9 Patch finished

I fished up the 9 patch binding today and have it fresh out of the dryer.  Remember how much I didn’t want to quilt this baby?  Well my sweet blogging friend Christina ( The Sometimes Crafter) saved my life and did it for me on her long arm.  She did such a good job, she quilted it in a loopy pattern that fits the retro 9 patch perfectly.  I told her thank you but I still feel like I should go clean her toilets and empty her dishwasher.  I’ll let you know if she ever decides to start a little quilting business….I’ll be her best customer for sure.

    My brother is my new designated quilt holder-upper.  Unfortunately it takes double the time to get a good picture because half of them look like the picture below.   I threatened him with putting his picture on the blog, and he didn’t believe me, and so I did.

This quilt looks fantabulous across the bottom of my bed.  I give it a week before there are unidentified stains scattered here and there, but that just gives it more character right?   Hope you all have a great weekend, our new Goodwill store just opened so I will be barging my way through the store throwing as much used crap in my cart as possible just to join in the frenzy. 

Pink houses

I had a spurt of sewing energy the past couple of days and decided it was time to cut into my fabric.  I forgot how much I love a simple fence rail pattern, especially when its stuffed full of pink.   This top measures 37in. by 40in.  I cut all the strips in this quilt 2 inches.

The fabric colors are based around the little houses print with pinks, green, yellow, and orange.   I’m not sure the name of that houses print, but the rest of this quilt is made from fabrics by Amy Butler, Sandi Henderson, Denyse Schmidt and a few others here and there.  The dark pink border is a Sandi Henderson print, I thought I had enough of it but needed 1 more 2” strip, so I had to make a quick fabric run this afternoon. (hate it when that happens!) 

Its so nice to have a quilt shop nearby with lots of selection, even if the ladies that work there are mega cranky at all times.  Seriously….cranky.  They probably should eat more donuts.

And thanks for all the fall pillow love!  I’ve had some questions about fabrics/ pattern.  The pattern is in Stitch magazine to clarify, and was written by Malka.  You can attach the button by using a long needle to thread from a button on the back to the button on front and so forth.  I should have taken a picture of the back because its also pieced with a cute button…but I didn’t.  The fabrics are a mix from a big pile, and honestly I don’t know the names of most of them, but if I did you know I would tell you! 

Fall Pillow

Can you feel fall in the air like I can?  This is the LAST week of August you know.  The summer went too fast, but I sure love fall so I guess its a good trade.  This pillow was made from some fall inspired fabrics with a pattern from  Stitch magazine.  Now its time to make a cute table runner to match.  Last year about this time I made this table runner.  It was the second thing I ever quilted myself and I was amazed it actually worked.  Sewing and I were NOT friends before last fall…but more on that later.  I have the most massive pile of laundry on my bed to fold and you can not even imagine how excited to be the lucky folder.  Sigh. 

T shirt Pants

Do you guys have as many old T-shirts as we do?  We have lots…and lots…and lots.  So I decided it was time to make the little man some pants.  Using this tutorial.  

 

Here’s the before T-shirt.  I made these from a pair of his 2T pants but added an extra inch all the way around to make them bigger.  And used the bottom of the T-shirt as the bottom hem.  And if you are making 2T or bigger, make sure you have a BIG T-shirt, like XXL so you have enough room to cut the pants length without cutting into the arm pits. 

 

With the extra I made a really ghetto bib.  Now its in the garbage.  Next time maybe I’ll use velcro or something to make the neck smaller. 

Now you know….he had Lunchables build-a-pizza for lunch.  And I ate most of it and it was actually good. 

Better things to do….

Like going to our favorite beach in Port Townsend at Fort Warden State Park.  And getting the picnic blanket extra dirty with lots of memories and diet coke spills.   The summer has finally come back to visit so we are soaking it up.

This is my little bad mutt dog Jack.  He’s about the laziest dog you’ll ever meet.  I’m not a dog person, but Jack doesn’t bark or stink or shed a lot, so I like him.  

I did manage to pull fabrics for another quilt.   We’ll see when I get around to it but I’ve enjoyed looking at these cute fabrics together in the meantime.

Blackberries

This is one of my favorite things about this area….wild blackberries.  They grow around the perimeter of our yard, you could pick them all day and not get them all.  Now my hands are stained purple and my arms are scratched like I was holding a wild cat, but its all worth it cause these babies are sweet as can be.  And the bugs and spiders just add to the flavor…… I only wish I was kidding.  :)

Soon these will be jam and pies and frozen for milkshakes to last all year and then some.   And blackberry milkshakes make great purple mustaches….. 

Hopefully by next post I’ll have something crafty to show you, but until then these “filler” posts will have to do!  :)

July’s block…..a little late

This is the first month I was behind on my quilting bee blocks….but I finished up July’s block and now I’m ready to tackle August.  This block is for Edith who requested  circles.

A lot of you wanted to know where you could find a tutorial for the wonky block quilt.  Amy has a great one on her site, it uses more fabric but it makes it so much easier that its worth it.  And you can always do a cute pieced back with your extras.  My blocks were very similar to her tutorial except instead of making                 2 1/2” cuts mine are 3” from the side so they are a tad more centered. 

And because I have accomplished nothing else to write about, here’s a dahlia from the garden to brighten up this blog post.   We’re off to Seattle today to visit the seals at the Aquarium and maybe do some strolling through downtown.  I’ll eat some clam chowder for you. :) Have a great weekend!

Little Wonky Cars Quilt

It feels so good to have a quilt finished! This one is majorly cute, I’m in love with those little cars. It measures almost 36 in. by 47 in. I did some loopy quilting on this one, mostly just to try something new. For some reason my sewing machine decided to not go full speed while I was quilting, so I had to quilt it slower than usual. Luckily after some “choice” words and threatening to throw it over the balcony it decided to speed up a bit, but it still made me nervous. For as much as I use that poor machine I should probably go get it serviced more often than never.

That backing fabric makes me so happy! I put this one in the shop while I contemplate whether or not I should keep it. But after filling 5 of those giant silver tubs with quilts during moving I’ve decided I should probably try to cut back. Luckily this one wouldn’t take up that much space right? I say that about every single one I keep. That’s why I have tub(s) full.

Snowball Block

I love snowball quilts.  Like the bird quilt, or my very 1st quilt.  I’ve had some questions about making snowball blocks, so I just thought I’d show you how easy it is.  This is a great pattern for beginners, and I love it because the big blocks show off the fabric prints and it goes together really fast.  Ok here goes:

Cut one 8” square and four 2 3/4” squares.

Draw a diagonal line on each small block.

Pin the small blocks to the 8” block, right sides together, and so the diagonal lines run perpendicular to the corners. 

Sew along your drawn lines. 

Ok here’s where you can cheat…..see that painters tape on the sewing machine?  I don’t draw my diagonal lines onto my squares (I did here for tutorial sake).  Instead, you can put a piece of painters tape on your machine so the edge lines up directly with your sewing line, then as long as you  keep both corners along that tape as you sew, you will get a perfect line without drawing.  It sounds confusing but it makes sense as your doing it.  Maybe. :)

Then cut off your corners leaving 1/4” allowance.

Now iron and your done!  An 8” snowball block. 

Back in the saddle…

I finally made myself make a quilt top.  I still haven’t found my sewing mojo, so I thought maybe if I made myself sit in that chair and sew something it was sure to come back.  And I think it did…a little at least.  This wonky block quilt top resulted from an afternoon of sewing, and although it wasn’t the original plan for this fabric, I really like the way it turned out. 

Its a nice overcast day here so we made our way downtown Poulsbo this morning to the farmers market and to the quilt shop to pick up this cute backing fabric.  And no stop downtown is complete without a stop at Slys Bakery, where I pounded a chocolate donut the size of my head.   I acted like I was going to share it with someone so I didn’t look like such a horker, but I’m pretty sure they saw straight through that one.

  

Fabric is by Allison Jane Smith for Windham Fabrics.  The whole line is cute cute cute.

Thanks

While I was going through the link list I came upon a few giveaways going on and won some very fun things!  First off is this cute quilted library tote by Chase.  Its the perfect size for my little rascal to carry around.  Thanks Chase! 

Second was this massive box of fun vintage goodies from Tiffany.  It will all go to good use…..promise!  That red gingham ribbon is my favorite.  Thank you Tiffany!

This last one is the thrift store find of the century.  Remember these little tv’s?  It plays London bridges falling down and its in perfect condition.  I heart vintage toys.

For the Birds

And boy is this quilt full of birds!  My Mom had quite the collection of bird fabrics that were turned into this quilt.  We started this quilt a year ago (which is like an eternity in Allison quilt time) and now finally have it finished and sitting in her living room.  Its big, I think a queen size or better, so it was quilted by a long arm quilter who did a fabulous job as always.  The fabrics are funky and fun, and now we can bird watch while we sit on the couch and eat ice cream. 

I made another tree pillow before we left Cleveland.  I’m hoping I can get my sewing groove back soon so  I can sew  up some more of these, and finish up my list of want-to-do’s before my fabric stash takes over the world.