Innocent Crush + Block Party

After a long search at my LQS I was able to purchase my first stash of Anna Maria Horner fabric!

Five yards of Innocent Crush combined with the quilt top I made with these blocks will result in my 2nd sampler quilt.  Instead of plain borders, I've challenged myself to make a pieced border for this quilt.



Here's the first audition of border design:

Second border design looked better:

                                                          (KF shot cotton for sashing)


Close-ups of my paper pieced borders:

  
                      --    some block centers were pieced with 2 or                   
                           more different fabric!

 

It took me several hours to tear off all the paper from the border.  A tedious task but worth the precision paper piecing provided for this beginning quilter.



I'm using Innocent Crush as my quilt backing.  I've sandwiched my sampler quilt and am in the process of machine quilting.   Hopefully by the end of May I'll have a finished quilt to show everyone!

Happy Quilting!

Block Party

A block party?  Yes, but not what you're thinking about!  There's no food, no dancing, and certainly no chatting going around.  But there's plenty of lovely fabrics to be petted , cut, and sewn!



I've been making blocks for my 2nd sampler quilt.  This sampler quilt is all about perfecting my rotary cutting and precision sewing skills.  Of course don't forget about math.  I had to come up with the block size and from there determined the size of the triangles, squares, or rectangles to be cut for each block.

Churn Dash: Amy Butler and Rowan fabric. 

Hour Glass Block:  going for a black and white look here. 

Buckeye Beauty Block :  Rowan fabric

                                                                  

Breaking Out - Flying Geese Block : Rowan fabric.  Adpated from a pattern by Jennie of Sunflower Quilts for Fat Quarterly. 

All blocks measured 24cm x 24cm (25.5 with SA).  The first two blocks I sew with a generous 0.75 cm SA (seam allowance) For Bernina 640 that's moving the needle position 2 dots from the center point.  This shrank the block after all the quadrants were sewn together.  So for the next 2 blocks I moved the needle position 3 dots from the center point, making it a 0.6 cm SA.  This worked out better because after I ironed the blocks, they came out at the correct measurement!  Yeah!!


Two more blocks to sew, and then on to finding fabric for the border.  That's another project by itself - designing the border for this sampler quilt!


Happy Sewing!



Free Motion Sampler Quilt

Wow!  Two posts in one day.  This is a rare moment for me because I've been busy all summer chauffering the kids around to their various classes.  But they will be back to school next Monday.  Yipee!

Back in May I finished my first free motion sampler quilt.  Some of the quilting designs were inspired  by  Leah Day, author of Leah Day's 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs.  http://www.freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/

Titled "Matrix" from Day 17 from Leah Day's blog.

Titled "Heat Coil"  from Day 101 from Leah Day's blog.

Titled "Rainforest Leaf" from Day 112 from Leah Day's blog.



And here's a look at my sampler quilt

You may ask why I have to complete this quilt?  This beginner level free motion sampler quit is actually a required project for my machine quilting certification class.  The advanced level class will start in October. 

Beginner Level Sampler Quilt

I've finally completed my machine quilting certification program's beginner level sampler quilt!







This is the most colorful quilt I've ever made. Fabric used included Rowan, Daiwabo, and other American made fabric. It's completely machine sewn and quilted.






Here's what the backing looks like!

Completion Date: February 17, 2010