Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art


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Adventures in Cuteness (a finish)

IMG_2412This week I made a quick baby quilt from a panel and it turned out awfully sweet.  There is no applique on this, it’s all printed.

2015-07-05 11.03.45picI started with this panel.  I don’t remember where it came from,  but I must have felt sorry for it and took it home.  I added two rows of patchwork (from my scrap bins) to make it wider, put a Kona Ash border around it, then bound it with a two-tone charcoal binding.

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There is an extra layer of cotton batting under the center to make it a little poofy.  I quilted on the printed lines, and added a few extra details.

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To quilt the background, I drew in bunches of leaves using my new “Leaves Galore” ruler (Sue Pelland), that I bought last month.  It’s meant for cutting leaf shapes, but I traced along the curves, moved it, and traced again to form continuous leaves that were easy to quilt.  That’s how I drew the leaves in the border, too.

IMG_2422The back is pieced from my stash.

2015-07-15 20.00.35This was fun to make.  Now it’s headed for my Etsy shop, unless I can convince someone to decorate their nursery in a woodland theme…

IMG_2423I’m linking up to Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Reader’s Garden.

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Time to Count Up

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Yes, its been a year since I joined the Second Annual Piggie Bank Savings =Money for Quilting Challenge at Val’s Quilting Studio.

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I forgot to take a photo of my finished collection of bills and change, but here is the pitcher half full.

I threw (gently placed!) change in here that I found in the dryer or around the house, and cleared my wallet of ones and change whenever it got too fat.

And the grand total is….

$76.05!

I’ll be using this “found” money to finance some Craftsy quilting classes, so let me know next time you hear of a sale, please!

For next year,  I may spend the next couple of years saving up to go on another quilt-related trip, since I enjoyed treking to the Kansas City Quilt Festival.  What will you be doing with your windfall?


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Sunday Stash Report: 7/5/15

With the finish of Blue and Gold Scrap Trellis I am back to making progress on my goal of destashing fifty yards of fabric this year. (We’re now in the second half of the year…). This quilt was great, since it came almost all from old stash and scraps, and made good use of that lovely piece of fabric for backing.

This week:  + 0 yards,  – 7.5 yards
This year:  + 77.5 yards,  – 98.25 yards
Net fabric destashed  in 2015:  20.75 yards

No sewing yesterday due to partying, so I’ll show some photos of my back yard and vegetable garden. 

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Yes, everything is really this green, we’ve had a ton of rain.  It will look a little less vibrant in August.

Have a great day, and good luck destashing!  I’m linking up to Judy’s report at Patchwork Times.


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Blue and Gold Scrap Trellis is Finished!

image Yes, I have finished it!  This is my first leaders and enders project, the little 3.5″ units pieced as I put together various other projects.  Did I like it?  Well…it did make for very neat, tailless piecing on the other tops.  I liked that a lot.  It was hard to train myself to do it religiously, and I could only go so far with it and still concentrate on the other work.  But, yes, I will do it again, with a simpler project of mindless squares. IMG_2406I made this quilt to use the backing fabric in my stash (French Country Journal by Michael Miller).  I’d been saving it for a while, and it is just too pretty to cut.  And there will always be more fabric.  So I decided to use it, and designed this quilt.  It’s inspired by a quilt in Scraps, Inc.  I haven’t seen the book, but I liked a project that Pam made, so I designed this in EQ7 to resemble a trellis.  I used all the yellow, gold,and blue 3.5″ squares in my bin, and sewed 2″ white squares to two corners to create the little lozenges. IMG_2404This was an odd shape. I bought fabric at Missouri Quilt Company for borders, but decided against them. I added another two rows at the bottom, removed the side and corner setting triangles, and substituted the floral fabric (potential border fabric).  This finishes it a bit without being heavy.  I like it.  It’s 51″ x 69″ IMG_2399I quilted it all with yellow Sulky on top and white Bottom Line on the back.  Most of it is done in an orange peel motif  [probably never again after all the terrible puns (redundant?) on Twitter!].  Those are butterflies in the centers of some of the white areas.  I would do them differently another time, but they are not  bad. IMG_2410This doesn’t have a purpose yet.  It may go into my Etsy shop, except that I really like it a lot.  But I only need so many quilts. IMG_2411Hope you had a finish this week. I’m linking up with Finish it up Friday and WIPs Be Gone.


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June and July Goals

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2015-06-29 13.33.08Not a perfect job on the goals this month, but that’s okay.  We’ve been traveling, and trying to get our house and yard into shape in between the rains.

 

June Goals

1.   Audit Jinny Beyer BOM Craftsy Class.   No.  Think maybe I’ve given up on this.

2.   Quilt and bind  Charlotte’s Scrap in a Box Mystery Quilt.  Yes!  Here.

3.   Attempt a photo transfer technique for a Coastal wall hanging.  No, but I bought the soluble stabilizer and the gel media.  Our printer is on the fritz.

4.  Assemble quilt blue and gold leaders and enders units into a top.  Yes!  And I’m quilting it!

 

The only “bonus” item was the Slabs of Color for donation, and those were just fun.

 

And July promises to be more of the same, so here are my unambitious goals for the coming month:

July Goals

1.  Finish the blue and gold quilt.

2.  Attempt a photo transfer technique for a Coastal wall hanging.

3.  Get another leaders and enders project organized so that it is available when I’m piecing.

4.  Make a baby quilt from an animal panel I purchased.

 

2015-06-27 15.11.33That certainly seems doable.  These goals do help focus my muddy brain so that I get something done, so that’s good.

Hope you are making progress and enjoying your summer (or winter)!

 


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Sunday Stash Report: 6/28/15

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No finishes in the last two weeks because I spent a week traveling, including to the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival.  Yes, I bought thirteen yards of fabric, but can anyone blame me?  I was in Fabric Mecca, otherwise know as Hamilton, MO, home of the Missouri Star Quilt Company.

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I bought some neutral Grunges and crossweaves, two florals for borders, and this very neat layer cake I had never before seen.

This week:  + 13 yards,  – 0 yards
This year:  + 77.5 yards,  – 90.75 yards
Net fabric destashed  in 2015:  13.25

If you don’t know the story of MSQC, be sure to read it.  Quilters have truly brought this tiny town back to life, and restoration of the beautiful old buildings is continuing.  They have have plans to open more fabric stores, and I’m sure more businesses will join the restaurants and gallery already there.  Go visit!

I’m linking up to Judy’s report at Patchwork Times.


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Design Wall Monday

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After months of making these little units as leaders and enders, I finally made them into blocks and stuck them on the wall.  I’ll probably rearrange a few, but this is basically how they go.  This morninging I printed some butterfly designs for the white blocks.  It would make a lot more sense to trace them before I assemble the top.

I’m linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.  Check over there and vote for your favorites!


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Sunday Stash Report: 6/14/15

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This week I finished Scrap-in-a-Box (7.75 yds) and the last of the Slabs of Color, another .25 yds.  And I managed not to buy any more fabric.  Working with all scraps (except the other borders and backing) made it seem like lots of progress.  And I’ve got another scrap quilt in the works.

This week:  + 0 yards,  – 8 yards
This year:  + 64.5 yards,  – 90.75 yards
Net fabric destashed  in 2015:  26.25

Not bad:  half-way to my goal and half-way through the year.  No promises, though.  This week I’m off the the Kansas City Quilt Festival, so little sewing and possibly a few purchases.  Hmmm.

How are you doing on your destashing?  I’m linking up to Judy’s report at Patchwork Times.


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Scrap-in-a-Box is Finished! Alleluia!

IMG_2362Yes, It’s finally finished!  I’ve only had the top finished since the end of May, so I suppose two solid weeks of quilting isn’t ridiculous, but it seems like forever.  Maybe because we #twilters and others started this mystery quilt late last fall as we gathered and cut our scraps.  Maybe because we pieced along all winter and early spring as the design was revealed. Maybe because by the time I assembled it, the blocks weren’t exactly, um, flat.  But now it’s done, and very pretty!

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To deal with the waviness, after I had spray basted this quilt, I machine basted it through all the blocks with water-soluble thread.  Then I abandoned my original quilting thoughts for a design that fell mostly on the seam lines and in the flatter spaces.  IMG_2366

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It all washed up pretty flat and straight in the end.  Some of the quilting lines look like I was under the influence of something, but that’s what happens when you quilt over bumpy ground.  All in all, it’s very successful.  I love the colors I used.  I’m keeping this one, at least for a while.

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Thanks to Charlotte for designing this and guiding us through it, and all of the other participants.  Always fun to work together.  See our diverse results here.

I’m linking up to WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Reader’s Garden.

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Slabs of Color

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Nothing like a quick batch of donation blocks to give a sense of acomplishment.  These are the first “slab” style, “made fabric” blocks I’ve ever done.  They are for the Flood Texas with Love project at Sara’s blog.  Thanks, Katie (Katie’s Quilting Corner), for spreading the word about this on Facebook.

My blocks are a little different from the models, because my scraps are already cut into squares instead of random sizes, which I think are both easier and harder to use.  I would have preferred to use all strings, but I don’t have enough in the clear, rainbow colors.  It did use a lot of scraps, even though you can’t tell from my bins. These are 15.5″ square.

Hope some of you can whip up a few of these to send along for a good cause.  These should be beautiful quilts.