"the July post": 3 finished quilts!

Wham! Betcha weren't expecting THAT after my long radio silence, eh? Haven't made it to the blog (or visited many of my faves in a bit....hello, friends!) but I did manage to pound out a few quilts in the last few weeks, and have 2 more on the brink! Instead of separating them into individual posts, I thought I would bypass the foreplay and just do one Kristie-style rambling post with the three of them, and call it a month ;)

Quilt 1: laid my granny to rest


Finally finished off my granny square quilt, and I must say, as many have before me who have made this, I love it. It was made entirely by stash and scrap fabrics, including the backing and batting, so it was fun to resurrect some favorites from quilts gone by. I have never really made a block quilt before, believe it or not, and it went quickly....a block here or there when I had a spare moment, and suddenly there was a big enough stack for the top with what felt like no effort.


At first I wasn't keen on the backing fabric (from the Bell Bottom line by Jennifer Paganelli for Free Spirit), but in the end I think it is the perfect cheery match for the top. The orange binding, just from my local Fabricland and in my stash since my first quilt, was the perfect frame.


This quilt has travelled a distance! Twenty years ago, I did an exchange trip to Japan with a girl named Wakako (embarrassing photo was shown here). We have kept in touch over the years, and she visited and stayed with us for a week in early July, along with her husband and 2 children! We shared a frantic week that surely included every landmark in and around Winnipeg, and I think my favorite part was watching our children bond, despite not speaking more than a word or two of eachother's languages. Wakako's birthday was on the last day of her visit, so I gave her this quilt as a birthday/good bye gift. I got the response any quilter would dream of- happy tears and an exclamation that this was the best birthday gift she had ever received! Can't ask for more than that :)




Quilt 2: Children at Play quilt


I started this quilt way back, intending it to be a double sized quilt for on our guest bed. But, even though I loved each and every fabric and the pattern, I wasn't feeling it all together. Then I added borders and loved it even less. I decided to put it away for a bit until I determined where to go from there.

I found it again when cleaning out the guest/craft room in preparation for Wakako's visit. Then a lightning bolt struck- Last But Not Least is finishing up with our wonderful babysitter this summer before heading off to Kindergarten in the fall, and what could be more perfect as a thank you gift than a quilt containing Children at Play fabrics?? Upon inspecting it, I was clear that the borders had to go, so I picked them off, then recut the cute red floral fabric to use as a binding- much better.


I backed it with my favourite grey dot fabric, and quilted it in a soft stipple, my favourite, to get a nice crinkled effect. Voila! And now I love it. The End.



Quilt 3: a wonky baby quilt


Baby quilts are always a favourite for me as they come together so quickly and they celebrate something so special! I decided Esther Mae needed a quilt to go along with her Sunshine hoop.


Her mother is not a fan of pink, so I opted for some pretty blues, yellows and greys, made in a random wonky pattern using Kate's stack and slice tutorial. I opted to flip one block horizontally just to add some interest. I quilted it in a wonky, random, organic grid to match the style of the quilt and I love it.


On the back, I framed a strip of the wonky blocks on either side with my favourite grey dot once again. I applied some black fabric paint to stamps to personalize the quilt with her name on the back. I love the back as much as the front.


Then I did some hand stitched binding in one of my favourite fabrics of all time, from Hunky Dory...have to use it up sometime!



So that is a tale of three quilts. Now, I am off to enjoy summer skies before the snow flies (hey, that rhymes!). I will pop in again with some more projects eventually, in the mean time, take care :)

more.

Like I needed more fabric.



But look what followed me home. Big chunks of fabric, justified as quilt backings. They were on sale, after all! And the perfect grey dot....for only $5 per meter!! It would have been wrong not to gobble up that deal. Wrong, I say!

The gingham I bought thinking it would be the perfect back for my Children at Play pinwheels...but not working for me. I continue to dislike this quilt top! Maybe I should just pack it away for a couple years instead of trying to resurrect it! On the plus side, I can see the gingham pairing well in color and style with my granny squares!


Oh yah. And then there was this:


The lastest DS quilt line from JoAnn's, and probably my favorite yet. Greys and yellows?!? Yah, baby! Courtesy of my fabric mule, Kaelin :) She keeps me in supply!

One more big stack of Flea Market Fancy reprint on its way, then....well, the plan is to stop buying fabric for a bit. We'll see ;) I really have a hankering for some of that Vintage Modern.......

fly, butterfly: a memorial quilt

My husband grew up in a small town; the kind where one group of 25 kids go through K-12 together, so they get to know each other pretty well. One of his classmates was Rebecca. I have met her a handful of times, and by some luck of fate she found me online via this blog and we chat from time to time. She is one with a golden heart- when I started to knit last year, she sent me a surprise package of knitting gift tags in support.

Last week I read the terrible news that Rebecca had suffered an unexpected stillbirth of her second child, a daughter. As a parent, or just as a human being, I am sure none of us can imagine anything worse than losing a child.

She has been on my mind and in my heart, and I wanted to provide some comfort. In the obituary for Olivia, they mentioned that donations were being accepted for a bench in a local butterfly park in her memory. "Fly, fly our little butterfly," the notice read. From these words, inspiration for a butterfly quilt was born. Something the family could keep in memory of the baby that they could not.

Simple. Grey for the grey skies that they are facing. A smattering of cheery pink butterflies making their way across the sky...and one wee butterfly veering off on her own path. Framed in a binding with cheerful flowers, to symbolize hope, a silver lining. Pink loopy quilting, like butterflies in flight. A few words incorporated into the loopy quilting...."Olivia," "fly" and "love."


More fluttering butterflies abound of the back, a great print by Valori Wells which was literally in my very first fabric order a couple years back....been hoarding it for awhile waiting for the perfect project.



The back also has a label and a quote, which I thought both lovely and appropriate to the situation:

The butterfly counts not months by moments, and has time enough.
-Rabindranath Tagore

I hope that the quilt can provide a small bit of comfort for Rebecca and her family during this heartbreaking journey.

Quilt stats:

Finished size: 26" by 31"

Design: inspired by this quilt. Butterflies from this template, raw edge appliquéd.

Fabrics: backing is Valori Wells Monarch, front scraps of Nicey Jane, Hunky Dory, DS quilts, Children at Play. Grey solid from local quilt shop.

Binding: Children at Play Meadow

Quilting: loopy stipple in pink cotton thread (note- tried this with my feed dogs up this time as I have seen others try, it worked great!)

Label: I used this product (first time, and I was quite pleased with it!)

Blech.

Finished up a new quilt top, but it is not my favorite.....


Liked the pattern. LOVED the fabric line (Children at Play) and I even added some more of my favorites. But put it all together, and it didn't do much for me. It seemed kind of drab. So, I bought some more fabric while at Sewing Summit and thought I would add bolder borders and bring it up to double bed size. So now it is just an EXPENSIVE quilt top that I still don't love!

Ah well, it is just destined for the guest bed in my craft room, where I can see it and brood over it every day, lol! I am going to ship this puppy off to Jenny to quilt so hopefully she can turn things around and make me love it (no pressure or anything, Jenny.....). I have never had a quilt long armed before! But a double size (85" x 100") is beyond what my little machine can handle, so I am excited to try farming out the quilting, which is normally my least favorite step anyhow. And it will be good for me to be separated from this one for awhile! I know it is in good hands with Jenny, I have been crushing on her work since I found her via the Blogger's Quilt Festival last spring. Speaking of which- the fall festival starts up on October 28, so get busy, people!

Quilting WIPs

Phew! That was a week I am happy to leave behind. Sometimes life bites you in the arse, eh? Anyways. Enough about that. Let's talk quilting!

Since I gave you a knitting project update the other day, I thought I would also give you a peek at some of my quilting WIPs (happy, Alison?). I appear to be suffering from a bit of quilting attention deficit disorder these days, with several projects on the go and lots of hacking and slashing going on.

First up- I cut up this pile that I had shown you earlier....

And put it back together like this:

I used this pattern from Four Wise Monkeys on Sew Mama Sew, which of course seemed a perfect use for my Children at Play fabric. I've decided not to stop here, though- I plan to do some calculations to add some borders to convert this from a lap quilt to a double bed size. Back to that later!

Also- am feeling a little Christmas-y....

And have also used my Go! Baby to make use of my Bonnie and Camille Ruby layer cake. I may have utilized a bit of slave labour for that one ;)


Off I go to stitch these back together again!