Galaxy Quilt: Finished!

So this post has been in the works for quite some time now. Early last year my friend J and I started talking about a quilt for his bed. Only a few requirements: no flowers, dark man colors and it had to fit onto a queen sized bed. With those parameters I set out to make an epic man quilt; Nailed It!

The design part of Galaxy took a lot of thought. I knew it needed a bold geometric foundation...as this is a man quilt! The offset squares in dark/light values make a dynamic backdrop for 12" sampler blocks made from the 2011 Summer Sampler Series. I can't recommend this sampler series enough! Excellent directions and beautiful results. I could see myself making all these blocks over and over again. After making the six pointed string star block I felt like I could sew anything. 

The Minnesota block ended up being one of my favorites. I just love the way the colors and shapes play off each other.

Galaxy measures a whopping 90" x 88" and was quilted on a long arm by me. It was the 4th quilt I have quilted on the long arm and by far the most challenging. I sewed corner to corner on the dark/light background and then for the blocks did more detailed quilting to make an impact on each design. My best trick with the quilting details was to make a statement by not quilting some areas and heavily quilting others. This made for some cool effects.

The back of the quilt is completely pieced together with left over yardage. I had bought a lot of different colors and patterns and used up the ones with little flowers on the back. There was also a happy accident that made the back even more stunning. I had originally planned for a pieced scrappy boarder on the front but once it was on it just didn't work. So I decided to sew them up and use it on the back...as it turned out it was the exact width I needed. Amazing how things come together sometimes.

The way the quilt lies on a bed is magical. There is no way I could have known that the blocks would lie across the top pillows so perfectly, or that the center square would radiate so nicely from the bottom corner of the bed or that the blocks seem to burst out of the center gradually until becoming heavy on the outside. These are all wonderful coincidences that make me happy. 

Thanks for taking the time to read about this quilt! I really do appreciate every one of you that stops by! Happy quilting!
Cheers!
Kelly
ps. Rhonda's Finish Along at Quilter in the Gap is ending 1st quarter and this was my UFO, find the original post here

Modern Mini: Lone Star Dahlia

Hello! I am excited to share with you my entry for the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge at Ellison Lane Quilts. I have been working on this relatively little quilt for a few weeks now; many, many naps times later this is what I ended up with. Little isn't necessarily fast in quilt land!

Hung by the Chimney with Care

This quilt started with a Lone Star pattern, but turned into something so much more. I wanted to try out the pattern and audition colors for a quilt for my bed. I am still undecided as if this will be 'the one' but I am sure glad I tried it out on a small scale before attempted 7x7 rows of diamonds!

The colors I used were from all different fabric lines and it was really fun mixing and matching. 

Yellow: Ocher Kona

Green: #102 Moda

Light Grey: Coal Kona

Dark Grey: Charcoal Kona

Orange: #80 Moda

Blue: Mari Michael Miller Cotton Couture

Red: Cran Michael Miller Cotton Couture

Purple: Berry Kona

Quilted Swirls and Straight Lines

The quilting pattern came rather organically. I had a plan for straight line quilting the back ground with small lines and then decided to take it to the next level and make it all diamonds. The swirls in the center remind me of the center of a flower with petals on the perimeter.

Quilting Detail

This whole quilt pushed my comfort zone. First time working with diamonds; which gets easier as you go (just make sure the seam ripper is near by!). First time just winging it from start to finish not really knowing what this quilt was going to look like in the end. Pushing myself was rewarding...I am really happy with it!

Quilting detail

The Back. Scraps and White. Brilliant idea for hanging with dowel and pockets

The back is the left over scraps, i just love the row of diamonds, that is my favorite! The quilting looks as cool from the back as from the front. The quilt measures 33"x33" just under the requirement. One night while in the middle of making this I had a panic moment wondering if it was too big to be a mini...thankfully the cut off is 36"x36", whew! 

Thanks for stopping by! I am so grateful to have finished my quilt in time and for the opportunity to enter into this amazing contest filled with so many beautiful quilts (and amazing prizes!) Competition is stiff, so wish me luck!
Cheers!
Kelly

p.s. this post will be linked up this week to a bunch of parties...find them here and other places:

http://www.canoeridgecreations.com/

You've got to try pillow shams!

They are incredibly easy, wicked functional and super cute! My Grandma-in-Law asked for a set of pillow shams to go on her bed to match the quilt I made for her this summer. Luckily I had 6 blocks on hand from the flying geese mishap. There were too many; even including the back piecing I did on it (whoops!)!!!! (that needed a few extra exclamations) But in true blue-bird style I turned a 'mistake' into an opportunity and sewed them into pillow shams GIL likes!

GIL's pillow shams posing on our bed

Gratuitous pic's of GIL's quilt :)

Look! She really needs those pillow shams! 

I used a great tutorial from Prudent Baby as a starting point. I need to re-size them for my pillows, but GIL's fit just fine.
So really -- you're bed probably needs some pillow shams to match that quilt too!

Cheers,
Kelly

Celebrate Fall Tree Quilt

Hello and Welcome! Trees and I go way back. We have a relationship that looks a lot like this.

Autumn leaves, swirling wind, rocks with leaves trapped around tall grass and a trunk with a hole for a critter. I was inspired by the hike I took with the family this weekend and this tree; isn't that a beautiful Oak!

Fall is my favorite time of year because of the trees, the colors changing and the cold breeze that comes in to take the leaves off the branches. Oregon has four distinct seasons and this year we are getting an Indian summer - 80 degree days and cool nights. The absolute perfect weather. 

Fall is harvest; a full basket of tomatoes awaiting salsa and the canner sits by the quilt. This hanging measures 25" x 34" perfect for just about any wall of my house. I used scraps from Stashtacular plus a bit of my stash in reds, browns, greens, yellow and a bit of blue. There are even 3 little blue birds hidden amongst the leaves. 

I was able to free motion quilt like never before! Swirls cover the entire sky back ground and tree bark gets a 3-d effect. This is my first attempt at quilt as art, and I really enjoyed it. The process was so much different than a pieced quilt; much more improvised. 

The quilting in the tree is a loop-de-loop in brown and yellow, it carries out to the edges and loops the canopy together. 

I used a small brown hounds-tooth print for the back and binding, I am in love with it a little bit! 

These swirls are so versatile! I'm totally going to use them on my next quilt just bigger scale. The rest is just for eye candy!

A leaf or two dropping...

I really hope you like this quilt, please let me know what you think! Quilt art was so fun to make..just having an idea and letting it happen was creative bliss. Maybe we can make one together some time with a tutorial...a spring tree perhaps. 

I'm entering this tree quilt into the Celebrate Color contest happening at Stitched in Color. Wish me luck! And I'm also one of the lucky 30 linking up with Amy Lou Who for Sew and Tell Friday! On Monday there is Fresh Lemons Mini Quilt's and Canoe Ridge Creations Sew Modern Monday. As well as all the great linky parties you can find on my Link Parties I Love page. 

Cheers,

Kelly

Grandma's Quilt: The whole story

It's been a while since I posted a quilt and I am happy to bring you my latest finish from a pile of fabric to the finished quilt in it's new home. So sit back and let me tell you the whole quilt story (foul ups and all!)

My Grandma-in-Law (GIL for short) requested I make her a quilt about two months ago. She had only a few requriments: A queen sized blue and white quilt to match her bedroom -- by winter time. Little did she know I had a surprise in mind for finishing this quilt in time to give it to her during our vacation to visit the family in July! (more on that later) She left the over all design and fabric patterns up to me. It was a blast picking some favorites from my stash and rounding them out with just a couple of purchases - mainly a lot of Kona White! 

Fabric chosen, a perfect match to GIL tastes

The design came quickly, saw tooth stars set in an Irish Chain with a medallion in the center. I set about sewing my stars first, and then realized I'd made a big wonky mistake on each block!

First blocks

can you see the mistake? I didn't either until it was too late!

I thought I knew how to make flying geese blocks, turns out I was wrong! I centered the triangles when sewing them together instead of lining up the edges! How dumb right! I learned a big lesson that day, take a minute and read some directions before starting. But it wasn't the end of world, I just cut a new set of blocks and made 24 perfect Saw Tooth Stars.

Saw Tooth Stars; Take Two

A plan, new blocks and ready squares

The rest of the quilt top came together perfectly! And so far in my quilting career, it's the most accurate quilt I've ever made. I did a little happy dance about that! (sorry no picture of that!)

A perfect top ready to quilt

Long arm quilting is my new favorite part of quilting. Taking a top in for a few hours and walking out with a quilt sandwich is so gratifying. I found a great quilt shop close by to rent time on their long arm machine. After an intro class and a practice top session I was ready to try an easy stipple, loopy'd loops and a single flower in the center.

But not before I made one whole pass with the tension totally out of whack! Thanks goodness the ladies that run the shop are super helpful, because it took two of us 20 minutes to pick out all the bad stitches. But that's okay because in the end I was in love, look at that smile -- I'm a happy quilter!

I finished the quilting a week before we left for our NY vacation to visit the in-laws and introduce everyone to the latest addition, Baby J.  The quilt came with us so that I could give it to GIL in person! Hooray!

Grandma with her new quilt! She's happy too!

My in-laws live in just about the most beautiful little farming town in up-up State NY. The kind of place where there are old farm house and lots of corn fields. I am in heaven here, I'm a city girl trapped in a country girl's body. And with the most beautiful farm house just up the road we took the quilt over for a photo shoot with the barns, tractors and porches. 

Remember those messed up saw tooth stars? I put them to good use on the back of the quilt. They don't look wonky from here :)

This might be my favorite picture of the quilt!

Does it get anymore iconic? Nope!

A storm was coming and we couldn't get the
'quilt in front of a barn shot' so we
opted for in front of the trees

A shot of the full front

The whole back

And now it lives with Grandma and she couldn't be more pleased! It ties her whole bedroom together, don't you think.

The quilt in it's native habitat, Grandma's Room!

Thanks for coming along on my quilt journey. This quilt was such a joy to make and to give! But having all the pictures to share along the way is just awesome! 

I also have to share with you before I go the Stashtacular event I'm co-hosting with the lovely Jenna of Sew Happy Geek and Stephanie at Spontaneous Threads. There's only a week till it starts! The three of us have teamed up to bring you 4 weeks of tutorials, inspiration and camaraderie during our 4 week fabric fast & stash swap. But that's not all, there will be tons of prizes and even a 'Stashtacular Runway' contest. Check out all the details at my Stashtacular Page and hop over to the Flickr Page to post pictures of your fabric stash and fabric to swap. It's going to be a super fun time. There's already 30 ladies signed up, so get on board!

Cheers!

Kelly