baby quilt | Grey Cat Quilts

Piecing as an Avoidance Mechanism

4 11 2015

I had Tuesday off from work, so I planned for Tuesday to be a sewing day. I thought I’d buckle down and work on the November’s sewing commitment.

Yeah, not so much.

I let myself get psyched out by it again, and instead decided on some easy piecing. Over the course of the day, with several breaks for meals, kiddo time, and napping, I put together a crib sized quilt top.

I used my pre-cut scraps stash, diving into my neutrals bucket and using a good portion of the 2.5″ squares. I also used more of the Cotton & Steel Peacock solid fabric. Eventually, I’ll use up the entirety of the six yards I bought.

The quilt top measures 40″ X 40″ (finished), and should be a breeze to quilt. I figure I’ll do straight line quilting, to keep it simple, and manageable on my domestic machine.

Apparently, this particular pattern ( a riff of the Made in Cherry pattern by Sarah Fielke) is going to be a go-to pattern for me. It’s a riff, because the original pattern called for charm squares. In addition to using 5″ squares, I’ve previously made this with 3″ squares. The 3″ squares make for a quilt top that finishes at about 50″ X 50″.

Of course, it helps that I can throw one of these babies together with very little math, and a whole lot of variation, depending on the fabrics used.

Linking to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

Finally, a Finish

23 05 2014

My first completed quilt for this year… I really need to get my tush in gear.

Done almost completely from items in my stash, with the exception of the batting. It was super satisfying to do, though ultimately, I’m not sure this will end up being given as a gift.

All told, I came close to using five yards of yardage between four different fabrics (one background, two in the backing, and one in the binding). This was incredibly satisfying, because it’s so easy to keep adding to the stash, regardless of how much I actually use.

I love that this is a pretty quilt, without being drenched in pastels. It finished up at about 50″ X 50″ inches, almost a lap-sized quilt. This one is so easy to put together – I’d probably make it again in the future because it came together so quickly.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday at crazy mom quilts. Also linking to the Whoop Whoop Friday party at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Comments : 9 Comments »
Tags: baby quilt, Made in Cherry, Scraps
Categories : Completed Quilt, Scraps

Quilted Goodness

18 05 2014

I woke up this morning, and I was raring to go. The alarm went off at 7:00 AM. By 7:30, I was sitting at the sewing machine, pedal to the floor.

It took five hours of straight line stitching, but by 2:00 PM, I had a completely quilted top:

I used my walking foot, marching the edge of the foot along the seams. The thread is a lovely 100% cotton, variegated thread that runs from dark red to pastel pink. I thought it was a good addition to this quilt. I really like the contrast of the straight line quilting against the soft edges of the large scale print.

I really love the way the quilting looks on the backside of the quilt. I do find myself wishing I’d had more of the cream and pink print to use for the backing, as the quilting is so striking against it. Ah, well, I used up three pieces of yardage that I had absolutely no plan for. I’ll take that as a win.

All that’s left to do is to make the binding and add it. I grabbed a stack of red prints – for some reason I’m certain it has to be a red binding – and draped them against the top:

I think the middle print of the five is my winner for the binding. If I’m lucky, making the binding will use up all I have of that print. Then, I’ll have used up four prints, and a bunch of scraps. So far, I’ve used four and a half yards, not including the scraps.

But, for now, I’m off to go see Godzilla. When I get back tonight, I’ll have make up the binding, and then I can finish this quilt up while going to and from work the next couple of days.

Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: baby quilt, Made in Cherry, Scraps
Categories : Quilting, Scraps

Patchwork Star Top

17 05 2014

I didn’t get to show many in progress shots of this top… there wasn’t much to it, though there was a sneak peek in last post. Inspired by Charmed, I’m Sure, which was worked up from the Sarah Fielke Made in Cherry pattern:

I decided to do a smaller patchwork star top. Instead of charm squares, I used 3″ squares from my pre-cut scraps. Squares in yellows, oranges, pinks, reds, and purples were added to the pile. After some debate on what to use, I pulled a large scale Tracy Porter print:

I’ve had a soft spot for this fabric (and its coordinating prints) since I picked them up at Joann’s on a clearance sale. They’ve a lovely hand to them, almost a flannel finish. Beautiful stuff, and ideal for a baby quilt.

It took a few evenings’ worth of piecing and ironing to get this together. Mostly in ironing, really. This pattern benefits wonderfully from nesting your seams. Honestly, it’s so simple, it really doesn’t need a pattern, just some basic math.

The photo doesn’t really do this quilt top justice… It was bright out when I took this photo, so it’s hard to tell just how beautifully the mix of scrap squares glows against the background fabric.

I’m picking up batting today for this – I only have large batts on hand, and I don’t want to cut into a package already earmarked for a larger project. My plan is to have this quilted this weekend, and then I’ll start quilting on something else. I have too many tops sitting around here.

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Tags: baby quilt, Made in Cherry, Scraps
Categories : Completed Top, Scraps

Chasing a Wild Hare…

8 05 2014

…and catching it!

Since redoing my sewing space, so that it was more friendly to work in:

I’ve been really happy with my work space. Other than a few quibbles over where stuff was (mostly due to my needing to find new homes for STUFF, or actually putting away said STUFF), it’s been a good space to make in.

However, I’ve been feeling the need for a design wall. At first I thought, ‘Okay, I can put my Fons and Porter design wall back up’. Unfortunately, I was never really happy with that particular item, because it’s essentially a drape. Having the grid on it never meant much to me, so that was a ‘feature’ I could easily do without.

I remembered reading about other quilters making design walls using insulation boards, batting and Command Strips. Since I’d left work early, I decided that there was nothing stopping me from making up a design wall, except maybe cost. So, I took hubby and kiddo out to Menards yesterday, and discovered that I could pick up a pack of six insulation boards for $6.99. Adding in the spray adhesive, duct tape, and Command Strips, covering my wall was about a $25.00 project. (I didn’t count the cost of the batting, since I had some on hand from an old project. Really terrible stuff, too, that I didn’t want to use in a quilt if I could help it.)

I had to Frankenstein some batting pieces together to have wide enough strips for all four boards – hence the dark lines you can see in the two panels on the left… I didn’t bother to change out from grey thread in the sewing machine. I just was not about to open a new package of batting for this. And those lines? Not going to bother me when I have blocks up.

As for the blocks already up on the wall… A start on the baby quilt I mentioned needing to make it’s going to be a girl, and the mother has definite ideas of what ‘femininity’ entails. I’m not a girly-girl, so I can’t just make something all out of pastel pinks. So, I’m taking yellow, pink, purple, and red scrap squares and making a quick patchwork. I’m using 3″ squares right now, but I’m starting to think I should have used my 2.5″ scrap squares… We’ll see what I decide tonight.

Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: baby quilt, design wall
Categories : Top in Progress