Oh Christmas Tree {Quilt}

"Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas tree...how lovely are your branches...."

Button haaaad to get in this quilt photo.  He thinks  I make them just for him to pose in front of!

After finishing Home for the Holidays Quilt, I still had significant leftovers of the Odds and Ends Fabric.I enjoyed the pattern and noticed that hubby liked the quilt so much that I decided it just made sense to make another one.

The leftover scraps were not large enough to be the same size and I decided on a 7X8" block. I saw a few staggered layouts on Instagram and really liked the smaller blocks in that arrangement.

I used a few rectangles to offset every other row.

Originally, when I had pulled all the fabric, I remembered some leftover Moda yardage scraps my friend Jen, from Knotted Threads, had sent me quite a few years ago when I was making custom baby quilts for Butterfly Kisses.  They came around the same time as the Moda Odds and Ends and really married well.

I had some leftover blocks that didn't make the cut for the top because they were just too small.  I decided to piece them together with small sashing in between the yardage strips along with another old backing scrap.

Unlike the larger block quilt, I felt that the smaller blocks looked more patchwork and custom quilting would get lost, so I decided on a wavy quilting.

The large dot fabric was probably the wrong scale for the binding, but I liked how they landed randomly on the edge. 

 I love that I was able to make a quilt that will make me remember that my parents have their own on their wall during the holidays.

Quilt Stats:

Measures:  46" x 54"

Pattern: Modern Patchwork Trees by Amy Smart (@diaryofaquilter)

Fabrics: Odds and Ends by Cosmocricket for Moda Fabrics, 

Vintage by Bonnie & Camille for Moda Fabrics

Quilted: Wavy free motion on Handiquilter Avante Longarm

And to round things out?  I still have enough fabric to make a third lap quilt.  Stay tuned!!!

Home for the Holidays {Quilt}

"There is no place like home for the holidays."

This past Christmas, I was really striving to avoid the Great Gift Card Exchange both sides of our families seem to have created.  I don't mind a gift card, but I really wanted to do something "different".  However, my largest problem was that I was stuck. Mentally blocked. I could not think of a single thing to make or buy my parents for a gift.

Here I was on Christmas Eve morning, packing for our trip across the country the next day  and preparing for Santa's arrival and I didn't know what I was going to do.

I glanced over at my design board in my Ms. Claus workshops, as I finished wrapping a few more of Santa's gift and the quilt blocks that Buddy the Elf (elf on the shelf) had made a few nights before.

Amy Smart's Modern Tree block glared at me.  I recalled how quick I had made the two blocks and my brain fired off "Home for the Holidays" and I knew I wanted to make a quilt for my parents to commemorate this year.  My sister was traveling from Kansas with my nephews and my grandparents were going to be shuttled from North Carolina and we were flying in from Salt Lake City on Christmas Day to Virginia.  It has been many, many years since we were all together for Christmas.

The next challenge was the fabric.  My mom has a very "muted"  decorating style and Christmas is no different.  

Her tree is covered in white lights and crystal ornaments.  No color.

I had a layer cake with all the solid fabrics in her family room colors and I didn't love it.  I think I did about five fabric pulls from my stash that were all rejected.  I finally visited my fabric bundles and took a hard look.

Odds and Ends by Moda Fabrics kept drawing my eye. I'm actually proud of the fact that I had zero fear just ripping the bundle apart to take a good look.  In between laundry, packing, and making Christmas Eve dinner, I mapped out my quilt plan.  Amy's tutorial uses 7x9" blocks and I knew I needed bigger to be quicker. I settled on a 10x 11.5" block.  I started by cutting 11x12" blocks.

It made a nice lap size of 49 x 60" with a five by five layout configuration.

After all the bags were lined up at the door, kids sent to bed, the house tidied up, and Santa's packages all settled under the tree and stockings stuffed...I began to press, cut and piece the top.  At 10:30pm.

As the snow fell outside and the plows came by, I finished the last seam at 2:15am.

I didn't have a complete quilt, but I was happy to have at least a top to present them when we arrived.  It was well received and my mom requested I make it a wall hanging quilt.

I brought it home and instantly debated about the backing.

Since I knew it was going to be a wall hanging and I had a leftover block, I decided on a pieced backing,

For the quilting, I went with alternating wavy and swirl backgrounds and did the same "garland" swoops on the trees.

I used double batting because I wanted the quilting to be able to be seen from afar while hanging on her wall.

I do love how the quilting showed up on the backing also.

I pulled the green dotted binding from my stash!

Added an embroidered quilt label to commemorate the special occasion.

Quilt Stats:

Measures: 46" x 54"

Pattern: Holiday Patchwork Forest by Amy Smart at Diary of a Quilter

Fabric: Odds & Ends by Comstock for Moda Fabrics

Quilted: Freemotion quilting on HQ Avante

My only regret is that I had to take pictures on a weird winter day.  The sun was setting and it really gave this quilt a muddy hue.  But Christmas seems so far away and I didn't want to wait one more second before shipping off to them.

Oh....and I forgot to mention...I have a second quilt for our home with the leftovers...

I'm calling it the Oh Christmas Tree Quilt.

Baby Rodeo Star {Quilt}

If you have been following me for awhile, you probably have noticed that I've been on a serious mission to sew my stash only. But every once in awhile, I get asked to use a new line and I can't resist saying no when sites like Fat Quarter Shop ask me to use fabric to make one of their patterns. 

Sometimes, the patterns don't use up all the fabric and it just gets tossed on my shelf.

But this year? I've been trying to use leftovers to make something.
Another quilt, a pillow cover. You name it.
But my ultimate goal to use it right away if I can so it doesn't clutter up my shelves.


Enter in, my Baby Star quilt. I had some leftover fabric from the two Rodeo Rider quilts.

A giant star occurred to me. I also found a great tutorial from Amy Smart at Diary of a Quilter if you need one!

If I had my choice I would have it bright, but sometimes the not so bright scraps are all you have to work with.It came together very quickly and I quilted it the same time as the other two.
Since the fabrics weren't very bright, I chose some leftover pale pink minky dot for the back.

For baby quilts, I like to keep the quilting simple.  I just adore the paisley binding.

Quilt Stats: 
Measures: 36" square
Pattern: Adapted from Baby Star by Amy Smart at Diary of A Quilter
Fabrics: Rodeo Rider by Riley Blake, Brown and Pink Dots by Riley Blake, Pink dot cuddle by Shannon Fabrics
Thread: Omnithread White Natural by Superior Threads
Quilted: Freemotion on HQ Avante

The best part is that I had put this away for a few months, maybe hoping to sell it.
But then a special occasion came up and I was able to gift to a friend that was headed from Texas (ahhhh rodeo country!!!!) to the West Coast to see her first grand baby, a girl.

 The only regret I have is that I didn't find the time to embroider her name on it.