Gwennie Inspired Medallion QAL ~ Center Reveal!

Posted on June 6, 2016 by katyquilts
Humble Quilts

Today is the big day! All of those participating in the GIMQAL will be sharing their center blocks today on the link up with Lori over at Humble Quilts. Lori set the theme for the center block and the theme she chose was  baskets. You could interpret this any way you wanted; it should just be inspired by Gwen Marston’s work. I reached WAY out of my comfort zone and decided to do hand applique. Here is my block.

This currently measures about 24 wide and 22 inches tall. I will trim this, but I am waiting until I find out what the next theme is before I do. Then I hope to have enough extra around the edges to trim to a convenient size.

And yes, I know my basket does not have handles. I got so focused on putting something IN my basket that I totally forgot to add a handle. Now it is not getting one.

To be honest, this was my second attempt. You may recall that I pieced a block to use.IMG_6213

But this didn’t look very Gwen-like. So I am not sure what I will do with this, if anything.

I can’t wait to go see what everyone else made (click here)!It isn’t too late to join us. Whip up a basket block and you will be right on target. We have a month to finish the next round. All the details can be found here.

Speaking of the next round, the theme will be…..CHILDHOOD! For a more complete explanation, hop on over to Cynthia’s blog,   Wabi Sabi Quilts, and read about it.

Have a great day!

Also linking up with Cooking Up Quilts, Love Laugh Quilt, Em’s Scrapbag

Posted in Gwennie inspired Medallion QAL, Uncategorized | 26 Comments

Slow Stitching ~ Brinton Hall

Posted on June 5, 2016 by katyquilts

It has been a while since a Brinton Hall update. That’s because there hadn’t been any progress until this weekend. I am finally adding the red borders. I am appliqué in the hexies to it and will trim after.

This gives an idea of where I am now. The borders are glue basted and I have just begun stitching them on.

Sorry for the horrible picture. I hope to get this done before we leave for Arizona later this week. It USA bit too unwieldy for stitching on the plane. So I will need to find a travel project to take. 

We went to alocal antique fest yesterday with Daughter #1 and Little E. He was such a good boy!


I saw a number of quilts, but these two caught my eye. 

That was has been loved nearly to death! I hope mine look like this one day!


This one had the most magnificent stitching! 

Have a glorious day!

Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Quilting for a Friend

Posted on June 4, 2016 by katyquilts

My friend, Donna, is a fairly new quilter, but she is good. I knew she would be! This is the second top I have quilted for her and both of them were perfectly flat! Music to a long armer’s ears :). Isn’t this beautiful?

I quilted a fairly dense pantograph called Ground Cover from Urban Elementz on this.

I used Light Tan Glide thread. It has Warm and Natural batting.  This next picture shows the colors the best.

Color is off on this one, but the quilting shows! I really love this backing fabric that she chose.

It was a pleasure quilting for you, my friend!

 

 

Posted in Customer Quilts, HQ Avante, Machine quilting, Pantographs, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Finish It Up Friday ~ Black and White Reveal!

Posted on June 3, 2016 by katyquilts

You have all been so very patient and indulgent with me as I have worked on this project. It is a rather long time coming! But there are reasons for that which I will share with all of you today. I started this way back some time last year.

I began working on it , but do you know how hard it is to keep all those one inch finished squares in a certain order? Because they HAD to be in perfect order. One misplaced square and the whole project was sunk. So I set it aside.

There is another part of this story so follow me down this rabbit trail for a bit. Around the end of the year, I noticed I was getting VERY close to the limit of storage space allowed for my blog. In order to get more storage, I had to start forking over money or deleting posts. I decided to spend some money on this blogging hobby and paid for my own domain name. Some of you regular and astute readers will know that around the first of the year, my address changed to katyquilts.net. Now if you have the old blog address, you are redirected here so no big deal. But this also meant my project was put on hold because my plan was to create…..a QR Code quilt that would link to my blog!

I used an online QR Code generator to get this:


My road map! Since I was starting over, I looked for an easier method to make this small quilt and I decided to use this product.

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It was a good move. It was like a jigsaw puzzle to put all the pieces in place and that was quite fun! This shows all the squares fused in place.


And with the rows in one direction sewn, you can really see how the size changes.

 

Next came borders and quilting. I wasn’t sure how the quilting would go with the layer of fusible in this, but it worked out just fine. Ready for some finished pictures? Here you go!

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Ta daaaaa!

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I quilted this in a simple free hand grid. No rulers. I just eyeballed the middle of the block. When I got all the lines in one direction, I took it off the frame and rotated it 90 degrees and reloaded it. I love this backing fabric from Ikea!

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You can see the quilting better here. It is far from exact, but it works for me.

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And there you have it. A long story indeed for a small quilt! But it was something I had in the back of my mind for a long time and I am glad I finally did it. And best of all, it works! If you have a QR Code scanner app on your phone or mobile device and scan this quilt (even the picture of it), it will bring you to my blog! How cool is that? It makes this nerdy little heart happy :).

This is where it is currently residing in the sewing room:

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Have a great day!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts, Devoted Quilter, A Quilting Reader’s Garden, A Quilted Passion

 

 

Posted in Finishes, Uncategorized | 41 Comments

Throwback Thursday

Posted on June 2, 2016 by katyquilts

Here are a few more finds from my recent closet cleaning. This Elongated Hexagon was hand pieced from Civil War Repro scraps. It is probably close to 10 years old.

 It is machine quilted on my 1955 vintage Singer 201. It is a great machine for free motion work. Here is the back.

I really love this backing fabric and I pieced in this corner to have enough to use for the back  (see above). Feathers in the border and a 60 degree cross hatch in the body of the quilt.

You can really see the texture in this quilt taken in the sun! And the wrinkles too. Sorry about that!


This one is newer. It was made as part of a challenge on the Yahoo Small Quilt Talk group. This is one of my favorite small quilts.

Feathers and cross hatch again!
  The quilting shows better here.

And here.


This is the back.

I need to find places to hang these two again. I still like them after all these years!

Linking up with A Quarter Inch From The Edge for Throwback Thursday 

Posted in Doll Quilts, Throwback Thursday, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Work In Progress Wednesday ~ Flying Geese

Posted on June 1, 2016 by katyquilts

Yesterday, I came across some flying geese I had pieced while looking for something else. I wanted a quick project, so I decided to stop looking and start piecing!

You might remember another quilt I made from more of these Flying Geese units last summer.

I am completely out of my favorite white fabric that I used for piecing these, so I had to get creative as to how I used them. First I tried adding these solids. Its okay.

Then I decided maybe more gray, but I didn’t have any more of the gray on the left so I tried the polka dot.

Nope. Then I found a couple  prints.

I really like the one on the left. I didn’t have enough of either  and didn’t care for these two together, so I kept looking.

This works for me! The one on the left is an older Denyse Schmidt print and the one on the right is a Lotta Jansdotter print that Daughter #2 gifted  to me.

I may trim a bit of the left hand side. I will decide after I quilt it.

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts, Quilt Fabrication

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

May Wrap Up/ June Goals

Posted on May 31, 2016 by katyquilts

It’s that time again! Here is a look at how well I did on my May goals:

  1. I want to get my nephew’s quilt finished. Done!img_4981
  2. Brinton Hall borders! Not done.
  3. I want to get my Metropolitan Fair Shoo Fly quilt done. I started it three years ago! Not done.
  4. I want to get a black and white quilt that I have had in my head for ages out and into fabric! Done! Reveal will be on Friday!
  5. I want to cut and kit up the rest of the fabrics for the log cabin quilt that I started. Done! Well, at least as far as I can go until I get more of the white fabric. It won’t take long to finish though.

What else did I accomplish this month?

I got my Dear Betty quilt done!

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And I made a tiny bag.

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I also made a trip home to Wisconsin to visit family. I have another big trip this month. Hubby and I will be heading to Arizona to see our kids and grandkids for 10 days. So I need to be reasonable in my goals! Here goes:

  1. I want to cut out a quilt using this Mixology Jelly Roll that Daughter #3 bought me for Mother’s Day. img_3257
  2. I am going to put the Metropolitan Fair top on this list one more time as I have a recipient in mind for it.
  3. Borders on Brinton Hall!
  4. The next border for the Gwennie Inspired Medallion QAL.
  5. I want to join in on the  Mystery Quilts for Military Yahoo Group mystery this time around. It is organized by Alycia over at Alycia Quilts. The first clue comes out while I am gone, but I really want to do this, Alycia designs beautiful quilts for this.

I think that is enough for this busy month!

Have a great day!

Linking up with Quilt Story, Free Motion by the River, Blossom Heart Quilts

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Remember…..

Posted on May 30, 2016 by katyquilts

  

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

‭‭John‬ ‭15:13‬ ‭ASV‬‬

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Slow Stitching Sunday ~ Appliqué Prep

Posted on May 29, 2016 by katyquilts

I’ve been prepping more pieces for my Gwennie Inspired Medallion QAL. I told you I was slow at this! I am no expert on the A word, but I thought I’d show you how I prep my leaves for appliqué.

First, I take a piece of freezer paper and fan fold it into 4 layers.

I used a small circle template to make a curved line.

And another.
 There’s my leaf shape! Pretty simple. Then I place a staple through all the layers so they don’t shift when I cut them out.


Here are my four leaves.
The freezer paper on the waxy side can be ironed onto the back of my fabric.
Then I cut them out leaving about a quarter inch seam allowance.

Next, I thread baste the edges under. I shouldn’t have used green thread for this step!

This is what the back looks like, I don’t worry about perfectly tucking those points under, I will take care of that during the actual applique.

Then I pin the leaf in place on the background. You can see it is pretty small!

I applique around the edges, leaving the area between the arrows unstitched.

Then I remove the basting stitches and use tweezers to pull out the freezer paper template.

 

After tucking that edge back in, I finish the applique.

One leaf down, a bunch to go!

I only have one more week to finish this so I better get moving! Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday

Posted in Gwennie inspired Medallion QAL, Tutorials, Uncategorized | 17 Comments

More Black and White

Posted on May 28, 2016 by katyquilts

What a response to this WIP this past week! I am making forward progress on this. On my last post, I had my squares fused to the grid. Time to sew! I folded one row at a time on the line “between” pieces and pressed.

 

Then I took the whole thing to the machine to sew. I had my seam guide set for 1/4 inch. I pressed each seam before sewing.

After I had all the seams in one direction sewn, I very carefully used my rotary cutter to remove just a sliver of the fold.

Then I pressed these seams open. This took a long time. 

Time to sew the other way! Again, I folded on the line and pressed before sewing each seam.

I trimmed the seam folds again, but this time I pressed to one direction. I think I was losing patience!

This is kind of a pain, but the results made it so very worth it! Not every intersection turned out perfectly, but most were quite nice.

Again, this kind of sewing can get a bit tedious. This helped:

I listened to 4 tracks while doing the sewing on this small top. Time to think about borders and quilting. Not sure how that will go with this fusible grid on the back. We shall see!

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments