Sendak's Dream

 Dear Readers,

I finished my third quilt this year!  This was another eye spy quilt for a coworker and his wife's first baby.  

If you follow this blog you know this is my go to baby quilt pattern.  I always use Pat Yamin's templates to make this quilt.  Click here if you want them.   Despite having made it a bunch of times I got things twisted up a bit this time.  I offset the top of the quilt one way and the bottom of the quilt a different was when I was joining up the rows.  So after I un-sewed the rows,  I started again and put it back together.  I used the scrabble tiles again, but this time I cut them a bit smaller as it was so hard to keep exactly the same blue border  I think it was much nicer and a cleaner look.  

So the back is pretty wild...

I am trying to use up fabric that I most likely won't use somewhere else.  So I found a stack of blocks that were to be used in a Bonnie Hunter quilt and I changed up how I was making it so they were left over.  Since I didn't have a big enough piece of purple or lavender for the back I used that to separate the other pieces that I would use to form the other side.  

Since there were lots of animals on the front it made me think of  the Maurice Sendak book "Where the Wild Things Are". So Will helped me come up with the name Sendak's Dream.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter and will use this time to rejoice in the salvation that His death provided.  

Terry

Luminous

 Dear Readers,

I have my first finish of 2021!  It is another eye-spy quilt.  I know those are fairly simple, but I like how you get a different look depending on the theme and the setting color.  This one was for the a coworker at Winona High School who is about to have a baby.  I talked the her mother, and she said they like Alabama, Delta State, all sports, dogs and domesticated animals. Her husband is an Army vet and a police officer.   I also know that she likes flowers as those are the prints she has hung in her office.   Well, no one makes Delta State fabric, but I think I did incorporate lots of things that they love.

I picked a medium soft yellow for the border and the setting triangles.  I also found some Scrabble tile fabric and worked out how to put in her name.  With the yellow background I was trying to find a way to work in light or Sunshine into the name.  Will came up with Luminous.  

And as a stash buster, I am getting older prints and putting them together for backs.

We are in the middle of a winter storm here in Mississippi.  We are out of school but working from home for the day....and I would not be surprised if it was for the next few days.  I know a lot of the country is going through the same weather system. Stay safe out there.  

Sew on,

Terry

A few more eye spy quilts

 Hey all,

Long time no post.  When the quarantine shut down started I has on my computer sooo much during the day, that I did not want to look at it at night.  I still kept sewing and made three eye spy quilts for some special people.  

The first was for young guy that loves airplanes.  I used a topographical map fabric for the background and an old world map fabric on the back.  I piece the name with the letters by From Blank Pages and of course it is the same 5 inch diameter hexagon by Come Quilt With Me.  I didn't have enough airplanes for the whole quilt, so I put other types of transportation and called it The Travelor.  

The second was for his brother who likes science and math!  A guy after my heart. The background on this is circuit boards and the back is math fabric.  I quilted this with sine waves.  Called this one STEMulating Pursuits.

The third one was made for a dear friends grandson.  This was named Observations and was also heavy into science and math.  I used a navy for the back and a cool striped fabric for the binding.

Those are not the only quilts I have done this year, but I will try to update more later.  

Sew on...

Terry

Gamut

Dear Readers,

Finished another eye spy quilt.  This one had a Star Wars theme.  I started pulling the blocks for a step child of my nephew named Anakin.  So I pulled army fabric, navy fabric, Star Wars and construction fabric.  Sadly that relationship ended when I was putting the quilt together.  A dear friend said her grandson was a big Star Wars fan and her husband had served in the army, and her dad was in the navy so there was that connection, I added a few blocks that represented their family and quilted it on my innova.  I struggled a bit with this pattern as I don't really have the strength in my left arm after my dislocation.  It is better but not 100% yet.  Will and I named this one "Gamut".  I wanted to name it Heroes, but Will said I had too many Star Wars villains on it to call it that.  I did measure it, but I don't know where those measurements are now.

Every one have a Merry Christmas and very blessed New Year.

Terry

"Gamut" Front

Back

Animal Kingdom

Dear Readers,

I just finished another eye spy quilt.  Using the templates by Come Quilt With Me, in the 5 in diameter Hexagon and a lot of animal prints!  I used blue for the setting triangles on this one.  This one is 55 x 68.  I also quilted this on my new innova.

I have been trying to piece some of my backs out of scraps...most have come out ok, but this one got a bit wild.  I will try to keep it better in the future.

This quilt is going to a child of a friend of Celeste.

Sew long.

Eye Spy in Red

Dear Readers,

My first finish of 2018 was this eye spy in red.  I use Pat Yamin's Come Quilt with me Templates for her larger eye spy blocks.  Here is a link to her page.   I made it for my neighbor John Henry who walks with me.  I had hoped to finish it by Christmas, but with working so close to Christmas Day I couldn't get it done.  So once I had finished it, I took it over to their house and the kiddos were not home!  They were off to the movies with their grandmother.  So I left the two quilts with the parents.  When they got home they came over to thank me.  They were so appreciative and sweet. John Henry was so pleased, he had already picked his favorite blocks.  It was touching to watch how he folded it ever so carefully.  This quilt came out to be 61 x 47 so a nice sized throw for a little boy and he can use it for a throw for quite some time before he out grows it.  I mostly chose camping, sports and animal prints for John Henry.  I forgot to photograph the back, but it is a navy blue fabric.

On to the next UFO!!

Sew long, it is back to work tomorrow if the weather doesn't keep us out of school.

Terry

Squirts and an eye spy

Dear Readers,

I made a quilt this summer that I have not written about yet.  I was on my fabulous road trip with Celeste when I asked Sue what fabrics Steve and Sally, her son and daughter in law, were using in their nursery.  I had the thought of making an eye spy quilt for their nursery.  So I wanted to find things that were in her theme for the eye spy blocks.  She had chosen some soft grey fabrics and one print with elephants on it.  Well on our trip, Celeste and I ran across a shop hop in the Salt Lake City.  So on the shop hop we saw a quilt made up called Elephant Abstractions by Violet Craft.  Click here to visit her website. On a whim, I sent a photo to Sue, and Celeste and I bought the pattern.

I had been collecting grey fabrics to make a mountain quilt for Celeste over the last few months and I had already cut out the blocks for that quilt.  So when I got home, I put out the fabrics and found some to use for the elephant.  There were some that I wanted to use, that I didn't have enough fabric.  The pattern showed a yellow background, but Sue did not think that would work with their color scheme.  So I layed out various options I had in my stash and we picked the bright blue.

 When I got home, before I could start the elephant I needed to finish the eye spy for my co-workers first grand baby.  Once I finished that I started piecing the elephant.  There are 97 paper pieced sections int the elephant.  And it is built in 6 sections.  So I started with section one and tried to get a section done in 1 or two days.

 The trunk was section one...

Section two was an ear

Section three was the bottom of the left

Then the top right.

Then the bottom right

Lastly the feet had to be done.

Violet Craft did not have a border on her quilt, but I decided with all those bias edges, to put a 2 inch border made of the background fabric on the quilt.  I did not want it to get wavy, and it was laying pretty flat upon completion.

My original plan was to make a two sided quilt, eye spy on one side and the elephant on the other...but as I pieced it I decided I really would want to custom quilt that elephant.  So I texted Sue and suggested we do it as two quilts...So when we were on our crafting week at her sisters, I quilted this elephant and made the eye spy quilt.   I used the quilting in the quilt I saw in Utah for inspiration.  It did seem to get a little wavy with the quilting.  I quilted it on my Bernina 350.  If we had had more time, I would have blocked it.  We named the elephant quilt "Squirts"  I hope they love it, I had a great time making it, and it was a big stretch to do those large paper piecing and some of the quilting patterns were things I hadn't done before.  My only regret was we didn't have time to block it.  

 So this is what the eye spy quilt made with Come Quilt With Me templates came out looking like....
Click here if you want one.

I quilted this by stitching in the ditch and putting a meandering stars in the border.  I also wrote his name in the quilting...I really do like to write with the free motion quilting.  It is like leaving a hidden message.

Enjoy Vance Harmon!!

Terry

An I Spy Quilt

Dear Readers,

Despite all the projects I wrote about last post, I took time out to do a special I spy quilt.  There is a little boy in our community and a member of my church that has Mitochondrial disease.  His name is Judson and his story has touched my heart so I made him a quilt.

Several years ago I bought some of Pat Yamin's Come Quilt With Me templates for eye spy quilts.   I purchased the 5 in diameter hex that comes with the hexagon template and the setting triangle.  I also purchased the smaller size, but I used the 5 inch size for this quilt.

I have a large collection of novelty prints and some were already cut into hexies.   I had also picked up a number of other prints this summer when I was out in Colorado.  So I spent a night or two cutting them into hexies.  I talked to Judson's pre school teacher to find out what his favorite color was and what he liked.  She told me super heroes and black!  I was so surprised about the black.  I had thought I would use a red for the star points, but I decided to change them to black.   I machine quilted the quilt on my Juki.  Just stitching in the ditch on all the seams.  The back was spiderman fabric with red on either side.  I did not write down the finished measurements but I think it is about 55 by 77.

I got the sweetest note from Judson's mom, Raven, and she sent me these photos of Judson with his quilt.  I am so happy he likes it.  

 I have also recently taken a trip to Colorado...I will write about that another day, but it was a fabulous visit.

I am behind in grading...ugh.  I will be working on that till I am caught back up, then on to the other projects on the table.

Sew on.

Terry