KatyQuilts

Good Morning from AZ!

Posted on February 20, 2016 by katyquilts

I took this picture just after take off from my hometown. If you knew where to look, you could pinpoint my house in this picture!

I finished binding a couple small quilts on the plane.

And got both strips of hexies for Brinton Hall pieced.

This was my view much of the way.

I love having a window seat! I just love flying! And my two little boys were still up when I arrived at my son’s house. But I only got a picture of Little L.

Looking forward to spending the day with my kids and seeing my grand dogs. My dad arrives late tonight. Have a great day!

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Finish It up Friday ~ Blue/Green HST Donation Quilt

Posted on February 19, 2016 by katyquilts

I am so pleased with this finish. It just goes to show, simple can be beautiful. I love the random scrappiness and all that saturated color!

The top went together very quickly!

And then on to the quilting. This is the thread I used.
The panto is called Elongated Meander from Patricia Ritter.

And here are the finished pictures.

And a look at the back.

I’m not happy with the binding, usually when I do a binding all by machine, I sew it to the back first and top stitch in the front. Apparently I got distracted. For these donation quilts, they want the bindings all done by machine.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, A Quilted Passion, Sunlight in Winter Quilts

Posted in Donation Quilts, Finishes, Uncategorized | 22 Comments

Preparing Handwork for Travel

Posted on February 18, 2016 by katyquilts

I will be flying out to Arizona tomorrow! I can’t wait! But you know I had to get some handwork ready for the trip. There is plenty of waiting involved in air travel and I always try to put that time to good use.

This is the box of handwork I am taking with me.

I have two small quilts to bind and some hexies for my Brinton Hall quilt. This is what is in the little green sandwich container, needles, thread, small scissors, needle threader, and thimble.

Just the basics!

I decided to add one more row of hexies all the way around my Brinton Hall center. So I pinned it to my design wall and figured out what pieces I wanted where.

I don’t know if you can tell, but I have all the side hexies pinned up like this.

After that, I threaded a needle with some hand quilting thread and strung the hexies like beads on a string in order for each side.

I know that I have to stitch each of these into one long row. So all I have to do is pull them off one at a time and add them in order. No thinking involved! I am not taking the large center piece. My goal is to just piece these strips and add them to the main part when I get back home. It is just too big to do anything else. I have an overnight flight on the way back and doubt I will spend much time sewing while I am there, so this should be plenty to keep me busy.

I do hope to visit my favorite fabric store while I am out there, but family is priority #1.

I so appreciate all of your comments and I read every single one! However, I probably won’t take the time to respond as I like to while I am in Arizona. I hope you understand. I do have posts scheduled ahead so there will be quilty content in my absence! And I will likely post a few times while I am out there as well. I am sure you are all dying to see pictures of my adorable grand sons and grand dogs!

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation

Posted in Brinton Hall, Hand piecing, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

WIP Wednesday ~ Blue/Green HST

Posted on February 17, 2016 by katyquilts

First of all, I want to say THANK YOU! I so appreciate the many comments on my Conversation Heart quilt! It sometimes seems that the spur of the moment ideas are the ones that turn out the best :).

Now, it’s time to play!

Hmmmm…..this is kind of fun! I love all the bright color. Maybe I’ll just throw them all in a bag and grab and sew. No need to over think this one.

Have a great day!

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts, Quilt Fabrication

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Another Donation Quilt from the UFO List

Posted on February 16, 2016 by katyquilts

When I listed my UFOs for the year, I included this pile of 6 inch HSTs.

Several years back,. I had emptied a bin of bright fabrics cutting them all up for use in donation quilts. Quilts Beyond Borders are made to finish at 42 by 60 inches so it takes 140 of these HSTs to make one quilt top for them. Here is one I made a couple years ago.

I pulled these out and noticed that I had a lot of purple triangles and a lot in the green/blue/yellow range. So I started counting. Sure enough, I had enough to make an all purple quilt. And nearly enough for a green/blue/yellow quilt. So I chopped up some more layer cake squares I purchased on a Black Friday Connecting Threads sale and had enough for that one as well. I also have enough for a third multicolored variation that will be similar to the one shown above.

This is the die I used.

I started with the blue/green pile and have all the HSTs sewn and ready to press.

I can’t wait to get these up on the design wall!

Linking up with Free Motion by the River, Blossom Heart Quilts, The Quilting Room with Mel

Posted in Accuquilt Studio Cutter, Donation Quilts, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

DW Monday ~ Brinton Hall

Posted on February 15, 2016 by katyquilts

I have the center all done. Ta daaaa!

Time to figure out what to do next. I love that floral on the left from French General and wanted to see how it would look next to the medallion. I know it is a floral, but I like it! The red on the right is also from French General.

After looking at this with my morning coffee, I thought maybe a narrow red border followed by the floral. The original looks like this:

I am not opposed to piecing more borders, but I have been thinking about how I will use this quilt. I think I want to be able to hang it on a wall. I love the toile fabric and it is such a great souvenir of our time living in France. To that end, I would not want this to get too big. It was the center that I fell in love with when I first saw this in Quiltmania.

I have to say that I am not a huge fan of English Paper Piecing. I enjoyed it when the pieces were small, but not so much as it grew larger. Having said that, I have purchased paper pieces to make a couple EPP minis. Like I said, it was okay when the piece was small! It is a nice travel project.

As I look at this longer, I think I need to add one more scrappy row of hexies on each side to connect all the scrappy areas rather than add the separate rows as shown in the pattern.

I think I need to prep some more hexies…..so close and yet so far….

Linking up with Patchwork Times, Cooking Up Quilts, Em’s Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt

Posted in Brinton Hall, Design Wall Monday, Hand piecing, Hexagons, Uncategorized | 15 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Posted on February 14, 2016 by katyquilts

I finished my Conversation Hearts quilt yesterday!

I struggled a bit with the quilting in the middle.

I have had this piece of fabric in my stash for quite a while and it was perfect for the backing.

I used a double layer of batting on this one. One layer of Pellon 80/20 and a layer of a low loft Pellon poly on top. Glide thread.

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you get to spend the day with those you love.

Linkin up with Lizzie Lenard’s Free Motion Mavericks

Posted in Finishes, HQ Avante, Machine quilting, Uncategorized | 30 Comments

Conversation Heart Mini Quilt

Posted on February 13, 2016 by katyquilts

Some projects come about in the strangest ways…..yesterday morning, I had just finished quilting a lap sized quilt and realized I had a fair amount of backing fabric left. Rather than taking it off the frame, I cast about for something small that I could quilt on the extra backing fabric. I spied this sweet little mini charm pack that Susan from Quilt Fabrication sent to me a couple months ago.

I’m not big on making holiday quilts, but the colors in this pack reminded me of the little conversation heart candies given out on Valentine’s Day. So I thought I would make a small quilt to quilt and started to play.

I could have made a really small heart or I could make a bigger one by filling in with background.

I got this far and had to go to work. Darn!

Anyway, I got home and went to work. I finished piecing the top and guess what? It was too big for the leftover backing on the frame! LOL!

So the lap quilt came off, I found a new backing and started quilting.

I got the colored squares and the background around the outside of the heart quilted before hubby got home.

I haven’t yet figured out how to quilt the middle, but I will come up with something. I want to have it finished and bound by tomorrow!

It is very cold here so I plan to stay in and sew! Have a great day!

Posted in Free Motion Quilting, Precuts, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Finish It Up Friday ~ Donation Quilt

Posted on February 12, 2016 by katyquilts

Well, hello Friday! It is always good to see you! I am happy to say that I finished the donation quilt I was working on this week and used up most of this fabric that I didn’t really care for. I have some of that green from the border/binding left over which I don’t mind at all. And those bonus HSTs. Hmmmm….

Anyway, I used some of that high loft poly batt that I have complained about in the past. This was the last time. I donated the roll to a group that makes tied quilts for Lutheran Services. They were thrilled to have it. I was thrilled to have it out of my sewing room!

I used a pantograph called Seaweed by Hermione Agee. I also used Glide thread in Celery. Here is the back, a very old print found in the stash that matches really well. (See, it really does all find a home!)