Triangle Baby Quilt!

Triangle Baby Quilt!

I've made a million of them (maybe 10 of them, really), but I do love a good triangle quilt! I just think it's a modern version of patchwork, a great way to showcase fabrics, and there is just something fresh and simple about them that I really like.  An old co-worker and quilty supporter of mine brought his pregnant sister and her husband into the shop a while ago so that they could chose fabrics and have a baby quilt made. I always love seeing what fabrics people pick out, and how people combine the fabrics I have. I honestly am always surprised and delighted!

Close up

Just when I think I've exhausted all possible combos, people come in and shake things up for me, and I think that's fun. Two of the fabrics they chose, the red, pink, and brown on, and a grey and peach chevron, are probably 2 of the last fabrics I would have ever used in the same project. They chose a few greys as well, and then I added some Japanese fabrics and a few others from my stash at home to round things out. Also, they hadn't found out if they were having a boy or a girl and I think these colors are a very interesting option for a gender neutral quilt without relying on green or yellow.

Cotton and Steel lions

They also chose this great lion print from Cotton and Steel's first collections, which I think gives the quilt a great pop of color and whimsy. Gotta have whimsy!! Anyway, I love how this quilt turned out, in what I think is a really unique, special color palate. I hope their future baby loves it!

Modern-Rustic Plus Quilt

Plus Quilt!

This is a quilt that I finished up right around Christmas time... so late May is an appropriate time to write about it, right?? This was far from my usual color palate, as you can probably guess, but I actually had a lot of fun choosing fabrics for it. I used 4 or 5 from the shop and then ordered the rest online to create a quilt that would be at home in someone's cabin-esque home in the outskirts of Chicagoland. Basically the countryside. 

Kinda blurry photo

My friend ANgie ordered this quilt for her brother who was getting married. I dont think I used a pattern for the pluses, but each block is around 12" square, the middle bar being 4.5 inches wide, if I recall correctly. I made the binding out of Robert Kaufman's Essex yarn dyed linen, in "leather" which is actually one of my favorite fabrics because it really has a lot of depth in person. And a different texture than the rest of the quilting cottons, which I like. 

Close up

I used a Riley Blake flannel for the back, since they had a winter wedding and live in a cabin. It is a really soft and snuggly fabric so I thought it would be perfect. I also loved using a few Alison glass prints (the red, and the dark teal with green x-circles, the tan with red pluses). They are so rich in color, and so unique, I just love them. I have a fat quarter bundle of the whole line and I just can't decide what to do with it! Aside from stare lovingly. 

I fun departure and a nice, wintery quilt! 

Pretty in Pink Spiderweb Quilt

Pink Scrappy Spiderwebs!

I am so excited and happy to have this quilt finished! When I lived in Indianapolis and went to the Modern Quilt Guild meetings there we had one meeting where we learned how to do this block, called the Spiderweb block, and I get really hooked on making them! This was back in 2011 I guess? I used all my pink scraps and a pink kona solid, I believe called Baby Pink? It was really fun to make something with just scraps, and it's even more fun now since they're older and the remind me of projects I did a long time ago.

Scrap-tastic

I did get a little overwhelmed by all the pink so in the end I added 1 1/2 aqua webs, which are now maybe my favorite part. Plus, it is hard for me to make a project without using aqua! So I think I finished making all the blocks while I still lived in Indy, and then I moved home for a bit, where I pieced the top. Also while at home I made a different back, more scrappy (and not at all lying flat), and attempted to start quilting it.

Close up of the actual final quilting, by Sarah Russet (strawberries!)

It did not go well! I hated it, and I couldnt think of a good way to quilt it and I didnt want to ruin it because I liked the top so much! So I packed it all up and moved it with me to Nashville! Where it sat in a box for over a year. Sad!

Remade back! Heather Ross and Michael Miller Glitz in pink and gold. 

When I decided to send out my bee quilt for quilting I thought it would be great to send out this one as well, to have a professional do something that wouldnt ruin my hard work! I remade the back so that it would lie flat and not be as scrappy. When I saw Sarah's strawberry quilting design and knew that would be perfect! I had also already made the binding ages ago, in the same pink as the front so that it didnt take away from the scrappiness of the spiderwebs. And mom was kind enough to hand bind it while she was visiting so it looks nice and clean and perfect!

Brown legged quilt

I am so happy with this quilt! It's kind of smaller than a normal throw-size, but would be perfect for a little girls room. Or a little boy! I had originally planned on giving this as a gift or selling it, but now that it's been on this muli-year and multi-state journey with me, I think I need to keep it! It feels so good to have a quilt out of the storage bin, and I like seeing all the scraps of fabric that I have used on so many other projects. Do you have any long-term works in progress lying around? What keeps you from finishing? I know its hard when you no longer like things you started ages ago-- makes it harder to find the motivation to finish things. Luckily this one has stood the test of time!

Happy Non-Spooky Halloween!

Patchwork Plus Quilt

Navy, green, yellow, grey Plus patchwork quilt

Greetings from The Fabric Studio! Finished another fun quilt today, this one was an order from my top customer, my cousin Stephanie, for her sister and brother-in-law who are having a baby boy. She send me photos of a few things they had bought for the nursery, one being a graphic, modern green and white rug, and the other being some grey and navy sheets that I believe had sailboats on them. 

Diagonal straight-line quilting and close up

I really liked the idea of bright green, which I must not work with much because I had to order a few more pieces. I added in navy and bright blues, a few yellows, and then some neutral greys and whites so it wasn't quite so crazy. I cut 4 1/2" squares for this one, just like the last quilt I made, because I really like the size the end up being. It's a good size for showing off fabric, but not too big, and not so small that you have to cut a million squares (just 120 instead :)  ). Then I laid them out in a plus pattern, which is fun to do and gives a more modern look to what is essentially just a patchwork quilt. 

Pieced back

I've been doing a lot of quilt backs out of just one fabric lately, because it's quicker, but I had some squares left over, and I really ended up liking the combo of green and navy fabric on the back. I may go back to pieced backs, because I really like this one, and especially on baby quilts it really doesnt take that long. 

Bridge fabric by Michael Miller, available here

I did a simple straight-line quilting going diagonally through the patchwork squares. I was going to go back the other way to make an X through each box, but I ended up using green thread and didnt want it to stand out too much on top of some of the lighter colored fabrics. I think this is enough quilting, and the quilt is still nice and soft! 

I used a nice green solid by Michael Miller (Cotton Couture in Apple), which I think both contrasts and blends, which worked out! Sending this quilt off tomorrow, and then on to the next! I dont usually work with such dark, bold colors, but I must say I liked it! I think I'll look for a few good bright greens for the store (but they arent easy to fine!)

What are you working on right now?

Star Patchwork Baby Quilt

Star and Patchwork Baby Quilt

Greetings! Well, fair warning, this post has kind of a lot of photos! I just really, really love this quilt and I was actually sad to send it away. My friend's cousin recently had a baby, and her sister ordered a quilt for me. I've known this family since I was in middle school, so it's always nice to make something for someone you know. The only directions I had were to use a little bit of green to match a nursery, still make it girly, and embroider the baby's name on it. 

Maybe my favorite section. Love that horse and carrot!

Honestly, I had some problems for a while coming up with an idea! I didnt know what pattern or fabrics to use, so I was stumped for many weeks. I did know that I wanted to use a Tina Givens print, "Elephant Flight," which is the center pink square in the bottom row above. It is pink with white elephants dangling from hot air balloons!! I've been wanting to use it in a baby quilt since I ordered it. I had also recently ordered some cute prints from the "Wee Wander" line , which are cute kids and horses and have some green. From there I gathered up 8 or 9 other fabrics from the store, and ended up with what I think is a really fun color palate. Though there is aqua in it, and grey, it still felt new and fresh for me to use, possibly because of the addition of yellow and purple, 2 colors I dont generally use, especially together. 

Embroidered Star

I hadnt made a patchwork quilt in ages, so I thought I'd go that direction, but and the last minute decided to ad a few stars in a light, contrasting print, and I'm really glad I did because it's my favorite part of the quilt now. I cut 4 1/2" squares, and then embroidered the name on an 8" square that would take the place of 4 of the regular patchwork pieces. 

Close-up

For the back I used the elephant print, which I love cut up but also love as a large print, and added one row of scrappy pieces I had left over from cutting the patchwork squares. I quilted straight lines on either side of every seam, which actually didnt take that long on a quilt this size, maybe 90 minutes, and then I also outlined each star, which was tedious and added probably another 45 minutes, but I like it so it's ok. 

The back

For binding I used a coordinating aqua polka dot by Dear Stella, which has a slight bit of stiffness to it that actually makes it really great to work with as binding. Although I have recently learned how to hand-bind, and dont mind it, I must say my machine-binding technique is getting pretty solid too! 

Machine binding

I also really like how the aqua binding looks next to the pink of the backing fabric. Its almost a lavender-y pink, and they look neat together.

More machine binding

I kept this quilt around the store for a few extra days before sending it out because I just didnt want to part with it! I was also able to use a few fabrics that I used in a wedding quilt for the mother of the baby, plus a few fabrics I used in the baby's cousin's baby quilt, so I like that they are all kind of tied together. 

In the harsh light of sunset. 

Also, I sewed these squares up in sections of 2 or 3 at a time, instead of piecing whole rows, and it made a big difference in getting the points to line up. Some still didnt, but a lot more did than normal. Check it out!

Beautiful point matching.... and above, point non-matching

I love every single fabric in this quilt, and I love that even though I've been staring at the same group of fabrics in my shop now for 6 months I was able to come up with a combo that felt new to me. It was a fun quilt to make and I hope baby Marie Elizabeth will love it for years to come!

Triangle Wedding Quilt

Equilateral Triangle Wedding Quilt

I recently finished an order for my friend Angie, who orders a lot of quilts from me to give as a wedding gift. She just told me that she wanted it to be coral, pink, and green. Any shade of green! So I gathered a nice little bundle of fabrics together, added some gold and grey because I'm starting to think I can't make a project without gold, and cut up some triangles! Triangles, however, do seem to shrink up way more than squares to when you sew them together! Hence, the border I added in order for it to be big enough.

Close up

I used a triangle ruler this time, instead of just a homemade cardstock template, and what a big difference! Much easier. I really like the fabrics I used for this quilt, a mix of new fabrics and ones I found in my stash. I particularly liked this larger-scale print of peaches on a green background. It was kind of watercolor-y and vintage looking and unique!

Binding Auditions

I couldnt decide which fabric to use for binding so I posted this picture to Instagram for feedback and it was pretty much a unanimous vote for the watercolor fabric on the left (which is called Cascade Coral by Art Gallery). I think it was the right choice! I really like how to pops next to the white, and the green of the background fabric.

Binding

I accidentally cut the binding way too skinny, so it was a bit of a labor to attach it, and in all honesty it does not look great close up. Just crossing my fingers that the recipients are big-picture people, instead of detail people... and that there's no hard-core traditional quilters in their family!

Quilt back

For the back of the quilt I used a fabric from Tula Pink's Fox Field line, which is a fun print that looks like just a floral at first but there are little animals hiding in it, like foxes and bunnies and birds, and its a pretty mix of greens, aquas, and taupe. I normally do a bit of piecing for quilt backs, so making this out of just one fabric was so quick! I liked just having to do one seam. I also like how the quilting lines show up as a diamond pattern on the back, and also how on the front, the diamond shapes only really show up on the border.

Quilts in the wild

So, another one completed! This one did take a while so I am glad to have it finished and sent out in time for it to be a wedding gift, and I hope they love it!

Lonestar Quilt

Lonestar Quilt!

I recently finished up another quilt order, for my cousin's best friend's wedding. I saw a giant star quilt on flickr and tracked down the blog, where, happily, there was a tutorial! The one I used was at Bea Spoke Quilts. She gives you the basics on how to make a big star like this.

Quilting in progress

I dont really have an in-progress shots, but it was a pretty quick top to make since all the pieces are so big. I think it showcases fabrics nicely, and, using the wedding invite for inspiration, I decided on a coral/pink/aqua/grey color palette that was mostly, but not all, Art Gallery fabrics. I used Teensy Weensy in Lotus for the background, which is white with tiny, cute little pink and grey plus signs, which I thought was great for a wedding. (available here!)

Attaching the binding

I used a grey fabric for the binding that has tiny gold lines on it. It's hard to capture the details of a quilt in photos! But they're there, I promise.

Lonestar visits Ohio 

I did a line of quilting on either side of each seam, and then traced around the whole star as well. I really like straight-line quilting, which is good because my new machine really sucks at free motion! (constant tension issues. so annoying!) I like how the lines echo out around the star, and I like how they have the star pattern on the back of the quilt, even though that is also hard to see. I added a 3" border of rectangles along the top and bottom of the quilt to make it a little bigger, and I also like rectangluar quilts better than square quilts, so this solved that problem. I think it looks good too!

Art Gallery on the back. 

Although I normally piece my backs I had more than enough of this print, and I really like it as one solid piece for the back. The pops of yellow make me happy. 

It's since been sent off to the new couple (I think!) so I hope they like it and enjoy it for years to come. Up this month, another wedding quilt in similar colors, but triangles! And 2 baby quilts. And, hopefully, customers at the store!

What are you working on?