Finish – Kelly's Kwilts

Busy Summer!

Ugh! I swear I had major intentions of doing a lot more posting this year. And I have been finishing projects this summer. However we had a LOT of stuff happening this summer. My sister got married in July and it was a wonderful day! We had a bit of traveling to North Carolina, a bunch of camping trips and then it was time to get ready for school to start again!

So I did manage to finish my plaid-ish quilt the end of June, with a small problem – self inflicted! I was having problems with thread breaking and changed the needle. Unfortunately I put the darn thing in backwards and the thread just kept breaking. Didn’t know I had it in wrong until I called Handiquilter Customer Support and they told me. Once I fixed the needle it worked perfectly again and I could finish the quilt before our July 4th camping trip. The kids used it to sit on for fireworks when camping.

We have various charities we donate quilts to through our quilt guild. I volunteered to quilt 5 quilts for Honor Quilts. We give quilts to veterans in the county where I live. That was fun and good practice my quilting when I didn’t have anything ready to quilt. They didn’t have anything else needing quilted at our last meeting so I can work on some of my own quilts. I have 2 that just need batting cut and they need pressed before they can go on the frame. Hope to get to work on that this week. One of the quilts is from the workshop held on September 12th at our last meeting. We had the Redneck Quilter teaching us how to make a Deb Tucker quilt Star Shadows. It was a great workshop and I already have the top completed and waiting to be quilted. Can’t wait to see that one finished and not joining my UFO list for next year!

I was able to finish the Fall Simply Sign from Fat Quarter Shop, Cassie couldn’t wait to put it up on the door and get the Summer one down. Only 2 more to get done for this series and I don’t know if I’ll get to them this year or not. We’ll see, I might skip Halloween and do Christmas first.

So I know I’ve mentioned in the past my participation in Elise Baek’s groups and SAL’s (sew alongs). Earlier in the year I did a hexagon flower swap and 16 people signed up with only 10 sending in hexagons. It was asked that we do another one and I currently have 74 people signed up! This means since I’m making 1 hexagon flower for each person I have to make that many flowers. I think I have all the petal pieces picked up and grouped and I’m working on basting them. I need to figure out what I’m using for the centers so I can start putting the flowers together. The deadline for mailing is October 31st, so I have time but I don’t want to wait until the last minute!

I’m also working on basting pieces for the Daisy Bloom EPP SAL that is currently happening with Elise. I have 2 basted and the other 14 are in baggies all with the fabric ready to be basted. I’ll work on these when I have time. My plan is to make all of Elise’s flower EPP blocks and applique them all together on background blocks. That will be another long term project and I don’t even have all the templates for the other flowers yet.

I’ll be back soon, I’ll have 2 quilts to show!

Kelly

Updates

I know, I know….I’ve been missing again! End of the school year was really busy with a graduating 5th grader and 2nd grade field trips and as soon as school was out it was travel time. We’ve had a great summer and now school starts on Monday (8/29). I’ve been spending time working on various projects, cross stitch, EPP and quilting.

This summer I found a new EPP designer, Elise Baek, and have been participating in some of her SAL’s. Yesterday I finished my expanding dresden and just need to applique it to a background and quilt it. It will be finished as a wall hanging. Another SAL from Elise was Dilly Flowers and I did some fussy cutting on some of the flowers. I am planning on using them in a Jack’s Chain quilt – I’ve started putting it together, but I have a lot of 9-patch blocks to put together still.

At the beginning of the year I started a cross stitch SAL with FatQuarterShop.com called Heartfelt. All the motifs were hearts and looked like pieces of patchwork – how could I NOT do it? I stayed on track for the whole SAL and got it finished right on time. I need to work on my finishing skills, but this is the first project I’ve finished in a long time that wasn’t just trimmed and put in a frame. I have a lot more projects coming that will be finished similar to this one that I will be able to practice my techniques on.

Since I’ve gotten back into cross stitch I’ve started watching flosstubes on Youtube and one of the many I follow is FatQuarterShop. They have so many downloadable patterns and I absolutely loved a set, one geared toward quilting and the other toward cross stitch. I completed the quilting one and at some point I’ll do the cross stitch one.

Back in March my father-in-law unexpectedly passed away and while my husband was in California helping his step-mom he volunteered me to make t-shirt quilts with all of his dad’s t-shirt collection. So I’m working on a total of 9 quilts out of 2 large boxes full of t-shirts that we brought home from our California trip in June. First quilt is for his step-mom as I think she needs the memories the most. I have the shirts separated and I’m working on making sure I can fit all the shirts in and I do want to put some pictures in if I can fit them. We’ll see what I can figure out in the near future. The kids start back on Monday and I’m hoping that means I’ll have some time to work on some of the many projects in the queue.

Now that the expanding dresden EPP is done, I’m going to be starting a new EPP project this week. Elise Baek is doing a Double Wedding Ring EPP SAL if you are a member of her EPP Club. We are doing 2 rings a month and it should take about a year to get it finished. Unfortunately I can’t participate in the zoom call tomorrow, kids have open house and orientation, but I’ll watch the replay so I can start basting pieces and start sewing them together.

Back soon!!

February OMG Results

I knew I’d be able to finish these small projects this month, but I didn’t think I’d finish them so quickly! The first one is a runner for my sister’s makeup table and since there were extra pieces we didn’t need for the runner length, I made a small pillow for her that matches. I even put a zipper in the side – first time for me! – and the pillow insert is a little small, but that’s ok, I think she’ll like it anyway.

The other project was the Valentine’s runner for my island. I’ve made Cathedral Window things before, using the Missouri Star method. The first one I ever made was using 2.5″ squares and that was difficult. It’s pretty easy when you use charm packs. I have 3 more of these runners to make with holiday fabrics, we’ll see if I can fit them in soon.

Since I finished these projects, I basted and started quilting another project, I posted about that last week. House is empty today, I only have a few household chores to do, so I’m hoping to get a lot of the quilting done today. It’s 2/22/22 and my little 2nd grader was so excited to wear 2 different shoes, a tie and I did 2 braids in her hair today. It’s so cool the things they do at school to celebrate these special days during the school year.

I’m determined to get things off my UFO list this year, no matter how small they are! Linking up to OMG finishes at Elm Creek Quilts.

Finishes!

I mentioned earlier in the month that I had 2 finishes, I just didn’t have any pictures! So finish #1, last year I picked up a baggie of HST from the free table at guild. I started putting them together slowly as the leader/ender as I was working on other projects. Eventually it took center stage and became a finished top. Then came the part I just don’t like – basting! It was small so I was able to spray baste it before I started quilting it. I decided to step outside my comfort zone and do something different, so I put on the ruler foot and used a straight edge ruler to help me stitch stars in each 9 patch area. Still not sure where it’s going, might just let Cassie have it for a doll blanket 🙂

In 2013 we had a block swap at guild. 6 women participated and each made 2 blocks. I wanted it to be a little bigger so I added the blocks in the corners. I finished the top right away in 2013, but it sat here for a long time because I just don’t like to baste! This year I just had to complete something, so this was basted in January and was just sitting here waiting for me to quilt. Since I had started working with rulers I decided let’s get moving and work more with them. It was so much fun! I did ribbon candy in the sashing, which I’ve never done before. Once I got the hang of the moving the quilt the right directions it wasn’t bad. The picture doesn’t show any of the details of the quilting, it was taken at guild and I don’t feel like pulling it out to get another picture 🙂

So, 2 more finishes for the year, I have another quilt that I basted a couple of weeks ago at guild that I’m just waiting to start quilting. Working on a huge order right now and hopefully I can get to it in the next day or so. I’d love to have 1 or 2 more finishes for the year.

February OMG Update

Well it wasn’t the easiest tasks I set for myself this month, but I did finish both of them! The first item was Alex’s winter jacket that the dog decided to snack on the zipper. I finally got the darn thing off and it took 2 afternoons to get the new zipper sewed on. It’s NOT even remotely perfect, however I am not a seamstress, I cannot stand mending, but it perfectly wearable and no one would notice that it’s not aligned properly unless I point it out. Alex is happy and it’s one more thing off my sewing table!

The other item I wanted to get done this month was a secret project, my husband’s t-shirt quilt that I don’t even remember WHEN I started! I’ve had the top done for SO very long and I know that I’ve gifted it to him at least twice already over the years – once for his birthday and then again for Christmas (I think the same year!). I knew he was going to be out of town from Sunday to Thursday and I knew if I worked hard I could get the whole thing quilted and bound before he got back and then I could gift it to him for Valentine’s Day! I’m not 100% happy with the quilting, I just meandered all over it – gray thread in the blocks and black thread in the borders. I had a lot of problems with the t-shirts and puckering, it’s been so long they aren’t sticking to the fusible anymore and moved around a lot while I was quilting. The issues in the border are because the end was in sight and I wanted to get it finished, there’s a lot of eyelashing on the back because I was going way too fast. At some point I might take it out and fix it, but for now he’s able to use it and it’s off my list. One of the reasons I was procrastinating on this quilt was because I don’t like piecing backs. It takes so long to get a piece big enough and I’d rather get to the quilting. I was walking through Pat Catan’s (local craft store) and saw the beer can fabric and knew what I could use it for! This is the brand hubby drinks, so I knew I needed it for his quilt. I even went back and got an extra yard so I could use it for the binding. The patches in the corners were chest images from t-shirts or patches from actual shirts he’s worn. He was so surprised to see it done, and that I had even included those pieces in the corners. I have a gazillion more t-shirts I’ve stashed away over the years and I’ll do more quilts at some point, but right now I’ve got too many things to get completed first!

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts and My Quilt Infatuation.

January OMG Finishes

I really didn’t think I’d finish all 3 projects, but I did! I was planning on putting the table topper in my Etsy shop, but while I was quilting it I saw a bunch of things that bothered me so much I just couldn’t sell it. So now Cassie will get a new blanket for her dolls. I did very simple quilting because it just didn’t need anything detailed.

The fun part was quilting these 2 double wedding ring runners. I quilted 1/4″ in all the sections and that was the easy part. I had to find the right color fabrics for the bindings and then figure out how to make bias binding and apply it. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, which is good since at some point I’ll need to do it on a Dear Jane quilt with scallops! Mom might be getting one of these runners, I’ve made her things before for her living room with the same fabrics, the Christmas runner is for my living room during the holidays. I started these in July, the Xmas fabric one was made during our guild event Christmas in July and the other I cut out to use as a practice piece. Glad they are done and off my list!

Onto next month’s challenge!

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts.

Finished Quilt!

I started this quilt on March 31st and finished it yesterday including putting it on our bed with brand new sheets. It’s now finished with a week to spare and entry in our guild quilt show (I will get a better picture when it’s hanging for the quilt show). This was my first time doing quilt as you go, and I’m not 100% happy with the way they blocks were put together. If this quilt were ever judged I’d get a lot of bad remarks because of the lack of batting in the sashing, but since this is a for “us” quilt I don’t care! 🙂 I love how it turned out and I’m happy to be sleeping under a quilt that I made. Now to work on some projects for Xmas, consignment quilts and some guild stuff I need to get done.

So I finally decided what I wanted to buy with my Fat Quarter Shop gift certificate, just looked at tracking and it should be here tomorrow, I can’t wait!

Linked to My Quilt Infatuation, NTT.

OMG and a FINISH!

I enter giveaways all the time and rarely do I ever win. Well Tuesday I received an email from Fat Quarter Shop (one of my favorite shops!) that I won a $50 gift certificate from one of their giveaways! I have NO clue what I’m going to get with it though! I looked awhile the other day and there’s just so much good stuff I can’t decide!

I have been diligently working on the Super Mario quilt, partly because I want it done, but also because I submitted it for our quilt show next month. I’m happy to say that it’s done being quilted! I had finished quilting all the squares, and did all the hand stitching on the back for the sashing strips and then had no clue what to do next! I did some searching and found a great tutorial for how to put borders on a quilt as you go center. It took me awhile to get all 4 sides on, but yesterday I got it all finished. Today is trimming it up and then getting the binding ready. I have about 2 weeks to get the binding on for our quilt show!

Back soon with pictures!

Valentine’s Finish!

I managed to get this finished just in time for the Valentine’s holiday weekend! The whole thing was cut out with my Studio and was 100% fabrics from my stash. I saw the idea on one of my Facebook groups and knew I had to make it for our breakfast bar, besides I needed to get the Christmas one off! 🙂 It was easy piecing and pretty easy to quilt since I just did 1/4″ on either side of the seam lines. I ended up also doing an X inside the X because I felt it really needed it. Threw it in the washer and it came out of the dryer all nice and crinkly, just the way I like it.

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict today.

Off the Design Wall – January 18, 2016

It’s finally finished! I started this quilt in January 2010 and was able to keep up every month with the blocks even though I was pregnant. July 2012 I started working on borders and managed to get 4 of them completed. Last month I decided it was time to get this off the WIP queue and into the to be quilted queue. I had ordered fabric thinking I could try and match it to the 3 borders I had already sewn on, but it just didn’t work. Instead of spending a lot of money trying to match it, I decided to just take them off and use one of the new fabrics I ordered. Last border is now on the quilt and it’s ready to go to the “Quilt Me” pile! The fabrics are all Moda Marbles and one constant white through the whole thing. Now I have a bunch of Moda Marbles left over that can go to Hexie Insanity or to another project – I haven’t decided yet!

I saw a link the other day in one of my Facebook groups and decided that I’d try a mystery sampler quilt from – The Splendid Sampler. You get 2 block a week for a total of 100 blocks. I haven’t decided fabrics yet, I could use the extra Moda Marbles, or my Equinox fabrics that I’ve been hoarding…or just go totally scrappy for each block. Sounds like there’s going to be a mix of piecing, applique, EPP, embroidery and paper piecing. Pat Sloan and a bunch of her quilty friends have created the blocks and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Linking to Patchwork Times – Design Wall Monday.