Sister's Surprise

One of the quilts I had on my list of things to do was a quilt for my sister.  I did make a lap quilt for her many years ago as well as some table runners and table toppers within the last three years or so for her new home but this one was a larger size.

On a recent visit to my home, she used a quilt I keep in our family room which is a great size when watching TV on chilly nights.  She loved the size!  It is bigger than a lap quilt but smaller than a bed quilt.  I already knew her favorite colors so now that I knew what size would work I started formulating a quilt design in my head.  I found a pattern on the Missouri Star Quilt Company's website that had just published a tutorial for it.

This quilt was made with precuts, also from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I have grown very fond of precuts and have a few many charm packs, jelly rolls and layer cakes from there.  This particular quilt was made from two layer cakes, one all white and one of many patterns in blue (Annabelle by Windam Fabrics).  I used yardage from the same line for the border and Charlotte by Kensington Studios for the  backing.

The HST blocks were made from one of the blue layer cake squares and one of the white layer cake squares.  This produced 8 HSTs when the squares were placed right sides together and then sewn around all four sides with a 1/4" seam.  Then the unit was cut from corner to corner and in half from side to side and top to bottom.  I love this method!  The blocks were pressed to the dark side and squared up to 6.5 inches using my Bloc_Loc ruler.  This ruler makes squaring up so easy!

Layout of squares

Testing border fabric

Testing double borders

Having lots of space to layout the quilt is a big help when chain piecing.  One mistake here could result in lots of unstitching!  Ask me how I know!  I was in a quandary about the border or borders.  I finally decided on a single border and would plan on using the white yardage to make the binding.  As is my usual practice, I made the binding once the borders were added so everything was ready after the quilting was finished.

At this point my sister did not know I was making this quilt for her.  But now it was time to get the quilting done.  This was the one thing I wanted her pick so I took her to the quilt shop where the quilting would be done and surprised her with the quilt.  She picked out a beautiful pattern!  I showed her the binding I planned to add but she wanted a bit more color in the binding.  When I showed her several samples of flange binding, she made her decision.  It did make a beautiful finish to the quilt and I was able to bind by machine this time rather than hand sew the binding down.

Quilt backing

Flange binding

This is the finished quilt after being hand delivered to my sister in mid-March.  She loved it and I am sure it will be put to good use!  I love this pattern and I am sure more quilts will be made using it!

My revised blog is almost up to date with finished projects.  I have a few more posts to make which will be done within a few weeks.  Then on to some new projects.  Stay tuned!

Binding at the Beach

I realize it is still winter with snow on the ground and more predicted (at least where I live) but this is actually a catch-up post for the first of 3 quilts I finished up last October.  My blog was undergoing renovations so I delayed posting anything until the blog was back up and running.  So this posting will share memories of binding 3 quilts while my husband and I were on our annual fall Cape Hatteras vacation.  I was busy that fall making a large quilt for my sister-in-law to celebrate her retirement from the Virginia Beach school system.  If our schedules mesh, we stop by my brother and sister-in-law's house on our return trip from Hatteras back to NJ.  I also made toddler quilts for their 2 grand daughters.  It was my plan to have all of them completed so they could be dropped off during our visit.

The pressure was on!

The quilt for my SIL was well underway prior to our vacation trip.  The pattern was similar to the Super Simple Squares pattern on the Missouri Star Quilt Company (MSQC) website.  Check out the tutorial for this quilt.  I used a layer cake from my stash and cut it into quarters to make charm squares.  I used a solid ecru fabric, also from my stash, to cut the cornerstone blocks and the sashing.  The backing was also from my stash.  The quilt ended up being 70" by 82" when completed.  The quilting was done by the wonderful folks at the Old City Quilts shop.  While waiting for the quilting to be completed, I made the binding and had it ready to travel!

While the Hubs was fishing, I made myself comfortable in the cab of our truck.  I had nice music and beautiful ocean views which provided a very calming background for sewing down the binding.  I love using the Wonder Clips instead of pins on the binding.  No blood shed here!

You can see the circular quilting in the picture below.  I thought the circular stitching was a nice contrast to the square blocks and linear sashing.

The picture below was taken at the headquarters for Cape Hatteras State Park.  Lots of cars stopped to see the photo shoot!  One little sneaky critter watched us from behind the sign in front of the flag.  I did not notice him until I was looking at the pictures full size.  See the sweet little deer face?

I will post pictures and details of the two toddler quilts in the next post.  Thanks for reading chapter 1 of this story!  

Jelly Roll Race Quilt - The Finish Line

I wrote about this quilt several times over the years (yes, years!) but I am happy to report that this project has finally crossed the finish line! 

I started this journey in July of 2014.  That story was told in this blog post.  Here is how the quilt started:

If memory serves me correctly, this was the first jelly roll I ever used.  It certainly has not been the last.  I do have a few more jelly rolls waiting in the wings.  Some are already assigned to a future project, but the others are waiting for my inspiration to kick in. 

The top was completed in August 2016 when the borders were added and the backing was cut to proper size.  The binding fabric was chosen as well and cut to size.  Now all I needed to do was find the time to quilt it - or have it quilted by a local long armer. 

I am a big fan of MSQC (Missouri Star Quilt Company), as a matter of fact, the video of Jenny making a jelly roll race quilt was my inspiration for my quilt.  All of the materials were purchased from MSQC as well.  I thought it only fitting that I send the quilt there for machine quilting even though they were far from being local!  It was a very simple process using their website.  I did send the quilt to them just before the holidays so I knew up front that it would be added to the queue and would take a bit longer to be returned.  I purchased their batting as well.  I was not in a rush for completion so I was willing to wait.  Under ordinary circumstances, their wait time could be 6 weeks. 

I chose a holly leaf quilt pattern since this quilt used winter woodland themed fabrics.  My plan was to use this quilt at our cabin in the mountains.  I was a bit nervous about mailing my quilt out and making all the arrangements online, but I was so thrilled when I received the quilt back in mid-February 2017.  All the excess borders and batting were cut off and it was ready for binding.

                                              

 I was able to get to the binding step in May of this year.  I machine sewed the binding to the front of the quilt but the hand sewing of the binding to the back of the quilt was done at our cabin.  The weather was still cold there so the quilt was a welcome cover for my legs. 

Once I finished the binding, it was picture time.  I thought somewhere in the woods near our cabin would be appropriate.  I found the perfect spot right across the road!  As you can see, the completed quilt has come in very handy right into June since the weather remained in the mid-50s.  My husband has since adopted this quilt which is now warming his legs at our cabin!

I do have another jelly roll scheduled to be a repeat race quilt.  When I ordered the border fabrics for the first race quilt, I ordered enough for a second quilt so I have all the materials ready to go.  I hope the second quilt top will go just as quickly as the first one.  It's called a "race" quilt for a reason, but hopefully the finishing of the second one will go as quilting as the "race" sewing!  This quilt is now aptly named "Finish Line". 

I will have no hesitation about using the MSQC quilting services again.  I was completely pleased with the service, the quality of the work and their prices. 

I have several quilts in various stages of completion so hopefully I can blog about those soon.  We had quite a heavy travel schedule in April and May which I am certainly not complaining about, but it sure felt good to fondle my fabrics again! 

Until the next time!