DQS10 Done and Done!

This is my second round of the Doll Quilt Swap and I am so glad I did it again! Here is my quilt that I received from Adrienne:

Such a happy quilt!

And here is the quilt I made for Diana:

Circling the Sun

I like this picture because I think it shows the texture more:

No border on her yet!

I had such a wonderful time doing this swap. It really is one of the best quilty swaps there are.  The inspiration just overflows when looking at all the amazing quilts.  There is such a variety of techniques and the swap mamas do a great job of matching everyone up. To see all of the Doll Quilts click here.

The Big Reveal!

My partner got the quilt I made for her and I am happy to say she likes it ! Yay! This was a really fun quilt to make:

The ideas I pulled from her likes/dislikes were yellow/gray combination, graphic, and nine patch.  I settled on a variation of an Amish quilt pattern called Ocean Waves.  It is a pattern that was found in midwestern Amish quilts, which is appropriate because I am from Wisconsin. I think/hope I nailed the whole “modern take on tradition” thing. It was really fun to try and make a quilt for someone else. This was also my first time making a doll quilt and I really liked the process. It really frees you up to explore a technique you might not otherwise attempt.  And so quick!

The thing I love most about making a doll quilt is how easy they are to quilt!

I really wanted to play with texture with this quilt so I did very different quilting patterns on different parts of the quilt.

I also used a kind of piping technique to get the 1/8th inch white borders.

Overall, I learned how quilting makes different parts of a quilt stand apart from each other.

I am so happy with the swap! Thanks to Mary for being such a great partner and to Modify Tradition for organizing the swap!

Alibi

For my quilt guild, we all had to make a twin quilt for a women’s shelter.  The pattern was chosen by one of the members and we all had to stick to it.  I didn’t really like the pattern and I was donating the completed quilt so I picked out fabrics from my stash that I didn’t really like (yes, that is as selfish as it sounds).  So here is the completed quilt.  I am naming it Alibi as in You ain’t got no…..

It really isn’t all that bad….it is kind of tragic/fabulous in that 80′s pastels + black kind of way. AND it is keeping some lady or her kid warm so I am really happy I did it.

Wonky Star Shams

I needed a pair of pillowcases that matched the quilt I had recently made for my bed. I thought why not make quilted pillowcases?  I had a bunch of scraps left over from making the quilt so why not?  I used the liberated/wonky star pattern that is so popular nowadays.

To quilt them, I used a technique of quilting in forward and reverse I learned from Lauren’s blog, myauntjune.  It a fantastic tutorial and a wonderful website.  She even designs fabric! Check out her awesomeness here.

Here a closer look at the quilting:

I am super happy with them and they are very nice to sleep on and best of all they are made by me, not nobody else!

Nine Patch

I was really inspired by all the wonderful nine patch quilts I have seen making the rounds and decided to make one myself.

I was making this with a baby in mind but I didn’t know the sex yet so I made it rainbow colors.  I made the nine patch blocks out of quilting cotton and “upcycled” vintage pillowcases.  Instead of doing each square individually like Amandajean of crazymomquilts, I used a strip piecing method and used the leftovers for the back.

I had yet more strips left over so I used those to make a scrappy binding.

Don’t you think that the quilt and the tree go well together?  I think they like each other.

Making Friends

Neptune Quilt

About a year ago, I went to a quilt expo in the Fox Valley and it was pretty much everything I hated about quilting: Sun Bonnet Sue, thimbleberries, pastels; it was brutal.  However, as I meandered through the retail area diligently avoiding grandmas in applique sweatshirts, I saw a cute little pack of fabric samples from Tula Pink for Moda. The fabric line is called Neptune and it is really charming.  I decided to make a split nine patch with a sandy colored linen sashing inspired by Elizabeth’s great use of linen in her quilts.

Neptune Split Nine Patch

The nine patches sat in my WIP pile for several months until I found a great deal on a Neptune Honey Bun from Missouri Star Quilt Company (great deals at this site, very good customer service, fast shipping).  I added a border and used the leftover bun remnants to make the binding.

Border and Sashing

I really like how the fabrics in this line blend in with each other:

Binding Detail

Now for the nasty bits: I tried to quilt this using a seaweed motif that is in one of the fabrics, one of the first attempts I’ve made with free motion other than your basic meander/stipple.   Although it was fun to do, I think the overall effect ended up looking like  a bad stipple job.

Back Quilting Detail

All told, I am pretty happy with it although it isn’t perfect. It was fun to work with a charm pack and a honey bun, and I got to ogle all of the great fabrics in the line without dropping serious coin. Here is a great example of Neptune fabrics in another quilt.

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