Last week I finished a baby quilt.  You can find that post here if you missed it.  That one was made for the next baby girl and wasn’t for anyone specific.  Hubby has a great nephew who is expecting.  They aren’t finding out if it’s a boy or girl.  If it’s a girl, the quilt will go there.  If it’s a boy, I need a quilt.

That’s when I remembered that I had the blocks left over from the quilt I made for the fireman benefit.  There were enough to make the exact same quilt.  Here’s a reminder of what that looked like.

The idea for the quilt started with a video from Missouri Star and ended a little differently.

I liked the quilt and thought I could easily take the remaining blocks and make another quilt.   Friday night after supper I sewed them together.  Then started the debated.  I don’t have any more fabric of the red that I used for the inner border.

I really don’t want to buy anything and want to find something in my stash to complete this project.  I am auditioning a few options.

Here’s a closer up picture…. [Read more...]

Mostly, I’m working on enjoying a long weekend.  My, oh my, this is exactly what I needed.

Kelli was home on Friday afternoon (I took the day off) and we sewed!  It was awesome.  Remember those scraps that I told you yesterday…well I actually got them the Saturday before.  All week I was busy measuring and planning and even doing a bit of sewing.  I really had no idea what they were going to be.

They quickly went from this…

into sewn quilts.

I started out with two different types of pieces.  The big triangle you can see on the left and the little scrap left overs on the right.

I started with the triangles first.  I quickly sewed them into blocks.  I ended up with 30 blocks that were 7 1/2″ unfinished.  I laid them out and saw this…..

Hmmm…the colors are a little bit lighter than I wished they would be and the layout really didn’t do much to jazz it up.  That left me playing and trying this layout.  Better I thought.  This puts the “darker” colors together and that makes them stand out a little more.

Then I tried this.  I loved the little zig-zag pattern it made between the blocks.

I thought I would give this layout a try but then I realized I would need two more blocks.  That wouldn’t be a problem.  I measure and calculated and figured out what I needed for two more.

Before I knew it, the top was together and it was time for to trim up the off set blocks.  Ruler down and remembering that I would need the 1/4″ seam allowance, I trimmed.

For some reason this always makes me super nervous.

There were some border pieces that were sewn together but not nearly enough of them so I started sewing some more.    I am TERRIBLE at figuring borders with stuff like this.  I ended up laying it out on the bedroom floor and struggling through it with Kelli’s help.  First off we had to figure how big the outer alternating square border was…the figure the size of the inner quilt and subtract the difference.  Well that was all complicated by the fact that the alternating square border had to match at the corners with a solid square.  We ended up doing something that isn’t my very favorite…the sides got a 2″ cut border and the top 2 1/2″ cut border.

This is the top now…as is.  I debated about an outer border but for now, have decided against it….but should you all chime and and tell me to add one, I could easily be persuaded.  Connie would tell me to audition some and I just might do that yet.  I am almost thinking a colored border to liven it up a bit.  Feel free to chime in.  Opinions welcome!!

That left me the remaining scraps.  Would there be enough for a quilt..and what would I do with those?

I played around, pulled some of my batiks and ended up with blocks that look like this…. [Read more...]

I have a wedding quilt in the make.  Remember these notes from a week or so ago?

I had told you I was working on a quilt…I was.  I didn’t let it sit very long.  I had these cut out in no time….

I sewed a lot over the weekend and got all the blocks made.

I even got the center finished…but now I’m busy deciding on borders.  Sadly, I’m not showing the whole quilt.  I want to keep it under wraps a bit…but what’s a girl to do when it’s a gift quilt?  Do I add that last outer white-ish border? [Read more...]