'SPLIT DECISION'

Even though I really like batiks, I don't use them often in my quilts. Awhile back, I found a quilt online done in batiks ('Split Decision', The Teacher's Pet by Dierdre K. Brown), and it looked easy enough for me to do.  It was done with a 'Butterscotch' Bali Pop, so that is what I wanted to use also.  I don't recall the name of the online shop, but I do know that they have since gone out of business.  (Their photo had a cute cat sitting on a corner of the quilt.  When I was getting ready to take this picture, one of our cats thought he would check it out--but he left before I got the camera ready.  Quilts on the floor sure are cat magnets!)

I started this one in 2011, finished the top in early 2012, and it was quilted and bound by October 2012.  I used the one leftover block on the back, and apparently I forgot to make a label for this one.  

The quilt measures about 56"x72".  I'm pretty sure I used Warm & Natural batting as that's what I use most of the time. See that white thing in the upper right corner?  That's what happens when your batting sticks out so far that it gets sewn to the backing!  Not my first 'oops' moment, that's for sure.  I used a marking pen to mark a flower on each block and worked on my free-motion skills.  This was one of my early attempts at free motion quilting, so the flowers are definitely not perfect or even close.  But if you stand back (way back) and squint your eyes, it doesn't look that bad!  My mother tells me that Grandpa used to say 'no one would notice from a speeding car'--ha!  The important thing is that the quilt is finished and being used.  

This quilt currently sits on the back of a chair in the living room.

Alien Invasion Quilt

When my sons were younger and played sports, we would travel all over the area to various games.  I loved it when they played in the town with the big quilt shop!  One Saturday during basketball season, my youngest son and I stopped in that shop, and he picked out a charm pack called 'Alien Invasion' by Amy Bradley for Moda.  He liked the designs, but we didn't really have a plan for it at that time.  

Later on we decided on a pattern (Charming Stars from www.modabakeshop.com) and that summer we ended up getting three more charm packs so I could make a twin-sized quilt for his bed.  He picked out turquoise for the sashing and stars, which is not what I would have chosen, but I think it looks better than anything I would have used.

I did echo quilting inside the stars and just stitched in the ditch on the rest.  I probably started this quilt sometime in 2011.  My son actually gave me a deadline:  he wanted this done by the time he turned 12!  It was finished one month early, in April of 2012.

I used the leftover charms on the back:  I sewed them in a long row and used that between two lengths of yardage of a dark blue print.

Later on I ended up finding more of this fabric in another shop and made him a pillowcase to match.

This is the biggest quilt I've made so far.

Sudoku Quilt

My husband really likes sudoku puzzles, so when I saw a pattern for a sudoku quilt, I really wanted to make one.  The pattern is called "Quilter's Sudoku" and says "Quick Quilts" on the bottom (I'm pretty sure it came in the mail with a magazine invoice).

I chose nine colors, assigned each a number from 1-9 and cut nine squares of each one.  Then my husband had to solve the sudoku puzzle on the pattern.  From there it was very easy to assemble, making nine different nine-patches and sashing them with very thin strips of black.  I just stitched in the ditch to quilt this.  I used a white batting, and there was a lot of bearding happening (which was very noticeable on the black backing!).  Next time I'd use black batting, but I didn't really know there was such a thing at the time.  

I like to spend a little extra time if I can and use leftover fabrics (or a block) on the back like this:

Sorry for the lousy picture--it had been folded in the cabinet right before this photo.

I have been labeling my quilts and made sort of a 'key' to the puzzle on this one:  colors 1-9 left to right, top to bottom.  

I made this quilt in 2011.  It measures about 39" square.  It currently hangs on the living room wall.

Verna's Verna Quilt

When the Verna line by Kate Spain for Moda line came out in 2009, it was the turning point of my fabric buying.  Up until that point, I would only purchase fabric for a particular project I had in mind.  When this line came out, I think I bought as much of it as I could--besides being beautiful fabric, it had an awesome name!  It was the first of many beautiful fabric lines designed by Kate Spain; I love them all, so of course I had to buy them all!  I guess that's when I became a 'real' quilter.  I now have a huge, out-of-control stash and am always on the lookout for more.  Which I feel I can justify since I'm sewing more, right???

Here's my first Verna quilt--I call it 'Verna's Verna Quilt'.  It measures 42" x 42".

I finished this in 2010 and it is one of my favorites.  

The pattern is also by Kate Spain and includes a pattern for a bag.

Nature's Notebook

I bought the fabric for this quilt about five years ago (Nature's Notebook by April Cornell for Moda), and I see I downloaded the pattern in early 2008 (1 Charm Plus--looks like I got it from the Moda site, but I don't see it there now).  I used the charm pack to make what I guess you'd call a 'six patch' in the center, added two borders, and then it sat in my closet.  I didn't really feel it was quite finished (or large enough).  

Over the next few years I picked up a few pieces of fabric from the line  and tucked them away for that day when I was ready to tackle this project.  That day finally came this past spring!  At that point I was more interested in getting this done rather than finding the 'perfect' finish.  I just added the plain outer border, layered it and did my own quilting.  I started with simple outlining in the center, but as I went along I became more adventurous with spirals in the corner blocks and swirls on the rest.  It's not perfect by any means, but it is much improved over some of my earlier work.

It measures 43" square.  A hanging sleeve was added and it now hangs on the wall of my bedroom.  

S'mores Quilt

I bought the kit for this quilt on a whim.  I actually finished it not too long after it was started--maybe even the same year!  It was finished in 2010.

The fabric is S'mores by Me and My Sister for Moda.  The pattern is "Snowman Party" by Mad Kat Kits, and it was very easy to follow.

I recently came across a technique (on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Facebook page) on folding quilts to avoid those creases.  It looks like something I need to try--the creases really stand out in my photo.

I liked this fabric so much that I sort of began 'collecting' more of it. My youngest son really wants me to make a quilt.  I probably have enough fabric to make two or three quilts!

The Denim Quilts

My mother kept the jeans my brothers outgrew in their teen years. She had planned to do something with them but never did.  I brought home a huge plastic bin of them, washed them and cut them apart. 

There they sat for a year or so.  

One day I came across a pattern for a denim quilt and decided I would make one for both of my brothers for Christmas 2007. 

Quilt #1

Quilt #2

I didn't have enough light denim, so I added some I found at the local fabric store.  There is a purchased piece of dark denim on the back (that I got for $1/yard!  I wish I had bought more).  I placed the top and back right sides together with batting on top, sewed around the edges and turned it right-side out.  I used yarn to tie these quilts.

The pattern is "Down-Home Denim Comforter" appearing in the Winter 1994 issue of Country Handcrafts magazine.  The quilt in the magazine was five blocks wide by seven blocks down;  I made mine smaller at four blocks across and five blocks down.

My First Quilt!

Trip Around the World

I am starting a blog to keep track of my quilting adventures.  I am new to blogging, so this is an adventure in itself.  

Since this is my first blog post, I will share a photo of my first quilt.  It is a Trip Around the World that I started in 1992.  I didn't have a rotary cutter or mat--I used a ruler to mark the fabric and scissors to cut out the squares.  I had gotten part of it hand-quilted when my first son was born in 1995.  It sat in my closet for a long time.  I finally finished it about 17 years later!  

I have made quite a few quilts since then, and have fabric to make about 1,352,085 more (according to my youngest son).

This was made on my first sewing machine, a Brother something-or-other that I bought in 1992.  I had big-time tension issues with that thing which made sewing not much fun.  I bought a new machine in 2008, which I thought was the answer to my tension problems.  Nope!  I struggled with that thing for two years before I traded it in for a Janome MC6600p, which was one of the best decisions I ever made!  I haven't had one problem since I got that machine and really love it.