Burst Baby Quilt

A while ago I took a Zoom workshop with Leanne Parsons @thedevotedquilter to create the Burst quilt.  

I learned a new technique - foundation paper piecing with freezer paper.  Great technique with no tracing and reusing freezer paper.

Trying to use my domestic sewing machine to quilt, I decided on the Spiral design.  Using my walking foot and going in a clockwise direction, I was able to successfully quilt it.

I pieced a backing with fabric from my fabric stash and some sample pieces I made during the Hole Punch Quilt workshop with @pappersaxsten.  

I washed and dried the quilt after completion.  I like the puckered old-fashioned look it give the quilt.

Here's the freezer paper I used.  You can print the design with your printer and use each piece many times.  No paper to tear off at the end and no sewing through paper.

Calm Waters Quilts

 I saw the fabric Calm Waters by Bernadett Urbanovics at Quilty Pleasures and knew I had to make a quilt out of it.  As it turned out, I ended up making 3 lap quilts of various sizes and had to source material from different shops.  One in particular  was Adventures in Fabric. They shipped quickly and their prices were great.

This first quilt is called Sail.  The pattern is from Homemade Emily Jane   The nautical themed fabric and the pattern were meant for each other.

The second quilt is a pattern from Zen Chic called Winter Windows.  It wasn't until I was taking pictures of the final quilt when I realized I hadn't followed the pattern exactly.  Oh well, it still made for an interesting pattern.

And the final quilt pattern is Little Miss by A Bright Corner.  

Although the same fabric was used in these quilts, each quilt has its own personality.

Helena Quilt

 Purchased the Helena Quilt PDF pattern for this quilt from The Fat Quarter Shop .  I wanted to use fabric from my stash to create this quilt and ordered a few other fabrics from Water Girl Quilt Co.  

 

The pattern is made with one of GE Gudrun's quilt rulers but, it does give brief instructions if using a regular ruler.  Here are the rulers I ended up using but I'm sure most quilters can improvise with what they have on hand.

I picked a variety of fabrics - mostly small print, some light, some dark.  Background fabric is Kona Snow

Cut squares out of prints and background, then cut into  specified pieces.  Easily done with the rulers I had.

Next, sections are pieced together.  Diagrams in the pattern are clear.

When it came to cutting these pieces, she only gave directions for her ruler.  So I placed my 1 1/4" line from tip to tip on the square, and cut.  Then I placed my 2 1/2" line along that cut piece and cut again.  Giving a 2 1/2" section with 2 'wings'. 

Sewing the sections together to form a nice point was done by making a mark at the 1/4" line at the seam of each piece.  I placed a pin through the marks on both pieces, and then secured with clips to keep in place.  No instructions were given for this in the pattern.

Once 2 wings were attached, block is squared.  Again no directions, but I put the  2 1/2" lines on the seams and kept the diagonal line on the center of the diagonal piece.

 Arranging blocks on my design board.

 

 

I added a 4" grey print border to the quilt to bring it to a 56" by 74" quilt top size.  The print was Thatched Gray by Robin Pickens.

 

I pieced together a backing, having flying geese as an insert between the grey backing fabric for contrast.

 

Quilted on diagonals with my Bernina and a walking foot. 

Quilt size 56 x 74

Experimental Farm Toe Up Socks - Recipe

These socks, made for my hubby,  were knit with Roots & Rain yarn Trillium Field Sock.  Naturally dyed with onions skins and walnuts.  The yarn is 70%  Rideau Arcott and 30% nylon - Limited Edition.   

The Rideau Arcott is a purebred sheep.  It was developed entirely in Canada. Agriculture Canada spent 10 to 15 years developing this breed at their research station in Ottawa. I always refer to the place as the Experimental Farm, thus the name for these socks.  The yarn weight is different from what I knit most of my socks with - slightly thicker and more rustic.  The sock will be cozy and warm for the feet.

Here's my recipe for the socks:

Use  Turkish Cast On (Happee Knits) to cast on 12 stitches.  Follow her directions for increasing.  Once you have the number of stitches for the sock size ( used 56 stitches total for men's large), start the foot of the sock.  Pattern on top (3 x 1 rib) and plain knitting on sole.

 

For Experimental Farm Socks for man's size large, I knit until sock measured 8". Then started heel.

Easiest heel is the Shadow Wrap Heel (Purl Together)  There's no counting to worry about, simply decide how many stitches you want for the center of heel.

After the heel, knit all stitches in pattern until sock measures 5" from where you finished Shadow Wrap Heel.  Then start ribbing for cuff.  I usually knit about 2" for the cuff, then bind off.

Although not the prettiest bind off,  Elizabeth Zimmerman bind off   (Knit by Heart) is the stretchiest bind off I've used.  Simple and does the trick.

And voila - a pair of men's socks (size 11 shoe).

Iris Quilt

Baby quilt for newest grandnephew.  The pattern in Iris and the fabric is Confetti from Me and My Sister designs.  Although the pattern is made with jellyroll in mind, I used my Stripology ruler on 1/2 yard and fat quarter fabric pieces.

Size was a bit small so I made a double border with  white and extra fabric pieces to enlarge..  I had to refresh my memory for adding a mitered double border to the quilt.  Picket Fence Quilt Company gives a useful video.

 

 

Prepping for quilting.   

Used the crosshatch design for quilting.  Done on my domestic machine with a walking foot.

 

And voila - another quilt.

Windy City

Made a quilt for my sister-in-law who is undergoing cancer treatment.   Bought the pattern, Windy City, and fabrics to make it and away I went. Fabric is mostly Cotton & Steel, Strawberry Fields line.

This pattern involves lots of piecing which I enjoyed.  Something very useful for all the diagonal piecing was the Diagonal Seam tape from Cluck Cluck Sew.  It's been sitting in my cabinet for awhile and I decided to give it a try.  A real time saver and accurate too.

My design wall always comes in handy when deciding on layout.  

When it comes to prepping the layers for quilting, I use two folding tables side by side and elastic straps hooked to the legs.  I pin the elastic to the edges of the backing so it's nice and snug.  Lay the batting on top and thoroughly smooth it out.  Then on goes the quilt top and more smoothing. 😀 Finally the pinning begins.

This is probably the biggest quilt I've done on my domestic.  At times, it was like wrestling an octopus, but I got into the swing of it.  Walking foot is a wonderful tool for this type of quilting. 

The backing fabric is one of my favorites.  Lots of interesting messages on it.  The label is bordered with bits of fabric from quilts that I've made for her grandchildren.

 

The finished quilt.

Christmas in July Virtual Workshop

I had the pleasure this year of taking a Christmas in July virtual retreat held by Watergirl Quilt Co.  and Dragon's Heart Quilt Shop It took place over a day and half on Zoom.  Lots of fun and interesting things were learned including how to make a gift bag, a quilted post card and the highlight - a Christmas lap quilt.  There was even a yoga instructor to guide us through some gentle stretches to relieve some kinks from our tired sewing bodies.   

Prior to the workshop, I asked Katie (@lethargiclass) at Watergirl Quilt Co. to choose some fabric that would work for this quilt.  As usual, Katie's keen color sense and fabric design coordination came through for me.  As I couldn't shop personally, I was happy to have Katie make the selection.

At the retreat, the quilt instruction was led by Susan Madu of Modern Blended Quilts.  We had a special preview of her pattern, Simply Modern Christmas, which was to be released shortly after our workshop.  The pattern uses the Corner Pop III ruler and it makes a delightful Christmas tree in each block.  I'll be using this method in another special project I have in mind.

Once the quilt was pieced, I quilted it using random criss crossing lines.  The walking foot on my domestic machine handled that job. I bound it using solid red and it is backed in a lumberjack plaid cotton.  A cozy piece for the cold winter to come.

Quilted Postcard

Gift Bag