Girl’s Plus Quilt – Fantasia

fantasia plus quilt, baby girl quilt, whimsical baby quilt

Fantasia fabric has been cut into charms and sitting my my stash for some time.  Since creating this quilt in 2015, I knew I wanted to make a smaller version.

Digging around for scraps before the IMQG retreat this winter, I found the remaining charm squares.  They were added to the mountain of stuff I was taking just in case I wanted a simple project.  A simple project is a great way to get the creative juices flowing and help you accomplish a bit more.

Saturday night of the retreat I laid the blocks out in about 15 minutes.  The top came together in under and hour.  A plus quilt is one of my favorite patterns.  Mostly because I can use charm squares in something more than just a patchwork top.

fantasia plus quilt top

Somehow the Kona Mint goes with this color palette.  It’s out of my element for sure, but it’s a fun touch.  Again I kept the quilting simple.

straight line quilting

No crazy machine troubles this time.  The backing is pieced with left over bits of the fabric line.

The binding is a Kona solid.  Soft green and a bold pink are an interesting combination.  The blues are a great accent color.

fantasia quilt back, pieced quilt back

This quilt is looking for a new home.  Are you interested?  It’s for sale on my Facebook page for $75 plus shipping.  Buying a handmade quilt is a wonderful gift.  I add a personalized touch of the babies name if you know it.

fantasia girl quilt, plus quilt, stash fabrics

You can still find some Fantasia in shops.  One of my favorite shops, StitchStashDiva, still has some available here.

This is baby quilt 10/40 toward my 2018 goal.

Scraps from a cleaning day – quilt inspiration

Cleaning the sewing room can unearth from great finds.  Maybe it’s that lost fabric or a project that you have stuffed away.  Well, while I was cleaning my sewing room in February I found some gems.


My tall table housed a number of projects I had forgotten.  I took the discarded half square triangles from this project and threw them into a baggy.  Apparently I had pulled out the yellow, orange, green, and aqua ones for a quilt that did not happen.  Well, I decided to change that.

found gems in sewing room, sewing scraps

I decided to make 16 patch blocks with the left over half square triangles.  Within the blocks I didn’t want a repeat of color in the row or column.  Each block was laid out before piecing to ensure I could do it.  The blocks were tiny once finished.

found gems in sewing room, sewing scraps

What do to next?

It needed something more to become a quilt.  There were enough blocks to put four of the blocks together to be one larger block.  The effort was made to not have same prints or colors side by side.  There’s one it’s not right, but it’s not an issue.  Design element right?

I took these blocks to the quilt retreat, not sure the entire layout or design.  I grabbed some Kona Capri solid I had in the back room just in case I could use it.  It’s bright and could add an interesting color to this quilt.  Why not?

Check back later this week to see the rest of the process.  I’m curious to know your answer to the question below.

What have you found while cleaning out your sewing space?

My Crazy Sewing Goal for 2018

When I started planning for 2018, I knew immediately what I wanted my word to be.  Confidence, the one area I was really struggling with personally and professionally.

However, writing out my other goals for 2018 haven’t been as easy.  March seems like a good time to share what I’ve been pondering over the last few months.  What could I do this year that would really challenge me and encourage some stash management?

I had been aiming for one baby quilt per week during 2018.  Then life hit and I realized that goal wasn’t realistic.  Funny, I found this post below right about the time I was rethinking the goal.

I fell off the wagon

My new goal is 40 baby quilts in 2018.  Allows some flexibility with life, but more importantly challenges me to use what I have.  Bring on the scraps and stash to make this goal happen.

Also, if you’re drowning in scraps I will gladly take them.  Hint hint.

Gorgeous Grannies made for #5 out of 40.  I have a few more in the works.

2018 sewing goal, 2018 goal, sewing goal

Gorgeous Granny Squares – Finished

Granny square quilt, modern baby quilt, modern design, modern nursery decor, scrap quilt, jewel tone colors

Welcome back readers.  Thank you for your kind words on the quilt top post.  These Granny Squares are just GORGEOUS!  Am I right?  Blanche Devereaux, well this version, is ready for her introduction to the world.

Granny square quilt, modern baby quilt, modern design, modern nursery decor, scrap quilt, jewel tone colors

Let me tell you a little about finishing this quilt.  I rushed to quilt this one and paid the price.  TWICE! I started quilting the first time and my tension was off.  It appears little hands may have turned a knob on my machine and I didn’t realize it.  I turned my tension down and then down some more.  Then when I thought I had it right, I ripped out all the stitching to start fresh.

Then the tension still wasn’t right.  A second pass a quilting and it was off.  After getting pissed off, I walked away from this project for a couple of days.  I put it in time out.

I came back and the quilting went smoothly.  Thank goodness as I really didn’t want to straight line quilt this one.  This quilt gave me a bit of sass, much like Blanche.

Have you seen this fun quiz on Buzzfeed?  Take it and tell me in the comments which character you got.  I will tell you mine below.

Granny square quilt, modern baby quilt, modern design, modern nursery decor, scrap quilt, jewel tone colors

Backing

I bought around five yards of this Art Gallery print a few months ago.  I knew I had some girl quilts coming up that it could be perfect for.  Plus, it’s Art Gallery so it’s buttery soft.

 

This quilt is ready for it’s new home and can be found here on Etsy.  By the way I’m a Dorothy Zbornak.

2018 Baby Quilt Goal 5/40


Linking up with Flamingo Toes Show & Tell Party

Five Reasons You Should Go To A Quilt Retreat

Does your quilt guild offer a retreat?  If you haven’t been because you’re nervous let me highlight why you should be going to a retreat.  Indy Modern Quilt Guild has been hosting a retreat for five years and we have had newer members join us each time.  Were they nervous at first?  Absolutely.

1.  These are your people

Quilters get each other.  We understand your obsession with a designer or getting sucked into a quilt-a-long.  This is a place where you are among people that understand that need to create.  You all may have different styles, but that’s part of the fun. You also get support, see #3.

2.  You have time to create

Time away from home, your commitments, and potentially Wifi give you that time to tackle your sewing list.  Maybe you want to make 4 quilt tops, maybe you want to quilt a massive quilt you haven’t had time to do, or maybe you want to tackle a pattern that you may want help with.

3.  You have support

You have built in help over the weekend.  Not sure about a design choice?  You can get instant feedback and make a change.  We like to call it quilt by committee at our retreat.

4.  You can try new tools

Is there a ruler you’ve been wanting to try?  A machine you’ve been eyeing?  Good chance that someone on the retreat may have it and let you try it out.  At our recent retreat someone was struggling to sew a bag on her machine, so another member offered to let her try her machine.  It’s the machine she’s been contemplating buying.  Now she’s saving up for that machine.  Hello free test drive on something you will make.

Someone brought their Accuquilt cutter.  I had not played on one and tried to use it.  Ugh, not my jam right now.  However, someone else used it to cut into a fat quarter bundle she wanted to play with.

5.  Girl time and time with friends.

I don’t think many of us get enough girl time in our lives.  A retreat is a wonderful opportunity to truly connect with someone else.  Learn about their lives, hear their story, and start supporting them.  Some of my close friendships were bonded at the retreat years ago.

Bonus if someone brings things to help you relax.  Facial masks, a massager, and/or wine helps.

The next time your guild hosts a retreat, go!  Don’t hesitate because this is an opportunity you don’t want to miss out on.

Gorgeous Granny: Fresh and Modern Granny Square Quilt

Granny square quilt, modern baby quilt, modern design, modern nursery decor, scrap quilt, jewel tone colors

Granny Squares are one of my favorite patterns outside of just patchwork.  It’s a staple in my designs.  This version is a bit darker and feels stormy.  You guys, these fabrics were all scraps and stash.

Sorting fabrics

Picking Fabrics

On Instagram a few weeks ago I saw someone destashing 2.5″ squares.  These are of course right up my alley.  Once the scraps arrived the idea for this quilt came to life.  The colors just spoke to me.  It did take some sorting and adding scraps to get just the right colors.

My goal was to make as many blocks as possible.  I had enough to make 31 blocks.  To help with speed, I set them up to able to chain piece the rows.

chain piecing quilt blocks

There was a slight panic as I was cutting into my light gray.  Was there going to be enough?  Not really, but I had some scraps to throw in.  That still wasn’t enough so an SOS went out to nearby quilters.  No one had any in stock so I had to trek to JoAnns on a Saturday afternoon to get more.  To my surprise it wasn’t an awful experience.  The store was packed and busy.  However, I walked right in to what I wanted and walked right back to the cutting counter.  There was some Kona Ash in the remnants bins as well.  BONUS!

Blocks

Look at these blocks, they are gorgeous.

Hence the name Gorgeous Grannies.  This quilt will be named Blanche Devereaux in honor the wonderful character from the TV show, The Golden Girls.  You’re welcome for this.  Plus, I’ve been to a few Galentine’s Day events recently.  The show perfectly sums up celebrating the friendship of ladies.

This top is just too good.

I was worried the colors wouldn’t balance out as well in the top as they did.  Too bad I didn’t have more of these fabrics to make a bigger quilt to keep for myself.  Love the colors and fabrics in this top.  What do you think?