KatyQuilts

Blogger’s Quilt Festival! ~ Scrappy Lattice Quilt

Posted on October 23, 2015 by katyquilts

It is that time of year again! I love the Blogger’s Quilt Festival hosted by Amy over at Amy’s Creative Side. This is my entry into the Scrappy category…..my Scrappy Lattice quilt.

You may remember that I made this mostly from my stash of Denyse Schmidt scraps. I couldn’t bear to throw any of them away! I showed how I used my die cutter to create the scrappy rectangles for this quilt in this post . I also explain there how I drafted the pattern.

I had a lot of fun quilting all these feathers!

I used a solid on the back and I am glad I did! I really love how the quilting shows.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my Scrappy Lattice quilt! I loved every bit of making this. Hop over to the Blogger’s Quilt Festival to vote for your favorites!

Posted in BQF, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Finish It Up Friday – The Calendar Quilt

Posted on October 23, 2015 by katyquilts

This UFO has been a long time in the finishing. I made these blocks as a block a day exercise back in May of 2010. I made up a few rules for myself. Each block would finish at 5 inches and I could only use solids. Each block should in some way represent that day. You can read more about this project here. Looking back now, I don’t even remember what some of these meant! Other memories are crystal clear. Like the day Daughter #1 returned from her study abroad trip to India, the day I received mail from Daughter #3 while serving in AmeriCorps, a camping trip, a day at the beach, an excursion to a favorite museum etc.

May 1st of that year fell on a Saturday. I placed my blocks in “weeks” that are vertical rather than horizontal. So the first block is the little blue ladder in the lower left hand corner.

I used a variegated green thread to quilt this in approximately parallel lines about 1/4 inch apart. I used two different colors of gray thread in the bobbin.

I quilted one of my favorite quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson in the border: “The years teach much which the days never know.”

Here are a few detail shots.

The finished quilt measures 30″ x 40.” It is a very personal piece and will hang in my sewing room. It reminds me to count the days.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Richard and Tanya Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Posted in Art Quilts, Finishes, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Throwback Thursday

Posted on October 22, 2015 by katyquilts

I don’t know if I have ever shared this quilt that I made back in 2000. It was definitely pre-blogging days. As you probably know by now, I love the look of applique, but it generally isn’t “my thing.” So this quilt might be a bit surprising to you! It is in fact, all done by machine. The stems are top stitched down and the flowers and leaves were basted over freezer paper and then blind stitched by machine with monofilament thread.

I machine quilted this on my Singer 201. I used a stencil to mark the feathers in the borders but I didn’t know how to turn the corners, so I added these corner blocks. They ended up being one of my favorite things about this quilt.
I quilted a half inch crosshatch over the center, again with monofilament thread. The proportions of this are a bit odd, but I love that about it too. It is quirky, definitely has a folk art feel, mostly due to my inability to master anything more complicated! These applique shapes are about as simple as you can get. I just cut a bunch of pieces out of freezer paper and plopped them down on the background.

I think this is one of my all time favorite quilts.

Posted in Throwback Thursday, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

WIP Wednesday

Posted on October 21, 2015 by katyquilts

My week is really getting away from me! I have lots to do before I leave tomorrow after work. I did get my blocks for the shirting quilt sewn together yesterday.

My points are far from perfect! With 12 points all coming together, it is bulky. I will be thinking about that with the quilting. I am adding a white border to float the stars.

They are cut and ready so hopefully, I can get those added today and the top will be done.
I also pulled out this sawtooth star project to take with me.

I have 70 stars finished. And I think I have 26 left to piece. The bits for each block are already matched up and ready to sew.

I will be taking one of my Featherweights with me. I am also taking my Brinton Hall piece with me. I hope to get those last two medallions added. The last piece I am taking is the dinosaur quilt. It will be all done after I finish the hand sewing on the binding.

Time to get to work! Have a great day!

Linking up with Freshly Pieced, Sew Fresh Quilts

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments

Another Shirting Quilt

Posted on October 20, 2015 by katyquilts

I started something new!

A while back, I bought this die:

I can use GO! dies in my studio cutter with an adaptor. Long time readers may remember that I have made quilts for each of my grandsons from shirts worn by their papa and uncle. This one will be for the new baby due in December. He will also get the dinisaur quilt which will match his nursery.

The blocks finish at 8 inches square. I was planning on a total of 20 blocks and then a plain white border. I’m not sure how far I will get on this before I go. Still need to get my projects ready to take.

Most of you liked the last quilting design I showed for the dinosaur quilt yesterday. I agreed!

I had Little E here yesterday. He and his pal, Stinky the dog, helped me with my laundry.

He’s such a sweetie!

Hope you all have a lovely, productive day!

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

Posted in Accuquilt Studio Cutter, Baby Quilts, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Design Wall Monday

Posted on October 19, 2015 by katyquilts

I finally have the dinosaur quilt top done and in the frame. I would like to get this quilted so I can do the binding while in Wisconsin.

I have been playing with my Adobe Ideas app to try to figure out the quilting.

Today is my last day off before I leave so I have LOTS to do! Better get to it.

Check out what others are working on at Patchwork Times, Cooking Up Quilts

Posted in Design Wall Monday, Machine quilting | 6 Comments

Slow Stitching Sunday

Posted on October 18, 2015 by katyquilts

Fall has definitely arrived! It has turned much cooler this weekend and we even had a brief moment of snow yesterday. I have been making slow progress on my Brinton Hall quilt while hubby and I have watched TV.

Here is a very bad photo of a photo of the original in Quiltmania magazine.

This came out back in May. Part One consisted of the center with the hexies and appeared in Issue 107. Even though I am no where close to being ready, I have been waiting for Part Two in Issue 108. Last week, I received Issue 109. Hmmmmm……I contacted the publisher and they agreed to extend my subscription but said they could not send Issue 108. I was really bummed at first. I know I could get a copy of this from a friend who is much farther along than I am! But I have decided to use this as a design opportunity. I honestly would not have done those clamshells anyway! I’m not sure where this quilt will take me and that is rather exciting. So many possibilities!

I will be taking this with me this week so I need to get some more hexies prepared to take. I’m looking forward to digging into my scraps for this.

I’ve also been looking through this book.

It is making me want to load up some more practice fabric to play! She has some great design ideas here. One thing that bothers me, she doesn’t clearly indicate starting and stopping points. I find that a bit frustrating.

Have a wonderful day!

Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday

Posted in Brinton Hall, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Oh Snap!

Posted on October 17, 2015 by katyquilts

ETA: I have now fixed the link to the Snap Bag video. Sorry!

Have you seen these little snap bags? I admit, I am a bit slow to the party as they first started showing up several years ago. I decided to try making a few this week. I used The Gourmet Quilters Youtube tutorial which can be found here.

They open up when you squeeze the ends and “snap” closed when you let go.
I think they would be good for little items like my earbuds.

The genius part of these is that the closure is made with little bits of a regular metal tape measure. I bought this one at the dollar store. You can cut it with scissors. I put painters tape on the end so it wouldn’t retract into the tape measure after cutting the tab off.

I am thinking about making some more. Maybe I will make zipper bags next. I’m not sure but I quilted up another piece of my hand dyed fabric to use. I wanted a wandering feather so I quilted a large squiggle across the piece. Then I went back and added feathers. First to one side:

And then to the other side.

I find little bags like this are a great way to use up those bits of machine quilting practice.

Linking up with A Quilted Passion

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Finish It Up Friday – Downton Abbey

Posted on October 16, 2015 by katyquilts

It feels like this quilt was in process forever! In fact, I posted about cutting the pieces on August 24th, less than two months ago. The first pictures show the quilt before washing.

I really like the pixelated look that you get when viewing this at a distance! The quilt finished at about 68 by 80 before washing. I haven’t measured it after!

In some places, I ended up with “strings” of like squares. This was not intentional but I liked the look so I left it.

I used a pantograph called Ground Cover. I love the texture that it gives. I struggled to find the right binding fabric in my stash and eventually settled on this blue. Not a usual choice for me, but I rather like it now.

It is always a challenge to get good pictures in the wind!

A look at the back: The rest of these pictures show the quilt after washing. It crinkled up quite nicely! Linking up with Richard and Tanya Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric , A Quilting Reader’s Garden

Posted in Finishes | 22 Comments

Progress

Posted on October 15, 2015 by katyquilts

I finally started making actual progress on the dinosaur quilt.

I am going to piece quite a few more hourglass blocks out of my hand dyed fabrics. The layout is definitely subject to change, but I do like the bright blocks of color.
I love these fabrics. Even the trash looks pretty!