Finishing Jewel Squares, part 1

I am giddy. Beyond giddy, actually. I finished the last of the squares needed for Eleanor’s Jewel Squares quilt. Looking at the stack of color is both exciting and daunting… did I really make ALL of those?!

Laying them out on the floor was like a really intense logic puzzle- even though there is a specific layout, mixing block types and colors was still a lot of work. 

During this phase of the process, I learned a hard lesson: when you ask the guy at Office Max to enlarge some pattern pieces at 200%, be sure he actually does that. Otherwise you end up with four of the biggest squares in the wrong size. Grr. Double grr. Blast you Office Max.

After I figured out a layout that I was happy with, I had to do some heavy photographing. Using post it notes and baggies, I *think* it should be easy to piece back together. As I was doing this I thought, “Boy, a felt wall sure would be a smart move!” 

I’ll be back with more progress later!

Graham’s Baby Bento Box

 Meet Graham:

Meet his quilt:

We welcomed a new baby last month! This time it’s a BOY!

We are one of the few left on the planet that like to wait to find out if it is a boy or a girl. Since we didn’t know, I had to make a quilt that didn’t scream blue or pink. I used the Bento Box pattern (purchased from Pink Chalk Fabrics) and used a variety of American Jane fabrics.

This quilt was a piece of cake to assemble! I love how it is quilted, too. I took it to someone with a longarm, so I can’t take the credit!

I used a neat black and cream dot for the backing and binding.

Eleanor likes to lay it out on the floor because, apparently, it is the best “Ring Around the Rosie” dance mat ever.

Today’s task…. finishing the last NINE blocks on Eleanor’s Jewel Squares quilt!!

Here is a sneak peek at her ‘big girl quilt’ to tide us all over until it is back from the quilter. This was taken the first time she had seen the quilt top. She immediately ran over to it and started to wrap herself up in it.

Eleanor’s Doll Quilt

Eleanor moved in to a new bedroom this summer. Why, you ask? Because she is now a big sister! Her new room is a sunny yellow and full of Heather Bailey’s Pop Garden fabric. Knowing that I still needed to finish her baby quilt (!) and get another one done for the new baby, I asked my mom to make a quilt for the room. It is at the quilter right now, but let me tell you, it is fabulous. Simply fabulous. In the meantime, I made this doll quilt for her out of the same fabric. It’s an exact copy of her quilt, just scaled to 50%. And, her quilt has nine wheels instead of four.

The back…

And an iPod for some scale…

Can’t wait to see the “big one”!

Answers

Oops! Just when I get busy with things at school, I get a ton of traffic on this site. Somehow I kept forgetting to check in on things and there are several questions I need to answer…

Machine or hand pieced/quilted?

The Single Girl quilt was machine pieced and machine quilted on my Janome. 

How big are the blocks?

As far as answering the question about how big the blocks are… I actually don’t know. The quilt is on the other side of Missouri now. I do know that I trimmed a small amount off after I had sewn on the outside (curved) white piece. Maybe 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch total from the length/width, just to make them perfect squares.

Where did I find the pattern?

I found the pattern at a local shop, and know that you can find it in many online stores, too. Google Denyse Schmidt Single Girl pattern.

 

I promise that the quilt isn’t as intimidating as it looks! I had the pattern for almost a year before I decided to jump on in. Once I did, it was so worth it.

Memories

Every Christmas for the last six years, my mom and sister and I have created an ornament to give to everyone at our family Christmas gathering. I have just over 30 aunts, uncles and cousins on that side of the family alone! In past years, we have done ornaments with bells, old family Christmas photos from the 50’s, snowflake cutouts, etc. This year, my mom outdid herself.

My grandparents are no longer alive. Around the time of my grandfather’s death, my mom and her siblings were sorting through the house and dividing up family treasures. My mom came home with several old quilts, all made by her mother or her grandmother. One of them was in poor condition in several spots. This year, my mom decided to cut out the spots that were in good condition into 35 Christmas tree shapes and create ornaments. This way, everyone gets a piece of this quilt and it gets a whole new lease on life.

To top the tree off, she used a button from my grandmother’s botton box. They are all so unique! My sister nabbed the one pictured above for Eleanor’s ornament- its sparkles are hard to see in the photo, but it is extra special.

Each year, we attach a laminated tag to the ornament with the year, “________ Family Christmas”, and a word. We have used ‘believe’, ‘hope’, ‘wish’, etc. This year? “Memories.”

These ornaments are so special. It was wonderful seeing the look on their faces as they opened the gift and realized what the ornament was this year. I look forward to pulling this one out of the box for years to come!

Do you have a similar tradition?

Single (baby) Girl Quilt

Last week I gained a new niece! Claire will have an interesting story someday when the topic of who was President when she was born comes up. I imagine her saying, “Well, the day I was born it was one guy, but then the next day…”

Just in time for her arrival, I put the finishing touches on her quilt- the Single Girl pattern by Denyse Schmidt. I really am in love with the rounded square quilting and the white binding. I may have to use this binding look again soon.

If you plan to use this pattern, here are a few thoughts:

• the templates are the most time consuming thing in the entire project.
• after sewing on the white pieces to each arc of color, I was afraid that I’d lose a lot of the size in squaring it up. It really wasn’t too bad, but my pieces are just a little smaller than her pattern claims they’ll be. How anyone can sew a curve and not lose some ground is beyond me!
• Marking….oh, the marking. I would love to make this pattern with a dark background fabric. However, marking it on a white fabric was enough for me. I just traced over it, using the lighting in my living room. I don’t think I have the patience (and I teach middle schoolers!) to use some of the dark fabric techniques I’ve seen online for marking this with chalk, etc.
• The white binding just looks so crisp and clean. It really does keep the focus on the rings.
• I used about 10 different colors of fabric. I had an eighth of a yard of each. I had more than enough to complete the rings, and I felt like I had a good variety. It always annoys me when I have a ton of fabric left over from a pattern when it says I “have” to have it. I ignored her pattern’s recommendation for the amount of colored fabric to get. I did, however, follow the amounts for binding, background and backing.

 

There just aren’t a lot of photos of this quilt out there, other than the ones made by Denyse, of course. It’s simply adorable.  Plus, how great is the name? I have explained it to several people and they love how it’s a double wedding ring that doesn’t connect. Genuis. I hope someone else will make one and show it off! I am imagining one in bright reds, hot pinks and whites with a fun green background- sort of a funky Christmas coloring. Yum!

Christmas Tree Quilt

A baby simply can’t go without a Christmas quilt, can she? (More like- I can’t figure out what to do with some charm squares and there aren’t enough for a lap quilt!)

I found these Sandy Gervais charm squares over a year ago in a shop on a visit to San Diego. I picked up a couple of yards of three of the fabrics and two charm packs. Did I know what I wanted to make? Of course not. That would make too much sense.

 

Fast forward to this summer, when I was at work on our Christmas quilt. I decided Eleanor needed one and that I wasn’t about to spend more money on fabric. I used a pattern from a scrap quilt pattern book- the pattern is called Broken Dishes. I cut up each charm square into a triangle and made a matching amount in a cream Kona cotton solid.

My favorite is the candy cane stripe binding! Eleanor has been playing on this bad boy since September! I love how cheery it is.

It was quilted on a long arm machine in an all-over pattern of ornaments. Hard to see in the photos, though.

Cal & Cassie

Making baby quilts for twins is twice as nice. Calvin and Cassandra were born to a teaching friend of mine. They go by Cal and Cassie and here are their quilts…

I wanted them to be similar without being too matchy-matchy, so I went with the common theme of “plaid.” Cassie’s is a pattern from American Jane, called Merry Go Round. It is surprisingly easy to assemble- though I imagine it would be a pain to do a full sized one. This pattern would work perfectly with a set or two of some jelly roll strips. The fabric is a retired line from Three Sisters called Paris Flea Market.

And, yes. This was quite the bear to bind with those angles!

 

The quilt for Mr. Cal is a pattern that I made up, using some charm packs and some solid brown. The charm squares were from the Moda Chocolat line. I really like the strip of plaid on the back.

 

My friend, her husband and the two cuties moved over the summer to the southern corner of Missouri, so these are in the mail right now. I cannot wait to see a photo of the babies with their quilts!

Election Day

Happy Election Day!

In an amazing turn of events, you are allowed to vote if you turn five months old on Election Day. Eleanor was very excited about this.

Name Badge Album

A family friend made one of these for me as part of a baby gift. When I realized how she’d made it, I thought, “Genius!” You can make one yourself, just use clear name badge holders (either horizontal or vertical) and some thin ribbon. Mine has seven badges. She even put little pieces of scrapbook paper in them as a background.