All That Work

I think I finished this wedding ring quilt back in 2003. I am pretty sure I cried after the first time I washed it. You can see there was this one particular blue fabric I used that bled allover the quilt. :(

All that work!! Ruined by what was probably a cheap fabric I bought. Fabric that I had been collecting and hoarding just for this project. This would have been the time to be sure and prewash all of my fabric. Oh well, stitch and learn.

TBT Amish Pinwheel Quilt

Found another Throwback Thursday quilt. This is the third quilt I made called Feather My Nest. Finished it back in 1990. It's an Amish inspired quilt with pinwheel blocks and hand stitched feather quilting in the wide black border. In the center of the quilt, you can see broken diagonal stitching lines. I learned the lesson of not using cheap or old thread! It wasn't too many years before these diagonal machine quilted lines broke apart with daily use. The quilt could use more quilting in general in the center of the quilt and I didn't do any quilting in the turquoise border. Someday I need to fix that.

I think I sized this one for a waterbed.  ~~~  Anyone remember those things? They were cheap and warm for the Oregon coast. But such a pain to have to move.

xoxo, Happy Stitches!

Fleet Week quilt

This is a graduation quilt for our oldest son. Why is it so hard to make a quilt for guys? Chambray Union is gorgeous and adds a bit of texture. Something I think my son would love. I used the free Ship-Shape pattern by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures. I'm naming this one Fleet Week. As a US Coast Guard family we got to experience many Fleet Weeks. NYC in 1995-96 and New Orleans 2012 are the most memorable ones for me. We were lucky enough to be stationed on Governor's Island, which is just a ferry ride away from Manhattan. Our building is gone now, but it would be nice to go back and visit the island again someday. It was one of my favorites! 

His favorite shape is a triangle. It must be true since he tied this triangular rock up during a beach vacation and dragged it back to the car! He loves sailing too. So, a nautical quilt was an easy choice. 

I wanted to use a RK Chambray Union, Parson Gray World Tour linen/cotton, and a mix of whites for the sails. Except for three sails. I saved those for his school color, garnet. I pre washed all of the fabrics since I was using linen. Here's a close up of the smaller block below. I had a really hard time getting good pictures of this quilt! Especially after it was quilted.

I think this was the most difficult quilt I've ever made! The chambray is gorgeous and light weight which is what I wanted. But I didn't realize how it would shift around. And fray! I was calling it chamfray the whole time. In the end it was still worth using it.

I used Seven Wonders Wind on the back with a couple of rows of half square rectangles on the back. I love using little bits of fabric that are significant to who I am going to give it too. This time it was plaids, travel, mice, greens, books, keyboard, and even a little steampunk.

I stitched semi-straight lines all across for the quilting. Not an easy task for the chambray! The first half went ok and then I tried more basting spray, more pins, and eventually lots of hand basting with dissolvable thread!! Did I mention this is the most difficult quilt I've ever made?

All that basting & machine quilting was worth it in the end. The light fabric & polyester batting give it a wonderful drape and texture!

Finished off with garnet binding of course! Cotton Couture is a wonderful weight for binding. It's so easy to work with. Almost like a voile.

Hugs & a Smooch!

Well hello! Isn't coming home one of the best parts of the day? Hugs and a smooch are just the ticket sometimes! Even better after a long day of commuting. This one is for the best guy in my world. Phew! He certainly deserves it and all of this straight line quilting. It sure makes for a heavy quilt. :)

I used a pre bundled pack of coordinating Kona solids to go with the Kona Modern Quilts yardage. I had already started sewing the half square triangles for the X's before I ordered some yardage of the sage green color. As you can see above, there is a big difference in dye lots! Oh well. Still love it anyway. And hst, never seem to get tired of those.

I stitched two rows of blue for every seven of salmon on top  and a lighter salmon for the bobbin thread. Love  Carolyn Friedlander's Architextures fabric. This orange and cream is my favorite! 

Here she is. Did I mention she's really heavy? About as large as I like to go when I'm machine quilting.

Happy Stitching,

RCQ

A bit of love in Blossom Magazine Issue No. 2

I've been a huge fan of Amy Butler for many years. She designs some of the most beautiful fabrics I have ever seen!! Her Blossom magazine is just full of inspiration. I had the chance to submit an image for her Heart Project on Instagram.  I sent in a red and white heart shaped mug rug I made in 2013. I had even used some of Amy's Temple Flowers fabric for the binding. :) What a treat! Thanks for the love and inspiration you give to everyone Amy!! You can see my heart on page 7.




Here's my heart mug rug/mini quilt. It's a off center log cabin made with random width scraps & cut into the shape of a heart. Had to use some red and white fabrics that I love the most from my stash! Quilting was hand stitched in the ditch with perle cotton.

Happy Stitching, 
RCQ

For Ellie

I made this quilt back in 2011. I wanted to try to make a charm quilt some white minkee I had been saving. Oh so soft! Minkee is quite a challenge to work with. I had to stitch very slowly and LOTS of pinning along the way.

I had some charm packs of Kate Spain's Central Park fabric. I think most of her fabrics look their best when paired with white. Love these prints! The colors look so happy! I did some simple machine quilting, trying to stitch in the ditch.

Baby quilts are so fun to make and not to big to quilt on a regular machine. 

My kind of rose garden.

There have been so many damp gray days this winter. I think that's why I've been so drawn to bright yellows and golds. This quilt went together super fast. My pieces are large, but then so are the moths in the beautiful linen fabric. And so that's how it came about.  Those moths looked like they wanted to take flight, so I better give them some room. 

I've had terrible luck trying to grow roses in my yard. The bugs always eat them. Or they get swallowed up by a fungus. Got a few of those around here. Here's my kind of dream rose garden. Blazing a trail up the lattice. Low maintenance. By the sea of course. And a beautiful bike path right there too, running right along through it.

Here's where I started. Pulling this sunny group of fabrics from my stash. I made a few changes once I got to the design wall, as usual, because that's the fun part!

A little Field Study. A little Hand Drawn Garden and Rosette. Botanics, True Colors, Weekends, and Beyond the Sea to finish it off. Love those sandpipers!

Here's another shot during our misty moisty morning today. The back of the quilt getting photo bombed below. Followed by a close up of the quilting.

Before I go, I've got a little Laignappe for you. Ever wish you had a third hand in the sewing room? I use my presser foot to hold my work sometimes. Especially when I'm ironing my binding. I use my flat hair iron to press the seams in my binding. Then I also my flat iron to press my binding lengthwise. The  presser foot holds it a section at a time. I hold the binding in my left hand and the iron in my right. Makes for very fast work!

Found an even better place to store my flat iron. And yes, I'm very compulsive about turning it off as soon as I'm done.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy stitches.