Time to sew

I've been gone awhile with moving, remodeling, downsizing and changing jobs but 

we are finally settled in-at least enough to do some sewing. Yay!

The house is coming along but is not "decorated" yet.  I had hoped to show progress pictures but got too burned out to completely finish a single room and my type A personality won't let me show you a room until it is "done." 

So, here are a some photos of areas in my sewing room that are done-

My cutting mats are hung on the back of the door using a skirt hanger and a Command hook and my rulers are hung on pegboard attached to the wall behind the door and

I have an 8' by 8' design wall to left of the door and right next to my sewing machine.  This by far the best set-up I have ever had for sewing.  I love it!

The blocks on the wall are from a Buggy Barn pattern called Spring Fever.  I don't know if they will all go in the same quilt or not.  I have made 48 of these blocks so far in an attempt to decrease my fat quarter stash.  I have five nieces and I may make each one of them a quilt using this pattern.

Twister receiving blanket quilts finished

If you have been following me for awhile, you know that my daughter has me make quilts for her children from the receiving blankets they used as babies.  One particular set of blankets (Lainey Jane's) had colors that didn't really look right together and it took me a long time to figure out how to use them in the same quilt.  I ended up making a larger version of a Twister quilt which I posted about here and this is the finished quilt.

Lainey's Big Twister quilt

Here's a closeup of the quilting and the polka dot binding.  Linda of L&R Designs did the custom quilting.

The backing is made from two polka dot fabrics from my stash.

I liked the Twister idea so well that I made Lylie's blankets into a Twister quilt also.  This time I just used the tool and 10" squares instead of making it oversized.

Lylie's Twister quilt

A closeup of the quilting by Linda of L&R Designs

and the back.  I purchased flannel for the back of this quilt and used the leftovers for the binding.

I cut the rest of the receiving blankets into squares and made Lylie a smaller quilt and a quilt for her dollies.

The backings for these quilts were from my stash which doesn't appear to be getting any smaller!

I am caught up on making quilts from receiving blankets because Kinsey is still using hers!  I overheard my daughter telling her grandmother who is also a quilter, "Grandma, I can have babies faster than you can make quilts."  Isn't that the truth for many of us quilters!

Great Granny Along blocks

I ran across the Great Granny Along quilt along and decided I needed to take a break from working on our house and make a block even if my sewing room is still a mess.  I talked Linda of L&R Designs into sewing one with me.  Here's our untrimmed blocks-

my great granny block

Linda's great granny block

Funny how we ended up using very similar colors in the same arrangement!  It wasn't planned.  We weren't really paying much attention to what fabrics the other was using.

What I love about this block is that it fits perfectly with my nickel theme.  You need one 5" square of fabric for the first round, two 5" squares for the second round and three 5" squares for the third round!  But you can also use 2 1/2" strips or squares.  It just fits in perfectly with how I cut up my scraps already. Check out Linda's blog to read more about how we made them.  You can find the tutorial to make your own great granny blocks here (scroll down).  

Twister receiving blanket quilt

The only time I've had to sew since we moved has been at retreats.  I made this Twister quilt at a weekend quilting retreat at the end of June.  It's made from my granddaughter Lylie's receiving blankets.  I used the original Twister tool that's made for 10" squares.  Off to my long arm quilter it goes!

If you have never tried a Twister ruler, you should.  It's addicting and is a great way to use scraps. As part of our retreat activities, we all brought 5" squares to exchange and made Lil' Twister quilts.  We all used the same fabric squares but we each used a different fabric for our outer border.

my Twister quilt

retreat Twister quilts

You can see an even larger Twister quilt that I made using 12 1/2" squares here and a smaller one here using the Itty Bitty Twister tool and 2 1/2" squares.

Since starting this post, I actually made a block in my new sewing room!  The room is far from being done but it's good enough to sew in.  I'll show you what I started next time.

Better late than never!

This is the last day to enter the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side.  With moving and all, I almost missed it. That's why I say, "Better late than never."  Click on the link to see all the wonderful quilts that have been posted and to find some new blogs to follow.

I am entering my Jumbled quilt in the festival.  I love all the Kaffe Fassett fabrics I used and it makes me happy to look at it with all the bright colors and patterns.  The pattern is a variation I came up with of the disappearing nine patch block and is made entirely from 5" squares. This quilt now belongs to our granddaughter Samantha.  I hope it makes her happy too.