KatyQuilts

UFO Giveaway

Posted on April 6, 2016 by katyquilts

Okay, first of all, I did not go back for the table…..yet….. I might. It is exactly like one I already have. I rather had my heart set on one with red trim and a couple chairs……I may well regret leaving it. Maybe I’ll go back….

Anyway! To the problem at hand.

Ever get sick of a fabric or project? So sick of it you just can’t make yourself finish? I bought this FQ bundle of Noteworthy by Sweetwater back in September of 2013.

I have made 4 quilts from it and it is almost gone. You can see them here, here, and here. All I have left are these blocks.

I was going to make another baby quilt out of these. But I just don’t want to. I am sick to death of these fabrics. And life is too short to work on projects you don’t like.

So, if any of you would like to adopt a project, leave me a comment below and I will draw a number out of a hat and send it on to you! You do not have to feel obligated to finish this as is. Cut it up, rearrange, make a bag, whatever. If I come across anymore bits of this, I will throw those in the package as well. I would love to see a picture if you finish something from these, but that is not a requirement by any means.

So sorry, but I am limiting this to those of you within the US due to the high cost of postage. So leave me a comment if you want in the draw! I will choose a name on Saturday.

That’s one way to cross a UFOoff your list!

P.S. I will throw a little something handmade into the package as well, just to sweeten the pot a bit!

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts

Posted in Give Away | 43 Comments

This and That Tuesday

Posted on April 5, 2016 by katyquilts

I haven’t had time to respond to respond to comments from yesterday, but some of you made me laugh! Where ARE those triangles? They aren’t here!

Nope, not a one. They are for another quilt.

Not sure how I will arrange them yet.

But eventually, these will become part of a baby quilt. Hopefully, I will have time later this week to work on these.

In other news, I have prepared the last of the hexies that I need for Brinton Hall.

I am getting close to the border stage!

I got my dog groomed last week. Now all he wants to do is this:

I guess he feels cold……and naked.

I stopped at an antique mall with Daughter #3 yesterday. She bought a desk and I spied this:

Yes, I know I have three enamel tables already. One has a machine on it where I do all my piecing, one holds my die cutter, and the third is employed as my desk. For as big as my sewing room is, my cutting table is my only free work space so I am constantly shifting things from place to place. So I have been looking for another of these tables. I wanted it to have wooden legs, not the commonly found metal legs, and it had to have leaves that worked well. In the picture above you can see the front leaf is pulled out. I really wanted one with red trim. But I might go back for this. Decisions, decisions.

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

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

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

DWMonday

Posted on April 4, 2016 by katyquilts

Good morning! I hope you all had a great weekend. Last Friday, I had a day off and a hot date with this layer cake.
It was a gift from my daughter last year and I have been debating what to make from it ever since. It is so hard to cut up a pristine layer cake! But cut I did. I had a plan for two different quilts and started cutting.
But I wasn’t paying enough attention and cut one group of triangles wrong. Ugh. So I changed my plans and cut my triangles smaller.

Many people ask about fabric waste with using a die cutter. This is all the waste from my layer cake. It would have been quite a bit less if I hadn’t had to recut my triangles.

I started piecing the throw quilt I am making. I sewed one 4 patch to each print square and put them up on the wall.
I’m liking this so far!

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

Posted in Accuquilt Studio Cutter, Design Wall Monday, Precuts, Uncategorized | 19 Comments

Slow Stitching Sunday and a Wee Scrappy Finish

Posted on April 3, 2016 by katyquilts

I liked the little quilt I made with my new dies last week and decided to make a scrappy little mug rug to match.

It looks good with my little vintage machine!

My slow stitching today will be adding a label to this little doll quilt.

This is for the swap hosted by Humble Quilts. I almost mailed it on Friday and then remembered the label! It will be sent off tomorrow.

I also hope to play with these a bit today.

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

Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments

March/April Goals

Posted on April 2, 2016 by katyquilts

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

I also made a table runner this month.

I made quite a few of my scrappy rectangle leader/ender blocks.

And made the top for my Hands2Help quilt.

I made a little mini to tryout my new dies:

And I made a couple pixie baskets!

I also finished these two baby quilts.

Time to formulate some plans for April. Ahhhh….April….sounds like spring to me!

First of all, I want to finish my Hands2Help quilt for Happy Chemo.
I would like to get my borders added to my Brinton Hall top.
I’d like to get the top done for the wedding quilt for my nephew. I have the pieces all cut!
Quilt any QOVs that come in.
Finish and mail my quilt for the doll quilt swap hosted by Humble Quilts.
And I would like to finish at least one more project from my UFO list.

What are you planning on accomplishing this month?

Posted in Finishes, Goals, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Two Finishes for Friday! ~ 9 Patch Baby Quilts

Posted on April 1, 2016 by katyquilts

I finished the two baby quilts yesterday. I admit I did 100% machine binding on them. I am getting better at it. Here’s a look before washing.

And the second one:

And the back:

The backs of both look exactly the same. As you can see, I’m still crushing on the Baptist fan quilting design. I’d rather forgotten how much I loved it until I quilted my Goose in the Pond quilt this way. If you recall, I marked the pattern with a stencil and chalk spray for that one. It was a lot of work, but worth it in the end. It did make me start searching for an easier way to do this on my long arm though.

This is what I found:

These are called Groovy Boards by Handi Quilter, pattern boards by other companies. A stylus is attached to the machine which rides in the grooves of the boards. This is, as expected, much more expensive than a pantograph, but way less than a computer system! I bought my set up from R&S Designs (they had a sale!) and found them quite reasonable and helpful. Again, there is a bit of a learning curve, especially with lining up the rows. I was clearly not 100% successful in that department. Loading two at a time while playing with a new toy like this was probably not the best idea I have ever had!

You can see above where I overlapped the pattern at times. Yuck. Happily, this is less noticeable in the after washing pictures.

You can expect to see many more quilts quilted with this pattern! I love the texture that it gives. I also bought a set of smaller Baptist Fan boards to use on small quilts. They have many designs available. Due to the cost, I will be quite choosy and only buy those that really can’t be accomplished on the long arm any better way.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, A Quilted Passion, Sew Can She, Celtic Thistle Stitches

Posted in Baby Quilts, Finishes, Machine quilting, Uncategorized | 19 Comments

Throwback Thursday ~ Baptist Fans

Posted on March 31, 2016 by katyquilts

I have always loved quilts quilted with the Baptist fan pattern. My Goose in the Pond quilt that I recently finished has reignited my interest in this design. Today, I thought I would share with you a couple oldies that I hand quilted in this pattern many years ago.

This first one is one of my all time favorite quilts. My kids were quite small when I made this one. I loved these fabrics and couldn’t bear to cut them, so I decided to use wide strips of them in this quilt.
My hand quilting was not stellar! I remember we had a lot of snow the winter I quilted this and when I ran out of thread, I just grabbed another color rather than dragging all the kids out in the snow to get more.
I used plain muslin on the back. I didn’t mark any of these fans, just made the biggest one and then fit the other arcs inside. And I traced each of my kids hands and quilted them in my quilt along with their names.

It’s hard to read the names since they are backwards in these pictures, but they are even harder to see from the front! This one appeared in an issue of QUILT magazine back in the late 90s.

This next quilt was made while we lived in France. My oldest daughter wanted to help me. I told her if she quilted two fans, she could sign her name to the back.

She did it! I used a home made template to mark the fans this time.

Both of these quilts were hand quilted in my husband’s grandma’s quilting frame. I hope you enjoyed looking back at some of my old quilts. So many memories!

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation

Posted in Hand quilting, Throwback Thursday, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

WIP Wednesday

Posted on March 30, 2016 by katyquilts

I loved reading all of your comments on my post yesterday! I laughed out loud at Elaine’s comment, “Go with it and don’t tell!” Well, alright then! Here are my two tops side by side.

I loaded the backing in the frame and plan to quilt them both at the same time.

I just need to cut the batting and finish loading. Today will be a very busy work day so we shall see if I can get that far.

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts, Quilt Fabrication

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

What was I thinking?

Posted on March 29, 2016 by katyquilts

I mentioned yesterday that I had more 9 patches for another baby quilt top.

Not sure what I was thinking here with this layout… It would have made more sense to have the Reds and aqua across from each other.I’ll blame it on the cold meds and feeling under the weather this past weekend. I made more snowball blocks too. These make for a rather chaotic top!

I thought about just using the 9 patches like this:

But I would either have a very small quilt or I would have to make more blocks. I’d like to get this done so I can load and quilt both of these at the same time so I will probably stick with the first crazy option.

Linking up with The Quilting Room with Mel, Free Motion by the River, Quilt Story

Posted in Baby Quilts, Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Design Wall Monday

Posted on March 28, 2016 by katyquilts

I used to make lots of 9 patch quilts. It was my go to pattern for baby quilts because it was so easy and fast with strip piecing. It is even easier with my die cutter. I decided to make another baby quilt to have on hand. I’m using fabric from a bundle I purchased on clearance from Connecting Threads a few years ago.

I use my 2 1/2 inch strip cutter for the 9 patches. I’m also using the GO! Snowball die for alternate blocks. I have an adaptor so I can use GO! dies with my studio cutter.
This is turned sideways. Just 5 long seams and this top will be done.

You may remember that I made another quilt from this bundle last year.

I must have really liked this as I have another half yard bundle of this in my stash still to use! There will be at least one more 9 patch coming from this. The 9 patches are cut and ready to assemble.

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

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments