Archive for the ‘Pieced and applique quilts’ Category

Buying a Quilt Kit….

Monday, June 14th, 2010

For some time now, I’ve been collecting black and cream/tan  repro fabrics, and shirtings.  Then I started collecting small bits of burnt orange repro fabrics.  My goal…to make a quilt or two with that color combo.  I like the combo and they’d look great for decorating at Halloween time.

When I have a future project in mind I keep an eye out for fabrics that will fit in, and get them while they’re available.  If I wait..they’ll be gone!  The bad part is…if I wait too long to start the project..I accumulate far more fabric than I need.  Do you ever do that?

I saw a pattern I really liked. Then I saw someone post pics of their progress with the pattern and I was hooked.

The pattern is Hallowe’en 1904 by Blackbird designs.

I found an online quilt shop with the pattern..and a kit on sale.

The price seemed right (the fabrics end up costing around $6.70 yd) and the pattern is included.

I’ve never bought a complete quilt kit before, but I thought it would be nice to have..and I could add in my own fabrics for a bit more variety if I chose to?

When my kit arrived I was excited to see what I got.

The five fabrics on the right were in the kit, but I don’t think I’ll use them?  The two shirtings are ecru with red, the plaid that looks rust in the pic is actually a bit more red than I’d like for this quilt, and the one black is more of a gray.  The other is a bit busy and has red in as well.

So…all in all, not too bad?  I’m sure I’ll find a different project to use the fabrics I culled..and I have plenty of stash fabrics to use in their place.  BUT..if I were relying solely on the fabrics sent to make the quilt from, I don’t think I’d be happy with the red that was included?

I bought the “starter kit” of fabrics for the Princess Feather quilt I made and culled several of the fabrics in that kit too.  Then I replaced them with others I liked better.  Am I too fussy?

I’m wondering if shops have a hard time finding enough of a variety of fabrics when pulling from current fabric lines to make kits, so they  add in a “clinker” or two? If they had more available would they have used those “clinkers”? What has your experience been with quilt kits?

Bear Watching finished

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

I’ve also finished the top I made for my Husband for Christmas.  It was a challenge deciding how to quilt it. If I had just outlined the appliqued portion there wouldn’t be enough quilting in the center, especially if I quilted the log cabin portion “in the ditch”.

I decided to just quilt a grid over the top using brown thread. That made the thread seem to disappear on the Bear section.  It also made the quilting even overall. If I had quilted the log cabin section as I normally would, that portion would have more quilting. It’s always best to try to have the quilting even throughout.

Bear Watching finished005

I’m not crazy about how this quilt turned out. I made the center portion first, then added the log cabin blocks which I had made in the past.  Since I was trying to fit the blocks to the center size I wasn’t able to add a dark brown narrow border around the center section, which I would have preferred.

However, my Husband is happy with it,  so that’s what matters? ;)

Cheddar and Crackers

Friday, January 8th, 2010

I *should* be quilting. I have a quilt in the hoop, the top I made for my husband for Christmas is waiting, and numerous others waiting too. BUT I can’t hand quilt all day. Each stitch comes with a tiny pin prick on the finger that’s on the bottom side of the quilt and after a while my fingers get too sore. For now I’ll just quilt in the evenings. ;)

So there you have it. My excuse for starting something new.

Lori of Humble Quilts has a vintage quilt that’s made with cheddar. I love it. It’s kind of a cross between a Double Irish Chain and an Ocean Waves. It’s made scrappy. What’s not to love?

Well…she decided to make a scaled down version. A doll quilt..AND she’s doing it as a quilt along! How could I resist?

Cheddar and Crackers010

I pulled some fabrics out of my stash.

I wasn’t sure about the shirting that I pulled, but it was white with a bit of blue so I thought it would work?

Step one.

Step two.

Step three is supposed to be posted next week. Lori is giving us plenty of time to keep up.

Once I had this done and pinned up on the wall it was clear what the next step would be and I couldn’t resist. I went ahead and pieced the setting blocks.

My blocks aren’t sewn together yet, I just had to see how my doll quilt looked.

Hmmm…I’m not sure? That shirting is a bit bright..too blue..I dunno? I may want to tea dye the quilt to make it look older?

I sew in the dining room and it looks nice with my Blue Willow dishes…maybe it will become a table topper?

I loved doing this little quilt top. It’s kind of like eating potato chips. .. I can’t stop at one. I want to do a second that has lower contrast and warmer colors.

Basket of Flowers

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Basket of Flowers quilted004I’ve finally finished the quilting on my “Basket of Flowers” quilt. The binding is done too, and it’s hanging in the family room.

The center portion of this quilt was designed by Rebecca Hoffmann, a member of a yahoo Primitive and Folk Art applique group that I belong to. Some of us did this as a group project quilt along. I’m using this as a Christmas quilt, because the branch with the bird and pears remind of that verse from the well known carol..”and a Partridge in a pear tree..” (sung just a little off key..) ;)

I wanted the quilt to be a bit larger, so I added several borders. The borders I selected are from another project..a Medallion Quilt Along posted by Anita (RhubarbPatch). This also gave me the opportunity to try out the quilting designs I thought I might use when I quilt the larger top.

The Large Medallion Top…..

Anita saw an antique quilt and wanted to recreate it. She drew it up in her EQ program. It looked like so much fun she decided to invite others to join her and do it up as a quilt along. She posted a new round each month, along with the instructions and step by step pics, to her blog.

This is my version. Several of us did this quilt, with each of us choosing our own center design. Anita set up a photo pool and it was fun to see how the different fabrics used made the quilt look so different. Some of our group stopped before doing the entire quilt. That’s the fun of a medallion styled quilt. You can stop whenever you want..and you have a completed top that looks great. ;) My version measures 90″x90″.

When I pieced my version I did the piecing like was done in the past. When the quilter ran out of a fabric she substituted with something similar. I wanted that vintage look.

Medallion close ups006As you can see in this pic I used quite a few different light fabrics in the piecing, not using just one light for the piecing in that month’s round.

Medallion close ups004You can also see that I used several reds in the bricks that look like Dominos that have fallen…and several burgundys for the zig zags. To me, the variety of fabrics make the quilt more interesting…as well as giving it a more vintage look.

The quilt top is quite heavy and has a lot of small, intricate piecing. When I quilted the wall hanging I learned that quilting a pieced section as one unit made it difficult to have an even stitch length on both front and back.

The seams get in the way of doing a nice rocking stitch, but I like the look of the cables. In quite a few places I had to do a punch and stab stitch…which leaves me undecided as to how I’ll quilt the larger top.

On the one hand…I like the look and can’t think of what I’d do differently. On the other hand…the quilting will take longer and if I ever enter the quilt in a show, the judges will take points off because they want the quilting stitch to be the same size on front and back. Oh what shall I do?