You can see the quilting really well in this shot. I did a diamond pattern on the pluses and dots, and then lines on the borders.

The back was pieced together using leftover pieces from the two border fabrics on the front, and leftover pieces from the Jelly roll. I also had one more plus left over somehow, so I used that in the backing, too.

You can see the binding a bit better on this one. I used all the leftover stripey fabrics from the jelly roll to machine bind my quilt. I love that I can just grab a few strips from my Jelly roll to bind the quilt! Makes things so easy.

This “made with love” label was on one of the selvage pieces! How nice is that? So I added in my name and date to the label. Forgive the smudging… I want to keep things as anonymous as possible.

Happy Friday!

Linking up!
Finish it Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts

Yesterday I drove my in-laws to the San Diego International airport, which happens to be the airport closest to us. They are flying out to a cousin’s wedding (the cousin this quilt is for). I just barely got the quilt done that morning in time for them to take it. Some of my markings didn’t wash out completely — oh well! I tried, anyway. I will have a post on it as soon as I have time to load the pictures from my camera.

After I dropped them off at the airport I decided to stop for a cup of coffee and walk around Balboa park a bit. I can’t believe it’s already been six years since I’ve been there! I walked through the rose garden…

Then I took the bridge behind that crazy cactus across the street to where the museums are.

This is in front of the Science museum (not pictured). On the right is the Natural History Museum and behind the fountain is a path down to the belltower, which tolled 11AM as I took this picture. Back to reality. Got in my car and headed back to work… I hope we can come back for a longer visit soon.

So in the meantime, I got started on ANOTHER quilt that will be a wedding gift! I saved some of the pink jelly roll strips from the Positively Perfect quilt to use on this one. This girl seriously LOVES pink; her wedding this summer is pink-themed. The bridesmaids are even wearing pink dresses! (I should know… I just picked mine up!)

I have been wanting to try out a Granny Square block, it seems like they’ve been popping up ALL over the quilting blogosphere! I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try it out. I’m SO glad I did! I am LOVING Granny Squares! They’re so FAST and EASY to make, I got three done in just about an hour and cut out the pieces for a fourth. Here they are on my improvised design wall:

I seriously need to get some better lighting in this apartment.

It’s going to be really fun coming up with new color combinations with this. I want all of the blocks to have at least SOME pink in them. This one combines some Cape Ann prints (pink) with Michael Miller (yellow):

Some more Cape Ann with a purple solid I picked up in the remnants bin:

And these are both Cape Ann:

So, three blocks down, at least 17 more to go! I hope this one comes together quickly. I want to have it ready for the bridal shower, which is just around the corner.

Have you make Granny Squares yet? What quilting design do you think you would use?

And yes, that is an alcoholic beverage in my hand, which may account for my goofy face and pose… But anyway, they had a TON of sewing machines lined up, from floor to ceiling. It was so cool, a little bit of my quilting hobby found in Sin City. I’d love to get my hands on an old sewing machine like these someday, when I actually have some place to store and display it! Someday!

Happy Thursday everyone

Well, my Chasing Chevrons quilt is finished! It ended up a LOT bigger than I thought it was going to be! I used the measurements for the Twin size, but as you can see… it fits nicely on my queen size bed, the finished size is 90″ x 74″.

I used Kona Coal fabric for the background and part of the binding, and these Michael Miller fabrics I won from Stitched in Color and Marmalade Fabrics this past October. I used five of the six fabrics for the chevrons, and used the black circles on the grey background for the binding. It didn’t contrast enough with the grey to be used as a chevron, but I think it looks great as the binding!

I quilted in a grid pattern… I figured my FMQ aren’t advanced enough to handle a quilt of this size just yet!

The backing COMPLETELY does not match the front, but I’m OK with that. I wanted to use this flannel fabric (more on it here) on a quilt for myself and figured now was as good a time as any. I had to fill in with some white flannel at the bottom. Machine bound, I’m so happy I did! It would have taken even longer if I didn’t!

I’m looking forward to cuddling with this guy. Happy quilting!

Linking up!

I have no idea of the age of the fabrics and my Mom wasn’t sure who cut them up, they could have been her grandmother’s but she wasn’t sure. Some of them are clearly fussy cut, there are different fabric types and varying amounts of each. For example, there are a TON of the white flower with the yellow/orange background, but I’m pretty sure the purple flower below it is the only scrap from that fabric.

The problem is that they were clearly hand cut and not very accurate. They are all around 2″ square but some are bigger, some smaller. It would be a shame to toss them just because of that, so I’ve been thinking of re-cutting them all to be 1.5″ square to use in a project.

Maybe I could use them as cornerstone pieces in a scrappy hourglass quilt…

Source: ayumills.blogspot.com via Erin on Pinterest

Or maybe some Granny Squares…

Source: stitchedincolor.com via Erin on Pinterest

Or something like this…

Source: redpepperquilts.com via Erin on Pinterest

This could be cute, too!

Source: flickr.com via Erin on Pinterest

What do you think? What would you do with these scraps if you had your way with them?

Linking up!

It’s a MyTouch 4G from T-Mobile and I love it so far. It’s my first smartphone and I’m still getting used to being able to check my email, Facebook and tweet from ANYWHERE… it’s so cool and I love it!

Here are some pictures I’ve taken with my phone using the FX camera app (boo, no Instagram for Android!)

Our Cherry plum tree, or Prunus cerasifera, is already blooming.

Isn’t that a beautiful sight? We’re enjoying some really wonderful weather here in Southern California. Our Cherry plum trees (also known as Prunus cerasifera according to Wikipedia) are, true to nature, starting to bloom their cute little pink flowers. These trees normally bloom in mid-February, so they’re right on schedule. Later on their gorgeous, deep purple leaves will grow in and stay with us until late autumn until they fall off.

I know I’m so lucky to be living in a place that doesn’t have to worry about a snow storm coming in and wiping these beautiful flowers out. And do you see that blue, blue sky behind the tree? No photoshop necessary — it really is that blue.

Hope winter is treating all of you nicely! If not, don’t worry! Spring is coming just as quickly as it can.

Completed baby clothes quilt.

Unfortunately, I’m not too happy with the way it turned out. The one block that I posted the other day came out nicely, but the rest I’m not too happy with. Despite stabilizing the fabric, there are a couple of puckers and some of the FMQ didn’t come out that great.

The back of the quilt.

I’m glad I tried out the FMQ though, I think I was really getting the hang of it towards the end. The back of the quilt is a receiving blanket the baby used, too. That made it kind of a tiny quilt; only 28″x28″. I bound it with some Mickey Mouse fabric I bought in the remnants bin eons ago. I was going to machine bind the quilt, but I forgot. Luckily this guy is tiny, so I was able to hand bind it fairly quickly.

I hope Mom and little boy still like it, even if it isn’t my favorite creation!!

Linking up to Amanda Jean’s Finish it Up Friday!