A Review of 2014

I have been seeing everyone's 2014 review and I thought it would be fun to take a trip down my memory lane as well.  My goal for 2014 was to make 36 quilts.  I made it!  If we only count actual quilts, there are exactly 36.

I also made 1 tree skirt, 15 t-shirt pillows, a set of rag ABC letters, helped my boys make 2 quilts, and helped my daughter make 4 quilted fleece blankets!

It has been a very busy year with all this sewing, homeschooling, and watching a little premie grow into an entertaining little girl!  I started working more with HSTs this year.  They aren't so bad after all.  I also tried to get a handle on my scraps.  Haven't quite finished them yet, but that's on schedule for the first of the year. I also have 2 quilts in the works that aren't going to make it by tomorrow.  But that gets me 2 ahead for next year!

Thanks to all of you who have left comments on my blog this year, I really appreciate it!  Have a Happy New Year sewing, quilting, and creating!

A More Traditional Quilt

Here she is!  I don't usually make traditional quilts, but I had to.  I have some what I call "ugly to me fabric" that needs to get used up.  It's the cream fabric up there.  I just don't like it.  But I do like this quilt.  Not for me of course - not my style or colors!  But I make quilts all the time that are for other people.  Someone will enjoy it. 

I could only find 4 fabrics in my stash to go with this fabric.  You can't make too many modern quilts with only 4 fabrics.  I searched pinterest for weeks looking for patterns that only use 3 or 4 fabrics.  I was really surprised that when I cut up this fabric that it looked good in the blocks.

I used the rest of it on the back.  No leftovers!

Becca made another fleece quilt for Papa to give out.  

She is really improving on her quilting. On this quilt she learned how to start and end a row on the longarm.  Next will be rolling and basting the sides.  Pretty soon she won't need me at all!  It's so fun to have her in the sewing room with me.

Happy New Year everyone!  

Square in the Corner

I'm calling this one Square in the corner for lack of a better name.  The squares large square finishes at 6 inches.   I love the color combo of pink, gray and teal.  The black and gray print gives your eye a something to look at.  Very easy pattern.  I used 4 pink, 4 teal, and 3 gray fabrics.

I stitched in the ditch around the black square sets and meandered the rest.  I wanted to make the little squares stand out.  I couldn't quilt anything inside the little squares because of the print, but the outlining is enough.  The back is a minky with matching colors.  Not too happy with this one because the back was too small.  I had to stretch it to finish the quilting.  So you can see some rippling along the bottom.  Hoping that when I wash it, it will get better.  They can't all be perfect now can they!

Christmas Tree Skirt

Oh the math I've forgotten since high school!  I didn't have a pattern for this tree skirt, but I didn't think it would be that hard.  I mean I do have an engineering degree, right?  Well, my brain wasn't thinking straight and that was a problem!

I only had so much red snowflake fabric and I really wanted to have 3 rows of that.  The width of the hexagon is 54 inches so the sides were all 27 in.  Except that I kept using 27 in for the height of the equilateral triangle!  No, no, no!  To determine the height you have to use the formula for a 30-60-90 triangle.  

So here it is.  If your sides are 27 in then your height is about 23.5 inches.  I did cut my triangles to this height, but it would be more helpful to start with this height.  I started with 27 inches for my height so I lost all of my red fabric on the top!  If you want to make one of these plan your row heights to equal 23.5 (24 unfinished) and you should be fine.  Once you get one piece cut use it to cut your other 5 pieces.

I quilted swirls in the white rows going the same direction all the way around.  Nope they are not perfect!  This was my first time with swirls.  I have lowered my expectations so I can actually try new things without freaking out!

Ran out of red snowflake fabric so my husband suggested putting white between the binding and the red snowflakes.  What?  I can't do that.  It's already quilted!  But then I remembered this flange binding technique and it worked great.

 

I didn't cut a seam and a center hole in it, but now I wish I had.  The cords from the tree lights are very visible under the tree. You could easily do that after quilting and add binding to the seam and the center as you go.  I'm thinking of just cutting a hole big enough for the tree pole to fit through.   It's a nice tree skit either way.  Merry Christmas!

Linking with Freemotion by the River and I Have to Say

Plaid Fleece with Quilty Texture

I thought I would show you this quilt my daughter and I made for Papa to give away.  I know you've seen one before, but I really like the quilting on this one - it give is such great texture.  It's fast and easy and Becca got to practice quilting again without feeling like she was going to ruin one of my quilt tops.

I think this panto is called spiral squares.  You can read about how to bind it here.  Papa like to give this type away because they are soft and warm.  He usually gives them to older people he visits in the hospital and they need some extra warmth!

Anyway, I have been sewing, just not quilting.  I have 2 really cool tops sitting on my longarm waiting for me.  Thanksgiving and trips to the hospital have slowed me down.  So I hope you stick around to see them!  Stay warm!