes, my dilemma is: Do I want nicely-polished, wordy posts occasionally, or do I want simple (Instagram-style) captioned pictures, more frequently?

Actually, there's probably room for both, so, here's my picture for today:

I just rediscovered an afghan I started (5 or 10) years ago. I'm finishing it! It's the perfect fall project!

T-Shirt Yarn

In not-so-quilty news, I'm still occasionally making T-Shirt Yarn.

I usually either crochet with this fun, bulky yarn, or I sell it on eBay. 

Currently, I've got some T-Shirt Yarn, some Vintage Toys, and some Minecraft-Style Quilts for sale on eBay.

Quilt-y Kaleidoscopes and Mitered Corners!

I've been fascinated by quilt-y kaleidoscopes ever since I knew they existed.

Octagons, hexagons, (more hexagons!), squares, you name it. (This post has pictures of a variety of  kaleidoscopes I've made.)

So, I have been interested to see some of the things Jinny Beyer has done with border prints in kaleidoscope-like designs. (Some of her free patterns are in the Free Patterns and Quilter's Block Library sections of her website.)

Imagine my surprise when I found, at my favorite thrift store, a big bundle (5+ yards!) of Jinny Beyer fabric!

I had no idea what to do with it, but figured I would come up with something!
These designs are border prints, with a lot of symmetry built in, to make it easier/prettier to get geometric designs and mitered corners to work.

Lately, most of my quilt backs have been pieced quilt backs. In some cases, the back is pretty detailed. Like a whole 'nother quilt. Because, really, I have enough fabric. I don't need to by more. So a lot of my currently-in-progress quilt "backs" look a lot like quilt tops.

Anyhoo ... Here's a quick look at my latest kaleidoscope-like quilt bits for a quilt "back".
Each of these squares was made of 4 matching triangles ... That way, the stripes make mitered corners. Very cool.

I'm also auditioning some of the fabric for borders on some coordinating stuff ...

 I'm having fun! More details later!

Christmas in September?

It occurs to me that I haven't mentioned my Quilt-and-Felt Christmas Ornaments, at least not lately.

My Etsy shop has a variety of cute ornaments that I've made.

Maybe you're like me and you're trying to beat the last of the summer heat by looking forward to cool, crisp fall and winter ...

Possibly, you want to be reminded that Thanksgiving is less than three months away, and Christmas is only four months away!

Take a look at the Christmassy things in my Etsy shop!

More Custom Baby Name Quilts

In a post the other day, I mentioned making Custom Baby Name Quilts ... because they make great gifts. I got inspired to make a few more!

I got a lot of quilting done relatively fast thanks to my Flynn Multi-Frame. (I've blogged about it before ... including posts here and here.) Not many people seem to use a quilting frame with a regular sewing machine, but it's a great option!

The frame quilting is not something I do all the time, and it does take some getting used to, but I LOVE the results!

After a lot of quilting ...

... and a lot of binding ...

... I've got some adorable pink flannel-and-cotton quilts in my Etsy shop -- these are ready to customize and personalize!

Custom-lettering is a fun way to personalize a quilt ... These quilts are specifically made to allow for a baby name to be quilted in!

A Finished Quilt!

A few months ago, this quilt got finished!

I really enjoyed putting this quilt together. It was mostly pieced a couple of years ago. (I blogged about it a few times ... including here, here, and here. It seems like I started blogging about this one in 2016 - including posts like this one.)

It's my version of "Hopscotch Butterscotch" from Bonnie Hunter's book Adventures With Leaders and Enders.

This quilt has the look that I like to call the "organized scrappy" look ... lots of scraps come together to make a great design. It's a scrappy quilt, and even the fabrics that "shouldn't" go together can look good together. They just work. 

To me, this is one of the reasons why quilts sometimes seem like life: a lot of little parts come together to make the whole, and a lot of surprises may come our way. In life, we can't always see what God's up to, but He has a plan, and He works out all things together for good for those who love Him. 

I love pieced backings on quilts! 

A little extra patchwork gives the back of the quilt its own special look.

The quilting was an all-over stippled design ... it's my favorite.

Straight-line quilting in the border adds a little more definition.

This quilt was a gift for a dear friend. 

A Custom Baby Name Quilt!

I love making personalized gifts.

Quilts are my favorite baby gift, baby shower gift, welcome-baby gift!

I love being able to give a gift that has a personal touch. Something custom. A little bit unique.

So, I loved making this quilt, and personalizing it for a friend's new baby.

Quilting the name in this style was a fun technique. Is it thread-painting? Maybe. I like it. I love how the letters stand out, even without any extra batting, just because of the dense quilting.

This was a fun gift to make, and I've got a few little quilts similar to this for sale in my Etsy shop, all ready to customize.

 

In between quilt-y things

Sometimes, my sewing is not very blog-able, but it's helpful and necessary.

Things like hemming shorts & jeans are (relatively) quick and easy, but don't make a very pretty blog post. Adding elastic to a kid's garment's waistline makes for a better fit, but a rather dull blog-mention.

Pocket-mending is not very photogenic, but it's pretty handy. Recently, I bought my teenager a great pair of pants in a hard-to-find size -- brand new, for just a dollar! (I love deals like that!)  But the pockets were only 2" deep. For those pants, good pockets were a must, so I un-sewed and re-sewed the pockets into a more useful size.

 

I love being able to stitch useful (even if "boring") things.

That Batik Modern Double Wedding Ring Quilt

A really long time ago, I posted about a modern Double Wedding Ring quilt I started.

I first posted about it in this blog post in 2013. More recently, there was progress -- but that was in 2015. So, it's been a while.

In my original post from 2013, I mentioned that I was definitely inspired by this quilt from Jo's Country Junction. I loved the dark blue background, and I'd never seen a DWR quilt with anything other than a light background, and I LOVED the look of dark blue.

Not being sure I had the endurance for all those hundreds of tiny pieces, I decided on a "modern" look: rings made from larger pieces, and done in batiks.

I've loved the fabrics, and the colors, and I've enjoyed working on it, but I've been busy. So, it's been sitting.

Yesterday, Jo's Country Junction announced a Double Wedding Ring Quilt-Along ... Mine's not quite the same, but the Quilt-Along sounds pretty user-friendly and uncomplicated ... So, I think this is my opportunity to get motivated to finish mine!

I dug the project out of its zipper-bag-in-a-box. As often happens, I got a lot of the "hard part" finished, and then the project stalled for lack of time. Looks like I've got 5 of my 7 rows mostly-assembled. There are pieces to add to the edges, possibly in conjunction with the borders. And I'm undecided how I want to do the borders, but I've got some ideas.

So, before next week, I want to double-check my layout and figure out the plan for the border. (See all those options laid out on paper? I need to figure out which layout I chose and started, and whether all my pieces and parts are accounted for.)

I'm linking this post to Jo's Quilt-Along blog post for this week.

25-Patch Quilt Top!

The quilt top is done!

25-Patch blocks alternated with Mosaic neutral blocks.

Those white-and-cream blocks ... Are they "made fabric" blocks? Yes! Are they "scrap vortex" blocks? Yes! Not sure what to call them. But I love them!

This quilt top even looks cool from the BACK! 

From the back, it reminds me of a stained-glass window. (Which reminds me ... I have a couple kinds of stained-glass window quilts that I'd love to make!)