"you're making another quilt?"

Jordy asked me this question the other night as I yet again took over our living room by laying out out the quilt blocks for my latest quilt. "How many are you going to make?" was his next question, to which I promptly replied, "maybe five million" :)

That got me thinking though, "why do I quilt?" It really is an expensive hobby and when you break it down, it kind of seems a little silly -  buy fabric, cut it up into little pieces and stick it back together again. Really, it's kind of odd. So why do I have this urge to make so many quilts? I thought about it a bit and I realized that even though I'd never consciously thought or talked about this, I picture myself using them in the next fifty years, and curling up in them. I picture rocking my babies in them, and laying them out on the grass for picnics and tea parties. I realized that I treasured the thought of making an heirloom, something that will only increase with age and love.

One of my favorite blankets to have on my bed when I was younger was my mom's old white comforter. I don't think there was anything particularly special about it, except that it was soft and I liked that it had been my moms. It always felt the best when compared to my flowery one from wal-mart that I had. I hope that years down the road my kids, or guests staying at our house will feel the same way when going to sleep under one of these handmade quilts that are perfectly imperfect.

sudoku quilt

The other night I had a few hours to myself so I finished up this pretty in pink quilt top. It's actually a 'sudoku quilt,' which I'll explain in a minute. At Christmas I got a sudoku quilt kit from my mom. It was two charm packs that had been doctored up to have 9 charm squares of 9 fabrics each, for a total of 81. The fabric in the kit was 'Oasis' by 3 sisters. It's so dreamy and soft, I love it! The kit also comes with a sudoku puzzle to fill it out. After solving the puzzle you are to separate the fabrics into nine piles and assign each print a number from 1-9. Following that you lay out your squares using the puzzle as a guide. In the end you are left with 9 patches of 9 blocks with no repeats in the 9x9 block or in the horizontal or vertical line. Make sense?

Here are my blocks laid our prior to being sewn with the sashing in between:

And just for good measure, here is a picture of the finished puzzle that I used as a pattern for my prints:

If I have completely botched up my explanation, feel free to leave me a comment and I will do my best to try and explain myself better! And in case you were wondering, the quilt minus the  binding which I will get to eventually, is 56.5x56.5

scrap stash

I have a bit of a scrap problem I'm afraid. You see, I don't throw out any fabric even if it is to small to be very useful for anything, I always think I can find a use for it. Maybe that is why I also have a growing collection of assorted pieces of cardboard..... Anyways, I decided it was time to actually find a use for all those little scraps. I love the look of scrap quilts so without a real plan in mind I started cutting all my scraps into 2.5"x2.5" squares and it turns out I had enough for 475 of them! If I wanted to start cutting into my 'medium' sized scrap pile I would have a whole lot more. I have a problem, yes I know!

So, here it is folks, the beginning of my 'postage stamp quilt'. Stay tuned for further progress!

bound

Every quilt I have made, with the exception of my first one in grade 12, has been hand bound. I think it gives a much nicer edge and more of a home-made touch. That being said, I used to despise doing the binding on my quilts so they would normally be passed off to my mom to do! Lately though I have been kind of enjoying the process. Maybe I wouldn't be so excited about it though if I had to do a queen sized quilt!

This quilt is the absolute perfect size in my opinion. I have made a couple other lap quilts before but they are always too small! This one is just the right size for a little snooze on the couch with, the only thing that could make it better is if it had plush backing!

Just for reference, here is a picture of the quilt top (without the borders):

a new advent calendar

Last year I bought this adorable fabric panel from a little fabric shop in Cold Lake, AB. I backed it with the striped fabric you see as the binding. You were supposed to sew it inside out and then turn it but I much preferred to sew it the traditional quilt way. This was also my second time free motion quilting and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I wasn't as scared as I was my first time!

I just need to buy some little green buttons to sew onto each snowman. On each day of December I can then move a little star (that I already made) onto each new snowman with the corresponding date. So cute!

my first attempt

well i'm by no means a pro, but i don't think i did all that bad either! while my mom and dad were up for a visit in july i had my mom teach me how to do free motion quilting. this is always something i have wanted to learn how to do but have always been incredibly intimidated by. it is a little bit tricky to get use to but then it's not so bad. i am planning on free motion quilting the quilt i made at the 'surprise party' quilting class i took that same weekend.
on another subject i love the look of the gradient on the back of this quilt. it's a little bit more fun than just a solid color don't you think?

quilt show in the park

Last Sunday was the annual quilt show in the park here in Moose Jaw. Quilts galore are hung between the trees in Cresent Park making it the perfect setting for such an event. This year I even submitted two of my own quilts to be on display! It was so fun! The top two pictures are my quilts that I submitted and the rest are just for you to enjoy!

It's rather plain, but I think the one with the stripes was my favorite out of the pictures I showed you. There's something nice about being simple!

surprise party quilting!

What a quilting filled weekend I've had! My parents came visiting for the weekend and on Saturday my mom and I took a 'surprise party' quilting class that was hosted by one of the fabric stores in town. Basically what it is is an all day sewing event where the quilt kit is provided for you and you do not know what you are signed up to make until you get there. The event was held in the beautiful Temple Gardens spa and the hotel restaurant catered the lunch, it was delish!

Here we are with our finished quilts (minus the borders). The pattern we used is called 'variety show' and was designed by one of the girls from The Quilt Patch in Moose Jaw. Mine has a this border the same color as the sashing and then a wide border in the mustard colored floral fabric. The fabric really is beautiful even if it isn't my typical color choice. It will be perfect for on my couch this fall.

Here are just a couple more pictures from the event:

Also this weekend I learned how to free-motion quilt as well as entered some pieces for the quilt show in the park. More pictures to come soon!

quilt show

Last week I had the fun experience of going to a local quilt show in Moose Jaw. There was a ton of vendors there, and so many gorgeous quilts to look at. Here is just a sampling of what was on display:

 

 

I wish I could have taken them all home with me, aren't they just gorgeous?

work in progress

I can justify sewing breaks during homework time since sometimes my best ideas come to me while I am sewing. ie) my next paper topic! Last night I finished 50 of these blocks, now I only have 50 left!
My goal is to be done the quilt top by Easter time so I can bring it with me when I go and visit my parents and hopefully drop it off to be quilted :) Now that I have a goal I better get those papers finished so I can keep sewing!

See my other 'progress reports' here!