Moda Love Quilt Update

Look what came back from being quilted by Marie of Blueberry Hill Quilts in Chestermere, Alberta?

Moda Love Quilt - FOR SALE HERE

This baby! I just couldn't wait to see how it looked on a bed, so I threw it on our bed as soon as I could!

Moda Love Quilt - FOR SALE HERE

Marie is a genius in picking out quilting patterns and this one is just perfect for this quilt.

Moda Love Quilt - FOR SALE HERE

Every. Single. Time. I am blown away by the way a perfect quilting job turns a quilt from being just ok to being fabulous!

Moda Love Quilt - FOR SALE HERE

This one is backed with a pink print cotton backing. The binding and label are on and I'm just waiting for the weather to dry up a bit and then it will get a full on photo shoot. 

Moda Love Quilt - FOR SALE HERE

I've been seeing so many different color combos for this quilt pattern on Instagram and I know I will be making another one of these soon!

--Ann

Dogs and Buffalo Plaid

Since I purchased an embroidery machine a year and a half ago, I've been looking for projects that mix the beautiful designs available and the quilting that I love.

80188-Beloved Dogs by Kathleen Keil Hill

I know so many people whose dogs are an integral part of their families. When I saw this design package 80188-Beloved Dogs by Kathleen Keil Hill from Embroidery Online, I began to think about how I could incorporate these beautiful dog embroideries into a usable quilt.

 To begin with, I needed to make sure I had all the colours needed for the machine embroidery. I now have a really great selection of earthy brown and black shades for embroidery that I didn't have before.

The designer did a great job of finding shades that reflect the dog breeds and digitizing the stitches that show the details. I mean, look at those puppy dog eyes! 

I went through my stash collection of fabrics to find the perfect backdrop and didn't find what I was looking for. And then I found inspiration through my Instagram feed and found out there was such a thing as buffalo plaid Minky.

So this is the plan for now. Dog embroidery surrounded by a solid black frame on a red print background, quilted with a red buffalo plaid Minky backing. 

It will finish as a lap quilt, so perfect for throwing over the back of a sofa or chair, meant to be used often!

As I now have all the threads for making these designs and you have something else you might want them embroidered on, contact me and we can discuss! (magpiequilts(at)gmail(dot)com)

--Ann

Wild and Free Babies

Although most of my projects are made with my own fabric collection, sometimes I fall in love with an entire fabric line and buy pre-cuts.

That's what happened a while back in my local quilt shop "My Sewing Room". They had just put out an entire line of fabric from Moda called Wild and Free by Abi Hall. I was there to find something for another project and knew that this sweet fabric would be sold out by the time I had a project in mind. So I scooped up a jelly roll and 2 metres of the feathers on a blue background.

The fabrics have been on my shelf for a year or so and I've finally decided on the project. The prints are really cute and I didn't want to cut them too small or those details would disappear.

I decided on a square in a square block. It's pretty simple and straight forward. For each block, cut one 2.5" square of background (white) and two 2.5" squares and two 2.5"x6.5" rectangles of each fabric (prints) for each block.

With a jelly roll, you can get 2 blocks from each strip and a typical jelly roll contains 42 strips, so you can make 84 blocks. For this project, I split the blocks to make two quilts, one predominately blue and the other pink.

Each quilt has 42 blocks laid out 6x7 blocks. I've added a 3.5" border all around from the yardage I picked up at the same time as the jelly roll for the blue.

And on a recent road trip to check out some other Alberta quilt shops, I found some really cute Minky with arrow embossed on it at "Nut for Bolts Etc." They had a good selection of Minky and also a really good selection of modern fabrics, including Birch fabrics.

These will be finished soon and I can't wait to discover my next project!

--Ann

Hexagon Table Runners

A little over a year ago, my quilt guild had a workshop on making these hexagon table runners. 

Hexagon Table Runner

These are made from striped fabrics. This one is a beautiful red and silver gray print.

Hexagon Table Runner

I didn't take any in progress photos, but these runners aren't complicated to make. Fabric is cut in strips parallel to the stripes in the fabric. Then wedges are cut from those strips with a 60 degree ruler.

Hexagon Table Runner

You need 6 pieces from each strip with the identical placement of the strips.

Hexagon Table Runner

Then each set of 6 pieces is sewn together. 60 degree wedges of coordinating fabric are sewn to join the wedges together. Matching the stripe lines is not difficult and the end result looks like an advanced sewing technique.

Hexagon Table Runner

 I finished them with either 5 or 3 hexagons per runner as the odd number seems to just look better.

Hexagon Table Runner

Some fabrics are more interesting than others. This black, red and gray one above is pretty plain without the accent fabric wedge and borders.

Hexagon Table Runner

But this print gave me all kinds of interesting pieces. This one was a little more difficult than the previous two as each piece in these needed to be identical, not just lined up along the striped lines.

Hexagon Table Runner

All in all, these went together pretty fast and were pretty easy to quilt with lines that reflect the shape of the hexagons and the stripes.

Do you want more detailed instructions? I think I could make this into a tutorial if wanted?

--Ann

Libby's Log Cabin

I've had a 1/2 yard bundle of Edyta Sitar's Blue Sky fabrics (Andover) for a while now, just waiting for the right project. 

Blue Sky fabric bundle from Fat Quarter Shop

And this is the Libby's Log Cabin quilt I made a few years ago with a different bundle of fabrics. The pattern is from Fons and Porter and is easy to follow.

Libby's Log Cabin in pastels

Blue is my favourite colour and these blocks were so much fun to put together. I planned the placement of the strips more in this blue version than I did in the green and pink version which was more scrappy.

Libby's Log Cabin in Blue Sky fabrics

 As each block went on the design wall, the more I fell in love with this verion.

Libby's Log Cabin on the design wall

 This quilt top is now off to Marie of Blueberry Hill Quilt in Chestermere for quilting and I can't wait to see it all finished! Look for this one to be finished later this summer!

Libby's Log Cabin ready for quilting

I've been re-making some of my favourite patterns and it's fun to see how different they look depending on the fabrics chosen.

Libby's Log Cabin in pastels

Which one is your favourite? I am also thinking this might work great with scraps - would you like to see this one again?

--Ann

Rail Fence Quilt

A while back I had a stack of 5" charm squares from this great line of Xanadu Batik fabrics from Moda. I cut each charm square in half to make two pieces 2.5" x 5". 

 I then sewed them together in pairs and trimmed them to 4.5"x4.5".

 After arranging them on my design wall, I sewed them together into a couple table runners.

I quilted them with straight lines as shown and sold one from my Etsy shop and the other at a market just before Christmas. That person took her runner home and loved it so much she wanted a bed quilt made from the same fabrics.

 As this bundle of fabrics was discontinued, I had to do a little searching to find enough fabrics for a queen size quilt. Eventually I found a fat quarter bundle and a jelly roll from Sisters and Quilters on Etsy. Sandra was very kind to get me an actual shipping quote so I didn't have to overpay postage. Definitely worth it to ask if you see high postage rates for something you are interested in on Etsy.

 I kept the pattern similar to the table runners by going with a three strip rail fence block using 2.5" strips. Block size is 6.5" square unfinished. I used pretty much all of the jelly roll and most of the fat quarters. The leftovers have gone into my batik bin for future projects.

The binding is a blue batik from another fabric line. I was looking for something more in the green/browns, but it was hard to find something close. Sometimes I have to go with something different than I originally planned.

 This was a great project to start 2019 with and I'm already working on my next custom queen quilt and I'll post it in a few weeks.

--Ann

Small Quilts: New Techniques

If you've followed me for any length of time, you will know that I love to made small quilts in between my larger projects. I love small quilts for lots of reasons; they challenge my piecing ability, they don't take a lot of fabric, they are finished quickly, and they are great for trying out new techniques.

Square Table Runner

 I purchased my Brother embroidery machine, not just for the ability to embroidery some of the fabulous designs out there, but also to try to add some more advanced quilting designs to my smaller projects. This little quilt is just over 18" square. I scaled down one of my favourite 12" blocks, a friendship star and I substituted some four-patch squares for some plain squares.

Layout #1

Originally, I was going to make a longer skinny runner with the blocks, but after playing around with them on my design wall, I changed my mind and made it square.

Layout #2

If you don't have a design wall, use the floor or the top of a bed. Somewhere you can stand back and look at the overall effect of your arrangements. And be open to changing your design mid way through construction. Another way to look at your quilt is through a photo - take a quick snap shot with your phone and you'll see your quilts in a whole new light!

Quilting on the Embroidery Machine

After piecing the top and layering it with a backing and batting, it was time to quilt. I normally do free motion quilting on my Janome 8900 machine and don't leave a lot of extra batting or backing around the edges as it's not really needed. BUT if you are going to use your embroidery machine, you WILL need extra fabric to properly hoop your quilt. I missed this step and had to add some extra fabric all around, but it would have been much easier to have the extra fabric from the beginning.

Quilting on the Embroidery Machine

I picked a design I really liked from Embroidery Online #80185 (Geometric Quilting Motifs) and expanded it to fit my hoop. My squares were 6" finished and the quilting design on my embroidery machine was around 5.5" to fit my hoop size. Take care when hooping your quilt that it stays square within your hoop, don't stretch it out of shape. There's no need for stabilizer when quilting on an embroidery machine. You may want to machine baste with a long stitch to hold all the layers together (I used pins and removed them in the area I was working) plus a basting stitch around the edges of the quilt. I did not do this and had some issues with the quilt top and batting getting caught on the embroidery foot and flipping over, getting stitched down and having to do some un-sewing to fix it.

Quilting on the Embroidery Machine

Start with a new needle, preferrably an 80 or 90 embroidery needle. Put in a full bobbin and carefully thread your upper thread. My machine allows me to centre the design easily to the centre of the block and when it's all lined up and centred, I started stitching. I repeated the same design around the quilt, centred on each block and each four-patch in the sashing.

Friendship Star Quilt with Machine Embroidery Quilting

The design I picked left more unquilted space than I would have liked - next time I'll find a design that is more square than round. But overall, the process was straightforward and I liked the finished project.

Friendship Star Quilt with Machine Embroidery Quilting

All in all, this was a successful try at a new technique and the quilted table runner looks great!

--Ann

Selvedge Mug Rugs

I collect the selvedge from my bought fabrics so I can make these pretty mug rugs. Normally, this piece of the fabric ends up in the trash, but I will cut them off both sides of a piece of yardage. When fabric is pressed and squared and ready to be cut, I line up my ruler and cut about 1" off the edges. This gives me the white strip with the fabric details like designer, manufacturer and colors plus about 1/2" of the actual printed fabric. Some people prefer to sew and not see any of the fabric, but I like the pop of color that I get with this width.

Selvedge Mug Rug

These are simple, quilt as you go pieces. Cut your backing and batting about 1/2" larger all around than your desired finished size. Lay a single piece of selvedge from one corner to the opposite corner. Line up a second piece over the raw edge (the colorful fabric edge), overlapping about 1/4". Sew close to the selvedge edge of the second piece, through both fabrics, the batting and the backing. I use a white or off-white thread for almost all my selvedge piecing. Continue adding strips in this method right through to the corner.

Selvedge Mug Rug

On the other half, tuck the raw edge under the selvedge edge and stitch through all layers. Repeat until your batting is covered with strips of selvedge.

Selvedge Mug Rug with scrap binding

Trim your quilted piece to your desired finished size. I make mine 7"x9" and I can bind with a single strip of fabric cut the width of fabric. Or I will look through the left over pieces of binding from other projects to see if there is a piece or a few pieces that can be pieced together to make a binding.

Selvedge Mug Rugs

Super fun to make, these mug rugs make great gifts!

--Ann