Purple Comfort Quilt

I finished up my comfort quilt for March today.  I'm really pleased with it.

As I mentioned in my last post, this quilt is made up entirely of stash fabric that needed to be used up.

I used a variegated thread that I have had sitting around forever.  I honestly don't even remember why I ever bought it, it is not my style at all.  But it was perfect for this quilt.  I quilted with simple lines 1/4 inch from each seam.
 

The backing is my favorite part.  It is a Lizzy House print that I found on clearance for $1.48 a yard!!  I bought it knowing that it would be the backing to a purple comfort quilt one day.  I just love it!!

I used a matching purple in my bobbin instead of the variegated thread because I didn't want to distract from those adorable castles.

But, I did use the variegated thread on the binding - so cute!

It is amazing what a difference lighting makes.  The pictures above where taken outside under the shade of a tree.  Below is the same quilt in the house.

The inside pictures are closer to the actual colors.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

March Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Purple

March's color for the rainbow scrap challenge is purple. 

I love purple, but purple can be hard with all of its different shades from reddish to bluish. 

Luckily, all of the rainbow quilts I am working on this year lend themselves to separating all of those different shades.

First up, my "birch tree" blocks.

My Medallion Log Cabin blocks.

My "made-fabric" wonky stars.

And finally, my flying geese blocks.

 

And since I had all of that purple out, I decided to whip up a quick comfort quilt top with it.  I pulled some fabric pieces that have been lingering in my stash forever.  One piece was leftover from a sundress I made for myself in 1992.  Seriously.  It was time to go.  I pulled some "ugly" fabric I couldn't see myself using anytime soon(dark purple tie dye)  and mixed in some pretty fabrics I adore (large purple flowers) and they just kinda work.  I also had some random white triangular cutoffs from another project that would work perfectly as wonky star points.  So I went with a quick and simple go to pattern.  I used up some stash, saved some fabric from the trash and make a purplicious quilt!  I hope to get it quilted up in the next couple of weeks.

And finally, my stash bee queen this month picked this Wanta Fanta block in purple for her block this month.  Lucky me!  I hopw she loves it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

The three little bears - quilt style

If you know me, you know that I am a scrap quilter at heart.  This means that I save every little piece and I hate waste.  I will dig fabric out of the trashcan what others have thrown away.  And I will go out of my way to avoid waste if possible. 

So, when it comes to the sew and flip method, I have a love/hate relationship.  I LOVE how easy it is and all of the possibilities for precise piecing.  But, I hate those odd leftover pieces.  I save almost all of them to be used SOMEWHERE.

When the new block for the Crossroads quilt along came out a couple of days ago and I saw all of those sew and flip corners, I cringed just a little.  I am using a layer cake for most of my fabric, so every little piece is precious.  I decided to do a little experimenting and try to figure out how to make those square in a square blocks without the waste.  And here is where the story of The Three Little Bears comes into play.

Using a little quilty math guesstimation, I decided to try cutting that center square at 2 1/8 inches.  From the background fabric,  I cut 2 squares 2 1/2 inches and then cut them diagonally to make 4 triangles.

Well those center squares came out just a little bit too small.  They didn't quite touch.

I decided to try the center square at 2 3/8 for the next one.  A little too big, I really had to work to make these fit and they are a little wonky.

So for the final block I went in the middle with a 2 1/4 inch square.  Ahhh, just right.

Am I going to redo the first 2 you ask?  No, I am going to be ok with those blocks.  First of all, the point of this experiment was to SAVE fabric, so it would seem wasteful to toss them aside.  Secondly, these blocks are not going to be next to each other in the quilt, they will be separated by other blocks and sashing blocks so I am pretty sure no one will notice but me.  And finally, this quilt is for me, and I am ok with imperfection.  Every quilt is a learning experience.  :)

Here are the diamond blocks all together.

And here are my house blocks together.

Are you quilting along too?

If not, it is not too late to join in.  The pattern is free over at The Fat Quarter Shop.  They are asking everyone to donate to the March of Dimes this year in return for a fun year of quilting along.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Tracy

February in Review

I had a very productive month!

I finished my Valentine patchwork quilt and two comfort quilts from start to finish!

I got my Hillside Houses quilt quilted and bound.

 

Isn't that texture fantastic! This was quilted by my friend Cyndi at our LQS The Dancing Bobbin.

It is backed with this fabulous metro circles fabric.

And it is bound with scraps of the shot cotton used in the houses.  I'm just so happy with this finish!!

Also quilted by Cyndi this month is my second Farm Girl Vintage quilt.  It is ginormous!  These inside winter photos just don't do this quilt justice.  It is so vibrant and fun.

And of course, it has a scrappy binding.


This is another long overdue UFO that is now FINISHED!

I completed and quilted this top last year and then it sat and sat just waiting for a border to turn it into a real quilt.  Done!

I picked a vibrant green for this border.  It is perfect with the front and those gorgeous raspberries on the back.

That's a total of 6 quilts completed this month!

But I also finished my Polaroids top and made progress on some other WIPs.

I have 23/25 Scrappy Bear Paw blocks done and 33/40 tulips made for the Purple Sewing Challenge.

All of the blocks for my long distance quilt along with my Aunt Charlotte are complete and I've started to work on the sashing. I am really excited about seeing this one come together!

And of course, I created even more WIPs...

I love looking back each month at what I've accomplished.  It really makes me look forward to the month ahead!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

Finished Polaroid Quilt Top

My Polaroid top is done!!  This one has been in the works a long time, and worth every minute!

I started seeing some Polaroid swaps happening on the blogs a couple of years ago and was instantly smitten.  Many of my childhood photos are Polaroids, so I thought this would be a great way to make an adorable I-spy quilt and be nostalgic at the same time.  I immediately started to collect and put aside some little bits of novelty fabric and tiny white scraps to make the borders.

Every once in a while I would take some time to trim the white scraps and sew them on the pieces I'd collected.  Here is what I had when I took it out last month:

I had just over 100 little pieces cut out.  It sounds like a lot, but then I started to draw out a plan...

I decided to make them into blocks of 9 patches with a layout of 5x5 blocks.  That would be about 225 little pictures!! But, it was time for this backburner project to come to fruition.

I picked this amazing blue peppered cotton as my background.  I wish you could feel it, it is so soft and gorgeous.

I went through my ENTIRE stash and cut and cut and cut.  Around the same time, there was this fantastic movement on Instagram called #getyourquiltywishesgranted, where you could send out a wish/request for something you were searching for.  I put out my wish for 3 inch novelty prints for my quilt and received about 8 envelopes from some amazingly generous quilters!!

Once I got a rhythm going, these blocks went together very quickly.  Outline in white, outline in blue, trim wonky, build 9-patch, repeat.

As I was making my blocks, I kept thinking of a paper-pieced Polaroid camera I had seen on craftsy.  It was amazing.  I really wanted to incorporate it somehow, but wasn't sure if I had the skills or patience for it.  There are many tiny pieces.  I finally decided that I could not stop thinking about it, so I HAD to make it.

Look at those tiny pieces.

I survived.  And it wasn't really that intimidating after all.  Paper-piecing produces such amazing results!!

Here is the camera. I LOVE it!

And here it is incorporated into the last block.

I am so glad I decided to make the plunge.  This quilt just wouldn't be the same without it!

If you'd like to make one, you can find the pattern here on Craftsy.

And here is the final result.

So much fun to look at!

The top finished up at about 90x90.  Now I just have to figure out how in the world to quilt it!  Any ideas?

If you are interested in making similar blocks, here are the measurements that I used:

For each "photo"
1. Cut a 3inch square novelty print.
2. From white fabric cut (2) 1x3 inch pieces , (1) 1x4 inch and (1) 1.5x4 inch.
3. Sew the (2) 1x3 inch pieces to either side of your novelty print. Sew the 1x4 inch on the TOP of your picture and the 1.5x4 inch piece on the BOTTOM of your picture.
4. From your background fabric (Mine is the blue.), cut (2) 2x4 and (2) 2x7
5.  Sew the shorter pieces to the sides and the the longer pieces to the top and bottom.
6. Trim your block to 6 1/2 inches using a square ruler.  Place your ruler on the block tilting to one side so that your blocks seem to be scattered all over the quilt.  **Note:  I wanted a few of my pictures to be really wonky so occasionally I cut some background pieces 2.5x4 and 2.5x8 to give me more room for tilting my ruler.
7. Arrange 9 blocks into a 9 patch design and sew together.  One block down!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

February Rainbow Scrap Challenge

 

I am so excited to be playing along with this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  So, excited that I am working on four different quilts for the  challenge.  I had so much fun last month with the color blue.  Check here for the post on last month's blocks.

February's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color is brown, with touches of pink.

 Brown just didn't work for me in any of the quilts.  So, I decided to use the colors in my February comfort quilt.  I had a lot of brown and pink fabrics lingering in my stash that I was no longer in love with, and some fabric given to me by friends that I just didn't love.  I knew that some little cuties would love these fabrics so, I got to work.

First, I pulled some brown and pink fabrics that needed to be used up:

Then, I drew up a quick plan.  Super simple and fun.

Then, I started sewing up those blocks:

Before I knew it, I had enough blocks for 2 little quilts!

 I used even more of the scraps making scrappy bindings.

They each finished about 41 x 54 inches.

I am so excited to have used up some stash, and have TWO quilts this month to donate.  Success!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy

Embrace the Ugly!

The ugly Christmas sweater that is.

Have you seen Lorna's newest quilt along?  If not, jump on over to her blog and check it out here.

 

She is hosting a quilt along celebrating the ugly Christmas sweater.  I just love it because my boys have totally embraced the ugly Christmas sweater trend.  they have multiple sweaters and wear them all December long.  Som they are going to get such a kick out of this quilt.

Since, I love scraps and keep every. tiny. piece, I have lots and lots of random Christmas scraps.  I have 3 bags full actually.

There are all sorts of styles and colors in there, which will help make every sweater unique.  This will be a true scrap quilt!

Sweater Block #1 

Instead of doing the 9 patch, I decided to use one of the larger prints. Since it wasn't quite big enough, I added borders to it to blend in with the sweater, and I like it even better that way! 

Sweater Block #2

Sweater Block #3

I would have really loved some more of those blue accents on the bottom of the sweater, but I just didn't have enough.  I tried a few other fabrics, but nothing seemed right, so I just extended the red fabric down and left it plain.

I can't wait for the rest of the blocks to be released.  This will be such a fun quilt and a great way to use up these random little bits.

Thank you Lorna!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy