KatyQuilts

A Little Cheddar 4 Patch

Posted on March 3, 2016 by katyquilts

I love two color quilts! And I have been wanting to make a cheddar/off white quilt for some time. I have loved this combination since finishing this vintage top last year. But of course I was squeezing this in among other more important things while preparing to leave on my trip. So it had to be a small quilt.

It had to be a 4 patch! These blocks finish at 2 inches.

I pieced the top and quilted vertical lines with my walking foot.

But that wasn’t enough. So I completed the cross hatch.

My lines are wonky. I don’t measure or mark anything when I do this and don’t mind the imperfection at all. It adds character :).

I finished the binding on the trip out to AZ. And I got to take finish pics in sunny Arizona!

I sure wish it was sunny here. This is the current view out my back door.

Time to plan my next trip!
Have a great day!

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation

Posted in Doll Quilts, Finishes | 9 Comments

WIP Wednesday

Posted on March 2, 2016 by katyquilts

Still trying to recover from my trip. And yesterday we had a huge snowstorm here. All the schools were closed but I still had to go to work. I shoveled the driveway twice and will have to do it again before work today. I am so thankful that I was able to use hubby’s 4WD truck! To get back into sewing, I decided to get this donation top quilted up. It will be for our local women’s shelter.

I’m using this Glide thread.

And this pantograph.

This is a great panto for a beginner, or a weary traveler with little brain power. This top was made by a member of my local guild. I hope to finish this today and get another one loaded.

Happy Wednesday!

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts, Quilt Fabrication

Posted in Donation Quilts, Pantographs, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Shopping in AZ!

Posted on March 1, 2016 by katyquilts

I’m home! I had a wonderful trip to AZ, visiting my kids, and showing my dad this beautiful state. Of course, while I was there, I had to do a little shopping! I love to go to thrift shops with my kids. I found a 4 yard piece of minky at a GoodWill store for $9.99! And it coordinates beautifully with this FQ bundle that Daughter #1 gave me for Christmas.

Daughter #2 took my dad and me to Wickenburg, which is a fun little town to visit. At an antique shop, I spied this.

For $24, I brought this 1930’s Singer Featherweight case home. I used it as my carry on. And what did I carry in it?

Why fabric, of course!

On Saturday, I made it to my favorite fabric store, SAS Fabrics on Indian School Road in Phoenix. I set myself a budgets of 25 yards when I go there and I actually came in under budget at 23 5/8. Here’s a better look.

One more piece, not shown above, is this bit I found for a border for my Goose in the Pond quilt.

I am much happier with this than the other options I showed previously. Today will be a busy day work wise, but I hope to get some stitching in tonight. If I don’t fall asleep first!

Posted in Fabric, Quilt Shops, Uncategorized, Vintage Singer Sewing Stuff | 11 Comments

February/March Goals

Posted on February 29, 2016 by katyquilts

Leap Day!

And as this posts, I am flying home from Arizona. Tomorrow is March 1st so it is time to take a look at the goals I set this month and see how I did.

1. I want to finish the EPP for my Brinton Hall and start mapping out my next step. Done! Almost. At least I finished the medallion as it was shown in Quiltmania. And I do have a plan for going forward.

2. Finish my Tree of Life small quilt. Done!

3. Finish my Goose in the Pond quilt. Not Done. Held up by the border decision.

4. Work on cutting/storing more scraps. Done….sort of! Are you ever really done with this?

5. Finish at least one more item off my UFO list. Done! I finished the green/blue HST quilt and another that I will share on Friday. But I still have more HSTs. So I will be working on one more donation quilt from this pile before it is completely done.

What else did I get done in February?

Quilts for my two grand dogs. These were actually FMQ practice pieces.

One pincushion.

Two more donation quilts.

Two mini quilts, one I’ll show tomorrow and this one.

And my favorite finish, my Conversation Heart quilt.

And now to decide what I will focus on in March.

Quilt any QOV tops that come in.
Make one more HST donation quilt and get them all sent off.
Goose in the Pond!
Add one more strip of hexies on each side of the Brinton Hall medallion.
Start sewing together the blocks I cut out of my Dear Betty FQ bundle.

Looking forward to sewing, but the first thing I will do when I get home, is nap! They don’t call an overnight flight a red eye for nothing!

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

Posted in Finishes, Goals | 12 Comments

Slow Stitching Sunday

Posted on February 28, 2016 by katyquilts

I haven’t done any stitching since I arrived, but I have some to do while waiting at the airport tonight. Remember this?

I brought along some hexies to stitch together for the next row.

No EPP on this one, I have marked all the seams for traditional piecing.

I brought along enough hexies for one partial and one complete row. I will add these to the big piece after I am home.

It has been a wonderful trip. I can’t believe I am headed home tonight. Have to get those last conversations in with my kids and the last cuddles with my little boys. Have a great day!

Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts, Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Arizona Quilts!

Posted on February 27, 2016 by katyquilts

I went to a new to me quilt shop this week!

It was beautiful. Lots of eye candy.

And of course, I didn’t leave empty handed. I picked up these goodies.

And me sweet Daughter #2 bought these for me!

I have had a wonderful week here with my kids and my dad. And I have to show you this bracelet given to me by my parents.

How fun is that?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Posted in Fabric, Quilt Shops, Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Finish It Up Friday ~ Jelly Roll Race Quilt

Posted on February 26, 2016 by katyquilts

Here is the day I show the finished Jelly Roll quilt! I really love this panto for jelly roll quilts. You can see another one I used this on here. This is a shot of the back. The quilting hardly shows in this picture.

I found enough leftover bits of binding so that I didn’t have to make one! I love how it looks.

This will be a donation quilt. When I get 5 done, I will send them all off at the same time.

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

Posted in Donation Quilts, Finishes, Jelly Rolls, Pantographs, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Another Small Quilt

Posted on February 25, 2016 by katyquilts

When I was trying to figure out what to take on my trip for hand work, I decided to make a small quilt just so I could bind it! I went to my Pinterest boards and chose to recreate a vintage doll quilt I had pinned. I cut my triangles from scraps.

And decided on a layout.

I used this die.

I sewed my rows together and ended up with this.

A bit of an odd shape for a quilt, but hang in with me. Time for some drastic measures.

Yep, I cut it in half. Then I switched the pieces around.

And sewed it back together. No waste!

Then came quilting.

Here is the back. It is a very old Kaye England print.

I chose this because it matched a piece of leftover binding I had that was just the right size.

Here are some finish pics.

Only a few days left of my trip. I am soaking up all the sun I can! I understand the kids are enjoying a snow day back home!

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation

Posted in Civil War Repro Quilts, Doll Quilts, Finishes, Scraps, Uncategorized | 20 Comments

Jelly Roll Part 2

Posted on February 24, 2016 by katyquilts

I mentioned in my previous post that my jelly roll top was a wee bit too narrow. I had some matching squares from a layer cake and I cut them into 4 1/2 inch wide pieces, sewed them together, and used them for side borders.

I found a polka dot fabric for the backing and got it loaded in the frame.

This is the panto I chose for this top.

I am really liking this panto on this top!

Come back on Friday for the finish!

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Jelly Roll Quilt

Posted on February 23, 2016 by katyquilts

Have you seen or made a jelly roll race quilt? I have made a couple in the past. The concept is really pretty neat. If you are not familiar, you can see a tutorial from Missouri Star here.

I had these strips leftover from a quilt I made quite a while back. They were originally purchased from Connecting Threads.
I didn’t know what they would add up to but they have aged long enough and I decided they would be perfect for another donation quilt. So I stitched them end to end.
And because I wanted to get these together in a hurry and no precision was needed, I decided to use my serger!

It worked really well for taming all the loose threads on these strips. However, you have to be careful to only trim threads, not fabric, or your top may end up wonky in a bad way.
This is what I ended up with.

My top finished at about 32 inches by 64 inches. It is a little narrow to fit the requirements of the group I plan to donate to so I will add side borders.

If you make one, your finished size will depend on the total length of your strips when they are all sewn end to end. Some of my strips were full length, but many were shorter. I just randomly sewed them together. Some patterns have you sewing the strips together on a diagonal, some have squares sewn at the end of each strip before the next strip is added.

Wanda at Exuberant Color, calls these Random Plank quilts. She has a wonderful chart on this post explaining how big your quilt will end up based on different strip widths and lengths.

If you have never visited Wanda’s blog, make yourself a cup of coffee or tea first. You may be there a while. It is the first blog I read each morning.

Have a wonderful day!

Linking up with Mel’s Quilting Room, Free Motion by the River

Posted in Precuts, Service Quilts, Timesaver Tips, Uncategorized | 10 Comments