Musical Monkeys Quilt

Well..... its been six months since I posted a new quilt, but I finally finished one!

I call this one Musical Monkeys because there are monkeys and guitars.  I made it for my great, great nephew, Ander Cole.  He was born in September, but I didn't get it done in time for his birth.  I saw his family yesterday for a family Christmas get together, so I pushed through during the last few days and finished it.

I hope to get back into quilting in 2017.  I did not finish several projects that were on my goal list for 2016! 

Football Fever I and II

Here are my two recent finishes of the quilts I think I should call Football Fever I and II.   They measure 48 X 60 which is the size of toddler quilts.  Both these boys sleep in toddler beds.  They are age 3 and not quite 2.  This picture shows the backing fabric.

 I made two matching pillow cases with the left over fabric using the magic pillowcase tutorial found HERE.

I love how they turned out!

The fronts are simple with alternating squares that have appliqued stars on them.

The backs.

These 2 finishes were on my Quilt To Do List that I posted way back in January.  Yay!!!

Slow Sunday Stitching

I've been working on two toddler bed sized quilts for 2 of my grandsons who are brothers.  For a toddler bed quilt, the measurements are about 48 inches by 60 inches.

Today has been a perfect day for hand stitching the back side of the binding on the quilts. It a cloudy, rainy day as Tropical Storm Bonnie inches by.

As you can see the quilts have a football theme and I think this backing fabric is perfect.

I'll need to take pictures of the front of the 2 matching quilts soon!

This post is linked to "Slow Sunday Stitching" at Kathy's Quilts.https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

Christmas Scrappy Trips

2016 Finish # 4

My Christmas Scrappy Trips Quilt:

I made the quilt top last year and finally quilted and bound it.  One more item checked off my 2016 To Do List!

I really loved making this quilt.  I want to make another one with a more planned color design.  I learned after I made it that using the same color in the center of each block makes a the design really pop.  I also want to use similar colors in the same spot on each block.

It was a windy day, but it always is when I'm trying to get a picture of a quilt!

Scrappy Trips Tutorial found at Quiltville HERE

So Scrappy Saturday!

This month over at the So Scrappy Blog, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color is orange with accents of black or brown, inspired by the colors of a Monarch Butterfly.  I was excited to rummage through my scraps to dig out some oranges.

I don't have too many orange fabrics, but it occurred to me that there would probably be some in my box of Fall fabrics.  I'm always ready to sew some fall fabrics, even in April.  I purposely tried to only pull out the fabrics that were truly scraps.  I even pulled out a small piece about the size of a fat quarter that was in the "throw away" pile.

This morning, I went to work cutting the scraps into 2 1/2 inch squares, which is the size needed for the 36 patch leaders and enders quilt I am working on.  This is the end result and represents about all the orange scraps I have.  There are some fall leaves, pumpkins, chickens, dots, stripes and flowers.  Lots of variety!

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I'll be working on the orange 36 patch blocks this week as leaders and enders while working on another quilt that I have in progress.

I've also been free motion machine quilting this Christmas Scrappy Trips quilt.  I'm a little over half done.  It is made from all Christmas scraps.

Its on the list that I posted in January HERE.  I have made some progress on the list, but I'll keep working on it as the year goes along. 

Scrappy Saturday

I decided to do a 36 patch quilt using my two and one half inch scrap squares, as a leaders and enders project.  Each 12 inch square (finished) will be made from a different color and so I realized I could use this project toward the scrappy color of the month at the So Scrappy Blog.  This month was purple, so here's a purple block.  I'm a little late to the party, so one purple block is all I got done for March.  

I'm not sure what color will be used in April, but I have made a pink block....

And started on a green block.

Here are my last four Splendid Sampler Blocks, which are being made mostly from scraps too.

Two of my grandsons and I decorated Easter eggs today and here is one of Eli's eggs.

Happy Easter everyone!

Skye's Scrap Quilt

This is Skye's Scrap Quilt.  Skye is scheduled to make her arrival on April 5th.  I previously made her the Sunbonnet Sue Quilt shown HERE, but wanted to make her a pink and white scrap quilt.  Scrappy quilts are my favorite!

 I've been enjoying making log cabin quilts because they put my 2 1/2 inch wide strips to good use. 

These colors look kind of purple, but they are all pink and white.

I did loopy meander free motion quilting on this one.  I thought it would give it a little bit of a feminine look.

I'm linking up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom's Quilts.

Eli's Scrap Quilt

Here is my second quilt finish for 2016.

I am so in love with this quilt and the little boy for whom it was made! 

The quilt is a log cabin pattern with the blocks arranged in the field and furrow design .  I think this is perfect since it was made for a little boy who absolutely loves to play in the field behind our house.  He would stay out there for hours if he could.

See those little fists full of dirt! 

He is 2 and 1/2 and recently moved into a big boy bed and I thought it was high time his grandma got busy with the scraps!

I thought this blue and white stripe was perfect for the backing, but it wasn't wide enough, so I got creative and added a row of the same size strips and fabric as the front.

I made this quilt entirely from scraps and gifted fabrics.  The only thing I purchased was the batting, which I had in my stash and had bought on sale.

Here are few close ups of some of the fabrics. 

I hope Eli enjoys his quilt as much as he loves playing in the field..... but I doubt it will be as much fun for him!

"Simple Simon" and "Focal Point" Blocks

Here are this week's Splendid Sampler blocks.

"Focal Point"

Simple Simon:

All six blocks on the mini clothes line.

I am not going to buy any fabric for this project.  I love going through my scraps and pulling out bits and pieces that become a cute 6 1/2 inch block.  I'm sticking with bright colors, mostly.  That one wine colored heart is a little dark, but its ok! 

I'm really working on my accuracy and making these small blocks with so many pieces is helping me in that.  The last one on the far right has 36 pieces.  I did lose some points, but other than that it came together pretty well.

In future posts, I plan to share some tips that I have learned along the way that have helped me avoid some wonkiness!

"Lots of Love" and "Happy Happy" Blocks

Here the two Splendid Sampler Blocks for this week.  The first one is called "Lots of Love" and the second one is called "Happy Happy".

This is my little Splendid Sampler clothesline.

I love this one and am thinking about making a mug rug in something similar .

These blocks have challenged me so much. I'm trying to stick to it and stay caught up.  Its always exciting to see what the next block will be!  Block 5 will come out tomorrow.

I keep thinking about what all the future blocks might look like.  Just think of all the holidays that will probably be represented:  St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Then there are all four of the seasons.   It will be fun!

The Splendid Sampler

I've been doing a lot of quilt sewing lately! One new project that I'm doing is the Splendid Sampler Mystery Quilt found HERE. There will be 100 blocks released over a period of a year. There are two new blocks a week, one on Sunday and one of Thursday. Here are my first two blocks. They are small, at only 6 1/2 inches.   I may redo the heart block because the lady bugs show through the heart fabric!

"Wings" and "Hears Aflutter"

This one was a real challenge for me. Since the block is so small and there are so many pieces (46!), its extremely hard to make everything match up. But, its great experience in helping me improve my piecing skills.

This one is called "Wings".  I didn't do the embroidered antennae for the butterflies.

I'm also working on a twin size quilt for my grandson, Eli.  He is now in a big boy bed.  Its a log cabin pattern and will be arranged in the field and furrow design.  I'll be showing my progress on that one soon.

Finally a Quilt Finish!

Finally, a finish!  This Sunbonnet Sue Quilt is a very vintage pattern.  I know lots of people only make modern quilts these days, and I really like modern quilts myself.  But, this quilt is for my stepdaughter and I really felt like she would like this quilt.   She is having a baby shower soon, so this will be my gift.

Its so hard to get a good picture of quilt this time of year.  There's not enough light when I leave to go to work or when I get home.  And on top of that its been raining a lot around here.  Isn't my hubby cute and helpful to hold this quilt up for me at 6:00 A.M. on a work morning?

I found this backing fabric in my stash.  Someone must have given it to me and I'm not sure where it came from..  The selvedge said it was Kathy Schmitz "All Through the Night".  Sounds like Christmas, but this fabric isn't Christmasy at all.  I love it and it quilted really well!

I like applique quilts that have the quilting only around the applique pieces.  But, the Sunbonnet Sue's are sort of big and I felt like the quilt would hold up better and probably look better if I just quilted everything, so that's what I did.

I'm so glad to start my list of quilt finishes in 2016!


This post is linked to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts.