Two More for March

Going along with my goal of quilting a couple of tops before starting more, I can now add two more quilts to my finished list for March. Both will be donated to a local charity for an auction fundraiser to be held in September.

Here's a Thomas the Train-themed quilt using the Quick Strippie pattern found on maryquilts.com. I've lost count of the number of quilts I've made using this fun, free pattern.

 (click on photos for a larger view)

Here's a closeup of the fabric...

And the backing and binding...

For this Disney princess-themed quilt, I adapted the pattern to work with the fabric pieces I had left over from another project. The print is directional, so I had to make the strips vertical rather than horizontal. The princesses would look funny dancing sideways. It's bad enough that a few are upside-down.

Here's a closeup...

The backing was pieced from leftovers of princess, Minions, and Berenstain Bears fabric...

Two more fun quilts for a good cause!

A Finish for March

I've been busy sewing for several weeks now, but I just keep making quilt tops and adding to the pile of tops to be quilted. I really should go back to my goal from a year or two ago of quilting two tops after piecing one, so I'm trying hard now to get them quilted and bound.

Here's my latest finished quilt, using just a simple layout of half-square triangles and squares. The printed fabric was from a couple of charm packs that I bought at a quilt show in Rochester, NY last June.

Here's a closeup of the fun candy fabric and the quilting...just simple loopy meandering...

And my favorite type of binding...striped bias binding...

Now to get the next top loaded on my machine...

Can't Kick the Habit

This is what happens when you have friends who encourage your fiber addiction...

 I thought they were supposed to help me kick the habit! But who could pass up a fun day out with quilting friends to a couple of great sales?

What a deal -- nine yards of fun charity quilt fabric for $30, two Moda jelly rolls and a Moda layer cake at 50% off, and the fleece was 60% + 20% off! And the yarn was on sale, too!

February Finish

Although I've finished a few quilt tops this month, this is the only one that is quilted and bound. It's my favorite quick pattern for a kid quilt, the Quick Strippie, found on maryquilts.com. Gloomy weather and a point-and-shoot camera make for a so-so photo.

Here's a closeup of the simple meandering quilting...

Other than the binding and backing, this is identical to one I made a couple of years ago. I donated that one to the local foster child program, and I'll hold on to this one for a while until I find it a good home.

UFO Spotted

I belong to the Ithaca Modern Quilt Guild, and one of the challenges for members this year is to finish as many of our UFOs as we can. I have several of them, so I finally got around to working on one this week. It's going to be a pillow using two-inch-cut squares from my batik scraps. I've fused the squares onto a fusible interfacing with a printed grid, and am now sewing the seams. It shouldn't take long. But then I'll need to find a pillow form to fit.

Time To Let Go

I'm determined not to get to the point of being a subject on "Hoarders", so I've been using my stash to make my most recent quilts, and I'm getting around to letting go of some old quilting magazines.

I think 15+ years is a bit long to hold onto them, so I've saved a couple of patterns for inspiration and the rest will be recycled.

Miles and Miles of Binding

I haven't blogged for a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy on the quilting front. I finished three quilt tops and pieced backings for them, and now the bindings are ready as well. I like to prepare the bindings before I quilt my quilts, so as soon as the quilting is done, I can sew the binding on quickly and get the whole project finished.

Of course, I made bias striped binding...my favorite look.