Quilt catch up

This blog has been very quiet...a lack of a garden has given a lot less to write about. The drought is in full force and most everything in the yard is dead other than my fruit trees and grapes. On the sewing front I have been working on a lot of projects at once and only just started finishing some up, just in time for the Fair!

The Ruby, Pearl and Opal quilt come from the Moda Bake Shop and uses the Moda fabric Ruby. When I first saw this quilt I loved it. I put the top together over a few days between Christmas and New Years last year, it then took me until this summer to bind and quilt it. I love the colors!

The top

The back

Quilted and finished

A closer look

A look at the binding and back

Next is the Kite Flight quilt which uses Kona solids. This quilt kit came from the web site Craftsy which is a newer one I am really enjoying. This quilt was a challenge because I cut the pieces wrong. I ended up having to buy a second kit and cut that onto make up for the cutting. I now have the pieces to make a second one of the quilt when I become motivated. For the back of the quilt I wanted to go with a solid, Katie picked the color if you could not tell.

Here is the top

Here is the completed quilt

A close up

And a look at the back

New Table Area

Just before Christmas I got a table from my Grandmothers house. We are still in the process of sorting out her belongings after her death in December. I got a bunch of cool old quilts that I have been cleaning and will post here eventually. The table held Katie's pink Christmas tree until a few days ago but then I needed to decide what to do with it. Here is what it looks like tonight!

Katie and I created this Pinterest art piece and finished it in early December. Simply search for toilet paper roll craft and you will be amazed at what people can create. Basically you collect then cut up toilet paper and paper towel rolls, hot glue them together and spray paint it. I dont know how long it will last but looks good on the wall.

Tonight I decided to make a table runner. I used fabric squares I had from an early quilt I made in 2008. It was super easy and I made it in about 30 minutes. 

The back is a red fabric, no batting was used and it was very basic construction. It fits perfect and will protect the table.

The table was in questionable condition when I brought it home. I thought I would need to refinish it but after a few coats of Old English it took on a whole new look and was in great shape. There is some staining and it will eventually will need to be refinished but work for now.

Here is another look at the table...

And another...

I am very pleased with how this area came together.

Precious in Pink Quilt

This quilt is called Precious in Pink and is a pinwheel quilt. The pattern is by Caitlin Bevevino and uses Sweetie Pie fabric. I first saw this quilt in Quilt magazine which I got from the library and the quilt kit was available from the Fat Quarter Shop. I really like quilt kits because everything comes together, pick coordinating fabrics is not my strength. 

 First the fabric is cut into squares.

Next you draw lines to sew along, ignore the diagonal ones.

Once the line are sewn you cut a 1/4 inch on each side of the sewn lines.

This results in little triangles....

...which are ironed flat into little squares. This is a simple method to create a lot of squares easily.

The squares are sewn into pinwheels and the pinwheels are sewn into rows with white pieces. Once completed a checked border is added, then a white border. Here the quilt top is laid out and pinned. 

Here is the finished quilt. This quilt was a challenge once washed as the red fabric bleed into the white. This caused quite a bit of panic as I have read about but never experienced this before. A trip to my local quilt shop I got a little bottle for fabric dye sealant. The quilt took several trips in the bathtub with near boiling water and soaked for long periods of time. Eventually the issue was resolved and my quilt looked normal again. Here is the finished quilt: 

This is probably one of my favorite quilts I have made, I love the pattern and color.

The backing is the red polka dot print found in some of the pinwheels on the front.

Rag Quilt

For my next quilt project I wanted to use up some of what I have laying around my crafting area. I have made several baby quilts out of Moda's Lily and Will is the past and had a lot of 5" squares, I also have lots of scrap batting. Together these two items crate a rag quilt. I purchased three packs of Moda Bella Solids squares in Porcelain which is an off white color.

First I sewed the sandwich which is a white square, a 4" batting square and a print, an X is sewn across the square. Next I laid them out to find the best size arrangement and color organization.

Next the squares are sewn into rows, then the rows are sewn together. The key to a rag quilt is the frayed edges of all the squares, the seams are sew out and then snipped. This time I purchased a pair on snips which made this much easier. I have washed and dried it twice to get the fraying going and it will still need a few more cycles. Here is the finished quilt:

A little closer look:

And closer:

And here is the back:

Button Monogram

Time for the first craft project of 2014! I saw a craft project on JoAnns site a few months ago and wanted to try it. It was a monogram on a canvas made from buttons. I purchased a 10x10 canvas with a coupon from JoAnns and set out to find some inexpensive button. I ended up purchasing them from Oriental Trading Company for a really good price.

Here are the supplies I started with, not pictures is the glue, I used my E6000. The K was created in PhotoShop, made a 10x10 image the looked for the font and size that I thought would work.

I cut the K out and traced it on the canvas with pencil.

I then sorted through the buttons looking for the pink shades. I then set them out in the K to make sure I had enough. Next came the glue and gluing them down. 

This project took no more that 30 minutes and was very easy. Here it is on Katie's bedroom wall.

Bisque Ornaments

In the days before Christmas I started painting a set of Bisque Christmas Ornaments I had ordered from Mary Maxim along with our other craft kits. These ornaments use a metallic paint which give them a very nice finish. Several coats of paint are required to get the effect to look right. It was a nice relaxing project that we were able to add to the tree when they dried.

Pumpkin and Squash

I have posted about our pumpkin adventures here and here. We have updated and refined the process over the years. This year we only had a few pumpkins but also had banana squash, hubbard squash and butternut squash. We cooked and combined all of these for our "pumpkin" this year. Most store bought canned pumpkin is not actually pumpkin, many other squash have similar flavors but smoother consistency.

In our usual routine we de-seeded and cut up the squash. 

The best and easiest way to cook the pumpkin is...in my pressure cooker! Usually used for canning we have found it is great for cooking large quantities of things like potatoes and squash too. The pan is large and it cooks easily.

Once cooked we run it through Kitchen Aid mixer food mill attachment (I love this attachment). We can then freeze the puree and are set for another year.

AV Fair Wrap-up

The AV Fair has come and gone, here is a wrap-up of what was entered.

Vegetables - It was a bad year all over the AV and this was clear by the entries. We did not submit nearly as much as we had planned and the total turn out was really low. Here is what we entered and how they placed: 

Japanese Eggplant 1st Place

Banana Squash 1st Place

Hubbard Squash 3rd Place

Tomatillo 3rd Place

Pumpkin 1st Place

Canning - We entered the most in canning

Carrots 3rd Place

Bread and Butter Pickles 2nd Place

Cucumber Pickles 1st Place

Blackberry Jam 1st Place

Strawberry Jam

Apple Preserves Honorable Mention

Apple Jelly 2nd Place

Jalapeno Jelly 1st Place

Lemon Jelly 3rd Place

Mint Jelly Honorable Mention

Blueberry Chutney 2nd Place

Golden Gossip Chutney 2nd Place

Dried Zucchini 3rd Place

Quilting - I entered two quilts and actually did well with one, I have never placed at all in quilting

Halloween Jelly Roll Race Quilt

All Framed Up Quilt 1st place and Best of Division

It took first for its category, machine pieced and machine quilted and best of division. All quilts are split into two divisions based on size so it took the top ribbon for all quilts 42" and under. I was pretty excited about this!