Jean Circle Quilt

This pattern is a fav of mine and as my pile of worn out jeans piled up, I put aside a layer cake bundle (10' squares from the same fabric line) to use as the centers. 

There's a bunch of tutorials and patterns online, but I used the pattern Forever in Blue Jeans by Fons and Porter available at Quilting  Daily. I often get asked about the dimensions for this quilt, but I encourage quilters to purchase the pattern from the designer. 

I decided to sew the cotton fabric, batting and jeans together with an X before sewing the jean circles together as I had some minor issues with the last quilt I made like this with fabrics and batting shifting. This really helped hold things together and made for a better quilt in the end.

This time, I sewed down the curved flaps as I went instead of waiting until the entire quilt was done. Jena quilts are quite bulky and hard to manage at the sewing machine, so this saved the really tough seams until the very end.

And ta-da! All finished! Because I used the same brand/style of jeans, this quilt has a much more uniform look than the previous jean quilts I've made. Here are the previous jean circle quilts I've made. 

This one with earthy toned homespuns.

And this one in bright colors! These are great quilts for in the car and to take along on picnics or camping. They are sturdy and durable and wash up well. The raw jean edges fray a little more with every wash, giving the quilt a warm comfortable look.

I'm already collecting jeans for the next one!

--Ann

Attic Windows #2

One of my friends lost her husband a couple years ago and was overwhelmed by the floral arrangements she received in the days following. She did have the presence of mind to take photos and make a plan to somehow incorporate them into a quilt.

After seeing my granddaughter's quilt (see previous post), we decided to go with the same attic window design. We went back and forth with a few choices for the attic window frames and for the fabric for the borders and backing.

I fixed the issue I was having with the cat photos and the white borders and printed all the photos she gave me. I had a few left after putting together the front and I used them on the back as part of the backing.

This quilt was custom quilted by Christine Tessier in Okotoks and I love how the quilting echoes the attic windows. The quilt was finished with a hanging sleeve and now my friend has it hanging where she can see it daily. 

--Ann

PS I apologize for the fuzzy and dull photos. I don't always remember to clean my cell phone camera lens before photos - this quilt is far more vibrant and vivid than it appears here.

Attic Windows Quilt #1

I have a tradition with my grandkids that sometime in the year that they turn ten years old, they come and spend a few days with me and we create a quilt together. I love to spend time with each of them one on one and they get to learn what goes into making a quilt. 

The granddaughter who made this quilt is a cat lover and she wanted a quilt with pictures of cats on it. So she collected cat photos that she liked from all over and then we printed them on printable fabric.

Then, we selected the bright pink fabric for the sashing and borders and the two shades of blue for making the attic windows. I did regret that the cat pictures had so much white showing but every quilt has something that I learn from.

The best part of this quilt pattern was that she was able to do most of the sewing herself. She was able to keep herself motivated and in the few days she was here, we finished all but the borders.

We chose a soft white Minky backing and sent it off to be quilted by Marie of Blueberry Hill Quilts in High River, Alberta.

As you can see, she's loving curling up with it and it's become her fav blanket! 

---Ann

String Quilt

I love scrappy quilts. You know, the ones that have all kinds of fabrics thrown together and somehow, miraculously, look as though the color and fabric placements were planned and meant to be. It takes a leap of faith to just pull fabrics out of a bin and put them next to each other. Some quilters just can't make that leap - and that's perfectly ok! 

This first quilt is one I made several years ago as a charity quilt with my quilt guild. The white strips were but at 1.5" and the only requirement for the additional strips was bright colors. Some of these blocks were made by me from my own fabric stash and the rest were made by others in the guild. 

I've been saving my strips for a while and had a bin full of left over strips of binding. I saw an idea about using dryer sheets as a foundation for making these strip blocks, so I saved my used dryer sheets. 

The dryer sheets are about 6"x9", so I figured a grid of 10 blocks by 9 blocks would make a good sized lap quilt and a grid of 11 by 10 blocks would make a good sized twin quilt and set off to see how many blocks I could make with the strips I had on hand and before I was tired of making them!

The white strips in this version were cut at 1" wide, making a very narrow 1/2" white strip diagonally across the center of each block. I just eye balled it from one corner of the dryer sheet to the other. The colored strips were cut in a variety of sizes from 1" wide to 2.25" wide. 

I didn't think too much about placement of fabrics other than to not put the same color next to each other and because I had a lot of green strips, to try to have at least one or two strips of green in each block. There's everything in this quilt from bright fabrics to solids to Christmas, to whatever I've sewn in the past many years. 

My strips bin is almost empty and I'm on the last couple rows of a lap size quilt. Even though I would love this to be twin sized, I'm ok with it only being a lap quilt. I've got a couple choices for a backing and the next time you see this, it will be ready for quilting. 

What do you think? Are you a scrappy quilt lover? Can you sew randomly, without matching or coordinating colors? 

--Ann

A Trio of Black and Tan Table Runners

A number of years ago, I made a quilt with a Paris theme and had quite a few pieces of fabric left when that quilt was completed. All those fabrics went into a plastic baggy and into the abyss that is my walk in closet in my sewing room!

I managed to piece together a few star blocks into this star table runner - pretty and very neutral colored!

And then, there were a few blocks left over from that original quilt that I added a few more blocks to to make a second quilted table runner.

And finally, a bit larger of a star runner with some different fabric choices for sashing and borders. I never know how many things I can make from a selection of fabrics with just the addition of a couple pieces that I already have on hand. 

And again, the rule of three blocks for a table runner is still a good one. These three found a new home fairly quickly, but as always, I am happy to make these in fabrics that are just right for your home & table. Message me through my Etsy shop Magpie Quilts

--Ann

Double Star Table Runner

Sometimes I have fabrics left from other projects and this lovely blue and red print was one of those. 

A set of three 12" quilt blocks with sashing and borders is always a good choice for a table runner. I made the small stars with red points and the rest of the block with the beautiful print.

I found a light tan for the background and a turquoise blue dot for the binding and the result looks like I purposely bought the fabrics together. 

Quilting is a simple stitch in the ditch (which is just quilting along the seam lines in the block design).

I'm hoping to make more table runners just from fabrics I already have - stay tuned for more!

--Ann

PS - This table runner is sold but to see what I currently have in stock check out my Etsy shop here: Magpie Quilts and if I don't have what you are looking for, send me a message there.