Hugs & Kisses quilt is completely done!

The Hugs & Kisses scrap quilt that I started from Lesley’s Retro Flower quilt is finished. I bound it last night while I was watching T.V…….actually I was watching my binding while the T.V. was on last night! I was just sitting there to keep my husband company.  I guess I’d give myself an 85% on my free motion quilting, it’s okay…nothing great, but nothing to be embarrassed of either. I felt like a learned a lot doing this one, and that’s a good thing. In the picture below I still need to cut some strings, so if you see some that’s why.

Before it got bound…..This quilt isn’t some of my best work in the piecing department, it’s hard to match up the whites in the diamond in the middle of the block…..I got to the point where I just wanted to get the quilt done, so I let some things slide by that I normally wouldn’t And here is the finished product. I used scraps for the binding too, that took much longer because of sewing little pieces together to get the binding long enough to go around the quilt. So overall, I’m very happy with the finished product. Now I feel like I’ve got the ‘mojo’ going so I can get the Retro Flower quilt done too!

I will say that a tutorial by Anne Fahl found on sewcalgal’s blog helped me in my free motion quilting. Every month for the year 2012 sewcalgal will have a guest teacher submit a free motion tutorial. I really enjoyed this month’s advice. It was very beneficial.

I also purchased the last BOM for my Aunt Grace’s Garden Party…it’s basically the fabric for the borders and binding. My sister Susi saw it and I think she really wants it, we’ll have to wait and see whose home it ends up in. Hopefully I’ll get it done real soon now. I also need to finish my Patriots in Petticoats BOM….just need to do borders to finish it too. I feel like I’m actually getting lots done lately, it’s a good feeling! Now if only I’d have that good feeling about cleaning my house too!

Happy quilting, Kris

Free motion quilting my Hugs & Kisses Scrap Quilt

Well, I’m ready to get started free motion quilting my Hugs & Kisses Scrap Quilt. As you will be able to see by the pictures….I’ve stuck true to my word and have made this truly a scrap quilt. The backing is not the most beautiful thing in the world, but I didn’t have to buy a piece of fabric for this! I spent probably around $15-$20 to finish the top, so overall not too bad. It measures around 65”x80….a good size for a throw to put on your couch.

I’ve been very busy this week with work, so my quilting has taken a backseat for a few days. I ended up working on Saturday, so I had a 6 day work week. Sunday is church, clean the FedEx building, buy groceries and then go to Small Group bible study. So as you can tell, I really didn’t have too much extra time this weekend! I’m feeling pretty good that I’ve gotten this far on this quilt.

As you can see this backing isn’t too pretty, but I did a bunch of digging through my tubs of fabric to find enough fabric in colors that would kind of match to get the job done….I think once it’s quilted it will look just fine. I think binding this in white would look the best, but white would just get too dirty, especially for the binding. I guess I’ll probably just use more scraps of anything left that’s big enough.

I’m just itching to get started quilting this….it will have to wait until this evening though. I’ll be posting pix of the finished quilt very soon!

Happy quilting! Kris

Retro Flower quilt is almost done!

Well, Lesley’s Retro flower quilt is almost done now…I just need to add the border and get it quilted. So far it measures 72 x84 and I’m planning on adding two borders so it should end up being about 86 x 100 or close to that. I really like how it’s turned out so far. Still not sure how to quilt it, I sure hope I’m struck with inspiration of some kind!I’ve also been making a Hugs & Kisses scrap quilt with the leftovers from this quilt (Retro Flowers Quilt)…..I love how it’s turning out too. I’m worried I’m not going to have enough scraps to finish it. I had a goal of not buying any fabric at all to get  it done, now I’m thinking I might have to put some kind of spending limit on how much to buy to get it done. So far I’ve not spent any ‘extra’ money on it. We’ll see….Maybe I’ll let myself spend $20 to get it finished….what do you think? I’m planning on making it twice this size, and then adding a border. It should be about right to put on a couch as a throw. I am having more fun making this than the original Retro Flower Quilt!

I’ve also finished the center strip for my Aunt Grace’s Garden Party b.o.m…..I like how my applique turned out over all. I will say that silk thread and a straw needle make all of the difference in the world. I still would say I need to do a bit more of the applique before I will feel somewhat proficient with it, but I have made great strides in my confidence level.

This weekend will be spent mostly cleaning my house. I’ve kind of neglected it for too long. So Saturday I’ve got an appointment with a vacuum cleaner, a broom and some comet….woo….what a hot date for me! Maybe I’ll get some sewing done Sunday afternoon.

Happy Quilting! Kris

Back working on the Retro Flower Quilt again

Well, I finally got the rest of my fabric for Lesley’s Retro Flower Quilt, so I’m almost finished with all of the blocks. I’ve only got 4 more to make before I reach my goal of 42….. woohoo!

I’m thinking I might make 3 extra ones and make them into a table runner and practice my free motion quilting.  I’ll get a better idea of what will look good on the flower before I start quilting this HUGE quilt.

Here are the three latest…  These are the fun blocks I’m making with the scraps from Lesley’s quilt. I found this pattern on a blog I was looking at and I just loved it…turns out the scraps work perfectly for this. There are four blocks here sewn together, they are fast and easy to make. I think I’ll have enough fabric left over for a good size ‘throw’. The name of these blocks are ‘Hugs & Kisses’ and I found them on little.miss.shabby.

Well, I’m on vacation this coming week, so I will be hidden away in my sewing room!

Happy Quilting! Kris