Quilts For Moms

 I waited to make this post so I could share two quilts at once. While it's fun to make secret sewing projects I find it hard to keep it a secret! I guess I just enjoy quilting too much and want to share! One is a mini quilt that went to my mother-in-law and the other is a lap quilt that went to my mom. I thought it was fitting to share them in one post.

These quilts were made entirely with scraps and fabric I had on hand with the exception of the border in the lap quilt.

I learned how to make hourglass blocks. They're so fun! 

I will definitely have to make more.

I love making mini quilts and wanted to make one a month this year but abandoned that after this one.

I realized that Connor's graduation quilt needs to take priority.

  quilt # 46

10" x 10"

machine pieced & quilted

I made scrappy triangles for the lap sized quilt.

The fabric for the triangles all came from a bag of 8" squares found at a thrift store.

(I still have some left!) All I did was sew two together diagonally and cut them apart.

Making these triangle blocks was a dry run of sorts for the graduation quilt.

It's good to have extra practice.

Beautiful blue flowers for the backing, also found in my fabric stash.

A behind the scenes look at the quilt holder...it was a little breezy.

Found this little Bob Ross treasure in a scrap bag I bought at one of my favorite vacation quilt shop stops.

Perfect for my mom.

The best part was being able to surprise both moms.

:)

quilt# 47

approx. 50" x 56"

(I forgot to measure this before I gifted it, that's design size and not after washing & shrinking.)

machine pieced & quilted

Strings Baby Quilt

I tried a new-to-me quilting technique.

I loved it. It was quick and easy.

I have a container I keep bright scrap strips of fabric.

I had no idea what I was going to do with them but I couldn't throw them away!

I had seen what's called string quilting. It sounded easy but just never took the time to try it.

A few months ago I saw a post on a blog using this technique that piqued my interest.

The blogger's quilt sparked an idea and this quilt was started.

The idea behind string quilting is to take phone book paper, or similar paper, and sew strips of  "strings" to it. This keeps the fabric from running amuck and getting distorted. When you finish sewing all your strips you trim it to the size you need and remove the paper.

Here is the back side after sewing the strings.

It's so much fun!

Simple and mindless sewing.

Don't have to match anything, just grab another string!

The pile on the left was trimmed to 3" wide.

After I trimmed them I sewed them into long strips.

Then I cut them the lengths I needed for my quilt.

I added borders in between the string strips to calm down the madness.

It's kind of like an eye spy quilt.

There's everything in there from chickens and dragonflies to anchors and clocks.

I went with simple walking foot waves for the quilting.

(Pre-wash non-crinkle photo.)

Post wash crinkle photo.

I forgot to measure this before I dropped it off at a local charity.

I know it was slightly smaller than my original design due to a larger seam allowance (oops).

So I'll give an approximate size.

quilt #45

40" x  55"

machine pieced & quilted

Emerald

I have finished yet another mini quilt.
I'm going to try to make one a month this year.

Here it is before I quilted it.
Figuring out what to quilt seems to be the hardest part for me.
I'm always afraid to pull the trigger. I don't want to mess up a quilt.
It's rather time consuming to rip out quilting stitches!

 

I finally came up with a plan and thread color.

The quilting shows up the best on the back side.

All in all, not bad. I'm quite happy with it.

I no sooner put the quilt down to take a picture and a cat came over to investigate.

Silly kitty.

I have been taking these mini quilts to my cubicle wall at work.

Nice to have a little color.

quilt stats:

emerald

mini quilt

#44

7 1/2" x 7 1/2"

machine pieced and quilted