Cozy Up With A New Fall Quilt

I know, I have this sickness with Autumn.  Maybe it's the beautiful colors, maybe it's the gorgeous weather, maybe the yummy foods...yes I love fall :).  That's why I am in love with this quilt.  I just finished it the other day and got a chance a few shots before listing in the shop.

Meet my latest quilt - a Autumn Chevron Quilt:

 I am very excited that I finally got a chance to finish a TWIN size quilt - it's been a while and I really missed the larger quilt sizes.

I used the same fabrics for the backing and even repeated the chevron design in 2 rows in the back.

The warm earthy florals are just about perfect.  I quilted it free style for a soft finish.

 

The only regret I have about this quilt is not having more of these fabrics in my stash - I would love to make another one like it for my daughters room - a smaller toddler size.  Maybe I'll find some equivalents soon for that project.

This quilt is available at the shop right now.   Hopefully it'll find itself a nice home and be enjoyed for many many years to come.

 

Soft Floral Earth Tone Chevron Twin Sized Quilt 

Front: 100% Cotton Prints and Solids

Batting: Warm & Natural 100% cotton

Backing: 100% Cotton Prints and Solids

Completed Dimension: ~73" x 88"

Quilting Method: Free Style Quilting throughout quilt

Binding: Machine Stitched for extra durability

Quilt Top Finishing Touches

After all the piecing and pressing it's time to put together the quilt sandwich correct?  Not quite.  I like to give my quilt top (and bottom if it's pieced) a little TLC before sandwiching. This ensures the quilt top measurements are accurate, all loose threads and debris are gone and the all seams are pressed down.

The process and tools:

(1) Mark any areas that need to be trimmed with a ruler and non-staining marking pencil or chalk.



(2) Trim off all the marked areas from step (1). I usually use fabric scissors for this step for larger quilts but for smaller projects I use my rotary cutter and mat. Have your ruler handy to make sure all cuts are accurate.



(3) Use little trimming scissors to trim off any access threads. You want to make all the threads are trimmed before quilting because loose threads can get quilted onto the quilt and difficult to trim off later.



(4) Make sure all loose threads are picked off. I use a lint brush for this because thread tends to cling to everything and somehow find itself back on the quilt top if not properly disposed of.



(5) Have your iron board and iron out again for a final pass to make sure all seams are securely pressed down. Having seams flat ensures a nice even quilt top without any weird lumps. It also makes for easier quilting.



After ALL these steps on both the quilt top and quilt bottom, I am now ready for some sandwiching :).

-Q

Week 2 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas - Pillow!

If you know anything about me, you would know that Tradition is very important to me. A big component of tradition is having things in the family that we could remember for years - if not generations - to come. That's why I am so happy about the outcome of the Holiday Pillow.



This will definitely be a keeper in our family to come.

Each flower is embroidered with each of our family members' initial: J.A.Q.S.


A closeup of the initials. One for each one of us :). Haha does that mean no more kids :P???

The edge is framed with strips from the Moda 12 Days of Christmas Charm pack - each square cut in half (5" x 2.5") and sewn along each side of the pillow. As a batter of fact, all the color fabric, excluding the back, is from the Moda 12 Days of Christmas Charm pack.

A top view of the pillow frame.

The whole pillow top, minus the appliques are quilted with swirls to match the swirls of the frame Moda fabric:


The back of the quilt is kept simple by a single fabric from Bryant Park:


The appliques are raw-edged hand sewn own using blanket stitches.

Here is a closeup of the family tree trunk:

I decided not to use webbing on the tree trunk so it started to fray it a little around the corners - nothing to worry about but just enough to create a very nice rustic look to the tree trunk.

A closeup of a flower:

One larger circle and one smaller one make up this simple 'flower'.

I hope this pillow inspires you to start your next Holiday tradition or at least a fun little addition to your holiday decor. I know I had a lot of fun making it and it will be a treasured piece in our household for a very long time.


Thanks for visiting the 12 Weeks of Christmas - Week 2 :). Can't wait till the next project!

BTW - I am will also be creating a tutorial for this project.  Stay tuned :).

I am also linking this project up to this FUN and FAB Linking Parties.

Quilting Along...

Been a while since I got to do any whole blanket quilting.  It was a hard decision picking the quilting thread color for the Modded Brown quilt.

After much thought - and some trial and error - I went with a dark gray, almost black, colored thread.


The dark gray was a little shocking next to the light gray fabric when I first started to quilt, but I got used to it after a while.

How many different colors did I end up trying before settling on the final one?

1. Dark brown. There was a lot of dark brown on the quilt so I decided to match, but it didn't really go well when quilted on top of the other colors.  Even on the dark brown, it thread color just blended and didn't provide much to the quilt top.
2. Beige.  Went really well with the Red print and Olive print fabrics.  However it was too contrasting to the brown and didn't go well with the light gray at all.

Okay - 2.  I considered some other colors briefly - dark red, dark blue - but quickly decided against them.  The dark gray thread on this quilt is growing on me and now that I'm about 75% done, it is beginning to look like a good color choice :).

I don't use a quilting frame - more on that on a later post - so I had quite a task maneuvering this larger quilt time around.  But with the help of some sticky top gloves (my make-shift quilting clothes) I got it under control.

I garden a lot so I decided to get a clean pair of these gardening gloves from a local gardening center:


These are very thin so it doesn't feel clunky when quilting.  All on the front are little sticky circles and provides a very nice grip for the quilt tops.  I got this for a couple of bucks :).

I still have a little bit of quilting to finish up for this quilt.  I'm kind of sad to see the quilting ending actually ... guess I really like this part of the process.  Well here's the quilt right now waiting to be finished.