Postage Stamp Checkerboard Quilt Version 2

scrap quilt, scrappy checkerboard, postage stamp quilt, quiltytherapy

After creating this quilt, there were quite a few of scraps already sorted.  They just called out “make me into a quilt.”  They are so demanding, right?

Postage Checkerboard Scrappy Boy Quilt

Over Labor Day weekend I took these to the lake and started sewing.  Are you surprised?  I take my machine everywhere.  The hum of the machine in nature was quite refreshing.  I did some early afternoon sewing, most people were out on the water and our area gets pretty quite.

Once I got home, I pressed the small squares with seams open and began adding 2″ Kona Ash strips.  Why is it every time I go to type ASH, I type AS*?  Adding those strips takes no time and creates an interesting look.

Once P was in bed I could lay out the quilt in the house and piece the rows.  My process involves piecing all the rows, then pressing.  I also don’t press the seams between rows until the top is finished.  From my stash I chose a blue backing that I had picked a while back.

For the binding I had a large scrap of a Robert Kaufman print that was a wide back.  White bindings are scary on a baby quilt, but sometimes it just works.  Quilting is my go to all over loops.

scrappy baby quilt, checkerboard quilt, scrap quilt, quiltytherapy

Time to refresh my scraps and maybe mix them up a bit.  The scrap bin is overflowing.  Anyone up for a scrap swap?


This is quilt 15/40 in my 2018 baby quilt goal.

Geese A Flutter Baby Quilt

Geese A Flutter baby quilt has been in the works for over a year.  Can’t believe that is true.  It started with an idea from the Handmade Swap last spring.  Soft girly colors for a baby quilt.  Shortly after our friends announced they were going to be having a girl.

assorted flying geese blocks

I started with stacks of flying geese and started building my 4 block units.  These come together rather quickly.

flying geese quilt blocks

Laying out the blocks revealed a small hiccup with my original idea.  The quilt would be too narrow.

flying geese blocks, quiltytherapy

At the IMQG retreat this winter I added thick borders.  So this baby quilt is really more of a lap quilt size.

geese a flutter quilt top

I chose the Art Gallery butterfly print in my stash as the backing.  Using free motion loops I was able to quickly quilt this up.  Binding is one of the blue floral prints in the quilt.

geese a flutter quilt, baby girl quilt, quiltytherapy

Then the quilt sat in my sewing room.  It’s been done since May or so.  The baby was born in December.  I found the quilt while cleaning out my sewing space this summer.

It got a good tumble through the dryer, a new photoshoot, and then wrapped to send.

geese a flutter quilt, quiltytherapy

It’s enjoying snuggles with it’s new owner.  While I say it’s my last flying geese quilt for a bit, I doubt I’m done.  They make great srappy quilts and come together smoothly.



This is number 14/40 for my baby quilt goal for 2018.

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.

When Your Quilt Design Takes A Turn

v christenson string quilt with binding

Do you keep a basket of treasured fabrics?  A basket of Lotta Jansdotter and V Christenson fabrics live in my sewing room.  They are my special fabrics since I adore both designers.  My pink basket of V Christenson fabrics have gone with me every year to my quilt guild’s retreat.  Last year this quilt was created at the retreat.

V&Co HST offset quilt by quiltytherapy, #modernquilt, #V&co, #HSTquilt #halfsquaretriangles, #babyquilt

This year I was determined to use a jelly roll stashed deep down in this basket to create Cluck Cluck Sew’s Diagonal Strip Quilt.  It’s been on my to make list for a couple of years.  Since I am aiming for 40 baby quilts this year, it seemed easy enough.

At the retreat I had a chance to get started on it.  Some of my strips were not full length so I adjusted and just went with it.   A stack of blocks was created and I was so excited to lay them out.

v christenson string quilt

However, I had a few left over halves and unsure what to do.  These blocks were not enough to make a baby quilt.  Rather than get frustrated I changed the design.  I cut all of the blocks above into half.

v christenson string quilt

To utilize all of the halves I had, I just pieced them together randomly.  The new design was perfect and big enough to be a baby sized quilt.

v christenson string quilt

I posted this picture during the retreat after a brief snow storm.  After I wrapped it on a bolt and left it to sit.  Once my machine was back from it’s spa treatment I was ready to quilt this.

v christenson string quilt

A number of quilting options were tested on this.  Ultimately, I went for straight lines.  I backed the quilt in the purple zig zag print.

v christenson string quilt

The binding on this quilt is my favorite part.  With the leftover 2.5″ strips I pieced together this scrappy binding and machine pieced it in place.

v christenson scrappy binding

Here is the finished product in it’s quilted goodness.  It came out of the dryer all crinkly.  A freshly washed quilt straight from the dryer is my favorite part of the creative process.

 

v christenson string quilt

This is baby quilt 8/40 for my yearlong goal.


Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday
Needle and Thread Thursday

 

Scrappy Half Square Triangles Quilt with Negative Space

Earlier this week I talked about how this project got started.  So let’s dig into how the final product came to be.

Layout

In my retreat bag I stuffed a number of projects and a few Kona solids.  You can’t go wrong with white and shades of gray.  I had some gray scraps that I wanted to use up.  Once the blocks were made I knew it needed a bit of a border.  This quilt was a bit of the inspiration.

amy butler cameo tiny scrap quilt by quiltytherapy

This is what I ended up with once I added some gray and white borders to the blocks.  Then I used that lovely Kona Capri to surround the blocks.  I know, it’s a little out of my comfort zone for a background.

I pieced the backing and binding as well at the retreat.  Quilting wasn’t really on my agenda for that weekend.  So, I wrapped it up on an empty bolt I had.  Genius idea to reuse those bolts. Easy to store my projects and I can have everything for the project together.

Quilting

When it came time to quilt, I went with simple free motion loops.  It was a nice contrast to the triangles and squares.

I love the colors on the back of this quilt.  However, the fabric did not want to cooperate when it came time to baste.  Look at how crooked that is?  UGH.  We will call this a design element.

The quilt is straight, but with that crooked backing it looks lopsided.

Overall it’s bright and fun.  It’s out of my comfort zone but it’s a finished quilt.  This is more of a throw sized quilt so I’m not really counting it in my baby quilt goal.  It measures 53″ x 54″.  Thoughts?

The quilt is currently for sale in my Etsy shop.  You can find some other great quilts looking for new homes over there as well.

So glad I cleaned out the sewing room and found these just sitting there.  It was a great project to just play with and create.  The entire project is scraps and stash fabrics.  Win win.

This is baby quilt 7/40 for my yearlong goal.

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?