Polly Want a Quilt?

48 x 56

Yay, my iron finally arrived!  I am so excited to get something finished!  I have 2 quilts to share with you today.  The tops are the same on both quilts.

This first one has a cream colored back and a red binding.  Love the texture I got with the quilting, but we'll get to that in a minute.

I got this parrot fabric at an estate sale last summer.  It was a weird size and I put off using it because I couldn't decide how to cut it and which pattern would be best for it.

This year is all about getting things out of the closet and into quilts so I came up with this block.  It is made from a cream colored jelly roll I found in the closet.  The parrot fabric is cut 4.5 by 8.5. The block is 8.5 x 8.5 unfinished.

After I had the top sew together, I was worried it was going to be too plain.  It needed some custom quilting to liven it up.

I quilted back and forth in the cream part of the blocks changing directions at every seam working my way across the quilt. I love how it make the parrot fabric puff up.

There are 2 different quilting rows that repeat.  The black arrows show one row and the red shows the next.  Before I started quilting, I poked pins in the top to mark the spots I wanted to quilt to make sure I could get all the way across the quilt without stopping.

If you look closely, you can see where I changed directions along the seams of the blocks.

I had enough parrot fabric to make 2 quilts.  This one has a blue back and blue binding.

The quilting really stands out on this quilt.  It was actually the first one I did.  That's when I decided to put a lighter color on the back of the second one.

When I went outside this morning to take pictures this gorgeous rainbow was waiting for me!

It was much more magnificent in person.  The colors were so vibrant!  It is actually a double rainbow, the top rainbow was more faded. I don't think I've ever seen one like this before.  I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing because there was a tree in the way. But I thought I would share it with you!  

Elementary, My Dear!

My iron broke the other day and it's going to be a while till it gets here.  Do you realize that you can't do anything but quilt when you don't have an iron?  I was going to put some binding on...but no, you need to iron it.  

I haven't posted in a long time so I thought I would show you this awesome fabric that I purchased with a gift certificate. (Thank you, sweet lady!)  Meet Elementary from Moda.  If I was made into a fabric line, it would probably look like this!  Okay, this is only one side of me.  There are many others!

But I love the colors (think relaxing day at the beach) and the prints (alpha - numeric).

Favorite Print in the Pile!

A Close Second!

So I thought you might like to learn a few things about me that you might not know:

1.  You all know that I homeschool my 8 kids, but you might not know that I have been homeschooling for over 14 years and I graduated my oldest last year.

2.  I love math!  (Not one of my kids shares my passion, but I have 2 hopefuls left)

3.  I have a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Washington.  (I only used this for a year and a half, then got married and became a mama.)

4.  I have lived in Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon, Rhode Island, California, and Oklahoma.  (The Pacific Northwest was my favorite.)

5. I like to sing songs at the top of my lungs while dancing around the house.  (I do this mainly because it drives my kids nuts!)

6.  Quilting is my very favorite thing to do.  (This is no surprise - is it?)

I have 2 quilts almost finished and one done that was a pattern test.  Hope to post them soon!  Have a great week sewing and quilting.

Rainbow Gems

This quilt was made from the leftover HST that came from Myra's Rainbow Star quilt that I made recently.  I had several HST and plenty of solid fabric left.  Instead of putting any of it in the scrap bin, I used it to make my own design.  

54" x 63"

Each square is a half square triangle and finishes at 9 inches.  I cut some more of my 10 inch solids in half and made a rainbow down the back.   Gotta love rainbow quilts!  It's quilted with gray thread in an easy meander pattern.  I didn't want to distract from the two tone diamonds.

Linking with Sarah and TGIFF

Rainbow Star Baby Quilt

I was asked to test a pattern for Myra who blogs at Busy Hands Quilts.  She has a awesome blog full of great quilts!  Here is my version of her Rainbow Star Baby Quilt.  You can find her pattern on Craftsy or in her Etsy Store.  It's on sale at a discounted price until May 20!

This pattern was easy to follow and is great for a wall hanging or a for a baby quilt.  It finishes at 40 inches square.  You could make it with prints or solids.  You could even try it with some left over layer cake pieces.  

Here are the Kona Cotton colors that I used in my quilt (mostly because I had them in my stash), but there are other colors you could use also.

Red - Tomato, Rich Red

Orange - Papaya, School Bus

Yellow - Maize, Buttercup

Green - Kiwi, Clover

Jade - Azure, Jade

Turquoise - Peacock. Turquoise

Blue - Blue Jay, Royal

Purple - Crocus, Bright Periwinkle

If you aren't familiar with Myra's blog, you should go check it out. She's super sweet and loves to respond to comments!

Floral Plus Quilt

45" x 54"

It has taken me so long to get this finished!  But that is because I have been working on other projects.  We spent a lot of time cleaning carpets, replacing padding, and adding new carpet to our house.  That is not my idea of fun! But I am back to teaching the kids and quilting.  Yeah!

This quilt used up the black floral print and turned into a lovely plus quilt.  I think this is my favorite pattern.  But you probably guess that since I make so many of them.

Leftover scraps on the back, a simple meander, and a dark teal green fabric to finish it off.  Simple and effective.  Hope you're all having a great week!