Tag Archives: Quilt

Fascinating…a retirement gift

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Alyson| 1 Comment

Way back in the Spring, I saw on Craft a post about a totally awesome Spock quilt. Event though there was a tutorial on how to design the quilt, I thought, gosh, I wouldn’t know where to start. I showed it to some co-workers who thought it was awesome and that it would be a great gift for our boss, who is a Trekkie extraordinaire. But ethics being what they are, it really wasn’t appropriate for me to make it for him.

Fast forward to Octoberish when our boss announced his retirement in early December. I immediately thought of the quilt and did a search to find the post again. Lo & behold, not only did I find the original post, but I found that Carol, the brains behind the blog Funthreads, had started a really amazing, simple to follow, quilt-a-long! It made the whole project a lot less daunting.

Carol’s quit-a-long makes a twin-sized quilt in eleven parts. I thought a wall-hanging would be much more appealing to our recipient (and also easier for me to complete!), so I printed out each week of the quilt-a-long and wrote in new measurements for the pieces. If you want to change the size of a quilt pattern, do not skip this step! Have you ever tried to halve or double a recipe without re-writing the ingredient measurements? I ended up having to triple a batch of cupcakes just recently because I thought I could do the doubling math in my head as I went! When halving quilt measurements, be sure to take into account the 1/2 inch for seam allowances. Remove the 1/2 inch from the original measurement, divide the resulting number in half, then add the half inch back in. This will give you the correct (finished) measurement and your full 1/4 inch seam allowances all around. Also remember that when you halve both the width and height you are essentially making a quilt a quarter of the size of the original.

I free-motion quilted my version of this pattern only in the black/dark parts to make Spock’s face stand out more. I also stuck mainly with white/cream and black/grey for the darks and lights. I have to say I am exceptionally proud of this project. Not only was my boss thrilled with his quilt, but I really enjoyed making it – always key. I’m looking forward to designing my own quilt next, using the Funthreads tutorial – I’m thinking a Dr. Who quilt in TARDIS blue next?

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Pattern, Quilt

Tagged 2011, black, December, Fascinating, free motion, Funthreads, gift, patchwork, pieced, Quilt, retirement, Spock, Star Trek, white

Little baby blue

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Alyson| 5 Comments

Check it out! Number and 1 and number 2 of my nanoSEWmo projects!

The pattern for this baby quilt and pillow is a Wonky Rail Fence, using the Stack-and-Whack method. The backing material is a solid light blue that I had on hand. I also used a white/blue ombre rayon thread for quilting. It adds some extra sparkle to the quilt, I think. The pillow has a simple ruffle around the edge and an envelope style back.

To be honest, I’ve had this quilt top on hand for a while waiting for the right time, the right baby and the right skill set. My free motion skills are definitely improving. It’s tough to keep your loop-de-loops even, let me tell you. But it is so worth the effort. The look on the Mommy-to-be’s face made it so.

Congratulations Diana, Stephen & your little Rock Star Monkey! I can’t wait to meet him.

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Quilt

Tagged baby, blue, cotton, free motion, gift, pillow, Quilt, rail fence, wonky

Monster Work in Progress

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Alyson| 2 Comments

Another To-Do list project: Monster Baby Quilt! No, not an extra large baby quilt, a baby quilt with monsters! I bought these monster “patches” from Jennifer of the Cotton Monster at Crafty Bastards last year. I originally intended to make a new quilt for Caleb, but I can barely get that boy to sleep under a sheet these days, let alone a quilt. I have about a bazillion friends who are pregnant or who have had babies recently, so Monster Baby Quilts just made sense…especially since Crafty Bastards is coming up again soon (October 1st) and I can’t bring myself to shop if I haven’t used what I bought last year! (OK, that’s a lie, I absolutely COULD bring myself to shop, but it wouldn’t be very “responsible” or “adult” of me. *natch*)

The blocks have been randomly pieced around each monster patch – there will be enough for 2 baby quilts when I’m done. This kind of piecing goes quickly until the end when you start measuring & trimming. For me, it also produces a lot of waste, there are lots of little edges that need to be trimmed and they pile up. Still, I love the look.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Quilt, WIP

Tagged baby, block print, blue, cotton, Cotton Monster, Crafty Bastards, green, monster, patch, Quilt, Quilting, white

No strings attached

Posted on July 11, 2010 by Alyson| 2 Comments

Finally, something new and totally without strings attached! It’s not often that I have time to make something purely for the joy of making it. A while back (well over a year), I took a class at our local fabric store, G-street Fabrics, in something I’d been wanting to learn about for a long time: Kaleidoscope quilts. Most quilt designs I can look at and deconstruct and understand basically how it was done. But there are tricks to creating a kaleidoscope design that I just did not know. I was lucky enough to take a class taught by a master of this type of quilt design, Nancy Fève.

I started on a quilt during the class with this wild Asian style crysanthymums print and it’s still not done. I think it intimidates me a little because it is SO LARGE. So I decided to start on a smaller one. I’ve been buying fabrics for this type of quilt since taking the class and I have quite the stockpile. You need at least 8 repeats of the pattern on the fabric and that can add up to a lot of yardage! I decided to start with a smaller, closer print of robins and cherry blossoms on a light blue background. I got several octagons put together between yesterday and today and I am pleased to report that I remember most of the tricks.

The smaller, closer print gives you instant impact as opposed to the Asian design I was originally working with. In the larger print with a 24 inch repeat the variation happens a lot more slowy – it will give you amazing impact when the whole (very large) quilt is done, but until then, you’re sort of left in the dark (be sure the check out Nancy’s quilts in the link above to see what I’m talking about). The smaller print I’m working with now and smaller octogons I’m creating provide instant impact and are much more suited to me and my sewing style.

I think this one will make a perfect large throw pillow for a couch or a bed once I have it all put together!

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Quilt

Tagged Asian, calico, cherry blossom, cotton, crysanthymum, kaleidoscope, large print, light blue, Nancy Feve, octagon, pillow, print, Quilt, quilter, robin

If You’re Going to San Francisco…

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Alyson| 5 Comments

Be sure to bring a quilt.

So I have these two friends. And they are good friends. And for the last couple years they’ve been living in Frankfurt, Germany. I missed them. A lot. Last May, I guess it was, we got a call from Frankfurt that they were finally going to get married! Hip, hip hooray!

In September, they returned stateside for a short stint and began planning. May would be the date, California would be the place; in a lavendar field not far from Davis. My husband and I were asked to do a reading:

i carry your heart with me
by e. e. cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Fast forward now to January when the bride requested that I make not one, not two, but THREE quilts for the wedding ceremony. What could I do but oblige? I mean, these are goooooood friends, after all.

We shopped for fabric, designed, cut and sewed together two lovely, traditional (in pattern only) table runners, but the pièce de résistance was left up to me – the altar decoration.

I looked at tons and tons and tons of pictures of California and the rolling hills and lavender fields in California and even in France. I printed out my favorites, cut them apart and pasted them back together again to make what I felt was an interesting, if not quite accurate, representation of the wedding venue. And then I re-made it in fabric. And the whole time I was sewing, I was singing …

“If you’re going to san Francisco/Be sure the wear some flowers in your hair…”