Stripey Rag Quilt

I saw a pack of 6 flannel fat quarters on sale the other day so I picked up 2 of them.  I made this cute rag quilt for Emma last weekend.  I wanted to use as much of the fat quarter as possible so I decided to cut them into strips.  Then I cut the strips into a few different sizes and laid it out.  

The front and back are exactly the same.  My son helped me by pulling it off the design wall and finding it's match.  I sewed them together, no batting on this quilt.  My daughter cut all the edges for me.  I finished my part in about an hour.   The quilt really needed 8 fat quarters for each side so the size of quilt is a little off. But when I used it yesterday to cover Emma while I rocked her, it was actually a good fit.  

 Needs another washing to make the edges look better, but I am loving the softness of it!

A T-Shirt Quilt!

We were given some t-shirts from church to use for the quilt ministry- 4 tubs full!  5 of my children volunteer or go to the Children's Church and camp where these t-shirts came from so most of them are very familiar to us.  My oldest daughter wanted to make a quilt for the Children's Pastor's wife because she has been involved with this ministry for years.  So what is one to do?  Scour the internet for directions!

  

I read many sites but the one I found most helpful was Quilting in the Bunk House.  The steps are pretty easy.  Make sure you decide on your block size and layout before you cut.  I wanted them all the same size so I went with a 14 in finished block.  Then you iron on the pellon fusible interfacing being careful not to get any glue on your iron or your ironing board. Add your sashing (I used 2.5 strips) and your top should be done! 

I was worried that the pellon would make the quilt stiff, but after I quilted and washed it, it was fine.  Make sure you quilt slowly, especially over the logos.  If you go to fast you can get a pucker on the top of the t-shirt too.  I did that once at the start, but realized it was because I was trying to go too fast.

I quilted a loose meander in a medium blue color.  I was going to use a brown gray thread, but Lindsay wanted the blue.  It was just a little brighter than the gray.

Fleece was used for the back, and I used batting too.  It's a very warm quilt and somewhat heavy too.  But the back is so soft and snuggley.

I was really worried at many points during this process that I was going to ruin the quilt!  But I didn't and it turns out that it really wasn't that hard to do. Now I have to start on the ones that are going to be donated to the kids!  Those quilts will be half the size of this one.  This one is 50 x 66 and used 8 t-shirts.  Some where 2 sided.

Just in case you are wondering why there is an "S" on one of the blocks, it was for Super Hero and was the theme at camp one year. 

Linking up with:

Geographic Patchwork

I love this pattern!  It came together quickly and it was easy.  All you need is 6 fabrics.  I used 1 main print, 1 light print, 2 med prints, and 2 dark prints.  My quilt is 57x66 or 6 by 7 blocks.

I used the tutorial from here but had to make more blocks. Her layout is bigger than her blocks allow.

I cut my blocks according to the tutorial, but you need  12 squares of your 2 prints and 6 squares of your other 4 (instead of 6 and 3). Make sure you turn all your squares RIGHT SIDE UP before you do your slicing!  If you don't, some of your pieces will be backwards!  I know it doesn't look like it right off hand, but each one of those pieces are exactly the same shape if you turn them.  So you can pile them up in one pile.  The exception is the directional fish print.  I grabbed pieces that were facing different ways for each block pile so all the fishes weren't facing the same.  Is that confusing?

I printed out her layout picture because I didn't know how many different blocks there were and how many I needed of each one.  Turns out there are only 4 blocks in this quilt.  The bottom two piles have 16 blocks and the top 2 piles have 8. blocks.  Now you should TRIM your blocks.  I did not do this because I thought I could get them to match good enough (and I was being lazy).  Ya, that didn't work very well.  So, you might want to trim them to 9  or 9 1/4 because some of mine were smaller than 9 1/2.  When I make this again, I will be trimming!!!

Meaner quilting in a brownish gray thread.

Leftover fish fabric on the back.

Fun, quick, and easy quilt to make!

Color Expression

We started class this week with Rachel at Stitched in Color.   Our assignment was to pick 3 color expressions and choose Kona color card swatches and matching fabrics for that expression.  I choose 3:  Cozy, Soothing, and Joy as my expressions.  It was easier to pick the swatches than the fabric.  I was missing some fabric colors in my stash which made it more difficult.

What's more cozy than a cup of Russian Tea?  ( I don't like tea so I drink Russian Tea, which is made of spices, some instant tea, and loads of tang!)  After I gathered my oranges and browns, I decided it needed another color.  Green leaves would go nicely!  I tried to stay on the warm side of the green swatches.

I would have loved to add a few more browns to the stack, but alas, I have no more.  I plan on getting some and then making a quilt out of these:

Here is Joy!  I started picking bright colors for this set and kept coming back to these.  I used to have my sewing room (when it was just a school room) painted in these colors.  I guess I can't change what I love. These colors are playful and fun, like I want school to be!  

My fabric choices are bright and cheery too.  Just need to add some white and another turquoise and it will be ready to whip into a quilt!

My last one is Soothing.  It started at calm, but when I looked at the swatches I had picked I had to change it.  My favorite color is blue and I tend to stay on the cool side of the color wheel.  

I started with the blues and greens and thought some pebbles would go nice.  Reminds me of the ocean, I love the call of the waves.

Don't know if I some lighter fabrics will add to this set or not.  I couldn't find any in the right shade in my stash.  This one is also going to be a quilt.  

This project stretched me in the fabric picking department.  I usually have a main fabric that I can use to pick colors from.  This time it was more a picture in my head.   You can go here to see the stitched in color flickr group.  There are lots of other color expression picks there.  The class is closed now, but I think she might offer it again in the future, check out her blog for more info.

Flowers and Daffodils Plus Quilt

Since I am working on taking better pictures, I tried some in the house:

I put it on the floor close to a window where the sun was shining through. 

 It made nice shadows to see the quilting. Especially on the back.

 and outside the house: 

Someone told me to take the picture outside with the sun shining across the quilt.  

It does seem to have made shadows so you can see some of the quilting.

I had some multi colored floral fabric that I have been wanting to use. 

 They both had blue, green and yellow in them.

  Then I found the yellow daffodil fabric in my stash.  

Pulled the quilt together with some blenders and it turned out great!