Nautical Octagon quilt

You'll notice this quilt looks a lot like the last quilt that I posted. That's because when I made the last quilt, I let the kids cut a bunch of triangles with my AccuQuilt Go without doing any math. This quilt is the result of having way too many triangles!!

What I love about this quilt is that at first it looks like random triangles. But as you get closer you can see they are actually octagons!

I did free motion and ruler work quilting on this one and I'm quite proud of how it turned out. I really wanted to set those octagons off with the quilting because they are so "low volume". 

The binding is fabrics from within the octagons.

And the back is more of the same.

I'm quite proud of this quilt in general because it was the first time I developed my own pattern. I had these triangles and wanted to make an octagon without doing any Y seams. It was quite an interesting process, but it came together well!! 

You can find this quilt for sale on my etsy shop.

Quilt stats:

Quilt name: Nautical Octagon baby quilt

Pattern: none - my own

Fabrics: stash

Finished size: 37"x37"

Finished: 3.2017

Boomerang quilt

I have another boomerang quilt to share. This one's pattern is from Jaybird Quilts. I loved her take in only solids so I decided to do all solids as well. I used Moda Blueberry Thicket bunch for this and added navy for the outside.

Once the quilt top was put together un-quilted, I realized it need custom quilting or the pattern was going to disappear.

So I took my knowledge of ruler work on a domestic which I've learned from Amy Johnson and got to work!

Some of these boomerangs were done free motion and some were straight lined.

This was definitely an exercise in patience! It took me a few weeks on my little Bernina, but I had Orange is the New Black to keep me entertained. I think I'm one of the last people to have watched that show! Haha!

But I'm glad I did it, and am thrilled with the results. And - my quilting skills definitely improved throughout the top! The back is one big wideback. It needed to be simple after the detail on the front!

I took this to the park for a photoshoot and the kids ran around like crazy while I took photos...

This one is definitely staying with me for the time being. It's going to be a while before I'm ready to part with this I think!

Quilt stats:

Quilt name: Blueberry Boomerang

Pattern: Boomerang by JayBird Quilts

Fabrics: Blueberry Thicket Moda Bundle
Finished size: 56" by 72"

Finished: September 2016

My christmas quilt - a bee quilt with lessons

Last year I joined the Bee Hive quilting bee run by Blossom Heart Quilts and got put in a wonderful hive of women. We got along so great last year we decided to keep going this year!  More about that later though. My month to bee queen was August and I decided to make a Christmas quilt since I still don't have one. I chose the Ripples Block in red, green and black.  And I'm so thrilled with how this came out! Though it wasn't without drama.

I decided since this was a quilt I would bring out once a year that I wanted to so some special quilting on it. I have also been taking  Amy Johnson's Craftsy class "Quilting With Rulers on a Home Machine" and wanted to try out my new skills. By the way, the class is wonderful! I loved it so much I'm taking her 2nd class. And here are the results!

I even used a sparkly thread for those stars. It was very finicky to work with, but the sparkle it adds was totally worth it. It was very hard to photograph and capture it, but I tried...

The drama came in when I washed it. When the quilt came out, it had bled ALL over. This was despite having about 6 Color Catchers in the wash with it.

 This is one small area, but the entire thing looked like this. I literally stood in my laundry room and cried! All the work my bee mates and put into it and all the work I had done quilting and it was a MESS! Then I hit up the internet.  People recommended a product called Synthropol which is apparently sold in quilt shops. However, it was Sunday evening so that wasn't going to happen.  A friend from my guild told me that Blue Dawn has the same chemical make up as Synthropol and what it does is keep the dies in the water from adhering to your fabric.  So I got out a big plastic bin and filled it with water, Dawn, my quilt and a bunch of color catchers. I let it soak overnight and in the morning, dumped out the pink water and pulled out the color catchers which were dark pink.   I soaked it again all day and this time the water ran clear.  I let the quilt line dry and to my immense relief it looks SO much better!

There are a couple of small spots, but for the most part, you'd have to be looking for them to see them.  And the lesson I've learned going forward... add 1 cup of white vinegar to your wash load with a fresh quilt. It will also keep the dyes from sticking to your quilt!

So back to the photos. Here are some more close ups of my quilting...

 The back still needs its label (i have it ready!)

And the binding is a fun polka dot.

Many thanks to the ladies in my bee hive. They did tremendous work! I almost hate to put it away until Christmas!!

Quilt stats:

Quilt name: Christmas Ripple

Pattern: Ripple Block

Fabrics: scrappy
Finished size: 48" x 60"

Finished: April 2016

A little boy Boomerang quilt.

**This quilt is for sale in my Etsy shop right here**

I've been wanting to make the Boomerang Pattern from Crazy Old Ladies for a while now. I'm trying to pay more attention to "my style" and I'm definitely drawn to more graphic, geometric quilts.

 

Probably over a year ago, I saw this little monster fabric and just had to have it. Since then, I've been collecting what I would call "little boy" fabrics with no specific purpose.

Aren't those monsters adorable? (there are also lady bugs and pandas)

Then inspiration struck and I knew this pattern would be great to show these fabrics and still keep the quilt masculine.

The dinosaurs are my absolute favorite

I didn't have enough "novelty" fabrics so I hit up my stash to fill out the requirements for this quilt.

Backing with flannel is my new favorite thing and I found the most adorable 'monster' flannel!

 And sure enough, as I was putting this one together, my 4 year old little boy (he's four!?) was totally drawn to this and kept asking if he could have it! Of course he could have it, but then he didn't understand that he had to wait until it was finished!

 

I think I've mentioned before that my quilty goal for this year is to improve my quilting skills. I've been taking this Craftsy class  from Amy Johnson and got all the gear to start ruler work on my domestic. This quilt had to be a guinea pig!

I used one of the Westalee rulers that is intended for concentric designs but put them on end instead within the "boomerangs".  (btw- this company has the BEST customer service)

And I just used my walking foot for the straight lines.

Binding is all polka dots.

I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out. My son is already snuggling with this one and that's really all that matters.

Quilt stats:

Quilt name: Monster Boomerangs

Pattern: Boomerang by Emily Herrick

Fabrics: The Littles plus stash
Finished size: 58" by 70"

Finished: February 2016