April Quilts

  

It's been a busy month for me. I've accomplished a lot on my goals list and still have things "to do". The list never ends. I spent several days at my dad's house quilting this month. I had 4 teacher quilts to do before this week. I have a graduation quilt coming up and I have 3 quilts that I've done for others. 

This quilt is for Karen and her family. It's an antique quilt and I quilted and am working on the binding. I should be able to finish it this month. 

Last night as I was in between projects, I sewed up 4 more of the side blocks for Rhododendron Trail mystery. I'm getting closer to being ready to put this top together. 

I finished sewing this mini Trip Around the World top together. This one is about 13" square, so it's pretty tiny, but I love how it turned out. 

I pieced Dapper as a leader/ender this month and quilted it on Saturday at Dad's house. The fabric is Nova and it's a challenge pattern for our online sewing group with The Sewing Center. 

My co-worker had a baby last week, so I quickly pieced this baby quilt from Amelia fabric I've had in my stash. I put a purple minkee on the back. It turned out to be super cute and I think I can have it done before I meet up with another co-worker to exchange and have her take back. 

Teacher appreciation is this week, so last weekend (when we had a blizzard cancel our plans) I was able to make labels. This is for Mikaela's writing teacher. 

I made her Bookends, another quick pattern from our monthly pattern challenge at The Sewing Center. I used Glamping Gypsies fabric. I am getting close to the end of my fabric from this line. This is quilt number 15 or 16 from that line!

Another teacher is an SDSU graduate, so I'm gifting her the Yellow/Blue Trip Around the World. I used a navy minkee on the back. 

My Glamping Gypsies Hey June was finished in March. This is for Mikaela's main homeroom teacher.  

I added a label to the back of it. It was too big to get a piece of minkee without piecing it, so I used a wide back in red. 

Mathew's teacher loves owls, so hers has pieced minkee on the back with 2 colors of teal (her favorite color) and a piece of owl minkee (that is also on the quilt she received when she was Mikaela's teacher). 

Mathew picked this owl pattern for her quilt. It's a pixiated quilt. I bought a pattern, but ened up changing it a lot because it was really poorly written (as in here's a picture and the shapes, figure out how to make it). It was really long and narrow, so I took out a bit to make it more proportional. 

Religion teachers each got a wall hanging or mug rug. I quilted these on Soft and Stable, so they are a bit puffy. 

My 3rd cousin's wife is gifting me a sewing machine, so I am giving her a quilt. I finishe piecing the top last week and then quilted it this weekend. This is before it was quilted. I didn't know what size it was, but bought 2.25 yards of minkee, only Michelle was talking and cut 2.5". It ended up being 80"x90" and wouldn't fit across it, but because of the mistake, I was able to make it work, just barely! I laid it out to make sure it would fit before I put it on the frame. I used a black flannel so it wouldn't be so heavy. 

A friend referred me to her cousin to quilt a couple quilts, so I have 2 of these to quilt. I ended up quilting the first one. It's really big and it took a lot of effort, but it's done. The 2nd one is loaded, but I ran out of time Saturday to quilt it.  

My friend Jennifer had a benefit and she asked me to quilt and bind these for her. I was able to get both of them done before the benefit. 

It was a busy month, but I feel like it was really productive. 

Swoon Sweet 16

I'm feeling the March Madness, so I've named this the Swoon Sweet 16 quilt. I made it using Glamping Gypsies fabric and it's the Swoon 16 pattern from Thimble Blossoms. I love how it turned out. I used red minkee on the backing and it's so pretty in person. It doesn't have a home yet, but I'm sure I'll find the right recipient. I have 16 quilts made from this fabric line. It's my absolute favorite fabric line ever. The quilt measures & 75" square, so an oversized throw or a bed topper. 

I used a "Bone" colored Glide thread on it. While it looked light gray, it really reads white on this white background. I'm pleased with how it blends in the red minkee background too. 

I've been working on this one since October 2018, which makes it one of my older UFO's. The blocks are a bit tedious in that I worked hard to get the patterns to "go" the same direction, which took some figuring. 
 

Quilting Day at Dad's House

I like to have marathon quilting days at my dad's house, which allows me the opportunity to get a bunch of quilts done at once. I plan a day about once a month. Saturday was my January quilting day. I quilted this red/white/blue quilt called Jelly Belly Bars with a navy minkee and a flannel for the batting. 

I played thread chicken the entire day. 

I added some stars to the quilting in RWB thread. 

I lost at thread chicken and ran out of thread with 2 rows left. I had a new spool as I thought I would run out the last time I quilted. 

I did freehand loops with stars. 

I quilted 3 baby quilts with one massive backing fabric. I ran out of bobbin with less than 1/2 row left. Luckily I had enough thread to re-wind the bobbin and finish. 

All three baby quilts were the same ABC panel with a border. I like to have them on hand for when I need to gift baby quilts. 

I made a table runner for a student to donate to a fundraiser. The fundraiser is at the local pub, so I think the CR will be appropriate. 

My final quilt of the day was Swoon 16 and I used a red minkee on the back. I quilted it with a light gray Glide thread with white Warm & White. 

 It was a good quilting day and I feel like I accomplished so much. I have three more to quilt, but ran out of time and energy. 

September Sewing

I've been making Simply Swoon quilts like they are going out of style. This one is for one of our work-study student's little boy who loves cowboys. I'll get some minkee and quilt it up the next time I go to Dad's.

I've been busy making Quilts of Valor blocks for a charity sewing block drive we're doing in our private FB group. I've made 5 so far, but have 35 cut out. I hope to send some and use some to make a quilt for a co-worker. These are so quick to make. They are fast to cut out and fast to sew. I got three from each fat quarter and they took about 30 minutes to sew all 5. 

My hubby needed a case for his Ipad for work, so I quilted up Chiefs fabric and made this Zip It Up case for him. 

I put a padded pocket on the inside to protect it a bit more. I did make it a bit over an inch bigger to compensate for the size of the ipad.

I had leftover Chiefs fabric, so I cut out and made an Easy Does it bag for my son. He loves it for his toys. I'm not sure it's my favorite bag, but I have 2 more cut out, so I'll get them made. 

I quilted up this panel quilt for my husband's cousin who had a baby recently, but she decided not to attend our family event, so I may be gifting it to someone else. 

I quilted my Good Morning a couple weeks ago with red minkee on the back. I'm going to gift it to an instructor, but she's teaching on Zoom for the next couple weeks, so it may be a while before I get it gifted. 

I'm making progress on my Everyday Handmade EPP project. I have 3 sections stitched together so far. 

I've also been working on my Swoon blocks. I now see that I screwed up on 2 corners and need to re-do them. I'm so thankful I just caught them instead of after I quilted it. Now I can take it apart and fix it. I'll also check my other blocks as well. I did this on the Cowboy Simply Swoon too. 

I've been busily making Yellow and blue Blue Ridge Beauty blocks I finished 5 more. Last night I sewed 27 more strip sets and matched them up, so I have more 4 patches to make. 

I made this Zip It UP in Everyday Handmade.

It has mesh on one side and vinyl on the other side. 

There is a  front pocket as well.

I sued up some scraps to make a Piecekeeper. It's a bit smaller than the original, but it used up the fabric. 

I finished making all my Harmony blocks in Nova fabric. I squared them up and set them aside to piece together at the retreat. 

I finished up the Woven Star blocks in Sakura. I'm hoping to make these into a baby quilt. 

 I've been doing quite a bit of sewing and making bags. It's relaxing to me.