Merry Christmas!

I think I will sit by the fire till next year!

My favorite wool socks made by my friend Nancy in Wyoming.

Stadium Quilt #3

 Done sewing and quilting for the rest of the year.  I put the binding on this last blanket last night.  Whoot.  Now, I can make caramels.....

Freehand topographical quilting.

Fleece and denim, Hobbs 80/20 batting, Signature cotton thread.

Fleece binding. 

Stadium Quilt #2

Just finished up another stadium blanket: Denim and fleece with fleece binding. 

I made one last month with no batting.  Good thing it was for myself ...it's great to fold and sit on at the hockey games, but I didn't think it was warm enough when we wrapped up in it at the last October soccer game.  They are 60 x 90--perfect for 2 people.

So.

I put batting in this one and used Hobbs 80/20.  I had several good sized chunks of batting and pieced 3 together for this project.  You can easily piece batting.  I posted a tutorial 3 years ago HERE.

How fun is this?

I grabbed some red fleece from the shelf and whipped this binding on in no time.

Tutorial for that is HERE.

Quilted with bright yellow cotton thread.

Pantograph pattern: Sprung, by Willow Leaf Studio.

Quilt of Valor #63

This Quilt of Valor top was made by Judy in Newark, Ohio.

I worked my way across with this fun freehand motif and highlighted a star in the white blocks.

The border got sets of random curves sprinkled with more stars. 

Love her flag and stars backing.

Lime and Blue Quilt

This Christmas quilt is done and I love it. 

I didn't use a pattern, but I recently quilted one similar for my sister in law and I made this on in a similar way. My little granddaughter requested blue, lime green and gray for her quilt.  I think this pretty well covers all the bases.

  I love these little blocks with ruffles:

I quilted it with Dream Puff Batting and tried to keep the quilting open and not too dense so it would be fluffy and warm.

Here's the back in true color.

I just love pieced backs. 

 ....and I had just enough stripe left over for the binding.  

 

Leaders and Enders

I have pieced 2 tops and backings for 2 twin quilts in the past couple of weeks.  During that time, I was also able to sneak in these blocks by doing Bonnie Hunter's leaders and enders method of making every minute and stitch count.  You can find her over at Quiltville.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!  I am a believer! 

The above blocks were sewn together by using them as leaders or enders as I pieced these 2 quilt tops.....

 

I already have enough to make 10 nine-patch blocks for a charity quilt....and it only took me a few seconds as i was piecing these quilt tops.

I had about 4 charm packs from a previous life that I knew I was never going to use. As I pieced the quilt tops and came to the end of my chain piecing or just sewing a border, I grabbed a couple random charms and stitched them up, leaving them under the presser foot until I was ready to sew another row on my quilt.

When I snipped them off, I tossed them in a basket under the table.  I was amazed how fast it piled up.  

Later, I pressed and re-stacked the charms sewn together so I could start adding the 3rd charm.

I have used scraps for leaders and enders for years.

Just think of all the missed opportunities here that could have been pieced! 

I have literally tossed dozens and dozens of these scraps over the past 5-6 years.

As I pieced the quilt tops when I came to the end of my chain piecing or just sewing a border, I grabbed a couple random charms and stitched them up, leaving them under the presser foot until I was ready to sew another row on my quilt.

The best part of leaders and enders is that you never have to lift your presser foot, you sew on and off the leader and it's extremely fast.  No fiddling with holding your threads or straightening thread behind your presser foot.  I love it!

Bonnie has a couple of book out on leaders and enders.  She has lots of books on quilting with scraps. She also has a lot of free patterns.  Check her out: http://quiltville.com/

More: Leaders and Enders

My little experiment with leaders and enders had not ended, it is just beginning.  I can't wait to sit down to piece and slip a random charm under my presser foot.  Stay tuned...  It makes me feel like I have more time on my clock and have an extra hand.

It also reminds me of a Dr Seus book we had when we were kids called,  Dr. Seus' Sleep Book.

"A Mr. and Mrs. J. Carmichael Krox

Have just gone to bed near the town of Fort Knox.

And they, by the way, have the finest of clocks.

I’m not at all sure that I quite quite understand

Just how the thing works, with that one extra hand.

But I do know this clock does one very slick trick.

It doesn’t tick tock. How it goes, is tock tick.

So, with ticks in its tocker, and tocks in its ticker

It saves lots of time and the sleepers sleep quicker"

Forest Quilt

Ok, so I had to change the name of this quilt...from "Deer" to "Forest", now that it also has moose and bear.

Here are a few more details, on all the deer panels and blocks, I simply outlined the animals and some of the trees and rocks.

Freehand leaves....

I used Quilters Dream Puff batting so this is more like a comforter....and will be nice and warm.

This wetland meadow was quilted in a simple meander, following the water areas. 

The deer blocks were appliqued on the quilt leaving a raw edge.

After it was washed, they frayed nicely adding to the rustic 3D look. 

You can see the evolution of this quilt here.

Here it is after it was washed to fray the blocks.

This is a Christmas quilt for my 10 year old grandson who likes to hunt with his dad.

I think he will like it!

If you missed the blog post about piecing in the name, you can find it here.

Christmas Deer Quilt

I love pieced backings!

I love this book!  I've use it a lot over the past few years for pieced words and pieced a lot of backings with names. The alphabet pages are now taped to hold them in the book. 

Here's how I do it...it's really pretty easy.  I like to starch my fabric before I cut it for names.  You get less distortion with your 1.5 inch strips.  Best Press is my best friend.

I use it as I piece and press each letter.

When I get done It almost stands alone!

I always put the name about 15 inches down from the top sometimes in the center sometimes to the side.  Here I will fold the top of the quilt in 4th's and press it to make some creases.

Then I slice the backing 15 inches from the top.  The name block is 7.5 tall so I need to make another slice in the backing 7.5 inches further down.

The name block is 24.5 inches wide...

...so I will cut a 23.5 inch strip from the middle of the center 7.5 inch slice. Instead of cutting 23.5 inches from one end, I cut it from the middle so I can keep my pressing landmarks in the right place... 

Now, you can see the name block has been inserted in the middle of this strip.

And the pressing landmarks are going to line up perfectly to sew this back together.

It all lines back up and it's a breeze to put back together.

How fun is that?  It took me about 45 minutes.