W.I.P. Wednesday - Stars-N-Stripes

QOV Stars-N-Stripes #2

Hot off the ironing board is my latest Quilt of Valor top.  

I call this design "QOV Stars-N-Stripes".  I know it's not very original, but naming quilts has always been a struggle for me. 

QOV Stars-N-Stripes design

A couple of months ago I wanted to create a quilt that was fairly easy to make and this design was the result of my efforts.  

In the original design, I made blocks of blue stars on a white background and red, white, and blue stripes for the alternate blocks.  The borders are simple strips as well.  Once I made all the floating star blocks the rest of the top went together really quickly.  

QOV Stars-N-Stripes #1

Our local Quilts of Valor group has been working hard to meet the demand, so I made myself a goal of making one or two quilt tops per month. 

This month I used the same design, but switched up the fabric choices.  I added a small square of the flag fabric in the center of the stars and like how that turned out.  I'm not sure which quilt top I like best.

QOV Stars-N-Stripes #2 - corner

QOV Stars-N-Stripes #2 - middle

Thanks for stopping by.  I'd be interested to know which version of Stars-N-Stripes you prefer.  

Happy Quilting!

     ~Diane

  

Quilt of Valor - 8 Blocks On Point

Yesterday I was able to get my latest QOV quilt top completed.  Yeah! 

This top measures 56 1/2” x 80”. 

Two of the blocks in this quilt are the QOV 10th Anniversary Block.  If you are interested in making this block it can be found at HERE at qovf.org









I started with eight 9-inch finished blocks and added dark blue/navy strips to make the blocks measure 12-inch. 






The sashing is 4-inch wide with cornerstones that create stars at the intersections.









I made each setting triangle separately using three different fabric strips before cutting the triangles.  The corners are two triangles sewn together to form a larger one.  Getting the red strips to line up from triangle to triangle was a bit of a challenge for me.







This will be the last QOV quilt top I’ll be making for a while.  Next month I’ll be heading up to the lake for the summer and have other quilting projects planned for my time there.  In the meantime I’ll try to get more blocks cut and made before the next sew-in.

Thanks for stopping by.
I'm linked up with Patchwork Times and Free Motion by the River and Freshly Pieced.

WIP...QOV Eagle

A couple of days ago I posted my design wall progress on this quilt for Quilts of Valor.  Since then I was able to finish piecing the small red stars as begin sewing the blocks into rows.

My goal for today is to get the rows sewn together.  I'm not sure if I have enough blue fabric left to create the 6-inch borders as I planned so I may consider adding some red and white.

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.   

Happy Quilting,
    ~Diane

W.I.P. Wednesday - Baby Blocks

I have a couple of unfinished baby quilt tops that I've been working on.  This week I'm concentrating on getting the pieced border blocks completed for the scrappy Baby Blocks quilt.

Now that I have the block pieces cut and sewn together I can cut the background fabric.  These smaller blocks will measure 4" x 7" and surround the center Tumbling Blocks block I made for Craftsy.com.

Here is my quilt plan.  I created this in EQ7 so the colors do not match the actual blocks I have.

The final quilt will measure about 44" x 44".

Thanks for stopping by and visiting.  I'm linked up with W.I.P. Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

       Happy Quilting!
           ~Diane

WIP Wednesday

Before the end of the month I'm hoping to complete the applique flowers and leaves on the Craftsy BOM for September.  I chose to use the no-melt mylar for the templates and it's worked well so far.  After cutting out the fabric pieces I hand-stitched a gathering thread close to the raw edges.  I sprayed the piece with starch and then pulled the thread to ease the fabric around the edges of the template. 

I was thinking that this block will make a pretty sewing machine cover.

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to visit Freshly Pieced to see more awesome Works In Progress.

           Happy Quilting,

                       ~Diane

WIP Wednesday - Quilting "Bittersweet"

At the beginning of the year I set an ambitious goal for myself:  piece together a scrap quilt and a baby quilt each month.  The following month I plan to do the quilting on those two projects as well as piece another scrap quilt and baby quilt.  Whew!  Things are going good so far.

I've dedicated this week to doing the quilting on "Bittersweet" which was a mystery quilt that I made from a large variety of scrap fabrics.  I blogged about making this quilt here and here.  Besides selecting the fabrics for a quilt project I find it hard to decide on the stitching pattern to use.

Normally I use quilt basting spray to secure my quilt sandwich but I ran out so I simply used safety pins.  The pins tend to get in my way as I sew but I was deliberate in where I placed them.  Once that was done, it was off to the machine for stitching.  First step was to stitch in the ditch, outlining the basic 8-inch blocks and get those pins out.  I did leave the pins in place that secure the outer edges of the quilt.

The next step was to make a tracing template for the design I'm quilting in the "X" blocks.  Last year, during the SewCalGal FMQ2012 Challenge, expert quilter Don Linn taught us how to make a template using an embroidery hoop and fine mesh tulle fabric. This technique worked well for this stage of my project.

So, after about four hours of sewing I have completed the ditching and nine of the "X" blocks.  This is the first time I've ever kept track of my quilting time and I'm curious just how long it really takes me.

I have another eleven "X" blocks to go and then it's on to the 16-patch blocks.  At this point I still have no idea how I will quilt those blocks.  I'm open for suggestions if you have any.

I'm linked up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Thanks for visiting and Happy Quilting,
         ~Diane

WIP Wednesday - Feb 27, 2013

This week I'm working on completing this bricks & stones scrap quilt that I started years ago.  I had previously sewn together many of the blocks, but as I look at it now I see some fabric repeats that are placed a little too close to one another.  I'll be ripping out some seams as well as making more blocks.  At the moment, it measures 49" x 60" so I think I'll add enough to make it around 60" x 72".  The patches are 2-1/2" x 5" for the bricks and 2-1/2" x 2-3/4" for the stones.  I have a friend that runs a local homeless shelter, The Father's Heart Street Ministry, so when this quilt is done, I'll  probably donate it.

I'm linked up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  I encourage you to go check out the great projects happening this week.

A little fabric shopping................

I know that I'm trying to reduce my stash and make a huge dent in my scraps, but there are some fabrics that I really, really need.  I want to make several more baby quilts so I bought some flannels for the quilt backs.  I want to make a "modern" style quilt so I bought some grays.  I have a poor selection of greens so I bought some greens to round out my stash.

Like most quilters, the sight of fabric makes me drool.   Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by..................Happy Quilting

      ~Diane

WIP Wednesday–Feb 20, 2013

A couple of days ago I posted a pic of my design wall with Baby’s First Spring blocks.  After thinking about it for a while I decided that I really did want the quilt to finish at around 40” square instead of 44” square.  The small version will eliminate having to piece the backing.  I want to use a single cut of flannel.

So….back to the drawing board.  I discovered that I could change the size of the outer blocks and keep the interior quilt layout the same.  Fortunately I had enough leftover fabric to make new blocks.  In fact I may have enough to make yet another baby quilt if I incorporate the leftovers from the Purple Baby Trip quilt. 

Here’s the new, improved layout.




I’m linked up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Quilting,
     ~Diane

WIP Wednesday - Feb 13, 2013

The Grannie's Scraps quilt top is progressing.  I recently finished making all the square-in-a-square (aka diamond-in-a-square) blocks and have sewn them into strips for the border.  When I designed this quilt in EQ7, I had picked a forest green for the solid border strips, but when I went to pull the fabrics that I needed for this project I couldn't find any in my stash.  I did find two dark rose/burgundy fabrics so that's what I'll use.

My design wall is occupied so I laid out the borders and quilt interior on the pressing table to make sure the proportions and colors work.  Next step will be the cutting of the burgundy fabric and then attaching all three borders.

I'm holding off working on any other projects until this top is complete.  I know myself well enough that if I set it aside now, it could be weeks before I take the time to work on it again.  At this point, I just want to get it done so I can move on.  I have another quilt, the Log Cabin throw, that needs to be quilted this month and I figure it will take me at least a week to do that on my domestic machine.

I'm linked up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.
Thanks for stopping by.  Feel free to leave a comment.
         ~Diane

WIP Wednesday–Feb 06, 2013

Over the past few days I’m been working on my February Scrap Quilt.  The grannie square blocks, 20 in all, are done and the vertical sashing strips are in place.  Next step will be adding the horizontal sashing and cornerstones.  That should complete the piecing of the quilt interior.  Then on to the borders.
I also did a test of one of the square-in-a-square border blocks to ensure I’d get it the right size.  Interestingly I discovered that if I diagonally cut two background squares that are the same size as the center square and then I end up with a slightly oversized block which can be trimmed down.  That’s a lot easier for me.  In the past, I’ve cut the background triangles too small and ended up with a block that was slightly irregular.    

I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.  Be sure to check out what others are working on this week. 
Happy Quilting,
~Diane

Design Wall Monday–Feb 4, 2013

One of my 2013 goals is to make a scrap quilt each month.  With 13 blocks already made, I have a head start on this month’s Getting It Done goal.  These blocks have been sitting in my WIP basket for months and it’s time to make use of them.  

The other day I used EQ7 to design a quilt, “Grannie’s Scraps” for these squares. 
I decided on a 4 x 5 layout with sashing and corner stones so I need to make 7 more grannie square blocks.  One of the borders will be a strip of square-in-a-square blocks. 




Thanks for stopping by.  Please visit Patchwork Times for more links to design walls.
Happy Quilting,
     ~Diane