Some recent work, some still in progress, some finished.

Village Square

This is another Kim Diehl design from her Simple Whatnots Club. The fabrics are the Heritage Hollow design from Henry Glass. It's 37 1/2" square.

There's quite a bit of applique on this quilt so it took a little longer than tops that are pieced only, but I love the gently curving vine border. I fused the appliques in place with heat 'n bond light, and machine stitched them with a narrow zig-zag and monofilament thread.

I stitched in the ditch in most of the pieced sections, did a diamond pattern in the plain borders, and did echo stitching around the appliques.

This is one of the projects that is actually finished and hanging on the wall. Yay.

 

 

Old Towne

Having decided I rather like kits, I found this one on sale at Craftsy. The fabrics are all Sturbridge by Moda. The pattern is by Kathy Schmitz. The size is 49" x 59"... not a bed quilt, but a nice size for a throw. I couldn't fit the entire top in the picture, but this at least shows the borders on two sides. I have backing in the black print fabric so I'm on track to get it basted and quilted.

Grandpa George's Cabin

I am running out of wall space for any more small quilts so it's time to make some bed quilts. I saw a kit for Grandpa George's Cabin and loved the colors, so when it was on sale I bought it. The quilt pattern is designed by Joyce Weeks for Geoff's Mom Pattern Co. The fabrics are by Diamond Textiles and the quilt size is 82" x 89". Some of the homespuns in the kit were a little dark, so I substituted a few brighter colors from my stash.

I love the look of on point settings but I did find it rather tedious to stitch the blocks into rows and the rows together. So, though it took a while, the top finally got done. Now it is awaiting batting and quilting. Fortunately I have coordinating backing all set to go.

 

 

Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots wall quilts

 

I participated in a Simple Whatnots program at my local quilt shop last year and am continuing to work on finishing the various little quilts (some with kind of funny names) made with Kim Diehl fabrics and patterns.

 

 

Widdlytinks

 

 I pieced this one last fall, didn't feel like making all those little yo-yos, so set it aside until now. I finally stopped procrastinating, made the yo-yos, and stitched them on. This is a fairly small quilt, 12 1/2" x 14 1/2".

 

 

 

Window Box

 

This 13 1/2" x 18 1/2" quilt was also pieced last fall and set aside to do the applique after Christmas. The pattern called for appliques with the same cotton fabric used in the piecing, but I decided to do wool applique instead. It was stitched down with my machine buttonhole stitch.

 

 

 

Hen Pecked

 

This was the smallest of the club quilts at 10 1/2 x 11 1/2". The half square triangle blocks are just 1". Usually I make HSTs by stitching 2 squares together 1/4" each side away from a diagonal line drawn in the middle of the square and cutting apart on the drawn line, making 2 identical squares. This time, I remembered I had an Accuquilt fabric cutter triangle die of the exact size to make finished 1" squares, so I used it to cut all the triangles. They were so accurately cut that they stitched together really well.



Hopscotch

 

This is one of the larger quilts, 28 1/2" square. The pattern had directions for adding the center applique, or just using more rows of triangles. I liked the applique look better so went with that option using the iron on fusible web method. I haven't quilted this one yet. All the flying geese units were made by stitching squares on the diagonal on each end of the background rectangles, folding the squares back, and cutting off the excess. When I stitched the squares on, I stitched an extra seam 1/2" away from the diagonal stitching line, resulting in 2 already stitched small half square triangle squares left from each unit. I have them all set aside ready for a new project. Yaay.

Button Flowers

 

 

This little 17x23" wall hanging was from the McCall's mini madness quilt-along last year. It's called Button Flowers, designed by Sheri Bain Driver. I was so anxious to get it done that I bought the kit

 rather than take the time to plow through my fabric stash to find the perfect colors. I finished it last fall but just recently sewed on the little buttons.

Starry Night/Tardis Wall Hanging

This wall hanging was made for another grandson whose favorite painting is Starry Night and who is a big Dr. Who fan. (Dr. Who is a British science-fiction television programe produced by the BBC from 1963 to the present). Dr.Who travels in a time machine, called Tardis, which looks like a 1960's police box. In one episode he travels back in time to visit Van Gogh and brings the artist to the future to see his works in a museum. Thus the connection between Starry Night and Tardis. There are many examples of quilts with this combination online, and I borrowed some of the ideas to fashion my own. I found a small Tardis picture and printed it out on fabric for the applique.

I didn't get any pictures of my process, but I did it as I had done the blue and yellow wall hanging, starting by sketching a large drawing (about 24" x20") and then choosing fabrics. This time I used fusible webbing along the edges of the pieces and pressed them in place on a couple batik background fabrics rather than using freezer paper and glue. I did all the appliqueing and quilting after layering and basting. I stitched close to the edges of each piece first, using a walking foot, then added swirls and such for the quilting.

Baby Quilt

A little blue and white quilt finished for a new grandson. I think this was made using strips from a jelly roll I won in an online giveaway a few years ago. These aren't colors I use in decorating, but seemed perfect for a baby quilt. When it was all pieced, it reminded me of the sea, so I machine quilted little fish, shells and sea creatures in the striped blocks, starfish in the small blocks, and swirls in the white.

Blue and Yellow wall hanging

 

This wall quilt, which I made last summer, was inspired by Van Gogh's Starry Night and based on a Pinterest picture which I've traced to Wonderlab Science Museum in Bloomington, Ind. but haven't been able to find any further information about it so far. I made the quilt for a new grandson's bedroom with a navy and yellow color scheme and an art theme loosely based on paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh, Modigliani.

 

First I raided my stash for appropriate colors to play with.

 

 

Then I enlarged the picture to about 22" x 22" and modified it a little.

 



 

 

Since all the pieces were curved, I decided to use freezer paper. I numbered and hash marked each piece on my master drawing, then traced it all on freezer paper. I ironed the paper to the wrong side of the pieces, cut with a quarter inch seam allowance,  pressed over the overlapping seam allowances and then glue basted the pieces together and removed the papers.

 

 

I worked in sections.

 

Once everything was glued in place, I machine stitched close to the edge of each piece. Then I layered the top with batting and backing, pin basted, and free motion quilted a swirly pattern all over.

 

Here it is with the quilting done. I finished it off with a navy binding but didn't get a picture of that.

 

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