Fancy Fox Quilt (#32)

 (Update: Below is my first fox quilt in natural tones, but I made another Fancy Fox Quilt here  in December 2015 using a Retro 30's jelly roll - showing that each quilt has a unique look & feel with different fabrics.)

Elizabeth Hartman's Fancy Fox Quilt pattern was the perfect design for my next "guy quilt' - and it was a great stash buster too. Instructions were clear and chain piecing went quickly.  I did use starch and ironed a lot ... lots of starch makes happy foxes!

Maybe being new to this type of piecing was my problem -  but most of my fox 'faces' measured larger on top and less on the bottom.  Not to worry. 

 I only planned to make 42 fox faces knowing that number was realistic for my time - I added 2.5" pieces of sashing around each fox to fill out the space. This sashing allowed me lots of wiggle room for errors, the blocks were cut to 9.5"x11.5" - the tip of the nose was my center point.

I did make a few cutting mistakes and by the end I was down a couple of fox blocks - so decided to put stars in the four corners using the measurements & instructions from Happy Zombie for her Manzanita Star.  

To make this more 'manly' and rugged I used Mammoth Flannel on the back which is lovely to sew and soft.  All my fabrics had been pre-shrunk since they were leftovers from other projects, the only exception being the Warm & Natural batting which was tumbled in the dryer to remove wrinkles.

Since I don't know how to free motion quilt, my goal was to not mess with the fox face - so the ears are the only area that you can see the zigzag quilting.  I used Aurifil 50wt. Grey Smoke (5004) which was perfect for disappearing into the yarn dyed denim and blending into the plaid backing. I spray based the quilt layers together and the Aurifil thread just glided through beautiful and smooth.

I am partial to the broken zigzag stitch and for this quilt I used a medium width and length.  I tend to zigzag smaller for pretty quilts and juggle between larger widths & lengths for 'man' quilts.

Materials:  

Robert Kaufman's Essex yarn dyed linen in denim

Moda/3 Sisters Winterlude Aged Solids in Black

Riley Blake Shades (or Blenders) in Slate & Granite,
& Orange Fox Trails stars

Moda Funky Monkey sock texture (brown)

Timeless Treasures Sketch (black & white)

White jelly roll 
Aurifil 50wt. grey smoke (#5004)
Size: 59" x 83"
February 2015

Old New 30's Quilt (#31)

I love fat eighths and Westwood Acres had a lovely bundle of Old New 30's from Lecien that worked out perfectly. 

 I am always pleased by the simple and quick way fat quarters and fat eighths can be used with Cluck Cluck Sew's Easy Bake pattern. 
 Using Aurifil 50wt. white with a medium sized zigzag stitch is so effective on square block quilt patterns - it looks nice on both sides (front & back).  It's pretty sweet for piecing too.

I wanted to use the whole bundle and not have leftovers, so every piece went in - even the strong green & red.  The backing is white flannel, something I usually use as a middle layer in my minky quilts - but plain was best since the front was strong & bright.

Pale pink & white stripes from my stash expanded the quilt into a twin size. The large pale border created a nice barrier between the binding and help soften all those strong colors mixed together.

Materials used:  
Easy Bake Pattern/ Cluck Cluck Sew
Old New 30's Lecien fat eighths (from Westwood Acres)
90" wide white quilter's flannel / Fabric.com
Pimatex Basic Stripe Pale Pink / Robert Kaufman
Aurifil 50wt. White for both piecing and quilting
Binding:  Amy Butler Solid in Coral
Batting: Twin sized Warm & White
Quilted with a broken zigzag stitch on a Janome DC2013
Size: 69" x 84"
February 2015

Fancy Fox Block

My first time piecing and it's so fun with Elizabeth Hartman's Fancy Fox PDF pattern from her blog Oh Fransson.  Here are two samples.  On the right is Riley Blake's slate blender and yarn dyed denim linen from Robert Kaufman. 
  Left is Amy Butler with Essex linen flax, also a yarn dyed. I tried the flax to see if it would be a good neutral background for a 'scrap' fox quilt and I think it will work well with a variety of patterns & colors.

Mustache Quilt #30

An urban chic quilt made with applique mustaches in Amy Butler (Gypsy Caravan Turkish Nectarine, Cypress Paisley in Mint) and Riley Blake (slate & granite blender) fabrics. Great applique tips & techniques from Julie at the The Crafty Quilter.

The perfect mustache template is from Leslie at The Seasoned Homemaker (which you can download).  I appliqued using a small blanket stitch which wasn't perfect or very dense.  Letting some stray threads come through the edge stitching was on purpose to prevent it looking like a patch and a little more rustic. 

 I enlarged the mustache template to be 6.5" wide (from the fold to tip) and printed it on card stock for easy tracing.  

 The paisleys are backed with Pellon 906F sheer weight interface, and since only one side is fusible - I used fabric spray to adhere the mustache to the grey fabric panels before stitching. 

1 yard of background fabric yielded 6 panels, I needed 21.  Each rectangle is cut 18" long by 11" wide before sewing.

The cotton border is Kona cotton in pansy - the binding is Cypress Paisley in Mint from Amy Butler's Love collection.

Appliqued with Gutermann Sew All thread,  piecing with Aurifil 50wt. dove grey and quilted in Aurifil French Lilac, which turned out to be a very nice variegated option.  The batting is flannel and the back minky dimple dot in lilac, all these from Fabric.com.

 I followed the seams the width of the walking foot to start my straight line quilting - and did 2 rows on each side.  The mustaches were left alone and this grid pattern worked out fine since minky doesn't need to be quilted  as closely together as batting.
Size:  59" x 73"
August 2014

Oh Deer! Coasters

These coaster were made in 2014.  I made a photo tutorial in May 2018 on how to make fabric coasters which is here. 

August 2014 

Peak Hour Coin Quilt (#29)

Even after 3 baby quilts made with Riley Blake's Peak Hour, I still enjoy the whole happy vibe of these colors.   My last & final rollie pollie (jelly roll) of this fabric will be another baby blanket - using a half hexi template to mix things up a bit.

For some reason these coin did not line up straight and I kept cutting off parts of rows to square them up.  After a while I gave up ... added lots of Kona white in 6" borders to camouflage the ' wonky drift' of the rows and then squared it by cutting into the borders. 

Warm and Natural batting, Peak Hour flannel back, binding is Amy Butler Love Sunspots in Olive.  Isacord #40 white to piece and quilt.
Linking up with SEWjo Saturday

Size: 47"x 55"
July 2014

Noteworthy by Sweetwater Quilt (#28)

I really like the fabric collections from Sweetwater and Noteworthy  is no exception.  Like Lucy's Crab Shack, there are lots of swirls, loops, words & labels - all in very pretty colors that harmonize when you put them next to each other.  

This quilt was made using 5 charm packs in  a nine patch design.  I needed just 4 more 'blocks' so I cut white 9" squares and put them in the corners.  The border is 1 yard of coordinating fabric.

The batting is Moda's Kyoto bamboo and I love it. I have only made one other 'traditional' quilt and that used Warm & Natural -  (the rest are minky or flannel).  The bamboo is a little thinner but softer - and it's correct what others say about it having a nice drape.  Pricey at $28 for a twin sized roll from Fabric.com (compared to Warm and Natural at $18.50).

 I did push the envelope and pre-wash/dry the Kyoto batting in my front load washing machine and regular dryer - and the width shrunk about 2.5'.  It also stretched in the length but next time I will pre-measure it before washing to see how much shrink it has - and not go by the package dimensions.

Pieced with Aurifil 50wt sand - quilted with a broken zigzag stitch using a walking foot - with Isacord40 white.  Spray basted with 505 before quilting - and then ironed the layers when they were together to help the spray stick better - great tip. 
Linking up to Go-Go Kim's SEWjo Saturday 

Size: 60" x 75"
July 2014

Another Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements Quilt (#27)

My second quilt made with Tim Holtz's Eclectic Elements, but this time I used 24 fat eighths, modifying my favorite pattern Easy Bake from Cluck Cluck Sew. (here is the link to my first Eclectic Elements quilt made with 10" squares)

I ended up with 48 blocks, obviously smaller than the original pattern that used 10" squares since I cut mine 8.5" x 8.5". A fat eighth is supposed to be 9"x21" but some pieces were a little shy of 9 inches so I played it safe and cut 8.5" x 8.5".

To fill out the quilt to the desired size - the remaining fabric was cut into small 4" squares and added to Michael Miller's Cotton Couture in Nite. (some sites recommend using Midnight blue but I used the Nite on both Eclectic Elements quilts since I had it in my stash - it lightens it up and while Midnight would look good - the vibe overall would be  'heavier & darker')
 Quilting was done with a  loose broken zig zag stitch in Aurifil 50wt. light sand on the top and blue cobalt on the bottom.  

The back is dimple dot minky in Midnight blue from Fabric.com - with a layer of JoAnn's bleached muslin in between the quilt top & minky.

I keep my minky quilts to  maximum 60" wide so I don't have to piece the back - and buy 2 1/4 yards - which leaves me a little wiggle room when laying it out and trimming it square.

Finished size is 58"x69"
July 2014

Chillingsworth ... ready to quilt

Inspired by a picture from Pinterest (from the International Quilt Market), this Chillingsworth quilt top is finished and ready to sandwich. 
The back will be beige minky and quilted using Aurifil 50wt. light sand for the top and bottom bobbin around the skeleton -  and then a combo of light sand & smoke for for rest of the quilt.  I don't want to take any chances that a darker bottom thread might peak through in the light areas due to bottom bobbin issues.

The square blocks are cut at 6" and the Half Square Triangles also started out at 6" - made and trimmed to 5" finished size.

Black & White Accuquilt Tumbler (#26)

10 different black and white fabrics were cut using the Accuquilt tumbler die and 'trapped' in a border of Kona jet black.

13 tumblers wide, and 12 rows long ... the backing is black dimple dot minky - and binding is Timeless Treasures Sketch black. A layer of JoAnn's bleached muslin is the middle layer between the quilted top & minky back.

Quilted with Gutermann's Sew all grey on top and black on the bottom, following the tumbler shape and going across the rows as well, using the large broken zig zag stitch.  

The pictures don't exactly capture how black the fabrics are - but they are elegant and classic... like a LBD  (little black dress).

April 2014
Size:  57 x 72"

Tim Holtz's Eclectic Elements Quilt(#25)

I fell hard for this Eclectic Elements fabric collection by renowned paper crafter, Tim Holtz.  Tim is the Creative Director for Ranger Industries and all you have to do is go down an aisle at a Michael's or JoAnn's and see walls of his wonderful product creations.

 

This is his first fabric collection, and it comprises of 3 design categories:  Documentation, Labels, & Melange.  In order to retain all the good scrapbook/grunge/steampunk vibe - I used my trusty pattern:  Easy Bake from Cluck Cluck Sew.

It was not easy to find the entire collection (24 fat quarters total) and I wanted to use every bit of it. After making the bulk of the quilt -  I measured the remaining fabric and found that 4" square gave me the most pieces.  These squares were put on the front sides and back.

My first time making a quilt with a cotton top, traditional batting & a cotton back - (used Warm and Natural batting  / pre-washed and dried before quilting).  The back is Michael Miller's couture cotton in Nite -  which comes in 85 colors - and has a wonderful soft drape -  (while it looks rather bright in the pictures, it blends well overall - another option could be the Midnight Blue which is darker).

Quilted top and bottom with  Aurifil 50 wt. ( light sand #2000 & dark cobalt #2740).  Spray basted (and ironed to fuse them even more), I had a few hiccups (and 3 rows to rip out) as the bottom tension went all wonky - but a few turns on the bottom bobbin case screw worked fine.  Each time I re-loaded the bobbin - I had to make minor adjustments. 

April 2014
Size:  60 x 72"

Gypsy Caravan Tumbler (#24)

 A beautiful chic quilt featuring Amy Butler's Gypsy Caravan, cut with the large Accuquilt tumbler die.  12 tumblers across by 12 rows down with a 3" border on the sides in matching periwinkle.  

  Binding in periwinkle and backed with vanilla dimple dot minky.  The middle layer is JoAnn's bleached muslin, prewashed and all layers spray basted.  I usually pin and spray baste - but had success with spray basting only and ironing the layers together, pressing on the cotton top portion and totally avoiding the minkey - it melts!

Quilting was a smaller broken zig zag going across the rows and following the tumbler shapes from top to bottom.

I used Aurifil beige 50 wt. for both the top and bottom with a No. 12 universal needle and it was smooth  and consistent. 
Size: 57 x 71"
April 2014