Scrappy Four Patch Quilt

That's a lot of tiny squares! When I started quilting, I swore I would never work with anything smaller than 4" squares. Well never say never because I had a ton of 4 inch squares that I purchased - very scrappy. I came across a technique in which you sew squares together, then cut the squares in half forming two joined rectangles. Then you join two more rectangles, cut them in half and form 4-patches. Now as I think about it, I probably did it wrong, but hey, it worked. I tried to combine opposites on the color wheel, making purple/yellow, blue/orange, and red/green. 

Can you see the different
colorways on the diagonal?

Here's a close up.

Close up of the back.

Here's a close up of the quilting.
I just quilted a grid with my walking foot.
And then parallel lines about 1/2 in apart on the border.

The back with the sun shining through.

I like taking pictures in my garden.

This quilt finished about 45"x48".

Panels From Coloring Books

 You can purchase panels to make quilts, but I decided to make my own panels. I found giant coloring books at Dollar Tree - perfect starting point. Next I traced the pictures on white muslin and then I colored them in. I used crayon on some - when you iron to set the colors, there can be a lot of wax residue so be sure to sandwich your picture between paper towels. Crayon also has a tendency to bleed over the lines. On others I used permanent markers - these markers are alcohol based and their colors can also be set by a hot, dry iron. One other method of coloring these panels that gave  the brightest colors was acrylic paints thinned with fabric medium.

I called this my Kitten Series. Once I had several panels created, I set two (so far) into quilts.

This panel was done with crayon.

This one I decided to frame with some green fabric. The background fabric is actually from some pillowcases I picked up at a thrift store.

 I built an outer border using half-square triangles in a random zig-zag pattern.

 Then the next border was a pale pink. The quilting was done with a walking foot except for some Free Motion when the curves got a little tight. Final size is 49"x41".

Another panel I used was this grey kitten with bright flowers done with crayon.

I made I-spy blocks (the technique used to make these blocks cuts off your points so it's not a true "square-in-a-square") from various calico 5"charms that I had in my stash.

  I realized after making this quilt that I should have done a better job of contrasting colors.

  This quilting is also done with a walking foot. Final size: 38"x38.5".

Frustration Quilt (It has a happy ending.)

This little quilt is the result of some frustration and disappointment. In 2018 when I decided I wanted to focus on quilting, I knew I needed to organize my craft room. Once I had most of my fabric organized, I wanted urgently to start making a new quilt. I have a Brothers Embroidery Sewing Machine that my husband bought me several years before when I started quilting with my church quilting group. I set up my machine only to find it didn't work! The tension was off and possibly the timing. I had serviced it not that long ago, so couldn't figure out what was wrong. Just to have it serviced cost $100 and I was afraid repairs would cost even more. (One other thing of note - I seldom used the embroidery feature.)

I did what I've done in the past - I called my mother to borrow her sewing machine. She had received her's as a gift from a friend. I had it in my head it was a Bernina which I knew was a good brand. She loaned me the sewing machine, but it wasn't a Bernina. It was a basic Kenmore and it was old. But it worked!!! With this machine I was able to piece the quilt featured here.

In the meantime when hearing my frustration David, my husband said, "Buy yourself a new sewing machine." Well you didn't have to tell me twice. I went shopping for an inexpensive machine that would meet my needs. I ended up ordering a Eversewn Sparrow 20. It came just on time to quilt this little patchwork giving me an opportunity to check out the decorative stitches.

What makes this quilt special to me is the "friend" who gave the Kenmore to my mother, is also the administrator of Golden Valley Foster Care, one of the organizations to which I donate Josh's Hugs. 

Product of Procrastination

 It all started with this cute "Finding Nemo" fabric. I came up with the fishbowl design to applique. The background was a yellow or green with bright polka dots so I found this wavy multi-color fabric that was perfect for the border. If I had been more experienced I would have tried to miter the corners.

 While we were in Bishop, CA on a trip, I came across this fun wavy/polka dot fabric that was perfect for a backing.

The quilting was done free motion and is supposed to resemble choppy waves. The binding is a solid teal. 

I had a great-nephew in mind when I started this quilt, but by the time I dug it out last year and finished it, he was passing his Mamma in height. Since I waited so many years to finish this, it will be included as a Josh's Hugs quilt.