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.

Babushka Dolls

I love nesting dolls or as we always called them when I was growing up Babushka's.  This was a very hard quilt to complete and took a long time.  Each doll was painstakingly paper pieced using foundation paper.

 The grid lines had to be measured and drawn on with a washable pen.  The faces were drawn on with fabric marker.

 Each set of three dolls has coordinating fabric.

 The pattern called for another set of three dolls but 9 was my limit.  I really liked this pattern and I love the way it turned out.  But it was definitely a difficult project which took almost a year to complete.

Skeleton Halloween Apron

I was saving this black apron for a special reason.  I just didn't know what the reason was until I saw a Skeleton Halloween Apron.  Fortunately I had some skeleton bone patterns lying around.  A little felt and some iron on adhesive and I have my own Skeleton Halloween Apron.  Happy Baking.

Baby Bunny Quilt

 This is my new baby bunny quilt.  It is for a friend with a new little one.  I found this idea on Pinterest.  The fabric is full of bunnies wearing coats and holding balloons.  As the new little one's room is filled with Peter Rabbit I felt this was the perfect match.

The strips were sewed to the batting as I went along.  Then I used the decorative stitches on my machine to decorate each seam. I had so much fun choosing the stitches and matching up colored thread.

 You can really see the different stitches on the back of the quilt.

This is a log cabin table runner I made for a dear friend.  The pattern I copied was from something I had seen on Pinterest.  But after I started quilting I noticed my log cabin pattern looked a bit different then the sample pattern.  My logs were longer.  I checked and double checked my measurements but I still haven't figured out what went wrong.  The good thing about giving a quilt to a non quilter is they will never know if you made a mistake.

I love the colors of this quilt and have used this material before.  The fabric strips were already cut which made it very easy for me to get started quickly.

 I was also supposed to alternate the color strips more.  I didn't but again unless I told you that you probably wouldn't have known.

The stippling is the part I am most excited about. I saw this on Pinterest as well.  A great tutorial on how to make these flowers. I mapped out the entire thing in a grid on the back with a white pencil.  Then I carefully sewed each curve going up one side and then down the other. I washed the quilt and the white pencil went away.  I have been wanting to try new stippling methods and I was really happy with how this one turned out.