Showing posts with label baby quilt. Show all posts

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Cowboy Panel Quilt Coming Along

Hi and welcome 😎. It's been so hot and muggy that the studio is a nice cool haven! I had an incredibly productive weekend working on BB quilts. They are partially FMQ and I'll share them with you soon. Today it's all about the two sides of the Cowboy panel quilt that I started during the SAHRR 2025 this winter.

Cowboy Panel Quilt with two side borders!

For my July One Monthly Goal (OMG) I added a first narrow border around the Cowboy Panel. August is not even half over and I've managed to piece together the two side borders with eight of the blocks I created during the SAHRR (Stay At Home Round Robin).

Cowboy Panel quilt with 2 side completed borders

I'm not sure which day I worked on this but it went so well, especially the first side panel (to the right in the photo). The only tricky part of putting the second border together was the second (jean and red plaid) block. It was just a little smaller than all of the 6½" blocks. I added coping strips but they were too narrow so I ended up removing them and just adding the block as is. I used a scant ¼" seam and in the end it worked out well. I'll ensure to stitch around that block when I quilt it, to make sure that it stays put!

This is the image I took of the first border - it barely fit on my design wall.

First border done!

I've started getting ready for the top and bottom borders. I'll be putting 5 blocks on each of them. Since I was missing one block, I took out the small box of scraps that were left over and made this improv block. It's got fabric from some of the other blocks, so hopefully will work.

Last block - improv

Now I need to work on the math so that the top and bottom blocks on each side will match up with the side borders.

What I learned

Once I measured and wrote everything down, it was fairly simple to make the borders. I drew it out like a pattern, including both the finished and unfinished sizes of each part.
I guess that my initial procrastination was knowing that I would have to make some design decisions at the beginning of making the borders - things such as the number of blocks in each border.
It's amazing how understanding the basic principles of quilt making helps me make up my own "pattern".
Learning about coping strips really helped me. Now I'm not as nervous fitting everything in.
The top and bottom blocks are pretty much the correct 6½" so that helps.
I'm looking forward to finishing the top and bottom borders - in theory it should go well 😁
I've already achieved my August OMG so if there's not more progress, I'll be able to link this post at the end of the month.
I've also been working on FMQ a new turquoise BB quilt that I put together on the weekend. I'm looking forward to sharing this one with you, as well of a couple of others in progress.

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 544 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a very productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

Melva, from Melva Loves Scraps finished up a lovely Madam Butterfly quilt. Melva quilted this with an all-over medium stippling. She also learned that her machine wants her to FMQ using Aurifil 50wt thread😉

Melva's lovely Madam Butterfly quilt

Frédérique of Quilting Patchwork Appliqué wrote a post about how she made her Baby Bear Quilt. It's so cute and must be soft with those fleece sections!

Frédérique's Baby Bear Quilt

Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting finished up two fall themed Rising Star table toppers. Check out her post to see how Vicki quilted them - on lovely backing fabric!

Vicki's Sunflower table topper

Vicki's Fall Leaves table topper

Vicki also quilted this UFO - Beatrice, with all over hook swirl design.

Vicki's UFO, Beatrice is all finished!

Close up of Beatrice with the all over hook swirls

Margo from MY Quilts and Crafts finished this lovely Jagged X baby girl quilt 2.

Margo's latest baby quilt

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts used iron-on stabilizer to attach each section of her stitched iron case cover. That is very cute and ingenious.

Preeti's landscaped iron case cover

Gwyned Trefethen will be speaking at an area guild. Since I don't believe that her works were featured here, here is one of the quilts, "Out of the Ashes" in her series. Check out her post for other quilts from that series.

"Out of the Ashes" by Gwyned Trefethen

It's now your turn!

Wednesday, July 02, 2025

Orange Scraps and a Baby Quilt

Hi and welcome 😀. I've been sewing baby scraps into a cute baby quilt! Since my studio is still a mess and very, very hot, I've laid out the quilt on the dining room table. I found a 40" x 42" piece of yellow fabric that is perfect for the backing. That made designing the quilt easy since I just laid the blocks and fabric on the backing. It's all about keeping it simple 😍

Scrappy Baby Quilt Flimsy

I've called the post Orange Scraps since that's the June colour of the Table Scraps Challenge. The quilt fabrics are beautiful scraps of mostly muted orange, blue, gold and gray.

Scrappy baby quilt flimsy is finished!

This afternoon it was all sewn up except for the two side borders. I used the two longest scraps for the top and bottom, so the side borders are heavily pieced. I waited until our AC was working before ironing the borders.

Quilt top with just the borders to attach

As I mentioned, I used the dining room table to audition and design the quilt. I started off with the 4 blocks I had prepared a couple of weeks ago. A lot of the design was based on the fabric I had. After placing the blocks where I thought they might go, I added fabric to complete the rows. It's essentially a quilt with three rows. The blocks make up most of each row, with additional fabric strips added to make it look good.

Bottom row sewn together

Bottom border and the two rows sewn together

The side borders had to be pieced because although I had largish fabric pieces, they were going in the wrong direction. I wanted all of the cute animals facing downwards.

I'm really looking forward to FMQ the blocks since I'll be able to use dot-to-dot quilting a la Angela Walters.

Another look at the scrappy orange baby quilt flimsy

July's One Monthly Goal

Since I managed to achieve my June OMG, I'm going to add a goal for July. With the studio now cool (but still messy), and life somewhat normal, I'm going to work on putting together the Cowboy quilt panel that I was doing during the SAHRR this winter. The panel and blocks are still on my design wall so at least it's accessible 😁 I would love to have a flimsy ready by the end of July, but I'll settle for any progress!

This was the last layout option...we'll see!

What I learned

The entire quilt was made from scraps that I received. I'm so glad that I was able to use most of them up. There are now only scraps to be divided among the various scrap bins.
I'll have to find some binding fabric that plays well with these.
The quilt is roughly the same size as my backing - so I may have to add a few scraps to make it slightly larger, or trim the existing quilt. The largest it can be is 40" x 40"
These are not my usual colours but I'm so glad that I got to play with them. Maybe quilts don't have to be bright???😉
I also played with a few more hexies but I'll keep them for a day when I have nothing else to show.
My dining room table will be cleared of quilty things. Once it's cool enough, I'll be bringing my laptop up there also. People will be shocked!
I'm so happy to be linking up to June's Table Scraps Challenge. I did the orange but not the beach theme.

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 538 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was another very productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting finished a UFO Jelly Roll quilt. We know how good that feels 😊She backed it in fleece and FMQ with large stippling. It's perfect for a lovely quilty hug!

Vicki's most recent UFO finish!

Donnalee made another cute mini - this time it's a pumpkin! We're looking forward to seeing her larger pumpkin wall hanging.

Donnalee's cute pumpkin mini

Quilting Gail finished Canuck Quilter's Mystery Quilt. She made the traditional option. It's really lovely with her ruler and FMQ. You may want to check out Canuck Quilter's post - both the traditional and the modern quilt are really lovely.

Gail's finished version of Canuck Quilter's Mystery Quilt

Gail's lovely FMQ and ruler work

Debbie of A Quilter's Table made and quilted a lovely modern scrap quilt based on Carole Lyles Shaw's Stash Jazz pattern to donate through her guild.

Debbie's Stash Jazz quilt, quilted in a grid

Brenda of Song Bird Designs has been custom quilting her latest quilt, Sedona Starburst. Here are two of the blocks. You may want to check out Brenda's blog to see the lovely quilty details!

Check out Brenda's post for better images - it's worth it!

Frédérique of Quilting Patchwork Appliqué shared with us the lovely BB quilts that quilters in her area made. They will be donated to the hospital. Check out Frédérique's post to see the other cute ones!

The quilt is made in a log cabin style and then cut in ovals

It's now your turn!

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

A Wedding and Free Motion Mavericks

Hi and welcome 😍. I've done very little sewing this week except to fix my daughter's dress for my son's wedding this weekend. It's been pretty busy and I'm happy to say that my and Hubby's health are progressing well.

Our first born 😁

Stéphane has been featured on this blog a few times. I'll start at the beginning....his first quilt made by my mother and me.

Stéphane's first quilt - a dinosaur with balloons

Several years later 😊

Stéphane is very handy. He can draw, sew, crochet, etc. He is my in-house techy and engineer since I don't do 3-D well. He appreciates my art and quilts, except perhaps the abstract stuff 😃

Making masks during the pandemic

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may remember Version 2.0. It was a remake of my mother's quilt to Stéphane. It took me several years to make and 2 years to FMQ.

Version 2.0 at the quilt show

Version 2.0 on it's new home

Stéphane and Sarah in the tapering feather heart

Stéphane and Sarah are two very lovely people.

Sarah, Poppy and Stéphane

Poppy

Thanks for obliging me 😊. I've been busy getting the wedding Welcome party ready and attending or driving to all of our health-related appointments. Next week, I really hope to add quilting and making to my self-care. I'm skipping my usual sections since the links are in the text.

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You may want to check them out and maybe link up below! Finished or Not Friday, Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off The Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts,

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 531 of Free Motion Mavericks! Thanks for linking up. The last two weeks have been very productive and since I'm feeling better, I'll be featuring all of the projects from the last two weeks that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

The pattern for Niko, Preeti's quilt that was featured in Make Modern, is now available to purchase directly from Sew Preeti Quilts.

Niko by Preeti

Kat finished many small quilts for charity that were donated by quilters. Here is one that you'll want to see the FMQ on!

Look at that fun FMQ by Kat!

The back to see Kat's FMQ

Donnalee's last two runners for the quilt guild's show next year!

The last two runners made by Donnalee

Here are three great quilts by Gail of Quilting Gail! The first two are blue quilts that she made for charity during the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. You'll want to click on these quilts to see the FMQ!

Gail used two Silly Moon rulers to quilt this

Blue quilt, FMQ by Gail

Variation of the Drunkards Path by Gail

Vivian, the Bronx Quilter made four quilts to donate to the committee members of her community garden. Here are the last three that she made and FMQ. Check out the different quilting that she used.

Vivian used a square meander to FMQ this quilt

Vivian used a large ribbon stipple for the FMQ on this quilt

These were quilted by Vivian using a clam shell ruler

Janine at Rainbow Hare made this gorgeous Circus Horse for her Endeavourers Challenge. What a beauty!

Circus Horse by Janine

Last week, Quilting Gail made a lovely scrappy yellow quilt for her Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Look at those FMQ double loop-d-loops.

Lovely double loop-d-loops FMQ by Gail

For the Irish Chain blog hop with Island Batiks, Preeti created Honi.

Honi created by Preeti and quilted squiggly lines using the walking foot

It's now your turn!

Friday, April 04, 2025

Free Motion Mavericks

Hi and welcome to my very quiet post. The only thing that got done this week was to wash the Small Blue Scrappy Quilt. I put it into the dryer (I don't do that often but the results give such fluffy goodness).

Small Blue Scrappy Quilt

Finished and washed, the small blue scrappy quilt is ready to take to the guild meeting next week.

Small blue scrappy quilt washed and ready to give

April's One Monthly Goal (OMG)

I tried to have this quilt as my February OMG but it didn't happen. Maybe I'll have a little bit of time to devote to it. There is only minimal FMQ to add and the binding (which will be in the darker colours). I'm hoping that this can get done. I would love it to hang on my daughter's wall. 😊

It's the Floral Fusion wall hanging, made during the quilt a-long hosted by Denise at The Quiltery.

My April OMG - the Floral Fusion wall hanging

What I've learned

It's been a turbulent week here. Hubby is back in the hospital as infection set in. It was only superficial (as in not deep into the wound) but they did need to operate to clean everything up. The nurses and doctors have been amazing. I am so thankful for our health system. It may not be perfect but it is accessible and won't eat up our savings!
Self-care has helped enormously. Daily reminders of what I need to keep healthy, including stretching and meditation has helped. I'm far from calm but I'm not a total mess 😉
I did attend the April Fibre 15 meeting and was glad for the companionship and the excuse to get out the the house to do something for myself. I did a tiny bit of embroidery, so nothing to show there.
I also put as a goal to read a blog post per day. It didn't happen every day but quite a few. I'm glad that I was able to do at least that!
Thank you so much for your comments of support. I'm not usually so obviously personal in my posts but it's been a hard time. I appreciate you all. Thanks 😍

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 525 of Free Motion Mavericks! Thanks so much for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

The Joyful Quilter FMQ her lovely yellow March Table Scraps Challenge finish. What a cute mini! She even wrote the words of a song on it, since that was the theme. Check out her post to see what song inspired the piece!

Joyful Quilter FMQ yellow March Table Scraps Challenge mini

Brenda from Songbird Design participated in the SAHRR parade. What a great modern, geometric quilt! Brenda used rulers for some for the quilting. You'll want to check out her post to see the back of the quilt's lovely quilting!

Brenda's SAHRR 2025 Finish!

Brenda also created a gorgeous Bunnies in the Garden quilt for her March Island Batik project. She used her embroidery machine for the bunnies and flowers. I don't think that she FMQ the quilt, but she used parts of Karlee Porter's digital motifs on her quilt. I've included it here because these are great inspiration for FMQ motifs that you might appreciate. Check out Brenda's post to see close-ups of each block. It's truly worth it!