Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art

Tag Archives: Evening in the Garden


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Scrappy Stars is Finished

img_2805Yes!  More than a year in the making, I’m very pleased that Scrappy Stars Around the Corner is finished.  And I’m pleased with the result.  There were moments, as I pushed and pulled the #bigheavyquilt through my machine, when I was afraid that it would be a wonky, stretched-out mess.  However, the magic of the washer and dryer put everything back where it should be, and it’s not bad at all.

2015-10-01-16-55-30This carton of eggs from my farmers’ market was the inspiration for the color scheme.  I knew I would add some darks for contrast, and then I found the turquoise and gray scraps from a project, so it morphed a bit.  I originally thought of it for the master bedroom, and giving it borders, but it ended up not matching.  Then I let it sit while I tried to decide what to do about it.  I finally decided to finish it up for a gift or to donate.

img_2807The back is pieced from four gray and gold fabrics.

img_2806aThis top lay much flatter than Scrap in a Box from the previous year, so perhaps my triangle piecing improved?  However, when I went to run quilting lines through it, I discovered problems with my sashing.  Next time, I will mark centers (at least) on my sashing strips so that everything lines up better.

img_2810And it’s passed its snuggle test, so I guess all is well!

I’m linking up to Whoop Whoop Friday and Finish it up Friday.


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WIP Wednesday  2/1/17


Krissi and I have been working on the Scrappy Stars quilt.  (No, Krissi is not a fan of the camera!)


This is an old photo, but it shows it all nicely pressed, unlike now, after I dug it out of its basket.  No more rows are sewn on, but they’re all assembled and ready to add today.  And I found the corner pieces- they were between some of the blocks.

I’ll be spray basting this on my basement ping pong table, but for those of you who pin, check out Katie’s video of her method of board basting.  Great for small spaces, and not getting down on the floor!


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Two Elephant Finishes

img_2796img_2793I took advantage of the Australia Day Sew In yesterday to finish up the second of the elephant baby quilts.  Then I washed them both up for photos.

img_2801img_2799The batting is Warm and Plush.  It really is nice and plush-y, and fine for quilting.  One drawback is that it shrinks more than the regular Warm battings.  I put minimal quilting in the version of Pink Pinwheels that I made for Etsy, and it shrank two inches in each direction, which wasn’t a problem, since it was a little large anyway.  I made an effort to add more quilting to these two (roughly every inch or two inches), and it shrank 1.5 inches in each direction (on a 36″ x 42″ quilt).  It is nice and poofy, just be aware.

img_2800The binding is the last of a Riley Blake one inch charcoal stripe.

img_2803Thank you for all the encouragement.  These are really fun fabrics, and the aqua ones have been in my stash for a while, so I was glad to use them.  These are in my Etsy shop.

I’m linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.


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Design Wall Monday- Elephants


Today I put together this top using some of the fabric I purchased recently.  I have a fun piece of polka-dot flannel for the backing. 


I’m linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. 


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Pink Pinwheel Quilt


Actually, the name of this block is Whirlwind.  I made it for the new daughter of a friend.


At first it looked like this, with plain 9″ blocks of the print.  Blech.  I put it up on Twitter, and the Twilters agreed it needed something.  That’s when I cut the blocks down to 6″ and added borders (Snow).  That gave me an opportunity to fussy-cut the fabric a little.  I like the result.


If you think this only has a little diagonal quilting, good, that’s the effect I wanted.  But, really, It has a lot of quilting.  I first stitched in every ditch with fine thread (Bottom Line), and then did the diagonal stitching with Fantastico.


The back is a great pink and gray hounds tooth corduroy and a strip of gray Kona.


I bound it with strips of gray and white chevron fabric, which makes nice diagonal stripes.

I’m linking up to Let’s Make Baby Quilts at Michelles’s Romantic Triangle


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Design Wall Monday


Today I pulled fabrics and cut for a baby quilt for the new daughter of a friend.  This is the Whirlwind block.  It was getting dark by the time I took the photos, but the fabrics are a pretty blush pink.

This speaks to the state of my stash.  Since I’ve worked so hard to reduce it, I assumed I needed to buy fabric for this quilt.  After all, this mother has a certain color and a certain aesthetic.   I thought I could pull fabrics from stash to piece the top, but was sure I needed to order the back. (I chose one of the Michael Miller “Magic” fabrics.)  When went into my small, dark closet, removed all the fabrics from the Pink drawer,  and brought them out into the light, I found I had plenty to choose from, even for the back.  Sigh.  I’ll probably make a similar quilt for my Etsy shop while I’m cutting.

I like keeping my fabrics in the closet where they’re protected from fading.  I’ve invested over the years in a nice metal basket system where I can separate the colors.  I don’t have anywhere else to keep it, but I do wish it were easier to see what I have on hand.  Ah, well.


Also,  I finished cutting all the scrap fabric for Surrounded by Scraps,  Charlotte Hawks mystery quilt for this year.  I have lots of background to cut yet, but I just ordered it.

I’m linking up to Design Wall Monday  at Patchwork Times. 


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Design Wall Monday: Leaves

My mother had a lot of gathered projects or ones with cut pieces and a block or two finished, but I didn’t I didn’t bring any of them home.  I did bring this top of six inch maple leaf blocks (48″ x  60″).  I’m auditioning these fabrics for borders.  I may use them both.  I love the colors in the print, but it’s tropical, which won’t show if I use it for a narrow inner border.  The hand-dye print from Kona Bay is neither burgundy nor rust, which is why it’s still in my stash, but it’s perfect for this.

I’ll finish this up for donation, and I know my mom would like that.

I’m linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.


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Grungy Christmas Stars

A while back I made a variety of wonky stars using Christmas fabric scraps.

I put them together with lots of negative space made of various white and creamy Moda Grunge and borders of Windham’s Glisten.  Then I took them apart and inserted a peppermint strip for definition. 

Oftentimes, after a quilt is washed I regret not having quilted it more.  This was not the case.  I quilted shadow stars in the plain blocks, and filled around all the stars in various ways.

I quilted holly and ribbons in the first, wide border.  I quilted roping in the narrow gray border.  

I quilted ribbons in the outer border. (For this I used my Leaves Galore ruler from Sue Pelland.  I just didn’t move it over as much as for leaves.  I guess long, skinny leaves look like ribbons.)

After the fancy quilting, I went back with my walking foot and quilted straight lines wherever they fit to try to make the border quilting a little closer in density to the center.  I didn’t succeed,  but it’seems also pretty flat, so I think it helped.

The back is a creamy batik with faint green snowflakes.

This time I really think I accomplished the vision I had for this quilt.  It’s here in my Etsy shop.


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Lavender Baby Finish

img_2758Today I finished a pretty little baby quilt for a new little cousin.  It was inspired by the color of her room.

IMG_2760.JPGI know you’ve seen this design before (a few times!), but I wanted to keep the pieces large to show the ribbon print fabric, so here it is in living color.  I also used a piece of the new Grunge collection, which perfectly bridges the spectrum between lavender and orchid.  The light fabrics are hard to see here, but they are dots and chevrons on cream.

img_2761The backing is an irridescent  damask in a beautiful lavender.

img_27642016-10-29-12-03-29I quilted this with variegated Poly Quilter from Superior.  It was the perfect colors, but I have never been able to get it to sew in my machine before (I think it’s 30 wt.).  Maybe it was the recent tune-up, but I had little problem this time.  The big size 100 needle punched visible holes in the back, but they closed up when I washed it.

2016-10-28-11-53-53Now I have to break it to Krissi that we’re sending “her” quilt away.  She’s pretty attached.


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A Little Sewing

wp-image-932651337jpg.jpgThis week I began climbing the stairs up to my studio and sitting at the machine for half an hour or so at a time.  My knee is not pleased to be bent that long, much less push on the foot pedal, so I have to take breaks and walk around to stretch it out.

I did succeed in making a dozen 10 1/2″ string blocks for Kat’s October drive.  A good way to get back into sewing.

2016-10-13-12-22-18And yet, I can’t see any reduction in my strings…

2016-10-13-12-22-58aMy Bernina machine has been away at the spa while I was healing (getting her back today!), so I used this one instead.  This is SueAnn, a White, from the ’30s, I’m guessing?  Help me out if you know.

This is the machine on which I learned to sew.  When my parents were first married, my dad worked at the Boston Store in Erie, PA.  They took used machines on trade-in, and had a sale on treadles for, like, $10.  My mom had no machine, so she asked for one of those, but instead my dad brought home this used electric and the cabinet, which I don’t have.  All our clothes were made on this until my mom won a new machine when I was 11, and I started sewing on this one.

2016-10-09-16-25-15aI had a moment of panic when I went to thread her, but I just went ahead and let muscle memory take over, which seemed to work.  It’s not much different from a modern machine, but on the end instead of the front, and the bobbin and needle are turned sideways as well.

2016-10-11-12-22-33I have put the feet away somewhere, a very safe place, Jaye suggests, and I still can’t find them.  I used this walking foot, and, really, it wasn’t a bad choice for stitching the strings to a muslin background.  I like the way this machine purrs along.  In my dream studio I’d keep it set up in a cabinet.

Now I’m working on the design of that neutral Christmas quilt, and hope to do some cutting and organizing until my knee wants to sew some more!