Doll Quilt Swap (DQS10) - Tile Quilt Completed!

Finally finished the hand binding on my DQS10 quilt.  I think this is my best work yet - of course the pattern and the beautiful fabric made this possible.

This tile quilt was raw edge appliqued with matching or variegated thread and quilted in the ditch.  I chose to finish up the quilt with just a simple binding so not to distract the eyes form the image.   

Here's the back view of the quilt!  I haven't added the label yet, who could it be for?   

Here are two close up views of the quilt!  

I hope this quilt has a place in your home, partner!

After thought:  I feel so fortunate to be participating in Doll Quilt Swap.  These doll (mini) quilts are perfect for trying out new technique and challenging oneself.  

Doll Quilt Swap (DQS10) - Tile Quilt

I'm so lucky to be participating in this round of Doll Quilt Swap.  Here's our swap button

After stalking through my secret swap partner's inspiration mosaic, I came up with the following pattern and fabric selection.

This is a pattern from the book "Tile Quilt Revival" by Carol Gilham Jones & Bobbi Finley.  My partner likes bright colors so I'm going with KF fabrics.  Hope she'll like it!   ((Find it at Flickr)

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!



Christmas Present

Haven't been blogging lately because most of my free time was devoted to...

reading on my Kindle.  It's a K3 with wireless and Wi-Fi.  I love it.  I did purchase a lighted book cover to go with it, but I'll probably make a cover anyway because my Kindle deserves a quilted cover of its own!

Thank you, Mom!

Machine Quilting Class

October marked the startup of my advanced level machine quilting certification class!  We started off the class by practicing rotary cutting and piecing to make hour glass, half triangles, flying geese, and others.  For my block I used mostly Rowan fabric, and I was happy with the result!

The second project was to use the stack and shuffle technique with 4 fabrics to make a pillowcase.  For this , my color inspiration came from some projects I saw in Flickr!  

Here's my interpretation of black and white with a touch of red!

It's raining today!  So it'll be a great day to stay indoors and sew!


                             

My First Mini Quilt

It's been over 2 weeks since my last post!  What have I been up to?  I was busy making this...

My first mini quilt!  The quilt was made using a combination of linen, calicos, and Japanese yarn dyed fabric.  I was trying to for a French country look with this quilt.  As this was my first attempt at freezer paper piecing, I think I did OK.  Hmm...still need to think through how to sew the seams together!  I added some embroidery to give the quilt some dimension.  Didn't try free motion on this because it was for a swap and I was nervous about messing it up!

Here's the backing of the mini quilt.  The reason you can't seen any quilting on the back is because the backing was layered on after I completed the quilting.   I dressed up the quilt label with blanket stitches all the way around. 

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So after 12 days of journey across the Pacific Ocean,  my Mini QT Quilt swap partner sent me this...

I just adore this "Home Tweet Home" mini quilt from my swap partner!  Wouldn't it be fun to live in this cheerful house?  Thank you, Ruth!

Check this out!

There's an awesome giveaway at freshly pieced .  Besides the giveaway, check out her Kissy Fish Baby Quilt tutorial, too!  You'll love it!