KatyQuilts

June Wrap Up and July Goals

Posted on July 2, 2015 by katyquilts

The summer is passing too quickly by! Here is a look at my goals for June:

1. I have one more QOV top that needs to be quilted. Done!

2. I want to finish my 16 patch top. The biggest hindrance here is deciding how big I want this to be and what to do about borders. Not done! However, I did decide on size and have purchased the border fabric so that is a win in my mind!

3. I have an idea for a flag quilt made from hourglass blocks that I want to make for my entry way. I have the pieces all cut. I would love to have this complete so I can hang it for the Fourth. Done! Well, sort of. It didn’t turn out to be flag quilt but it is done nonetheless. I will show this finish on Friday as it seemed appropriate for Independence Day weekend.

4. I am going to make a quilt for each of my sisters this summer. I have fabric for both but need to make some decisions on designs. I want to have at least one of them to the piecing stage this month. The top for the first one is now done! Here is a picture taken before the borders were added.

5. I want that darn log cabin done this month! DONE! DONE! DONE!

6. I also want to start putting these blocks together. Not done. Not even close!

And what else did I finish this month?

My itty bitty flag quilt.

And my super secret gift for my daughter.

And I started and finished this baby quilt.

I also quilted my friend Donna’s quilt.

Now how about some goals for July?

1. Top of the list is to quilt and bind the first sister quilt. The backing is already in the frame so it will definitely be the first thing quilted.

2. Since little Lincoln is here, I am going to make a label for his baby quilt. I made this last fall out of shirts worn by my son, my hubby, and my dad.

3. I would also like to get the 16 patch quilt finished for the guest room.

4. I would like to decide on a pattern for the second sister quilt.

5. I would like to make a small quilt out of my leader ender HSTs.

6. I want to decide on my next leader/ender project.

I’m not going to add any more than this since I will be traveling to Arizona to see my newest little guy for 9 days.

And this is my timesaving tip for this week! Setting goals, making lists, and reviewing them is one of my greatest time saving tools. I don’t waste a lot of time wondering what to do next because I always have a list of projects that I want to focus on handy.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation for NTT.

Posted in Finishes, Goals, Timesaver Tips, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

WIP Wednesday

Posted on July 1, 2015 by katyquilts

Thank you to everyone for all your sweet comments on the birth of Lincoln. He has captured my heart already!

I got all the chain blocks together.

And then I noticed this:

Ugh! Trying to decide if I want to rip out an 80 inch seam to fix this. Then I need to cut and add some narrow borders. This is for a twin bed. I have enough blocks to make it bigger and I really want to. But it is for a twin bed so that’s silly. I can use the leftovers for a nice baby quilt.

I would love to get this top done and in the frame by the weekend.

And here is another baby pic. Just because!

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts.

Posted in Uncategorized | 21 Comments

He’s here!

Posted on June 30, 2015 by katyquilts

Please meet my newest grandson, Lincoln.

Lincoln arrived at 7:22 AM on June 29th, weighing 8 pounds and 3 ounces. He is 20 inches tall. Here he is meeting big brother, Liam, for the first time.

I can’t wait to go to Arizona in July to meet this little one in person!

Posted in Life | 20 Comments

Design Wall Monday

Posted on June 29, 2015 by katyquilts

Good Morning! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I am making progress on the sister quilt. It still isn’t a quilt in a day but it is coming along.

The picture above shows the colors pretty well but I actually have more blocks done.

Remember these HSTs I was using for leaders/enders?

They are all done so now I need to decide what to do with them.

I have ten of each. So I have some design decisions to make there as well. And I need to come up with a new leader/ender project real soon.

Linking up with Patchwork Times , Cooking Up Quilts, and Pink Doxies

Posted in Design Wall Monday | 14 Comments

Slow Stitching Sunday

Posted on June 28, 2015 by katyquilts

I got a few pieces added to my scrappy hexie quilt yesterday and hope to complete another row today.

This is where it is at right now.
At this point, it measures approximately 46 x 53 inches. I should decide how much bigger I want it to be!

I’ve also been working on blocks for the first sister quilt.

I have enough parts cut for 64 blocks even though I only need 48. I will use the extra 16 for a baby quilt. It would be tempting to stop after 48 and just put this top together. However, making all the blocks first insures the best distribution of the prints.

Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday.

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Single Irish Chain

Posted on June 27, 2015 by katyquilts

My friend, Donna, recently finished piecing her first quilt. I am the lucky one that got to quilt this beautiful Single Irish Chain!

Can you believe this is her first? It is so beautifully done! She chose this panto from Urban Elementz.

I used Glide thread in Celery for the top and Cream Magna Glide Classic in the bobbin. I turned off the lights to take this next picture so the quilting would really show.

And this is the lovely label on the back. The little white bits are stabilizer that will wash away.

I thought it might be fun to try taking a video of the quilting process. The quality admittedly isn’t great. I taped my phone to the long arm machine to do this. I hope it isn’t too loud!

Error

This video doesn’t exist

Thanks, Donna, for letting me quilt this special quilt for you!

Linking up with Pink Doxies.

Posted in Finishes, Machine quilting, Pantographs | 9 Comments

Finish It Up Friday

Posted on June 26, 2015 by katyquilts

A few weeks ago I mentioned a super secret project that I was working on. It has now been gifted so I can share it here.

Daughter #1 made these blocks before her wedding. The guests signed the blocks instead of a guest book. She hasn’t had time to put them together and with Baby #2 coming along in December, I knew it wasn’t going to happen any time soon. So I decided to finish the quilt for her birthday.

She was so pleased! Here is a look at the back:

I used a vintage sheet that my sister found in the wedding colors.

I used Glide thread, Hobbs 80/29 batting, and a panto called Featherize from Urban Elementz.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Richard and Tanya Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Prairie Sewn Studios, Pink Doxies, Sew Can She.

Posted in Finishes | 18 Comments

Progress and a Timesaving Tip or Two….

Posted on June 25, 2015 by katyquilts

I got all the rest of the strip sets sewn and sub cut yesterday. This is not a final layout but it does show one of each strip set.

And I have a couple time saving tips for you as well. The first is only for those that have die cutters. Sorry!

After I make my strip sets, I subcut them with my strip cutting die. In this case, the original print strips were cut at 2 1/2 inches wide. So I lay them out on my 2 1/2 inch strip cutting die like this:

You can see that I have gently folded them to fit. I also have marked my die to make sure that my new cuts will be perfectly perpendicular to the seams in my sets. I lay the cutting mat on top and run it through the die.

And here they are all ready to sew!

You can see how fast this goes. And that is how I could do all the sub cutting for the first set on my lunch break yesterday! Here are my sets all ready to go.

I made a total of 20 strip sets for this quilt. Each strip set yielded 16 rows.That will give me a total of 64 blocks. This is more than I need but I can use the leftovers for a baby quilt.

Bonnie mentioned in a comment yesterday that she couldn’t believe all I got done before work! She didn’t know that I didn’t have to be there until 1 PM yesterday! But it does lead me to another tip. And that is, to sew something, anything before work. And I almost always do. Even when I have to be there at 9 AM. If I get something started before I go, I am much more likely to get back at it when I return home. Maybe I don’t sew, but I will get some pieces laid out and ready or play a bit at the design wall, perhaps sew a row of a pantograph at the long arm.

I also only work part time but I guess telling you all to quit your jobs wouldn’t be a very helpful tip. And my kids have all left the nest but I certainly won’t suggest that you kick any of your little birds out! But those two things do help make more time for quilting!

Have a wonderful day!

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation for NTT.

Posted in Timesaver Tips | 8 Comments

Work in Progress Wednesday

Posted on June 24, 2015 by katyquilts

I finally decided on a design for my sister’so quilt. As I was messing around on EQ, I remembered an old book that I had from Quilt in a Day.

I originally bought this back when we lived in France to teach a friend to quilt. It still has the Irish Chain feel I was going for. I got my strips cut before work.

And one set sewn.

When I came home on lunch, I got these sets subcut and one block laid out.

The book pattern calls for over cutting the background strips and then trimming the blocks to size. I cut the strips to the exact size to begin with. I understand why they do this and that they want beginners to be successful, but I find this unnecessary for myself.

This won’t be a quilt in a day because I don’t have a full day to devote to it right now.

I used this pattern to make this quilt for my nephew and his wife when they got married 15 years ago.

That is a picture of a picture and the quality is bad. But it is the only picture of this quilt that I have. And it only shows half of the quilt! It was huge. I quilted it on my 1955 Singer Model 201. It is made from all Repro 30’s prints.

In digging through old pictures looking for this, I realized I made an Irish Chain quilt for this same sister 16 years ago.

This is a full size quilt shown on a queen size bed. And it is another picture of a picture.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced, Sew Fresh Quilts.

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

A Quilt for My Sister

Posted on June 23, 2015 by katyquilts

I am planning to make a quilt for my older sister this summer. I want to make something using these 2 1/2 inch strips. They are all from various Denyse Schmidt collections.

I have 64 strips cut from 64 different prints. I’ve been playing around on EQ7 trying to come up with a plan.