Graduation Quilt 2017

Behind the scenes and other projects going, I have been working on Lizzie's graduation quilt for several months.  She told me she wanted a red and gold quilt to represent Iowa State University, but not Iowa State fabric.  So we deliver!

At least I knew that much while we were in Arizona this winter and was able to buy a bunch a fabric at SAS while we were there......at a crazy price of $2.99.  I might have brought home a lot, just sayin!  But I was so glad for what I found, I used ALL of it in her quilt.....didn't use it ALL up.....but it is all in there. Love getting the backing and borders for $2.99.....can't beat that!

I designed it in Electric Quilt after we got home from Arizona, with several variations and Poppo picked the one he liked best....it was a good choice.  I am sharing the file for your personal use only if you have EQ.  This pattern is NOT to be sold.  Lizzie's Graduation Quilt

We did a little video clip when I was doing the final machine quilting.....just for fun.

We gave the quilt to her on Memorial Day!  This is such a happy looking quilt and it is going to a happy girl too!

What can I say.....it is a string quilt.....made with tons of different fabrics.  Just my kind of thing.  I included lots of picture type fabrics.  Also included the satin designer strap from her prom dress, a cute clothing label I had cut out of one of my shirts that said "Living Doll", a seam binding type tape from Moda that wrapped a bundle of fabric......all the things that make a scrap quilt extra special.

We were fighting the wind to get a decent picture.....oh well, did our best!

Machine quilted with red thread for another layer of dimension over the top.  I can see music fabric, John Deere, fruit, frogs, hearts, school penmanship, suitcases.....what can you find?

I did a special photo label for her!

May this quilt wrap you in love from Poppo & Mommo!

I know the plans I have for you......Jeremiah 29:11

Dear Jane & Miracle Worker Status

In case you want some mood music happening!

My sewing area has looked like this for months now.  I have been somewhat quiet on my blog for a couple reasons.  My migraines continue to be a constant source of interruption to my life.  Do you know that commercial....Do you have a migraine life?  YES.....ick!   And the other reason is I have had my head down and nose to the sewing machine working on my Dear Jane quilt.  So when I feel good, I haven't wanted to spend extra time on the computer, even though I do enjoy blogging.  It is like a vacuum cleaning on your time.  

I am going to share a couple ways that I came up in cutting my fabric as I sewed each block.  This would work well if you are doing a sampler type quilt or any piece where you are doing many different blocks and not a quilt where all the blocks are the same.  For starters, I cut my background fabric which happened to be muslin into strips all different widths....like 1", 1.25", 1.5", 1.75", 2", etc.  When I got to the bigger sizes 3"+ I cut every .5" at that point.  These became my working strips.

You can see them at the top left in a pile.  In front of them you can see a pile of small pieces and strips.  These are the scraps as I trim off the excess while foundation piecing.  I go to that fabric first when I need to cover a small patch and if I don't have something big enough, then I measure my patch as they are printed on vellum....shown in the center.  Whatever that measurement is....... is the strip I pull from my strip pile.  Then I personally use the Carol Doak method of foundation piecing using a postcard and an add 1/4" ruler or on this project I used an add a 1/8" ruler a lot.  Doing it this way, eliminates waste of fabric.....the pieces I threw away were literally crumbs and on a project this big.....it makes a difference on yardage.

So yesterday was a huge day in Dear Jane world around here, I finished my last triangle in the morning, in the afternoon I added the adjustment strips that needed to be added before adding the triangle border.  I spent the evening after the Silver Fox left for work, & added the triangle borders.  I must say...... I sat in my chair and just stared at it for quite awhile before going to bed last night.  

 I started this baby in 1998.  Now don't think I have worked on this continuously....there have been many times it has been in it's drawer waiting for my return!

I need to embroider my signature and I am going to include some names of our relatives that have fought in the Civil War as well.  It will also have a scalloped edge all the way around.  I added the strips around the outside for that today.  I won't work on that part until I have the center quilted.

 My plan is to complete it during the years of the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War that is happening right now.

So I do have until 2015......hopefully it will be done before then!

Dear Jane Love!

Photo Memory Quilt

The last two weeks have been spent working on a memory quilt for our niece's high school graduation.  The first plan was a t-shirt quilt, but bless her heart....my niece could not let go of her t-shirt collection quite yet.  So Aunt Sheri had to come up with Plan B. 

This is the back.....I used my t-shirt from the state BB tournament as a big chuck of the backing....just added some additional fabric to make it large enough.  I included a photo type label on the back, a yellow pocket that I included some newspaper clippings from some of the games and a fabric sleeve across the top to hang it.

          

I wanted to divide the body of the quilt from the border, so added some rick-rack just to define the star points a bit and not have them all run into the border.  The stars and photos I stitched in the ditch with clear monofiliment thread and the outside borders I stitched an easy free motion loop design.

I did a couple layout designs in Electric Quilt before deciding on this one.  I love that program!!!  Especially on this type of project, you don't want any major surprises when you get it part way finished.  I added some machine embroidered titles in each border and her name and that pretty much finished it off.  It was a fun project to work on and thankfully because I was on a short deadline, I had no hiccups printing the photos and lining up the embroidery.....which does not always happen.  :)

I have done several of these photo type projects and I have loved everyone of them that I have done.  I will have to post some of the other pictures another day for some inspiration.

Scrap Buster Log Cabin

I have been working on this scrap quilt for a LONG time.  I started it while working at a local quilt shop, when I would have my work done, between customers.  These blocks are made with 1-1/2" strips in the traditional style starting in the center with a square and going around and around.

This top is not quite sewn together, but I have sections of it done into blocks that are 2 x 2.  I have been putting tops together lately in this manner, instead of doing them in rows.  I feel like I get less distortion that way and it seems like it is less bulky to handle.

I did the layout in Electric Quilt 7 and did several variations before choosing this one.  I have included my EQ file to share with those that have EQ7.  You are free to use this for your own personal use, but not for pattern resale.  If you want to share this on your blog, please link and give credit to this site.  I enjoy sharing my work, but ask that you respect my copyright. 

NOTE:  This link will only work for those that own Electric Quilt 7, if you have Electric Quilt 7 and this link does not work, please let me know.  If you do not own the computer program Electric Quilt 7, this file will not open for you.  As this is the first time I have linked to a file....I am hoping this link works correctly. Another learning curve in the land of blogsville.

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BwYLcFP66fg6ODVjMzJmMjEtODY3Ni00MmQzLWE1MDYtZWUyMmNlNWMyMTk4&hl=en&authkey=CPP6qPMK