Carpenter Star Quilt Tops

Yes, I made two Carpenter Star quilt tops.  I made them at the same time; they were fast and easy.  The blue and green one will be for my great grandbaby, due in October; and the red, white, and blue one will be staying in my living room.

 

May your bobbins always be full,

Pool Party Quilt Top, Pre-cut Challenge

The Pool Party Disappearing-4-Patch quilt top is assembled. It measures 64.5" x 80.5". After assembly, I found a problem but it's staying! Can you spot the problem?

I made this from a layer cake called Pool Party Palette by Kona Cotton. I tried to keep the blues in the order they were in the layer cake, I succeeded for the most part. I'm very happy with the result. This is part of my pre-cut challenge, trying to use up all the precuts I've accumulated over the years.

Yes, this Disappearing-4-Patch looks different, if you want to make your own version, you can find the tutorial on YouTube, here.

May your bobbins always be full,

Two Brake Light Quilts complete

My friends and current "Quilt Models", Lori and Charlie, met me in the parking lot at the clubhouse to help get photos of these two quilts.  You can read about the process of making these two quilts here.  

When I got home I remembered that I hadn't taken any cell phone photos, so I had to get creative.

I used some hangers with clips and hung both quilts from the gutter in front of the garage.

I used a long arm quilter that usually does custom quilting for me.  I left all the decisions up to her and I'm happy with the results.  My only displeasure is that when she mailed these two quilts back to me, she addressed the package incorrectly.  My street number was wrong, and my street name was misspelled.  I'm going to think long and hard before using her services again.

May your bobbins always be full,

The Biggest HST I ever made!

At our FB Room meeting last month, the Temecula Valley Modern Quilt Guild president issued a challenge.  Easy peasy, make something using charm squares.  I'm always up for a challenge, so I looked at some of the charm square tutorials on the web.  I settled on The Brake Lights tutorial by Moda Fabrics.

I had a bunch of charm packs that I'd picked up at a couple of Quiltcons, freebies from the vendors.  Each pack had 5 to 10 squares.  I picked Caribbean Blue for the foreground fabric and Winsor Blue fr the background.  After I read the instructions, I decided, NO Way!  I came up with Plan B, and made the above 60" square from the charms, cut in half, and foreground 4/5" rectangles.

I then made a matching-sized background square.  Laid them out, right-sides together, drew the diagonal line, and stitched 1/4' from both sides of the line, cut on the line, and pressed.  That's how I made these huge HSTs.

But I wasn't finished.  I cut another 60" length of Windsor Blue, cut it in half, along the fold, and stitched the new addition to the top of each section.  I now have two Brake Light Quilt Tops.  I sent them off to my friend Georganna for quilting.  When complete, they will go to my favorite twins!

May your bobbins always be full,

Buzzsaw Beauty Quilt Top

It's taken awhile, but this Large Buzzsaw Quilt Top is finished.  It measures 67" x 67".  I'm really happy with the end result, but I need to decide on the back for this and the smaller Light Buzzsaw Quilt Top.

I'm hoping to get these two to the LAQ, this week.

May your bobbins always be full,

Light Buzzsaw Quilt Top finished

It's so interesting how different the blues look in different lighting.  The top photo, taken in natural light is the best representation of the true colors.  The quilt top is about 39 inches square, I'm thinking this will be a good size for a baby quilt.  Now, I'm going to put the borders on the other Buzzsaw quilt top.  OK, not now, maybe tomorrow; now I need to walk the dogs and think about dinner.

May your bobbins always be full,

Buzzsaw Beauty(s)

I squeezed in some sewing time, and finished up this 60 x 60" Buzzsaw Beauty quilt top.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I've been pondering adding a border, but don't think I will.  I have a friend interested in adding this to her collection, so I might ask her if she wants a border to make it larger.

Initially, I was going to include the the paler block in the above quilt top, but I got to thinking that overall it was just too light, not enough oomph to go with the other blocks.  This block is 30 x 30", and I think I'll order some more blue for a border.

One good think about being a caregiver, I have plenty of time to ponder, between sewing sessions.

May your bobbins always be full,

Buzzsaw progress

Today, I managed to complete one more large Buzzsaw block.  I'm calling these "Buzzsaw Beauty Blocks", because they are really four blocks stitched together, with the inside corners twisted to create an inner Buzzsaw block, the New York Beauty quilts were my inspiration for doing this.

I have one more laid out on my cutting table, it's a lighter toned version, so I'm going to leave it there while I think about it.  If I use all three of these Buzzsaw Beauty Blocks, the quilt will be 60 x 90 inches, if I don't use a border.

May your bobbins always be full,

More Buzzsaw blocks

It's raining "cats and dogs" today, meaning no outdoor photos.  Above are the additional eight Buzzsaw blocks I've put together.  They're each 15.5 inches square.  I'm holding off stitching these to the block below, which is 30 inches square, because haven't settled on the final layout.

I'm really enjoying this process, and hope to be able to sew over this weekend.

May your bobbins always be full,

Buzzsaw quilt top, start

 I finally found some stitchin' time.  Woo Hoo, for me.  I'm really liking these Buzzsaw blocks.  When I have more time I'll get some four patches together to make a quilt top.

May your bobbins always be full,

Progress!

It only took a week, but it seemed much longer!  I started with this pile of fabric, pulled from my stash.

Cut the 8.5 inch squares and matched prints and backgrounds.  Marked the diagonal and stitched on both sides.

Pressed the HSTs open, I didn't take a photo of that!

Trued up 120 HSTs to a perfect 8 inch square.  Every one of them.

Now, I don't know what I'm going to do.  We have a busy week ahead, and I'm torn between starting to make the Delectable Mountain blocks or putting the binding on the two commissioned quilts I just got back from my long arm quilter.  I'll probably work on the bindings, because that's the responsible thing to do.

May your bobbins always be full,

New Blue Delectable Mountain Quilt Top

First the fabric pull, all from my stash.

Then the cutting.  I decided on 8.5 inch squares.  I really don't have a firm plan.  The Delectable Mountain quilt block is very versatile, regarding layout.  I thought I'd get the blocks made and see if they're speaking to me.

May your bobbins always be full,

Two down, Four to go

These two are a lot alike.  Red, white and blue and I used the exact same fabric for both quilts.

The first one is definitely "baby"-sized, 41" x 46". The top and back of this quilt were finished up, last October!  I really love how it turned out.  I've listed it in my etsy shop, here.

Another finish, for today.  I'm really happy with how well the HST's turned out when I set them on-point.  It makes such a simple design very special, in my book.  I also, love the way the back turned out.  This one is listed, here.

This was also ready for the long arm quilter in October.  I've had many trials with different long arm quilters, and have finally settled on Janiel Miller, right here in Murrieta.  She was slow getting these back to me because I gave her permission to delay them.

May your bobbins always be full,