Christmas Plaid-ish Quilt

64 x 82

Sometimes we love the quilts we make and sometimes we don't. Even though this isn't my favorite Christmas quilt in the house, my husband liked it and wanted to keep it. I'm using it on our bed as an extra top because I backed it with minky fleece. It's super soft and warm!

Why don't I love it? The directions for the Plaid-ish quilt tell you to separate your fabrics into values. You can see my fabic piles of light, mid, and dark.  She mentions that this is very important, so I tried many times, moving the fabric from one pile to the next and turning the photos to black and white so I could check the value. 

I thought that I had done a good job and would get those plaid rows in my quilt. But after making the quilt, it seems the darks are not dark enough to stand out. I love this fabric line, but my quilt is a bit too busy for my taste. 

I had bought binding fabric, but my choice, the polka-dot print, didn't look good. So I found a black cross-hatch print that worked out nicely.

The quilt is growing on me and it might even make it to a spot on the couch. We'll see. Here's its spotlight photo next to the tree.

 

Christmas Table Runner

14 x 60

Our kitchen table was looking a little bare after I decorated the house for Christmas. I don't usually decorate the kitchen, but this year I put a few things on the wall by the table. So I decided to make a little gift for myself! 

 After much looking, I modified a little pattern I saw that had a border and enlarged it to fit my table. Why does it seem like it's so difficult to pick a pattern when I'm sewing for myself? Anyway, I used some leftover strips from the Christmas quilt I have yet to show you. I'm very happy with it and how it brightens up the table. 

Eyeshadow Remake

 

60" x 72"

Last month, I dove into my craft closet with the intention of tidying things up, but you know how those creative spaces can be - filled with little distractions and squirrels. While sorting through the project bins that hold some special fabric, I came across a small pile of pretty prints I had forgotten about, including a lovely blue floral piece that immediately caught my attention. It felt like it had been patiently waiting for the right project.

That discovery nudged me to pull out my patterns and flip through until something clicked. The Eyeshadow pattern stood out right away. It felt just right. It was simple and fun and I could use the backing piece I found. 

After choosing the pattern, I headed back to my main fabric bins to hunt for coordinating prints. It didn’t take long to find a few that played nicely with the blue floral, not too bold, not too quiet, just the right mix. Before long, a new quilt project was officially underway, all because a little closet-cleaning led to a spark of inspiration.

There’s something special about creating with supplies you already own. It feels resourceful, meaningful, and a bit like uncovering hidden treasure. This project reminded me that creativity doesn’t always begin by shopping for something new, even though that is incredibly fun! Sometimes it begins by rediscovering what was already there.

While that pretty blue floral was perfect for the back, it was about a half yard short to cover the whole thing. So I tested each of the prints from the front until I found two that didn't distract too much from the main print. 

If you’d like to make your own version, the Eyeshadow pattern is available in my Etsy shop. Feel free to take a look and get inspired!

Josh's T-Shirt Quilt

This is my 4th puzzle-style t-shirt quilt that I have made. I followed the directions from my blog post here.  Having the Heat Press Machine and using Inkscape to design makes this process so much easier. I highly recommend both if you're going to make more than one quilt.  

Two of his old shirts (2005 and 2006) are here at the bottom. It was so fun to reminisce about all the things he has done that are represented in this quilt.  

These two pictures each have a shirt given to him by his sisters and represent him well. Can you spot them? I backed the quilt with a black minky fleece that makes this so soft and snuggly. With the batting, it's noticeably heavy. I quilted with a gray thread, but I think next time I might try a black thread because the fleece was peeking through the stitches on the top. 

 

African Disappearing 4 Patch Quilt

On my recent trip to Kenya, I was given an African dress made by a local dress maker. It didn't fit well, but it was a full length, full skirted dress so I brought it home hoping I could do something with it. I cut the whole thing apart and found there was so much fabric. I still have well over a yard left after making this quilt. 

The fabric has a slightly shiny side and a not shiny side. I chose to put the not shiny side up. The fabric moved well under my needle and I didn't have any trouble with it. There is not give or stretch to it at all. I chose the disappearing 4 patch because this one a one fabric quilt and I've made some of these before. It did a good job of breaking up the fabric pattern, but not so much that you couldn't see it anymore.

I backed it with a navy minky fleece from Hobby Lobby. I like that it doesn't have the same stretch as the ones I used to get from Joann's, but the color wasn't as navy as I would have liked it to be. But it is a useful souvenir from our trip. I am thinking of making some pouches and maybe a rope bowl or a pillow out of the rest of the fabric.