Purple & Green Baby Quilt

One of my dear friends is having a baby next month, so of course I just HAD to make her a baby quilt. She's having a baby girl and is decorating using purples and greens. Don't you love when someone tells you what colors they're using? It makes it easy to pick out fabrics, although sometimes I enjoy coming up with my own fabric combinations.

Her baby shower was this past weekend, so I was able to give her this baby quilt in person. I was so happy that it was still well received and everyone, including mom and dad, loved the quilt.

I had a fat quarter bundle already with a bunch of greens, purples and blues, so I went with it. I cut 3 1/2" strips and cut a bunch of triangles using my Hex N More ruler. I did add a couple of additional fabrics, because I can't just leave something as is!

I pieced the top while at retreat and machine quilted it there on my domestic. I haven't quilted on my domestic in a little while, but it was fun. Heck, quilting anything is fun.

I backed it in a fun print I got at Marden's last year at retreat. I think it's a Michael Miller fabric. I bound it in a purple print I got at Marden's this year. I totally forgot to bring a binding fabric with me to retreat, so I'm glad I bought something that magically worked.

I can't wait to meet the baby, and I hope this quilt is loved. I stressed to the mom that when I give a quilt, it's meant to be loved and used. I even gave her a card that said to use the quilt and wash it as needed. I'd love to make another quilt for the baby because it was loved so much! That's the best feeling in the world for a quilter, wouldn't you agree? 

Blogger Quilt Festival: Mod Hex 2

This time around we can enter two quilts into the Blogger Quilt Festival. I already shared my Pinwheel Party Quilt with you - my entry in the mini/doll quilt category. I'd also like to share with you my Mod Hex 2 quilt - my entry into the wall quilt category. I struggled with what category to enter this in, but because it's really too small to be a lap quilt and is too big to be a mini, the wall quilt category it is!

I started making this quilt as a class sampler. You see, I was asked to teach a modern hexagon class at a local quilt shop - Quilter's Way. I wanted something fun and easy, so I designed this sashed rainbow quilt (below) using the Hex N More Ruler.

Wanting to show that you could have a totally different effect by changing the sashing, I made Mod Hex 2 more scrappy, using a fat quarter bundle from Fat Quarter Shop. This was a Blogger Choice Fat Quarter Bundle pulled together by Elizabeth Hartman late last year.

The colors for this quilt are out of my comfort zone. I tend to shy away from earth tones, but there's something about these fabrics that really speak to me.

This quilt went together relatively quick and was easy to piece. I would be willing to bet that it took just as much time to quilt the top as it did to actually piece it.

One of the hardest things for me was picking a binding. I knew all along that I wanted to quilt this particular quilt in a concentric circle pattern, so that was easy. It just took some time. With concentric circle quilting, the center goes quick, but once you start to get further and further out, it can take a little while. Back to the binding... I was determined to use a fabric from my stash, but because these colors aren't ones that I typically work with, I struggled. I pulled fabric after fabric, but none of them seemed to work. Then, after about two weeks, I remembered I had some FMF in my stash and dug that out to find that this brown print went perfect with the quilt.

This quilt was made entirely out of fabric from my stash. I received the fat quarter bundle as a gift for Christmas last year. I used an off white solid for the background, and an old print from my stash for the backing. I quilted it on my Bernina 440 using So Fine! #50 #402 - Pearl, so it really blends in nice to the background.

This one finishes at 46" square!

Mod Hex 2 - Finished

Last week I put the finishing touches on my Mod Hex 2 quilt. Before work this week I swung by a local park and snagged some great pictures of this quilt. I love how the early morning light hits the quilt in some of these pictures.

I made this quilt using the Hex N More ruler for a class I taught at Quilter's Way.

This picture really shows the true colors of the fabrics. I love the lighting here.

I made this quilt using a Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle from the Fat Quarter Shop put together by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson!  I added a solid off white fabric from my stash for the background.

After much debate, I ended up binding this quilt using the perfect Flea Market Fancy print. When I finally pulled this print from my stash, I couldn't believe I didn't think of it sooner. I was determined to use a print from my stash, and because these aren't my normal colors, I was struggling with it. Once I pulled this print, I knew it was meant to be.

As you can see in a bunch of these pictures, I used one of my new favorite quilting designs - a spiraling circle. I used my walking foot to maintain even spacing. I drew a small circle in the middle and just moved out from there. This quilt finishes at around 46" square.

I'm really happy with how this turned out and I'm even more happy to have it finished! 

Finish Friday: Modern Hexagon Quilt

This week I put the finishing touches on my Modern Hexagon quilt.  The quilting took a while, but I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It's one of my favorite quilts right now, but that's often the case when I finish a labor of love.

I used the Hex N More ruler to make the quilt top.

I echo quilted in the grey, at varying widths in the center and 1/4" apart on the outside.  Why I quilted 1/4" apart on the biggest part of the quilt, I'm not sure.  Sometimes I get ideas in my head and don't really think them through.  This was one of them.  It probably took me a good 15 hours to quilt this quilt over several weeks.

The back looks awesome and almost as good as the front.  I love how the hexagons stand out and you can see the rainbow effect from the different color threads in each hexagon.

I stitched in the ditch around the hexagons and did some dense quilting to highlight the hexagons.  The way it's quilted makes it look like the hexagons are made of six pieces of fabric when in fact they are just two pieces (for the colored parts that is).

The quilt finishes at 40" square.  I used various So Fine! and Aurifil threads for the quilting.  The solids are Kona cottons - white and Iron.  The prints are from various lines including Simply Color, Quilt Blocks, Cuzco, Good Fortune and more.

I will be teaching this quilt and the technique I used at Quilter's Way in Acton sometime soon.  I'll let everyone know when we have set a date for the class. 

WIP Wednesday: Modern Hexagon Quilt

Earlier this month, the owner of Quilter's Way asked me if I would teach a modern hexagon quilt class.  She said I could do whatever I wanted in terms of technique.  I toyed with a few ideas, but decided to go with a large hexagon quilt made using Jaybird's Hex N More ruler.

This is what I came up with.  I was inspired by several quilts out there on Flickr and combined several ideas to come up with this quilt.  It measures about 40" square. 

Clearly I needed to iron this before I took these pictures, but you get the idea. I used a variety of prints from various lines including Simply Color, Cuzco, Good Fortune, Quilt Blocks and more. 

I'm trying to decide how I want to quilt this now.  Do I do concentric circles or a spiraling circle? Do I echo the hexagon pattern? Decisions, decisions, decision... My goal is to have this quilted soon.