Shopping – Kelly's Kwilts

Finishes and Updates

I have finally finished something! I started quilting this awhile ago, got frustrated and pushed it to the side of my sewing table. A couple of weeks ago I decided I just needed to bite the bullet and get it done. While I was quilting it, just one block left to quilt, my machine froze up and wouldn’t make another stitch. So emergency trip the next day, 90 minute drive south, to a quilt shop that I trust to work on my machine and do it while I’m there. I was gone all morning, did some retail therapy, and got my machine fixed up. So that meant this week I was able to get the last block quilted, binding machine sewn on and then was able to hand stitch the binding at night while watching tv.

This quilt is my OLDEST UFO and is now complete! Back in 2007 I was a member of the Quilting Stash Podcast Yahoo Group and we decided to do a block swap. We used the 2007 Hoffman Challenge Fabric (the butterfly fabric) and made blocks – if I remember we each made 2 – and sent them to Annie Smith (Quilting Stash Podcast host) and they were sorted and sent back to us. I finished my top in January 2009, but didn’t get around to the quilting part until this year when I wanted to get something done. I started working on the black sashing, then was going to do ruler work on the blocks and was having problems, hence the reason it got pushed to the side of the sewing table. While I want to do different quilting, sometimes you just have to do the best you can to get things done. Cassie has already stolen it for her bed, since mommy still hasn’t finished her bed quilt!

So WAY back in October 2020 I mentioned that I found some cigar boxes with pieces that were possibly meant for a double wedding ring quilt and that there was no way I was going to hand piece one of those. Fast forward 2 years and now I’m doing one via EPP. We are only doing 2 a month and it’s really hard for me to not keep going and do more at a time. But I have so many other projects to work on, I need to try and stick to the 2 a month rule. Now that I have a ScanNCut, I can cut out all my EPP papers instead of buying them, saves me some time and money. I’m using all my 2.5″ squares in the scrap bin, so I didn’t have to buy any additional fabric for this yet. Not sure yet what I’ll be using for the background or backing, we’ll see once I get the whole thing put together next year.

I’m working on getting my blocks completed for our guild block exchange, I finished my first block a little while ago, I need to work on the other set tonight while I watch Ohio State kick some butt. 🙂

A Post with Another Finish

Back in July when we were allowed to start having guild meetings again, one of our members – who owns a quilt shop – did a presentation and showed a new MSQC Quilt As You Go (QAYG) hexagon template. Of course I had to buy one! When I got home that night I grabbed a charm pack I had sitting here and some scraps of muslin to see how quickly I could put one together. While you can machine stitch them once you’ve folded the sides over, I decided to hand stitch them all. Because you know I needed another hand project 🙂 I used 3 charm packs I bought from Connecting Threads years ago, Mirage Garden and Mirage Home, for the centers and black and muslin for the backings. I used just enough of the muslin to account for the 6 really dark charm squares that just wouldn’t show up with a black binding/border, of course that was just enough to make a big hexagon for the center. 🙂 I think once I get my dresser in the bedroom cleared off – it’s a mess! – I’ll use this as a cover for it. But I might find somewhere else to use it in the meantime.

I’ve been busy the last few days working on orders – a few HUGE orders came in so it’s been all day with the embroidery machine running. Hope to start quilting the next quilt soon.

Shopping and June OMG

Quilt Loft 060517 Wow! What a busy few weeks! We were on vacation last week and had an absolute ball! The kids did great on the plane and had so much fun in California! While we were out there, I knew we’d have a little time where I could go shopping, so I stopped in at The Quilt Loft which is exactly 4 minutes from my father-in-laws. Oh man did I spend a lot of money! That’s ok though, some of what I got is for a few gifts, some is for prizes for the guild challenge and the rest is just for me! 🙂 I also picked up fabric for a Christmas table runner – it’s a challenge during our July meeting day. I thought the computer fabric on the right would be so cute as hexies, I think 1″ fussy cut hexies would be really nice – don’t know when I’ll make it but that’s what stash is for right?

etsy purchase 060517 So I was looking at Instagram right before we left on vacation and saw a really cute fabric that someone had made into hexies. Oh I loved it! I found out that there were fat quarter bundles on etsy and it was the last one and I bought it. 22 beautiful fabrics and I can’t wait to make this into hexies!!

Hexie diamonds front 052517 So for my June monthly goal I want to finish this hexie diamond quilt. I need to quilt all the diamonds and get binding on. I want this on my bed this month. I think I have the design decided on, I just need to decide on the thread color – black or gray?

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts – OMG.

It’s Been Awhile…Again

*sigh* I always have the best intentions when it comes to blogging, and then I get busy with non-quilty things and it’s almost 2 months since my last post! So let’s see if I can catch up on the last month and a half!
raffle-baskets-100816 Our Guild Quilt Show was wonderful! We had over 150 quilts hanging and it was great to see all the people enjoy the show. I had a good time setting up Thursday and then working Saturday and Sunday. To my surprise when I showed up Sunday to help with tear down, at least 5 ladies told me I won 2 of the raffle baskets! I was majorly surprised and couldn’t believe my luck! I also tried to get a full length shot of my Mario Quilt – unfortunately it didn’t work very well and I had to take 2 pictures and stitch them together, so it doesn’t line up very well. I still love it and it’s been on our bed since it was finished. full-sized-mario-quilt-100816

After the quilt show, we celebrated Alex’s birthday. I still can’t believe he’s 6 now! We had a wonderful party weekend with tons of friends and family. There were a few camping trips thrown in there, and we always have fun with that!

birthday-gifts-110816 Next up was my birthday in the beginning of November. My wonderful husband picked a bunch of items off my wish list, all of them crafting related! I’ve wanted to try Cascade 220 yarn for a while, and I now have 2 skeins to play with! I know what I’m making with one of them, I need some ear warmers for the cold walk down the driveway to the bus! Unfortunately I can’t start it yet as all my needles are in use. If I have time tomorrow I might stop at Joann’s and see if I can use a coupon to get another set of needles with cables so I can start it. I don’t think it will take long to make.

I made my sister yet another ladybug decoration for her birthday. I actually made 2, but I didn’t get a picture of the blanket before I gave it to her. I need to get her some command hooks that she can use to hang this up next time I’m at Walmart. The blanket is a Cuddle Kit that I bought at Lolly’s when we were there in August. We saw them in the store and I told her I’d buy it and make it for her birthday. The fabrics are SO soft, I love them, but I don’t like sewing them. Every time you make a cut it sheds all over the place. I didn’t find them easy to work with. I have a small amount of leftover fabrics that at some point I’ll use to make her a pillow, but it won’t be anytime soon!

Ok, I have some more to catch-up on, but I’ll do another post with all my hexie updates in the next day or two.

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!

AccuQuilt Shopping

I couldn’t help myself recently when Accuquilt had a big sale on dies. I had already put some Studio mats in my cart and was on the fence on how badly I needed them – shipping can be a lot when the order isn’t much. Then I received an email that offered half off Studio dies! I decided to get the 2.5″ multiple die, I do have the Go die but there are an extra 3 squares on the Studio die, and the signature die. I made that runner for Valentine’s Day using it and there are a lot of designs I’ve seen lately using it so why not be able to cut more out at once? Hoping to be back soon with some finishes, I have 3 quilts just needing binding.

Shopping and Hexie Insanity

We were camping over the weekend down near Millersburg so mom and I decided to take a trip over to Miller’s Dry Goods on Friday. I found a few things that I could use 🙂 The panel is for the back of Alex’s bed quilt (that I need to get working on!) and so is the Thomas yardage. The white on white (hexagons!) and the Moda Marbles is for the hexie insanity quilt. My mom bought the rolled up fabric for Cassie, it’s an ABC book I need to put together for her. I also got some Aurifil thread in white for hexie insanity, but it’s already in the workbox. It was a nice shop but it’s almost 2 hours from our house to get there, it was only a half hour from the campground we were at. They have TONS of Moda Marbles colors, I simply loved the one I bought called Sea Glass. I’m debating buying more of it to use for the solid border in hexie insanity, I only need about 3 yards of fabric for that border alone, but I’ll decide that later, at least I know where I can get some more colors!!

So I already cut up that half yard of Moda Marbles on the Studio so i can start using it. Didn’t take but 15 minutes to cut into 760 2″ squares and a small amount of waste. Now I can baste and make some flowers and diamonds with it! Planning on cutting up that new white as well, get it mixed in with all the other whites I have prepped. I finished adding the white path on another diamond and have a second almost done – both worked on during the camping trip.

I have a few quilts that need backs and quilting, I need to get the commission quilt finished before the end of the month and that is at the top of the list. Looks like this week is going to be busier than I thought so I don’t know if I’ll get to work on it or not. Certainly going to try!

Good Night Irene Update

I have FINALLY gotten all the center of the quilt put together. When I originally signed up for the SAL and designed it in EQ I was going to put a border of just one fabric on it. I decided I didn’t have anything I liked or wanted to use for the border and I’ve now designed a border with 9 patches to go next. After I finish working on my next commission quilt I’ll get back to this one. I’d like to get it finished and put in the “to quilt” pile.

I’ve decided to work on Bonnie Hunter’s leader/ender project this year since it’s tumbler blocks. I have SO many 2.5″ squares that have been cut over the years that I needed to do something with them. Cutting them just a little into tumblers is so easy and I can easily make some kind of quilt out of them. I just ordered a template from Missouri Star Quilting Company and after a discussion in one of my Facebook groups, I found out that Sizzix makes a die for cutting 2.5″ tumblers (4 at a time) and it will work on my Studio, so I happened to find that die on MSQC as well and ordered it. I need an adapter to use it in the Studio, so until I find out the thickness and either buy one or have daddy make me one I can use the template.

We finally got together with our friends so we could give the girls their birthday presents. I’ve had them done and sitting here wrapped for over a month! I made them Mondo bags in their school colors and I’m happy to say they loved them!

It’s getting late and I want to get a few more things done before bed, hoping to be working on projects more and being able to post updates!

Progress!!!

Boy am I on a roll this week! I mentioned on the weekend that I designed a quilt in EQ that I had found on someone’s website. Yesterday I spent some time cleaning up my office so I could get back to work. It took me less than 2 hours and I have a completed table topper (about 22″ x 22″). I found a backing today and got it all pinned so I can quilt it tomorrow. I’m just doing straight line quilting, and I’ll put a black binding on it. I really like how it turned out! It used up 41 2.5″ squares that I already had cut up in the bin. I just needed to cut the long black pieces on the sides, which was pretty quick! The pattern shows a 5 x 5 block quilt. I think just one is perfect for a table topper!

Today I spent a couple of hours and finally quilted my table runner (mentioned here) – again just straight line quilting as it didn’t really need anything more than that. I started hand stitching the binding to the back this evening, when I get finished I’ll post all the details on it.

While I had my tub of batting scraps out today I pulled enough batting pieces to fit my Red, White and Blue Signature quilt. So once I get these 2 quilts done I can work on quilting the signature quilt. It will most likely be straight line quilting too, just because it’s easy and quick!

Alex and I stopped at Joann’s today, I needed to pick up a frame for the wedding gift I finished over the weekend. They have a big sale going on this week and I picked up some fat quarters, a yard or so of white Kona and just over a yard of Cars fabric for a quilt for Alex. Don’t know what design I’ll use yet, but I do have some ideas rolling around in my head. I want to get some of these other projects done before I start making this new one for him.

Looks like this baby wants mama to go to sleep, I never got a nap today and I’m getting to the point that I just can’t keep my eyes open!