Big Stripes

I've been exploring the idea of adding BIG Striped quilts to my Etsy Shop, along with the skinny stripes.

So here's my first one.

A great mix of subtle prints and patterns in plum, ivy and blueberry colors.

 Hand binding = My Favorite!

Available for purchase here.

Dazzling Blue

The start of a new striped quilt.

 

Brought to you by Pantone's Spring 2014 Color {Dazzling Blue}

I love where this is going...

Monochromatic stripes? 

Yes, please!

Service and Teaching Others to Sew {Part 2: Boys Can Sew, Too}

 Welcome to Part 2 of my Teaching Others to Sew Posts

{Part One Here}

Back in March when I was helping the young women learn how to sew my nine year old asked if I'd teach him to sew as well.  Not wanting to miss that opportunity I quickly jumped at the chance to let him start sewing.  I mean, boys can sew too, right?!  Since I was in the middle of making improv blocks I decided that would be a good place for him to start. And just like with the girls I gave him a few pointers and turned him loose.

 I didn't really think that it would amount to anything more than a day spent with me in my sewing room...

 But low and behold he made a block and LOVED it!

And then he made some more. And a few more...

Over the course of the last few months he's managed to make 18 blocks!  

Thirty blocks will give him a nice sized throw when he's done so he's well on his way. 

As you can see he's pretty happy with his progress. 

And I'm happy that at least for now he's sewing!!

Arkansas Crossroads Quilt {Finished}

 Looking back on instagram, I started this quilt 35 weeks ago when I cut into my beautiful FQ stack of Joel Dewberry's True Colors.

I'm not normally an "all-one-line-of-fabric" kind of girl, but I love basics and Joel Dewberry does them well in this line.

I sewed the blocks into a top when I attended Quilt Bliss back in January.

Now, six months later it's finally quilted and finished!
Yay!

I'm so excited to have it done.

I debated on the binding color, ultimately settling on this lovely Mint Polka Dot. 
I pretty much think it's perfect.  I love how it pops against the navy backing fabric, as well.  Speaking of the backing it's a navy chambray that I've had in my stash for at least 10 years!  It felt good to finally give it a purpose.

I'm pretty smitten with the quilting done by my local quilter!
Those X blocks would be nothing without her beautiful quilting.

Lori Holt just posted a fabulous tutorial for this particular block design if you want to make your own. I made the X blocks and the O blocks separately (different than her tutorial) so my finished quilt has a little different look.  

Happy Friday!

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday
Finished quilt measures 60" x 85" (or in other words a nice sized twin)

Postage Stamp Flimsy

I'm pretty sure I started this quilt over 18 months ago, but it's been so long I can't really remember.

Looking back on my one and only post about it I rightly predicted that it would be a slow project with no real timeline for finishing.  I think I originally made 10 or 12 blocks way back when then promptly put them away to patiently wait in my closet.

 Last fall when I blogged about them I made some more blocks.

 

Sometime in May I got serious and pulled the blocks out of hiding once and for all. Over the course of the next month I worked on blocks here and there and finally finished the top right before the 4th of July.  It really was an "eating the elephant" kind of project for me.

I'm happy with all the little hidden fabric treasures I was able to include. A close up view reveals some hidden gems and even some uglies.  

Quite honestly, though, for me the uglies get lost in the sea of pretties.

 The nerd glasses and the cruiser bike squares might be my favorite little gems.

Even though it took me for.ev.er to finish I'm predicting it will soon be one of my all time favorites!  I'm definitely a scrappy quilt kind of girl.

This is project number five from Sunday Morning Quilts Book. You can find the others I've done here.

Handmade Quilt Show Ribbons

(Hey, look, I'm blogging again!)

Some of you might remember that last year I was asked to be in charge of our small town art and quilt show.  I came away from that experience with lots of ideas for improving this year's show.  Some of those ideas are still just "ideas" but one came about just as I'd hoped!

After seeing the beautiful handmade ribbons that were given out the first year of QuiltCon I decided that if I could find the time, and figure out how to make them, that I'd have handmade ribbons for our little show.  What really motivated me to get them done was when I found out that our town car show gives out trophies made of car parts to the winners.  I figured if the car show winners can get trophies made of car parts then the quilt show winners can get handmade fabric ribbons. 

I really had no idea how to go about making them so I pretty much had to figure it out as I went along. My only reference point were the "store bought" ribbons we had for last year's winners.

I started with strip sets made entirely from my scraps.
Purple for the winners, blue for second place, and red for third. 

 In the beginning I wasn't sure if I wanted them to have one "tail" or two.  I ended up using one because it seemed to work out best with the final scale. 

We bought custom pin backed buttons off the internet that we designed ourselves for the center of the rosettes. The rosette fabrics were also from my scraps (and yet my scrap bins are still overflowing!).

Believe me when I say that as the whole process was unfolding I was SO excited that it was working out how I had envisioned.

The two big colorful ribbons are for Best in Show (one for Quilts and one for Art).

I think it took me about 10 days to get them all finished but that included the time it took me to figure out the process along the way.  Next year they will definitely come together faster.

One last shot of all the ribbons together. 
I'm really, really happy with how they turned out!

:)

Linking Up to Finish It Up Friday