Quilting and other projects

The two years that we have lived in Indiana have been big crafting years for me. I have always loved making things and have always worked to fit that in to my time. Also, to the benefit of the whole family, I have gotten much better at managing my time for projects and step away much more easily than in the past. I have more pictures on the computer that I will put on later. Here is a smattering from the last several months (these start September 2014). 

Since I got into free-motion quilting I wanted to try feathers. I think they can be beautiful (if sometimes overdone)! I have tried some different versions with lots of practice. This was a practice feather. 

The start of quilting Lilia's quilt. I came up with a design that I started working on. I realized after not too far into the quilting that it was not going to work. I think it was not too bad for a beginner, but I am not sorry I picked it out. 

Here are the feathers and swirls I ended up doing.Were I to do this quilt again, I would pick a cream thread to complement the quilt better. I chalk that up to a beginner's choice. Not bad, necessarily, but not what it could have been. Still, so happy with how it turned out. I look forward to improving my feathers. 

The pattern is a bento box. It was a very fun find. 

With the border (more feathers and swirls, but organized). 

The back. 

With the binding. 

Here are the fabrics I picked up to make the decorative pumpkins I have wanted for years! It was awfully ambitious to pick up this much, but I have a lot of years to work on them. These were actually on my list to get done before Chris was born. I did get one finished and the second got done after. 

Here is the first one I made. I did a two-sided leaf using some fabric I had stashed away. I used brown felt just for a visual. This ended up with a real stick stem similar to the one below.

I don't remember when, exactly, but at some point after learning about free-motion quilting I realized I could embroider with it! That would make things much easier to put names on stockings in the future. This is practice for Chris' name. Spencer was, as he is so often, right when he suggested a toned-down lettering since the other stockings are not as fancy. I went with a middle-ground in order to portray my progression. 

Here is the detail of the quilting. snowflakes and snowballs. Also on my list to do before Chris was born, this was ready and waiting for a name by the time baby came!

The whole collection (for now!).

Already posted. More embroidery experimenting for Benny's elf hat. 

Then came Christmas time. We decided that for our sibling gift for Clark and Susy I would make an advent calendar. My plan was to make it just like the one we had growing up (and that Caitlin made for us a few years ago!). Then, the wheels started turning. I got to JoAnn's and called an audible. I changed the color scheme. Then, at home, when I really did not love the felt letters/numbers I had found, I decided on more embroidery and free-motion quilting. 

 

This was all done free-hand. I am really happy with how it turned out. 

The "lights" strung on the tree. 

Trunk detail. 

Tree skirt (one of my favorite parts) and December detail. 

Anne helping with the ornaments. 

Ornaments closer. 

My favorite ornament. These were all so simple in nature and obviously free-handed, but I love that it gives it a more simple feel. 

The whole shebang! I backed it with a Christmas fabric I had stowed away so I didn't have the burlap shedding into my machine. I love the finished look it gives with the border. 

Jane posing with some of the fabrics for Anne's quilt. 

The wreath I had mulling around in my brain for some time. 

Another project that had been mulling around was a Family Home Evening rotation chart. There are so many of the wood boards with pegs or hooks and I thought about doing something like those. I wanted something more unique, though, that reflected me. This is what I came up with. 'N' is for Anne – or Nan as we sometimes call her now. 

T-shirt dresses! I have loved these since Jen made them for Iris years ago. She give is such a cute one for Lilia that all the girls have worn and I have been meaning to make more for a long time. I found the shirts at Target first and then found the perfect fabric! I still have a couple more to make. 

Even Lilia got one for school!

Most of the layout for Anne's quilt. I found this design online and figured out my own way to implement it without buying the pattern. I am curious to know if there was an easier way to do it. 

Only the smaller projects get done start to finish. This is from a Super Saturday Relief Society activity. I got there way late due to my long training run for the Mini Marathon (more on that later, maybe), but I got the supplies and looked up how to do it on youtube. I had some ribbon from way too long ago (think wedding gift) that I got to work pretty well. I think it turned out nicely, but it never seemed my style to me. 

I made it over for a dear friend. I love the new color combination. 

I am not sure when I started, but on Monday I got the last border added to Anne's quilt. I love how it turned out! Spencer is the mastermind behind the black fabric. He really does offer such useful feedback to me for my projects. I was originally going for a white, but this works much better. It has a stained-glass feel to it. Yesterday I picked up fabric for the back. It took me a while, but I finally decided on what I want for the back. 

 

And because the wheels are always turning, here are some other fabrics I picked up yesterday for some "big bibs" I am making for baby gifts. A super quick and (in my mind) very useful gift. 

And part of Lilia's birthday present that will be shown after we get it done! Lilia turns 6 on Monday! Where has the time gone?

My quilt

“My quilt” has been a long time coming. A total of ten years, to be exact. In 2004, on a trip to Las Vegas, my mom bought me a whole bunch of fabric to make a quilt for myself. I had done some for friends fairly recently (a wedding, a dear, dear friend), and it was time to do my own to make up for my first self-quilt that had gotten burned. Sad, sad day, that. It was beautiful, too. But I digress. 

I had the fabric for some time without doing anything with it. It was a busy time. What with Spencer coming home from his mission, school, work, a wedding, more school, more work, and then a baby! My quilt was patiently waiting for its turn.  

Benny's quilt won out first. I even used some of my fabrics (of which I had plenty!). Then it was my turn. I started it while I was pregnant with Andy. There is a picture of me right before leaving the hospital to give birth to Andy sitting at my “sewing table” that has my quilt fabrics around. 

While in Provo I finished the blocks. After moving to Tulsa (at some point) I added the border. I also got the back ready! And I assembled my quilt sandwich. Then after moving here I pulled it out and spray-glued the sandwich together so I could start quilting. For a while, not knowing what to quilt was holding me up the most. I think I was just dragging my feet, though, not wanting to commit to anything. Well, I finally commit. 

It might be a little hard to see, but I did a series of swirls, loops, and threw in a few stars. 

And I was quilting just like I have always quilted: my regular presser foot with the feed dogs up. It was working, but after a couple of hours I had a relatively small section done and my arms were already sore!

Then, by chance, I learned about free motion quilting. A friend posted a picture on facebook of a quilt she had done for her son. I asked about the quilting and had a whole new world open up before my very eyes. I am not kidding. It is amazing what people do on their own – regular – machines. 

It took me a few days to order the free motion quilting set for my machine because it was a bit of an investment for me. I wasn't entirely sure how it would go and I didn't want to waste the money. Spencer reminded me that I could use it for any future stockings in addition to any other quilts. I went for it and I was amazed! Free motion is definitely a skill to learn and I have a long way to go, but I worked it out. 

Some practice. Yes, I tried my name.

The rest of the quilt was very quick work! Definitely not perfect, but I really like how it turned out. I even decided to leave my first attempt in. Rather than take all the time to pick it out, I wanted to leave it as a kind of tribute to my progression. 

The free motion is much closer together than the first attempt. It is a much cleaner look and the curves are much crisper. 

The finished quilt!

Close-up of front. 

And back. 

I did decide to "sign" it. Glad I did. I think it will become tradition!

All this time, Andy on down were going quilt-less (from me – they each have beautiful quilts from their grandma!!). That is all beginning to change. Andy's quilt is sandwiched and all ready to quilt!

quilt festival spring 2009

i feel very out of my element here (and if you take a look at the quilts, you'll see why!), but i thought it would be fun to try my very amateur hand at this. here is where park city girl has started this online quilt festival. there are tons of entries! i tried for a little bit to find a quilt that was more my skill level, but i may be way out of my league!

the quilt i'm sharing isn't necessarily my favorite, but it's one i really like. it's a quilt i made for benny. i plan on making each of our kids a quilt and i'm lucky i never decided when each would receive theirs! benny got his after his first birthday. (click for more detail)

closer view with the simple back and fold-over binding

in some ways i felt kind-of limited in my fabric selection. they are all fabrics i love, but i had purchased them for a different purpose. a few years before this i had gotten a whole lot of fabrics to make a "girly" quilt for me - lots of pinks and purples with some blues and greens. i never got around to making my quilt and then benny came along. i really couldn't justify buying more fabrics until i had used some from my big (for me and for our small budget) collection. i decided that i could pull enough fabrics out of my collection to make a quilt that was "boy" enough for benny. i did buy the yellow to have more contrast in there. i've decided that i can buy a different fabric or two little by little!

this quilt was often my first attempt at maching quilting. i just used my little janome. of course, straight lines aren't too hard - especially when following seams, but it was a big project for me! i'm really happy with how it turned out.


i wish i could show off my real favorite, but i really have no idea when it will be finished. i'll cheat and show the completed top.

not quite finished, but...

i'm going to post the pictures anyway. it's now been about a year since i first started the project. i probably shouldn't admit that, but oh well. i've been really excited about this quilt for a long time. it's the first project for me that i've done in a really long time. i've had the fabrics since spring 2004. believe it or not, most of the fabrics for benny's quilt came from this stash. i didn't want andy's quilt (that he'll get some day) to look just like benny's, but i couldn't justify buying more fabric, so i decided that i needed to use the fabrics for what they were meant - a quilt for me.
several years ago i made a quilt for my good friend holland that was completely random. i had her pick the fabrics she wanted and the different blocks she wanted. she chose pinwheels, nine-patch, log cabin, and roman square. i added what i call four square (four equal squares) and some solid blocks. honestly, i thought it would turn out horribly. the colors holland picked out were some different browns, black, olive green, tan, and a brick red. i was so surprised when i ended up loving the quilt! i still think it's one of my best (even though there are several mistakes).
although the fabrics i have are quite different from the fabrics in holland's quilt, i used that as my guide. it's definitely not the same, but i did the same blocks (except for the solid). i'm very happy with how it turned out. i still need to pick out a back and quilt it, but it's such a feat having the top finished!

the pictures aren't the best - you can't see detail of the different fabrics. you can click on the pictures and they'll get bigger, but the quality gets worse. you'll get the idea.

two different views of the fabric selection. i actually used some of every fabric.

i got to this stage before we moved. i wanted to try to push and get the border done, but there was packing to be done.

and with the border that i finished last night.
i'll do the quilting myself (just straight lines - boy would i love to have a long-arm quilter and to know what to do with it!). i haven't exactly decided how, but the different kinds of squares will probably have their own pattern.