100 Quilts for Kids Charity Quilts

Katie over at SwimBikeQuilt runs a charity donation called 100 Quilts for Kids. I've had these two quilt tops with me since 2010. I made them both that summer, but never got around to finishing them. That changed on Saturday when I just felt like quilting rather than piecing. I also purchased the Elmer's Glue spray adhesive since it's water soluble and will thus wash out. I'm pretty pleased with it. The needle didn't get gummed up and the thread never broke. It's also cheaper than 505. 

Before I actually used the Elmer's Spray on an actual quilt, I did a test piece, and I wanted to really see how it would do with dense quilting and the needle passing through quite a bit. That means I practiced feathers. I think I'm getting decent with my travel stitching along the same path and that this feather turned out pretty well.

Little things

I have finished the big block quilt top with the mitered corners. Last weekend at the DC Modern Quilt Guild meeting, pictures were taken of it, but they haven't made it to Flickr yet, and since I was behind the quilt holding it up, none made it onto my camera or phone. I plan to get a queen flat sheet to back it with and do straight line quilting. Although this picture is from before it was actually pieced it's laid out on the floor and gives a decent idea of what the top looks like put together: 

 Many of you have seen all the bee blocks that I make for my hive mates, but here is my collection of received blocks from the paper pieced hives. My color scheme is orange, lime green, and bright blue. For half the hives I requested white backgrounds and for the other half, I requested dark gray - I love how these have turned out. I haven't decided yet if I want to do another couple of rounds or leave it smaller like this (48"x48") and use as a wall hanging.

And lastly for this post, one of the nurses I work with commissioned me to make a pencil case for her daughter who starts the school year on Monday. Her daughter hadn't liked any of the ones that were at Staples when they went shopping. That evening, I texted several pictures of fabric, and what I thought was funny is initially her daughter chose my ironing board cover as her favorite print (it's white with pale blue polka dots), but once I figured that out and she chose from the actual fabric available (all from my scrap bin) she chose this combination and I had free reign on the design. I made it more sturdy with fusible fleece ironed to the outer pieces. The soon to be 9th grader was thrilled with it, and really that's what matters with commissioned pieces, that the recipient will love and use it.

Mug Rug Revival Round 2

The Mug Rug Revival Round 2 kicked off this weekend with partners being assigned and information regarding likes and dislikes being sent out. My partner said that she likes gray and yellows together and that she also likes birds. I was thinking about using a bird print fabric, but the only one I have has multi colored owls on it from the baby quilt I made in February. That didn't seem right. I turned to Pinterest and Google Image search for bird quilt inspiration. I found a simple, black silhouette of a bird on a branch that just called out to be used. I placed it on a checkerboard background of low volume gray and yellow. And here we have the top of the Mug Rug. I need to choose a backing for it now. I plan to bind in black, but I'm not sure what quilting motif I want to use yet. I don't have to mail until August 30th, so I have a little time to percolate on that.

This is the first time I've ever done applique. My machine has a blanket stitch which I used all the way around the birdie and branch. I hope my partner likes this when it arrives in her mailbox. 

Mariner's Star

For the July Simply Solids Bee, Rachel asked us to paper piece (she's the creator of the Beeful of Paper that I'm also in). This block pieced together very quickly - a welcome change from the intricate paper piecing I've done of late. As much as I love the outcome, it can be tedious. She chose excellent colors, very similar to last month's block - orange, gray, and mint.

In a completely unrelated note, but one that makes me happy, I hung a poster that I've had in my possession for the last few years. It came from my grandparents' house, and now I have it in my dining room overlooking the table. At their house in New Jersey, it was hung over the kitchen table, and I have many fond memories sitting under it with my grandparents, including one summer when I lived with them while interning in New York. 

Big Block Roller Rink Quilt

I've seen the Roller Rink quilt done a number of times. I decided to use that as inspiration for my own design. I took the mitred corner class at the Quilt Expo in Baltimore in May. I'm putting that to good use. I'm doing a full quilt where every block has mitred corners.  Each of these blocks measures 10"x30" - definitely a change from all the paper piecing I've been doing.

Apologies on the lighting, I just took the pictures at 8:45pm. Half of the blocks will look like this with the gray running down the long side and the white across the short. The other half will be the inverse. This will make for some interest where the corner of the blocks meet up. 

I made all 27 center sections on Saturday at the DC Modern Quilt Guild sewing day held at the Arlington Library. I've been following their blog since I knew I'd be moving back here, and this was the first meeting that I was able to go to. I met a number of people whom I've followed via Instagram and their blogs as well as meeting many other faces of the DC Quilting community. 

When this quilt is done, it will be heading to a Navy friend stationed in Japan. After he got there and got his housing settled, he asked if he could commission one, but I wasn't going to let him pay what it really costs for a queen quilt, so it'll be headed overseas because he was my battle buddy (most of the time) while we were at training. 

It's been two weeks, oops

I've been working on Bee Blocks and my big, pearl bracelets quilt, so I haven't really felt the blogging pull. But I finished all the bee blocks and they're wending their way across the country to their new homes this week. Here is the set all together before I sent them out. These blocks each took a little over an hour and a half to make. Each section has 7 sections and with 12 sections per block that's 84 pieces to each one. That said, I made it through a lot of Sex and the City and Entourage. HBO Go is a great thing for rewatching old series.

A bag for me!

So when I made the Studio Cherie duffel bags back in February, neither ended up staying with me, and both were sold. The Little Sister bag that I made last week for my cousin as a diaper bag spawned a commission from one of her good friends (who I've known for years, as well). But before I make that one, I made one for me because I really like the pattern, and there was no time frame on the commissioned one, that said, I'll probably make it next week.

One of the big differences is on mine, I used the PUL fabric as the liner. PUL is polyurethane laminate. That means carrying a damp bathing suit is just fine since it won't leak through. Swimming is my main form of working out, and since there's a beautiful pool at work that provides towels, showers, and shampoo/conditioner in said showers, the only thing I have to carry around is my bathing suit - this is when I thank the Navy for having amazing gym facilities on base.

You can see what the liner looks like from the front pocket - the aqua/white polka dots is the lining.

As well, here are the June Bee Blocks for the Paper Pieced Bee(ful) of Paper and Simply Solids.

For the Paper Pieced bee, the queen for this month just requested that we make a star with the fabric she had sent us. Since I'd made this star for the last round of the 4x5, I was very comfortable with it, and made that for her. For the solids bee, we were asked to make 9 patches into giant HSTs in orange, aqua, and gray.