Sewing With My Granddaughter

I'm helping my 7 year old granddaughter make a simple flannel quilt. 

This was her first time using a sewing machine.  I'm surprised at how well she did.  She understood when I explained how the machine worked and was able to thread it by herself and sew a straight line from the beginning.

The puppy wants to "help"

The first time using an iron.

More blocks

The only part I did was the cutting.  Riley decided how she wanted to put the blocks together, pinned them, sewed them and pressed them.  She's really enjoying working on it and it's so nice spending time together. Once we get all the blocks made, we'll tack it together.

Flower Garden Quilt

I saw this pattern in a magazine several years ago and loved it. I also liked the idea of hand piecing a quilt. I've hand quilted quilts, but never hand pieced one.  I enjoyed working on it, but really glad it's finished.  It turned out quite a bit bigger than I planned - closer to king size than queen, which means it will be hard to wash.  I'm almost afraid to use it.  It would be nice to use on a quest bed, more as a display piece.

Quilt for My Sister

I wanted to give my sister a quilt, so I let her look through my tops and this is the one she picked:

This one wasn't quite finished, which was good since it gave her the opportunity to have input on the colors.  She wanted a less traditional look for the quilt, so chose fabrics in grays for the border, the back and the binding.  Truthfully, I wasn't too sure how that would look, but I really love how it turned out!

 

 

 

 

 

 I had it quilted with dark gray thread on top and white thread on the bottom. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the back

 

 

Dresden Plate Quilt

It's finally back from the quilter and I love it!

Here you can see the binding.  I love it!  I also used this fabric as part of the back.

For the back, I used 4 different prints. 

March sewing - 2 quilt tops

The only sewing I did in March was to make 2 quilt tops.  Both of these are queen size and were quick and easy to make.

This one looks so much better in real life - It's so bright and cheerful.  The corner blocks are black with small white polka dots.

I had a stack of fabric samples that were mostly large floral prints.  I didn't want to cut these into small pieces since the pretty flower designs would be lost.  So I cut them into 9-1/2" squares.  I used 2-1/2" squares for the corner.   I still have to decide on a border.  I'll probably use the same black/white polka dot fabric as the corner blocks.




I had a lot of small scraps left over from recent quilt making, so decided to make a scrappy 9-patch.

I love scrap quilts, love 9-patches, and love a lot of white in a quilt.   So, I'm very happy with this simple little quilt.  I still need to add a border.

Jacob's Ladder Quilt

I made this quilt for my husband's birthday.  Blue is my husband's favorite color, so I used several blues and some blacks.  Even though blue's not my favorite color, I love how it turned out.



























I had it quilted with black thread.   And used a black with white dots fabric for the binding.

Quilt Show Ribbon

I entered my first quilt show & won a blue ribbon!  I really like my quilt, but was surprised to win 1st place.

The pattern was from American Patchwork & Quilting magazine (Oct. 2009). 

Quilt Blocks Tote Bag

I've been working on quilts recently and had made 2 blocks that I knew I wouldn't use in a quilt.  So, I decided to use them to make a tote bag.  I found a 1/2 yard piece of cream colored fabric in my stash that was just right for the lining.

I love this block.  The pattern is called swoon.  I found a picture of it on-line and drew my own pattern.

Since this block was only 12",  I added a border using the same blue from the other block.

I hand quilted the blocks and used 2 inch wide nylon webbing from Joann Fabrics for the straps.  Finished size is approximately 16" x 18". It's a great size to carry my medium size rotary mat and ruler.

Quilts

For the last several weeks, I've been obsessed with sewing quilts!  It all started with a sew along on Pattern Review for a "scrappy trip-along" quilt.   I started it the end of January and finished it in a month.  I love scrappy quilts and love how my trip along turned out.  It was a lot of fun working on it.   Since my bedroom is decorated in turquoise, I added a matching border to the quilt. I took it to the quilter a couple weeks ago, so should get it back soon.  I can't wait!

After finished that, I decided to pull out a quilt top I started a couple years ago.   I had most of the blocks cut and over half already sewed.  It's a Double Irish Chain.  It's finished and waiting to be quilted.

After finishing the trip-along, I had a lot of 2-1/2 inch strips left over that I wanted to use up. While browsing around the web, I found this picture.   So pretty and simple to make.  So, now I'm working on this :)