Aviatrix Medallion Quilt

My husband purchased this fabric bundle for my birthday a few years back. I think it took me this long to make it because I was a afraid of the tiny little diamonds in the center. They were quite the challenge.

I started making the quilt at the beginning of summer. I took my time and completed some smaller projects in-between working on this one. Sadly, when I opened up the bundle there were some fade marks where the fabrics were folded. A definite sign of taking too long to work on this.



Once I completed the quilt top, I set it aside in search of the perfect backing fabric. I found a print I liked but the color selections were many and I just couldn't choose one color. Then I went on a shop hop with a church group not looking to find anything in particular. And lo and behold, there was this nice gray fabric with text printed on it. It was perfect. I bought 5 yards.

I made the backing and loaded it on my longarmer. It's pretty big and it took me 3 days to finish quilting it. I used a variegated thread and a pantograph called Leaf Crown.

Last night I finished sewing the binding on using the same fabric as the backing. I was watching the Green Bay Packers game and happily by the time the Packers won, I had the binding done. Ha!

Gobble It Up Pillow

I recently purchased a new issue of Quilts N More Magazine. I bought it just to get this pattern. I thought it was so cute. And I liked the fabric that the designer used too.

Now that I work in a quilt shop I have a better knowledge of what's in the shop. As a customer I just went to get what I needed, I never really browsed much. I knew that my shop has the All Hallowed Eve fabric line which was used in the magazine. I purchased the brown and off white from the shop and used my scraps to complete the project.

It didn't take very long to complete. I even quilted it just like they did in the magazine. It always helps to make a project go quickly when I don't have to make the decisions, just follow the instructions in the pattern. Ha! Now all I need is the correct size pillow form and this one's ready for later this fall.

In Between Projects

I like to make quilt kits to take with me when I go quilting at the senior center. It makes it so much easier when I get there. I know what I will be working on and I don't have to worry about packing up a project to take along; it's already packed and ready.

The problem is that I have no idea what to make into a kit. I started going through my sewing room for inspiration. The first thing I came across was my box of leftover binding scraps. It's pretty full. So I took out some of the shorter binding pieces and cut them into strips for my next scrap quilt project. That diverted my efforts to make a quilt kit. I'm easily distracted lately.

The woman in charge of the quilt group at the senior center loves to share her love of Missouri Star quilt patterns. I came across one she gave me so I thought I would make it into a kit. It requires some charm packs so I dug mine out. My kitty decided to get in on the action. After auditioning some fabrics, I finally cut my next kit.

It was a fun adventure around the sewing room and a reminder that I really don't need to shop for new projects. I have plenty of beautiful fabrics all around me.

I'll start my new project next week - another quilt for the church charity.

What's on the design board?

I picked up some Cori Dantini fabrics to make this cute table topper. I cut the panel into two pieces, framed them with some orange and make a pumpkin border.

I ordered a pumpkin pantograph to quilt it so I will have to wait to complete it.

In the meantime, my husband wants to make fake tombstones for the front yard for Halloween. So he bought some foam core board and I drew the shapes on the board. 

Next thing I knew, I was using a jig saw to cut the shapes then I glued them up and as they dry, I'll go shop for some spray paint. I don't understand how this became my project. Ha!

On these fall days, it's hard to get a good photo when the shadows from the trees are so prevalent.

Churning Fourteen

I purchased this pattern last year with the intention of choosing some nice modern fabrics to make my version of Churning Fourteen. In the mean time I thought it might be a way to use up 14 fat quarters of donated bright prints. So I dug out fourteen fabrics in very bright fabrics. I mostly found smaller prints to do some color play.

The pattern has very specific instructions on how to cut the fat quarters. There is almost no waste. That means you have to be very careful when cutting. One wrong slice and it's off to find a different fat quarter.

I cut my fabrics up without too much difficulty - after reading the instructions multiple times, that is. I worked on the blocks on my Wednesday quilt days at the Senior Center so it took me more than a month to complete the top.

I free-motion quilted this on my longarmer and machine stitched the binding on. It is ready for my next Quilts for Kids meeting.

New Pillowcases

Ever since I painted my bedroom, I've been trying to update everything in the room. There's new flooring, new curtains, new wall art and now I'm working on the bedding. I wanted some new pillowcases to accent the new colors of the room, but sticker shock at the store kept me away.

I used to think it was crazy to make pillowcases. With the price of fabric yardage, I thought making pillowcases was a luxury. Then I went to Macy's bedding sale only to discover that nice ones were more than $50 for two. Back to the fabric store I go! Not only was is cheaper to make them, the fabric choices were endless.

What fun it was to shop around for just the right fabric combinations. And I got lucky. I found this nice fabric in the clearance section of the fabric store. I added a complimentary solid for the trim and actually found some matching fabric in my stash for the cuff. I just love when things come together.

I made two pillowcases for my extra bed pillows and still had some leftover fabrics. My husband has this small pillow he received after his heart surgery. Back then he used it to put pressure on his incision post surgery and now he uses it to support his shoulder after his rotator cuff surgery. Although I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the pillow, it doesn't exactly match the decor in the room. So it got a makeover too. The leftover fabrics were just enough to make a pillowcase for the heart pillow too.

Row by Row Quilt

I finished sewing the binding on my row by row quilt today. This quilt went together quickly and easily. I used a jelly roll and some yardage to make this quilt.

Unfortunately it spent a few weeks half-completed on the longarmer since my poor machine stopped working in the middle of quilting. Everything is good now and as soon as the machine was repaired and back, I finished quilting it in no time. 

I quilted it using a pantograph called Folkart Flowers and Birds. It was a nice complement to the pretty flower prints in the fabrics. All bright and cheery. 

The pattern is from the February 2011 issue of  American Patchwork and Quilting. Making a quilt from an older magazine helps me justify keeping those old magazines around. Ha!

From a Fabric Donation

In a box of fabrics that was donated to my church quilt group, I found some blue and gold print fabric neatly cut into 5" squares. There weren't many of them but enough to put together a quick lap quilt.

Among the donation I also found some blue yardage that compliments the squares and cut more 5" squares. I made a patchwork quilt top that needed a little pizzazz. So at the fabric store I picked up a 1/4 yard cut of some shiny gold fabric. It made a nice inner border. The rest of the blue fabric was used to make a larger outer border.

We get so much donated fabric that it's always nice to be able to complete a project using up as much of it as possible. And maybe if I dug deep enough I could have found something suitable to make the inner border but sometimes I just want a special touch.

I quilted it using a pantograph called Drift and I used high-loft batting that made the quilt really pop. It added a nice tough to the simple patchwork pattern. This quilt will go back to church to be donated to whoever needs it.