Teal Squares: Quilting Design

December, 2013 (published later because the design is a surprise)

I have finally settled on a quilting design for the Teal Squares quilt! I'm doing a stipple design in the black background areas with black thread. 

For the squares, I found Aurifil in a variegated teal at one of my local quilt shops. I was so excited. I wasn't sure how to quilt the squares, but I settled on a diamond design that I learned in a Craftsy class- Dot to Dot quilting with Angela Walters. I'm really thrilled with how it looks. I did the two shams first because I wanted to try it out before wrangling the whole huge quilt in my sewing machine. I love it. Here are some pictures of the pillow shams. 

Now that they are done, I'm excited to get started on the quilt itself!

Christmas Sewing Wrap-Up

I finished the table runner for my sister-in-law in time for Christmas Day. I quilted loops in the border, stippled the white background/setting triangles, and straight lines on the patchwork. 

Here is a picture of by brother and new sister-in-law's stockings hanging in their house. 

And I also finally made a table runner for my mom. It fits perfectly on her coffee table. 

Last-minute Holiday Sewing

We drew names for our sibling Pollyanna later than usual this year, and now I have a last minute deadline. My sister-in-law has been saying for months that she hopes I get her for the Pollyanna because she wants a holiday table runner. (I made her an everyday table runner last year.) I didn't draw her name, but I switched with the person who did as a surprise for her. 

So...that meant I got to make a trip to Olde City Quilts this week for some Christmas fabric. I could get lost in there; it's huge and just so well-kept and beautiful inside. Plus, they have a whole WALL of Aurifil. So pretty. I found some variegated teal for another project, which I didn't even know they made. 

I ended up choosing In From the Cold along with some coordinating prints and a white on white for the background. 

Moda Bake Shop had a pretty easy table runner pattern on their site the other day, so I went with it. Here is the layout of the top (minus borders). 

Hopefully I will get the top finished up tomorrow, and be able to quilt and bind it before Christmas. Fingers crossed. 

Holiday Housewarming

My youngest brother got married and bought a house this year, so I made them holiday placemats and stockings as their housewarming gift. The placemats are reversible, since my new sister-in-law is Jewish and my brother is Catholic. I got the two sides to line up, though, so the quilting (x's through each square, and a rectangle around the name box) looks right on both sides.

You can see the backs and fronts in this photo, but once again I forgot to take a picture of the final product...  I bound them with white and it looked really nice. 

I had a little help picking out the stocking fabric...

...and settled on these coordinating prints, with Kona emerald for the cuffs and lining. 

My cousin Diane helped me out with the embroidery, and here they are!

Hopefully I will get a picture of them hanging up for Christmas. I'm just glad they're done in time for Santa to fill them up!

A Quilt-Worthy Event

A very good friend of mine wondered for years, while listening to stories of the quilts I made for other people's special occasions, when she would have her own quilt-worthy event. I decided that the conjunction of her 25th birthday and getting her own apartment was it, and I made her a throw quilt to match her bedding. 

I had been wanting to experiment with different layouts for half square triangle blocks, and when I came across this off-centered design, I really liked its asymmetry. I chose five different batiks and used a solid black background. I love how the black makes the varied shades of the batiks pop. I quilted it with straight lines to echo the quilt's design. 

Of course I forgot to take a picture of the finished product after I quilted and bound it...but here is a picture with the masking tape I used as a guide for my quilting lines.