Friday, February 21, 2014

Bunny Quilt


Yay for Friday Finishes!
In progress, with my homemade bunny chart

I had a couple of Luna Notte strips left on my cutting table after the last quilt, and decided to go ahead and use them up.  I also had a leftover bit of Kona Cream, and a big enough batting scrap for a wall hanging.  I ran out of cream thread on the final border, so while I'd like to say this quilt was free, I had to spring for a new spool.  Oh well.  Almost free.

I looked online for a cross-stitch or knitting chart for the bunny, but I couldn't find one that translated well, and was the size I wanted, so I printed out some graph paper and made my own.  I tried to keep it within a 10x10 square, but that little ear just popped out, so I went with 10x11, and then added a plain border, and a pieced one with my leftover squares.

All the quilt squares are 2.5 inches, my HST's were done using the trim method (since I only had 2.5" strips), but I did cheat and use a couple of longer cream strips in the background.

I used a brighter white for the tail, but it's kind of hard to see in the photos.

We've had a lot of snow (hey, for Georgia; don't laugh), and I am very ready for spring.  Even though Easter is a good bit away, I think I'm going to hang this one up early.


While I was at it, I also bound the crumb block from the last quilt to make a new pot holder.  I used my Clover clips for the first time to machine bind.  I always hand sew my binding because even with the most careful pinning, something inevitably slips.  But with the clips, it turned out perfectly (no paid endorsement, here!)  I stitched in the ditch  from the front, so that is all done without looking on the green side.  This is the first time that I haven't had a slip or a wonky stitch, and there was 3 layers of batting in that puppy!  Not sure if I'm ready to do a whole quilt that way, but I would definitely do a wall hanging, and don't think I'll ever hand sew another pot holder.



Well, that's all I've got, Happy Friday!

Linking up to finish it up Friday @ crazymomquilts, Link-A-Finish Friday, and TGIFF

Friday, February 7, 2014

Country Oasis: A Second Chance and a Finish

Scrap bin inspiration

Last Friday, I happened to see Amy's last call for the Virtual Quilting Bee.  At the start, my intention was to make the quilt from scraps on hand; half a Hometown charm pack, leftover Urban Cowgirl from a purse project, partial FQ of Oasis from my Farmer's Wife, and some random strips of Luna Notte from a Moda scrap bag.  After the first five blocks though, I realized that what looked like a giant mound in my scrap bin, wasn't enough.  And so, it has been sitting since last May.

But then, on Sunday, I was at my LQS for Super Bolt Sunday (cute, huh?), and there it was.  A partial bolt of the same yellow Oasis with a $20 sticker on it.  Plenty to finish the quilt AND back it.

Thank you, quilt angels.

Monday, I laid it all out on the dining room table, and started cutting.  I constructed another four blocks, added the setting triangles, sashing, and border.  Pieced my backing, pieced my binding, and quilted it all up. 


Last night, the final bit of binding went on.  With about 8 inches of binding to spare, and about 2 inches of thread in my bobbin.  Yay!

Country Oasis - Front
Country Oasis - Back
Country Oasis - Close-up

Now I just have another 3 yards of Oasis to find a use for.

But no crumbs...I took care of those.


Thanks again to Diary of a Quilter for hosting, and to all of the lovely bloggers who shared blocks.  
It was fun!  
Virtual Quilting Bee