Zig-Zag Baby Quilts

I have had a pattern from Moda Bake Shop for the Zig-Zag Baby Quilt for quite some time, waiting for the right opportunity to come along to make it. Earlier this year one of my coworkers announced she was pregnant with twin boys and this seemed like the right quilt to make x2. I used Moda solids for the front and binding. Katie picked out a cute whale print for the back.

The first quilt had a grey binding.

The second quilt had blue binding. It also has a small whale patch.

The boys are expected to arrive any day now and we are all waiting to meet them!

Christmas Tree Skirt

Last year my Christmas tree skirt of many years fell apart. I had always wanted to make one so decided this was the time. I searched for a pattern and chose this Holly Jolly Christmas Tree Skirt on Craftsy. I used Moda's Merriment fabric and did a little more mixing of the fabrics than the pattern called for. It took most of the year but here it is finished.

A closer look at the print

I went with a plain green on the back and a variegated green thread for the quilting.

I cant wait to use this skirt this year!

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

Mothers Day Bouquet Quilt

I cant believe I forgot to post this quilt! I finished this one early this summer and entered it in the AV Fair last August. The pattern was found in Sweet Celebrations with Moda and is the Mothers Day Bouquet Quilt. I used one of Moda's fabric lines but have to check on which one it was. The quilt looks like flowers.

The back is a blue floral and the binding is stripes.

Speaking of the Fair, here it is on display at the Fair.

Easy As Pie

Earlier this year, around April my office mate (we share an office at the library, she is also our teen librarian) came to work then had horrible stomach pain which took her to urgent care then the ER. Long story short she had several cancerous ovarian tumors which were removed in subsequent surgeries. She is now in chemo and doing good so we are all awaiting her return to work this December! What can I do when something happens to someone and I feel helpless...well a quilt is one thing. Here is her Easy As Pie Layer Cake Quilt. I used a layer cake of Strawberry Fields fabric. 

The boarder is a pink floral fabric and the back is a yellow strawberry print.

Very happy with how this quilt came out and cant wait to send it to her!

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:

Katie's Jelly Roll Race Quilt

When I was making the previously posted Halloween Quilt I was also working on a quilt for Katie that was supposed to be a Christmas gift but was a little late. I used fabric from Moda's Meadow Friends by Deb Strain. The method was the same as the previous quilt.

I used white fabric to frame it and the pink firefly print for the binding.

The new technique I tried was in the quilting. All my previous quilts I used a stipple pattern. For this quilt I used pink thread and did a swirl pattern. It took more thread but I really like the results.

For the back of the quilt I used a combination of a print from the fabric line and a pink. 

If you use Google for your photos have you seen that they create gifs from your photos? I took several of Katie posing on her quilt and this was the result.

Halloween Jelly Roll Race Quilt

Have you heard of a Jelly Roll Race Quilt? I had not until last year when I talked with a coworker whose quilting group was making them for a charity. She referred to a video on YouTube which I found here I thought, wow I could do that. I had been wanting to make a Halloween quilt in time for Halloween (have I mentioned this was early last year?). I ordered a jelly roll of Moda's Happy H"owl"o-ween. A jelly roll is a collections of 2 1/2" x 44" strips of fabric, typically include 40 strips of fabric. Following the instructions in the video I made the quilt top, it went very quickly and I had a quilt top in just a few hours. I also included a five inch border to make it a little larger. 

It was at this point in time that my sewing machine died. I had a Singer Confidence that I purchased just under two years before. Needless to say I went without a sewing machine for awhile. I tried to get the machine repaired but was told the electronics had fried and it could not be repaired. I had contact with Singer multiple time but to no result. Eventually I bought a Brother machine and still hesitated to open it hoping I could get my Singer fixed. Finally I opened my new machine and a few months ago learned how to use it. I got this quilt and one other quilted and was pretty happy with the machines performance. Next I did the binding and now have a completed quilt with plenty of time until Halloween!

Here is a closer look, I quilted it with black thread to help the Halloween look.

Now a look at the binding and back too.

This is the backing fabric.

Katie is a big fan of this quilt.

Bungle Jungle Quilt

I found out earlier this year that one of my AmeriCorps team mates was pregnant and they would be welcoming their second child around Halloween. This of course meant that it was time to make a baby quilt. I chose to make the stacked coin quilt I have made before using Moda's Bungle Jungle fabric line.

It is a bright and colorful series of fabric. The binding is green and the back is a large print blue.

It came out better than I expected and I hope he will enjoy his quilt