From Top to Quilt

Made this top a very long time ago and put it in the "Finished Top Drawer".

A coworker asked if I could make her a couple of quilts.  She had no design or color ideas in mind so  instead of starting from scratch, I brought in the contents of "the" drawer.  This was her first choice.

This top was a real test for me.  I sew fast but not very carefully. Strips that are 1 1/2 inches wide are tough. Wiggly seams are much more noticeable.  But all in all it was a success. A good challenge for me.

I sent my quilt to Sarah Russett of Sweet Potato quilts for quilting. She is a long arm quilter in NY.  We mail quilts back and forth with no issues. She did another terrific job.

She totally captured the mood of the quilt.

If you are interested in getting in touch with Sarah her email is srussett514@yahoo.com . 

I think the back was a major winner.  It is all red stars that look like fireworks on a creamy white background.  It was a Christmas remnant at the LQS.

I delivered it this morning and she was thrilled.  She did pick 2 tops.  The other is also back from Sarah.  Will need to bind that this week.  I think it would be a good hand sewing project for the opening of the Olympics Friday night.  Go USA.

Just a Little off Track

This is Tink, she never poses for me.  She usually turns her back to the camera when she sees it coming.  It's wonderful when she is being nosey and didnt see the picture happening. She is such a sweety pie.

My self imposed plan for the week has been to finish the Giant Swoon.  Well I am almost there. I now have the 4 rows  done.  They need a good pressing and to be put together.  Then I need to border the back once I know how big I need it to be.  I do plan on being done by Sunday bedtime and having it in the mail to the quilter on Monday.

Last night was scheduled to be the pressing night.  Oops, I saw the posting about making doll cradle  quilts for the group Get Your Mrs. Claus On,  click on the button on the side bar.  Thats all it took to get me to ignore the pressing. 

They are about 12 x 18. I started them at 7ish and finished all but the hand sewing of the binding by 10:15  with only a break to take Miss Tink for a stroll. Wonderful use of stash and time.

I cross hatch quilted one and quilted the other by doing lines 1/4 inch away from all the seam lines. This was so much fun. I love to do the small quick projects that have a start, middle and end all together in under a day.  Such a great feeling of accomplishment.  Couple that with a donation to a great cause, what more could you ask for.

Can I have a Giant Swoon

Why yes I can !

This will be the back to for my King Size Swoon quilt. I did it in Red and Green so it would be reversible and Holidayish.

It still needs borders but I was too excited to wait for them for pictures. Too excited to wait for help taking the picture too.  Here is how she looks on a King Size bed.  PERFECT. By the way she currently measures in at 80 1/2  X 80 1/2.

and the Winner is.....

Judy 1522

Judy was choosen by my random number generator, Michael, as the winner of the Snowman block.
I have dropped her an email for her address.  Congratulations Judy.

Thanks to all of you for Hopping along and for the wonderful things you had to say, not just to me but to all of the participants.  And one last thank you to Madam Samm and Jane for all their hard work and time spent making this another wonderful event.

This is what...

This is what 16 finished Swoon blocks looks like.  It's really hard to show them when they aren't put together.  Actually once they are put together they won't be easy to show either.

I finished up the last one this morning.  What a great feeling of accomplishment.  This evening or maybe tomorrow i will start on the back.  My idea for the back is an 80 inch Swoon block.

Yeah, I am a little crazy. It's a king size quilt and the back was going to have to be pieced anyway so why not make it count.  I found some funky red/pink Christmas fabric and some funky Green fabric on sale at the LQS.  Found some great cream fabric with huge snowflakes for the background.  When all is said and done it should be a reversible for the holidays.  I'll keep you posted.

My Stop on the Red White and Blue Blog Hop

Happy Summer everyone and welcome to my stop on the RED WHITE and BLUE BLOG HOP.

This hop has been a great motivator.  I had 2 ideas for a small quilt this year that melded together perfectly under this red, white and blue inspired hop.

In December/January, I participated in the 12 Days of Christmas quilt along   from       http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.com/      where we made a block a day for 12 days.

It was a great sampler made up of blocks that increased in number of pieces over the 12 days.  Day 1 block had 1 piece, day 12 had a 12 piece block.  At the time I thought this could work up to be a great lap size quilt for my couch.  Mean time, I had made myself a RW&B quilt top a couple of years ago that a friend asked me to complete  for her 2 months ago.  So now I needed a new RWB quilt for me. Perfect meeting of ideas.

Here is my parade of blocks for this quilt.  I had no trouble making the original 3 ½ inch blocks but my ability to convert them to larger blocks was woeful.  Some weren’t bad like the pinwheel and 4 patch, but let me tell you the X was a mini nightmare.  I finally drew the block on my yellow cutting board to actual size and then cut the pieces using the actual measurements.  

This is still a top and will probably be a top til at least next spring, my slow time, unless I send it out.  I have no issue whatsoever with leaving it a top and hanging it across the back of my couch as is.   It’s the thought that counts : }

Now while this blog hop motivated me to make this quilt, I felt like I was not working in the true spirit of the hop and that I needed to make 1 special stand alone block.

I originally made a block very similar to this one, just a bit larger to use as a wall or door hanging the Christmas after 9/11.  I quilt gifts for several friends and members of my family every year and this was the gift we all needed that year.  This redesigned one fits my table topper just perfectly.

My give away is this block. I will draw a name from the comment list on Sunday, July 15. Just let me know if you want to be in the running.

This was a great kick off to my summer.  Thanks for stopping by to visit.  Please stop by and see the rest of today’s creative contributions to the Hop.


July 10th

Tinks mom (that's me)

beaquilter

Quilted Sisca (I will Host)

sharon-dancing thru threads

Connie C

Cate`s Linens

And last but never least, thank you Jane and Madam Samm for putting this hop in motion.

A quilt for Phoenix quilts.

Spent yesterday putting this top together to be sent to Julie at Phoienix Quilts for the people who were burned out in the wildfires out west.  This group is looking to make/collect at least 750 quilts, 1 for each burned out family.  Please stop by her blog and read about what her group is doing. Maybe you could offer some help or assistance.

http://phoenixquilts.blogspot.com/2012/07/welcome-to-phoenix-quilts_07.html

Lets Celebrate the 4th

The company I work for participates in a program called summer Friday's where we work an extra half hour a day during the week and then they let us go at 1:00 on Friday.  It was way too hot here in NJ on Friday to do anything productive outside so I spent some guiltless time blog hopping through the links on http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/

What I found is   http://todaysfabulousfinds.blogspot.com/  where I found this great download designed by Janet.  She calls it Subway art and has designed them for all the seasons, most holidays, birthdays,  you get the picture.  She has them available in various colors with instructions for how to download and how to change colors using several popular software programs, all out of the goodness of her heart.

I thought this one for the 4th of July would make a great shirt for the holiday picnic. Picked the shirt up at Target's for $8.  Even if the project was a total flop( one never knows with iron on transfers ) it would be a good PJ top.

Here is a close up of the detail.  I'll wear the shirt proudly on Wednesday.

This is her birthday version.  I had to play a little with this one too.  I printed the design for the shirt at  8 1/2 x 11, the card 4x6, and the bag 5x7.

Thanks Janet,  I'm just getting started with what I can do with this art.  A wall hanging of the seasons is definitely in the wind. 

Happy 4th everyone !

The beginning of a Summer Quilt

I just love this fabric.  It is so perfect for a summer, red,white and blue quilt.  I found this in the Christmas fabric close outs in my LQS and thought it had been miss filed. So much more 4th of July than Christmas to me.

This will be the third red, white and blue quilt I have made for me. The first I ended up donating to be raffled for the Bulldog rescue where we got Tink. The second was still only a top and has been picked by a friend for her new summer home on the lake.  It's on it's way to the quilter as we speak. Maybe this one will actually be a keeper.

This quilt will be based on the 12 Blocks of Christmas from http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.com/.  They had  a great sew along the end of Dec beginning of Jan.where each day you made a 3 1/2 inch block.  Each day the new block contained one more piece. My version is here  http://selinaquilts.blogspot.com/2012/01/12-days-of-christmas-blocks.html.

The difference this time around will be that the blocks are 9 1/2 inches not 3 1/2 before the sashing strips.

See Block 3 - 3 pieces

Block 4 -

The first 4 blocks with sashing strips.   Opps, the bottom sashing strip on the 4 patch needs to bbe flipped around.  Tomorrow is another day.  Looking at it like this I am very pleased so far.

I also managed to get one more Swoon block done this week.  That's 12 of 16 done. I have even picked out the fabrics for the remaining blocks just need to cut it up.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by.

New Batch of Rice Bags

 My dear MIL is back in NJ from Florida for the summer. I got an email this afternoon letting me know that she left her rice bag in Florida and she really would like it if I could make one for her and bring it to the family picnic on Sunday.


http://www.sewwequilt.com/2011/12/comfort-and-joy-with-selinaand-her-rice.html

My thinking is that there will be at least 5 families at the picnic. It would be tacky for me to just bring one for her and have her tell everyone how wonderful it is.  It was just easier to make them before she shamed me into making them for everyone else.  The link above is for the tutorial to make the rice bags that I worked up last December for Sew We Quilt.

The tutorial was made using larger pieces of fabric to start which made the project fly.  I used left overs for this project. I swapped a tiny bit of speed for cleaning out some flannel stash.

The best part of the tutorial is that for the first time I made these bags without the guessing of the size fabric to cut and all my tips were there from the get go.

I made 7 and I'm pretty sure there won't be any left to bring home.   They are such a fun quick gift.  Between 7 and 9:30 this evening  I whipped up 7 rice bags and walked the dog.

8-9-10

Still plowing away at the king size Swoon  quilt.  Got blocks 8 -9 and 10 completed this week with e#11 laid out on the table and #12 half cut out.  I only need 16 blocks in total so I’m better than half way there.

Not a bad weeks work.  I even figured out how best to store them so that I could see what fabrics I had already used, pretty much at a glance.  The only problem with this storage system is that everything is held together with straight pins.  At the rate I’m going the unifying element of this top will be the trail of blood ; } .   These are shots of blocks 1 thru 8.

I have 2 backs to put together for quilts that have been commissioned.  Once the backs are done I can get them in the mail to the quilter. After that, I think I will get at least number 11 and 12 Swoon done before I go on to my other projects.  I have some Charity blocks I’ve committed to do and my Red, White and Blue blocks for the blog hop to do .  I have ideas down on paper for the RW&B.  It’s just a matter of starting them.  They are only 12 ½ inch square.  They will be done in plenty of time, I'm not scheduled until 7/10.

Mail

This week I need to mail off several charm packs.  I started to put them in puffy envelopes and they looked lost.  I so needed to remedy that so I whipped up some cozy envelopes for them.

Don't they look better? More secure? Happy?

I made several of these last fall using this tutorial. http://originateandrenovate.blogspot.com/2011/09/traveling-art-kit.html

They take 2 pieces of 10x20 fabric and some interfacing. They don't take much time to sew up either. The ones I made in September had velcro closings.  The tutorial calls for buttonholes.  I haven't done one of those in several years so I opted to do nothing on this group.

This is the size in the tutorial.  I made several on a smaller scale. They held greeting cards that I made as gifts and gift cards.  A wonderful stash buster.

Refering back to my posting regarding what I did in the month of May I noticed that I completely skipped over the Swoon blocks that I am making for the quilt for ME for the new house.  How I forgot about 7 of those huge blocks I have no idea. They are covering half the free surfaces in the room.  Hopefully by late tomorrow I will have the first one for June done.

Small Project Sew Along Finale

This is a  photo of an item not on my list of things to do in the Small Project Sew Along that was hosted by Amanda Jean http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/.

The original list looks something like this:

1 - Green and Yellow quilt for H2H                                            Completed and mailed

2 - 1600 Jelly Roll quilt for H2H                                                 Completed and mailed

3A - Small zip purse                                                                    Completed and delivered

3B - Another small purse                                                             Completed and delivered

3C - A third zip purse                                                                   Completed and delivered    

4 Tailor a pair of pants for a friend                                              Completed

5 - Bind the Swoon Quilt                                                             Completed and delivered 

6 - Bind the Granny Square quilt for my Sister                           Not even touched

7 - Finish Log Cabin Blocks                                                        Not even touched

8 - At least 1 Harrison and Hannah block                                    Not even touched

Additions to the list

9 - Large Carry All for a friend                                                   Completed and delivered

10 -  Red, White & Blue blocks for Beth at                                Completed and mailed
        http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/  for a quilt for her local VA Hospital

11 - My traveling socks                                                               Did a couple of inches


This was a great idea and mostly kept me on target so a Big Thanks to Amanda Jean.

I did have a couple of issues that got in my way.  First and foremost is that the last 3 items on the original list had no deadlines other than this Sew Along.  Not enough of a pull when these other things presented themselves.
 
Beth put out a request for 12 inch Red,White and Blue blocks that she would put together for her local VA Hospital. Got 3 of them whipped up and in the mail and forgot all about taking photos of them.

A friend asked if I could whip up a Carry All like the one I made for my sister last summer only larger.  The picture above is of my sister's bag.  I used the same prequilted fabric and made the new bag about 3 inches wider and 4 inches taller and with lots of interior pockets. Gave it to her and yet again forgot to take a picture.

Then  last but not least we went away for the last few days of the month and out came the traveling socks.     I generally keep a small bag in my tote that contains yarn, my circular needle and pattern for a pair of socks.  Over the course of the year I generally get a pair done while on the road.  I did a couple of inches of the top of the second sock this trip.  I'm ready to turn the heal.  I will probably finish the heal before I toss them back into the suitcase. The heal takes a bit of concentration that I don't generally have when I travel.

So that's my month in review. I'm rather proud of my accomplishments.

If you are new to my blog you can see most of the completions fo the month by scrolling through my postings for the month.

Thanks for stopping by.

Link to tutorial for Garden Fence quilt

This is the link for the tutorial for the Yellow and Green quilt below.  I was in a hurry to do the post and forgot to include it. It's a great tutorial.   
http://thiscraftyfox.blogspot.com/2011/06/garden-fence-pattern-wip-planning.html

Hand 2 Hand 2012 Charity Quilt Challenge

This is one of my favorite quilt patterns. It is so versatile. I have done it with fussy cut centers of children novelty fabric several times for quick gifts.  This quilt and the one that follows is for the 2012 Hand 2 Hand Charity Quilt challenge.  I will be linking to their show of all of this years quilts.  Please stop by  http://www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/search/label/Hands2Help on Sunday.

This is one of the 1600 quilts.  It is such a fun quilt to make.  You don't need to compete with anyone but yourself.  It goes together mindlessly.  I put on a DVD and just GO.  I personally found it took longer to iron it than it did to sew it.

This is the back of the 1600 quilt.  It is such a fun fabric.  I believe it is a Dr. Seuss.   No picture of the back of the other quilt it was pretty but plain.

I got 3 more of my Swoon blocks done. 7 done out of 16.  I found a real motivator. I booked some time with my long arm quilter for the end of July to have this done.  Now I need to keep my end of the bargain.

This is the 3rd block.  I went to bed last night with the block in 3 big pieces.  Just too tired to finish the last 2 seams.  Can you tell which seams I'm talking about.  Well I got up this morning and decided to finish it before all of the holiday plans kicked in and voila, I not only put one piece on the wrong end I did both pieces wrong.  The one mistake I can accept but after sewing it I ironed it and never noticed it was wrong before adding the other side. 

My ripper works well and it was fixed in a matter of 10 - 15 minutes.   This should be the worst thing to go wrong with my weekend.

I hope to get some quilting in between errands, picnics and parties this long weekend here in the states.  I'm heading out to get my toes done so they will look pretty in my sandals.

Enjoy your holiday.  Go hug a veteran and say thanks.