Some Old Patterns, Some New Patterns

I'm still doing donation quilts but just haven't posted any for a while.  

Two more quilts made with fruits and vegetables.

I mentioned before that fat quarters multiply in the cupboard because I still have more of these fabrics and will probably make more food quilts in the future.

I was looking for something in one of my storage towers and came across these flying geese blocks.  I don't know what I was saving them for so I sorted them because there were two different sizes and added a few more and made two quilts.

The binding is stripped fabric and since I didn't have enough for both, one of the quilts has pieced binding.  Click on the picture to see the different colours.

Amsterdam Quilt

I found the pattern here.  I thought it was very bright and springy.  

Shoo Fly Block and 16 patch block using 2 inch squares.

I save 2 inch squares and put them together to make a 6 1/2 inch square.  This way you can pair them up with any 6 1/2 inch block and make a quilt.

Amber Fields.

I used the same idea as above but used 6 1/2 inch squares of map fabric and then put the same fabric as the border.  

I find a lot of ideas on the internet especially the website: www.allpeoplequilt.com

Square Deal Quilt

This is from http://www.americanquilter.com/.  If you join their newsletter you get lots of free patterns.  I added borders to make it 36 x 48 inches which is a wheelchair size quilt.

Jewel Toss

I made this pattern before but never with just three colours.  The last time I made it scrappy.

Large heart

This pattern is on Craftsy website and it is also a Project Linus Pattern.

Peggy

HAND QUILTING WORKSHOP

I took a workshop on Saturday where I learned about Hand Quilting.  The gal that taught the workshop has been hand quilting for years and does most of her quilts by hand.  We learned about needles, thimbles and thread that is used, how to mark your quilt for hand quilting and how to hand quilt.

I was surprised at the method of hand quilting.  I thought that you put the needle down into the quilt and then up again but that is not the way at all.  You insert the needle and do a rocking stitch to pick up more stitches on your needle and use the thimble to push the needle through the fabric.  I hope that makes sense.  It is not an easy process.  In fact it was very strange to me and hard to get my fingers working the right way.  Some of the participants caught on right away and I did take pictures. 

Jeannette stressed that the main thing is that the stitches are consistent and that was very hard to do.  Some were large and some small.  Also it was hard to make the needle go thru so that there was a stitch on the other side of the work. 

One of Jeannette's quilts that was hand quilted.

We were a small group

Straight lines

A nice grid

Triangles

Here is my attempt at hand quilting.  This is just some of what I did in the 4 hours but I thought I would show my straight lines.  My stitches aren't very uniform but my lines are straight. 

This is the back of my quilt and as you can see there are stitches missing on the backing.  It was not easy doing the hand quilting but it was fun and I learned a lot. 

Practice makes perfect as Jeannette said.



This is the frame that Jeannette uses for her hand quilting.

Peggy

More Quilts

I haven't blogged for a while because my laptop needs a new hard drive and I might as well buy a new one for the price they quoted me.  Now I am using an old netbook so I hope I don't have any problems with it.

A Scrap Quilt with a sixteen patch made from 2 inch squares.

Peas in a Pod

I made it smaller than the original pattern by using 2 inch squares as the peas instead of 3 inch squares, and then also adjusted the sides of the pods.

This is my own pattern but it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.  I have since adjusted the pattern and made another one so it is better.  I am sure that fat quarters multiply while they sit in your stash.

Whirligigs and Pinwheels

This is a quilt that I made for my great-niece for her first baby.  I found the fabric when I was on the July shop hop in Southern Ontario this past summer.

Half square triangles in a chevron pattern

Churn Dash

A Churn dash quilt made with 2 inch and 2 1/2 inch square from a book called "I love Churn Dash Quilts"

A Scrap Quilt that I found on Susie's Scraps.

Peggy

My Memory Quilt with an update

I made this quilt last year and thought that it was big enough because I don't like making large quilts.  I thought I would use it as a lap quilt but then decided that I wanted to use it in my spare room that has a single bed in it.  I decided to add some borders to it.

Color Block

I found some really neat fabric that was nautical because some of the blocks are nautical theme and others are things that I saw or did on our trip.

I put 7 inch borders all around so now it is 62 x 76.  I nice size for a bed.

Peggy

More Teddy Bear Quilts

I have mentioned here before that our guild supports the Christmas Cheer Fund by making small quilts for teddy bears or stuffed animals.  I have been busy this past week making such quilts.  When I was in Duluth Minnesota at the Minnesota quilt show we also visited quilt shops in town and I found some really neat panels.  These panels had two panels per cut and they were all on sale.  Some of them were only $3, so I think I got a real bargain.

I made 3 of these with the yellow border and then ran out of the yellow so I added blue to the next one.

I bought 2 of these panels and ended up with 4 small quilts by adding borders to them.

I bought one of these panels so I still have one more to make of this design.  So that is 5 in the past week that I finished.

Last spring I made a few more but forgot to post them.  I found this pattern at the Fat Quarter Shop and thought it would make a good teddy bear quilt, so I made two of them.  The pattern doesn't call for borders but that made it a little bigger and perfect for a Teddy Bear.

A multi coloured one,

And a pink one.

This is a quilt that I have made before a few times.  It is really easy just half square triangles.

Our possibilities group thought we would try something new and we found and article in the magazine The Canadian Quilter that looked interesting.

It was called "Snip, Rip, Drop, Pass".  We all brought a metre of fabric and followed directions until we had a 5 inch square left.  We were to make a small quilt out of the fabric that we received and we could add a few pieces if we had to.

This was my quilt.  I found the pattern at the Fat Quarter shop free patterns, called Charm Pack Cherry

Peggy

Canada 150 Quilt Show Challenge

This was the year for our bi-annual quilt show and I forgot to post my entry in the challenge.  With just a few days to go until Canada's 150th birthday I thought I should get things together.

I chose an Inukshuk as the center of my quilt and put Northern Lights and Maple Leaves around it.

We were given 3 fabrics and could only add three more fabrics and then we were to make a quilt that was no bigger than 36 inches square.

I added the red in the writing, the white with snow balls on it for our northern winters and the green for the Northern Lights. 

I fussy cut the maple leaves so that the middle was a complete maple leaf fitting inside the red one.

The binding is the same fabric as the maple leaves.

Peggy

150 Canadian Woman Quilt

In March I started doing the 150 Canadian Woman Quilt.  These blocks are all based on Canadian women that made their mark in life in Canada.   I was 36 blocks behind and had only pictures of the blocks in order to make these 36 blocks.  Some of the blocks were easy because they were well known blocks but many of them were very obscure blocks that I had to figure out myself with no instructions.  I used some math and decided that 2.5 x 3 equals 6.5 since all these block are unfinished at 6.5 inches.  Also 4 x 2 equals 6.5 inches.  Most quilters should be able to figure out my math because I am also taking care of the seam allowances.

I am up to block 75 now and am half way there.  

I am pretty proud of these blocks since the one on the left had no instructions and I figured it out and it came out at 6.5 inches without squaring up.

The one on the right has 36 pieces to it and it came out at 6.5 inches.  I guess I have a perfect 1/4 inch seam.

Three more of my 75 blocks.  I am going to do all 150 of them and make a quilt for myself.  After all the work that I have put into these squares I think I need to keep this one.

Peggy

Bi-Annual Quilt Show

This weekend was our Quilt Show.  It was for 3 days Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Our guest quilter was Mary Elizabeth Kinch who spent 2 days in classes and then a fabulous trunk show last night at our banquet.  

The prize winners:

Third Prize

This quilt was hand quilted with half inch quilting in the negative space.

Second Place

The negative space in this quilt looks like Trapunto because it has regular batting and wool batting between the top and the backing.

First Place

This quilt has petit point embroidery along with Mariner's compass scalloped border.

Peggy

I Have Been Busy Over The Last Month

I haven't blogged for a while but I have been busy making quilts.

I saw this pattern on Missouri Star Quilt Company and it was perfect for my 2 inch squares.

This is a real scrap quilt.

Sixteen patch 2 inch squares with pinwheels.

I really enjoyed making this quilt because there were no seams to match when I put the blocks together.

Another Jar Quilt.  Lots of food here.

This was a neat quilt to make called Arrows but some of the blocks had squares that don't show up too well.

A child's quilt made with fabric with road signs.

This looks like a disappearing 9 patch but it wasn't put together like that.

Another scrap quilt made with a 4 patch and pinwheels.

Another food quilt but just patches staggered on the quilt.

Lots of 4 patches.

I bought this fabric about 5 years ago and finally found a pattern that I wanted to make with it.  

This is a quilt I made at the quilt bee.  I was leery of what it would look like with the assortment of fabric that I was given but it turned out really nice.

Peggy