Giant Rainbow Quilt - Pattern Testing

I recently had the privilege of testing a quilt pattern for Susan of Crafterhours fame.  Lots of fun!

I made mine a twin size quilt for my oldest, Ben (14).  He picked out the fabrics, all from Windham Fabrics (thank you!!)  The rainbow, binding and backing fabrics are from the Broken Stripes line and the gray is a cross-weave.  The print fabrics were great to work with but the cross-weave is amazing.  A totally different look than printed quilting cotton.  I can't wait to get my hands on some more!

The pattern turned out great.  I worked with a great team of ladies who all tested the pattern, gave feedback and in turn Susan changed and tweaked the pattern so it's worth it.  Buy it here.

I had fun taking these photos at the Blue Heron Reserve with my kids.  Though the older two were rather embarrassed by the whole thing.  So they are getting tall enough to hold my quilts but not they don't want to.  Hmm... must find tall friends I think.

This photo shows the crazy back.  It really was  a crazy fabric pick by Ben but I think it turned out rather well in the end.  If you want to see what the other testers came up with look over here.

And if you are ever visiting Chilliwack, BC, the Great Blue Heron Reserve is a wonderful place to spend some time in God's creation.

Baby Chevron Quilt

Tap, tap, anyone out there?  Anyone still read little blogs like this one?

I'm popping in to show you a recent finish.  Not that I haven't finished other things but I actually went to a park to take photos of this one.

This quilt started out with some 6.5 inch charms from a swap at last years' Quilt Retreat.  The girls and I went through the stash during Christmas break and found some other fabrics that would work well and then we started cutting and piecing.  Melisssa did the initial approximate cutting.  Then she and Deanna drew lines diagonally across then and paired them up with the grays.

Carolin, only 7 years old, did most of the sewing, a quarter inch on each side of the line.  She loved helping out and with my 1/4 inch foot on the machine it went very well.  When that was all finished, the older girls cut them in half and pressed them open.  

Then I trimmed every single unit down to 5 1/4 inches and started arranging.  I needed to make a few more at that point.  Then I finished it all up, quilted it and bound it.  A fun project by my girls and I.  I love, love the backing and how it matches the front perfectly.  That was completely on purpose by the way.  This quilt is for my great-niece.  (That makes me sound so old but it's the way it is.  She was born the same year as Joshua.)

We took the photos by Sardis Pond.  As you can see, everything is greening up nicely here.  A very early start to Spring.  Today was the first cloudy/rainy day we've had in weeks.  Very unusual weather for our area.

And of course, the kids.  This guy has kept me busy.  Not his fault of course, just the way things are.  His cuteness makes up for it!

Zachary loves to push Joshua around anywhere and anytime. 

I hope to be back soon to show you another quilt I completed this year.  Till then, take care!

Alisa

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Last Quilt of 2014

I didn't get the greatest pics of this one, but I thought I should blog about it seeing it was on my FAL Quarter 4 list.  Of the 5 things I listed I finished 4.  I'm happy with that!  I'll put the unfinished on back on the list for 2015, Quarter 1.

I started this one last December in hopes to have it finished by last Christmas but when it didn't happen it languished in a basket until this year.  I almost didn't finish it but then I needed a gift so I quilted and bound it all within 2 hours.  Glad it's finished and glad the recipient likes it.

Fabric is a layer cake of Winter's Lane by Kate and Birdie, backing is a thrifted sheet. Pattern is free from the Fat Quarter Shop.  I've pinned it here.

Half Square Triangle Madness

It's no secret that I love scraps.  With my scrap bin overflowing again I dove in and started another quilt.  Why not right?

This quilt was not a quick quilt to piece but it was so much fun.  So repetitive, easy and colourful.  First the dive into the scrap bin, then the pressing, the stitching, and then trimming each HST unit down to the correct size.  I really like trimming my HST's down after stitching,  They are much more precise to piece together after that.

All sorts of colours, mostly bright of course, put together (mostly) at random.  I tried not to put like colours next to each other, but sometimes it happened.

The backing is a nice warm yellow found at Stay Home Fabrics, a small Canadian based, online shop.

I love everything about this quilt.  And, I've decided to list it in my shop.

Happy December to you all!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - May Stars

I thought I'd enter my 'May Stars' quilt into the scrappy division of the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

I made this quilt bit by bit with a newborn in the house.  Being a bit more house bound than normal I decided to dig into my (larger) scraps and make a quilt to hang on my family room wall.  It was fun and I love staring at it on my wall.

Cross Quilt for Prolife

Finally finished this quilt.  It's a group effort by the attendees of our annual quilt retreat (mostly ladies from our church here in the valley) and made with a block pattern by Ellison Lane.

The ladies were instructed to use a white or light background and then girly colours/prints for the cross.  I think it came together pretty good!

The background fabric was given to me by another lady who makes a lot of donation quilts for the hospital.  It was nice that I didn't have to purchase any.

I quilted it with swirls.  Still not perfect but better than the last time I did them!  I'll keep trying.

The photo shoot was super fun with my three fabulous helpers (you can see another quilt I was taking pics of on the post.)  They really get into it and come up with all kinds of ridiculous ways to photograph a quilt.  Lots of fun!

This quilt is being donated to our local Crisis Pregnancy Centre.

  Linking this one up to the Bloggers Quilt Festival.