Coloring Book Bags.

December 7, 20142 Comments

My dear friend Diane’s son and daughter-in-law recently welcomed twins (a girl and a boy) to their family. I wanted to make something for the new arrivals and their big sister. I adapted the pattern, Large Coloring Bag., by Clothesline Quilts by using the Shirts pattern by Carolyn Friedlander. The coloring book pattern didn’t have a lining, but I wanted lining. It was easy to adapt that part of the pattern as well.

They turned out great:

For big sister:

For little sister:

For little brother:

The backs of the bags:

Coloring is so much fun, and I think these bags were the perfect gift for a perfect family of five.

I’ve made these coloring book bags for two other little girls and I was told they were used and loved. I’ve made quilts for newborns as well, but I suspect they have not been used as much as the coloring book bags.

Coloring outside the lines,

Wanda

Row by Row Experience: Sew a Season

September 14, 2014August 26, 20257 Comments

The theme for the Row by Row Experience was “Sew a Season.” Each quilt shop chose a “season” and created a pattern which you could pick up for free at each of the shops. My intention was to make a project from each of the quilt shops I visited, so 8 shops 8 projects. So far I had made a tote bag using the pattern from Blue Crab Quilt Co., and a pillow cover from The New River Fiber Co. Next up on my list was Creative Quilting Connection, located in Roanoke, Virginia. Their block was called, “Autumn in the Star City”.

The fabrics reminded me of the quilt pattern, The Grove, by Carolyn Friedlander. I purchased it some time ago:

I made four trees with the batiks, and of course they look like “Autumn.” Now I needed the other seasons: Summer, Winter and Spring and maybe Football Season because it’s always Football Season at my house.

During my Row by Row by Experience, I traveled across almost all of Virginia from the city to the valley to the mountains and to the sea. We visited Chincoteague, Virginia, an island on the Atlantic Ocean, and I got the kit from Quilts by the Sea. The fabric was perfect for my “Summer” row of trees:

After making a few “Summer” row trees, I didn’t like having to add a border in between the blocks so I flipped them. The blocks are mirror images left to right anyway, so up and down seemed like the perfect solution:

I had “Spring” fabric from the kit I purchased at Sew Biz, located in Radford, Virginia:

I liked the idea of white trees for winter, and I made “football season” in school colors: black, blue and white. I plan to hand quilt it.

Just a quick note on our trip to Chincoteague Island. We ate the most heavenly ice cream at The Island Creamery.

Raspberry — my favorite!

UPDATE: Here’s a photo of the finished quilt:

“Aerial” is done.

August 17, 20142 Comments

I finished “Aerial,” a pattern by Carolyn Friedlander.

This was the first time I used the method, low-fat quilting. I had purchased the book, Machine Quilting in Sections. Don’t Finish Another Quilt Until You Read This Book, to learn how to reduce the bulk of the quilt. And I’m happy to report it worked. I was able to quilt the quilt in sections on my sewing machine. The only problem I had was re-assembling the batting. I had to be very careful to get the pieces to join without overlapping. Using the 2-inch strips of fusible tape from Marti Michell, I was able to attach the two pieces without any trouble. You can’t tell the batting is pieced.

As I quilted, my free motion skills improved and my circles started looking much better: