Blogger's Quilt Festival: Purple and Yellow Quilt

My second choice to enter into the Blogger's Quilt Festival is what I have referred to as my Purple and Yellow Quilt. Perhaps I should really name it someday...maybe something like Purple Flowers and Sunshine. Any ideas are welcomed. :)

I made this quilt for a niece and I just knew I wanted it to be purple and yellow and I only wanted to use what was in my stash. I definitely had my reservations while making it, but once it was finally all together, I decided that I liked it. A lot.

This is possibly my favorite backing fabric ever. It is so vibrant! This is a baby quilt and it measures 30"x 30".

I'm linking up at the Blogger's Quilt Festival and assigning this quilt to the Two-Color category. Check out all the beautiful quilts and vote for your favorites. Remember there are several categories to browse!

Blogger Quilt Festival- Rainbow Starburst

This is my first entry into the Blogger's Quilt Festival. It's an exciting step for me! I'm entering my favorite quilt so far: Rainbow Starburst.

This was my eighth quilt and it took me about twenty hours- marathon style. It was a Christmas quilt for my four year old daughter. It measured 60" x 60".

She picked out ALL the fabrics and I was trying to figure out how to use ALL the fabrics she had chosen and still make it "all colors and pink."

I loved and still love the lone star pattern and I thought well...maybe just maybe I could use the same colors for each row although I was using different fabrics. 

I couldn't find a lot of examples of doing that to see what it might look like...so I just dove in.

 And I fell in love. 

I love scrappy quilts. Then in my head, I decided to add the background bursts and and outline the lonestar in yellow and purple. Those two steps probably contributed to half the time in making it. But it was so worth it.

So I know pieced backs are all the rage and although I really like them, this back was made out of pure necessity. I truly lacked that much for the backing. 

I'm linking up with Amy's Creative Side who is hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Please check out all the quilts and vote for your favorite! 

And if you are a visitor, welcome and hope you'll stay and look around. Have a wonderful day!

The Quilt That Started It All

 Sadly, I missed blogging about my 1 year anniversary of quilting. 

I made my very first quilt just over a year ago.

I never followed quilting blogs and I didn't know anyone who quilted. 

On a whim in JoAnn fabric, I saw the beautiful batiks and picked out a quilting book. 

I had always wanted to learn how to quilt. Always. Just one of those things.

I thought to myself, "By Golly, I'm going to learn. I'm just going to do it."

I was sixteen weeks pregnant and at the time did not know the gender of our baby. I picked out girl colors. It took me twenty hours.

And much to my surprise: $80.

I was so happy with it and I learned so much. 

 I'm still happy quilting.

 I'm still learning.

 I'm continuing to grow.

And I still LOVE those batiks.

And I love the little girl who gets wrapped up and snuggled in it every day.

Hexagon Bandwagon

So, I had been reading everywhere that EPP (English Paper Piecing) was an excellent on-the-go, portable quilting solution. 

Well, the last few months, I've been on the go and figured I'd give hexagons a try.  And the verdict is: They're right.

 And it's fun, too.

I'm only using up my scraps. These are one inch hexagons and they require approximately a 2.5" x 2.5" scrap each. I'm doing them in values so I don't have to think too hard and just put them together. Also, I don't consider this to be apart of my WIP pile. This is leisurely sewing with no deadline for me. 

I'm pleased and proud to report that my stitching is getting smaller and smaller. I found the tighter and smaller the stitches, the less they show on the front.

And I must confess, this is not pure EPP. I baste using this fabric glue stick, instead of thread. I'm so happy with it, I doubt I'll ever waste my time try it the other way.

If you're sitting on the fence about trying it. Go for it! 

Old Churn Dash

Now, how fun is this?

This was donated to be a part of our Relief Society project to make lap quilts for those in nursing homes.

And I know this will hurt some of your hearts out there.... but this started as a full-size top! 

To stay true to the cause, we unstitched and divided it to make three lap-size quilts. 

Hard...but good.

Did you notice the devil's block? 

(I've heard it be called many things...what do you call it?)

Such fun bright colors! And all hand-stitched.  I debated whether to finish it off, but decided to let someone else go after it. I have been on the road alot lately and, sadly, haven't been sewing much.