I'm still here...

 It's been forever since I posted. Over two years. Sheesh.

I thought I would share a recent finish. This 16-patch quilt was made for a coworker who is battling beating breast cancer. She is an amazing woman and mom, and the most awesome coworker. I asked her what colours she liked and she said light pink and gray. I had to sneak a few fuchsias and bright pinks on the back. 😉

I used the tutorial on Sew Fresh Quilts to make the St. Louis 16-patch blocks.

For the back, I used a tutorial from the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild to make the envelopes, but instead of paper-piecing, I figured out the cutting sizes needed, and sewed the blocks. Some were not all the exact size, so I surrounded with a gray sashing and trimmed to size. I then added the white border on two sides to add interest by offsetting the blocks. I am very happy with how it turned out, and she loved it.  

Edited to add: The envelopes contain messages of encouragement from her coworkers. My favourite is the little rainbow drawn by the five year old daughter of a coworker. It is so cute!

I made this little wall hanging to remind myself that I need to take a Chill Pill once in while.  I googled the pill image and machine appliqued onto the background and finished with matchstick quilting. A fun little distraction.  

~Happy stitching!

Kat

Linking up to:

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

My Quilt Infatuation

TGIFF @ Storied Quilts

One Monthly Goal January 2020

Happy New Year!

My one monthly goal for January is to finish quilting and binding this Fancy Fox II quilt for my colleague’s daughter. Pattern is FANCY FOX II by Elizabeth Hartman.

My colleague wanted a quilt with animals that was nature inspired as they're an outdoorsy family, very much into camping, hiking and mountain biking. I was nervous about the colours I had chosen, so I gave her a sneak peak, something I don't usually do. She was really pleased and is looking forward to seeing the end results. Yay!

I am about 1/3 of the way through quilting it with wavy lines, but I am struggling with little puckers that are showing up.

I will persevere and hope that after a wash and crinkling, the puckers won’t be too evident. I am linking up to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal January Link-up.

Happy stitching!

~Kat

A finished quilt! Alert the press!!

I went to a quilt retreat last weekend organized by a wonderful retreat hostess. It was her first time hosting a retreat at a hotel and it turned out to be a great venue! We had shared accommodations and the sewing was set up in a conference room. The lighting was excellent and everyone had their own six-foot table. There were lots of design walls so it was like an evolving quilt show as new projects were laid out and shared!

One of our goodies was this really cool threader from https://snagmagic.com/. It allows you to quickly bury your loose threads in your quilt. It makes this task so quick and easy! (Not affiliated, just like this product!) https://www.facebook.com/Snagmagic/ 

There were 32 retreaters from all over the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley and I was thrilled to get reacquainted with a number of ladies from a guild I used to belong to. Small world! 

It was a lot of fun and there was so much creativity and inspiration! The best part was, I sat beside my friend, Deb. She encouraged and coaxed me to persevere and finish the quilting on this quilt . She might have complimented me on my whining, too! Ha! 

I quilted it with an overall meander loopy pattern. Done is better than perfect!

And it’s done! And I am sooo happy! Now that it is finished, I really like it! I finished hand stitching the binding when I got home and finally got a chance to get pictures outside (well, for my husband to take pictures!). And what better way to spend Family Day than going for a walk with two of the grands!

All ready to gift! After three years, my only concern is this little girl may have a sibling by now! 😊 This quilt is number 2 on my Q1 2019 Finish-A-Long list! 

I also made progress on these two sets of blocks on my and got them sewn to the flimsy stage! Yay!

I had a little helper to hold the quilt with me today. So fun! Her little brother was sleepy and just chilled (literally) in the stroller. 

Happy quilting!

~ Kat

Linking up with: 

Sew Fresh Quilts - Let's Bee Social

Busy Hands - Finished or Not Friday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict | Can I get a Whoop Whoop?
Free Motion by the River - Linky Tuesday

Secret Santa Present

I can't believe it's almost February?! How has the time flown by so fast?!

One of my colleagues is taking art classes, learning how to paint and draw. She has shared her paintings and drawings with me, and I just love how passionate and enthusiastic she is about it. I mentioned how much I liked a painting she did of a sunflower, and she gave it to me. I have it hanging in my office at work. I love it!

We have a Secret Santa exchange in our office each year, and I was lucky enough to pick her name! I was so excited as I knew exactly what I wanted to make for her! A bag to carry her art projects and supplies and I had just the right fabric for the bag lining in my stash. Her sister also works at our organization, so I asked what her sister's favourite colour was. Purple/Amethyst. Yes!

I wanted to make the bag extra special, so I searched online for a quilt block pattern featuring a paint brush and found this pattern designed by Soma Acharya of ShopWhimsAndFancies on Etsy. Could it be any more perfect?!

I used the Newport Tote pattern by Lazy Girl Designs. I have probably made this bag three or four times before, but I've never actually made one for myself. Hmm, I will have to rectify that one day!

Of course, I couldn't resist buying this print featuring tubes of oil paint when I saw it! Ha!

The bag turned out fabulous, and she just loved it!

~Happy Quilting!

Kat

Linking up with: 

Sew Fresh Quilts - Let's Bee Social

Busy Hands - Finished or Not Friday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict | Can I get a Whoop Whoop?
Free Motion by the River - Linky Tuesday

First Finish for 2019!

My daughter mentioned that when she is cleaning up the house, chasing after two toddlers, she is contstantly picking up after them, toys, socks and the like, and shoving these in her pockets to put away later.

She said, “I need something with pockets. I know this sounds silly, but I need an apron I can wear around the house with pockets for holding all these little bits and pieces.”

I knew just the thing! I recently purchased the book, Make It, Take It by Krista Hennebury of Poppyprint. It has a pattern for the cutest Crafter’s Retreat Apron. I knew it would be exactly what my daughter needed!

I used denim for the apron body and a single Cotton and Steel apple print for the pockets, rather than piecing it. The original pattern has the pocket divided into a number of smaller sections to hold sewing related items. I decided to make three larger pockets to hold larger items and toys.

The pattern is very easy to follow and includes some cute details, like a loop to hold your glasses and a swivel clasp. I figured these might come in handy for other household items, too.

I hope she likes it!

Happy quilting!

~ Kat

Lily-Bug's Quilt

I am so happy to share this little quilt with you! I finished it in February, I think, but I haven't had a chance to post the pictures.

Lily-bug loves it, and takes it with her everywhere! It's funny, because she has such a big personality and is go-go-go all the time, and this quilt has such calm colours. I don't think it slows her down, hah!

Her cousin's quilt is bright and busy, in contrast to how quiet and calm she is! I'll be sharing that one soon!

I used Triangles on a Roll to make the triangles. They finished at 4". The quilt finishes at 40" x 56". The back is cute little elephants. I made little pinwheels for the label, out of the triangles cut off from mitering the binding. Crazy, I know! 

 

I love that Lily-bug loves her quilt. It's meant to be loved, cuddled, and used! The little elephant stuffie was made to match!

This is finish one of my New Year's Resolution list of top 10 projects for 2016!

New Quilt Ladder and Another Finish!

I'm on a roll here! Whoa! That's what happens when you don't post for a while.

I want to share the most awesome quilt ladder I recently purchased online from Generation to Generation Heirloom. I ordered the Convertible Ladder, featured under the link Quilters Treasures. Chuck was super quick to get back to me, he found me the best shipping price, and I got it in no time at all. I had it shipped just across the border, in Blaine, WA, to save on the shipping. Shipping was very reasonable and quick.

The ladder was easy to put together and it is just gorgeous and very well made. Double bonus, it matches our furniture just perfectly! If you are looking for a high quality, hand made quilt ladder or stand, I highly recommend Generation to Generation Heirlooms. LOVE IT!

Do you see the pink quilt on the ladder above? It's another baby quilt I finished recently! I still don't know what this block is called? (If you know, would you please leave a comment? Thanks!)

A friend posted a picture of the block and asked if anyone had the pattern. I looked at the picture and whipped her up a quick block tutorial. I enjoyed making the block so much, I knew I would be making a quilt with it!

Lucky me, I had won a bundle of fat quarters as a door prize at our modern guild (thanks Hedda!). I loved the bright colours in the bundle, orange, yellow, red, pinks. I didn't have quite enough to make all the blocks, so I dug in my stash and found a striped fabric with all the colours, and another pink that went well with it.

I made a pieced backing, all with fabrics from my stash (the yellow fabric with houses was bought on sale from Connecting Threads). I bought the fabric for the binding. It's Remix by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman.

I love it, it's the perfect finish! I think I'm caught up on posting!

 

Happy quilting!

The Missing U, A Work In Progress

I woke up to this today! My hubby is sweet...and better at remembering dates that me!

 
 I've spent the past week like this....

Blech, summer colds are THE WORST! Being under the weather means I haven't felt like being out in the garden or enjoying the warm weather we've been having.

Without the energy to do much else, besides working  and sleeping, and even that was hard, I managed to stitch some blocks last weekend and continued to stitch a couple of blocks over the last few evenings, working away on this "The Missing U" quilt from the book, Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Jean Nyberg and CherylArkison.

See the little owl applique?

A set of three blocks takes me about two hours to make, depending on how big or small the scraps are.  The blocks are smaller than those in the book. I made mine 12.5" unfinished and I've made 20 blocks, so the quilt top will measure a nice 48" x 60" when done.

I am so glad I sorted my scraps as it inspired me to make these colourful blocks! There are scraps in here from my very first quilt (1991!) and scraps I recognize that friends and fellow quilters have passed along to me, it has lots of variety (there's even a snippet or two of Habitat by Jay McCarroll, from our guild's Habitat Challenge...my challenge is still just a top)!

I dug through my stash and found this kiddie fabric I have had forever! It's a teal green (not sure if the colour is true in the picture); with little stick drawing boys and girls. All the years I've had it folded in my stash, I didn't know it had a border on it! Super cute!

I think I'll use this fabric on the back. It's a Patrick Lose print from 1996! I'm glad I'll finally do something with it!

Have an awesome week!

Luncheon Plate and Layer Cake!

Our modern quilt guild did a swap of 10" squares of modern greys and brights in the summer of 2011. I pieced this top, inspired by a quilt made by Paul from the VMQG.

The top sat there as a 'flimsy' until this spring, when the weather was nice, and I was inspired to quilt while sitting on my deck enjoying the sunshine!

 

I marked it using a luncheon-plate, which was the perfect size for the finished blocks.

It made the cool petals in the middle where the circles intersected.  The binding (Honey Honey Floral Lace by Kate Spain for Moda) blends in perfectly, too!

I love the funky backing fabric that I picked up on sale at The Needle and I Quilt shop, which often has great sales!

 

I'm really happy how it turned out! Busy Lizzie approves, too!