Falling for You Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the "I'm Falling for You" blog hop hosted by Joan of Moose Stash Quilting.

I have two projects to show off today.  The first project is a UFO I started when I joined the "Leafs Me Happy" blog hop oh so long ago in October of 2012. I have been putting this project on my Finish-A-Long lists for years and finally sewed the last stitch just in time for this hop!  Yay!

The pattern is a combination of two elements.  

Bonnie Hunter's Spider Blocks and a pieced maple leaf block I found here.

The leaf pattern is for a 15.5 inch block, so I had to re-size it to fit in an 8.5 inch square.

I did some custom quilting on this one.  Playing around with my rulers, ribbon candy, leaves, and feathers.

I love how the sun really shows off the quilting.

I am so excited to have this one finished!.  It will be gracing my couch this Fall season.

Next up is another old project... sort of.  A couple years before I started the project above, I bought three fall themed charm packs with the intention of making the Charming Stars quilt by Stefanie of  Little Lady Patchwork.  Well last week I finally opened up those charm packs!  Wahoo!  

This quilt went together super fast! These are big blocks with big pieces.  

After I cut up the white background fabric I zipped out those star corners lickety split. 

I didn't even spend hours trying not to get another print next to another print, I just put them on the design wall and let it go!

When I bought the charm packs I also bought a half yard of brown in the same fabric line, just in case.  Good thing,  it turned out perfect for the binding!

I did some all over leaf meandering for the quilting in a pastel yellow thread.  It matched perfect with the browns and oranges and didn't stand out too bright on the white.

The quilt is super soft and fluffy With the looser quilting.

I am loving this fabric and this pattern!  Yay for finally getting the fabric off the shelf and into a quilt!

I really enjoy playing along in these hops.  They really help me use up all the wonderful fabric I've pick up over the years. Not sure if I am quilter or more a fabric collector.  Haha!

I did another stripped backing for this one.  A lot of my fabric stash is two yard cuts or less.  That usually gets me the length of a quilt but not wide enough, so I slice it down the center and add smaller strips in the middle to fill it out out.

Great way to use stash up and add extra color and fun on the back.

Check out this fun brownish egg-ish fabric I used for the back.  I love it!

 

So there you have it...  One quilt 9 years in the making and the other quilt finished in week after I finally opened those charm packs I bought oh so long ago ago!

Check the links below to see all the other Fall inspired projects today from my fellow hoppers!

 Friday, September 24

QuiltFabrication
Ms P Designs USA
Lianne Makes Stuff
Quilted Delights  (me)
MooseStashQuilting

Happy Quilting!!

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The Economy Quilt

When I was making my Snails Squared quilt, I made some boo boo's and cut the wrong color fabric for the wrong sections. This left me with some extra triangles just floating around. 

Well, I didn't want these triangles to get lost in the scrap pile so I decided to make a baby sized quilt using 6 inch economy blocks and the rest of the 10 inch precut of William's Garden, an Island Batik signature collection by Kathy Engle for Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Design.  Precuts are available now, yardage is coming September/October.

I wanted at least 30 blocks, 5 across and 6 down, to get a usable sized quilt, so I had to get a little creative with my piecing Since I had used some parts of several squares from the precut in my previous quilt. I ended up sewing two smaller pieces together to get all the triangles I needed.

Some went together perfect...Have to be really searching to find them.

others ... You can definitely see the two pieces if your looking close.

Once all the squares and triangles were cut it was time for chain piecing. 

By chain piecing and using the Square Squared ruler from Studio 180 Design  I was able to sew these thirty blocks together in one evening.  The Technique Sheet for the Square Squared ruler shows you how to easily make Economy Blocks.

I originally wanted to butt all the blocks next to each other, I love that look, but then the quilt would have been super small at 30 in x 36 in. 

So I sampled some sashing and took a vote with family and friends. 

To Sash or not to Sash? That was the question.

Sashing won, 100%.

The Sashing finished at 1 1/2 inches making the quilt 39 in x 46.5 inches.

This was a nice size as I didn't have to piece the backing and could use a 45 inch wide piece of fabric.

Another good thing about this one being so small is that it quilted up super fast. It was getting close to bedtime and I had just thrown in a load of laundry and needed something to do while I waited, so I put this one on the quilt frame and it was done before the laundry. 

I quilted and an allover design of swirls and curves using 50 wt Aurifil Thread number 1148 Light Jade.  The Light Jade looks perfect over the green, blue, and purple fabrics.

I had the perfect size scrap of Hobbs Heirloom Natural Cotton Batting for this one. I am telling you the stars aligned perfect for me to finish this one up so quick.

And as always, I used a Schmetz Needle. The Microtex needles that came in my latest Ambassador box have been wonderful with the Island Batik fabric.

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Christmas in July - Island Batik Ambassador Challenge

I love sharing my love of quilting and this month Island Batik and Accuquilt are letting me do just that in a big way!

For the July Challenge, Ambassadors were sent a an Accuquilt GO! Me Fabric Cutter Starter Set, a small version of their GO! Fabric Cutter that includes a GO! Half Square Triangle-3” Finished Square and GO! Quarter Square Triangle-3” Finished Square.  

We were challenged to make a project using only the dies that came with the starter set and give that project and the Go Me Starter Set to someone.

I chose to give it to my friend Catrina. She came to my beginner quilt class over a year ago and has really taken off with quilting.  A month before class she had never even opened her sewing machine and now her goal this year is to finish nine quilts for her relatives for Christmas. She is almost done with all the tops! She said the next quilt she is going to make is a pinwheel quilt so this cutter set is perfect for her! 

I wanted to make a throw sized quilt for Catrina and asked her in advance some of her favorite colors. She gave me a lot to play with: Blue, green, teal, ocean colors, and sunset colors. 

I went through all the fabrics Island Batik sent me ended up using the last bit of my blues from River Valley fabric line - created for Deb Tucker of 180 Studio Desings by Kathy Engle, a wee bit of orange from the Ancient Etchings line - designed by Jackie Kunkel of Canton Village Quilt Works, and several pieces from Island Batiks foundations: Pumpkin, Cornmeal, Lagoon, Wavy Dots Cherry, and Sprinkles for the white background,

I cut strips wide enough to cover the die, layered them up and ran it through the Go Me.  I cut out my Half Square Triangles within 15 minutes the first night and cut out the Quarter Square Triangles the next evening. Cutting was super quick.

This quilt is made by alternating two different variations of the Ohio Star Block, each block is made with only HSTs and QSTs.

Block A

Block B

Block B.   I like to sew one block and then chain piece the rest.  I stack the finished squares in the layout I want them and then start sewing.  

These are the pieces for the Quarter Square triangles for Block A.

Again, I put all my pieces in the layout they should be in the quilt.

Then turn them slightly so the seam I want is facing the way they will go under the sewing machine.  That way I know I am sewing on the correct edge.

All my Block Bs with one block A.

Working on Block A. I stacked these as well and eventually made one big pile of unpieced A blocks then chain pieced them together in rows.

These blocks show off a lot of the River Valley blue fabrixs.

 

I wasn't sure how to quilt this until Catrina commented on one of my instagram photos this block reminded her of Hawaiian Lava, then it hit me to quilt some all over flames.  I used a lovely soft yellow Auriful Thread for this, #2130 and in the middle of the quilt sandwich is Hobbs Nautical Cotton batting. 

 

And of course I quilted it with a Schmetz microtex needle.

I seldom think to take a picture of the needle, but these needles work great with my projects!

Some of the Quilting

This one ended up being border-less.  And goes slightly over throw size by a few inches.

It measures 45 x 63.

Make sure to check out all the other Island Batik Ambassadors to see their Christmas in July projects and their recipients.  Happy Quilting!

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