Rainbow Brick

I was going through my scrap bins to cut and organize when I found a bunch of the black flowered print.  There were at least 25 pieces leftover from a quilt a did a couple years ago.  Seemed to me that I could put them in a quilt.  So I calculated the largest piece I could cut from my scraps which was a 7.5 by 4 inch brick.  Not too much you can do with that size!  Here's what I came up with.

42 x  52.5

I wish I had taken a picture of the first couple layouts. They were terrible!  I tried with a black V and random colors around it. Then I tried just random placement.  Agh!  It didn't look good until I started putting some order to it.  But now I am pleased with the rainbow look it has and that black floral print is not in my scrap boxes.  

I tried to finish off some of the colored prints from the front so I wouldn't have to put them back in my stash.  My bins are full and I need to get some of it used up!  I really am trying not to buy anymore, but when something is on sale (a really good sale) how can I resist! But full bins are full bins and I like to keep things put away.  Hope you all have a great week of sunshine and sewing!

Black vs Yellow

I finished up the last 2 I-Spy Scrappy Quilts the other day.  I decided it would be fun to see which binding we like better  - black or yellow.

Here they are side by side.  I think I like the black better on this type of quilt because it gives the quilt a dark finished edge.

Although on the back, I like the yellow because it blends in perfectly.  Which one do you like?

I used glue to hold the binding in place on both of these quilts.  I did the black first then the yellow.  I think I finally got the hang of it.  I was placing the glue down the strip further so the process was going much faster.  And I got the edge lined up better this time.

You can almost see all of my helpers in this last photo!  These are my youngest 4 and they love to hold up quilts that are almost as tall as they are.  And then there is Emma who just keeps peeking behind the quilt to see what everyone is doing!

You all have a great week!  (Yep, I live in Oklahoma!)

Have You Ever Glued a Binding?

I saw this new way to add a binding to a quilt that used NO pins!  What really?  No getting poked?  Aren't we supposed to get jabbed when we sew?  Well, not anymore!  

I have a friend coming over who just got a sewing machine and I remembered that she hates to pin the binding on.  So I thought I would try this method out just for her.  You can see the directions here.

All you need is some Elmer's Washable School Glue and your iron.  Sew your binding to the front just like normal.  Press it and flip your quilt over.  Run some glue down the binding, fold it over, and give it a good press. (no steam please)  

I did it the same way as if I was pinning, but glued and flipped instead of flipped and pinned.  I held the iron on the fabric for a couple seconds until it would stay down.

It is a little stiffer because of the glue and that makes stitching in the ditch easy. And I didn't have to pull any pins when I sewed.  ( I don't pull pins anyway though.  I have lot's of pin pullers running around my house and one of them is always happy to help me!)  After washing, the binding felt just the same as if I had used pins. The glue washed out.  

Overall, it seemed to take a little bit longer.  But it was my first time, I think I will get faster.  Good method for not using pins.  None to poke you or drop on the floor!  I think it's worth another try on a bigger quilt.

I Spy Scraps

This is the pile of scraps I had left after cutting all the I-Spy fabric.  I didn't want to waste it!  Would you believe that I was able to make 3 scrappy quilts from it?  I only have one quilted, but the other two tops look very similar.

I chose this rectangle pattern because it was easy and it used 2.5 inch strips.  I cut my strips into 4.5 inch rectangles and paired them up (I even strip sewed some of them).  I made all the blocks before sewing the tops together so that I could divide the colors up between the three quilts.

I used some leftover blocks on the back to make it long enough. It looks a little plain, I think I should have set off the strip with some 1 inch black.  What do you think?

Here are the 2 different kinds side by side (the other one I blogged about here).  The scrappy one is quite a bit busier than the regular one.  I would only notice that if I saw both types of quilts though.  There are duplicate fabrics, (even triplicates) in the scrappy quilt but I think it worked out okay.

Linking with Quilting is more fun than housework:

I Spy Quilt

Last month I cut lots and lots of fabric to make kits for I-Spy quilts.  I thought it would be good if there was a sample quilt made for everyone to see before they sewed one together.  You have to check your color placement when you layout your quilts.  You want all yellows spread out, all the blacks, red, etc.  This can be really challenging!  I think I changed the layout 3 times trying to get everything moved around.  

The backing wasn't wide enough on it's own, so I grabbed some leftover squares and added them to the back to make it wider.  I was going to use a children's novelty print on the back, but it was just too busy and didn't really go with the front. This is what I plan on doing with the rest of the leftover squares now.

A quick meander for the quilting, black binding and she's done!  I think this type of quilt is perfect for a child in the hospital because there is so many different things to look at.

Adding Up Nicely

Another finished quilt for this month!  This pattern is called Adding Up Nicely and while I didn't get the pattern from the original designer, I got my inspiration from here.  Her's was a baby size and it looks like her blocks were smaller than mine.

My blocks finish at 6 inches.  Seemed like a good number for making the blue and cream blocks. Can you find the blocks in this quilt?  Well, if you're looking below - that's cheating!

These 2 blocks added with the orange and green squares make up this fast to sew quilt.  Let me say up front that I love this quilt!  But I didn't like that blue and orange flower print you see up there.  I told you I was going to try to use my unloved fabric in a more modern quilt and I think I have done just that!  So I am 3 for 3 on turning something not so pretty into something beautiful!

And I used the rest of the cream fabric on the back of the quilt, so it is no more!

Linking up with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation

Veggie Tale Quilt

After searching through my entire stash looking for I-Spy fabrics, I found my leftover Veggie Tale fabric.  I decided to make this quilt and then put the leftovers in with the I-Spy stuff.  I had already used Bob the Tomato panel in a Veggie Tale quilt back in 2010, but I still had the Larry panel.  I had to cut up the border on the top and bottom because there just wasn't enough to go all the way across, but it goes with the pattern of the quilt nicely.

 Here's the original quilt I made.  It was somewhere close to the first one I ever made.  It might even be the first one.  I like that they are similar, but different.  These are going to go on the couch in the living room.  It's about time to put those winter ones away.  We're ready for a change!