Barn Block #3 ~ Quilty Barn Along

My Quilty Barn Along block #3 is finished!

 

 

I changed up the block on the side of the barn for this one because I wanted to keep the barn blocks as traditional in look as possible. The postage stamp block for this barn is adorable but it just didn't have the look I wanted.

 

I am really loving this sew along. It is so fun! Lori is so talented with the things she comes up with!

I'm looking forward to our next block in 2 weeks.

A Churn Dash in Progress

Here is one of my current WIPs.

I've always wanted to make a churn dash quilt. It's traditional, and I'm a traditional kind of girl. Once it's complete, I'll get to check it off my, "Must make one of these in my lifetime" quilt list.

 

 

I'm using Moda's Indigo Crossing Charm Packs for this and am still not sure how large I'm going to make this quilt. I have 14 blocks completed already. The finished block size is around 13" so I was contemplating making it into a quilt for our bed. The only problem is that the quilt on our bed is blue and white and tan already so it wouldn't be much of a change to put this quilt on instead of our current one.

 

Any ideas on what to do?

 

I'm linking up this week with the WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

The Quilter in Me

The Moda Cutting Table blog has inspired this post. It has been fun to read about other quilters and what they enjoy using as they quilt. So I decided to do something similar...a "get to know you post" quilter style!

 

How long have you been quilting?: I started quilting when I was about 20 (give or take a year, I really can't remember!) Since I love all things old, I wanted to own a quilt. And I wanted it to be a quilt that I made. It seemed so nostalgic, so old fashioned, so wonderful. No one in my family was a quilter. My grandmother was an occasional seamstress. So where the urge came from? I'd like to think that the Lord had it in me at birth....it just took 20 years to come to the surface.
I'll be 35 this year so I guess that puts it at around 15 years.

 

What kind of machine do you use?: I'm cheap. Well, sort of. Spending $2000-$3500 on a sewing machine is not my cup of tea. For that price, the machine better make my quilt for me.
So I own this. It has been the most wonderful "simple" machine I've ever had. It has so many wonderful features and allows you to FMQ! The only problem is the throat size. This machine works o.k. with a crib sized quilt but anything larger is just too much. If the throat were about 3 times larger it would be, in my opinion, the most wonderful sewing machine of all time.

 

What are your favorite fabrics?: Cottons... and from Moda. I'm just really picky about fabric and I have yet to find anything that really tickles my fancy beyond Moda. They always have something out that I LOVE and can't live without, so why use anything else? I will say that over the past month or so a few lines from Riley Blake have caught my eye...even one or two from Benartex.... but overall I am just a Moda girl. And my stash would prove it.

 

What notions top your favorites list?: Wow, there are so many that I love. I could never dwindle it down to just a few, but I will for the sake of dragging on and on.

My rotary cutter is wonderful. If I had to cut my fabrics with scissors my quilts would be a whole lot messier.

My Aurifil thread. I have tried other brands (and I somewhat like Mettler) but overall Aurifil takes the cake!

I purchased a 3-way Sandboard recently and it has become one of my favorite notions. I love it for applique and I used it just yesterday working on my Churn Dash quilt.

My seam ripper, the fact that my machine has an automatic bobbin winder and an automatic threader (all the things I take for granted!), my Omnigrid rulers, my rotary mat...............

What's your favorite style of quilts- traditional or modern?: I am a huge traditional girl. There are a few modern quilts that I like and I certainly appreciate all quilts but overall, give me traditional quilt over a modern one any day!

 

Do you have fabric or quilt "limits"?: Hummm, do I ever think that you can have too much fabric? That's a tough one but I'm going to say yes. But having a large stash of fabric is essential.

You can never, let me repeat - never, have enough quilts. Ever.

 

Enjoy your week!

National Quilting Day - Barn #2 ~ Quilty Barn Along

Did you know that the 3rd Saturday in March, every year is National Quilting Day?

 

Quilting is so wonderful that it should be a holiday the 3rd Saturday of EVERY month!

 

In celebration of the day I put together my 2nd barn block for the Quilty Barn Along.

 

 

You can see my first one here.

I am really loving this quilt along and can't wait for barn #3!

Happy National Quilting Day!

A quilt with a confession

I have a confession to make. I have now been quilting for 14 years and I just finished my first quilt with applique on it. I've never appliqued anything, seriously. It was always just a little too intimidating for me. And now that I've done it, it still is.

 

I tried needle turn applique on this quilt and I wasn't overly happy with the results. I now believe that needle turn applique is something that you practice over and over again before you're actually good at it. If you're a newbie to applique like I am, these videos helped me out tremendously. I couldn't have done it with out Jenny and Jan's help!

 

"On the Pantry Shelves" - 2013

 

 

I have another applique project on my project shelf where I'm going to try machine applique to see if I can tackle that with better results.

 

This quilt top will be shipping off to my friend Christa- all the way over in Tennessee- so that she can work her magic on it. Christa is an exceptional quilter and I know that she'll do a wonderful job here.

 

When it's back and I've bound it, I'll share the final masterpiece!

Joining the Quilty Barn Along - Barn #1

As if I don't have enough UFOs right now, I've decided to join Lori and her Quilty Barn Along. Quilted barns...with quilt blocks on them? How could any (country) girl resist?!

 

 

I'm a little behind since I just completed my first block but I'll try and get my next barn done before barn 3 starts.

If you'd like to join along, there's a Flickr group set up and Lori will be sharing her barns on her blog. I'll try and share all of mine here as I get them done.

 

 

 

I also forgot to share this finished quilt. Probably because it was one of those quilts that sat on my dresser for about a year WITHOUT the binding. How is that possible?

Anyway, I got the binding on in January and gave the quilt to a little 5 year old (who loves quilts) and begged me to keep it for her own. (That would be my daughter.)

And today, I found the picture on my camera.

Homespun Houses

This quilt was finished just this past week, so I'm hoping that I may be on a roll of a quilt a month. Well, we'll see come planting time. Then it may turn into a quilt a season!

The inspiration for this quilt came from here. Who doesn't love Schnibbles patterns? They are always adorable. The problem is though, that they are always small. (I mean the finished quilt.) And that's the whole point of the patterns. But it doesn't work out so well when you want to make a larger quilt with the pattern....unless you just want to make a gazillion of the blocks. Or if you're math inclined, size all the blocks up using your super math powers.

 

"Homespun Houses" - 2013
 

I don't have super math powers (AT ALL) and I didn't want to pay for the pattern with shipping (because I am somewhat cheap) so I looked at it and said, "Yeah, I can do that" and went with it. I picked a size that I wanted my houses to be and then created the rest of the quilt from that. The finished size came out to be 49"x60".

 

And if you know me and quilts, you know that I love stars. I wanted to incorporate them in this quilt somehow. Originally my plan was to have all the star blocks next to each other, like the houses did, but the math and the block size got way too tricky so I just ended up putting the sashing in between them instead.

 

I was so proud of myself with this quilt because with the exception of ONE of the fabrics, everything came from my stash. Now that is an accomplishment.

Overall, I'm happy with how it turned out. A friend of mine, Debi, did the quilting. I found the swirl pattern on a quilt in my "Simple Blessings" quilt book and knew I wanted to use it on this quilt.

Until next time, friends!

P.S. I don't think that "gazillion" is actually a number. It just sounds like something really big. :)

P.P.S.  And just as a side note... A special little girl turned 5 recently and guess what she got for her birthday? A new sewing machine. And she's been sewing on it ever since..... That warms a sewing mommy's heart.