Mountain Vacation Project #1

This is not my vacation project. I actually finished this top last summer at the quilt retreat in Mobile, AL. It's still waiting to be quilted......sigh.
Anyway, even after making this quilt from the scraps of the 7 other Amy Butler quilts I'd made, there was still a considerable pile of scraps just waiting to be used. I almost think these things multiply when you're not looking!! (Now that I've basically finished the jacket and I still have this pile left, I'm thinking of some string blocks might be in my future :)!!!)

Back to the vacation project. So I decided to rescue an old pink sweatshirt from the goodwill pile and use my pile of scraps to make a sweatshirt jacket. This is what the outside looks like during construction. I have tried to start this project before, but by the time I get home from work, it seems kind of overwhelming to start. So getting away on vacation was the perfect time to start this.

This is the inside. I forgot to take pictures of the steps so I'll show the pattern pictures.

I'm using the pattern "I Can't Believe its' a Sweatshirt" by Back Porch Press. I love this pattern - I've made it three times for me plus once for my sister. I've also taught two workshops on this technique.

This is what the sweathsirt looks like when you first cut it apart and start sewing on the blocks.

You just keep layering blocks until you like the look. Then you quilt in wavy lines going in both directions.

Here's my progress so far, just starting to quilt.

I got all 4 sections basically basted with just a few lines of quilting before I left NC. Now it's all ready for me to just do the machine quilting.

It takes quite a while to do all the stitching, but once the blocks are positioned, it's pretty easy.

Until next time,

-Karen

Missing but making progress

I really cannot believe that it's been a month since I blogged!! I've been reading some, sewing some and trying to chill. I've been at the beach on the Gulf of Mexico with my family for a mini family reunion and I've been in the mountains of NC (no internet). I did take my machine and had fun working on some projects which I'll share soon. (Em, I thought of you and Roxy as I sewed, looking out at the beautiful mountains and the serenity of God's creation). Today, I want to share my progess on my new granddaughter's baby quilt. Here the shadows help show the quilting. I'm hand quilting this and doing a cross hatching in the plain fabric blocks.

It's a sweet old fashioned look to a very modern fabric.

I'm quilting in the ditch around each petal and then echo quilting.

I'm not marking anything, so each block is slightly different.

I'm doing straight line quilting at each one inch block.

I'm loving the contrast between the vibrant, modern look of the fabric and the traditional look of the muslin and the quilting. I always forget how different (slow) hand quilting is from machine quilting. I really want all my grandchildren to have at least one quilt hand quilted by "Nana Girl" so it's been a complete labor of love.

Hope you are all having a wonderful summer.

Until next time,

-Karen