I Heart T Quilt Top

I guess in official quilt blog lingo this quilt top is a Work in Progress as it isn't completed yet, but I think it could more appropriately be referred to as a Work Stalled, or a Work in the Stack. I finished the top in late January, but haven't done anything with it since. Until today, that is. I measured it for backing and binding. I will have to get some appropriate fabric and soon move it towards completion. It is a twin-sized quilt per usual. I pretty much like how it turned out (a few things I probably could have thought out more, that I think I will be able to judge better as I gain experience).

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I do love a lot of the fabrics. I know the colours are a little iffy, but I really think it looks quite perky and pretty. The T in the middle is for my daughter Tess.

Big Log Cabin = Log Castle

Seems logical enough right? If a small square made of fabric "logs" is a cabin, then a whole quilt made of big "logs" must be a Log Castle! Anyway, that's what I decided to call this quilt-in-progress: Eli's Log Castle. (Eli is my son.) It was super easy, fast and fun to make. Once I calculated that the freehand letters in the middle were the right proportions to end up with a twin-sized quilt after they were surrounded with border after border after border, I was off!

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My son helped me pick out the fabrics and although there are a couple in there I wouldn't have chosen myself, I think they work well. All the fabrics are patterned in some way or other; none are solids. The dark borders are a lively multi-coloured polka dot print. (A close-up of the fabrics is in my blog title header photo.)

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I think this may be a method I use again. I was fortunate my son's name just has three letters as it makes a perfect rectangle to start with, but for those with longer names, their three initials would be perfect to use instead!

Fun with Fussy Cutting

So maybe you've heard of Christmas in July ... well how about Halloween in March? No? Oh well. I recently got a great deal on a stack of Halloween fat quarters, so those, along with the few fabrics I had saved already, were enough to start the first of two I-Spy Halloween quilts (one for each child). I am planning on fussy cutting the center of each square. It is the first time I have done this and it is fun searching over the fabric for the perfect little thing to highlight.

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The blocks above are 8 inches square. Step one is to make a big pile of these squares, all different. Not sure about step two yet, but it will likely be more fussy cut pieces for sashing and borders. I want to make this as I-Spyish (also probably known as ridiculously busy) as possible!

Vitali-T !

Presenting: The Vitali-T Quilt

The "vitality" is a reference to the bright, adventurous colours, but it is also a good fit for the recipient of this quilt. The special T in this case is my daughter Tess. She is still only two, so this will have to wait for her big-girl bed, but I must say the lively fabrics suit her outgoing personality perfectly. I really love how the quilt turned out. I realise it is likely in the love it or hate it category of creations, and is not for everyone, but I think it is always better to go bold! ;-)

As to making it, I used my freestyle technique (ha, ha, I use that term sooooo loosely) of just making the Ts of various sizes with various borders and positions within the blocks. All blocks were then squared to 12.5 inches. I had most of the fabrics chosen when I started, but had to add some in as I went to make sure I had enough overall. I made the first 25 blocks without worrying too much about anything balancing as far as colours, size, fabric dispersion and position of the T within the block, but for the last 10, I looked at what I had so far and made the rest more purposefully, trying to come up a reasonable variety overall.

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The quilting was done by my local quilt shop (Thanks again Tina!) on a long-arm machine. It is done in a rich gold thread which is great with the fabrics.

So, lessons learned from this quilt: 1. I have to get better at estimating the amount of fabric needed before I start. 2. I should buy more than a 1/2 yard at a time of fabrics I really love. My favourite place to buy fabric is an hour and a half drive away, in another country (across the border in Maine) so there is no quick rushing out the door to easily purchase another little needed piece of most fabrics I have. 3. I have to be careful with the seam allowance on the binding. I cut the binding at 2 1/4 inches in width so I could get a nice snug fit which I love, but when I machine sewed it to the front of the quilt, my seam allowance was more than 1/4 inch, so it ended up being a very, very snug fit.
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Anyway, this was a really fun quilt to work on, and I am fortunate that T is probably one of the easiest letters to make. If my daughter's name had started with S or R or W or K or B or ... it would have been a different story. I am also lucky my son's name starts with E, another very easy letter, as guess what is up next? See that "E Log Castle" quilt in the list of "Quilts in Progress" on the sidebar? Right.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I am new to quilting, but I can already tell it is a great match as a hobby for me. I can totally understand how people get addicted to quilting as there are so many facets of it -- there is always something else to try! Below is my first completed quilt of 2010. I sent it to a local quilt shop to be quilted (Thank you Tina!) as my sewing machine and lack of practice with quilting just didn't make doing it myself a possibility (yet, that is, as I will be working to that goal).

Anyway, I call it: wait for it, wait, ta da "The Lighthouse Quilt" -- pretty creative eh? ;-) I thought I could go all fancy and call it "Pharology in Fabric," but please. (Pharology is the study of lighthouses). It is for my son who just turned five. We love lighthouses and have visited many in New Brunswick and Maine. I didn't use a pattern and just cut and sewed as I went. My son was my assistant, helping me choose fabrics. If I may say so, I am really happy with how it turned out!
It was a great learning experience as I was constantly thinking about what pieces to cut and sew in what order, knowing I could only sew straight lines. It is completely pieced with no applique. I made eight randomly-sized blocks with no idea of layout, then realised if I made a ninth block and played with some frames on the blocks, I could get a uniform shape to put a border on. It is a twin-sized quilt.
Red sky at night, sailor's delight!
Figuring out how to do the little triangles on the tops took a while.
Those slashes across the sky were meant to be more dramatically crooked. Now they just look like I sewed wrong ;-)

There is an all-red lighthouse shown in a calendar we have. It is in Quebec.

My son wanted one lighthouse out on a little island. I also love polka dots!

I love that fabric with the orange clouds.

My least favourite block.

Inspired by our favourite lighthouse: East Quoddy Lighthouse, Campobello Island, NB.

The first block I made. It was fun, so I kept going.

The binding is a funky lime green with wavy stripes that I had used to represent grass in some of the blocks. I put it on and even did the corners okay, after looking at countless online tutorials. However, being a newbie, I didn't know about a "binding stitch" and sewed it regular. Something to try next time!

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Thanks so much for stopping by!