Category Archives: Quilting

Happy Hallowe’en (2015)

When holidays roll around I often make the same pattern three times – once for each family. This year I decided to make three different projects and it was much more enjoyable (and perhaps more work).

Boo (from Word Play Quilts)

Hallowe'en_2
Finished: 21” x 18 ½”

As part of my commitment to the Guild Library I volunteered to review a book each month and make a project (or a part of a project) from it. Since I needed a Hallowe’en pattern, when I found this in one of the library books I killed two birds with one stone by reviewing the book and giving the project to Christy.

There were no real patterns for the letters; I just looked at the picture and cut fabric pieces and put them together in the form of the letters – very improvisational. I have enough trouble when I’m following a pattern so I’m not very comfortable improvising. I had a terrible time getting the letter “B” to work out. The piece originally had a black border but when I saw it displayed at a Guild meeting (prior to quilting it) I decided to change it for the green.

Hallowe’en Blades (adapted from Christmas Bells)

Finished: 12 ½” x 12 ½”
Finished: 12 ½” x 12 ½”

I have a much larger project that calls for curved piecing so I started on a much smaller scale with this pattern. I swapped out the red and green fabrics called for in the pattern for four different Hallowe’en fabrics.

Kathryn will get this one. She has a glass cutting board on her counter and these squares fit nicely under it to give her kitchen a seasonal (whatever the season) look.

Table Runner (from Fresh Quilts magazine (Fall/Winter 2014)

Finished: 18” x 47 ½”
Finished: 18” x 47 ½”

I had to hunt to find the third pattern but when I did I knew right away that it would fit Elizabeth’s table very nicely. It was easy to piece but the quilting took a long time. There were a lot of spider web ends that needed to be buried.

Tablecloth (Mystery on the Rhapsody)

Tablecloth1
Size: 55 ½” x 72 ½”

This Debbie Caffrey pattern was worked as a Mystery Quilt workshop run by the Guild and led by Kathleen O’Malley. When I picked my fabrics I chose colours from the same line (Simpatico by Maywood Studio) so the colour contrasts worked well. The neutral shade was from the Dear Stella collection (Dots). The cutting took a long time, as did several of the steps involved in making the blocks. After the first block was finished it was a rather boring because there were no surprises. I omitted a couple of the borders in order to end up with the correct size for the dining room table. I fully intended to free-motion quilt this but chickened out at the last minute. I opted for some stitch-in-the-ditch and straight lines. I like the way it looks, but it resulted in so many ends that needed to be knotted and buried. Lesson learned!

Tablecloth2I purchased fabric on sale to use for the backing; it will look good if I need to turn the tablecloth over to prevent fading from the sun. I think the backing gives it a very “fall” feeling, but Pat thinks it could work as a Christmas cloth.

 

 

Tablecloth3This is one (of six) of my 2015/2016 Guild UFO Challenges. Until I present it to the Guild and have it checked off my list I’ll hang it over the railing to keep it safe from spills .

Family Place Quilt

After the 2015 Guild Quilt Show we were approached by Family Place to see if we could make a large quilt for the kids to sit on during their story time. One of our Guild members took on the task of coordinating the project; but we were asked to each make a 36″ x 36″ square (quilted and bound). These quilts (or mats) could then be individually chosen by the kids who are in attendance and they would each have their own story-time spot.

Family PlaceI signed up for the task immediately because Family Place is the venue our BOND mums and babies graduate to. I wanted to use some of my novelty fabrics for the quilt I was making, but I didn’t think 36″ was large enough for a good I-Spy quilt. I came up with my own pattern for this.

Family Place2I re-used half of a set of curtains I made for Dylan’s room as the backing. I think the fabric makes the mat reversible, depending on the mood of the child.

Scrappy Triangles Doll Quilt

Doll Quilt
Finished: 15 ½” x 22 ½”

This pattern was introduced at the first Mini Meez meeting; two of the group were making it but I decided to pass and worked on something else. By the second meeting another person had made one and it was introduced as “putting her own spin on the pattern”. I decided it would be a good way to use up some of my pre-cut squares so moved forward with it. I pieced the top at the Mount Washington retreat.

I used one of the templates from the book 501 Quilting Motifs for the larger squares, and stitch-in-the-ditch and cross-hatching for the rest.

Jul 13_3I like my miniatures to teach me something, so I used a two colour binding on the project. It was simple to do and I’ll use it again. I often don’t match my quilt top to the backing and then deciding on a binding is an issue. Not with this technique.

I’ll probably offer the quilt for sale at the 2015 craft sale; if it doesn’t sell I’ll likely add it to my doll carriage.