Weekend of Binding

I hand bound two quilts this weekend to a Grey's Anatomy marathon on Netflix.  I've been itching to get my Scrappy Trip Along quilt done and it finally is!  I was so happy that I dragged it around with me all day today.  I love finishes!

I'm in love with the back of my Scrappy Trip Along quilt.  It's Nordic Diamond in Purple from the Heaven & Helsinki collection by Patty Young.   I have learned since I started quilting to never skimp on the back.  If you find a print/idea/layout you love... just go for it.  You will be seeing it 50% of the time when you're using the quilt.  I made the mistake once on a quilt... and while I still love the front of it, I'm angry at the back every time I look at it.  For the amount of time I put into these, I never want to be angry at the back!

In other news, my Madrona Road Challenge quilt has been completed for a while now and I have yet to post about it. Below is in progress shot that I forgot to share from early February.

I'll share the photos soon.  :)

LVMQG Mini Quilt Swap - Improv Chevron

Our guild swapped fat quarters at a meeting to use as inspiration for a mini-quilt.  The fabric I got was from Jenean Morrison's Silent Cinema line called Gray Featurette.  It's the gray print/border in the below mini-quilt.

Included with the fabric was a note that she liked 'Jewel Tones'.  I really had no idea what to do with it until some teal and gold fabric fell on my sewing room floor next to each other on accident.  I pulled a bunch of fabrics and went for the improv chevron block (Tutorial over on Six White Horses blog).   I actually meant to have more of the gray fabric showing, but after I finished piecing a couple of the strips, this is where my trimming landed it.

I put the remaining fabric on the back with a cute little strip of Kona berry on the binding.  The photo looks maroon but I can assure you that's just my bad photography and it's really a berry color.

I hand bound the edges and added a little white piece of ribbon for hanging:

Christmas Tree Skirt

My work in progress that I shared yesterday turned into this:

I convinced my husband that instead of a big real tree this year, we have a smaller fake one.  Our condo living room is quite small and the big tree takes up a ton of space (and blocks part of the TV).  I also didn't feel like cleaning the pine needles out of my convertible that we use to bring it home in. :)  This year I bought a super cute small pre-lit 4' tree and needed a new skirt.

I sewed together strips of fabric, alternated cutting them into 45 degree triangles, added tree trunks (they are a dark brown Kona), sashed each tree and sewed them into a circle.  It finishes at 30" wide which is perfect for our 4' tree.

My absolute favorite part of this skirt is the binding. I love how the stripes look.

It was complete luck that the tree above has a snowflake positioned as if its a star on top. :)

I ripped off all of the clear pre-lit lights and added multi-colored twinkle lights.  I could stare at it for hours.  We both love it!

Happy Sewing!

Work in Progress

I had the urge to work with Christmas fabrics... so I started cutting and sewing these last weekend.  The result was a pile of these triangles:

I'll share what this turns into soon! :)  It's hard getting good pictures with limited daylight hours!

Vintage Modern Quilt

My work in progress is complete!

With much inspiration from Film in the Fridge's FMF version of the Swirling Medallion quilt, I made my own Vintage Modern wall hanging.  The swirling medallion quilt pattern can be found in the Quilting Modern book.

As I mentioned before, this quilt was made for the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild's Bonnie and Camille Quilt Challenge. The rules were simply that we can use any B&C fabric and make any quilt we want.

 
This quilt finished at 34"w x 46"h.  It will make a perfect wall hanging as I slowly replace all the boring brown and beige colors in our home.

The white binding was a suggestion from my husband.  He usually runs out of the room if I ever ask him anything design related... so I'm not sure what prompted his input this time.  It brightens up the quilt - he made a good choice!  I also successfully hand stitched the binding on.  I'm getting much better at it and I love having something to do while watching TV.

I added two stripes to the back along with my standard embroidered name/date stamp.  I love how the quilting is highlighted on the back.

The awesome news is that my quilt won in the 'Best Use of Fabric' category!!  I received a Jelly Roll of Bonnie and Camille's Marmalade! :D

Work in Progress

The Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild is hosting a Bonnie and Camille Quilt Challenge.  We can use any B&C fabric and make any quilt we want.

I purchased a charm pack of Vintage Modern and was on my way!  Here was my happy little spot this past weekend:

Our projects are due at our November meeting, so I will share photos of my finished project after that. :)

Cat Nap Pad

My friend is a huge comic book fan.  He's also a gamer who's cat always sits right next to his computer while he's on it.  For his birthday I made him (and his cat) a Cat Nap Pad.

I sandwiched 4 layers of warm and natural quilt batting in between the comic book print and a layer of Minky on the back.  If he wants he can flip it and use the cotton side so its cooler in the summer or use the Minky side so its warmer for the winter.

I went through four needles making this.  I snapped three in the four layers of quilt batting but the last needle survived! I really wanted it to be soft as she's currently laying on a glass table.

I sewed the layers the wrong sides together and flipped it inside out and hand stitched (*gasp*) the opening closed.  I don't remember the measurements but the fabric piece I used was about the size of a fat quarter.

He said as soon as he put the pad down on the table she immediately plopped right now: 

Action shot!

r/aww  :)