AYOS and a Little Bit More, September

I am so excited to be joining in on the fun of Another Year of Schnibbles and a Little Bit More!

I have always wanted to make a Schnibbles pattern, so I thought this would be my chance :)

The pattern for September is called "Whit" from the "Little Bites" line from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.

"Little Bites" are packs of 2 l/2" squares from a line of fabric.

I used a charm pack (5" squares) from Moda called 1974 (the year I graduated from high school) Ha ha!!! by Urban Chicks.

There are three patterns, Whit No. 1, 2 and 3.

The reason I chose Whit No. 3, (Flying Dutchman) is because I had a busy month and the pattern only called for 128 2 l/2" squares as compared to 140 or 160, not including the background squares!!!

Below are 128 squares of background fabric...

Here are all of my 128 background squares cut in a neat little pile.

I neglected to take a photo of my charm square pack, but here is a sampling of what the color scheme is, without the yellows.

Here is my Whit pattern with a portion of my assembled, non trimmed flying geese.

Yay, a finished itsy bitsy 4 l/2" Flying Dutchman square.

Progress, all of my blocks are finished :)

This is everything layed out, ready to sew, and I need to make a larger design board!

I finished sewing all the blocks, posts and sashing, I just need to add the border.

This is a new color scheme for me, usually I sew with bright colors.

This color selection is more muted.

I added the border, but something is missing.  

I think it looks a little dull, and the quilt only measures 22" square.

I'm making this as a table topper for my daughter Rebecca's dining room table which is right next to her living room.

The dining room table sits on top of a jute rug, so that's why I chose Kona "stone" as the background.

The colors in the quilt are matched to the rug in my Rebecca's living room.

 I looked through my fabric stash and found this Michael Miller houndstooth which I think looks great on the quilt!

It adds some brightness or life, to the Kona "stone" which is a little dull.

The quilt or table topper, now measures 28" square.

It will look great on my daughter's dining room table which measures 53" square.  

I know the fabric I chose for the binding will also liven up the colors.

I don't have much in the lines of plum or teal, or berry.....

These are the fat quarters I pulled from my stash which are even remotely similar, but they don't work.

The colors don't blend.

I remembered my little collection of Denyse Schmidt fat quarters.

Yes!!!

Denyse's colors are a little muted, and I love the medallion fat quarter with its greens and blues.

I would have loved a berry or plum but I'm still happy with this choice.

Rebecca has lots of blues in her living area, so this fabric will be great for the binding :)

Here's a hint of what the quilt will look like bound, but the quilting and binding will have to be shared in another post.

So many projects, so little time!  Ha ha!

Here's a photo of Rebecca's new living room rug.

I pulled the colors from it, along with the color from the blue couch and accessories.

If you would like to follow the parade of finished "Whit" quilts tomorrow, October 1st, go to Sherri's blog, A Quilting Life, or Sinta's blog, Pink Pincushion.

Thanks for reading my blog :)

Handmade Birthday Club, July 2014

I've been making about one gift a month for the members in our Handmade Birthday Club, since January.

Well, guess what?

This is my birthday month!

I mentioned that one of my loves is Aneela Hooey fabric.

Isn't this the cutest table topper?

It's 24" X 24", and oh so cute :)

When I first opened the package, I looked at the back first.

I was so excited that I forgot to look on the other side, the front side, lol!

"House of bad cats" also sent me some owl notecards and some owl washi tape. 

LOVE!!!

For now, I've got my new cherished table topper on my antique sewing machine table.

I'm going to use it to decorate my table when I teach the Young Women at church in another week :)
They'll love it!!!

Honeycomb Table Topper with tutorial link

I bought Lori Holt's Hexie Half Ruler.

 The rulers made this honeycomb table topper much easier!

I zigzagged the inner hexes to the larger ones with invisible thread.  

I don't know if that would work very well on a quilt that will have lots of washings, but I think it's okay for this table topper.

I bound it with a solid color, scrappy binding.

I used my walking foot to machine quilt, and I was really happy with the results.  

It would have taken me forever to do this on my old machine.

I just love my Bernina 750 QE, I feel very spoiled :)

I used Kona charcoal for the side borders.

I can reverse the table topper and use it for Christmas or Valentine's  or even Canada Day, with the bright red backing :)

If you would like a tutorial about how to make a quilt using this method, Lori has one here.

I would love to make a full size quilt like hers one of these days.

Memory Table Topper

My brother died of pancreatic cancer exactly 7 years ago today, at the age of 47. 

He left behind 5 children, ages 2 to 12.

I made them a quilt out of my brother David's shirts.

I have wanted to make my mother something with David's shirts.

This pattern is very easy and quick to sew.

I had enough fabric leftover to make my mother a table topper.

The table topper measures 24" X 24", a great size!

I love the finished product!

I think the border highlights the star, symbolizing my brother David.

He was a wonderful person and we all miss him so much.

Everyone who met David loved him :)

I pebble quilted the background fabric on my sewing machine.

I love the back of the quilt! 

My mother will be so surprised when she opens the gift.

Don't worry, she doesn't use a computer so she won't be reading this. 

I have enough fabric to make myself a star, and will get to that project after Christmas ♥

Simply Retro, "Sweet Life" Table Topper WIP

We bought a new kitchen table, and I wanted to make a table topper for it.

I bought Camille Roskelley's new book "Simply Retro".

I decided to make "Sweet Life", a really cute pattern.

One of the things I love about this particular pattern, is that it really shows of your fabric.

I have a collection of Bonnie and Camille's fabric.

Conicidentaly, my kitchen is decorated in red and aqua.

These are my fabric selections.

I'm so happy that I'm dipping into my fabric stash!

That's the reason I have one, I'm not crazy about the fabric selections at the local quilt shops.  

I stock up on cute fabric when I visit my children in Utah :)

Here are the finished blocks.

The finished blocks are 18" square.

I'm looking forward to machine quilting it really soon :)

I wanted the middle square to be the focal point.

I fussy cut one of the fabrics and it was the perfect size!

Here's a closeup.

 It almost looks like applique, doesn't it?

I'll post more photos when I get the table topper quilted and bound.

Peppermint Pizzaz, quilted!

I wrote about this "Peppermint Pizzaz" table topper here,

 a few weeks ago. 

This is what I need to machine quilt, the foot, my grippy gloves that make my arms tense :) and of course my quilt.  

I think it took about 5 hours to quilt.

There, it's all quilted!

Now I cut off the batting, flush with the edge of the quilt.

Sew the binding on.

Handstitch the binding onto the back of the quilt.

Yeah, it's finished!  Always a great feeling :)

I wanted the peppermints to stand out a little, so I machine quilted in the ditch.  I quilted jigsaw shapes on the rest of the quilt.

I stitched in the ditch with the pinwheel stars, and the squares outlining them.

I just love the fabric I chose for the back, and I love the horizontal striped binding.

Quilts always look more beautiful after they are quilted :)