Finish It Up Friday :: Scrappy Star Quilt

Happy Friday! I feel like I have a million different project in progress right now but I felt like since this is at least a completely finished top it would be ok to share it - I needed a win, so matter how small. This is from Jeni Baker's Scrappy Star Tutorial over at In Color Order. This took me about 3 hours to get all the fabric ironed, cut and blocks made and then about another 1 1/2 hours of extremely relaxed slowing to assemble the blocks. Definitely a winner if you're looking for something relatively quick and completely striking when done.

The one change I made was to make the HST's in pairs instead of cutting each square into two triangles and then sewing the triangles together - I was using half yards and so I had enough to double the fabric requirements. If you make this change you'll actually end up with enough blocks for TWO tops - bonus quilt! And it really didn't add any time to the ironing/cutting/sewing. The blocks do end up slightly smaller than her original 18" ones but not enough smaller than it significantly changes the finished quilt size. Still seems plenty big enough to snuggle under or picnic on!

These are all Denyse Schmidt fabrics for JoAnn's that I've been collecting since 2011! A family wedding on July 5th seemed like the perfect reason to use them and I am delighted with how it turned out. I'm not normally drawn to red, white and blue but these just seem so summery and picnic-y together that I love them. I have a lightweight denim for the back and another print (red and blue plaid) for the binding but I may just go with a solid red. I'll be sure and post another picture of the really, truly all-the-way finished quilt ;-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Finish It Up Friday :: Scrappy Trip Around the World

Super proud of this finish! My first (I'm sure there will be more) scrappy trip, inspired by the IG phenomenon. Quilted by my friend Diana and all it needed was the binding and I won't tell you how long it sat it it's sad so-close-to-done state but now it's done! Could not love it more. Diana even quilted Harper's name in it - aaawwww.

Here's a real life action shot, messy room and all. This made my heart swell for about 37 seconds as she proclaimed her LOVE for it and then my dear daughter said "but I don't have to SLEEP under it, do it?!" Sigh. Not tonight kiddo, but hopefully someday.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Creative Bug Log Cabin class with Susan Beal

Summer sewing! I always forget that even in my least favorite season (sorry you guys, but it gets way too hot in the summer for my comfort) there are some fun sewing projects. Have you taken any of the amazing classes over at Creative Bug yet? My daughter and I did the Lisa Congdon drawing class together and loved it. Then I saw that they were having Susan Beal teach a log cabin class and I was giddy with anticipation.

If you have Susan's book Modern Log Cabin Quilting you have a taste of what this class is about but it's so much more enjoyable than just reading the book. It's like Susan has invited you into her studio to hang out and share her sewing expertise. There have been four great projects and this was one of those instant gratification type sews - quick and easy.

I used some of Denyse Schmidt's first line for JoAnn's (2011 I think) and while I'm not usually a fan of red, white and blue I absolutely loved these fabrics. They just say summer to me and I love how this sweet runner turned out. I found a little picnic table for the kiddo and this fit it perfectly! It even made the ugly cushions look better ;-)

I used some large red and white gingham that I found at IKEA last summer for the back, so it looks great on both sides. If you're looking for some summer learning that's fun and easy I'd recommend Creative Bug (nothing received for free here, just my own opinions).

Jelly Roll Baby Quilt

I truly love making baby quilts - they come together so quickly and make such a lovely gift, plus seeing sweet squishy babies on my quilts (babies that I don't have to change or get up all night with) is the best.

Holly from Bijou Lovely posted a baby quilt that she made from a jelly roll and that was my inspiration for this. You can get these very cute 1/2 jelly rolls at JoAnn's that have 20 strips in them (2.5"xWOF) and I had a couple in my stash that I knew would be perfect for baby quilts. This also means you could get TWO whole baby quilts from one regular 40 strip jelly roll.

I cut each strip into TWO 21" pieces, then joined TEN strips (1/4" seam allowance) to make four large blocks. I trimmed each to 20.5" and then joined as you see above, turning to make a basket weave effect.

Finished quilt is 40" square. You'll need 1 and 1/2 yds for backing. I used flannel which I do pre-wash before using - it shrinks way more than the quilting cottons. It was a tight fit on the WOF sides after washing but it did fit. Whew.

Quilted across with wavy lines to keep it simple. All washed and dried and crinkly, ready for some baby love :-)