More Anna Maria please!

It seems I cannot get enough Anna Maria Horner these days... :)

I had to make myself a giant log cabin quilt! Based loosely on Anna Maria's pattern, I made it with velveteens and flannels from many of her beautiful fabric lines. 

Of course, my corgis had to photo bomb my picture! 

I pieced the back with different AMH voile fabrics.

 It is definitely a soft and cuddly quilt!

I also decided to try hand-quilting this time.  

I made it very simple, by just sewing along the 1/4" seams. 

I've decided I love hand-quilting, even though it did no good for my carpal tunnel. 

Those cute little stitches are so worth it! :)

Last quilt for me for awhile... On to other projects! 

What projects have you been working on? 

More Anna Maria please!

Something for me...

Every once in awhile, I become a little selfish. I have been making quilts since 2009. I've made one for many members of my family, new babies, charities... I had yet to make one for myself. So, of course the fabric I wanted to finally cut up and turn into a quilt... or two... or more... would be my favorite Anna Maria Horner. I have a lot of her fabric, and I certainly plan on making many more quilts out of her many beautiful collections. But, I started with her Loulouthi line, and added a little bit of Field Study. As I was cutting lots of 5" squares, in the hopes of making a plus quilt (someday), I was getting more and more intrigued by the scraps! I kept thinking, "Gosh, even her scraps are beautiful! I hate to waste these... I must use them somehow..." So, instead of starting with the plus quilt, I started with the scraps. :) 

For my "Hot and Cold" quilt, I used my leftover 3" or so by 18" or so long scraps, and added some white sashing in between, keeping the warm colors on one side, and cool colors on the other. I didn't even make my scraps all neat and straight. I kinda like it a bit wonky. The colors are so bright and beautiful, and they pop with the white in between. Super quick and easy!

I kept the back simple as well, by using some Field Study linen in warm and cool colors, and adding my hexagons on each end in opposing colors. 

For my wonky cross quilt, I also had a lot of little tiny 5" by 1" or so scraps leftover from cutting up my 5" squares. I hated to throw them away, so I added them to a couple charm packs of white squares, trimmed them up and put them together in a cross shape. I added some thin white sashing between the crosses so they show up a little better. I also added some leftover scraps of Field Study for the border. I find wonky quilts so charming! I think mostly because they don't have to be so perfectly measured to be beautiful. :) 

Another simple back, using a big piece of my favorite Loulouthi design, Summer Totem in grapefruit. I had one leftover cross block, so I turned it into a hexagon. 

As for the quilting, I did some free-motion flowers and leaves on the "Hot and Cold" quilt, and my usual meandering stipple on the wonky cross quilt. I am so happy to finally have made some AMH quilts and have some COLOR in my boring brown house! :) 

Something for me...

Pinwheel Quilt

So, after I had finished the three Grandpa quilts, I wanted to use up some of my fabric that's been sitting in my china fabric cabinet for awhile. I decided on my leftover layer cake of Botany fabric by Lauren and Jessi Jung. It is such a great fabric collection and so happy looking! I had seen a tutorial about an easier way to make half-square triangles, and decided that I would give it a try. I've always been a little scared of triangles... so much measuring... needing them perfectly lined up. Ugh! But, once I tried it, I found, this was SO easy! I couldn't believe I was making a quilt with triangles!

So here's how it ended up! Not too shabby, for a non-triangle girl. ;) Again, I love the colors in this collection of fabrics. Reminds me of that time between spring and summer, when the weather is perfect, and everything is in bloom. So, I posted a picture on Facebook, and asked if anyone wanted this one. My mom, of course, wants all my quilts! But my sister-in-law also was interested, so this one went to her. :)

I did my usual meandering stipple. It is my favorite, and makes for a nice, soft, wrinkly quilt. 

I kept the back simple with just the yellow fabric from the collection, and used a leftover pinwheel to make my hexagon tag. I'm thinking I might make more pinwheel quilts. ;)

Head here for an easier way to make half-square triangles. 

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend! 

Pinwheel Quilt

Catching Up...

Well, I've changed just a little bit on my blog. I'll probably continue updating it for awhile. But, I wanted to post a little something while I have a tiny bit of spare time. :) I was debating whether or not to go back in time and post some of the things that I've been doing over the last two years... because I have still been sewing and making things, just haven't been able to blog about them! Computer time is limited these days. I have decided to go back a little bit, but only to the beginning of this year... mostly to show the quilts I've made. So here's one post about my favorite thing to make... quilts!

Grandpa's Memory Quilts: I made two of these quilts for my two uncles. It has now been almost 3 years since my grandpa passed away. I finally got to making these quilts starting at the beginning of this year. They are made from my grandpa's clothes... shirts, pants, a robe, pj's. I cut his clothes into 5" squares to make 3 quilts out of them... one for each of his children (my uncles and my mom). I just did a simple random pattern for these two. They're not perfect--since there are different types of fabric, they shifted a little while sewing. But, I kinda like the charming imperfection. ;)

I also kept the back simple. Blue was a color that my grandpa looked great in... because of his blue eyes. I also added my "tag", but two hexagons this time. I didn't have any fabric from my grandma's clothes when she passed away... besides, I didn't even know how to sew back then! But my mom gave me a shirt that used to be hers, and I was able to sew a piece of both my grandparents on the back. :)

Here's the quilt I made for my mom. She deserved a special pattern. ;) I just made a pixellated heart pattern using the same 5" squares, but putting mostly the darker colors in the heart shape. As you can see, I had two dark colors leftover (bottom right), but no biggie. My mom loved it, of course! 

More soon! 

Have a great week!

Catching Up...