A Favorite!

I liked this FREE quilt pattern so well, I made two. Then I quadrupled it and made a big one. First of all, I have a thing for stars in quilts - all kinds of stars. When I saw this simple star design, I had to try it. Where did I find this wonderful pattern? At Bonjour Quilts when I signed up to receive Kirsty's newsletter via e-mail. You can fine it here: https://www.bonjourquilts.com/when-you-wish-baby-quilt-pattern/

So here are pictures of my versions. I used solid broadcloth as it is cheaper. I know it contains some polyester, but I donate these quilts so I have to watch expenses. This star was done in pastels. I used a walking foot and did some straight lines about half an inch apart.

 

The next one I made in primary colors and this was my husbands favorite. He especially liked the quilting which was also done with a walking foot and gold thread.

The sunlight shining through.

Close up of the quilting from the back.

Now for the big one! It finished at 72 inches square. I quilted it the same as the one above with shiny gold thread.

I combined the colors in the smaller
quilts.

Close up of one quadrant.

Closeup of other quadrant.

The backing was nothing special,
 just something I had on hand.

The finished quilt!

Impulse Buy While Recovering From Surgery

Close up of fabrics.

About 10 years ago, more or less, I was still very new to quilting and kind of naive when it came to fabric requirements. I didn't use patterns, only my own designs. To this day, I often design quilts based on the fabric I have on hand. I guess I put the cart before the horse in that I start out with fabric and build my quilts based on what I have. The whole idea of reading a pattern and buying fabric accordingly was very foreign to my way of thinking.
Between Christmas and New Year's, I had emergency gall bladder removal surgery. (I'm sure there's a medically correct term for it.) During recovery I spent lot's of time on Ebay looking at fabric - mostly pre-cuts. One day I succumbed to a GREAT deal - 400! yes 400 4" blue on white squares. I think this was before 5" charm squares became an industry standard. Anyway, into a drawer they went never to be seen again... not for a long time anyway.

Final layout before borders.

Backing.

Last year, when I decided I really wanted to concentrate on making Josh's Hugs Quilts, I pulled them out. I was learning all about HSTs (half-square triangles). There was a yellow with blue roses fabric in my stash and that dark/medium blue fabric. So of course, I made MORE 4" squares. Then I made a ton of HSTs. I chose to lay them out in a chevron pattern. I added a border of denim looking cotton also from my stash. I had found the backing fabric in a thrift shop and it seemed perfect. I quilted it with my walking foot - yes, even the curves. This quilt is what I came up with. It measures 42.5"x57.5". And now I think I only have 300! little blue/white squares left. Yeah, I barely made a dent.

Close up of quilting.

Finished quilt hanging in my garden.

Modern Fat Quarter Quilt

One thing about sewing charity quilts is that you always look for ways to save money - after all, I'm giving the quilts away without financial backing from anyone except my wonderful husband. I'm not selling patterns or fabric lines which seems to be the case for most quilting blog sites. I found this free pattern at Pieces By Polly website. She called it a Modern Christmas Quilt, but since it's not made for Christmas and I used fat quarters, I just changed the name. (Here's a direct link: http://www.piecesbypolly.com/2014/11/simple-christmas-fat-quarter-quilt-free.html?m=1 )

I purchased these fat quarter bundles at JoAnn's and felt they were perfect for this pattern. It's a very simple HST quilt. I think I spent more time arranging the squares than it took to sew them up. I backed it with a turquoise solid and made the binding of turquoise/white gingham. Quilting was done with the walking foot on a diamond grid. It came out about right for a throw-sized quilt. I didn't get any final pictures and I've already delivered it to Golden State Family Services (foster care). 

Here the squares are on my design wall.
I love saying design wall when it really
just a flannel-backed table cloth.

All sewn together in the final layout.
Note it's not the same as above.

Joyful Quilt - Aptly Named

This quilt was made using a free pattern entitled "Joyful Quilt" by Tamara Kate Designs. She used a completely different colorway and I think my quilt actually is more aptly named "Joyful" than the original due to the bright pinks, oranges, and metallic accents.

 It looks really complicated, but it's basically made of of HSTs (half-square triangles). Some are cut from jelly roll strip sets cut on the diagonal as you can see in these closeups. I did try to follow the layout according to the pattern.

The backing was made up of a checkerboard print with a strip of orange fabric down the center. I also used the orange fabric to bind it. I was quilted with a walking foot on a diagonal grid. It took about 12 hours to quilt and finished at approximately 46"x56".