Rainbow Hearts

My son wanted a new quilt.  He went into my Pinterest page and picked out one from this site.  There were no patterns. So as I told you before I had to do math. Lots of it. And fractions. But the end result was this beautiful creation that he and the dog love.

Pinwheels

The Pinwheel baby quilt is done.  I tried a couple of new things on this quilt. I put mini pinwheels in the corner.  That was rough.  When the quilt was all put together I took a picture to send to someone and when I looked at the photo I saw that one of the corner pinwheels was wrong.  I had to take it apart while it was already attached to the quilt.  Fun.

Next I tried my hand at stenciling a border.  I used a washable pen. I don't think I will be using this technique again.  My stitching was not that equal on both sides. I think to the untrained eye it will look find but I noticed all the flaws.

I stitched in the ditch and added a border. Fortunately those worked out and the baby quilt is ready for gifting. I like to think that the new mama can teach her baby about colors and shapes with this quilt.  Happy quilting.

I am participating in the Pillow Case Challenge 24 Hour Sew-A-Thon. More information can be found here http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/sewathon. This is a great event that will make pillow cases for many different charities.  I am making mine for foster youth. You can join a sew-a-thon near you, host a virtual one, or plan one in your own home.  It is a great way to give back and lot's of fun as well.  Join in!  And if you do please post photos of your pillow cases in the comments section so we can all see them.

Sample Blocks

I don't sew small things.  It hurts my hands to cut them out and they never come out neat and straight. So I always sew large things.  Then I came across the blog of Lori Holt at Bee in My Bonnet.  She makes sewing small things easy.  Her techniques are easy to follow and her pictures are very helpful. She not only showed me I could sew small pieces she also opened up my eyes to a whole new way to use my scraps.  You need to read her post on this.  Pow! Mind blowing.  So I had this quilt which I haven't finished yet.  It is Suburbs from Cluck Cluck Sew.  Another great blog.  I haven't put the backing on yet but I had tons of scraps left over.

I started making sample blocks from Bee in My Bonnet.  And I made 15 of them before I knew it.  I absolutely loved it.  Look at those adorable blocks that are going to make an even more adorable quilt.  I keep spreading them out and looking at them.

But there's more.  I still had triangles left over from the Suburbs quilt. I started sewing a few at a time when I finished with a block. Sort of using them to start and end the next block.  Pretty soon I had a pinwheel quilt.  All from scraps.  This picture shows it pinned and ready for quilting.  And I have to tell you I don't like pinwheels.  I would not ordinarily set out to make them.  But this quilt was done in two days.  TWO DAYS!  I work full time - nothing gets done in two days.

I can't wait to get my copy of Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt so I can make tons of more blocks. I love it when I find something that gets me excited about quilting all over again.

Math and Rainbows

Let's start with the math. I don't do math. I am an attorney.  You have heard the old joke that lawyers don't do math.  Well it is holds true for me.  But I saw this heart quilt and fell in love with it. Then Z asked me to make it for him.  There was no pattern.  So this is where the math comes in. I had to figure out how to make this with no pattern. I decided to graph it.

That is old fashioned graph paper I haven't used since grade school.  I was counting blocks and using fractions.  Hard stuff people.  But it worked and I got this: gorgeous rainbow strips all in the correct shape.

And then I got this: white strips filling in the space and defining the heart.

Just ignore the zombie child in the above photo.  And then I got this:

All from using math.  Who knew?  Stayed tuned for the rainbow border and backing which will be added soon.

My muse had a little sister!

Everyone knows I have two boys. And I love my boys but they are not little girls. So I made my friends little girl into my muse so I could make all kinds of cute sweet little girl things. Well my muse has a sister now. What could be better. Two little girls to make pretty things for. This chevron quilt was made for muse #2.

I wanted to make a quilt with a white background, something I had never done. I am afraid of white. That happens when you have two boys. I have maybe two things in my wardrobe that are white and my kids have none. So hence this white quilt. I am also obsessed with chevrons. Some may think they are out of style by now but I still like them and this quilt was my way of getting all my chevron-ness out in one shot.  Over, done with.

 Cool thing about this quilt is that it can be viewed from any angle.  And if you look closely it is just triangle squares.  The hard part is matching them up and making sure you have enough to make the pattern you want.  Here's to hoping you have a muse or two in your life.

muse¹

myo͞oz/

noun

1. (in Greek and Roman mythology) each of nine goddesses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who preside over the arts and sciences.

   synonyms:

   inspiration, creative influence, stimulus;  formalafflatus "the poet's muse"

   • a woman, or a force personified as a woman, who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist.

     noun: muse; plural noun: muses

     synonyms:

     inspiration, creative influence, stimulus;  formalafflatus "the poet's muse"

Water Color Shabbat

I love watercolor quilts. I just can't stop making them. With the graph fusing it is just so easy to whip one out.  This one I saw on Pinterest and knew I had to make it.  The changing tone of the background shows off the the glow of the Shabbat candles.  I had some ornate brown fabric with a design that looked like vines.  Perfect for the candle holders.  I pillow topped the quilt to finish it because I didn't want to sew over the design.  Since it will be for gentle use I wasn't concerned about securing the back and front layers very much.  The cute "handmade" pin was found at Joann's.