KatyQuilts

My Go To Baby Quilt Pattern/Tutorial

Posted on December 13, 2017 by katyquilts

It seems like every time I turn around, someone else I know is having a baby! I thought I would show you a quick way to make a baby quilt using just one charm pack and some background yardage. First, here are a couple baby quilts I’ve made with this pattern and gifted.

On to the tutorial. I got this charm pack free with a recent Craftsy order.

I’m going to cut 2 1/2 inch by 5 inch rectangles from both the charm pack and the back ground fabric. I love my die cutter and use it whenever I can, but I don’t have a die this size and shape. No worries. I cut 5 inch strips and placed them on my 2 1/2 inch strip cutter die like this.

That made quick work of things! Next I placed my charm squares on the same die. Those two off to the side were not needed, so I didn’t cut them.

Time to sew! I match up one background piece and one print piece and feed them through.

I ended up with 80 blocks to be set 8 by 10.

These blocks will measure 4 by 4 1/2 inches when sewn together. Time to throw them up on the design wall and play!

I think I’m gonna like this one too! Stay tuned.

Posted in 52 Quilters, Baby Quilts, Tutorials, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

My Sewing Room

Posted on December 12, 2017 by katyquilts

Today I thought I would share with you some photos of my sewing room. When I first started sewing, I had a shelf in the linen closet for my stuff. When we moved, I got a shelf and a drawer and I sewed in the family room. After some remodeling, I got some cupboards in the family room and part of a walk in closet. At our next house, I got a whole room! It was only 6 by 8 feet, but it was all mine! Now I am blessed to have a huge finished room in our basement.

I will walk you around the room from right to left. I use this old CD tower to store some precuts. The vintage tool cabinet belonged to my dad. My toy Jeep collection is on top.

Next is Harry Bell Avante, my long arm. My toy sewing machine collection is above the cabinets.

My design wall! It’s a decent size, but they never seem to be big enough.

I love my vintage hoosier with side cabinets! I store more precuts, long arm threads, and miscellaneous sewing stuff inside. I also collect vintage enamelware and use it to store all kinds of things.

Here is my sitting area that is really only used by my dog!

The door you see here goes to a walk in closet for games and such. The basket system for my stash is from a Ikea.

My Juki is new, but I’m falling more in love with it every day. I bough this steel case desk at Good Will and hubby cut a hole in the top to set a machine in.

Here is my desk and embroidery area.

And now we are back to the beginning.

But wait, there’s more! There is a support post in the center of the room. I created an island around it with two vintage tables, an ironing table, and my cutting table, built from Ikea units and a door.

I love my Accuquilt Studio Cutter . I’ve had it for five years and it might be my favorite thing in this room!

My ironing table was made from a vintage lab table that me dad gave me.

I have a whole herd of vintage machines and use many of them on a rotating basis. Here is one of my Singer 301s.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour! It is most definitely my happy place.

Have a great day!

This post contains affiliate links.

Posted in 52 Quilters, Sewing Room Pics, Uncategorized | 28 Comments

52 Quilters ~ Intro

Posted on December 11, 2017 by katyquilts

Good Morning!

This week it is my turn to take the reins of the 52 Quilters Blog, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. I will be cross posting both here and there this week. I’m starting off the week with a brief introduction.

My name is Katy Sweigart and I blog over at KatyQuilts . I am a former librarian, mom of four adult children, Nana to four sweet boys, and wife of Mr. Wonderful. He gets his name from being such a big supporter of me and all my crazy ideas!

I have been quilting for 29 years. I started when my first child was a year old. As a mom of four small children, sewing became my therapy. It was the only thing I did each day that stayed done!

I think you can learn a lot about a person by taking a look at what they create. So in this post, I’m sharing a few of my favorite quilts with you.

I love all forms of quilting, except appliqué and English Paper Piecing. I’ve just never gotten along with the A word and EPP is not much better. I rarely use patterns, but often find inspiration in antique quilts.

I enjoy making modern quilts, art quilts, traditional quilts and everything in between. Most of the time I machine piece and machine quilt. My long arm quilting machine is one of the very best investments I’ve ever made!

I am very involved with the Quilts of Valor Foundation, creating quilts for out veterans and active duty service men and women. Here is one that I made for my daughter, a USAF vet.

Scrap quilts are my favorite! This one was made as a leader/ender project.

Oh, did I mention that I live in Michigan?

I have an Accuquilt Studio die cutter that I love. It makes quilts like the one above so accurate.

Mini quilts are so fun to make. This is one of my favorites.

This next one is called The Journey of the Bride. The design was made with a bleach resist technique. It has one verse from each chapter of the Song of Solomon quilted into it.

This scrappy quilt was another leader/ender project. It has been pinned over 10,000 times on Pinterest!

One of my favorite bible verses was the inspiration for this one.

This little Valentine quilt was a fun project.

And lastly, this was a personal challenge. I wanted to see if I could make a QR Code quilt that would really work. And it does! Go ahead and scan it with your smart phone!

I hope you enjoyed a look at some of my quilts. I’ve got some fun quilty things planned for this week so meet me over on Twitter and Instagram. I’ll be back on the blog tomorrow with a tour of my quilt studio.

Have a great day!

Posted in 52 Quilters, Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Rabbit Trail….

Posted on December 9, 2017 by katyquilts

That’s what Pinterest can be for me! And one trail leads to another, leads to another……

Anyway, I saw this doll quilt on Pinterest while drinking my morning coffee.

Yeah, I have no idea why the pin describes an office chair. One of the quirks of Pinterest! I decided I needed to try to recreate it with my vintage scraps. So I found a bin and started to dig.

I soon realized that I didn’t have much red so I would have to change the design.

I have no idea how big the original is; I just cut my squares for the 9 patch at 1 1/2 inches and went from there.

I still had to piece some pieces to make it work. I used Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon 100% cotton batting and a piece of feedsack for the backing. Then I quilted in a hanging diamonds pattern with the walking foot on my new Juki.

I hand washed this one and dried it in the dryer. Love the texture!

Here is a side by side comparison.

Definitely not the same, but it was still fun. And it looks good with my toy machine.

Now I suppose I should go get some housework done.

Have a great day!

Posted in Doll Quilts, Finishes, Vintage Fabrics | 14 Comments

Finish It Up Friday ~ Vintage Broken Dishes

Posted on December 8, 2017 by katyquilts

I finished hand quilting this vintage Broken Dishes crib quilt top.

This is the sixth top I have hand quilted this year.

I love the way the back looks! I used a simple unbleached cotton muslin for the back.

I used a vintage fabric for the binding. I also washed this quilt after it was finished. I will share with you next week how I washed this quilt.I love how these photos show the texture of the quilting!

Have a great day!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts, Busy Hands Quilts, Devoted Quilter

Posted in Baby Quilts, Finishes, Hand quilting, Uncategorized, Vintage Quilts | 15 Comments

This and That Thursday

Posted on December 7, 2017 by katyquilts

I’ve been working hard on a commission quilt the last few days. I won’t be able to share any of that until after Christmas. But here are a few other things I’ve been working on as well. First, a new stocking for the new SIL.

I just buy cheap stockings and machine embroider names. We are getting too many to hang on the fireplace!

And some mittens for the grandsons.

I’m very rusty at knitting as well as using my embroidery machine. I’ve also been busy taking care of the grand dogs.

As you can see, they are big helpers in the sewing room!

Little E turned two this week. We had dinner and a small cake for him. Big brother showed him how to get the good stuff!

I want to say once again how very much I appreciate your friendship, your comments, and your taking the time to stop by for a visit. I wish I had more hours in the day to respond to each one. It isn’t always possible, but I do read each one.

Come back tomorrow to see my finished Vintage Broken Dishes quilt!
Have a great day!

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Quilting the Wild Child

Posted on December 6, 2017 by katyquilts

I asked Daughter #1 if this was too wild for a baby quilt. She said it’s admittedly bright, but okay. Good thing, I didn’t know what else I’d do with this. In my mind, I started thinking of it as Wild Child! Amy way, it’s on the frame and quilting has begun.

I’m using one of my new pantos on this.

I’m loving it so far!

I haven’t shared a video in a while. The quality isn’t great, I just tape my phone to the machine.

I hope this doesn’t make you feel seasick. Have a great day!

Posted in Baby Quilts, Long Arm Quilting, Longarm Quilting, Pantographs, Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Leader/Ender Update

Posted on December 5, 2017 by katyquilts

I’ve met my first December goal! I cut the pieces for these blocks out sometime last summer and have been using them as leader/ender blocks since.

I finished the last of them last night. I ended up with 204 blocks. They will finish at 6 inches.

I don’t really know where I’m going with these yet. I could make a queen size quilt if I add a border, or I could make a couple smaller throw quilts. I could always set them with alternate blocks and make three throw quilts. Hmmmm….seems like a good project for January. For now, they are getting set aside for many re pressing work.

Have a great day!

Posted in Leader/Ender, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

DWMonday

Posted on December 4, 2017 by katyquilts

I bought these little mini charms last winter. I paired them with some Kona Coal and made 4 patches. I decided these would make a good baby quilt.

So I threw them up on the design wall. I wanted to shade the colors across the quilt.

Too small. So I added plain gray squares.

Meh. Played around some more.

Okay, so maybe random is better.

Maybe chains of color?

Better. I’ll leave it up there for a day or so and think about it.
Have a great day!

Linking up with Cooking Up Quilts , Love Laugh Quilt , Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Posted in Baby Quilts, Design Wall Monday | 18 Comments

Knitting

Posted on December 3, 2017 by katyquilts

I used to knit a bit. But I haven’t done any more than a few dishcloths for the last several years. Now that I finished hand quilting that last little vintage top, I thought I would see if I can still do this. This is my carry around knitting basket.