Thursday, August 28, 2014

Kiwis (And Flies)


Date:  Early 2013 - August 2014

Size:

Pattern:  Missouri Star Quilt Company "Pheobe's Flower Box" YouTube video here.

Reason:  I needed to empty my green scraps drawer.  Irony:  My sister gave me a gift of scraps when I was nearly finished the top.  Half of them were green.

Fabric / Best Buys:  I'm fairly sure every single piece in the top is a scrap aside from the sashing and border.  I used darker fabrics wrong side out when I needed a lighter value.  The border is from the box my sister gave me.

Thoughts:  I really enjoyed this pattern.  I also loved improvising the back with leftover scraps.  There is a free class on Craftsy.com that teaches different methods.  That's where I got the idea.

My seven year old named this quilt.  I tried to shorten it down to Kiwis, but "Kiwis and Flies" stuck in my head.

The flower quilting took a long time.  I got really good at petals by the time flower number 600 rolled around.

Lessons Learned:  Do math better.  Buy more than I think I need.  I found myself a fat quarter short of a discontinued fabric.  I asked for help on Quiltville's FB site.  Someone immediately said she'd mail me what I needed free of charge.  Quilters are the best thing since rotary cutters.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

A Blessing for Ruth


Date:  July / August 2014

Pattern:  From my head:

Block A:
~  Make crazy quilt blocks and cut them to 6.5".
~  Sew 2.5" strips of white to the crazy blocks
~  Sew 2.5" strips of a colour that matches the crazy block to the white
~  Square block to 10.5"

Block B:
~  Make crazy quilt blocks and cut them to 8.5"
~ Sew 2.5" strips of white around the crazy block
~ Square block to 10.5"

Size:  37 x 47

Reason:  A new baby in our church

Fabric / Best Buys:  All the fabric used was scraps and gifts except for the borders - I took those from my stash.  The binding was a pre-ironed binding given to me by my Aunt.

Thoughts:  I love this pattern  I used it for the first time here.  I've been wanting to use it again ever since.

Lessons Learned:  I finally got up the courage to stitch text into the quilting.  It went really well and fit perfectly  (Numbers 6:24-26)  I'm so excited that it worked.  I'll do it again on my next baby quilt.  It worked really well to run through the motions in my head that my hands needed to make word by word.  It kept me from getting overwhelmed and allowed me to keep calm and not rush.  Winner!