KatyQuilts

WIP Wednesday

Posted on February 3, 2016 by katyquilts

Monday I showed you my plans for the Tree of life charm pack and the basket block. I sewed it all together…..

….and thought, yuck.

The background of the hourglass blocks and the center block don’t match and that bothered me a lot. And I was not liking the green border. So I got out my ripper and went to work.

And brewed some tea….

This next picture shows the background fabric, the new borders I chose, the basket block, and the white strip shows what the basket background looked like before the tea bath.

The block shrunk quite a bit when I put it in the hot tea but the color match is much better. Time to work on the layout.

I got some good advice via Instagram. One person even made a mockup of a suggested layout.

Hmmmm….I like that a bit better than where I was headed.

This is the final layout. The top is now all pieced.

I’m much happier with this. I think separating the blocks and the center basket makes it less noticeable that they don’t match well. I will have to come up with some fancy quilting in that plain border! This is what I’m quilting in the hourglass blocks.

Interestingly, Wendy over at Constant Quilter is also making a quilt with a panel like this. Her block is only 6 inches. I love what she is doing with hers! Check it out here.

Linking up with Quilt Fabrication, Sew Fresh Quilts, Freshly Pieced

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

January/February Goals

Posted on February 2, 2016 by katyquilts

Another year off to a flying start! Time to review my January goals.

I want to get two corners completed on my Brinton Hall quilt. Done! In fact, I got three corners done!
Quilt any QOVs that come in. Done! I quilted 6 this month.
Revamp my UFO list and finish two items off my the list. Partially done. I revamped the list, but only finished one small item from it. I will share that in another post. And in my scrap sorting I found a few more UFOs! I will say that I made good progress on a second UFO, my Goose in the Pond blocks. I still need to figure out a border for it.
I want to make/gift a throw quilt to a special friend that I met through my job at the library. Done and delievered!
Start on a second throw quilt for another friend. Done and delivered!
Deep clean my sewing room! Um….well….I did work on cutting up some scraps! And I cleaned up my batting scraps as you can see in the picture below. I also bought a couple items for the room. First was this mechanics stool, recommended by Connie at Free Motion by the River. I wish I had bought this long ago! And I picked up this vintage cabinet at a sale.

So looking ahead to February, I need to be a bit conservative as it is a short month and I will be traveling to Arizona as well.

1. I want to finish the EPP for my Brinton Hall and start mapping out my next step.

2. Finish my Tree of Life small quilt.

3. Finish my Goose in the Pond quilt.

4. Work on cutting/storing more scraps.

5. Finish at least one more item off my UFO list.

Sounds like I better get to work!

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

Posted in Goals, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Design Wall Monday ~Another Little Project

Posted on February 1, 2016 by katyquilts

I bought this little panel a few months ago on Etsy thinking it would match this Tree of Life charm pack. I was in the mood for a little project so I pulled it out.

It looks quite dull compared to the charm square fabric, but I am forging ahead with it anyway. I’m making hour glass blocks to surround the basket.

The basket block is 12 inches square and the hour glass blocks finish at 3 inches.

This is where I am at with it now.

Trying to decide on a border for the basket block.

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

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments

2015 QOV Review

Posted on January 31, 2016 by katyquilts

During January, I am showing groups of quilts that I finished last year. This is mainly for my own benefit as it is a record of the quilts I have made without having to wade through a year’s worth of blog posts.

These are all the Quilts of Valor that I worked on in 2015. Only the last one shown was also pieced by me. The rest of these tops were pieced by the Stitching Sisters QOV group. I am so pleased to be part of this group. They do beautiful work!

This last one is the only one that I actually pieced as well as quilted. It was presented to a friend last summer.

Have a great day!

Posted in Finishes, Quilt of Valor, Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Bed Quilts

Posted on January 30, 2016 by katyquilts

Here are all the bed sized quilts that I finished in 2015. The first three are all from vintage tops and were not pieced by me.

The next one was recently gifted to my niece and her husband for a wedding gift.

This one was made for my older sister.

Have a great day!

Posted in Bed Quilts, Finishes, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Finish It Up Friday ~ Anvil

Posted on January 29, 2016 by katyquilts

I mentioned a while back a bit of a secret project I was working on. It was a gift for a friend.

I’ve been wanting to make a quilt with Anvil blocks and this seemed a perfect opportunity.

The blocks finish at 8 inches. I didn’t have quite enough of the background fabric so I added in some others that blended pretty well. I quilted this using a panto called Easy Lacy Loops. It was fast and easy, but I kind of wish I had used something else.

Here is a peek at the back.

That is a really old Rober Kauffman print but I thought it went really well with the blocks. And it is so soft to the touch.

And here is the whole thing.

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

Posted in Civil War Repro Quilts, Finishes, Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Small/Doll Quilts 2015

Posted on January 28, 2016 by katyquilts

Here are the doll/wall sized quilts that I finished this past year. Here they are in no particular order.

Have a great day!

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation

Posted in Doll Quilts, Uncategorized | 14 Comments

WIP Wednesday ~ A Little UFO Progress

Posted on January 27, 2016 by katyquilts

I bought these vintage shoo fly blocks in Missouri last fall. I love the color of the background. In fact, I was thinking about how very modern they actually look!

I didn’t want to use them as is. because the seam allowances were very skimpy. So I cut them apart to remake the blocks in a smaller size.
Mine finished at 4 1/2 inches.
Time to quilt!

There were several additional solid squares but they were so thin, I could see my hand right through them! So I decided just to use these six blocks. Sometimes you just need a quick, little project in between the big ones.

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts, Freshly Pieced

Posted in Doll Quilts, Uncategorized, Vintage Fabrics | 7 Comments

The Last QOV for January

Posted on January 26, 2016 by katyquilts

I so appreciate all of your comments yesterday on my Goose in the Pond blocks! I still haven’t made a decision on the 9 patch corner stones but I have decided to leave the mistake as is.

I got the last QOV from the latest batch quilted yesterday.

Here is the back.

I have been listening to this audio book in the sewing room this week.

I’ve heard mixed reviews. It isn’t my favorite book ever, but I am enjoying it.

Have a wonderful day!

Linking up with Free Motion by the River

Posted in Finishes, Machine quilting, Quilt of Valor, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Design Wall Monday

Posted on January 25, 2016 by katyquilts

Last week I showed my Goose in the Pond blocks. Several of you thought sashing was a good idea. I was leaning that way myself. LuAnn suggested using 9 patches as cornerstones. I loved that idea! And one sharp eyed reader noticed a mistake in one of the blocks. Can you see it?

Some of my 9 patches are scrappy and some are not. I need to decide which to use.