Flower baskets

Well, this post has been a long time coming, because this project was a Christmas gift for my parents. It probably took half a year to complete.

It started after my mom gave me a pack of fabric pieces, pre-cut and matched. There were some that looked like basket weave and then all sort of flower and leaf patters. It just inspired use of the flower basket pattern. I cut and pieced the flower baskets first. Then I had to decide what to do with the blocks. There was a lot of blue in the fabrics and I happened to have a blue leafy patterned fabric as well that seemed to match. So I decided to go for bold colors with a blue back ground. SoI began putting the blocks together with some help from my husband on how the pieces and colors should go.

Then I went online and searched and searched for a flower basket print. I found a great one at the Spin Cycle Fabrics ebay store. It went perfectly with the quilt and made a great backing.

SO I completed the quilt and had it quilted at the Quilting Frame. I had it made with a cotton filler, which was more expensive, but makes it warmer and more durable.

My parents loved the quilt, and mom, if you will take a picture of the final product I will post it as well. Somehow I did not take a picture once I got it back.

Happy New Year to all!

Well, it is officially 2009 and I thought I had better start this year's blogging off right. And there is so much to blog about!

So this year I am going to start with my new organization tools and then talk about my projects planned for 2009.

This year my mom and dad picked out a quilting box for me that is so great. It is actually a tool box, but it is so functional for crafting. The first picture is the main storage compartment. I have put some extra fabric in this section. The fabric on top is some that was given as part of the gift. You can see two of my upcoming projects laying in it. I am not sure exactly what I will do with the fabrics, but the colors are great together, so I am sure I will think of somthing. The next picture is what gets stacked on top. Nice organizational compartments where I have put thread, needles, pins, and I plan to put in all the little loose buttons that come with every new shirt I get! :) So now all my quilting stuff will be neatly stored, plus the top of the box is a nice flat surface that can also be used for stacking or working.

Next, my 2009 projects. You can see two of my projects above and here are two more.

The red, blue, and brown stack is one that I have been working on for a while now...it has been featured in a past post. It is a catch-all quilt of leftovers from other projects. I am excited about what I am doing with it, but it is sort of a back burner thing and with all my gift projects, it has been languising a bit. I am exicted to get back to it and it won't take much to finish.

The second stack is one that was inspired by the quilt show I went to last summer in Knoxville. It has a space theme with lots of cool fabrics on that theme. I think I may have gone too far with the fabrics, making it quite the peice meal job, but that is part of the fun of it, right? We will see if it turns out well or crazy. I like crazy, so either way is fine with me. ;)

And finally, a new fronteir. Hand quilting!

My grandmother gave me an actual quilting and embroidery frame. I want to try quilting me next quilt by hand. We'll see if I can handle the tedium of it. But I am excited to try.

So those are my plans for 2009. I am excited to get started. My first stop will be a binding class at the Quiting Frame on Saturday. Another step to being able to fully complete a quilt by hand.

Christmas Tree

Hi all,

I have not forgotten my poor blog. Just have not had time to post for a while. But I thought I would post pictures of my humble Christmas tree in honor of the season. And in the new year the Sapphire Quilt will be back in full force! :)

Our little snow day!

Bow tie blocks explained...

This is a traditional 9 block with alternating colors as you may see in an Irish chain quilt or Rag quilt with two alternating colors. A very simple block, although you can make some beautiful stuff using this block. To me, simple is good.

But in order to spice my latest quilt up a bit, I used a bow tie block (OK, so they call it the Double Necktie Block). In order to make this 9 block into a "bowtie block", you just add small triangles to the corners of adjacent blocks, as shown in this picture. It is really a simple procedure, but it is a time consuming extra step. But worth it, I think, for something a bit different.

It makes the resulting block look like two bow ties stacked on top of each other. I got this block from my favorite site for finding quilt patterns, the Quilter's Cache. Every time you load a page on that site it plays a new song, so just to warn you to turn down your volume if you are checking this out at work!! :)

OK, well, hope that you are fully inspired to try this block for yourself. And have fun experimenting!!

Sewing for the holidays...

It is that time of year again, and you craft-ies know what I mean. The holidays. Compound the normal holiday season with 5 November birthdays and you have a real gift giving problem! And every year I get inspired to give at least one or two folks a quilt of some kind for thier gift. So this year I have a few coming down the pike, so I have not been able to post much, since that would ruin the surprise (Also, the election and my guest posting on http://www.letters-and-surveys.blogspot.com/ has taken up all my blogging time!! Thank goodness that is over!)

So, one of my gifts this year was for my sister's birthday, and since that is over, and the gift has been given, I can now safely post.

This one was so fun. I started out by getting the fleece backing. It is super soft and cozy. I waited and waited for my Jo-Ann's coupon to arrive so I could get 50% off the cut. Once I had the back I was puzzled as to what to do next.

I searched around for a cool pattern, and at the same time kept my eyes out for fabric that would match. I wanted to keep it monochromatic, since when my sister and I went to a quilt show she seemed to really like the monochromatic quilts.

So I got on ebay and searched for navy blue fabric...and what to my wondering eyes did appear, but someone who had perhaps made their own monochromatic navy blue and white quilt and was trying to sell the leftover remnants. So i bought about 6 different fabrics that all matched perfectly right from the comfort of my couch. I love technology!

Then I wanted to find a different type of pattern. So I decided to try the bowtie. You can see it here in my first attempt at laying out the quilt top.

My first pattern attempt was not exactly right, though, since I did not have enough of the blue fabrics to make it big enough, so I went ahead and changed it around.

By changeing the pattern around a bit and alternating the blocks with white strips and blocks it made for an interesting top and allowed me to have enough fabric to finish! Always important. :)

Somehow the lines and blocks really seemed nice put together this way. And the bowtie block added a level of detail that I really liked.

I did not quilt this one to finish. I used embroidery thread to connect the backing to the top. I have never tried quilting a quilt with a fleece back in the traditional sense. I just use the knots to tie the two parts together.

So happy birthday sis! Hope you like it.

So now on to Christmas and my next round of projects. This is a fun time of the year!!!

Mums the word!

Here are some updated pix of my mums. So pretty, what more is there to say!

Shop Hop

I just inadvertantly got to be part of a Shop Hop at the Quilting Frame today. Have you ever been to a shop hop? Well, I was dropping off a quilt to be quilted at the Quilting Frame, and a lady was there for the shop hop. What I gather is that you have a "passport" and you get it stamped at all the shops who are part of a hop. Sort of like an international tour of different sewing locals in the area. And at each shop you can purchase a square...Well, the kit to make a square. Then you can make a quilt with all the squares collected at the hop. Very cool. I wish I had found out about it sooner, so I could have hopped, but it is a bit time consuming of a process.

But, getting back to my story. I went into the Quilting Frame, and Sandra was helping a shop hopper. They were admiring a beautiful quilt that I think had been made to show what the hop quilt would look like. So I started looking around and we eventually all started chatting about the quilts and the hop. And then I pulled out my quilt and the ladies started looking at it. They started telling me about what happens when you cut on the bias. We were all worried that my quilt would be out of whack because I cut some triangles on the bias. So we pulled out the quilt and started measuring and checking it and looking at the backing. Three people, one a stranger, but all three quilters, just enjoying each other's company. It was so nice.

So my quilt is set to be quilted. But I could not show it in this post, so I am showing pictures of my garden. I built a new flower bed and planted some mums. They are huge. And looking very pretty.

So that is what is up in the Sapphire quilt world. More to come as always!