Hand Drawn Garden Diamonds

Fabrics used are a fat eighth bundle of Hand Drawn Garden by Anna Maria Horner, Shot Cotton in Steel is the main background color, and then I added an assortment of Shot Cottons I had in my stash for the diamonds.  Backing is Anna Maria Horner Loulouthi flannel, and binding is Shot Cotton in Tangerine.

I buy all my Shot Cottons at Mad About Patchwork, and she has all Rowan fabrics 20% off this month.  (This includes Shot Cottons)  Just use the code HOLIDAY20 at checkout.

I tried a different method of finishing the binding on this quilt.  I thought it needed a bit of extra texture, so I sewed the binding to the back of the quilt, then, to attach it to the front, I used a Perle Cotton in Turquoise and did a blanket stitch.  (and then part way through I ran out of time and finished with a regular stitch)  I really like the handmade look this gives and I know I'll be trying it again!

Penny Patch Quilt

I made a Penny Patch Quilt!  This quilt is the opposite of the my last one, so relaxing to put together because it's just nice squares and no matter how you mix them, they'll look good.  (ok, except somehow I mistakenly got a big row of light colored squares all together which does not look great, but this quilt won't be hung on the wall so it won't be noticed)

I'd like to direct you to Rachel of Stitched in Color who is doing this quilt pattern is a beginner friendly quiltalong.  She has detailed posts about every step of the way, it's recommended reading.  Find it here.

I know this is a pattern I'll visit again, since it's a classic design which would look good in so many different fabric combos.

Feather Quilt

Yes, I have been busy sewing!  I had a deadline in which I needed to finish up four lap sized quilts.  Here's my secret favorite of the bunch.

I've loved this feather pattern from Anna Maria Horner ever since I first saw it.  Pattern here.

When I saw this quilt though, I knew that I liked this idea better than a whole quilt full of feathers.  (maybe I'm just lazy and don't want to make that many feathers!)  So I started out by making three feather blocks with white or off white backgrounds.  Then I started piecing together large chunks of light colored fabrics to fill the rest of the quilt top.

So, the feathers were actually not hard to sew!  I think I'll visit them again sometime.  Piecing the background though?  This is my least favorite type of piecing.  It makes my head hurt, deciding where to put each piece, how big it should be, and balancing it all out without overthinking it!

In the end, my very favorite element of the quilt top is the little nine patch on the upper left side.  I've had that idea for a long time, inspired by an image (not a quilt) I saw in a book.  To put a little nine patch on the edge of a large otherwise plain quilt.

I used a Denyse Schmidt voile on the back.  I've started using voiles as my backing a lot lately.  They are very soft and silky, which is nice, but the main reason is that they're 54"-56" wide, which is just so handy for these lap size quilt.  Right now, you can find a bunch of voiles on sale at Hawthorne Threads (just put 'voile' in the search box).

I did a dense swirly free motion design for the quilting.  I thought it would end up a bit stiffer because of this, but actually it's super soft and drapey!  Because of the voile back?  I don't know, but I'm definitely going to try for that feel again!

Log Cabin

This one is one of those quilts that just feels right for me, it's the one quilt out of every ten that makes me feel like I'm making the quilts that I want to be making!  Make sense?  Mostly I don't dislike the quilts I make, but often there's some little thing that feels flawed to me, whether it's construction or design.  Or maybe I just don't feel that connection with it, because it's not completely 'me.'

This one is me, though.  I wish I could figure out the formula, and only make these favorite quilts and cut the rest!  Doesn't seem to work.  It's just one of those things.  Sometimes I don't know if I'll like it till I pull it out of the dryer.  Often the first washing of a quilt turns it from a flat object to a piece with soul.

Anyways, enough on that!  This little quilt was made completely with strips from my scraps.  The center red squares are 1 1/2 inches x 1 1/2 inches.  All the strips going around are 1 1/2 inches as well.  No wonky or improv on this quilt!  This is an old fashioned log cabin block!

Combining the hand quilting with a Kaffe Fasset shot cotton on the back, (color is called Steel and you can buy it here) makes for a veeeeery soft little quilt!

The border on the front is a Moda Grunge print, although I don't know which color it is.  Talking a bit of simple design here, I think this border is very important.  For such a small quilt, these four big diamonds could be overpowering.  While I was making them, I wasn't sure they were going to look right for a baby quilt.  Adding the border made all the difference. (and I needed it for size anyway, since the quilt was too small without it)

Sometimes you can make a quilt look better by leaving off a border, but sometimes it's just what the design needs to breathe a bit.