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!

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.

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.

A Cool Tool

It’s a good thing I like binding quilts… three just landed back at my house, fresh from the long arm quilter! One is a Christmas quilt for Eleanor and the other two are for a set of boy/girl twins. More on those later…

Binding a quilt by hand is one of my favorite parts of the quilting process. However, whenever I sewed on the binding around the front, I could never get the fabric to meet up without there being some kind of icky bump. Enter the Fons & Porter Binding Tool!

My mom picked up one of these for me at JoAnn’s and it has made a HUGE difference! Hopefully these photos give you some kind of idea as to how it works. I definitely recommend one!

Magically, the binding is just the perfect length to go around the quilt!

Oh, by the way… Eleanor is still cute!

Pink Lady

That silly mother of mine…. she just keeps on quilting! Since we didn’t know that we were having a girl or a boy, she had to hold back on the pink and blue for way too long. Here’s her latest gift for Miss Eleanor…

It is so soft and cuddly. The back is a white on white stripe. This would be the easiest quilt to eat up a stash of fabric- the pink wheels are made from a 5″x10″ rectangle, cut into four triangles. Easy peasey.

She had it quilted by good ole’ Marie and The Quilt Shoppe. The quilt in the photo on their site is my flag quilt from one of my first posts! I feel somewhat like a celebrity each time I see it.  She did such a fabulous job quilting it… the blue area has stars and the stripes are a set of randomly spaced waves.

If anyone is interested in making a flag quilt and wants to get some fabric already cut for it, please let me know! I have two gallon size bags full of blue and white already cut and ironed. They are just left over from my quilt. I’ll even throw in directions for how to make the quilt.  Just add some red fabric and you’ll be set!  I’ll sell it for the rock bottom low price of…. hmm….not sure. Make an offer and we’ll chat.

Progress!

So that I don’t look like a neglectful mother, I present to you the completed blocks for the Jewel Squares baby quilt! Many squares down, but many MANY more to go!

 

 

And some scissors for scale on these itty bitty ones:

This is such a long sewing process and it’s testing my patience, but it will be beyond worth it!

That’s all for now… off to prepare for my husband’s birthday party. He’s turning 28 today, on 8-8-08. That’s right…for those of you quick in the mental math category he turned eight on 8-8-88. Born at 8:00am, weighed 8lbs 8oz… it’s insane!

Just Ducky

I made this quilt for a friend this summer. It’s a long and involved story as to why it has such a strong duck theme, but I have to share this pattern. It’s the “Sweet William” pattern from the book Laps from Fats. It was the quickest quilt I’ve made. Not only that, but the shop where I take my quilts to be quilted did an all-over duck design. It’s a bit hard to see in these photos, though. My friend was laughing at how great that was!

Plus, doesn’t this quilt have sexy legs?

 

 

Oh baby!

So the baby quilt that I am working on didn’t get finised in time. My crafty mother, however, managed to get TWO finished for our baby! I am madly in love with this first one. We didn’t know if it was going to be a boy or a girl, so they are both gender neutral. This first one is from the Denyse Schmidt book, the Drunk Love pattern. The stitching is beyond cool…

 

 

This one is an Irish chain made from some Tula Pink fabric. Can you spot the little snails?

 

I have a feeling that our baby will have plenty of stuff made from Tula Pink’s lines since…. it’s a GIRL!!