My Two $ .25 Experiments

Well, I made two small, lap-sized quilts from the nice thrift store scraps. I paid $2 for the sizable bag of mostly coordinating fabric. I thought it would be wonderful to be able to just "play around" without the risk of ruining favorite or expensive fabric. I also used up left-over scraps of batting that I pieced together and I also used up fabric for the backing that I had no plans for. I figure I'm out about fifty cents for these two quilts. 

And the time it took to make them. :)

For this one, I just cut the width of the scraps and pieced them together brick-like.

I wanted to try some micro-suede that I had for the backing because I was curious to know how good it would be for quilts. It's so soft and cuddly and warm...and polyester. Which I already knew! But I have about ten yards of it left from when I sewed cloth diapers several years ago and want to use it up!

So it didn't turn out so well. This was after close pin-basting and using a walking foot. 

It was so slick and slippery, even though it is fuzzy on the one side.

Lesson learned.  

Anyone interested in about 9 yards of micro-suede?

This one turned out much better. I used the entire strip of each of these scraps, sewed them together and then put the two borders on. Not a lot of wastage. I like the white and blue together, even with this old fabric.

I decided to use some white flannel that I have a lot of and to try my hand again with free-motion quilting.

The first time I tried was about seven months ago. It was on my third quilt ever...king size...with an all-over paisley design. Need I say more? It's still scrunched in my closet. I still harbor ill feelings toward it.

This time I only broke two needles and broke the thread twice.

(I hear those are common issues when first learning to free motion quilt.)

Yes, I'm proud I ONLY broke two...especially compared to my earlier experience.

It looks extra puckery because it is. The batting is the nearly paper thin cotton from Walmart and shrinks considerably. I have since learned there is major difference in batting quality. But I wanted to use up the scraps, because I still paid for it once upon a time.

I am very happy with the results and am motivated to keep practicing to get better...and hopefully break less needles. 

So I guess this quilt cost me about a quarter and two needles.

I think I got a good deal.

Linking up:
Finish It Up Friday
TGIFF
Free Motion Friday

A Stitch in Time- June

Not This Decade's Color Palette

Anyone ever have to deal with polished cotton? It's really stiff like its been starched heavily, but feels better after it is washed. It was interesting to sew with such stiff pieces. I'm dating this fabric to the early nineties, maybe? I got a whole big bag of scraps of it at a thrift store for $2.00. I'm guessing I got about four or five yards worth of big strips of scraps. It's nice fabric, not my taste, but nice fabric. I'm just playing around with them and having fun without worrying about wasting or ruining fabric. It's nice. And fun.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at www.freshlypieced.com

WIP Manly Quilt..hmmm

 

Well, this quilt was starting to disappoint me, so I folded it up and put in a bag for a couple of weeks. I apologize for the wrinkly photo. But I needed to distance myself and I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do with it.

 

It's half way pieced at this point. I'm still not sold on the pattern in combination with my fabric choices. I have too many fabrics that are the same value and the zig-zag across the quilt is not as prominent as I wanted. Imagine replacing the gray with black.  Because the color value is not as defined, the quilt gives my eyes a headache.

 

Not until I took pictures this morning did I notice the top right had some problems! There is a group of ten blocks turned upside down in the top right hand corner....hmm maybe that's why it's giving me an even bigger headache. I sewed it wrong!  I'll be needing to rip those out...but I may just keep going. I have this problem with when I make a quilt, I really want to love it.

Linking up: 

WIP Wednesday

WOW 

Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Follow my blog with Bloglovin


This is Bloglovin's mandatory post...sorry to bore you.

Purple Chevron FINISHED

Alright! All finished and already given away! 

See, lighting makes all the difference for those yellows.  They really weren't that bad. :)

I love the back fabric.

 Linking with Quilt Story Fabric Tuesday, TGIFF and Link a Finish Friday 

http://emsewandsew.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-stitch-in-time-june-finishes-linky.html

 

Rainbow Lone Star Quilt

This rainbow lone star quilt is my favorite so far.

I love the colors.

I love the star.

I love the scrappiness.

I love the borders.

I love the history behind some of the fabrics. The hunter green is from the scraps my mother used to make me a dress when I was about 8 years old.

I made it for my daughter who is four years old.

She requested pink and rainbows. She also nearly handpicked every fabric in it, because she "wanted it all" in her quilt. It took alot of brainstorming to figure out how I was going to use the fabrics she requested and it be coherent.

While I love pieced backs done on purpose, I truly lacked that much fabric and I took my leftovers to complete it.

Linking up with Show and Tell Tuesday

WIP Purple Chevron

Thank you to everyone who gave me some input about the arrangement of the half square triangles! I was amazed how there could be so many designs from such a simple block. And I know there are a lot more, too!

Chevrons won, but mostly because the recipient's mother cast her vote. I'm hoping to get this finished up tonight to give tomorrow to my precious niece.

Just in case the previous pictures were too mustard yellow, I took out a lot of the darker yellows and replaced them with softer ones and also added a lot more of the purple with pink flowers to make it a little more cohesive. Sometimes I think I get a little too scrap happy. I'm hoping I can get some better pictures with natural lighting when I'm done.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday

Pieced by my Mom

This quilt has a special history. It was pieced by my mom back in the early 90s and we found it stashed in her sewing supplies.  I just recently quilted and bound it for her.

My mom has only tried piecing a handful of times. She gets embarrassed that her blocks don't match up. I don't know about y'all, but I don't see the imperfections so much. I think it's beautiful and that she did a great job. I especially love the colors, even if they are 90s fabric. I'm happy to report she was thrilled that it was finished and how the quilting turned out.

On an even more special note, the backing is from fabric she had that belonged to her own grandmother that I never met.

When I see this quilt, I see women I love.

Linking up with Link a Finish Friday.

Half-square Triangle Designs

Here are some hastily made versions (some blocks are not turned correctly, this is due to me wanting to try many configurations and there are 100 blocks to turn). Let me know which is your favorite. This will be a baby quilt for a sweet little girl. By the way, the lighting is bad, so the yellow is not as nauseating as it looks here.

Pink Lone Star Baby Quilt

Linking up with  Quilt Story

This small baby quilt is still one of my favorites, despite all the imperfections.

I had seen this Lone Star quilt pattern several times on the internet and fell absolutely in love with it. 

Everywhere I had read had the same message: it's not for beginners. Well, this beginner had at it! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! 

I have since made several more that are throw sized. I am smitten with this pattern. 

The diamonds are 1 1/4" wide.

This one is small and measures around 33" by 33".

WIP - Manly Quilt

This one is for my husband. However, the colors are not turning out the way I'd hoped. I like the combination of "manly colors," but the over-all color value is a little off for the quilt design. 

I'm just going to hope for the best and keep going. I'm hoping the quilting design I have in mind will make the design pop like I'm wanting it to.

I'm linking up with 

Wip Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Check out everyone's hard work!

Patchwork Baby Quilt

I made this for our newest addition.

It's the perfect size to use for her carrier when we go out and about. It measures about 32" x32".

 It took about four hours start to finish, so it was a nice "quick" finish!

I had a rough time machine quilting it, my fabric kept getting bunched when I'd cross an area already quilted. I echoed on both sides of the seams.

I used mostly a Birds and Berries charm pack by Moda and the backing is from the Power Pop line.