Little House QAL - Block 7 - Little Town on the Prairie

It's been quite some time since my last Little House QAL update, but I am, finally, continuing on. I finished the rest of my blocks up through block 7, and I did everything except the applique for blocks 8 and 9.

And here it is! Block 7!

Grayson Andrew - Quilt #4

This is the fourth quilt, and it's the last of the quilts for the next generation! With this one done, I was able to gift all four to the kiddos on Christmas!

This was the completed version of Grayson Andrew's quilt top. Again, I used a jelly roll, and bound it with extra strips. I quilted in the ditch again.

Here's all four hanging outside my parent's house. So exciting! And the best part is that they all loved them!

Pattern: Jitterbug from Pam and Nicky Lintott's "Layer Cake, Jelly Roll, and Charm Quilts" book, with an adapted border. I made the border 2" squares, mostly patterned, instead of 2x4" rectangles, alternating patterned and white.

Little House QAL - Block 6 - The Long Winter

Today I bring you Block 6 of the Little House QAL. As has been the case with all the others, I've actually been making multiple blocks, and we'll see how they all get put together at the end, but I'm delaying a mention of more details for the sake of the pattern designer.

Little House QAL - Block 5 - By the Shores of Silver Lake

Today's post brings you Block 5 in this journey of the Little House QAL.

However, on an unrelated note, happy Stitches West, everyone! As this is published, I am likely finishing up my purchases at the amazing Stitches West, to be detailed in a later weekly post!

Little House QAL - Block 4 - On the Banks of Plum Creek

As we move along, I present to you this week Block 4
of the Little House QAL!

Little House QAL - Block 2 - Little Farmer Boy

Taking a step back in time, I bring you Block 2 of the Little House QAL, which I had put off due to some fabric decisions. Here I present to you the finished product!

Little House QAL - Block 3 - Little House on the Prairie

You might have noticed that I skipped Block 2 on this one - I'm still trying to decide on fabrics!

In the mean time, here's Block 3 of the Little Houe QAL!

Little House QAL - Fabric Change

Original Fabrics

A few weeks ago, I posted about starting the Little House QAL, and I left you with a picture of the fabrics I had ordered.













Well, I absolutely detest the base color on the right - according to the website, it was a deep brown, but it's certainly black in person. So, I ordered a replacement color - a brown with green speckles. It'll be a different effect, for sure, but I'm optimistic.

However, because I ordered this new fabric, I wasn't able to complete block 2 in time, since the fabric hadn't arrived yet. Instead, I leave you with this fabric update.

Little House QAL - Block 1 - Little House in the Big Woods

I've finished Block 1 of my Little House Quilt-Along. This block was posted on the class, and I'm not sure how much I can post about it, since it is a paid class, but I will say I'm excited to see what happens next! 

We made two types of this block, and different amounts of each type (again, I'm avoiding saying too much!).

Stay tuned for next week!

Little House QAL

Last year, I updated you as I participated in the Sophie's Universe Crochet-a-Long, put on by Dedri's blog over at Look At What I Made. I loved it. This year, I'm participating in something similar - A Quilt Along, put on by Ebony Love at LoveBug Studios. This will be the biggest quilt I've ever made, by an order of magnitude, and I still haven't the faintest idea how I'm going to quilt it.

I'm participating along with a few friends from home, and I'm very excited to see how all of ours turn out!

Here are the fabrics I'll be using. I'm not sure how I feel about the one in the front - it's supposed to be dark brown, but it's definitely black - so I might be switching it out. Either way, the first post is today, and I'm excited to get started!

Updates:

• Block 1 - January 17
• Fabric Change - January 24
• Block 3 - January 31
• Block 2 - February 7
• Block 4 - February 14
• Block 5 - February 21
• Block 6 - February 28
• Block 7 - April 3

Owen Luke - Quilt #3

In keeping with the other two quilts I made for Ellie and Caleb, I bring to you the completed version of Owen Luke's quilt!

This was quilted in the ditch, and I added a few extra quilting lines, such as a diamonds running down the blue border and the completed diamonds inside each red square (even if the blue diamond lines were missing).

Over all, I loved how this baby came out!

Pattern: Snowball Sampler from Pam and Nicky Lintott's "Jelly Roll Sampler Quilts," with an added 2' border for extra size.

Quilt Top #4 - Grayson

Well, I took a month off.

And it was wonderful.

I needed that.  I really needed that.  I remembered why I loved creating in the first place - the job of seeing something completed!  The texture between your hands!  I missed that.  Focusing so much on making things for Christmas and this blog really sucked a lot of the joy out of it these past few months, with everything else going on - knitting began to feel like a chore.

Alas, here I am, ready to return to the blog!  You must know that I still am mostly working on Christmas things, and so I'm still going to have trouble making my weekly post time because of that, but I feel much more ready to take on the challenge now.

The school year is underway and I'm back on my feet!

And so, without further ado, today I present you with my most recent quilt top, for one mister Grayson.  This is the final of the four quilts I'm planning to complete for the next generation, hopefully to present around Christmas, but since I know those little buggers won't see these posts, I'm gonna go ahead and show you!

I chose the "Jitterbug" pattern from another quilt book, also by Pam and Nicki Lintott, called "Layer Cake, Jelly Roll, and Charm Quilts."  This was my first non-scrappy style quilt, and though I like the way it came out, I still wish I had been able to find a good background color that wasn't white.

Well, hopefully I'll get to quilting these last two soon so they can be done in the next two months, but in the mean time, I'll be back to a mostly-regular Wednesday post! (This relaxation on the schedule is to keep my own peace of mind!)

PS: If I know you in real life, could you please comment on this post?  I'd like to know whose Christmas gifts I can post here and whose I can't!

Eleanor Louise - Second Quilt!

Here it is, my completed second quilt for the lovely Ellie, made from this top!

This was quilted in the ditch, and ended up being about 60x60", the same as the first quilt.

I used an off-brand jelly toll for the stars, and purchased an off-white background fabric, a blue backing, and a green binding.

Again, I made the label with an old Jelly Roll scrap.

Pattern: Star Sampler from Pam and Nicky Lintott's "Jelly Roll Sampler Quilts"

PS: Bonus points if you can find the mistake I fixed between the first post and this one.

Quilt Top #3 - Owen

A few weeks ago, you saw my first completed quilt.  Then, you saw a second quilt top, ready to be quilted.

Well, you'd be happy to know that I finished the quilting and am currently binding that quilt.  It should be up and at-em for you by next week.

In the mean time, I'm moving.  The good news: I might end up with a sewing "room."  The bad news?  I can't find anything.

You'll have to do this week with an update of my third quilt top, for one Owen, the second of that up-and-coming generation.

Here's the beauty!  Though it's not 60x60 like the other two, it has nearly the same square inch count, and I think it'll work anyway!

PS: Bonus points if you can find the mistake in the second quilt top! (I fixed it, don't worry).

Quilt Top #2 - Ellie

Two weeks ago, I posted about my first completed quilt for the newest addition to the Mister's family.  I also mentioned briefly in my post about the Sampler Hot Pad that I had accumulated two more quilt tops that I hadn't quilted yet.

Here's the funny thing.  I was so worried about catching up on all of my posts, since I was still posting Christmas gifts until March.  Well, I'm not exactly caught up yet, but I can't post any of my more recent completions, because they're for Christmas this year.  Ah, well.  I suppose that's the way it will have to be.  You'll hear about them in February!

In the mean time, I shall enlighten you on the second quilt top I made.

After making the quilt for Caleb, the newest addition, I realized that he's only the fourth kiddo in this new generation, and that if I hurry, I might be able to make three more before any new ones pop out!  I began with the oldest, and chose another 60x60 pattern with another Jelly Roll.  I had planned to have it done for her fourth birthday, but alas, it was not to be.  It's alright, though, because my next goal is to have all four completed for the big family Christmas this year.

Here's a photo of the quilt-top, freshly basted to the backing.  I chose a nice bright blue for the back to pull out the blue-tones in the front colors and to keep it from being overly girly.  Hopefully she likes it.  She's the only one who's really old enough to have an opinion!

I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to make a Jelly-Roll binding for this one as well, but if I can, I certainly will.

In the mean time, enjoy the pretty colors!

Caleb Liam - First Completed Quilt!

It's been over a year.  If you've been following this blog at all, you've probably been wondering what happened to The Quilt I made for the new baby.  Well, here it is.

Quilting had been seriously difficult.  Seriously.  I tried to machine quilt in stipple, and ripped it all out.  I tried long arm quilting at the local store, and never really got a chance to try, and finally gave up.  Then, after another few months, I finally decided to give in-the-ditch a try on a sampler hot-pad from stash fabrics.  I gave in a cheater binding, took a deep breath, and began on the quilt.

Over a month later, I finally had the result.  I quilted on my home machine in-the-ditch for most of it, and then made a quick triangle-like pattern for the linking blocks that I repeated in the border.

The quilting ended up being a little bunchy on the edges, but a friend let me use her basting spray for the borders, which I understand is cheating, but it made such a huge difference and I absolutely mean to use it next time!  Besides, it was my first quilt, and instead of ripping it out for the third time, I decided to let it go!


I wasn't sure what to do about the label for a long time, since there are 3 other kids in this generation that I'm making quilts for, in order to catch up for all the new babies, and I wanted to include true birth dates, but also dates of completion.  I eventually decided on the design you can see below, which had the added benefit of fitting on scraps of Jelly-Roll strips.

I also used Jelly-Roll Scraps to make a scrappy binding, and I love that!

Anyway, let me know what you think!  And I can't wait to give this to the little one!

Hot Pad

I still have not gotten up the courage to quilt the top that I made back in May (yes, I do mean a year ago).

In the mean time, however, I have accumulated two more quilt tops and am working on my third.  (I decided not to publish each of those since I am trying to catch up, as I alluded to last week.)

So, with all of these tops stacking up, and the babies all born and growing older, I decided that I had to conquer my fears somehow, and whipped up a one-block sandwich with some scraps to practice quilting in the ditch.  Hey, I had to start somewhere.

I quilted it, did cheater binding, and decided I felt proficient enough to try to quilt for the third time.  (Yes, I have quilted a few blocks and then ripped it out a few times.  Please don't judge.)

We'll see how it goes, but in the mean time, here's out household's newest hot pad!


(Bonus points if you can figure out where the scraps are from!)

T-shirt Quilt

My Fiance, Randall, and I decided to make a T-shirt quilt together!  A few Saturdays ago, we got together and went through all of our t-shirts and planned them all out.  He's been helping me pin and cut while I've been doing most of the sewing.  It's nowhere near done, but it's a start!  I'll keep you posted!