Sweet Little Nine Patch

I started this quilt almost a year ago. Although extremely simple it is one of my absolute favorites. 

My original plan was to make my Mother a set of placemats for Christmas but once I started making these tiny nine patches I couldn't stop.  They finished at 3.5 inches and were a cinch to make with strip piecing.  I did myself a favor though and cut my strips in half and that made a huge difference in ripples.  I mean ... NO ripples!  I learn a little with each quilt I finish and my lesson with this one is to use shorter strips and alternate the sewing direction with strip piecing.  Such a big difference!

After I while I'd hit my limit with the cuteness and just sewed all my patches into an Irish chain pattern.  The result was a quilt that is 40" x 46" , just perfect for a couch and a lap. 

My label on the back :)

For the first time I  hand quilted with quilting thread instead of Perle cotton and I love the finer, daintier look.  Chunky is fun and cool for some quilts but I felt this one was a little more refined. 

My progress pictures on my instagram account so you can check them out there ... along with all my gratuitous doggie pics.  

I'm linking up to the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side in the hand quilted category.  Take a hop over there and join the fun. 

Woodland Animals Baby Quilt

My cousin is having her fist baby next month and she and her husband aren't finding out the baby's gender. How fun is that nowadays!?  One of nature's most wonderful surprises :).  Her shower was last Sunday and I was so excited to give her a quilt that was practically still warm from the dryer. 

37" x 52"   ~~  Hands and feet are an illusion.

The colors for their nursery are brown, tan and cream with the theme of woodland animals.  Awwww ... can you say "cute??"  I found the woodland animal print at Joann Fabrics and that led to a simple patchwork quilt filled with the beautiful colors and some framed blocks with fussy cut woodland animals. 

Baby quilts are so fun and enjoyable to sew.  Small enough to layout and quilt easy enough, yet can be large enough to show off a pattern.

Quilting lines in place

Hand quilted with perle cotton #12.

I posted most of the progress pictures on my instagram feed if you would care to follow the (mis)adventures of me and my Rottweiler in our quilting journey.  She's still my assistant but she has slowed down recently.  Most of her help comes from the sidelines now as she is loath to get off of her orthopedic bed.  I've really gotten into the habit of only posting my finished quilts on this blog.  I feel like over the years I've pretty much touched on every topic I can in a quilting blog so I was starting repeats.  Also, it's such a hassle to drag out my real camera to take pretty pictures and then hook it up to the real computer, download, etc. etc.  My iPhone does take nice pictures but for some reason they always looked washed out and grainy on here.  Why???

I think you should move the polka dot print over one space

The big reveal!  It  was a hit :)

The Waiting for Craig Quilt

Another finished quilt and another learning experience.  I do start each quilt with the hope that this will be the “perfect” one.  Perfect points, perfect color combinations, perfect seams, perfect everything.  I think that is what keeps me going despite my disappointments.This is not that quilt for me.  

56" x 71"

The things I learned from this quilt:

Lesson #1.  I don’t like sewing with pre-cut packs.  These blocks sprung from a layer cake I had won and a Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial for making church dash blocks.    I just don’t like the hodge podge of matching prints.  Same prints, different colors.  Different colors, same prints.  Solids that are the exact colors of the prints.  So booooooring.  I added black sashing to try and give it a more cohesive look and I think that did help a little.   
 

Lesson #2.  I don’t like big blocks.  These blocks finished at over 13” and they just seem so bloated and large.  Ok … I'll admit that’s how I feel most of the time so maybe a little transference was going on there.  

Bloated.  Right??  Quilted with Perle Cotton #12

I did take the time to hand quilt and gave each center a different look (that's actually kinda cool).  It involved twirling the large quilt around in a circle on my lap all night while dodging a dog head that wanted to lay on it constantly. 

Is it my eyes or is this blurry?

If you're wondering about the name it's because I had the layer cake and the five inch solid squares sitting by my machine and every time I was all-dressed-up-and-ready-to-go-but-waiting-for-Craig I’d work on a block.  It’s an OK quilt and I’m leaving it at that.  I feel a little sorry for it now that I’ve downplayed its appearance so much.  Craig loves it and it’s his now, he thought it was worth the wait :)

I love how Craig is always up for a photoshoot :)