Showing posts with label Blog Hops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blog Hops. Show all posts

October 31, 2022

Ghastlies Table Runner - another Ghastlie finish

By    8:12 PM // No comments
My second Ghastlie finish to share has also been a long waiting UFO. I created these blocks for the Wicked Blog Hop in October 2012.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I'm trying to focus on getting projects actually finished, this one wasn't hard to get to the completed top stage and then it was added to the pile to get quilted.  I turned the blocks into a table runner for my long dining room table but it could just as easily become a skinny wall hanging if I so choose at some point.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each of the family members got a narrow border to make the block pop and then a final outer border to bring them up to a 17 inch width. I tried to search up the names of the different characters but couldn't find them so if you know which family member is who, please let me know.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I chose the Gossamer panto and used So Fine Fern thread for both the top and the bobbin.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The backing is the same spider web print that I used for the other Ghastlie project.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it's just the right setting for my creepy candelabra, don't you?


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a lot more Ghastlie fabric in my stash and one day I'll get around to using more of it but until then, at least I have these completed projects to add to my Halloween decor.

July 7, 2020

American Beauty table runner fnish

By    8:49 AM // 6 comments
I finally made time to quilt and bind my American Beauty table runner and now it's gracing my dining room table for the summer.
This is an old UFO that started with these patriotic Blackford's Beauty blocks for the Celebrate Red, White and Blue blog hop way back in July 2012.




Almost 8 years ago to the day I put the blocks together and added the borders for the blog hop photo shoot.  Sadly, this wasn't my oldest UFO.
I even got my little helpers to hold it for a pic.  They were soooooo little then.  Jammer was 5 and Sunshine was 3 in this photo.
At that time I had no idea how I wanted to finish it so I put it away to marinate for a while.  Who knew that it would wait for so long.  But in all honesty, it ended up on my "To Be Quilted" pile and then forgotten about until recently.

I auditioned a few different quilting designs but in the end, decided to keep it simple with the Shooting Stars panto.  Glide Cardinal thread on the top and So Fine It's a Boy in the bobbin.
Even the backing fabric marinated for a long time.  I purchased this piece from who knows where many years ago and I'm still love it for this table runner.
It could even serve as a double sided piece if I so chose.
I'm thrilled to have it completed and even more happy to cross it off my UFO list.
Now I'm motivated to get more older projects finished and crossed off the UFO list.  This summer just might prove to be productive at least on that front.

Today the 2nd post showing the other setting options for the Moda Summer in the Country Quilt Along will be available. Check it out. 
Then every Monday through the rest of the summer 2 new blocks will be posted.  My block will be one of them featured next Monday, July 13th.

On September 7th, the bonus blocks and the completed quilts by 4 of the designers will be revealed.  I can't wait to see them all. 

July 21, 2017

A new tutorial - create your own Jingle Wishes quilt

By    11:02 AM // 25 comments
Confessions Of A Fabric Addict
Welcome back for part 2 of my Jingle Wishes quilt which I design and made for the 12 Days of Christmas in July blog hop.  Here is the super simple tutorial for making a version of your very own.
This quilt design is perfect for using up a lot of charms and half charms.  You can use either full charm packs or charms that you might have leftover from other projects.  It would also look fantastic made with scraps cut into charms so you could make it in whichever color scheme suits your fancy. The possibilities are endless....Halloween, patriotic, batiks, reproduction, 1930s.....you name it, this design works.  I know for a fact that I'll be making more versions myself to use up more scrappy charms.  I have a ton of them!

The beginning is easy enough.....sort your charms into color families.  The charms you use for each individual row should all be the same color.  The half charms in each row should also be all the same color but they need to be a different color than the full charms. 
Pair up your full charms and half charms as the mood strikes you, making sure to mix up the prints for more interest. Here I paired up the Green charms with the Red half charms.
Then creating the blocks is just a matter of chain piecing until they are all done. How many you make it totally up to you and depends on how many charms you have available as well as how big you'd like your quilt to be. 
The next step is just as simple.  You'll add skinny sashing strips to the right side of each half charm.  These skinny sashing strips are cut at 1" x 5" and will finish at 1/2" wide.  Your completed block should now be 7 1/2" wide x 5" high.
Begin assembling your rows.  The first row should start and end with a full block (full charm/half charm and sashing strip).  Every alternating row should begin with half charm/sashing strip partial block and should end with a full charm. Use as many blocks in each row as you want your quilt width to end up.
During construction my quilt helper had to come check out and inspect my progress so far.
The rows come together fast and before long you'll see a sneak peak of how your quilt will eventually look. When designing my quilt I laid out all the charms and half charms before sewing anything in order to have control of the planned randomness.  It truly bothers me if I end up with the exact same print next to each other or too much of one color together.
Continuing adding additional rows as you wish.  Towards the end you might want to audition blocks before sewing them so that you ensure you get a nice overall mix of colors and prints and any areas isn't too saturated one way.
Here are all the completed rows.  But wait. You aren't ready to sew them together into a completed quilt top just yet. 
 The next step is to add the horizontal sashing which are cut at 1 1/2" wide by however long your rows are.  My rows are 57" long.  Measure all your rows and use the average length for your sashing strips to ensure they will all line up correctly when sewn together.
Join strips as needed to get sashing strips the length you need and then sew a sashing strip to each row of blocks.
 Once all the horizontal sashing strips are completed begin to sew your rows together in pairs, matching up blocks across the rows so that you have nice straight lines going down the quilt.
 The completed quilt top should look like this.  It is your choice whether or not to add a border(s).  I chose not to for this one.
 All that is left to do is to quilt it and add your binding.  There are so many quilting designs that would work well for this pattern so have fun with it and let your creativity shine.
 I'd love to see your completed quilts.  I bet there will be a lot of different versions made from this tutorial.  I myself will be making more of this one as I have a lot of scrap charms to use up.
Maybe I'll host a linky party so we can all show off our finishes.  Let me know if you'd like to do this and when would be a good date.

July 18, 2017

12 Days of Christmas in July blog hop continues

By    1:00 PM // 4 comments
Today is day 5 of the 12 Days of Christmas in July blog hop.  I don't know about you but I'm seeing lots of great ideas for new holiday projects, not that I need my quilty To Do list to get any longer.
Confessions Of A Fabric Addict
 
Today's participants are:
 
 
Thank you so much to everyone that commented on my Jingle Wishes quilt yesterday.  I'm working my way through replying to all of you and if you don't receive a reply from me in the next few days it is because you are a No Reply Blogger and I can't reply to you.  I've come across at least 6 in just the comments left yesterday before noon.  You really might want to fix that problem so that bloggers can get in touch with you, especially if your name is picked as a winner for a giveaway. 
 
The tutorial will be posted in a couple of days so be sure to check back in for that.  I'm just putting the finishing touches to the instructions. Gather your charms so you are already to get started.
 
Next project up will be a baby quilt for a little guy due to arrive later next month.  I'll be using a jelly roll and a layer cake of Riley Blake's Colorfully Creative.

As soon as that is done I'll be getting to work on the mini quilt for the Instagram Falloween Mini Swap.  I know exactly what I want to make.  Though I haven't decided what fabric to use for the background this is the fabric pull for the main part of the design.
I can't wait to have the time to start it.  I can promise that you'll love what I have planned.

July 17, 2017

Jingle Wishes - my 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop quilt

By    10:24 AM // 148 comments

Welcome to my stop on the 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop hosted by Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict.
Confessions Of A Fabric Addict
This is the 2nd year for this holiday themed blog hop and it just might become an annual event if the enthusiastic response is any indication.  :) 

Last summer for this blog hop I designed and created my Merry Jingle quilt (which happens to be in the process of being remade with non-holiday fabrics for my first pattern release for retail sale.)
 It was made using the charms I collected after hosting a Kate Spain Christmas Charm Swap in the fall of 2015.
That swap consisted of her lines Joy, Solstice, 12 Days of Christmas, Flurry, In From the Cold and Jingle.  For this year's hop I wanted to use the same fabrics since I still had so many charms leftover and I also wanted to make a second Christmas themed quilt for my home.  This design is my newest result.  May I present:
Jingle Wishes
 This is a simple charm and half charm quilt with skinny sashing strips between the blocks.
I admit that my main motivation for this design was to use up as many of the Christmas charms as I possibly could.  My only constraint was the amount of fabric that I had for the skinny sashing pieces. This quilt finished at 57" x 55" and used a total of 120 charms for the top.
The panto I chose was Christmas Doodle and the lighthearted motifs suited this cuddle quilt perfectly.  For the top I used Glide thread in Chartreuse which stood out a little while still being very subtle over all the various fabrics. The designs included ornaments.
Sweet candy canes.
And whimsical Christmas trees.
This picture taken in the morning light shows the lovely texture that the panto gave to this quilt without overpowering the fabrics.  I love it!
For the binding, since I had just enough of the same yardage left from the Merry Jingle quilt binding, I used it for this quilt too. It works for me as it includes all three of the main holiday colors of Red, White and Green and ties everything together well.
In keeping with the "use up what I already have" mentality I used a yard of one more Kate Spain Christmas print I had in my stash with even more charms from the charm swap, 64 to be exact.
I'm a big fan of pieced backs because they add so much more interest plus using up bit of this and that is always a good thing so that there's room to buy new fabrics.

The panto design again just shows as great texture across the back. Signature thread in Lime was used on the back.
I'm thrilled with how this design experiment turned out and if you might want to create your own version check back in a few days for the free tutorial.
 I can't thank Sarah enough for hosting this blog hop again.  It gave me the excuse chance to make another beautiful Christmas quilt to adorn my home this coming holiday season.
 Please visit the other ladies who are sharing their projects today.

Karen of Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
Wendy of Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

The entire blog hop schedule is:

Friday, July 14th

Saturday, July 15th
Sunday, July 16th
Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting

Monday, July 17th
Crayon Box Quilt Studio

Tuesday, July 18th
Wednesday, July 19th
Thursday, July 20th
Friday, July 21st
Saturday, July 22nd

 And to just add to the excitement and fun here is more great news from Sarah!

And as if great holiday ideas and a tutorial weren't enough, this year we've got something extra special!  The lovely folks over at Free Spirit Fabrics have donated not just one item for a giveaway, but THIRTEEN!  And it's pretty drool-worthy stuff, too - it's Tula Pink's new holiday line, Holiday Homies!!!
I have six design rolls, six layer cakes, and one fat quarter bundle to give away - and here's how we're going to do it!  Visit each stop on the hop, including this blog, and leave a comment on each post for the day.  At the end of the hop, I'll do a giveaway for each day by putting everyone's name in the hat who commented that day (from all that day's hop-blogs), and drawing a winner for that day.  That will be twelve winners - the design rolls and layer cakes.  Then I'll put all the names from all the days in a hat and draw out a grand prize winner for the fat quarter bundle!  Only one prize per person, though - let's spread it around a bit!  So carve out a bit of time to visit all the blogs and comment - it makes the time spent on each post worth it when you see what people think about your work!

So it's worth your while to visit each blog hop participant and leave her a comment.  Not only will it make her day but it will give you another chance to win some of this yummy fabric.

Thank you for visiting today.  I hope you enjoy my quilt and will come back to see what else is going on in my studio.  Lots of fun projects are in the works and I can't wait to share them.

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