Pinwheeling - A Completed Quilt

Hi everyone!

Can you believe that summer is almost over? Where did it go? I think I say those words every year. How about you?

This past week I completed my pinwheel quilt and signed up to participate in a quilt along. Have you done a QAL before? This is my first one and I'm very excited about it.

The Little Miss Sawtooth Quilt Along starts September 9th and runs to January 10, 2020. As the name suggests the pattern is a sawtooth star block. The QAL is free (unless you buy a paper pattern.)
If you would like to join in the fun you can find the details here.

I also started working on my first paper pieced block quilt. Since this is my first time doing a paper pieced pattern I decided on a simple Diamond In a Square block. There will be more details on this on the next post.

So anyway...here are some pictures of Pinwheeling.

The quilt has 36 pinwheels that started with 144 6 1/2-inch squares. The fabrics that I picked were based on the black and flower fabric. Altogether I used 14 different fabrics. The finished pinwheel measures 10-inches. The layout is 6 x 6 and the quilt measures 62" x 62". The binding is a beautiful garnet that was cut from a thrift store sheet. I even found a Gütermann thread that was a perfect match (Col 443). The backing is an Ikea sheet/duvet. I quilted it by doing stitch in the ditch in all the seams (both vertical and horizontal). 

Overall I really like this quilt. The color scheme isn't exactly something I've done before but I think the colors all work.

Well, I guess that's it for now. 

Thanks for stopping by...

Camille

What I've Been Working On...

Hi there!

Just thought I would stop by and let you know that I've not forgotten you all.  In the past few weeks, I've managed to spend some time working on a new quilt as well as doing some other fun things.

One of those things is stepping out of my comfort zone. I'm extremely uncomfortable with heights and when one of my friends invited me to join her and a few other ladies in doing a rope course I was at first very hesitant to say yes. But I am so glad that I did. I faced my fear and though I only spent about 30 minutes on the rope course I am so proud of myself and glad that I can now cross that off my To-Do list.

The other thing that's happened is my youngest son came home for a visit. We spent a lot of quality time together and had a lot of fun. I'm happy to say he's decided to come home and go to school. So he'll be home in November and I couldn't be happier.

So anyway...onto quilting.

I'm working on a pinwheel quilt. So far I've got the quilt top done and the backing ready to be pin basted.

This is the fabric that I picked out. It all started with the center fabric (the gray with orange flowers) and the two fabrics on either side of it. The other fabrics were pulled from my fabric stash.

Cutting HST's using the June Taylor Perfect Half-Square & Quarter Square Ruler. This is a great ruler to use when making HST's.














And here is the quilt top on my design wall. (the blue squares are my numbering system so when I chain stitch everything the blocks they end up where they're supposed to.)

I plan on pin basting this tomorrow and should start quilting it this weekend. I think I'm going to just stitch-in-the-ditch for this quilt. So if all goes well I should have this completely finished in the next couple of weeks. At which time I will take a lot of pictures and share them with you.

Until then...

Camille

A Quilt Named Blue

Hey everyone!! 

I'm so excited to share with you my latest finish - Blue. This quilt is based on the pattern, Simple Stripes. As I mentioned in a previous post, the pattern goes together super easy and super fast. When I was looking for a pattern I wanted a one that was not to intricate as far as the design and also something that would allow the fabrics to shine and this pattern fit the bill perfectly. 

So without further ado...

The quilt finished at 65.5" x 74.5". 
The pattern calls for using either FQ's or yardage. I adjusted the pattern a little because my FQ's were cut on the smaller size, by cutting the strips smaller and the blocks were squared up at 10" instead of 11". It all worked out okay.

There are a total of 56 blocks with an 8 x 7 layout. I used 24 FQ's plus some yardage. The fabrics are from JoAnn's, Walmart and thrift store sheets for the backing and the flange.

I used my usual cross-hatch/diagonal line machine quilting.

When I was deciding on the binding I wanted something to separate the colorful/busy quilt top from the colorful/busy binding so I tried something new. I found a tutorial for a Secured Flange/Flat-piping which you can find here. This secured flange separates the business of the binding against the quilt top and does it without having to constantly iron the flange down. LOVE IT!!

I hope you enjoyed the photos and if you're looking for an easy pattern I would definitely recommend this one.

Before I go, I wanted to let you all know that there will be a few changes going forward. For the past few years, I've spent a lot of time on my quilting hobby, to the point that it was no longer a hobby. So I've decided to expand my creativity and not focus just on quilting. I've already started an acrylic painting class and am looking forward to taking a watercolor class as well as a calligraphy class. (Just to name a few.) All through Bluprint.

So, what does that mean...basically I won't be posting to this blog as frequently as I did. I will still post my quilt finishes and whatever else I feel like talking about but it won't be on a schedule.

So until I see you again (which will probably be in a couple of weeks)...

Thanks for stopping by.

Camille

Happy 4th of July

I hope you all have a safe and happy 4th surrounded by family and friends!!!

Camille

WIP - Simple Stripes Quilt

Hello everyone!

Just a quick post to say Hi, and to give you a little sneak peek at the Simple Stripes quilt that I've been working on.  It's almost finished and I was hoping that I would be posting about it this week but unfortunately, life sometimes gets in our way of quilting.

The hubby and I are leaving tomorrow to go visit our oldest son in NM for the holiday weekend so I will not be posting finished pictures for at least a week. I only have to hand sew the binding on but that can take a week or so depending on what else is going on. So we'll see.

The pattern that I decided on is called Simple Stripes. You can find the tutorial for it here. This pattern goes to together super easy and super fast so it definitely won't be the last time that I use it. I forgot to take pictures of the completed quilt top but here's a picture of a couple of blocks up on the design wall.

Well, that's it for now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Camille

Another Finish - Pretty In Pink

Hey everyone...

I spend a lot of time thinking about the quilts that I want to make. There are so many patterns, tutorials and pictures of quilts on the web that sometimes I just get overwhelmed. And when that happens but I still want to create something I make a Plus quilt. It's one pattern that allows me to just enjoy the process of quilting.  Do you have a pattern like that?

Well anyway...here it is...my "Pretty In Pink" quilt.

I love pink. Every shade of pink. When I was about 10 my parents wanted to redo my bedroom and asked me what color I wanted it to be. I said pink. So on two walls, I had pink and white stripe wallpaper and one wall was pink flower wallpaper and the other walls were just painted pink I think. And of course, I had a white canopy bed with pink bedding. 

When I was thinking of making this plus quilt I hadn't decided on what fabrics I was going to use. But when my husband and I went to the Denver Zoo a few weeks ago and I saw the pink flowers I shared in this post, I knew what color I wanted it to be. PINK. So I went hunting in my stash and pulled out all the pink fat quarters that I had (which was a lot), plus a trip to Joann's and Wal-mart to pick up a couple more. (You can never have enough pink or enough fat quarters.) 

All in all, I used 22 fat quarters. From each FQ I cut 5 (7") squares for a total of 
110. And cut them all out in one day.

The back of the quilt (don't you love polka dots?) is a brushed cotton sheet that I found at a thrift store. (I think it cost $2.00)

The binding is from a FQ I got at Wal-Mart. It's Waverly Dabbles Coral. (Did you know that Wal-mart is slowly getting rid of their bolts of cotton fabrics and going to pre-cuts?) 

The quilting was my usual plus quilt design of straight lines 1/4" on both sides of the seams going vertically and horizontally. And the overall size (after washing and drying) is 64" x 70". 

So that's it for Pretty In Pink. And the best thing about it...it's all mine.

Until next time... Thanks for stopping by.

Camille

This and That and a Farewell

Hi everyone...

I'm still working on the pink quilt though I'm almost finished with it. I finished the quilting in two days (yeah me) earlier this week and now I'm hand sewing the binding on. I should be finished that in the next couple of days and will be posting lots of pictures. But in the meantime here are a few pictures for you to look at.

Another picture of pin basting

Pin basting

Fabrics for the binding and backing. 

The name of the quilt is "Pretty in Pink". I think this one will be mine. I love it.

And I've started picking fabrics for my next quilt. I had so much fun with the pink quilt that I've decided to do an all blue quilt. This time though it won't be a plus quilt. I haven't decided what it will be though. I debating on this or this.

Here are the fabrics that I've picked so far.

I'll let you know what I decide on next time.

Okay, so that's it for the quilting side.

Now for the farewell...

 On January 19, 2008, my son Jace and I went to a puppy adoption at a Petco in Denver. We went there for a particular dog we found online but by the time we got there he had already been adopted. So we decided to look at the other puppies. And as I was sitting in the pen this little black/grindle dog came over and looked up at me with these soulful deep brown eyes and sweet happy face. And I was smitten. Without question, we took him home with us.

We named him Jax and he was a wonderful addition to our family.  Our other dog Bella adopted him and taught him all he needed to know and though we had some accidents and he chewed up my favorite pair of sandals, he was one of the best dogs I had ever been around. He was gentle and sweet and much loved by everyone he met. 

      

Jax and Rocco

He is and will always be loved.


Until next time....Have a great weekend!

Camille