Ruby Fleur - Hour Glass Quilt Reveal

I can't believe it's been more than a month since I last posted. Time flies when you're living life. I could say I've been busy but that wouldn't be the truth.

So what's been going on...

Have you ever been in a state of mind where you feel like what you're doing isn't good enough? Well, that was how I was feeling about my blog. So I kept finding other things to do instead of blogging because I felt like, "What's the point. There are so many quilting blogs out there for people to follow. No one is going to follow me or read my blogs."

I was wrong. There are people reading my blog and following me. Not many but that's okay.  That's not why I started this blog. I started this blog so I could have a place to post pictures of my finished quilts and talk about quilting.

So let's talk about quilting...

In my last post, I talked about the next quilt that I was going to work on. Well, I finished it. The kit that I purchased from Craftsy was the Scarlet Chain with Boundless Ruby Fleur fabric. When I brought the kit I loved the fabric and the pattern but when I opened it last month I wasn't in love with the pattern but I loved the fabric, though I did throw in a few other reds and whites that I had on hand.  Instead of following the pattern, I decided to to do a quilt based on Amy Smart's (www.diaryofaquilter.com) Hour Glass Quilt.  I love the simplicity of the design and that it allows the beautiful fabric to be the focus. The only change I made was not to have a border. 

So here it is.

Ruby Fleur Quilt

Close up of the block

Back of quilt

Close up of the quilt back

Please ignore the badly stained carpet...unfortunately Colorado is not always the prettiest in November. The grass where I usually take pictures is almost as brown as the carpet. Oh well. I think I might have to look in PhotoShop or something like that so I can make the pictures better.

Anyway...there you go. I'm back and will be posting at least once a month.

Hope to see you then...

Welcome Fall - My Fall Quilt Reveal

Welcome Fall is complete and I can't be more pleased with how it turned out.

My son Connor claimed this quilt before I even started it and now I have to send it to him. But between you and me - I want to keep it for myself.

I LOVE THIS QUILT!!!!                                               

I love everything about it.

The pattern - I love the Plus pattern. This is the third plus quilt I've done and I don't plan on it being my last.

The colors - The fabrics are from JoAnn's, a LQS and sheets from thrift stores but they all play really well together.  Every time I look at it I pat myself on the back for picking these fabrics to put together for this quilt.

The quilting - Though simple, the straight line quilting on either side of the seams looks really good. And it's super simple. Which I love.

    

Of the 20 fabrics that were used for this quilt, only 3 were FQ's and I'll have to replace them but the rest were at least 1 yard, so I'll be able to make myself one and Connor can have his without me being jealous.

There are a lot of tutorials on making the Plus quilt. The tutorial that I used was The Modern Plus Quilt Tutorial from In Color Order which you can find here. 

The finished size is 64" x 75" which is a nice cozy size.


If you haven't made a Plus quilt yet, you should definitely give it a try. But I'll warn you now...it's a super addictive pattern.

Betcha can't you make just one. 

Changing of the Seasons

I can't believe summer is over. Every year it feels like summer is going by faster and faster.
Summer is such a perfect time of year. The weather is great and my wardrobe is easy. It just consists of shorts, tank tops, sandals and summer dresses. Clothes that I don't really have to think too much about. Love that.

The other great thing about the summer is my birthday is in July. And I love my birthday.

When I was in school I didn't like my birthday being in the summer because I missed the school birthday parties that my friends got and lots of times my birthday party was just my family because my friends were off on summer vacations.

So now it's fall. The weather is getting colder, the days shorter and my clothes have more layers. Don't get me wrong. I love fall almost as much as summer. The colors, the food, the sports. It's awesome in its own way.

Speaking of fall colors...

A few months ago, Jo-Ann's had their anniversary sale and I scored on lots of great fabrics and knew I was going to make a fall quilt.

It took some time deciding on the pattern...at first, it was going to be a falling leaves quilt but I was looking for something really easy and fast to make and I wasn't happy with any of the patterns I found. So I decided on a really classic design, one that I had done before and loved the look of.

Here is a picture of the fabric squares that I cut out...

I just finished the quilt top yesterday and was happy with it until I took a picture of it and realized one of the blocks is wrong.

Can you see it? I can't believe I did that even when I labeled each block. So needless to say, I had to unpick the stitches and fix the problem. 












TIP: Take pictures along the way. Even though I put this up on my design wall before sewing the rows together I still made the mistake.

After fixing the problem, I pressed the backing fabric (old shirt brought at a thrift store) I'm all ready for pin basting, which I will start on this weekend.

Hopefully, I'll be finished with this quilt in the next few weeks and can send it off to my son Connor who has already claimed it. (Thankfully I have enough fabric left over so I can make another one. But not anytime soon.)

Once I'm done with it I'll post it for all to see.

I already have my next quilt planned out. It's a quilt kit that I brought last year from Craftsy.

That's it for now.

Thanks for stopping by.

What Happened to the Jelly Roll Race?

Hi there!

Remember this... it's a Jelly Roll Race that I was working on a few weeks ago.  It was made from three jelly rolls that I got at Jo-Ann's. Before I took this picture I thought it was too narrow so I put borders on it.  Then it sat on my design wall for a while and the more I looked at it the more I didn't like it.

After searching online for inspiration on what to do with it I decided to cut it up. So I took the borders off and cut it into four large pieces...

and then sewed it back together. 

And I ended up with 2 baby size quilts. 

The first has a border and is named "Bindama" which is Japanese for glass (fishing) floats.

The 2nd one is named "Sea Glass" and does not have a border.

You might be wondering where I got the names for the quilts.
The colors reminded me of the glass fishing floats and pieces of sea glass.  I first saw glass fishing floats when I was stationed in Okinawa.



I'm really glad I took the risk to cut the jelly roll race top because I really think they look much better this way.

All in all the jelly roll race is a quick and easy way to use up 2.5" strips but I don't think I will be making another one. There wasn't enough randomness in it for me. Too many of the same strips were next to each other.  But at least now I know and I can mark this off my to-do list.

That's all for today. As always, thank you for stopping by.

Connor's Quilt

Hi everyone,

This has been an emotional and busy past couple of days. As I mentioned in my last post, my youngest son, Connor, was moving to Florida.  We spent Monday and Tuesday packing up his room and all the household items and furniture I brought him. The shopping for stuff was fun...I spent the day with my best friend and scored a lot of good stuff from thrift stores and the dollar store. And as long as I didn't think about the outcome of the shopping I was fine. But as my son and husband drove away on Wednesday the emotions were front and center.

But I've stayed busy since then and though I'm missing him like crazy, I am so proud of him.

Anyway, this blog is about quilting so today I'm going to share with you a quilt I made for Connor last year and finally took a picture of before packing it up.

We spent the better part of 6 months looking at patterns until we found a pattern called Convex Illusions by KwiltArt. The pattern was for a quilt that finishes at 60" X 60" but Connor wanted it bigger so I added an extra border. Unfortunately, I did not measure it before I packed it but it's about a queen size quilt. The fabric was sourced online. One bundle - Anthology Batik Fabric Tonal FQ Bundle in Neutral was purchased from HeartsDesireFiber on Etsy.  I also got a Batik Fabric Bundle in Red but I don't remember where I got it from.

The quilt is called Illusions and was finished on December 10, 2017.

           

 

Unfortunately, it's wider and taller than my husband and I didn't have time to pose it better but hopefully, you get the idea. 

Well, that's it for now.

Lullaby - My French Braid Quilt

Hi there. I'm back for a quick post. 

Life has gotten a little less busy but we are now working on getting my son packed up and off to Florida. I spent most of the day yesterday shopping for his new apartment and still have a few more things to buy this weekend. On Tuesday we pack the moving truck and then on Wednesday he and his dad are starting the 1787 miles to Jacksonville.

In the meantime, here is a quilt that I finished before the craziness started.

It's called Lullaby and was based on a  French Braid quilt I found on Pinterest by
Snippy Sisters. There wasn't a tutorial on it but I was able to figure it out using this tutorial I found at My Quilting Infatuation.

Once I figured out how to make a French Braid it was a pretty easy quilt to put together and since it was just a baby size quilt it only took about a week to complete minus stitching on the binding by hand. The quilt finished at 39 x 50. I quilted each braid and then loosely quilted straight lines.

So without further ado here is my quilt Lullaby.

 The back of the quilt is a print I found at Joann's on clearance a few years ago and bought because I knew I would use it someday. Great purchase!

This picture shows my color inspiration for the quilt...my car deodorizer. 😀 I was in the car thinking about the quilt trying to figure out what color the two sides of the quilt was going to be and my flower deodorizer was right there and I had a light bulb moment.

Lucky enough I was able to find the fabric in my stash so this whole quilt was made entirely from my fabric stash. Woohooo. I love when that happens.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

As always,

Wishing I Was Quilting

Hi everyone....it's been awhile since I've posted but life has been really busy lately. I wish I could say that I've spent that time quilting but unfortunately I haven't.

My husband and I have been in Florida with our youngest son (He's 22 but will always be my baby) looking for an apartment for him because he will be moving there in just 2 weeks. (Don't get me started on how that makes me feel). Since I knew we would be gone, I sent my sewing machine out to be serviced and it isn't back yet. 😞😢   

I think I'm suffering from quilting withdrawal.😰 

Hopefully it won't be much longer now.

Before we left, I started a Jelly Roll Race quilt and though I've finished the top I haven't gotten around to picking a back, making the binding or any of the other steps I need to do before quiltinq it.

Anyway...what else have I been doing? Ohhhh, I brought fabric. YAY!!! Have you heard of Kitchen Table Quilting? If not, you should check it out. I've gotten a few patterns from there (all reasonably priced) and she recently had a Stash Sale that I took advantage of. 

Here's a picture of my goodies...

Reds and grays....yum. Haven't decided on what I'll be using them for but they'll look nice in my stash until then.

Well I think that's all for today.  We're picking up my brother-in-law today from the airport and I need to finish cleaning the guest room and then we're going directly to the Colorado Rockies game from the airport. Oh and then tomorrow we're going to the Goodguys car show and then having a going away party for my son for which I'm making 2 bread puddings and appetizers. 

Told you life is busy right now.

I'll be back soon with a couple of quilts that I finished before I started on the Jelly Roll Race quilt.

Until next time....