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Saturday, October 31, 2015

Finishing a Set of Four

Since I quit teaching to quilt full time, I have made several memory quilts from clothing, and I have been dividing my time between "work" quilting and "hobby" quilting (quilting where the design and fabrics are mostly of my own choosing).  Memory quilts are so special to their recipients and each one has its own unique qualities, but I don't usually include them on here because I feel like there are only so many men's shirt quilts I can write about (in October alone, I made eight).  

This week however, I have been working on a set of four memory quilts that are a little different.  They are the first I have made from ladies' clothing, namely pajamas and a few blouses.  Since most memory quilts I've seen are masculine, I wanted to share them.


I took the photos of these four quilts yesterday after quilting, but before binding since we had another full day of rain today (which incidentally made for an interesting trick or treat experience).  Oh, and the breeze in the air is making the seams look crooked, but they aren't.  Admittedly though, some of the stripes and plaids are not completely straight, but that's inevitable when you're working with clothing and are trying to use every bit of fabric.  Straightening the print sometimes just wastes too much.



The trickiest part was making the limited fabric stretch into four quilts.  It took quite a bit of planning to ensure that I cut the clothing wisely.  Each quilt measures 48 inches square.

Also included in the box of clothing for these quilts were four embroidered pillow cases, and when I saw them, I knew I needed to find a way to incorporate that lovely hand work into a quilt without cutting it.  I made a giant log cabin quilt, which perfectly used the long, wide strips, and also made use of shorter pieces without them looking out of place.


There are four pieces of embroidery in this quilt, and most of them are small, simple flowers, but my favorite by far is this one.  Aren't the little birds so sweet?


The backings are identical on all four quilts.  I found this large pink polkadot fabric that is almost a spot-on match for one of the pajama fabrics (can't resist a good pun!), and Kona Candy Blue is just about perfect as well.


Although the photos don't show it, the binding I chose for these quilts is a pretty shade of buttery yellow, and I finished all four this morning before all of the Halloween hoopla tonight.  I can't wait to get these delivered!


Thursday, October 29, 2015

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Aaack!  I can't believe I almost let the Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival pass by without entering!  I've decided to enter my most recently completed favorite, Hot and Cold, in the ROYGBIV category.  Scrappy rainbow quilts always turn out to be my favorites!


This quilt was so much fun to put together.  I raided my scrap jars and sewed strip sets together in warm and cool colors, and then turned them into HST's.  I played around with a few different layouts, but I decided on this one, in part because I love the alternating direction of the warm and cool strips.


I used some leftover strips to create a mini rainbow on the back, and used a tiny black and white polkadot to really make the colors pop!  Tiny polkadots never turn out properly in photos, so here's a better view.  You can also see the soothing Kona Oasis binding in this one.


Quilt Stats:
Name- Hot and Cold
Size- 64" x 64"
Quilting- Free motion meandering by me
Entry Category- ROYGBIV Quilts

If you've never experienced the Blogger's Quilt Festival, you are really missing out!  There are so many gorgeous quilts in every category.  Hop over to Amy's Creative Side to check out all of the quilty inspiration!

AmysCreativeSide.com


Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Party Time!

Rain, rain go away!  Hurricane Patricia (or, what's left of her) has been making its way across our area for the last few days, and although my plants are grateful, it certainly makes getting decent quilt photos impossible.  I had to settle for snapping a few inside pics of my latest finish since this quilt needs to be delivered to its new home soon.


Even as a rival team fan, I have to say that I like how this one turned out.  The team fabric is subtle, and the pattern is modern and masculine enough for its recipient.


I used the partial squares that were left over on the back, along with chambray.  In general, when I make a quilt for a man (or boy), I try to keep the backings pretty simple but still interesting, and I love using chambray for them.  It's 57 inches wide, so that makes it really easy to just add a small strip of scraps and call it done;  and what man do you know that doesn't like denim?   The binding on this one is Kona Rich Red, which I had left over from my Truffles quilt.  The finished quilt measures 62" square, which is a weird measurement for a quilt that is eight blocks across.  It's because the starting blocks finish at 16.5," which are then cut into fourths, making them 8.25" before sewing, and finishing at 7.75."  Clear as mud, right?

Sooo...let's jump to a few features from last week's party, shall we?  Jennie at Porch Swing Quilts showed off this stunning flowering snowball top-


Jayne from Twiggy and Opal linked up this cool quilt using her Denyse Schmidt stash.


and Micki at 2 Dogs Studio shared this fun little quilt.  This is a great way to show off little sampling of large, bold prints!


Okay, friends!  Time to link up your latest projects!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!
2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.
3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  
4. Spread the comment love far and wide!
5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!



Monday, October 26, 2015

One Thing Leads to Another

Well a few of my latest quilts, namely my two Ole Miss quilts and my LSU Love quilt, have prompted another friend to ask for a team quilt for her son- 'tis the season for gifts, you know!  She asked for the Stacked Squares pattern for the quilt, and only wanted a tiny bit of team fabric (fine by me!).  She was also open to the addition of a few more colors than just the traditional red and navy to add some dimension.


Ole Miss sometimes wears retro helmets that are actually powder blue rather than navy, and occasionally the team sports shades of gray as well, so I incorporated those colors in the design, and I really love the depth it added to the quilt.

As I mentioned before, the season for gift sewing is in full swing, which means that I am also working on a couple of secret projects.  It's always tough for me to keep these kinds of projects off of my blog (I am the worst secret-keeper), but at this time of year, there's just no way around it!

Another thing I can share though is that I just got a full fat-quarter bundle of the Ambleside collection, and I have a great plan for these sweet colors as soon as I finish up this latest quilt.



Wednesday, October 21, 2015

NTT and Team Spirit

This quilt was pure fun, from the first bit of fabric browsing to the last stitch in the binding.  I finished it up yesterday, and I thought that a photo shoot at our city's youth league football field would be fitting.


The finished quilt measures 72" x 99" so it is a generous twin size, and this pattern was really easy to size up (fyi- I started out with 30 complete blocks, in case you want to tackle this pattern).  Since several have emailed me to ask- you can find the original (free) pattern HERE, which explains how the quilt is constructed (including photos);  however, I changed the measurements slightly to make the pattern fat quarter or yardage-friendly, since I rarely use precuts.  My measurements (and cutting diagrams can be found HERE).

Now that the quilt is all finished, I love the addition of the gray and white even more.  I feel like just that little bit of neutral fabric really keeps the purple and gold from being overwhelming.  In another context, I would refer to this color as yellow, but we LSU fans say that our colors are purple and gold, rather than purple and yellow.


I kept the back simple;  just Kona Purple with a wide stripe of the busiest LSU fabric.  I quilted it with white thread, and I love how it shows up against the purple.  There was a time (a long while ago) that I would shy away from really dark, solid backings because I worried about the contrast showing every single imperfection in my stitches, but these days I am more comfortable with my quilting, and as it turns out, these high contrast backings are really some of my favorites.



The binding is Kona Corn Yellow, and it frames the quilt perfectly without adding any extra pattern.  My first instinct was to put a gray binding on the quilt to pick up the gray in the top, and I really struggled with the decision; but my husband's reasoning won out when he reminded me that gray is actually not an LSU color.  As it is, I think it mostly just blends into the front, which is good, and it really pops against the back, which is fantastic.


This one has already been shipped off to my friend, and I can't wait to get his reaction when he receives it!

Alright!  Last week's party was filled with lots of awesomeness, so check out some of my favorites!  This string quilt from Kris at Sew Sunshine is so beautiful, and I love the contrast of the bright colors against the weathered barn in her photos.  Amazing!


Chelsea at Patch the Giraffe linked up this pretty Picnic Pinwheels quilt.  I love it!


and of course, the fact that I am a sucker for a rainbow quilt strikes again, so I can't help but feature this Rainbow Patches quilt by Myra at Busy Hands Quilts.


Y'all just amaze me week after week!  I can't wait to see what you have going on this week!  Time to party!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!
2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.
3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  
4. Spread the comment love far and wide!
5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!


Monday, October 19, 2015

Geaux Tigers!

For those of you who are not from Louisiana, "geaux" is how we LSU fans spell the word go- not all the time; just when we get extra excited about sports, which is often.  It's just one of those quirky things that gives a little nod to the French influence in our great state, and I love that it's unique to us.  We're smack in the middle of an undefeated football season and school spirit is running pretty high right now, so when a friend from college contacted me and asked if I would make a twin sized LSU quilt for him, I jumped right on it!


I decided on the Stacked Squares pattern since I wanted something modern and definitely not feminine.  I never seem to tire of the illusion that this pattern creates!  I had to size it up to make a twin, which means that I had to make 30 different blocks in order to make all of the partial squares work out properly.

For the stacked illusion to show up in the quilt, the blocks need plenty of contrast, so I decided to add a little bit of gray and white to the mix.  Plus, as much as I love purple and gold, it can get overwhelming pretty quickly.

I must confess that I exhibited the ultimate in quilt photography laziness today with this pic.  I did actually press the top before taking it outside, but you'd never know it!  Autumn has definitely arrived here, and the leaves have begun to fall, scattering themselves across my backyard and deck.  I was in such a hurry to get this photo taken so I could start basting, that I just spread the quilt top right over the existing leaves, hence all of the bumps and wrinkles.  Oh well.

From the moment I started shopping for the fabrics, this one has been so much fun to create.  It is all basted and ready to "geaux," so quilting will be happening soon!


Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Hot and Cold and NTT

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday!  I have been looking forward to this post, because I am so thrilled to reveal my finished warm and cool quilt, aptly named Hot and Cold.


I had so much fun creating this one!  I chose to back the quilt with a tiny black and white polkadot, and I used up some of my leftover strips to make a rainbow stripe to add some interest.  There is just something about the black and white against those brights.  The colors just sing!


For some reason, I couldn't get the polkadot fabric to photograph properly, but you can see it in the close up below.


With a quilt like this, I really could have chosen any color binding, but because the strips are busy, I wanted it to be solid.  I also knew that I wanted a cool color so that the binding would blend into the background of the quilt.  I chose Kona Oasis, and I love it!


The finished quilt measures 62" x 62."  I have wanted to make a warm/cool quilt for a long time, and I'm so glad I finally did it!

Now, check out some of the amazing features from last week's NTT.  This mini from Kris at Sew Sunshine is so fantastically modern!


Emily from Cardboard Boxes and Paper Hearts shared this fun Hopscotch quilt.  Beautiful!


and Cynthia from Quilting is More Fun Than Housework shared a tutorial for this sweet Half Hexie Baby Quilt.


Okay then, it's time to party!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!
2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.
3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  
4. Spread the comment love far and wide!
5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!


Tuesday, October 13, 2015

October Fabric Deals

Well friends, we're approaching the middle of the month, and you know what that means!  It's time for my monthly post, highlighting all of the latest news and sales going on at my favorite shops!  I don't know about you, but in my world, it's time to really get down to business on all of those Christmas projects and gifts.  If you're in the same boat, you won't want to miss out on all of the great sales happening right now, so read on!

First of all, you might have noticed that Dragonfly Fabrics, a long-time sponsor of My Quilt Infatuation, is missing from my sidebar.  Well, I'm sad to report that Dragonfly Fabrics is closing.  The owner, Amy, is pursuing other opportunities and though I will dearly miss the shop, I truly wish her all the best.


That does mean that Dragonfly Fabrics will be hosting a massive sale to clear out inventory starting next Monday.  Be sure to bid farewell to the shop by taking advantage of this amazing opportunity and get yourself some goodies at rock bottom prices.


                     Dragonfly Fabrics


Four months running, and I still looooovvve my custom quilt labels from Finer Ribbon.  Lately, I have had many people email me lately and ask exactly which labels I have, since their website has so many choices.  So, I figured I should fill everyone in.  The exact labels I have are HERE, though that might not be immediately obvious from the photo with the listing.


My labels are 2 1/4 inches wide, and they are printed from side to side on the ribbon, rather than running the length of the ribbon.

When the ribbon is folded in half, my logo and name are on one side, and laundry care symbols are on the other.

Before my labels were printed, the design team sent me a paper proof that was perfectly to scale.  I was able to print it, and cut and fold them to be certain that I loved them before they were printed on the ribbon.






To add them to my quilts, I just cut from the spool, fold them in half and stitch them to the back of my quilt underneath the binding!  Super easy and so professional!

By the way, if you have already ordered labels from Finer Ribbon and would like to send me a photo, I would love to show examples of other amazing labels in next month's post!






I am so excited to announce that Finer Ribbon has generously extended their coupon for 15% off of your entire order!  Just use the code MQI15 at checkout!  There are 1000 labels on that spool, so this really is a deal, folks!

                 FinerRibbon


When most people think of October, images of pumpkins, scarecrows, hay bales, bats, and spiders come to mind, but we would be amiss if we didn't notice all of the pink that pops up this month as well.  I'm sure I don't have to tell you that October is also Breast Cancer Awareness month, and Shabby Fabrics has a few special projects to commemorate this important cause.


This Pink Ribbon wall hanging is the perfect way to honor someone who has fought breast cancer, or someone who is currently fighting for her life.

If you want something smaller, there is also an adorable Hope Cosmetic Bag.

                   

Both of these projects are available as full kits with all materials included, and with all appliqué shapes laser cut and pre-fused.  Or, if you prefer, they are available as pattern-only.

If you're looking to design your own "Pink Power" project, Shabby Fabrics has you covered there as well.  They have put together a special fat quarter bundle, and even a special thread box in gorgeous shades of pink.

The pink ribbon is such an iconic representation of Breast Cancer Awareness, and I think it is so amazing that Shabby Fabrics also offers a laser-cut and pre-fused pink ribbon set.  These would really make it so easy to turn a pretty, pink quilt into a true quilt for Breast Cancer Awareness.

                             Shabby Fabrics

Great news from Jodie at Fort Worth Fabric Studio- she has just extended her Cool Autumn Sale through TOMORROW ONLY!



My shopping cart always seems to be loaded up at FWFS.  I love their bundles, and there are always great things in their remnant/one piece left section!


            Fort Worth Fabric Studio


Happy, happy 1st birthday to Lady Belle Fabric!  Can you believe it?  Lady Belle has been in business for one year and there is a celebration going on!

I really love shopping at Lady Belle, and it has been amazing to see how her selection has grown.

I know I've said it before, but it certainly bears repeating- Lady Belle has some of the best fat quarter bundle prices you'll find anywhere!

Beautiful fabrics, amazing prices- check it out!

          Lady Belle Fabric


Last, but certainly not least is Fat Quarter Shop.  There are a couple of new books that are available for preorder this month, and it looks like they are just full of adorable projects!




Fat Quarter Baby is filled with 20 crib quilts that are fat quarter friendly- so cute!

Pretty Playtime Quilts, by Elea Lutz, a designer for Penny Rose Fabrics, is also available for preorder and is filled with charming, whimsical quilts for girls of all ages.  Check it out HERE.


                   Fat Quarter Shop

We all know that Fat Quarter Shop has an enormous selection of yardage, bundles, patterns, and kits, but since Christmas is quickly approaching, I wanted to take a minute to highlight their Christmas Cloth Store.  That's right- their Christmas selection is so vast that they have a completely different website for it!


There are several Christmas quilt kits available, including my favorite, Tinsel and Baubles, featuring the Jingle line by Kate Spain.



Another of my very favorite Christmas collections is Evergreen, by Basic Grey and it is available in fat quarter bundles, half yard bundles, and yardage.

Really, the selection in the Christmas Cloth Store is so huge that these few features really don't do it justice.  You'll just have to check it out for yourself!





With all of these great sales and coupons going on, you're bound to find lots of fabric goodies, as well as plenty of inspiration to get those projects checked off your list!  Happy shopping!





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