Love Birds Quilt- FINISHED

I just finished up this quilt for a friend of mine.  I bartered with her and made her a quilt in return for her taking our family pictures this year.  I still feel like I got the better end of the deal but she was very happy to receive this quilt, so that made me happy!

 I used Riley Blake's Love Birds line for this quilt.  The center was so busy that I wanted to break it up with the solid white.  I like how it turned out!  I don't remember the exact measurements but I believe it was around 70x70.

 I pieced the backing... I was very short on the fabric I chose which was also from the Love Birds line so I added some of the fabric I had in my stash.  The colors are really pretty-- I like how the back turned out.

 A closeup.

 Here is a closeup of the front where you can see some of the quilting.  I used one of the new pantographs that we got and I really loved it!    I can't remember it's exact name but it was a funky leaf/feather pattern. 

I used a very light pink Glide thread for this quilt but since the quilt itself is very busy, the fabric is more the show than the quilting.  Hopefully my friend will be able to enjoy and snuggle under this beauty!

Brown and Pink Baby Quilt

I make a lot of baby quilts... I have lots of friends that keep having lots of babies :).  Luckily, these are just so fun to make. 

 I did a really simple log cabin design.  There was the picture fabric that is framed and then the other blocks have a center square with two frames.

 I used the leftover fabric to piece the backing.  I don't know the fabric line, but the main backing fabric is Lily and Will.

 I LOVE this quilting design.  the hearts are simple but fun.  I really like how they interlock with one another.  It is just a little different than most heart designs.

 I used a stripe fabric for the binding.  I still hand sew down all my bindings.  I am a little scared to machine bind for some reason... I think in my warped mind I think if I screw up on it the whole quilt is ruined.  I think one day soon I ought to try it though.

I hope this quilt is loved-- I just love pink and brown baby girl quilts!

Countdown to Christmas Quilt

Sweetwater who designs for Moda, has some of the best fabric out there.  I love their style!  So, I was excited to get my hands on their Christmas line, "Countdown to Christmas".  I saw a quilt on Flickr that I really liked (found here by frivolous necessity) and decided to test myself to see if I could make it without using a pattern.

 Somehow I always screw up triangles and I did on this one too, but I think I am the only one who could really notice it because I know what I did wrong!  I really love how it turned out.

 I enjoy these patterns that make your eyes have to focus and unfocus to see several patterns within the same quilt.  I think that is what made me gravitate to this design.

 I used the off white print that had the words for the backing.  I also used a stripe for the binding.

 I quilted this on the longarm using a holly and berry pantograph.  I wasn't a huge fan of this one but I think it was mostly because the fabric was so busy you couldn't see much of the quilting anyway.  Still love this quilt!  It's about 55x55ish??  It was finished just in time to hang over our couch for Christmas.  My other Christmas quilt is hanging on our wall in the front room!

Dreaming of Dresdens Quilt- FINISHED!!!

Back in August I blogged about a Dresden Dilemmaa I was having.  After staring at those dresends for what seems like forever, I decided to make a quilt that looks very much like the quilt in the Block Party book.  I think mine is probably bigger though... I think it ended up being 80x100!  I had lots of ideas if I didn't already have the blocks assembled by my Aqua and Red bee group.  I really loved it so I felt like I needed one of these quilts as well!  Like I said, not an exact likeness but really close. :)

As I mentioned, each of the dresdens were assembled by my bee mates and then I added the blue or red background fabric and made them a little "WONKY". 

 Here is a closeup.

 For the dresdens, I used Riley Blake's Sugar and Spice.  For the background fabrics I used Michael Miller's Mini Mikes along with Kona Red.

 I wanted to include this picture of me showing off the quilt top at one of my quilt groups because it shows how huge it is. 

 For the back I used a plaid print from the Moda and I used red, white and pink polka dot fabric from Riley Blake's Sew Cherry line. 

Here is  a closeup of the quilting on the back.  I'm not sure I chose the right pattern to use, but it was  a new one that I was eager to try it.  It is pretty though... looks like ribbons throughout.  After much thought, I decided this beauty belonged in our family room.  We aren't hurting for blankets around these parts but this quilt is so big that our whole family can snuggle under it and that certainly is worth while!

Knotted Squares

 I just finished up my latest quilt, "Knotted Squares".  This quilt was from Amy Ellis' Book, "Modern Basics".  It was an easy, but time consuming pattern.  Lots of chain piecing and lining up seams involved.  However, I think it was worth it because I LOVE the end result.

 I've been hoarding a jelly roll of Moda Hideaway fabric that I was instantly drawn to use for this project.  I LOVE that line.  The colors are basic, but really pretty.

 This quilt pattern is really neat because it incorporates two different squares.  I like quilts that show off more than one pattern within the quilt.  In this case, the yellow squares and then the solid squares.

 I only used 25 of the strips from the jelly roll and only about half of each of those strips.  The other half of each of the strips I used went to make the binding.

 I quilted this quilt using the curlz pantagraph for the longarm.  It was the perfect choice because the fabric that I used for the borders and backing seemed to swirl in the same pattern.  It was very fitting.  I used white thread.

 The backing (and border) that I used was also from the Hideaway line.  I knew instantly that this was the fabric that I wanted to use.  It was white and subtle but incorporated pretty much all of the colors from the line in it.

Here is a closeup of the scrappy binding that I sewed on by hand.  Finished size 72 x 72.

Quilting Becca's Quilt

 My new friend, Becca (she is in my quilt guild), asked me to quilt her queen size quilt.  She made it with Amy Butler fabric and is simply GORGEOUS.  I kind of want to keep it but I am sure she wouldn't appreciate that.  You can find more of her creations on her blog.

 I hope she is happy with it... I think it came out really nice.

 If you visit Becca's blog, you will find more pictures of the quilt top (and I imagine as soon as she gets it tomorrow, she will probably post a finished picture before too long.  Since I only did the quilting, I wanted to focus my pictures on that.

 I really do love the pattern she used for this quilt.  I love how it really showed off her fabrics!

 She has a really pretty blue pieced back.  Originally we were going to go for a blue thread on the back, but we opted for the white instead and I think it was a great choice.

Now all she has to do is bind this HUGE quilt... have fun!!!

Improv Quilt DONE!!

 Yippee!  I finished the improv quilt.  This is a quilt that I put together using blocks made by myself and my quilting bee mates from "Bee Connected".  I LOVE LOVE LOVE how thxis came out.

 Please pardon the shots of the full quilt.  First off, this is a larger sized quilt 92x86 and so I had to go outside and lay it on the driveway.  Also, I couldn't get high enough to take a full picture of it without this huge angle.  Finally I realized that I could hang it from my banister and take a pretty good picture of it but then my camera started acting up, so I told myself, "Erin, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!"-- my kids always say that.

 Anyway, about this quilt.  Like I said, these are blocks from a bee.  I asked for improv blocks and I think this was a smart request because I knew I would be able to use every block and they would all be unique and awesome!

 I thought about just sewing the blocks together without sashing but it sorta looked like a mess, so I think the sashing ended up making it looks so great.  I used an 'almost solid' teal color.  These colors (from the modern affair and theory lines) might blind a traditional fabric quilter, but I think they are gorgeous... I LOVE these fabrics....perhaps that's why I like the quilt so much.

 I quilted this all on my own!  Yes, I have ended my apprenticeship (my mom was teaching me how to use her longarm) and have gone on my own and can quilt an entire quilt all by myself.  I still have just done pantagraph quilting, but hope to learn more custom quilting skills as I master the pantagraphs.

Here is a closeup of the back.  It really turned out beautiful and am very please with the final result!

Basic Ease- FINISHED

 For the Quilting Book Club, the first month's pattern was BASIC EASE from the "Modern Basics" Book.  This quilt took no time at all.  The pieces were big and went together very quickly.

 I had a bunch of orange hanging around and went with that route for the quilt.  I also used Moda Snow (which is very different in color to Kona Snow by the way... don't ask me how I know that!).

 I quilted this baby myself!  I used a floral pantograph that is very similar to the flowers in the quilt so I think it was a good fit.

 My quilting is improving!  This is quilt #2 on the longarm for me.  It is lots of fun to use that machine!  The quilting still isn't perfect which is why I've opted for a color of thread that blends in very well, but unless you inspect it closely, you can't tell.  So, I am still proud of it!

 For the back I used Amy Butler's orange dots.  I love I nice dot fabric and this certainly is one of them.  I also bound the quilt using the backing fabric and the print fabrics from the top for a scrappy look.

Here is Basic Ease along with my Posie Patch quilt hanging in my sewing room.  My walls finally aren't bare anymore!!!

First Quilting EVER!

 I've made many quilts, but have been spoiled by a quilting mother.  She has a longarm machine, so it was all to easy to just send my quilts to her.  However, since I am now not pregnant anymore and whipping out these quilts "too fast", according to her, she said I had to learn for myself!  So, I entered longarm training: an intense day long event to better familiarize myself with the machine and technique of longarm.  So, I quilted a quilt for the first time last week!

 This quilt is part of the The Quilting Book Club.  It is called Posie Patch and is from Amy Ellis' "Modern Basics book".  I used mostly Modern Meadow fabrics by Joel Dewberry.  The pattern is simple but has helped me improve my skills with triangles and matching up my seams.  It looks beautiful and I am really happy with the finished product.  It hangs in my sewing/craft room!!

 If you look close enough, you can see that the quilting isn't perfect... it is my first one though, but I really couldn't be more happy about it.  Using thread that doesn't show the quilting certainly helps.  I am excited to get another quilt on the racks and get going on my second quilting job!

In other news... I am getting excited to start putting these together: