Small finishes for Friday

Sometimes a little fabric aquisition road trip

inspires me to new places.

Like this bobby pin fabric which shouted at me from the sale bin

to make something from it.

So I did. Here is the bigger size and the smaller one,

just the right size for bobby pins.

Here's the five I've made from the half metre cut.

I could probably make another five,

but I'm running out of the right colours for the zippers

and I'm pretty committed to using my 10 cent thrift shop ones

instead of buying retail.

I'm posting the selvage info here because

this fabric got lots of interest on Instagram when I posted it there.

If you're on IG, please follow me at @brendasuderman

I'm also finished with this wool and polyester crazy quilt.

I tore off the back years ago so now it is just the crazy piecing

on a muslin back.

It doesn't have a sentimental meaning for my family

and no one is sure where it came from

so I'm giving it a local friend

who gives new life to all types of lost and lonely linens.

I finished this set of solid placemats for my SIL recently

quilting them with the walking foot on my Juki

and figuring out different designs for each one.

Here's a shot where you can see the quilting on them.

That's the back on the far right placemat.

I picked a backing fabric that hides the stains.

I figure the blue is the company side and the striped is the everyday side.

I'm linking up to other Friday finishers.

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Crazy Mom Quilts

TGIFF

Scored gold in Quilt Olympics

I've had a record-setting summer in giving quilts.

I gave away three large quilts and one small one in the course of a week, 

and they all now live in different Canadian provinces.

Above in the 13 inch mini quilt I posted about earlier

which decorates my friend C's new professorial office in Waterloo, Ontario.

Transplant Star,

60 by 84 inches

Machine pieced and quilted

This star quilt needed a home for a long time.

I started it last summer when I was recovering from an injury

and finally got it quilted and bound by spring.

It now lives with a college friend who had a liver transplant last spring.

When I gave it to him, he said

"You didn't need to make me a quilt."

Although I didn't make it for him,

he certainly deserves a quilt after a tough recovery.

This one lives on a Saskatchewan farm.

Balancing Act

55 by 70

machine pieced and quilted.

This one was also a long time work in progress,

which started from a bunch of scraps and sewn together parts 

from Quilt Diva Julie.

After too long as a flimsy, 

I managed to get it quilted and then hand stitched the binding

on my trip west,

where my friend M. is the new proud owner.

She liked the typographic elements in it,

especially after a long career as a journalist.

The back is a numbers print from IKEA,

which I chose because it was exactly the right size for this quilt

and because it had writing on it.

An accountant friend of M's admired it for its numerical qualities.

This one is moving to Edmonton, Alberta with M. 

Floating Chevrons

55 by 65

Machine pieced by me.

Hand quilted by my friend Yvonne

I've posted this one before,

and it was the quickest out the start gate

and first to the finish line of all of these.

I pieced most of this during a retreat in January,

and then Yvonne put it in her frame for handquilting.

We showed it in two local shows

and now it lives in Toronto

with our mutual friend L.

I feel great about giving away these quilts to good homes across the country.

I know they will be used and loved.

And they've cleared out some space on my quilt rack

as well as given me the satisfaction of sharing some quilt love with friends.

That's my gold medal story.

I'm linking up with TGIFF

and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Little Man's quilt

Recently I finished a mini quilt I had pieced earlier this year from solid scraps.

That centre block measures just three inches

and the whole quilt is 13 inches square.

My friend C. carries this 4 inch poseable figure in her purse

and photographs her adventures with "Little Man."

As soon as I gave her this quilt to hang in her new office

(she has a new academic appointment)

she saw it as a quilt for Little Man.

C. also has a bigger poseable figure dubbed "Big Man"

who is the perfect size to hold the quilt

by putting his hands in the hanging triangles in the back.

A bit of cultural fusion quilting

I've been slow to get to the sewing machine

after the holidays and a week away.

I took another look at Sujata Shah's Cultural Fusion Quilts

and fell in love with the blade quilt.

I remembered I had a large package of solid charm squares

(maybe DS, maybe some other solids)

and started playing.

At first I sewed large blades,

but then tried thinner ones.

And started playing with them.

I decided to go with a diagonal setting,

with the narrow blades at the left,

widening as they go.

Now it's basted and ready to quilt.

I'm hand stitching this one,

since it is small (about 17 by 35 inches)

Stay tuned.

Monday morning making

After weeks on the design wall,

I started quilting this little quilt,

made from strings and Kona purples.

The back is a two-tone purple zig zag flannel.

How perfect is that?

So far I've straight stitched the purple zigzags

and started free motioning in the strings.

I'm linking up with Beth's Monday makings.

Guest post and a giveaway

I'm guest posting over at Sew Sisters blog today

with a tutorial on how to make this wrap for your French press coffee pot.

I dug deep into the past for instructions on Seminole patchwork,

using my mother's copy of Cheryl Greider Bradkin's book from 35 years ago.

Leave a comment over at Sew Sisters and you could win

four fat quarters of Kona solids.

If you're visiting here for the first time,

click here to see the rest of my blog.

Monday Design Floor

I spent some time on Saturday transforming these placemat tops

into these

using this book as inspiration.

Thank you Christina Cameli!

I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Mondays.

Flying south for the winter

(light spot is from a sunny fall day)

I decided to put the Accuquilt Go cutter to good use

and started cutting flying geese out of solids.

The beauty of using solids is that I don't need to worry

about right sides and wrong sides

or left and right triangles.

I nearly wore out a cutting mat cutting parts for 200 or so flying geese.

This will become a full-sized quilt for DS2.

I like how the dog ears are already trimmed

and if I have an accurate 1/4 inch seam

the flying geese units are ready to go without trimming.

My system with the Go cutter is to cut the big pieces first

and then keep cutting smaller and smaller shapes.

These blue and green squares were left from cutting the flying geese.

The blocks are for a group quilt for a local charity.

I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network.

Placemats in progress

 Straight-line quilting with a walking foot on a set of four placemats

made with various Kona solids.

I've marked the lines for the matching table runner.

Now just to quilt it, and bind the whole set,

and this wedding gift is done.

I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network

and Lee's WIP Wednesdays.

Graphic weekend

Here's a few shots from my quilt retreat last weekend.

I worked on a set of placemats using Kona solids.

Here's one with the Kaffe print which I'll use on the back.

I used the same layout to frame a set of wonky solid squares.

C. was working on this zig zig beauty

with many 60 degree triangles and lots of seam matching.

And here's C's  throw made from leftover triangles

from a storm at sea quilt.

 

I'm linking with Judy's Design Wall Monday.

Crazy mini for Bloggers Quilt Festival

Crazy mini, 12 by 12 inches

machine pieced and quilted

I dug into the solid scraps to put together this crazy-pieced mini.

It was part of a challenge over at 15 minutes play.

I'm entering it into the miniature category at Bloggers Quilt Festival.

The crazy piecing section measures about 4 by 6 inches

and features about 50 little bits.

Click on the photo to see how small they actually are.

I used a heavy black thread to quilt this section.

I includes some tiny half square triangles

made from the trimming bits of binding,

and machine quilted feathers in the large space.

Here's the back, using a Kaffe stripe.

I bound it with green and a bit of yellow.

I like the juxtaposition between the crazy centre and the calmness of the feathers,

the grey and the bright green

and the idea of using the tiniest bits for a little quilt.

Thanks for stopping by!

Please bid on Crossed Circuits

My little quilt made from leftover solid strips

is on the auction block beginning July 1

at Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.

It's machine pieced and machine quilted

and hand beaded

Please consider supporting this worthy cause which funds research into Alzheimer's

by bidding on this little quilt, or telling your friends and family about it.

I've donated about 16 quilts to this cause,

and this one is the only second one to be auctioned off.

Click here to see them all and to buy some of them online.