A pink finish

44 x 44 inches.

The very pink baby quilt was finished right as the baby arrived. A girl as expected. Hope she likes pink as much as her mother.

The back is a warm and soft flannel. Probably getting lots of use this week with its unseasonable cold. Temps below freezing and wind chills even lower. Brrrrrrrr.

Machine quilting in the ditch with the lines extended into the background.

I can't seem to get the colors quite right in any of my pictures.

A very pink baby quilt

The couple whom I made this quilt for are having a baby girl in a few months. I thought it would be fun to use the same pattern from their wedding quilt for the baby quilt.

The top is done, but it will be awhile before I get it quilted as things have been busy around here and that will continue for some time to come. And, I'm not sure how I will quilt it. Suggestions welcome.

44 x 44 inches.

The back of one section. I pressed the seams open.

I made changes from my original plan as I went along, deciding to float the star in a field of pink.

All fabrics were from the stash and the limited amount of each one determined the design direction. Thankfully I had enough of the background pink, which is a very old Jinny Beyer that has made it into many quilts. I have no idea why I bought that much of that fabric. It must have been on sale!

A few scraps will become a block that might make its way onto the back. Binding is done, but back is waiting for a trip to the quilt shop. I don't have anything in my stash that will work.

My Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2012 entry

Pointless Lone Star

Measurements: 86 x 86 inches

Special techniques: No set in seams. Now that's special! Strip piecing.

Quilted by: Maggi Honeyman of Texas

Best category: Bed quilt

Pattern: Shades of Grey by Sarah Fielke from the August/September 2011 Quilters Newsletter magazine. Pattern can also be found here at Sarah's website.

My husband asked me to make a quilt for the wedding of one of his friend's. I thought I'd use the couple's favorite colors as a starting point, and then I found out they were purple (him) and pink (her). Hmmmm. I happened to see the pattern for this in Quilter's Magazine. It looked like it could be a fast and simple quilt with only four really huge blocks (36 inches square) and no set in seams, and I'd substitute a plain border for the pieced one. 

I pulled some pink and purple prints, and used them to choose the fabrics for the blocks. The original pattern duplicated fabrics and placement, but I didn't have that kind of yardage in my stash, and I wanted a more scrappy look so I made each block different. I was able to use fat quarters for the two rounds of inner diamonds, although I had to piece a couple scraps together to make a couple of the diamonds. When I was selecting fabrics, I needed some math skills to figure out which ones I had enough of for each round of diamonds, and that dictated some of the fabric placement too. I used a wide variety of fabrics from batiks, wovens, plaids, stripes and dots to novelty fabrics.

When I finished the blocks, I decided I didn't like the prints I had planned for the borders so they went on the back, and I went to the quilt shop. The navy and teal print I found has a pattern of birds and hearts on it, perfect in color and motif for this wedding quilt.

Maggi Honeyman did a wonderful job on her longarm. The setting triangles, which needed to read solid to balance the busyness of the star fabrics and give the eye a place to rest, seemed a little too boring compared to the rest of the quilt. Maggi fixed that by quilting special designs in those spaces.    

This was a fairly easy pattern, but probably not a beginner one. Especially if you switch it up like I did and have to recalculate yardage. For tips on making these kinds of points match, check out this post.  

I wanted to share this because I like seeing different takes on the same pattern. Seeing a quilt done in different colors and fabrics can make you fall in love with a pattern you hadn't given a second glance at before.

A big thank you to Amy for hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Pointless Lone Star

Pointless Lone Star, 86 x 86, pattern by Sarah Fielke
from Quilters Newsletter August/September 2011.

Another finish from the last few months was the quilt for the couple whose favorite colors are purple (him) and pink (her). Again quilted brilliantly by Maggi Honeyman. This was a fairly easy pattern because there are no set in seams, some strip piecing and only four very large blocks.



Back of Pointless Lone Star.

Here my husband models the back of the quilt, made up of the prints that didn't make the cut for the front. They helped shape the direction of the colors for the front, but didn't work in the blocks themselves.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Saw this in the neighborhood the other day. Looks like Christmas came before the Halloween decorations had been taken down. Some scarfs and Santa hats and these ghosts are ready for the season!

In quilting news, the border is on the top, the backing is made and the whole lot has been shipped off to the longarmer. I've got the binding ready to go when I get it back.

I cut the border so the same pattern is in all the strips and they move around the center. Of course, the top is so large no one else is likely to notice.

And this is what I'm working on next. I fell in love with this gold fabric by Marcia Derse and found a pattern right away that I think will highlight it perfectly.

Wishing everyone a lovely holiday however you celebrate it.

On the border

The colors are a bit off, and it is wider than my design wall, but you get the idea. My original border choice didn't work. Neither did two other options from the stash. All too busy, but the right colors. So I was forced -- forced I tell you -- to go to the quilt shop today and find a border.

I was not forced, however, to buy other fabrics and a pattern, which will probably be my next quilt. (UFOs are so passe.) If I can just keep my focus on this one until I get the borders on, then I can ship it off to the longarmer. Those new fabrics are like a siren song though. "Cut me. Cut me," they whisper ever louder. Sigh. Maybe a test block or two.

Getting My Points Across

Another block done. Takes a couple days of sewing per block, but with two blocks nearly done, I've got almost half the quilt finished!

One thing the pattern doesn't mention is how to match the points. Here's what I'm doing:

Marking a quarter inch at each intersection in the strip sets with a permanent pen.

On the wrong side, of course!

Insert a pin straight into the seam at the quarter-inch mark on the top piece.

And straight out the other piece in the seam at the quarter-inch mark.

Keep the pin straight up and down and pin the two pieces of fabric together. I pinned this one parallel to the edge. Remove the straight up and down pin.

You can also pin perpendicular on either side of the straight up and down pin. That is probably the better way to go so you can sew with either piece on top. If I see that there is more fabric between the pins on one side than the other, I sew with that piece on the bottom so that the feed dogs help gather up the excess fabric without creating a pleat in my seam.

Press seams open.

Points match!

Start of Something New

First block (almost) from "Shades of Grey" by Sarah Fielke from Quilters Newsletter August/September 2011. Blocks are huge -- 36 inches -- so only need four! Unlike the original, I'm making each square in different fabrics. My stash pieces don't usually go beyond a half yard unless I think they might be potential borders or sashings, so I'm having to mix it up. (Also, it would be too boring to make two the same.) I'm even using fat quarters for the two inner most diamonds, which means some diamonds are pieced together. Starching the fabrics before cutting helps control the bias. Pressing the seams open.