Quick little tip

I was cleaning my sewing space today and came across these little bits of paper ~

so I thought I'd share a little tip.  I was in the process of putting my Puddle Jumping top together ~ all the blocks were finished and I had to decide what order I wanted them in the finished quilt.   Unfortunately, my design wall wasn't big enough to hold a quilt that big (75" x 75") and I didn't want to lay them out on the floor.

My solution?  I took photos of the blocks and printed them out on paper, then proceeded to cut out all the blocks.   That enabled me to lay them out and move them around until I was happy with the order they were in.  Let me tell you, it was SO much easier moving 2-inch pieces of paper around than 15-inch blocks of fabric!  Once I was happy with the layout, I took a photo of them all together like the one below.

Easy peasy!  In case you hadn't seen it before, here's the finished quilt.

Next on the agenda

I know I have one more daughter quilt to make, but daughter #3 and I still have some decisions to make on that one.  But here are the fabrics we've picked so far (maybe) ~ all Cotton+Steel!

  So, in the meantime I've been cutting up pieces of Horizon by Kate Spain for another project!

I belong to another quilt group that picks one quilt a year, and each of us makes our own version of the same quilt.  This year they picked the Log Cabin Sparkle pattern out of a book called New Ways with Jelly Rolls: 12 Reversible Modern Jelly Roll Quilts by Pat and Nicky Lintott.  

So here's my work in progress for this week!

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!

2015 Finish-Along ~ Second Quarter ~ Finish #3

I think this may be the fastest I've ever finished a quilt this size ~ three weeks from start to finish!  I was motivated by the end of this quarter and our upcoming trip to Michigan.  This is the quilt for daughter #2, Sara, whose oldest son is a Marine currently serving in Japan.  

My inspiration was a quilt designed by Tish Douglas in Electric Quilt (which I don't have), so I had to figure out what size to make all the blocks to get it to a nice lap size.  I guess I still have some math skills left!  I only added one border instead of three ~ I like things a little more simple, I guess.  :)

Inspiration by Tish Douglas

A lot of the fabrics I used were from Because of the Brave, a collection from Moda.  I thought that would be appropriate for this quilt!

I quilted the stripes with multiple straight lines that follow the chevrons.  The star section was quilted in diagonal wavy lines.  I finished the border with just one straight line 1/4" inside the edge.

I added a star and a couple of chevrons on the back and incorporated the label in that big block.  I love the way the quilting looks on the back.

The finished quilt is 68" x 50" and it's finish #3 for this second Finish-Along quarter!

Linking up with Lorna and Adrienne!

Sneak peek

Working on daughter quilt #2 ~ here's a peek!

OK - here's another peek :)  Hoping to finish this one this week!

Linking up with Lee and Lorna.

2015 Finish-Along ~ Second Finish for the 2nd Quarter

I'm happy to say that the first of my daughters' quilts is finished!  This one is for my youngest, Kelli ~ together we decided on the pattern called Puddle Jumping and she picked yellow and grey for the colors.  We found Modern Folkloric and thought it would be perfect for this design ~ great choice I think!

I have to say, this is the biggest quilt I've tackled so far ~ 75" x 75".  Kind of scary to quilt on my little Babylock Grace, but I did it!  With my trusty walking foot doing all the double straight-line stitching ~ and an extra table to hold up the quilt.

I'm not sure if you can see the backing, but it's covered in little chalk drawings of mason jars.  Did I mention Kelli lives on a farm?  So she does a lot of canning and I thought the mason jar fabric was perfect!  

Here's a little closeup of the quilting ~ lots of straight lines around and through the blocks.

I'm so happy that Lori Holt came up with this gorgeous barn block ~ with a sunflower block that was similar to the big blocks on the front!

Binding in gold (I hate to say it but I forgot which fabric this is!).

The back, in all it's simple glory.  :)  Can't wait to see how Kelli likes it!
I'm happy to say this is Finish #2 for this Finish-Along quarter! 

Linking up with Sarah!