Pay It Forward 2012 Complete!

At the beginning of the year I came across a post on facebook that said something along the lines of, the first 5 people to post under this status will get sometihing handmade by me as part of Pay It Forward 2012. Well, I got 4 of those done super early in the year. I made mini quilts to help me practice quilting techniques. Just to recap, here are those projects:

Mini Quilt - Given to my mother in law, Laurie

Valentine's Day Wall Hanging - Given to my sister, Brianne

Mini Quilt - Given to my friend, Bobbie

Reverse Applique Mini Quilt - Given to my friend, Brandy

For the fifth project, I knew that I wanted to make a quilt, but life got to me, and then I was hesitant because the person who signed up was a guy. A guys guy. What could I possibly make him??? Because we all know I can't cook/bake. Then the other day we made plans to have dinner with him and his wife and I realized, if I don't get it done, they are going to leave town for the winter and I'm not going to see them until 2013!!! So, I sucked it up, decided they're getting a quilt! During nap time on Thursday I pulled out these layer cake squares and started sewing them together. I quickly realized that if I made the disappearing 9 patch, then I was going to lose several more inches that I didn't want to lose. So I kept it as a simple block quilt. I used all 42 squares in a 6x7 layout. I thought I was short on backing as well, but I did some creative cutting and managed to make it all fit. On Friday I basted it. Saturday I was on a "girls day" of mini shop hopping and didn't get any time to work on it. Late that night I realized we were going to be seeing them the next day and I didn't have any thread, so I sent my hubs to the store to get some. And on Sunday, I quilted and bound it. I took it outside at their place to catch some pictures of it along side their new addition (the pretty horse you see in the background who hasn't been named yet). Sadly, she's still a bit nervous and shy so I didn't get as many as I would have liked.

 

Fabric is Martinique by 3 Sisters for Moda. I won 2 charm packs a long time ago from Burgundy Buttons on CluckCluckSew and sold them to buy a layer cake. I liked the simplicity and quickness of using the larger precuts.

Merry Christmas to me

My husband asked what he could get me for Christmas...I said, "...uh, you know." He said, "No, I really don't." I said, "Hello? Fabric?" His response was, "You have a ton of fabric already!" Well, maybe to him I do. I certainly don't feel like it. Although, I did try and buy a bunch when my local quilt shop went out of business, but I limited myself the few times I went in. And have you seen all the NEW fabric that is/coming out??? Let's just take a little peeksy of a couple fo my faves shall we? (images property of their respective sites/authors)

I didn't think Bonnie and Camille could top Bliss, but then they came out with Ruby. Then when I convinced myself that nothing could be better than Ruby, they are coming out Vintage Modern: L.O.V.E.

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I love these color combinations that Randi used to put together these half yard bundles. SO FUN!

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So this year we decided that we would just give each other a small allowance for Christmas to buy ourselves something. This is what I purchased for myself. I got these fabrics (first picture below) at JoAnn's at the beginning of November; quilters quality cotton prints (1/2 yards; 3 bottom) and 2 Denise Schmidt fabrics (1/2 yards, 2 top). Then I hit up JoAnn's at 5:30am for their Saturday after Thanksgiving sale and got myself some half yard cuts of a few more of those quilters cotton prints for $1.00 ea. (on sale for $1.99 a yard).

 Here is a look at my stash now...not including some precuts and yardage that will remain in my own personal quilt stash.

And this is what I ordered myself online about a week ago. Merry Christmas to me! I got the bottom Play Dots and the Girl in Tree fabrics which are from the Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hoey for Moda line onsale at Burgundy Buttons. Then I ordered this Walk in the Woods charm pack from Aneela Hoey for Moda on a Moda sample spree of future line precuts from Green Fairy Quilts.

These will also be put in the personal stash!

Lend a helping hand...

When I feel down, I like to find some way to help someone else. It makes me feel happy. A friend of mine had a small family emergency last night and because their family is doing a handmade Christmas this year (that is such an awesome idea by the way), I didn't want her to fall behind since she had three quilts to make by Christmas. So I stopped by her house last night and picked up her two pieced tops. She used a Love U jelly roll by Deb Strain for Moda. I love that line. It's just so adorable. She intended to make a strip quilt by just sewing the jelly roll strips together. And since she needed a baby boy quilt, and toddler quilt for a little girl, all she had to do was use the one jelly roll and split the 40 strips into the boy colors and the girl colors. Once I had them home, I did a little improv. I added another large strip of green polka dot and then cut randomly down the length of the top and flipped it. Then from that extra strip that I flipped, I took a little bit more of that off before sewing it back on to the top. So I had some to put into the backing. Then I used some striped fabric for the binding. I LOVE that striped binding. I fell in love with stripes when I saw THIS quilt that Allison put together last holiday season. Anyway, These went back to my friends house this morning, but not before I folded them up and snapped a few pictures.

On the design wall...

At least just for a little while. Once I start some more blocks there won't be any more room left on the design wall. So instead I'll have to move a dresser in my kiddos room and use his wall because this is going to be a queen size quilt. This quilt consists of a mixture of fabrics. This is Hilary's quilt, by the way. She's a friend of a friend that I met once and I'm so excited I'm getting this opportunity to make this for her. She sent some Amy Butler Soul Blossoms charm packs in the Bliss colorway (blues and greens with a little but of pink) and a Soul Blossoms jelly roll and a couple Moda Bella solids jelly rolls. It also has a few Heirloom charms in the purple and pinks. I decided to use a simple modern block and will use 80 of them (in an 8x10) layout with some borders to make the quilt top.

These blocks are really easy to do.

Here's a little guide to show you how to do it.
CLICK on images to make them larger if you cannot see them very well. When you're done looking at the picture, click the back button on your browser to bring you back to the instructions.

Start with one (1) 5" charm square, and one (1) jellyroll strip.

Subcut your jellyroll strip into the following pieces (your jellyroll strip should come prefolded, so you should only have to cut once for each size, since it will give you both pieces):

Two (2) 2.5" x 5" pieces

Two (2) 2.5 x 9" pieces

 Take your two (2) 2.5 x 5" pieces. Match up the 5" sides right sides together 

and sew with a quarter inch seam. Press seams to the outside.

 Now take your two (2) 2.5" x 9" pieces. Match the 9" sides right side together 

and sew with a quarter inch seam. Press to the outside.

 Trim any lingering hangovers and you should now have a 9" square!