Out to Sea Modern Chevron

I had a roommate from college come visit me in the fall for a football game reunion weekend.  The same weekend, I participated on my first Farmer's Market in downtown Knoxville.  It was probably a great weekend to be there, with the home football game and perfect weather.

Anyway, she decided she wanted a quilt for her soon to be niece.  I love custom quilts and putting together new ideas for people.  So, we started with crabs and lobsters but decided on Sarah Jane's out to sea line.  I'm so glad she fell in love with that fabric bc I love it too.  While looking around for inspiration on what pattern, quilt market was happening and I spied a quilt from sassafrass lane, called wiley way.  It's a really great, quick pattern.  It only comes in one size and I wanted to do a big baby quilt so I shank it down a little using percentages... I had to trim up the ends a little but everything matched up beautifully!

I tried a new (to me) thin pink polyester thread from superior threads.  It worked great and looked really pretty.  

I attempted a paisley shape from Angela Walters book.  I thought it turned out SO perfect!  I will use this quilting design again!  I did practice drawing it a couple days in a row before I sat down to quilt. 

I bound it with a navy polka dot from Joann's.  They picked out the backing fabric but I added a crab and lobster... The baby's parents have an inside joke about which is better, Maryland crab or Maine lobster.

It made it safely to its new home and they love it!

Learning the Hard Way

As part of the Modern Quilt Guild, there is a Riley Blake Challenge going on right now.  Our guild, Knoxville, just finished our challenge and I wanted to share my experience with fusible web.  

We had to use curves on a piece no larger than 24x24.  So I decided on pillow and sunset.

Then, I went crazy and decided on an appliqué sun.  But after I had applied fusible web once I changed my mind... And changed my mind again... And maybe a third time... So when I finally decided to leave it alone I had this left:

I did a little research and decide to test alcohol on scrap pieces of my kona solids.  They didn't seem to be affected so I dove in and started scrubbing.  I used a towel and my fingers to get as much off as possible.  I was worried but it came off!  And you couldn't tell unless you saw me scrubbing the hell out of it.

This project took wayyyy longer than expected.  But I really love the appliqué with black thread, free motioned on.  Inspired by Amber @ oneshabbychickhawaii! 

Grandpa's Crown of Thorns Quilt

So, a friend from my quilt guild inspired me to make a quilt for my grandfather, after I saw the amazing quilt she was making for her grandmother for Christmas.  I decided to start this project after Thanksgiving dinner---giving me a little less than a month to get it ready for Grandpa. 

I enlisted help from my whole family.  I thought it would be better if we could say that we all worked on it.  I started brainstorming colors and wanted it to be masculine.  And found this one from my color combo board on pinterest.  And started pulling fabrics.  It was actually really nice to have a stash built so that I could pull fabrics and not have to purchase any... or so I tried. 

 

 

I ended up with a few other Denyse Schmidt prints and some gold, amber and cinnamon Cotton Couture solids (my favorite!!)

 

Then, my friend Emily reminded me about a pattern for a crown of thorns quilt that was in Quilty mar/april 2013.  Cause I had my heart set on crown of thorns.  

We cut everything one night and the next day finished a quilt top!  Mostly just the women of the family helped but my brother enjoyed picking out color combos for the blocks, he even added the backwards one with the dark fabrics on the opposite side of the light ones.

(Don't tell my brother and sister I posted these photos!  In her pjs and he didn't want it ever to be known that he was playing with fabrics.)

Posy Herringbone Quilt

I had some stripy leftovers from this quilt and wanted to try something improv with them so that I could use up as much of this adorable fabric as possible!

 

So I just started... It took me a second and some looking through pictures to figure out how to do a herringbone but it came together!  I decided on five different lengths of herringbones and was able to use almost all of my scraps!  And it looks just as beautiful as the first quilt!  I don't want "scraps" to get a bad rap, cause they usually turn out even better than the first project with me.

 

 

 

I backed it with a pink oval elements and a print from luxe in bloom.  I tried to use what I had in my stash for this quilt!  And I was mostly successful... Any reason to buy fabric and I usually will, so I bought binding.  

I then quilted it with a free motion chevron.  It's nice and organic and works way better than the walking foot... I need to figure out straight lines and the walking foot.  I've got two quilts I want to straight line quilt ... Hoping to long arm them at a friend's house.

Floressence Quilt

 

A while back, Stitched in Color made her Vintage Tangerine quilt.  I fell in love with it and wanted to make something new that felt vintage.  (which seems to be a continuing trend with me...) I had bought Art Gallery's Floressence line and loved the vintage feel to it and thought this design and those fabrics would go perfectly together!

 

I free motion quilted it using this cathedral window shape, also I think some people call it a dogwood shape?... I loved this project.  And bound it using this floral from Floressence.  As for the back, I used two pieces of Moda's cross weaves.  Note: they shrink way more than art gallery's fabrics, so I think my quilt is a little crooked but they wrinkled up really nice and soft.

I love the final look of it and the soft feel.  I used Quilter's Dream 100% cotton batting, the lowest loft and Aurifil 100% cotton thread again.  I think they really step up the quality of the final product!

Happy Quilting!  On to my next baby quilt for the shop!

Cool Improv

After I finished the commissioned baby quilts, I started an improv project.
 

This one I believe I'm going to hang on my sewing room wall.  It finished at 33x34.  I tried my hand at improv piecing.  I think it turned out ok, I mean I LOVE it.  It's so calming to me for some reason.  I think it's the blues and purples.  It feels like a river: cool, relaxing, and free.  

I backed this one with a magenta polka dot from Joann and leftover fabrics from the front and bound it with my favorite purple Dear Stella, Piper, Zigzags.  The tag on this one was from a test run at Spoonflower with my logo.  Luckily I didn't buy the 1 yard and just decided on the test swatch because I needed to adjust some things and now I'll try another test swatch and hopefully it'll be exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks Tina for the fabric inspiration!

Crabtastic Quilt

I was able to finish up a couple projects before I went to the beach... Last year after the beach, I decided we needed a beach quilt.  I saw Faith's crabtastic patchwork quilt and wanted something like that.  I snatched up some Maude Asbury's, Crabtastic from Hawthorne Threads last year and it took until this May to finish it.

I adore this quilt.  Its so happy!  Luckily I finished it before the beach because I'm weird about comforters in hotels and rental properties... So, we used it every night to sleep under and woke up to cheerful beach prints!

The design came from a picture I saw on pinterest.  Unfortunately, I can't seem to get a great photo of it.  I'll keep trying!  Excuse my husband's feet.

I backed it in Joel Dewberry's, Floral Drop!  I love that print.  Bound in Amy Butler's, Full Moon.  The quilting took Forever!  I did 4 straight lines with my walking foot every 6" and then went back and added a triangular zigzag on both sides of the lines.  Probably the most quilting I've done on a quilt.  I'm really happy with this quilt even though it took a year to complete!  

Delectable Mountains

I have a couple really old quilt books.  I love looking through the books for ideas. My friend Megan is having a baby boy any day now so I had to make him a quilt!  She likes old quilts with a modern feel so that is what I was hoping for with my delectable mountains.

I used DS Chicopee and Tula Pink's meteor print, Kona Khaki for background fabric and machine bound with FS Designer Solids Bronze Green.  It turned out beautifully!  Backed it with ziggy medallion from chicopee and my favorite solid of the moment... Moda 211.  Free motion quilted a meander line.

 

Sometimes its difficult to give away the quilts I make.  But I know this one went to a family who appreciates art and handmade things.  I hope it gets passed down for years to come, since it is for Caesar the 5th.  I have been testing out several tags as of late and this one was machine embroidered by my friend, To: Baby Caesar, Handmade with Love By: Melissa May 2013

Baby Quilts

I've been on a roll lately with some commissioned baby quilts!  My mom asked me to make a quilt for a teacher she works with as a group gift.  I came up with a simple design after seeing Jeni's tutorial.  She just said light pink and light green.

I backed the quilt with a Kaffe Fasset stripe and the leftovers of the FQs I used on the front. Then, free motion quilted with a infinity loop.  I have also decided Quilter's Dream batting is my batting of choice.  It's so worth the extra $$!!  All of the quilts I've used it on are so incredibly soft to the touch.  I love it.    I have a custom listing for a quilt like this in my shop!
 

For the next baby quilt, my friends Mark and Samantha asked me to make them a quilt for their niece.  They told me pink and green (again) and so we decided on Posy by Aneela Hoey.

While driving one day I came up this design and jotted it down real quick on my son's index cards.  

I backed this one with a print from lizzy house's hello pilgrim, bound it with the text print from posy, quilted it with a meandering loop.  Again using quilters dream, and again SO soft.  It was so pretty!

And then the third one was for a friend of he family.  She needed a baby boy quilt.  That was all the direction I received.  So, I went with Allison Cole's, Festive Forest.  I  did four large pluses after much turmoil and changing my mind... Luckily I enjoy using leftovers for backing.  The back of this quilt I like better than the front!

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