Another Scrappy Baby Quilt

I had no intention of making this a quilt, it was supposed to be the back of the Strip-pieced baby quilt below. Plans change. 

These were larger scraps and I didn't want to cut them for the strip pieces, since there were plenty. So I took this heap...

And made this scrappy baby quilt.  I didn't cut any of the pieces except to trim.  The center of the quilt is cross-hatch quilted.

Stash-Busting:  3 leftover pieces of Warm & Natural batting seamed together, 2 spools of leftover thread.  And the scraps and back, of course.

There are only a few very small strips of the backing fabric left over. 

Scrappy Baby Quilt

After I finished the Star Quilt & the Circle Patch Quilt from the Two-Fers pattern, I still had a pile of scraps left. In my continuing saga to use up all the fabric in my sewing room, I cruised the Internet looking for a good use for the scraps. 

The scrap heap.

Strip-piecing on 6 inch muslin foundation blocks.

47 X 47 inch baby quilt made from strip-pieced scraps.  The little blocks in the sashings are crazy quilted on the 6 inch foundation blocks, and then cut into 3 inch squares. I had to buy some backing fabric to finish the sashings and back.

I had a pile of larger scraps left over, too.  Originally, I pieced them together to become the back of the above quilt, but once done, I realized that with the backing fabric I'd already bought, I had enough to make another back and thus, another baby quilt, the same size!  

On the stash-busting front - for these 3 quilts, I used 4 spools of leftover thread, about 8 bobbins of leftover different colored threads, several yards of pieced together leftover batting, and about a yard and a half of muslin. 

The Two-Fers Surprise Quilt

I made a quilt at Christmas from a Quilt Soup Pattern  called Two-Fers that included the pattern for a second quilt, made from the remnants of the first quilt.  I thought the recipient only wanted the one quilt, but when I was showing her the pattern, she asked for the second quilt, too! 

Although we bought the material and some extra according to the pattern, there really wasn't enough to make the entire second quilt.  I had to piece together some of the remnants to get the squares and rectangles, and had to raid my stash for a bit of 4 more fabrics.

I thought I'd machine-applique the circles on...yeah, well, my skills aren't up to that.  I ended up hand-appliquing the circles.  With some supervision.

Dinah kept swatting my hand every time I passed the needle through the fabric and and pulled the thread. 

 

The front of the quilt.

There wasn't enough of the orange fabric to complete the back.  So I grabbed strips of leftover fabric and started sewing them together.  Still didn't have enough, so I took some of the border fabric  and sewed it to the bottom.  The circle is an extra, and I appliqued it to the back. 

A Green Quilt and more...

I wanted to make a simple, green, five-inch block quilt, no sashes, no borders, and a pieced back.  

I also wanted to use up all the less-than-a-yard light tans, white, and cream fabrics I had in my stash, to add interest to the green quilt. I started it on August 10, and finished it this evening. Machine pieced, machine quilted "stitch in the ditch," and machine binding.

The front. 

Once I finished piecing the blocks, I found 2 large pieces of batt that were cut from other projects, zig-zag sewed them together, and used that as the batting.

The back.
I used all the leftover blocks on the back. 

Its a generous lap quilt size, just right for snoozing kicking back in the recliner. :)

Best of all, in my stash-busting, I used up about 2 yards of various fabrics, plus batting leftover from other projects.  I did have to buy the greens and the backing fabric, but I'm happy with the results.

Kindle Keeper

I made this a few weeks ago. I wanted to experiment a few weeks ago with strip piecing and use the decorative stitches on my machine, which I've never used before (although I have used the monogram and quilting features).  I went to the Moda Bakeshop and found their BookKeeper pattern for e-reader devices.  Although I didn't have the proper fabric, I had a jellyroll (wider than theirs) and put this together. I cannot do the applique, I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, but it just wouldn't go together, so I gave up.  I'll try it another time.  

 The outside - see the decorative stitches, I used different colored threads. The right side is white thread, should've used a different color, but oh, well.

The inside.

Tablerunner Experiment...

I saw someone do a technique for making half square triangles and I wanted to try it since points are my downfall.  I forgot to take pictures, I'll do it another time.

Take two squares of cloth, put them right sides together, and sew a 1/4 inch seam all the way around.  Then, turn on point, and cut corner to corner, all four corners.  You will have little squares of HST, just press the seams.

Sounded like Christmas to me...so I cut 6 inch squares and did this with the striped and white fabrics. Then I added the 6 inch green squares. I used a decorative stitch on my machine to quilt the green squares and stitched in the ditch on the white/red squares.  A gold Hoffman Christmas fabric as the binding, and I was done.  

I will be experimenting with the HSTs again, and my decorative stitches, too.

I love Christmas.

Tablerunner...where did it come from?

In my on-going attempt to get rid of stuff, I was rootling through some fabric that had been in storage for a while.  I came across this kit called Sassy Stripes.  There is a  3.5" x 5.5" laminated card in the baggie, with the instructions, along with enough fabric for front and back. The card says it is copyrighted by Pieced Tree Patterns. However, there is no price tag or bar code.  I have no idea where I got it.

I do not buy kits, I usually only buy patterns, templates, and the occasional special ruler. Was this given to me?  Did someone want me to do it for them?  Maybe I got it for free for buying something else?  Perhaps I won it, or someone exchanged it in a swap? I do not know.  I don't decorate for any holiday, except Christmas. It is a mystery why this is in my stash. Regardless, I made it today.

The kit.

The finished table runner.

By the way, I love the laminated card idea with instructions and pictures of how to do the design. Nice layout and easy to use.

 I finished this 47 inch X 47 inch baby quilt this evening.  The top has been made for a while, just needed to put batting and a back on it and bind it.  Made from scraps from other quilts, this one is going to the swap meet to be sold. 

  

 

While I was busy with the quilt, Richard canned 9 quarts of tomatoes from our neighbor's garden.

A Little Treasure

We live way out in the country, and every Friday, I go shopping with my Mom and another neighbor.  It saves on gas, we do all our errands, and we have lunch at various establishments to round out the week.

We also yard sale.  We have the list from the paper, a GPS, and our coin purses filled with quarters and dimes (and the occasional dollar or two).  We've managed to find antiques, clothes, an assortment of dishes and knick-knacks, bikes, chairs, strollers, and even an appliance, or two.  

Today, some dude was cleaning out a storage unit.  There was a box of fabric.  I have made a promise to myself to not buy fabric unless its to finish a quilt.  However, as I rootled through the box, I found this.  I'm pretty certain it is very old and the fabrics look like feedsack.  I offered the dude $2...and he said, "OK, do you need a bag?" A bag?  Yep, he gave me the whole box of fabric, lace, rickrack, buttons, hook and eyes, cording, binding, and even a spool of thread for $2. 

I rootled through the bag when I got home.  All the extraneous notions and fabric lengths are going to a friend who has asked for extra fabric and scraps.  I'm keeping the tiny squares quilt block. 

Double Irish Chain...

This quilt top was made about 15 years ago, one of the quilts I made for myself.  I wanted to do something to highlight my Husband's Irish roots (his grandmother came to America straight from County Cork). All the fabrics except the white have shamrocks on them.  The pattern is called Double Irish Chain and I put the 25 patch block between the "chains."

I had too much caffeine this evening, and decided since I finished Alma's quilt, I could get started on this one...it's 2 a.m.  I finished machine quilting this one, too.  However, I plan to do some hand-quilting in the white squares. 

 I made this table-topper for Alma when she went to Florida.  The shamrock in the center is hand-quilted with green thread.  (Sorry about the stain, it is rust and will not come out).

I plan to use this same hand-quilted shamrock on the white portions of the Double Irish Chain.

All Done! Alma's Quilt...And another follower!

In my continuing saga to finish OPS (Other People's Stuff), I found my MIL's blocks and finished her quilt.  This is probably not how she intended it to look, but I couldn't find all the fabric pieces for what little foundation pieces were left.  She made the 4 blocks on the outside and the big central block. The big central block was hand-quilted to batting and back, so I left it as is, and simply applied the other blocks, with remaining fabric in between.  I machine quilted the straight lines, but left her hand-quilted Xs in the boxes as is. I did have to raid my stash for the cream border, and go to an LQS for the outer border and binding. I am a lousy photographer - the photo doesn't do it justice.  The colors are warm and comforting.

 

I am also grateful to see another follower!  Thanks, Pamela J!