Karlie's Quilt -- Stars and Hearts

When my niece, Karlie, asked me to make a quilt for her I was delighted to do so.  When she said she wanted it to be black and grey with white stars and red hearts I thought that might be a challenge.  I've made quilts with stars,  and I've made quilts with hearts, but I've never made one with both.  I wondered if I could come up with a design where the stars and hearts played well together.  I got out my handy-dandy graph paper and started with stars.  (Don't anyone tell me I need to learn to design on the computer -- I've tried -- I can't.  I like graph paper.)

Every single black and white print came from my stash.  I have a pretty cool supply of B&W prints!

My original plan was to just put a black border on it, but I didn't like the way the stars would be cut off.  

You know what that means, right?  Out came the graph paper!

This is how I made the components I needed to get the stars to extend into the border.

Does that make sense?  Anyway.  This border was going to look lots better.

I had to at least throw some hearts into the backing.  

A little bit of everything actually ended up there.

That was still not enough hearts to suit me.  Now it was up to my friend, Shirley (Custom Quilting by Shirley Jackson) to work in a few more.  I asked her to do a simple meander and every once in a while, throw in a heart.  It's all good, she knew exactly what I meant.  She used a variegated black and red thread which looked perfect.

The hearts needed to stand out just a little more, so I embroidered around just those in the border.

Yes!  That made me happy.  In fact, I love it.

Finished! 

The best part was yet to come.  Seeing Karlie's face when I gave it to her.

There you have it.  The perfect gift for a beautiful young woman.  I know she loves it.  These pictures don't lie.

A Pulse Quilt Finish

My Pulse Quilt is in the mail making this seven finishes for me this year.  Check out #quiltsforpulse  on Instagram to see all the beautiful quilts that are being made for this effort.   Last week I made the backing using the last of a bolt of white fabric I had.  It didn't stretch quite far enough (again!) so I needed to add a few strips.  I thought this fat quarter would be perfect considering all the great colors in the top .....

..... but, when I showed the completed backing to Hubby he smiled.  That might sound okay, but normally he gives me a lot of positive feedback and praise.  I knew I needed to rethink it.

I cut out those strips and threw them into the strip basket.  The print I really wanted to use from the front only had a bunch of 7-inch squares and assorted strips left, but I pieced it so I could have large enough sections to use.  That's a lot of seams!

Straight-line quilting on the background with white thread and stippling on the heart with matching colors was just the look I was going for.

It made sort of a shadow of a heart on the back, which I especially like.

The back looks a lot better without those dark strips, doesn't it?

Isn't the binding perfect?  Hubby helped pick that out, too.  He definitely has a good eye.

I had a great selection of Black and White prints available to use.   

So now My Pulse Quilt is in the hands of the United States Postal Service, winging its way to the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild.  

I only hope it brings some small amount of comfort to whoever receives it.   I definitely made it with love.

My Pulse Quilt

Whenever there is a disaster of any kind quilters do what they do best.  They make donation quilts.  That's the best way we can extend comfort to people we don't know and will never meet.   Right now there is an effort underway to make quilts for the survivors and families of the victims of the mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida.  The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild is organizing the drive for donation quilts.  Information can be found here.

I made blocks for a group quilt my friend Teajuana is making .....

 ..... and, then I started making a quilt of my own to donate.  This is just a tiny part of the black & white stash I decided to use.

I cut 4 1/2" squares and started sewing them into rows.

Most people are putting a heart of some kind on their quilts.  I wanted my heart to be a little different from everyone else (naturally), and I also wanted it to have some significance so I sketched out a broken heart, chose colors, and got busy.  I even set up a sewing corner at the beach condo when we went on vacation.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though I think I could have had more interest between the purple and blue fabrics.  ( I know.  Quilters aren't supposed to point out the negatives about their quilts.  But, anyway.)

When I originally sketched out this heart on graph paper, I thought it would be soooooo simple.  Squares and Half-Square-Triangles.  Easy.  (This is sounding familiar - I think I have set out to do a simple design with HST's and gotten into trouble before.....)  After a lot of ripping, re-cutting, and re-stitching I had SO many components left over it was ridiculous.  I could probably make another project with them! lol

Hopefully, I can get the backing made and get this finished quickly.  I've already submitted the form saying I would mail it ten days from now.  Does that make me kinda crazy or just really confident?

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October's Goal Met - Eloise's Baby Quilt

Another goal met.  Hooray for me!  Even with that "inconvenient" broken arm I'm 9 for 10 so far this year.  My goal for this month was to make a baby quilt with brights and lots of pinks.  I had everything cut out and organized and was getting ready to spend a few days in a motel in St. Louis by myself, so I took my machine with me and planned a mini-retreat -- for one!  I set up my machine and got busy.

In the short time I was there I had a doctor appointment and a birthday party to attend, but I did get most of the blocks made and started putting them together.  The bed made a decent design wall.

This quilt needed something fun for the backing so I stopped at Hancocks of Paducah on my drive home and got a Robert Kaufman print by Valori Wells called "In The Bloom" and some batting.

I think the fabric designers are making the selvedge edges even prettier than they once did since quilters are using them for so many projects.  Look at these  cute flowers.  So much more interesting than just plain old dots!

When I got home, I cut out the hearts.  Instead of appliquéing them onto the top, I just zigzagged around them after it was quilted.

Hmmm, I don't know how I got those two yellow strips so close together that they made an upside-down "T."  So much for moving carefully from the design wall to the machine.  A little too random looking for me!

I had thought to make the binding scrappy or from the backing fabric, but after auditioning both options I didn't like the way either one would look, so I made a bright aqua flange first.  Another Robert Kaufman fabric, this one by Patrick Lose.  What is it with me and flanges lately?  

I'm so happy to have completed another sweet baby quilt for another precious little one.  

Baby Eloise Beatrice is sure to love it! 

I am linking up with Fiber of All Sorts and their ALYoF October Finishes Party.  My goal was #48 and my finish is #43.  

I'm also linking up with Quilting is More Fun than Housework.