Layer Cake Quilt Along - Block 3

Block 3
Originally uploaded by Pantsfreesia

This is the third block for the Layer Cake Quilt Along with Moose on the Porch Quilts. I'm not overly fond of basket blocks usually, but I like this one well enough because some of the components are large enough to showcase some of the larger prints that are in the Moda Origins line I'm using.

In case you doubted me...

Baby Jesus Havana Hotspot
Originally uploaded by Pantsfreesia

... here's the disco ball in the creche in my in-law's front lawn. Sadly my camera doesn't do good night-time pictures or you could get the full effect of the neon palm trees flanking it.

Hip to be a Square - Episode 7

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Happy Thanksgiving for those of us in the US! Hope you had a lovely meal. I talk a bit about my Black Friday shopping, Oreo cheesecake, peanut brittle, my new duvet cover and teacher gifts.

The Sew Mama Sew! giveaway day is December 13! The sign-up post hasn't gone up yet, but keep an eye on the Sew Mama Sew! blog.

The Amy Butler pattern for the August Fields duvet cover. Pictures of mine coming soon!

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Block 2

In my excitement over having my son back at school (fear not, it was short-lived. I got called at 10 to come pick him up as his condition deteriorated through the morning despite being fine at home), I forgot to mention I finished my second block for the Layer Cake Quilt Along.

I don't know that I'm in love with this block, but that could be because of my fabric choices. The problem I've discovered with the Moda Origins line is that there aren't a lot of just pure "light" values to choose from. There's a bunch of darks and mediums, and I suppose pairing the darks with the medium values would make the mediums "lights", but... I think there's just too much going on with this block. It required 5 different fabrics, and it just makes me think it couldn't make up its mind about what it wanted to be when it grew up from a collection of fabric into a fancy quilt-type person.

Hip to be a Square - Episode 6

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I get some great feedback, finish my Project Night Night entry for Jean's Quilted Cupcake effort, finish a mug rug, work on my duvet cover, and finished a quilt for my MIL as part of Sandy's Challenge. I also talk about my FMQ set up and how I FMQ'ed my niece's wedding quilt.

While I do a lot of kids' quilts for my local church bee, I wanted to contribute something to Jean's effort for Project Night Night as well. In particular, I wanted to stretch what I normally do (hint: it's got 4 equal side and 4 right angles!!), so I chose to do 6 different star blocks, all of which involve triangles (or bias sewing) in some way.

I'd had the backing fabric for a while, having picked it up because I thought it was cute, but didn't have a recipient in mind. It worked out perfectly, then, to just pull 5 coordinating colors in a range of values from my ever-so-ample stash.  The first block I did was a "Fourth of July Star Block" (bottom right in the picture) from DreamCastle Quilts Block of the Week project. My Flying Geese were crap, but I made it work.

Side note: if you aren't using Mary Ellen's Best Press or something similarly starchy when doing bias seaming, you are really missing out.

The other blocks I pulled from the site Quilter's Cache, just looking for interesting and/or challenging 12" blocks. I used Castle in the Air (my favorite - middle left), Churn Dash (top right), Fancy Stripes (bottom left), Amish Star (top left), and Austin (middle right). Maybe next time I'll get through the G's before finding 6 blocks I like and stopping!

Here's my finished quilt. I'll ship it off to her this week!

Here is the finished Christmas quilt for my MIL (don't worry, she doesn't listen to the podcast, so no spoilers here):

And my gift to her: the funky star. Which reminds me of a bad 70's dance move.

 

 Guess what? Zapper likes to help me lay out fabric!! Do yourselves a favor, and don't store catnip near your fabric.

Here's my bodgy FMQ set up, last year when my Singer was my primary machine, complete with homemade extension table and cans of beans and corn holding up the card table (click to embiggen!):

And just because I want to show it off, here's our new cabinets! Just think of the quilty things I can show off on those shelves!!

Before:

After:

Hip to be a Square Podcast - Episode 5

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Oh hai! My son was sick and I'm late recording. That does not, however, stop me from talking about woodworking, Christmas projects, maligned fabric, and charity projects.

This week, I finished the quilt for our niece's wedding.

Here's a close-up of the quilting I did within the larger squares. Proof that you can free-motion feathered leaves that don't suck - if I can do it, you can too! Given a do-over, I would have used a darker backing fabric. Ah well, live and learn.

 

Of course Zapper helped me when I was quilting it.

Here are the 3 quilts I made out of the maligned country fabric. I feel better about it now.

 

 And here is the finished top for the Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild:

Argh.

This week's episode will be slightly delayed due to the horrible mean Group A Streptococcus bacteria, which has infected my precious first-born's throat.  Also, he's currently jumping on the trampoline while begging me to play football with him.

I'd say the antibiotics worked. Have to wait until there is quiet before recording, though - that should happen tonight!

Hip to be a Square - Episode 4

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A big thank you to everyone who has commented or emailed or discussed this podcast on the Big Tent forum! I talk about a bit about family legacy of crafting, what I working on this week, and finish up with a short tutorial on using fleece as a quilt backing/backing combo. I also give a recommendation on a scifi series.

P.S. - My cat Zapper says hi.

New Fall Placemats! They have already been spilled on.

Fleece Backed Quilts
Step 1: Lay out the top on the quilt backing. I recommend using spray adhesive and pins due to stretchy nature of fleece.

Step 2: Quilt! I used the walking foot on my machine and just did straight line quilting. Here's the back of mine.

Step 3: Prepare the mitre corner- mark where you want to stitch.

Step 4: Trim a rough 1/4" on the outside of the marked stitch line.

Step 5: Pin! I also used spray adhesive for this step as well. Notice how trimming the bulk out of the mitre seam helps it lay flat. Fleece will melt on a high heat setting, so lower the temp on your iron if you want to press it.

Step 6: Stitch! I used a standard blanket stitch. Feel free to be fancier.

Step 7: Cuddle and enjoy!

Block 1 for the Layer Cake Quilt Along

I finished the first block for the Layer Cake Quilt Along using my Moda Origins layer cake.

Of course I already goofed up cutting the light value, so had to use 2 different white squares. I realized one of which is patterned like tiny little graph paper, which is right up my big old nerdy street. I'll be buying more of that if I can find it (I'll need some for borders anyway. Yeah, that's why).