Not So Recent Finishes

I hope you're having a great start to your week.  I'm just popping in to post about some quilts that I finished months ago and haven't found time to share!

First up - a Swoon!  Yep I finished a Swoon!  This quilt was a wedding present for my cousin Molly, and her new husband, Mike.  It was definitely a labor of love (which involved a last minute vacation day from work so I could finish it in time) but was completely worth it since Molly has sent me multiple pictures of it in use!

The fabrics are Birds & Berries by Lauren & Jessi Jung with Kona White for the background.  I longarmed it myself with some simple loops.

 Next up are some baby quilts I finished back in December.  I posted some small pictures back then but wanted to share a bit more today.

I have two cousins who are sisters and were due in January & February of this year.  One had a girl and the other a boy so it was fun to make two completely different quilts.

This one went to Addison.  Just some simple pinwheels put together from a few Walk in the Woods charm packs I had.  I pieced the back out of some remaining charms and then quilted it with some loops as usual.

Blake was the lucky recipient of the other quilt.  I made a lot of sawtooth stars (10" blocks) using the Soaked collection from Connecting Threads.  This line had so many cute prints and the colors were different than the usual boy collections and I really liked that. 

LOVE those rain boots :)

Now I'm almost caught up on all of my quilty shares!  I do have one other finish from last week, a big quilt for my husband, which I need to get some pictures of, and another that I'm hoping to finish this week as well.

Don't forget to check out all of the great tutorials going on for Charmed Madness!  I'll be sharing a cute pillow tutorial on Wednesday.

WIP Wednesday 1-16-13

Well hello there!  I've been busy sewing and not too busy blogging but I do have lots to share soon!

The big finish this week is all of my blocks for the 3x6 bee.  I used the Two Stars Squared pattern by Diane, which you can buy on Craftsy.  I highly recommend the pattern!  All of my blocks stitched up perfectly and there aren't tons of tiny pieces.

Now I just need to finish the Swoon quilt I started!  Fingers crossed that I can finish the top this weekend!

Just in case you'd like to add a bit more fabric to your stash here are two great swaps going on -

• Scrappy Trip Along Swap @ Happier than a Bird Quilts - We're swapping strips to make our own Scrappy Trip Alongs!  One slot is 28 strips and there are a few openings left.

•  Text Me a Text Fat Quarter Swap @ Plum-Patchwork - We're swapping FQs of texty prints.  Send in as many as you'd like and you'll get that many different ones in return.

 What are you working on this week?

Linking up at Freshly Pieced!

Maple Sugar

Without further adieu, my new favorite quilt, Maple Sugar!!

After seeing Maple leaf quilts popping up all over Instagram and Flickr I decided that I  had to have one!!  I found this set of directions on Quilters Cache, tweaked them a bit, and then made 36 blocks for my quilt.

I used 18 different fat quarters and made 2 leaves of each print and and paired them with a cream background.

At the last minute I decided to make two blocks that were opposite with cream for the leaf and brown for the background.  When I laid out the top I decided to make them a focal point in the center.

I backed it in the perfect Fall print from the Bella line by Lotta Jansdotter.

I quilted it myself on my machine in my usual all over loopies and then bound it with a fun leaf print from Connecting Threads.

As I said, this is my new favorite quilt, and it's my husband's favorite as well!  It has been shuffling around from our bed to the couch and is in use quite often.

This is also my entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side!  There are so many awesome quilts that are entered so make sure that you stop over and get inspired!

Quilt Stats:

• Size - 72" x 72"
• Pieced by Me
• Quilted by Me on my home machine
• Best Category - Throw Quilt 

Also linking up with Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts!

The Mary Kate Experience

It's finally done!!  The giant t-shirt quilt for my husband's cousin, Mary Kate, is finished and I love it!  Our aunt gave me a huge bag of t-shirts and free reign over the design and colors which was both fun and nerve wracking.

I used twenty-five shirts for the front.  All were cut and backed with lightweight fusible interfacing and then I jazzed them up.  The t-shirt blocks were bordered with bright colors and then all sashed together with 2.5" strips of a grey and white print.  This gave a finished size of approximately 90" square - giant!  

I still had more shirts so I pieced three into the back.  The backing fabric is a bright cheery Amy Butler print which I love!  I'll be buying some more of this one to back a quilt of my own.

I free motion quilted the whole quilt in big loops and little Bernie the Bernette kept up like a champ!  One thing that helped with the quilting, at least I think, was using a denim needle.  It had no problem gliding through the seams and layers of interfacing. 

I also wanted to do something fun with the shirts that had small emblems on the front/back but were going to be too plain to be a whole block on the quilt top.  Those were cut up and pieced into some coordinating pillows!!

 
All wrapped up and ready to be delivered tonight!

And now it's time for a break from t-shirts and back to my bee blocks and my hustle list!  Linking up at Finished it up Friday at Crazy Mom quilts, Manic Monday at SewHappyGeek and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

The Giant Granny!

A new quilty finish!  My sister-in-law was planning to get married in the spring next year so in the back of my mind I decided I'd make them a quilt as a shower gift.  Fast forward a month or so and they decided to get married this month and I was hosting the shower at my house last weekend!  I still wanted to make them a quilt but I needed to use fabrics from my stash and something that could come together relatively quick.

Ignore the feet and the dead bush!

I pulled out my Hello Pilgrim FQ bundles, tossed in a few other prints and decided to make a granny square quilt.  I used Katy's awesome strip piecing tutorial to make 64 granny blocks, pieced them together without sashing (which was a nightmare) and used the leftovers of the FQs to make a scrappy border.  This put the finished size right around 75" Square.  A quick loopy quilting session and a sunny yellow binding and we were in business.  Except that it took me forever and I  was stitching the binding on at the last minute and pulling it out of the dryer hours before the shower.  Oh and it was pouring rain all morning so this was the best picture I could snap - I promise it's awesome in person!  One day I'll make her bring it over when it's sunny so I can take some more pictures.

Super Sunday!

So remember on Thursday when I posted my list of things to get done - Knocked. It. Out!!

1. August & September do.Good Stitches blocks   Done!
2. September Stash Bee blocks   Done!
3. Finish my Friendship Quilts Blog Hop Project  Done!
4. Make my Polka Dot Block Done!

It was such a nice day out on Sunday and I wanted to enjoy the sunshine so I set up a little sewing station in the family room, instead of the basement where I usually sew, and got to work!

Here are all the bee blocks:

Stash Bee September Block

Heal @ do.Good Stitches - August Blocks Top Row, September Blocks

I'll be sharing my Friendship Quilt project on Thursday and my Polka Dot block on 9/17 so check back then.

Now as soon as my Connecting Threads order is delivered I can start my Leaf Quilt!!! SO EXCITED!

Did you get anything accomplished this weekend?  Watch any Football?  The Browns and the Bills were a let down :(

PS. Linking up at Manic Monday!

WIP Wednesday 7-18-12

It's been so hot, I honestly cannot believe I've managed any sewing this week!  I took a looksie at our thermostat last night (@ 10:00pm mind you) and it was still 90 degrees - in our house!!  Now I truly do not mind not having air conditioning but at that time of night it should be cool.

Finished

• The Sherbet Quilt - Yay finally done!!  See more here.

• Quilting for a Cause Block - First, check out this great Flickr group Diane started.  It's a hub to volunteer (or find volunteers) to make quilt blocks for good causes.  This block is headed to Marika for  a quilt she's putting together.

In Progress -

•  July Bee Blocks - I finished my Heal @ do.Good Stitches blocks for Manda.  She asked us to make Ribbon Star blocks.  I love the finished look but there is a lot of piecing for each one!!  Now I just need to start/finish my Stash Bee blocks.

New -

• Sew Intertwined Quilt-a-Long - SO excited for this QAL to start!! I'm thinking about making mine out of Flea Market Fancy...



I'm linking up over at Freshly Pieced! 

Try to stay cool today :)

Sherbet - A Quilty Finish

This quilt is finally finished!!  Oh this quilt - I'm so happy to have it done.  I (crazy person) was a bit overambitious in choosing a pattern with rectangular blocks made up of two sizes of triangles to be the second quilt top I made.  Yep, second.  I've had the top for this quilt done for that long!  It was really challenging for me to piece so I was ready for a break once it was done.  Apparently a very long break!  Then I added it to my finish-a-long list and decided to get it done this weekend.

Sherbet

I did get it done but not without more headaches!  Seriously though, I quilted the ribbon my scissor snips are on into the back.  Then my thread kept breaking, then there were puckers, then I didn't have enough of the planned fabric for the binding and a host of other things.  But, it was totally worth it because now that it's done I LOVE it!

The pattern is Not All Quilt Blocks are Square.  I made the extra large lap size.  All of the fabrics on the front are from the Jenean Morrison Wild World line.

I'm not sure what the binding print is, just something I had in my stash.  The backing is a soft buttery yellow.  This quilt was quilting with all over loops; a design that has quickly become my favorite!

It's already made it's home on the couch - now if the temperature would drop below 90 I could actually use it!

Linking up at Sew.Happy.Geek's Manic Monday and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

Hope you're having a great day!


**10/2/12**
This turns out to be the only project from my Finish - A - Long list that got finished! I love it dearly and have been snuggling up with it on the couch at night.  Linking up at the Post-Third Quarter Link Party.

If You Make A Girl A Quilt...

You have to make one for her sister too!

A few month's ago I made my husband's cousin's daughter E a quilt for her birthday.  Her sister's birthday party was this weekend so I obviously had to make her one too!  O just turned 9 so I spent a lot of time trying to choose a fabric line and pattern that wouldn't be too "old" for a 9 year old but wouldn't be too "young" for her 5 years from now. 

The result - The Blissful Birthday Quilt.  I found the pattern at Sew.Happy.Geek & I saw some Domestic Bliss on sale, and thought that they would fit the not-too-old-not-too-young situation perfectly! 

Blissful Birthday Quilt

The pattern called for one solid color and I had planned on just using pink.  Then I thought about it a bit more and decided that it might be too much pink and decided to use pink and aqua and I love the way it turned out!

I quilted it with some all over loop-de-loops and a flower on each of the solid corners using variegated thread.  It's backed in a pink floral from the line (forgot to snap a pic of this!) and I bound it in another pink.

Quilting



O loved her quilt and it was a big hit at her party :)  As a side note - Jenna's Accelerated Velocity pattern is amazing!  Not only is it free, but the directions were easy to follow with wonderful pictures and clear descriptions and it gives you a great quilt in no-time.

I'm linking this up at Manic Monday, Sew Modern Monday & Quilt Story: Fabric Tuesday Finishes- stop over and see what everyone else is working on!

May in Review

Fresh Sewing day already!  June already?!  This year is going by so fast!

Here's what I made this month:

1. Hometown Charity Quilt, 2. http://flickr.com/photos/68555546@N06/7305296142/, 3. http://flickr.com/photos/68555546@N06/7305299586/, 4. May Stash Bee Blocks - Hive #4, 5. All of the Placemats, 6. Dress Shirt Dish Mat

• I finished my Hometown Charity Quilt which was auctioned off to raise money for cancer research
• I did my do.Good Stitches blocks for the Heal Circle
• I did my Stash Bee blocks for May
• I made my Modern She Made Swap placemats (more on these soon!)
• I did a tutorial for a Dress Shirt Dish Mat for the Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop

What did you make in May? 

I'll be linking up over at Fresh Sewing Day - be sure to stop by and see what other people have made!

Also, be sure to check out the stops from the Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop this week -

• Heidi from Fabric Mutt
• Amy from Amy's Crafty Shenanigans
• Jodi from Tickle and Hide
• Libby from Miss Beau Jangles

Have a great weekend!!

Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop

Welcome!!  I am so excited to be a part of the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop.  I have a fun little project to share, but since I think we may have some new visitors stopping by I'm going to share a little bit about me first.

I'm Kelsey, of KelseySews, and I live in Northeastern Ohio with my husband Thomas.  I work for an insurance agent during the day and spend my nights running or quilting.  We just bought our first home last year and I love doing projects around the house - we just put in a veggie garden this weekend!

Beth also put together some crafty get-to-know-you questions for us to share-

How long have you been quilting - A year and a half or so

Favorite quilting tip(s) - Keep your thread snips on a ribbon and tie it around your sewing machine - then you can always find them!

Favorite blogging tip(s) - Blog for you first!  Worry more about sharing what you love than how many followers you have.

Favorite fabric - Ruby by Bonnie & Camille

Favorite craft book - The new Fat Quarterly book - It's amazing!!

Favorite book (or book you are currently reading) - I like non-fiction and cooking books a lot - I just finished a great one about canning at home 

Favorite children's book - Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (the book is so much better than the movie!)

Favorite quilting tool - Sticky grips for the back of my rulers

Favorite music to listen to while quilting - The Beatles ( I walked down the beach "aisle" to a Beatles song at our wedding last summer)

Favorite TV show while hand stitching - Criminal Minds, my favorite show

Binding - by hand or by machine? -  Usually by hand

 Please browse around my little blog and check out some things I've made.  Here's a little mosaic of some of my recent projects:


Mosaic
  

Now here's a little background on the project I'm about to share for the blog hop.  I don't know about you, but at our house we have a dish drainer that we sit on the counter to use when we hand-wash dishes.  The one we have didn't come with a plastic tray to go underneath (plus those aren't anything great to look at) so I've always just layered some dish towels underneath to try and keep my counter dry.  I decided to make a cute little dish mat for my counter, then I can put it under my dish rack or just set dishes on it to dry and it will add a little something to the kitchen.  I knew I would use a towel for the back but I needed to figure out something for the front.  Beth challenged us to use novelty prints for our blog hop project but I don't have very many and none seemed right for this project.  Then I thought, what about using something other than quilting fabric?  That's a novel idea!  I don't know about you but I'm not sure I want my dishwater dripping onto something made out of $10/yard fabric!  I was looking through a miscellaneous fabric bin and found two shirts that were my husband's.  He has a habit of putting his elbows right through the sleeves and then I have a pack rat habit of washing them and keeping them because I'll "use them someday".  Well now I did!

The Dress Shirt Dish Mat

Finished Size 18" x 21" - I measured my dish rack to come up with this size, you can easily adjust to fit yours

You'll Need:

• Two dress shirts (or fabric)
• Cut each one into twenty-one 3.5" squares
• A bath/beach towel - I bought a new one at WalMart for $2.75
• Walking Foot - Not required but highly recommended since we'll be sewing through the towel

A little note - all seams are 1/4" unless specified and I pressed all my pieced seams open

First, take your two clean dress shirts and cut a large rectangle out of the back.  Then, using your rotary cutter cut each one into twenty-one 3.5" squares.

Take your squares, pair them up (my case - one blue w/one green) and piece them all together - chain piecing will save you a lot of time.  Then set 7 of the now sewn together pairs aside, pair up the remaining 14 pairs, and sew those together (again matching a blue w/a green).  This will leave you with 7 sets of 2 and 7 sets of 4, pair those up and piece together leaving you with 7 strips of 6 squares in alternating colors.  Lay these out to keep your rows in order.



Next, piece all your rows together.  Once you've done that, you'll want to lay out your towel and then lay the completed patchwork on top similar to when you're basting a quilt, but we want right sides together.  Cut the towel around the patchwork leaving about an inch or so extra of the towel on each side.

Using your walking foot stitch 1/4" in from the edge of your patchwork on three of the sides sides and 1/3 of the way in from each corner on the 4th - This will leave you with an opening so you can turn it right side out.

Before you turn, trim the towel to match the edge of your patchwork.  Now turn right side out, be sure to use something with a point to get the corners, and then tuck in the edges of the patchwork and towel where the opening was.  Using your walking foot sew on the top, the complete length of this side - you'll need to go a bit closer to the edge than 1/4" so that you can catch the fabric you folded in.

The final step is to quilt it!  I just did 1/4" from each seam line which created a nice grid and 1/4" in from all the edges to match the edge where I top stitched to close the hole.  Now you have a great little mat with lots of uses - dishes, diaper changes, bathroom counter etc!

Erin from Billy Button Design is posting as part of the blog hop today and Nik from Bold Goods and Alyssa from Pile of Fabric are posting on Thursday so be sure to head over and see what they're sharing!  Also, you can keep up with the whole blog hop, see the complete list of participating blogs and check out the blog hop news every Monday over at Plum and June. 

I had a great time sharing and I hope you had a great time visiting!



Hometown Charity Quilt

A close family member was hosting a silent auction to raise money for cancer research and they asked me to make and donate a quilt.  Here's what I made:

I picked the Starry Eyed pattern by Angela for Moda Bake Shop and made the whole thing from Hometown by Sweetwater.  I really liked this pattern!  The instructions are great and the only swap I made was to use a jellyroll instead of a layer cake and it worked out perfectly.  The backing is one of the deep red prints, the border a blue plaid and the solid is Bella Porcelain.  I quilted it on my machine with all over loops.  It finished at about 62"x78".

My only wishes - that I took more pictures (I procrastinated until right before we had to leave and it was raining) and that I made two!  My husband really liked this one so I might have to buy some more fabric and make him one of his own.

Linking up @ Sew.Happy.Geek for Manic Monday and Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday!

April in Review

This year is flying by!!  I can't believe it's already May.

Here are my finished projects from April - Lot's of Bee Blocks.  I also wrote my first tutorial and was featured for the first time.  Very exciting!

1. Block #2, 2. Block #1, 3. Stash Bee - Granny Square #2, 4. Stash Bee - Granny Square #1, 5. Heal @ Do.Good Stitches #2, 6. Heal @ Do.GoodStitches, 7. I*Spy Front & Back, 8. I*Spy Quilt, 9. I*Spy Quilt Back

I have a few others that are almost finished, plus a few new projects.  I'll take some pictures and share soon!

I'm linking up at Fresh Sewing Day - be sure to go see what everyone else is working on. 

Have a great day!!!