Last Quilt of the Year!

I'm definitely not going out with a bag this year - picture wise!  You only get one so I'll make it large.  See if you can find my 4 boys in this picture...the last one is hard to spot (but you can easily see his hand!)

My oldest daughter has had these fabrics picked out for over 1 year now.  She said that she would help if I made her quilt for her bed.  How could I refuse the help?  That doesn't happen very often.  We used the tube method for a trip around the world and she seem ripped them open and did all the ironing.  It really went together so fast.  I made a quarter section at a time having to add 1 row and 1 column down the centers.  She wanted it finished before we started school again (which we did today).  It is now washed and on her bed.  Happy daughter, happy mom!

This makes 26 quilts, 5 pillow cases, 1 ironing board cover, and 1 premie baby (who's doing great) for this year.  Hope to make more than that next year!

Some Cute Pillow Cases

The kids needed a gift for church for a couple families so we made these cute pillow cases. One is for a family with 3 boys.  I had some football fabric and the semi solids set aside for a quilt.  But they seemed the perfect fit.  These pillow cases are super easy.  It's the sausage roll method.  Here's the tutorial.

These two were for a family with 2 girls, one was 2 an one was 8 years old.

I didn't add the band between the main fabric and the end piece.  Trying to make things easy.  No french seams either.  I figured the kids wouldn't notice!

Christmas Quilt

Yeah!  Our very first Christmas/Winter quilt is ready for the couch!  Even got to take a picture of it out in the ice.  Yes I said ice!  We don't get much snow in southern Oklahoma.  If we do it only lasts for a day.  But this ice has been here for a week!  My brave husband walked out there so I could take this picture.  Thanks honey!  And a big thanks to my oldest daughter for all the ironing she did to help me finish this quilt!  

This is the block I used for my quilt.  I'm trying to branch out more and try new things.  The sewing of these blocks wasn't so bad...    

but the waste of precious fabric was huge!

 This is the pile of scraps from cutting off and trimming up those rectangle blocks.  Agh!  And they are little triangles that can't be used.  While I love the quilt, I will never use this pattern again.  Much too much waste. 

On a good note though, I backed this quilt with red snowflake flannel that almost exactly matches the red snowflake on the font.  Nice and snuggly!  Next year I hope to make some more.  One is not enough to cover 8 kids on the couch!  Merry Christmas everyone!!!

New Iron Board Cover!

Why do I put things this easy off for so long?  I don't know.  I was not looking forward to making this ironing board cover.  Bad memories from the last one made too tight and I couldn't get it off without cutting it I suppose.  Well this beauty only too an hour or so plus a quick trip to get some elastic.  I've had this thick fabric picked out for probably a year!  While the baby was sleeping and my daughter was wrapping the last 2 presents I whipped up this cover.

I used this tutorial from Angela Osborn.  I had 4 different directions pinned but this one seemed the best.

I even used some "I love you" fabric that ended up in my stash somehow.  That kind of fabric doesn't seem appropriate to give to a stranger...

You should update yours too, it really makes the room look more cheery now!  No more burnt spots!

Rail Fence Three Ways

Rail Fence 3 Ways - Okay it's really only 2 ways and one scrappy, but we'll get to that in a minute. I was getting ready to teach a few ladies how to quilt and I thought this pattern would be perfect for that, but that plan fell through, especially with Emma home!  But I had started getting ready back in October for this.  So might as well make them anyway right?  I plan on giving them to a local nursing home, so they are a smaller lap size quilt.  

The first one is a traditional layout with 3 fabrics creating 2 running strips.  Love these colors, so bright and cheerful!

The second one is three fabrics too but with the blocks laid out to form pinwheels.  This one didn't look good in the original layout.  I guess I picked the wrong color to be in the middle.  But it looks good this way.

The final one is a traditional layout with the black on the outside to make a runner.  But I cut up all my brown and green scraps to do the other to sets.  I alternated the browns and greens on each block.  Half the blocks have green on the bottom and half have brown.  I meandered on the scraps and straight line quilted on the black.  

 Making these small quilts was so rewarding for me because they quilted up so fast.  The binding was super fast also.   It's amazing how good finishing some quilts feels!  I haven't gotten to finish anything since Emma came home.  Glad to be getting something done!  Christmas quilt will be done next - the last one of the year for me!