Dinosaurs- Elizabeth Hartman

I made these dinosaur pillows for my 3 year old nephew, who just got his "big boy bed".   Coincidentally, the bedding his Mom got him was also dinosaur themed, so I was definitely on the right track.  I think these big pillows are just the thing for leaning against while reading in bed. 

The pattern has directions for a couple of different sized pillows, I'm pretty sure I modified these a bit from the pattern.   I made a 20" and a 26"     One of the things I really like about how Elizabeth Hartman writes her patterns is she gives the directions to  make the quilt or to make one block at a time.  She often even gives multiple options for quilt size.   And there are usually instructions to make a pillow.

  My absolute favorite are the stubby little T-rex forelegs.

This was the third October in a row that I found myself making Elizabeth Hartman pillow(s).   I usually do them at my quilting retreat.  This year I got to work at home.  What is really neat is I can tell that my accuracy has improved.  I think two things really contributed to the improved accuracy. 

  First, using a wool pressing pad.   I have a friend who does amazing precision piecing, and she says the wool pad has improved her precision--something to do with the fibers not allowing the fabric to shift and distort when pressing. 

And second, using the  corner pop ruler --traditional piecing would have you drawing a line across the diagonal, sewing on the line, and then trimming the excess fabric.  The problem is I am challenged at drawing straight lines, even using a ruler!     So, with the Corner Pop ruler I cut first, then sew.   And I'm more accurate, so that's a win.

When the offcut is too small for the corner pop, or if you want to try this method with a regular ruler--line up the 1/4" on the diagonal and then trim. 

 

Annette's Boxes

Annette brought me this lovely top to work on and there were florals in the squares so I chose this somewhat floral design (I'm guessing it's from one of Christina Camelli's books). 

I really like the color of the background fabric.

and a great backing fabric too!!  Also a little floral.

 

Journey 2 Nebula Seaside, Lucky Charms and Jawbreaker

 Nebula is Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts big new pattern coming out in January 2021 as a Block of the Month, kitted with Tula Pink Fabrics.    Julie realized that many of the people signed up for Nebula might not have much experience with her specialty rulers, or even with quilting, so she is hosting Journey2Nebula, each week sharing a little video about cutting a certain shape or piecing those shapes together.  I decided it might be fun to play along, and it could be a way to use up the end of the Betty's Luncheonette fabrics.  It has been lovely to have some smaller projects to play with. 

 

 

First up was Seaside, which according to the pattern is a table runner.  My version is a 26" pillow.  

 

 

I did the quilting all freehand, so no rulers were involved in the diagonal lines--they aren't all perfect but close enough for the purpose.   

 

Next was Lucky Charm .   Lucky Charm is a 20" pillow.

 

 And the third project was Jawbreaker --the pattern is for a 20" pillow but I made it 26" 

And this one I got a photo of after I put the backing on, stuffed.    I think these 26" pillows are a great size for propping oneself up for reading in bed.  

Mariners Compass

 

This is Katherine's quilt and the photo that she posted on her instagram.  I just love the quilt against the red barn.

Katherine said "this is my version of a Mariners Compass quilt, Massachusetts circa 1840 from the Pilgrim/Roy collection.  It was shown at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in 2014".    If you have instagram and can look at Katherine's (@quiltkat) post she included a photo of her inspiration quilt.  I cannot link to it from here.  

Katherine had no pattern, so she drafted these blocks herself.    We didn't want the quilting to be too heavy--and of course there should be feathers.

I was glad to borrow Katherine's photo, as the light was so poor the day I took photos, I got much better photos on the frame.  My goal was to emphasize the circles of the compasses, and I was so glad to see that showed in Katherine's distance photo 

I'm so glad I get to quilt for Katherine.  

Pineapple Daisies

 

 

Deborah brought me this pineapple quilt and because of the floral fabrics wanted a floral design.  

For interest (mostly my own), the centers of the flowers varied, but I don't think I succeeded in capturing that in the photos.  

Pineapple blocks are ones I've always admired--the greatest part of being a longarm quilter for hire is I can play with many more quilts than I can piece.

 

Houses for Ferdi

Nancy took the remaining houses from her Houses for Neil quilt (too many blocks were gifted to be contained in just one quilt), and made this top for Ferdi.     She used a flannel for the batting.   

I like that the alternating blocks march in a diagonal path. 

a meander was perfect to hold the layers together and allow the houses to shine. 

 

100 Acre Woods, Quarter Sections 3

When I was cutting out the Highway 10 Designs  Quarter Sections Winnie the Pooh quilts earlier this year, I cut carefully and was able to cut enough pieces for a third quilt (yay!).   This one is quilted with Christina Cameli's collapsed spirals, which I have done before, so it didn't strictly meet my requirements of getting out of my quilting rut, but I like it too much to not use it, and it was still a Christina design.  

 Here's a photo of the nice stack of my (our) own quilts quilted in August.  

If you're the counting type you'll notice I haven't shown the 2nd one and  bottom one yet--- I won't until they are gifted. ;)

Checkers, Anyone?

 

 

Checkers, Anyone? is a kit I got at Rumpled Quilt Skins last December.   As normally happens in that gorgeous store, I found a kit I couldn't resist, carried it around with me while I browsed the rest of the store, had internal and external conversations about not needing another project, what will I DO with the quilt (still don't know), but it's so lovely, don't need it, I know exactly how I'm going to quilt it etc etc,  until one of my friends ("the enabler") compared the price to a ski lift ticket (our husbands were probably skiing that December day), and then bought the kit.   I knew how I wanted to quilt it---that's what made it come home with me.   Pieced in early March, when I was so thankful for a simple, straight forward project, and quilted in August. 

I just love how they put fabrics together at Rumpled Quilt skins, from across many lines.    I added the dark inner border--it felt more finished to me that way.   Luckily there was enough fabric in the kit to do that--maybe it was supposed to be the binding??

I hadn't realized until I got home how music themed the border fabric was.  I guess cassette tapes are to my kids as 8-tracks were to me. 

 

Puddle Jumping

 

This quilt is Puddle Jumping, pattern by Camille Roskelly, feature fabric is Betty's Luncheonette by Violet Craft.    The navy background is a hand dyed Osnaberg.   If the fabrics look familiar, I've been using this de-constructed quilt kit for the past year--this is the 4th quilt I've shown you from these fabrics.  (Raffia Weave and Betty's Luncheonette)  I've added background to a few of the quilts, but this bundle just keeps going....

 

 

I quilted it with a Christina Cameli Pod design.   

                     

 

 

    

 

and I made a pillowcase with the remaining backing and some left over bits from the top.  This is my daughter's grad quilt, and here it is on her bed in residence.  It's bright and cheerful in her room. 

Elvira in Blues

 

This is my Elvira quilt--also pieced in March.   When everything else came to a screeching halt.  The story behind the quilt and Vicki's version of Elvira can be found on a previous post here.

The free motion quilting pattern is Enoki, from Christina Cameli.  I've been searching for the right quilt to put this on for a while and finally found it.   I gifted this quilt to a 10 year old, and we were discussing what the quilting design could look like---trees, aliens, mushrooms, lollipops....so much fun to imagine.    The young man loves his quilt--his Mom told me she wanted to put it aside while he ate dinner, and was told "Michelle told me to use the quilt and it's washable".  So, the quilt stayed during dinner.   The next day Mom reported it was in the wash!  
 

 

And here's a shot of the flimsy in front of a window, with the light shining through...I just love the range of blues in this quilt.   It was another quick, simple project when some simplicity was needed.  It was also fun to work on 'with' friends--texting photos back and forth and checking in on Gudrun's facebook page as progress was made.