Sew and Tell Friday – Holiday Jelly Roll Quilts

October 12, 2012October 12, 20121 Comment

Linda M. and Martha A. both participated in my first ever quilt-along tutorial and have finished two jelly roll quilts just in time for the holidays! Don’t they look great? I love the stippling they added – it gives the quilts lots of texture.

Linda completed her Meadow Friends quilt and Martha finished her Trick or Treat quilt just in time for Halloween. (Martha has one more quilt to finish, in time for Christmas.)

All three of their quilt tops are shown below.

These two quilting friends love to participate in “strip clubs” and enjoy working with jelly rolls. Nice job ladies!

As my way of saying thanks for sharing a completed project using fabric purchased from me, each of them will receive a $5 gift certificate to my store. They can put that toward their next jelly roll purchase or anything else that suits their fancy!

Machine Quilting Tips from Cory Allender

September 25, 2012September 25, 20126 Comments

Award-winning quilter Cory Allender visited my guild’s weekend quilting retreat and shared some of her beautiful quilts with us. Cory’s quilts have taken top honors at my guild’s show (Desert Quilters of Nevada) and she has gone one to win numerous awards at prestigious venues like Road to California and HMQS. Her work will also be exhibited at International Quilt Festival in Houston later this year.

Daisy, pieced by Patti VanOordt and quilted by Cory, was shown during Utah Quilt Fest.

Gorgeous, isn’t it? Here are a few more quilts showcasing Cory’s beautiful machine work:

Southwest of Michigan by Cory Allender

Detail of Plan B, Pieced & Quilted by Cory

Northwest Passage, Top by Diane Johnston

Noel Detail, Top by Diane Johnston

Are those quilts breathtaking or what? Diane’s exquisite applique is enhanced by Cory’s impeccable machine quilting. I do believe that quilting makes the quilt! Here are a few of Cory’s favorite machine quilting tips and secrets for making show-quality quilts:

Use a double batt – Cory likes to use two pieces of batting like Hobbs 80/20 with a layer of wool on top, or a combo of bamboo and silk. It can get a little pricey but the double batting gives the quilts some extra body and makes them drape beautifully.
Block all quilts after applying binding – Cory soaks her quilts and forces them into shape, then lets them dry on large pieces of foam core board. If needed, she will “spray block” the binding to help control any hills and valleys.
Use the same color thread in top and bobbin – this is also one of my favorite techniques!
Use a colorful or busy back – again, something I also advocate to help hide mistakes. When using lots of colored threads on top, this also helps them blend into the backing.
Never use dark thread on a light background – this will accentuate every mistake and make all the stops and starts much more obvious!
Draw and quilt every day. Cory compared machine quilting to learning to play an instrument. You don’t start off playing a concerto piece the first time you sit down to a piano. The same thing applies to quilting – you must constantly practice your free motion quilting skills to build your muscle memory.

Cory, thanks for the great tips and awesome inspiration!

Sew and Tell Friday – Finished Jelly Roll Quilts

September 21, 2012September 19, 20121 Comment

I am so excited to see that people are finishing their Jolly Jelly Roll quilts. This was my first ever quilting tutorial and it gives me great satisfaction to see that it was a success! You can click here to see all the tutorials. (I still have a few Jolly Jelly Roll kits available, too!)

First, we have Joanne P. who made her quilt from fabric she got from me plus scraps from her stash. She picked a bright white inner border for a little “pop” and then bound it in blue.

Joanne quilted a wavy grid effect by starting the quilting in her piano keys borders and continuing across the surface of the quilt from top to bottom and side to side. You can see the neat effect it gave on the back of the quilt. I am so glad she “did-it herself!”

Kathleen W. was also very productive and finished her quilt, too. I just love the aboriginal prints, don’t you?

Kathleen’s favorite part of the quilt is her pieced backing. I concur! She did a nice job on the serpentine stitching, and she even added a label, too. Way to go, Kathleen!

UFO – Hand Pieced Winding Ways

September 14, 2012March 19, 201311 Comments

We are headed home soon from our vacation and while I will miss the tropical weather, it will feel good to get back home and back to my sewing machine!

While relaxing pool-side, I worked on my hand-pieced Winding Ways quilt that I began about 15 years ago. I’ve finished the blocks and am now slowly stitching the rows together. I’m undecided yet if I’ll add borders or not – that may take another 15 years!!

This is my vacation quilt that I work on every time I’m out of town and do not have access to a sewing machine. It is entirely hand-pieced so far and I will hand quilt it, too. I guess I need to go on vacation more so I can get it done, LOL!

I have learned a lot about hand piecing over the years and my techniques have improved. I have found I get better results when I use lots of pins and do not sew over all the seam allowances like you would when sewing by machine. Plus, it’s much easier to hand-sew following marked sewing lines rather than raw edges.

Now it’s time to head home and put this quilt back in the UFO pile until next time!

Sew and Tell – Jenna Quilts!

September 7, 2012March 19, 201312 Comments

My daughter has been bitten by the sewing bug. Today’s post reminds me of the late cartoonist Bil Keane of Family Circus. He would occasionally let his sons publish some of their cartoons in their dad’s place in the Sunday Funnies, and now his son Jeff continues the work. I, too am encouraging my daughter’s artistry, and she already wants to take over the family business!

Jenna got a sewing machine for Christmas, has already made her first quilt and is working on a second one. This week, she put together a cute little project following directions from this fun book, “The Best of Sewing Machine Fun for Kids.”

She knew I was super busy with work and getting ready to go on our family vacation, so she rummaged through my scrap pile, found some fabrics and leftover pieces of batting and set to work!

I helped her with the ironing and taught her how to sew the buttons on by hand. But she cut, sewed and stitched everything herself! The book had easy instructions to follow.

At a young age, she’s already taking the pattern and making it her own. She added some extra fabric and buttons to the cat and attached a bow. Jenna puts bows on everything and I love it! Now she wants to make one for her best friend’s birthday. Way to be crafty, Jenna!

Sew and Tell Friday – Strips and Bricks

August 31, 2012March 19, 2013Leave a comment

It’s so fun to see how everyone’s Jolly Jelly Roll quilts have turned out. Even though I finished up this tutorial, I will be happy to share pictures of those that have followed along, whether they are finished or not (though I can’t wait to see the quilting on them)!

Also, I put together a Jolly Jelly Roll quilt kit if you’d like to make another one.

This is Laura F.’s top that she made from her stash. She chose to make her quilt as I had shown in the original pattern drawing, with piano keys borders. She’s toying around with the idea of using oilcloth for the backing as a picnic blanket. I think that would be fantastic!

I’ve just begun the next quilting tutorial series, called quilt Baby Bricks. I tweaked a design I had done previously, based on a couple of fun quilts I designed and made last year.

My tutorial will be very similar to the blue quilt, with the addition of neutral solid strips in between the rows. That will give it a modern touch while providing some negative space.

Kits are available for that one, too.

Just for fun, I made a similar quilt in brown and green and added a few monkey appliques.

To do this, I simply ironed some wonder under to the back side of my Funky Monkeys fabric and cut around the shapes. I ironed them to the quilt top and then stitched around them with a straight stitch once the quilt was basted, an appli-quilt technique!

This is the first time I’ve sort of worked in a series. I like the look of the bricks and it was fun to explore a few different possibilities with the design.

Bungle Jungle Quilt – Making Progress

August 27, 2012March 19, 201315 Comments

I am slowly but surely making progress quilting my Bungle Jungle quilt. This is my first attempt at a modern quilt. I discovered the whole modern quilting movement just a few months ago and have truly been smitten!

I started with just one Bungle Jungle charm pack and surrounded the charms with lots of “negative” space so I could practice my free-motion quilting skills. I used Kona Cotton Solids in white for the background.

I love how the pebbling turned out and I’m now learning how to quilt some swirling vines. My vines look a little more like hooks, but it’s still fun to vary the motifs.

I like the textural element that quilting gives to a quilt!

At first I thought I would surround the little hands entirely with just one quilting motif, little curlie-cue’s.

However, after I quilted a few squares, that got old very quickly!

So to keep things fun, I’m switching quilting motifs throughout the quilt. Not only will every charm square be quilted differently, the background fills will change, too.

I’ve only finished about 4 rows of quilting so far (out of 15!) but I am enjoying the process. The key is not to rush it. I only quilt a couple of squares per day. This gives me daily FQM practice so I won’t get bored. This will be a long-term process and I won’t even attempt to record how many hours the quilting takes. But I am having fun and that’s what’s important!

I think I will call this quilt “Busy Hands” not only for the cute little quilted hands, but because I am keeping my hands quite busy quilting this baby!

Sew and Tell Friday – Zazzle, Turning Twenty Diamonds

August 24, 20122 Comments

I am excited to share some more Sew and Tell with you today.

Joanne P. is following along with my Do-it-Yourself-Quilt tutorial. But, instead of using a jelly roll, Joanne cut up her strips from Mark Lipinski’s Zazzle line in blue. She mixed in some brown and gold Moda scraps from her stash to add a little sparkle. How beautiful! I love how the white inner border provides a contrasting frame to the quilt. Notice how she used a piano keys border variation. Love it! Now I can’t wait to see it quilted!

Anne Y. recently finished a Turning Twenty into Diamonds quilt using Arnold’s Attic from Moda. (How did I miss that quilt pattern? I better put it on my list to add!) I love all of the texture that her quilting gives to the piece. She quilted straight lines in a diagonal setting. Don’t you think the quilting makes the quilt?

In the next couple of weeks I will be improving my blog so that we can have more sew and tell fun. Instead of waiting for everyone to send me their show and tell pics, we’ll have some link-up parties where you can post your own quilt-along pics, finished quilts, and wip’s (works-in progress). So stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, you can still email me pictures of your finished projects, using one or more fabrics that you got from me. Plus, I can’t wait to see more finished quilts from all of you who are finishing up your own Jolly Jelly Roll quilts. Happy Quilting!

Sew and Tell Friday – 3 Jelly Roll Quilt Tops

August 17, 2012August 17, 2012Leave a comment

For today’s show and tell we have a triple header! These three beautiful quilt tops come from Linda and Martha, a couple of friends who have been moving right along with my Jolly Jelly Roll do-it-yourself-quilt tutorial.

These two gals love working with jelly rolls “sew” much! Martha sewed the two holiday quilts using Christmas Spirit and Trick or Treat, and Linda is making hers from the girl colorway of Meadow Friends. They will present their show and tell at their next “Strip Club!” Now they just have to quilt and bind their lovely quilts and they can move onto their next projects.

Speaking of finishing, I will present a machine binding tutorial to finish these quilts up next week and will then start another complete quilt project the week after. I’m toying around with switching up my blog software so that more of you can share your WIP’s! (Works in progress), so stay tuned for details. Also, be sure to subscribe to my blog if you haven’t done so already, so you can stay abreast of all the latest happenings.

Oh, and if you have any suggestions on what types of quilt projects you’d like me to demonstrate, please leave a comment. The next do-it-yourself-quilt tutorial will either use fat quarters or a layer cake (I’m designing it now). But I’d love to have more ideas, and I plan to offer these free tutorials on an ongoing basis. Eventually, I’ll offer patterns and kits to go along with them, too!

Sew and Tell – Dragonfly Batik Art Quilt

August 10, 2012March 19, 2013Leave a comment

I am so excited to share with you Diane’s beautiful art quilt below. She used green batik fat quarters that she got from me, and quilted with metallic thread to add the textured water and pond ripples to her piece. The dragonfly was begun in a Susan Brubaker Knapp thread sketching class and finished at home. (Some people actually finish their class projects!!) She added glittery glue to give the dragonfly some sparkle and make its wings look iridescent.

Diane has also been following along making her version of the Jolly Jelly Roll quilt. She finished up her homework for the week and shares her lovely jewel-toned top with us:

Nice job, Diane! For those of you quilting along with my tutorial, be sure to email me pictures of your in-progress diy quilts, too. It’s such fun to see the variety.

And for those of you that want to share your work using fabrics purchased from me, I’ll send you a little thank you if I feature your finished project on my blog. You can email pictures to christa@christaquilts.com. Happy quilting!