Scrappy Patchwork

I got this quilt back from my quilter today, and I love it! 

I have been making patchwork blocks out of scraps for a few years now, and I finally put some together into this baby/toddler size quilt.  The squares are 2" each after sewing.

I had it quilted in a loopy pattern.  I think that I might bind it in a black print.

Sew and Slash

My friend gave me a box of fabric she wasn't using!!!  What a good day :)  There were so many super cute fabrics in the box and many of them coordinated.  I decided to start using them by making this simple sew and slash quilt top.

I cut rectangles and squares and just started sewing them together.  I made long pieces.  Then I cut them apart and pieced them back together in other places.  I did a lot of sewing and slashing and sewing again before coming up with this finished product!

Art Gallery Sampler

I finally finished this sampler quilt!  I have had these finished blocks folded in a bin for about three years....pretty bad.  This was part of a brown bag quilt project.  I was given the colourful fabrics every two weeks with two block patterns to make.  I had to add a third fabric, which is the grey.

The colourful fabrics are all from Art Gallery

 I hadn't finished this quilt because I just couldn't see how to put it all together with so many colours like this.  I have been trying to work on finishing things that I have started, so it felt good to get this one out of the way.  I am really happy with the result.

It measures around 60"x72".

Now I better bind it!

Pink Sampler

I didn't really have a plan when I started on this next project.  I had a bunch of pink/blue/green/gold fabrics, mostly from Art Gallery, that I needed to use up.  I have been saving this pile of fabric for a while because I love the main print.

This is the first 16" block that I made.

I had no idea where to go from there, so I started making smaller blocks, and now I guess I have a sampler on the way!

This last block and the first one are about 16" and the other blocks are 8", so as long as I can make enough blocks from my scraps they should fit together nicely!

Vintage Bears Paw

This quilt was given to my oldest son by his Great Oma.  I love it.  It will always have a sentimental value to our family because she made it.  

She made it when she was over 70 years old, and it shows.  It shows in the mistakes, holes, uneven seams, and wonky bear claws.  Nothing lines up perfectly.  The quilting on the top isn't smooth.  But she made it because she loved our boy.

The best part about this quilt is the craziness of the fabric choices.  Nothing really matches and it appears that anything goes!  We have teddy bears in pink dresses and pearl necklaces, footballs, bird houses, flowers and bam! neon polyester!

Right away the block with the neon polyester stood out to me and I told her it was my favourite.  So of course she replied with, "oh yes, I love that fabric too!  It was from a dress that I wore in the seventies!"  Oh wow, only Oma.

I am hoping to make my own quilt in this pattern as well.  What a great scrap buster!

Hello Bear Scrap Pillow

My latest sewing project was a huge scrap pillow.  I had made a quilt using these fabrics for a friend's baby last year!  I had a lot of left over fabric as usual.  I was recently asked if I could make a pillow cover for her 26"X26" floor pillow in the same fabrics!  Perfect.

I used the same sew and slash method to get all of the small pieces used up!  I was excited to find one little piece of the Hello Bear feature fabric still left in my stash. 

When done the pillow front, I added a layer of batting and sewed across the whole thing twice in each direction for added strength and comfiness.

I may attack my scrap pile and make a few more of these cute pillow covers!  It only took about 2 hours total to complete.

Black and Blue Sampler

This is the first quilt I ever made.  I love it!  When our first son was born I started making it right away.  It was part of a brown bag program.  

Every two weeks I had to pop in at the quilt store to get two block patterns with two pieces of fabric.  It was my job to add a third fabric and piece the block.  I had two weeks before I had to go back with my blocks to get the next brown bag.  The block patterns grew in difficulty as the weeks went on.  In total the program lasted 12 weeks and I ended up with 24 blocks.

After a while I realized that the blocks I liked the most were the ones where I used black as the third fabric.  It really just set the blues off!

This quilt is a single size so my son will be able to use it for many years to come.

 

I Love my Scrap Pile!

I made an enormous king size quilt for a dear friend a few years ago, and wow did I have a lot of left over fabric.  I had ordered fat quarter bundles and only used certain fabrics from those.  What I was left with was a huge stash of beautifully matching fabrics.  I had enough to make two baby quilts and still have some left over.

The fabric grouping is called, Prince Charming, by Tula Pink.  I love the fun teals and accents of deep blue and yellow.  If you look really closely, you can see turtles, frogs, a girl on a swing, and raindrops on the fabric.

For the King Size Quilt I went with a simple traditional pattern block using two half square triangles and two four patches per block.  Once I made all of the blocks it was very simple to piece them all together and add borders. (pictures to come!)

The baby quilts ended up being samplers!  I made blocks using the pieces I had left, some that were already made into hst's and others that were already strips.  I didn't spend a lot of time on these ones, but the cute coordinating fabrics really came together to make the assorted quilt blocks work.

The Quickest Quilt I Have Ever Made

I was really under the gun when I made this quilt!  My dear friend was having a baby girl and I had purchased a set of fabrics off of Etsy called, Hello Bear, by Art Gallery.  I love these fabrics!  So many adorable woodland type prints and a feature fabric with cute little animals.  

The birth was a good four months away when I got the fabric, so I didn't feel a rush to get going.  Then everything changed!  We got a phone call that we have been waiting for for a long time!  We were chosen to adopt a baby who was due to be born in under three weeks.

So yes, I needed to move on this quilt for my friend if I had any hope of giving it to her on time.  I certainly was not going to be sewing once my own little hunny had arrived!

My plan was simple.  The fabrics were great.  I just started cutting pieces in various size rectangles and squares.  Then I started sewing.  I added fabrics randomly until the piece was about the length I wanted for the quilt.  Then I made another section just as large.

Once I had many large quilt length sections I started cutting the sections lengthwise.  Then I would sew these long sections back together in other places.  I also cut the quilt widthwise and sewed those sections back together.  

This sounds confusing!  Anyways, the main idea is to sew big sections and then cut them into smaller sections and sew those all together.

In the end you get a random and modern looking quilt top that took me less than two hours to piece!

Bright and Funky Pinwheels

This is one of my favourite quilts.  I don't know if it is the funky bright colours or the special story that goes with it, but this quilt definitely has a place in my heart.

I made this quilt while waiting to be chosen as an adoptive family.  We never knew when it would happen or whether we would be adopting a boy or girl.  So, I made this cute gender neutral pinwheel quilt. 

 It was kinda my version of nesting.  I wanted to do something to prepare my heart and our home.  I wanted to anticipate a birth of a new child, even though I didn't know who or when or where.

I chose soft and cuddly minky fabric for the backing, and a bright yellow polka dot fabric for the binding.

My sweet boy on his cuddly quilt.  I am so glad that I made it for him.

Brothers.  That reminds me, I should share the first quilt I ever made!  It is single bed size quilt made for our first son, while we were expecting him...details to follow.  

Simple yet Detailed Strip Quilt Tutorial

I love this easy quilt block!  It is the Doubly Striped Half Square Triangle block.  I have also seen it called the three dudes block.  The best part about this block is that even though it is easy enough for a beginner to make, the end resulting quilt looks very intricate and detailed.  

Using a jelly roll that features just two main colours will make the pattern stand out really well in the finished product!  I love my choice of light teal and grey for this quilt.  The recipient was doing her gender neutral nursery in teal, grey and a hint of yellow.  I didn't end up adding any yellow, though I did consider it for the binding.

The elephant fabric was added to the top and bottom of the quilt to add length, and because honestly, it is just too cute!  It makes the quilt more fun and less serious!  It is for a baby after all!

Below I made a sample block to show the method used.  Anything goes with this block!  Mix it up with all different scrappy strips, or keep it uniform by alternating two solids.  You could also try using scraps for one colour, and a neutral for the other colour.  This would be an awesome way to use up those leftover strips.

Block Directions:
1.  make sure that one square has three greys and one square has three teals.  The strips are cut 10.5X2.5

2. put one on top of the other, with the strips in alternating directions.

3. pin and sew around the outside of the square

4. cut on a 45 degree angle from corner to corner

5. cut each half on the 45 degree angle as well

6. iron each square open

7. piece the squares together and press

Finished!!!