Crossroads and Intersections- A Mini Quilt Pair

Or is it a diptych? I’m not sure it’s quite a diptych. I think it’s more of a pair! I made the pair for the Curated Quilts challenge for their Negative Space Mini Quilt Challenge. Other than the colors, the design direction was described as: ‘Please use gap as inspiration for your negative space mini quilt design.’

The mini quilt on the right was the initial design for the challenge. The original design came from a Quilt Design a Day sketch I had done ages ago. With Crossroads, I was exploring the idea of negative space and what happens when the positive space comes together, ever so gently, to squeeze out the negative space. The space that resulted in this experiment was the X shape that is separated by the light blue background.

To me, this mini quilt, Crossroads, fits the design challenge with the gap (or the negative space) created by angled pieces. Apparently, Curated Quilts did not agree, becuase it was not juried into the Mini Quilts Gallery! Or maybe that’s not true. Maybe they did see how it met the challenge they just thought others met the challenge more. I’ll go with that!

To make these angled stripes, I made long straight stripes and folded them, then stitched down the center of my fold. I did end up with a couple of Y seams, but they weren’t too bad!

And if you know me very well, I always like to make a second quilt out of my scraps. And that’s what this second mini quilt, Intersection, is. once I trimmed Crossroads, both the in the middle and on the edges, I was left with the these really cool triangles of scraps. The only thing I could do was sew them together!

I did submit this one to the mini challenge as well. I was thinking there is a bit of negative space in this one. Not so much a gap, but yes to the negative space. Unfortunately, this one didn’t make the cut either!

The backs aren’t all that exciting, but they match! Keeping the pair thing going here.

Even though neither of my minis made it into the magazine, I really love them. And that’s what matters, right?

Mini Series Courthouse Steps Pillow

AKA Terry’s Pillow!

For the last couple of years Giucy Giuce has teamed with Alison Glass and have hosted a sew along to sew his mini series patterns. Last year I signed up and I knew exactly what I wanted to make. A friend of mine loved the Halloween pillow I made four years ago. And I wanted to make something for her using this pattern.

I didn’t end up sewing along during the actual sew along, but later I got to sewing and made a bunch of different sized courthouse steps blocks using the Mini Series pattern.

I always have a problem with actually quilting these blocks. I debated on thread but ended up only quilting in the ditch with the cream fabric. But I love this picture to illustrate the scale of the piecing of these blocks!

I chose a few details to zoom in on. Each of these blocks look a bit different, but they were all started using the same pattern. I varied the size of the center. And then some of them, I only did two sides (rather than all four sides) for some of the block. And I varied the placement of the orange and cream fabrics. By changing each one up a bit, it looks like I used a different pattern for each piece, but I didn’t!

Check out my not so invisible invisble zipper! I should have used an orange zipper…. Oh well! If it’s sitting on the couch, are people really going to be checking out my zipper installation? I hope not!

I used a single fabric for the back. Even though it’s a single fabric, I still also use a layer of batting and a backing piece of fabric. Then I serge the edges to keep the layers together. I feel like it gives the pillow a bit more shape.

I thought it would be fun to share this pillow this week since it’s the second week of the Mini Series Sew Along and the Courthouse Steps block is one of the blocks to sew this week! Are you sewing along? I am! I’m back to Halloween fabrics for this sew along.

Transparency Mini

Back in March, I took a class about Color Transparency with Caroline Oneto hosted by the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild. I almost didn’t take it, thinking I have a fine sense of color. It was a really good class!

The directions were to get 5 colors and a neutral. Which I did. As I was laying them out, I realized that the neutral just stood out like a sore thumb. I realized I wanted all color, no neutrals! And I’m glad I did. The idea is to pick two different shade colors, then a third color that would be the color the first two would make if combined together. I’m not sure that’s exactly how she described it, but it’s my thought process!

We learned about some color theory, but she also gave some really good tips about sewing curves and putting curves together. You can even take her class online on your own time, here.

The other aspect of this quilt that I wanted to play with was matched binding for the whole quilt. And since it is a mini, that was not a huge commitment. It was a fun exercise to make it all line up.

The back, of course, doesn’t have a matched binding. But it made completely of scraps from the front of the quilt. And I love how it turned out. this little detail is my favorite bit of scraps coming together to make a great shape!

My traditional shot of my label!

What do you think? Do you want to make one? Caroline is putting together a digital quilt on IG with all the class pieces. Check out her Instagram and add your own! Can you see mine?

A Bunny Embroidered Bag

And now for my third embroidery project!

This project is a combo of two projects from The Love magazines! Since I’m still learning this embroidery thing, I’m enjoying following the directions from the Love Embroidery Magazine instructions.

This pattern by Stacie Bloomfield aka Gingibear was featured in Issue 1 of the magazine, but it’s also online at Gathered. It was a pretty easy project, but the split stitch that I did to fill in the body took me forever! and it doesn’t have the same lovely texture as her project. Maybe I didn’t do it exactly right. Not sure!

For the bag I followed the tutorial in Love Quilting Magazine for the Stitch and Stroll bag by Sotak Handmade. I forget the issue number, but it looks like her pattern is in now in her etsy shop, here. It’s called the Denver Tote in her shop. It’s a great little drawstring tote bag pattern. I’ve made it a couple of times now and it goes together quickly! In hindsight, I wish the bunny was higher up on the bag…. Oh, well!

I choose to use some fun chicken fabric on the inside! I thought it was bright and fun and went well with the bunny!

I gave this as a Christmas present, but maybe it should have been an Easter present! 🙂 ha!

I’ve Got My Eyes on You – A MQG Fabric Challenge Quilt Part 2

I’ve Got My Eyes on You… The second quilt made from the fabric for the fabric challenge for Quiltcon, hosted by Windham Fabrics using their Artisan Cotton fabric line. I didn’t finish this one in time to submit, but I really like it! I like to think it may have had a better chance at making it into the show, but who knows!

In case you missed the first quilt, you can read all about it here.

Testing, the quilt I shared the other day, had A LOT of scraps. So much so that the front of this quilt is made out of about 98% scraps from the other quilt! I didn’t mind having so many scraps, because I loved the shapes that were being left over and I knew a second quilt was in the works from the beginning!

The blocks coming together.

Details! I just started sewing the circles on top of each other. All improv, no inset circles, no pins, no real planning. I just had fun. I made the basic oval shapes, then puzzled them together. After working on the previous quilt, tying to make something a little more precise, this was a fun exercise in just making for the pure joy of sewing things together to happy shapes!

The back is pile of scraps as well! The scraps from the front scraps became the back scraps! But I did eventually run out of scraps and I had to fill in with larger pieces of my fabric pile.

This is how the back started… Literally the last of the last scraps!

And this is how the back finished!

To me, I love the juxtaposition of these two quilts. I love how different they are. And I love that they are so different, yet both started from the exact same quilt block! Do you find that fascinating? Or is it just me?

I’m pretty excited about this one!

Crimbo the Red Nosed Reindeer

A little holiday sewing for me!

I have been loving this reindeer pattern from Unicornharts for a while, and decide I was going to make it for me!

This little cutie is paper pieced and came together quite easily!

I think my favorite part is this guys big red nose! His whole expression is priceless!

I used a solid piece on the back and an invisible zipper at the bottom.

Have you sewn anything for yourself this holiday season? I’m actually working on another little pillow for myself tonight between sewing gifts for the family!

Happy Holidays!

Be Kind- a SMQG BOM Quilt

Here’s a first! I started a Seattle Modern Quilt Guild BOM quilt and finished it in the same year! I have NEVER done that before!

This year the guild’s BOM quilt was titled ‘Salsa Medallion’. Each month they gave a theme for the medallion quilt border. Along with the theme came suggestions for different levels of involvement with the quilt. These levels were Spicy, Medium or Mild. You can find all the instruction here.

Of course, starting off I didn’t follow the directions. The first block I made was the center block even though it was technically one of the last pieces we made. I never really understood why you wouldn’t make the center first and build off to it, so I just didn’t think too hard and made my improv log cabin center block. It’s kinda big… Coming in at about 18″!

The next two borders were designated as stripes and triangles. For the stripes border I used leftovers from my Balanced Courthouse Steps quilt. I added in a little bit of other colors to make it blend a bit.

For the triangles, I decided to do improv flying geese. I’ve done a lot of improv and I’ve done a few flying geese in my day, but I’m not sure I’ve done improv flying geese before! I’m pretty happy with how they turned out!

The next border prompt was ‘Text message’. I was full on ready to skip this border. I waited for the next prompt. I was convinced I didn’t want to put words in it. time went on and I remembered a meme I had seen online somewhere. And I knew I needed to quilt it:

Be Kind to Others, to Earth, to Yourself. Be kind of weird.

And that’s the text message I made. And it took a long time….

The letters were all improv pieced. I didn’t follow a tutorial, I just made it up as I went along. I really, really like how they turned out!

Each letter with a curved part started with a small inset circle using the freezer paper and glue method that I always use for the inset circles. You can read all about it here.

The last two borders were circles and diamonds. Again, the improv versions for me!

And the back. This one is on the more simple side for me. Using leftover fabric from the front.

You can really see the quilting on the back! I started in the center and did an improv ‘square spiral’ all the way to the edges. Is a square spiral even a thing? I don’t really know if those two words work together, but I think it describes my quilting pattern just right! ha!

Token quilt label picture!

And that’s a wrap! Ok, not only did I start and finish this quilt in the same year, which is unheard of from me and our guild’s BOM quilts, but I also photographed and blogged about it in the same year! Woah!!!

More Pillowcases!

Like I mentioned in my last post, I love making pillowcases as Christmas presents… And since Christmas is coming up soon, I thought I’d share some I made last year.

I can’t post the pictures of gifts before Christmas then I forget to post them after, so here they are!

I just love this mix of fabrics! All Cotton and Steel. I even got to throw in some of my most favorite ‘sprinkles’!

I made these using the Burrito Method using The Seasoned Homemaker‘s tutorial. This is the same way I made the Harry Potter pillowcases a while back.

As I mentioned in that post, the burrito pillowcase tutorials don’t make their pillowcases using directional prints. Yet, once again, I chose a directional print. The burrito method uses one long piece of fabric for the edge of the pillow, one long piece for the trim and another piece for the main pillowcase. To use a directional print, you have to piece two pieces together to make the main fabric piece.

The tutorial I used uses a 27″ by 40″ piece for the main fabric. For directional fabric you need to cut (2) 27″ by 20 3/4″ pieces. Then sew these together using a French seam tutorial. I made mine with a 1/4 inch seam and then a 1/2″ seam. Then I have a 40″ long piece of fabric for the main fabric.

You can see that I now have penguins with their heads up on both sides of the pillow!

And they blend great with the kiddo’s sheets! These are a great way to use up large pieces of your stash. I found some fabric last night in my stash that I bought for pillowcases ages ago. This Christmas, it’s being used and removed from my stash!

What’s your favorite pillow case tutorial?

Fresh Linens- A Pillowcase Tutorial

I wrote this tutorial back in 2015! Way back! It’s been hanging out on the Go To Sew website all this time and I decided to bring it back. (hence the old branding, etc…)

I love making pillowcases for gifts! I’ve used two methods. One, my own method detailed below. And secondly, the burrito method by The Seasoned Homemaker. Both are good! Since I haven’t made this one in years, I kinda want to go back and try it again!

Have you ever made your own pillowcases? Did you know that it takes about a half hour for a new pair of fresh linens??? I was shocked! I had been thinking about making pillowcases for a week or so when I decided to give it a try. And I’m hooked!

I don’t have a serger, and I didn’t want any exposed seam allowances, so this pillowcase is chock full of French seams!

To start, gather your fabric. For the pillowcase you’ll need 1.5 yards of the main fabric, 1/2 yard of the hem fabric and a little bit of the accent color.

The first step is to cut your pieces. SO for the main fabric, you’ll need (2) 49×20.5 inch pieces. For the hem piece, you’ll need (2) 8.5×38.75 inch pieces. And for the little accent piece, you’ll need (2) 1.5×38.75 inch pieces.

First, sew the main piece of the pillowcase. Fold the fabric wrong sides together, stich a 1/4 seam allowance along the long sides. Then trim this seam allowance, but only by a hair! Then pull the case inside out and sew another 1/4 inch seam allowance along the long sides, covering the seam allowance from the last hem! Done with the main piece.

Now assemble the hem piece and the accent piece. Fold them both in half, the long way, and iron flat. Wrong sides to wrong sides. Then, at the ends open the fabric flat, right sides to right sides and  sew a 1/4 seam at the ends. Iron the seam open and then fold in half again and re-iron it flat. You will end up with two long circles that kinda look like the infinity scarves everyone loves!

Assemble! Here you need your main case right side out. Next to that the hem piece and in the very middle the accent piece. Align all the stitched edges. Pin the rest with edges aligned.

Sew another 1/4 inch seam. Trim the seam allowance, again, just a hair! Fold the pillowcase with the inside of the case out and the hem and accent inside the case. Iron the seam flat and sew another 1/4 inch seam. I’m all about the 1/4 inch seams here!

And finish! Pull the pillowcase right side out and iron the seam flat. Then topstitch along the last seam.

Lastly, insert pillow, snuggle up and take a nap! Did you know they are that easy? They are so quick and easy! I’m in love and thinking about some Christmas presents!

Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’ – a mini quilt

I had to post the last post before this one, becuase this mini quilt uses the scraps from the Weeping Willow in Black and White quilt!

Apparently I have a thing for improv quarter circle quilts! These are all minis that I’ve made using this technique!

This mini quilt was finished this year as part of the Quilt Improv Studio’s Black and White Challenge. The quilt had to use black and white fabric with the use of an accent color fabric. I just happened to have scraps from the Weeping Willow quilt hanging out waiting for something to do, so I started with that!

I also just happened to have a bunch of yellow scraps sitting on my desk for the my log cabin in pink, orange, yellow and red quilt that I’m slowly working, so I chose yellow as the accent color!

I did a little string piecing for my quarter circles!

And I ended up with this! And I LOVED it! Just like this! But this was only 10 inches or so square. The challenge only has two rules. Fabric choices are dictated and the size has to be a minimum of 24 inches square. So I had to decide… Finish to the right size? Or not play along with the challenge and keep it the way it is? I almost stopped at this! In the end, obviously, I decided to keep moving ahead. I had to break out some more black and white fabric, but the yellow stayed as scrap usage.

The larger pieces on the side also started as scraps from my Loons Here and There quilt. Only this time I cut them in curves rather than straight line flying geese or flying loon blocks.

The black is just a single piece of fabric. No piecing on the back on this one.

I quilted it using straight line curves, my favorite. I picked two of the side pieces and followed the curve of that shape to start my quilting.

In the end, I just barely made the 24″ requirement. The quilt sizes out as 24×24, barely! ha!

I have my To Do List to finish all my WIPS, but there are a few projects that I have allowed to sneak in between the WIPs. Those are Curated Quilts mini challenges and Quilt Improv Studio mini challenges.