Mom's Quilt

I finished a quick Verna Charm Square quilt for my mother this Christmas.  She has been begging for a quilt and has even purchased fabric for me to make one for her.  The muse hasn't told me how to make a quilt with her particular fabric yet but I ALWAYS know how to make a Verna quilt and a Charm Square quilt!  So I patched these babies together and sewed my little heart out in order to give it to her on Christmas Day.

This is the first pieced back I've made.  I just had to use those pink owls out of my stash since they have been hooting at me for a year now from the shelf!  I tried to quilt it with light pink thread but the thread kept breaking.  Due to my rush, I switched to white to get it done.

My favorite part is the binding.  The fabric is an Alexander Henry stripe.  Delish!

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Placemats and Potholders

Here is a better picture
For the potholders, I added a small hanging loop when I attached the binding.  Here is a close-up of how I had to figure that process out by trial and error:

Many of you commented that you like to see both the good and bad side of quilting.  So I decided to let this "bad" loop stand.  I wanted to show you that it's not that big of a deal.  It's a handmade item and it's ok for it to look like a handmade item.  Now I've learned a better way of doing the loop (the one on the right) so I'll know for the future.

Basically, the first loop I did, I tried to sew the binding behind the loop.  The second one, I sewed the binding onto the loop itself.  In both cases, I machine sewed the loop onto the raw corner of the quilt sandwich first.  I'm sorry I didn't take pics of this process at the time.  I was racing to get it done and sent out to the winner.

I have lots more pictures to share on the blog since I bought a new camera for Christmas!  Stay tuned for updates including the quick Verna quilt I made for my mom for Christmas, the completed Verna quilt I made for myself, and more progress pictures of the Michael Miller Christmas quilt I'm still working on for the Old Red Barn Co quilt-along.

Have a wonderful day!

Edited to add:
A post on Twitter helped me to realize that this placemat project is very similar to a Rachel Griffith Moda Bake Shop tutorial for a table runner.  This was completely unintentional and I have removed the placemat instructions in an effort not to offend anyone!  I am a huge fan of both the Moda Bake Shop and Rachel Griffith of ps I quilt.  I came up with these placemats when Sew, Mama, Sew announced their giveaway.  At the time I was working on my Michael Miller Christmas quilt and had some leftover jelly roll strips but not alot of time.  My sister had recommended giving away placemats as a tie-in with my first Moda Bake Shop placemat recipe that same week.  Great!  I'll just sew these strips together quick and easy.  It never occurred to me that someone had created and posted a design putting strips together as a placemat.  So if I stepped on anyone's toes, please accept my heartfelt apology!  As you can see from my blog archives, I try always to give credit to fabric, pattern, and tutorial designers whenever I make something with them.  Thanks!

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Khaki Quilt, Flag Quilt, Verna Quilt - Updates!

I have lots of quilting goodies to catch up on. I've been lazy about taking pics, and really who wants to read a blog post with no pics?

First of all, I'm almost done with the Khaki quilt (can we think of a more boring name please?). Just have to hand-sew binding to the back:


Many quilt bloggers seem to have a problem with cats on their quilts while taking pictures. I've always thought that was kind of funny. Like the cats have nothing else better to do than get in the way of a photo shoot. Well, apparently it's true:


Also, while my machine was in for service, I used a friend's machine to make a simple flag wall hanging. I haven't quilted it yet, but I'll go ahead and share a picture of it. The stars are hand appliqued using an easy technique. Put cheap muslin and your feature fabric right sides together. Sew them together in your shape (ie, complete star), cut it out leaving a small seam allowance. Cut slit into the muslin (CAREFUL not to cut your feature fabric!). Turn inside out and press. Now you can applique the shape on without fiddling with that pesky turn-under seam allowance.


Here is a close-up of one star:


Next I have been working on a Verna quilt. For those of you who haven't heard me shout it from the rooftops yet, "I LOVE KATE SPAIN'S VERNA FABRIC!!!!" So I went to her blog to tell her that. Just my luck, I encountered yet another blog giveaway that I was not going to win. I entered it anyway, because, c'mon, it's KATE SPAIN's VERNA! And... I WON! I received the Layer Cake and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I wanted to showcase the fabrics with a simple patch quilt design but then add a new technique to it by trying prairie points for the first time. I had been inspired by this Moda Bake Shop quilt.

So far I have sewn together the layer cake squares:


And pressed some of the points:


And as if that isn't enough, I have also cut the fabric for a quilt I'm making for our beloved babysitter. She is graduating from high school on Saturday! Obviously it won't be done in time, so thank goodness she lives across the street :-) I will post pics of that when I make more progress on it.

Whew! So, you see there? I have been quilting and fabric-loving since you heard from me last. I've just been lazy about posting it. To be honest, I enjoy reading everyone else's blogs more than updating my own!

If you're a quilter and/or fabric-lover like me, hop on over to Sew,Mama,Sew to check out their huge Giveaway Day.

Have a great week everyone!

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