Thinking Outside the Box!

I have 2 king sized quilt tops to quilt, but am waiting for some batting to be shipped.  So, while my Millineum is idle for a few days I decided to put some miles on my Bernina.  I bought this flannel kit early this spring (on sale!) and it's been sitting there on my shelf all this time.  I have a love/hate relationship with kits.  I love the fact that someone else has already done my fabric shopping, but hate it when they make a mistake on the yardage.  So this is where I had to get creative.  As my 8 year old Granddaughter, Jordan, says, "Grandma, you have to think outside the box!"

The pattern was strips cut from 45" fabric and there was hardly a fraction left over.  Now, many of us know that actual 45" fabric hardly exists anymore and then you still have to subtract the 1 inch selvages.  Today's 45" fabric really measures somewhere between 40 and 42 inches.  So, I had to downsize the blocks 1/2 inch to begin with.  No problem.

Close up of quilting.
Edge to edge freehand swirls gives it lots of texture--flannel front and back.

After I got the top pieced, I took out the backing fabric.  This quilt was 50 x 50 and my little handy dandy fabric calculator told me I needed 3-1/4 yard of fabric to piece for the backing.  Hmm.....I only see 2-1/2 yards. . . and I need an additional 16-18 inches for the binding!  . . . hmm . . . thinking outside the box . . .

So, I dig through all the leftover scraps to see what I can come up with to make this work.  I refuse to even look online to find more matching fabric.  I figured if I took the backing yardage and put in a 10 inch splice to make it wide enough, then I will have just enough width to make the backing and have just enough length left to make the binding.  First, I tried to come up with enough scraps for a pieced binding, but the width and length of my scraps didn't lend themselves to that; and I still would not have enough backing . . . outside the box  . . .

So, here is what I came up with . . . it's a "Design Element!"

Close up of back.

 

I carefully quilted this with only one inch of backing on either side of the quilt sandwich.

 . . . and look at all this I had left!

Thanks Jordan~  For reminding grandma to think outside the box!

Self Binding Receiving Blankets

I have seen these awesome little receiving blankets, but I didn't know how to make them.  I found a great tutorial over at Piece N Quilt.  While you are there, they have lots and lots of tutorials, cute patterns, quilts, and more.

You can make them any size and it only takes about 30 minutes to sew them up!

Top stitching around the self binding.

Stitching on the backside.

Now, just watch my stash of baby flannel dwindle . . .

I just love learning new techniques and I learn something from someone every day!

Navy Quilt of Valor

Four sisters were involved in this quilt top: two that live in Utah, one from Nevada and one from California.  While in Utah at a shop hop, they heard about making quilts for our soldiers and they decided it would be a fun thing to do as a sisters' project.

 

 
While going to the stores on the shop hop they met a returned soldier who had received a Quilt of Valor.  Susan states: "After talking to him, we knew we wanted to give back to our soldiers. We wanted to make a quilt that felt patriotic and fun. This quilt is truly an interstate quilt. The fabric bought in Utah then designed by Dian and Susan. June and July 2010, Susan and Dian got together in California and Nevada and made the quilt top."

Then it was sent to me in Idaho to be quilted.  This top was straight, flat, and square.  It was a joy to work on and the piecing is nice.

Their Father was in the Navy in WWII so they started with boats . . . and I tried to create as many waves as I could on this quilt!

 

 

 

 

The backing has stars.

They sent a matching presentation case to send with the quilt. 

Good Job Ladies!

Monday, this quilt will be shipped to a point of contact at a multinational hospital in Afghanistan: US Navy doctor, CAPT Patricia Hagan, USN.  She is giving quilts to those American men and women that have been injured. Some, after care, are being returned to their units to finish their deployment.

Capt Hagen states: "Our soldiers go to Germany with QOV's covering them.  We here at the front line of caring are so grateful for the Quilts of Valor Program.  It is no small thing to receive such a warm and comforting gift from your heart reminding our warriors they have the love and fidelity of the people back home."

Beach Quilt

....water, waves, tide pools, sand, shells, seahorses, the sun glinting off of the water, shades of shallow water, shades of deeper and deeper water, seaweed......

Inspiration: Pinwheel Cove by Theresa Eisinger
Quiltmaker.com

You can almost hear the waves crashing on the shore......

What? You can't hear it?
Maybe it's because you can't see it . . . yet . . .
 . . . follow me

This is a wedding quilt I made for a bride and groom who live on the Oregon coast.  This is the center block on the quilt....reminds me of mermaid's hair strewn with pearls.

Congratulations, Kyle and Jeri!

 The back

The side light makes it look purple but as you can see above, it's not.

This is actually 2 quilts in one since the back gives you a totally different look.

~Back to the beginning~

Here it was a small section of the quilt on the design wall.

  I printed out clip art, sized it to fit in the space and cut out the shells, etc.

Here are my paper models.

I used my west window like a light box.  After I pieced each block, I taped the pattern to the window and then taped the quilt block over it and and traced the shells.  Then I sewed all the blocks together.  When I got done, my quilt top was all marked.

You can barely see the blue markings in the white areas. 

....um....this is as close to stained glass as I will ever get.  I have some friends that do some awesome stained glass pieces, but I think I will stick to my needle and thread.

 

Floating along on the frame.

This was a really fun quilt: all batik fabrics.  I prewashed them and they feel really good, making this quilt soft and fluffy.