Bookshelf Quilt Additions

I'm pushing to add more non-book elements to the bookshelf quilt for my niece Emma.  The directions I am using, the Fabric At Work Bookshelf Quilt Pattern, included directions for chunky bookends.  I pulled a well-aged fat quarter from stash and quickly cut and pieced the bookends. 

Nice neutral sort of taupe/gray with a crackle texture.

I'm pleased with them, simple and easy.  The cat blocks I showed last time got their tails made. 

I decided intertwined tails would be too out of proportion, so I just mirrored them. 

Simple zigzag of the edges after fusing.  Since Emma is a grown woman who just graduated from university, I don't want any of the elements to be too cutesy!  I'll be working on books that are stacked and books that are leaning, per the instructions, to help fill up the bookshelves. 

Design Wall Monday--Bookshelf Quilt Additions.

 Design Wall Monday--see more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

I'm still working on the bookshelf quilt for my niece, with the recent focus on objects other than books, to help fill up the shelves. A search online for a cat block that would be suitable yielded plenty of options, but a lot of them were too tall for my purpose.  However, in 2009 I made this quilt from an online mystery called Twisted Tails, from which I saved the directions.   The center used a traditional Snail's Trail/Monkey Wrench block.  I had a lot of fun with the batiks and bright prints I chose from stash back then.    

For the Bookshelf quilt, I'm using only the cat body portion.  I lengthened the body to better fit my shelf size. 

Pretty batiks from stash for the body, and black background pieces for the shelves. 

Two friendly cats that sewed up very quickly. 

My vinyl-backed tablecloth design wall is working great for this project.  

Placed on the shelf, the cats looked a little plain.  While I could not add the snail's trail for only two cats, I drew a tail to applique on. 

These two batiks are options for the tail fabric, however the proportion of the tail is not quite right.  I think it needs to be longer and maybe intertwine or touch in the center--that would be fun.  I sent a pic to my niece and she said she loved the cats.  I'm next going to try to make an easel for the cherry embroidery, add a coffee cup or wine glass, maybe a vase or plant.  So much fun to decorate the shelves. Maybe the cats will sit on a couple of books...

Slow Sunday Stitching--Unstitching

 Slow Sunday Stitching--see more pretty things being stitched on Kathy's Quilts Blog. 

I am still working on the DMC bouquet kit.  In fact, I get to revisit all the latest stitches put in while chatting with my sister the other night, as they were the wrong color.  I'll blame it on the laughter :)

Look closely and see on the left side of the photo where I unstitched above the 5 pink cross stitches.  Well, at least it was only three small flower blobs that need to be redone! There are not many more colored thread areas to complete before filling in with a lot of white, with lots of surface detail after all the cross-stitches are complete.  

I've been working on the bookshelf quilt for my niece and visiting an old pattern for an addition to her shelves. 

I'll show that tomorrow for Design Wall Monday.  

Design Wall Monday--Strawberries

 Design Wall Monday--see more Design Walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

I've been playing in the pink and red scraps and fat quarters, making strawberries from AP&Q magazine. A free pattern is available online. https://www.allpeoplequilt.com/bags-pillows-gifts/gifts/berry-good-pot-holder

These are fun to make, finishing at 6", and cut from 2" strips with the exception of the bigger square for the strawberry top.

I like them on point too. 

This might be my favorite setting.  

I'm also doing math for quilt backing and broke my brain yesterday.  Quilt math is hard!  Our County Fair is back and if I want to enter anything, have only about 10 days to get something finished and entered...

Design Wall Monday--Bookshelf Quilt

 Design Wall Monday--see more great quilty things on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

I have long wanted a design wall, but not a permanent one. Previously I had used a flannel backed tablecloth hung on the wall in my first sewing room in an upstairs bedroom.  It worked well, but in the open former family room where I am now, I needed it to be easily put away. Years ago at a quilt show I had bought a Hangit-Dangit quilt hanger and felt that was my best option for a temporary design wall.  Surprisingly, finding a decent quality flannel-backed tablecloth took a three store search.  I was not able to find a solid colored one, but for $3 at Big Lots, I found one with a white background. 

It is a pretty busy print with the bicycles and phrases, but I went forward with my efforts. I held it up to the wall to determine how much to fold over to keep it off the floor. Duct tape worked great to make the "hanging sleeve".  The HangIt DangIt is a telescoping rod with a plastic hanger that snaps over the center. 

I also put duct tape over the center of the design wall where I cut a slit for the hanger.  One nail pounded in, and it was ready to try out.

I threw up a few blocks to see if they held.  Ta-da!  It worked great.  The main reason I wanted a design wall was for the bookshelf quilt project for my niece, Emma, that stalled out.  

The brown strips are the shelves--cut full WOF, which is the size limit I settled on for this project.  I worked many hours on adding more details and playing in the scrap bins. 

Lots of fun!  For the cherries embroidery on the second shelf, I am thinking it would be fun to make it  sit on an easel.  I will also add some other objects, bookends and maybe a mini quilt or other art object.  There will be five shelves so I have lots more scraps to incorporate.  The pieces are in no particular order now.  I see an oops block to fix that has the black background on the bottom instead of the top! Many many more book pieces are needed as these will shrink when sewn together, of course. I've pinned some great ideas on Pinterest.  So glad to be making progress again!

More Playing with Charms

There was one final pattern in the Mini Charmers 2 booklet, and I found the perfect precuts in my stash for the Reflections runner. 

I have a lot of cute charm packs that were mostly gifted from Sewtopia or other winnings at Guild, and it is SO HARD to stop hoarding them!  I thought the Violet Craft charms were nice and bright for this quilt and the Lucky Charms went with them well. 

Starting with precuts made the cutting production line go faster; there was some Charm cutting that I was sure I'd mess up, but didn't.  The white fabric was left over from the Basket quilt and there was just enough!

A little sewing and a lot of switcheroo pairing of the tiny parts. 

I did pretty good on the sewing, with only a couple of errors requiring unsewing.  I liked the way the top looked just like this, and waited until the morning to decide on the finish.

I did add the last detail with the stacked squares on the ends.  I'm very happy with the three Mini Charmers.  These should also quilt up easily.    What a fun detour that booklet was!  

Design Wall Monday--Independence Day

Design Wall Monday--lots to share today.  See more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

Something patriotic to start--a mini flag quilt made years ago.

Tiny HSTs that finish at 1" and lots of scrappy fun in the borders.  Machine quilted very simply.

Star Spangled Banner music sheet backing. I always remember that Freedom isn't free, it is the result of much sacrifice, generation after generation.

My employer gave us the afternoon off on Friday--paid!--plus today, so it was already a long weekend. I took three more vacation days for the week so only have to work on Friday, yay! Lots more stitching time planned and I have been playing in the scrap bins again. 

The Basket quilt I showed last time DID need the leaf appliques, after all. 

A bit more pattern added with the leaves.  They did not take long to stitch down.  

The leaves add even more sweet charm to this little quilt.  The Mini Charmers 2 booklet by Heather Mulder Peterson has two more  patterns and I want to make them all. I chose the Winding Road for the next scrappy play.

Mostly medium toned scraps with a few zingers to break it up. These all came from my 2.5" precut scrap drawer.

Heather used a a mini charm pack and solid gray for her quilt, but I found a printed plain for a little more texture for mine.  I could make dozens of these from the same scrap drawer! Two of of these butted together would make a nice long runner.

The final pattern is also made from Mini Charms and is called Reflections. 

There is a lot more cutting involved with that.  I will search around in my precut mini charm packs that I've acquired over the years and see if I can find one I like for this pattern.  So fun!

Brown Finish and Colorful Start

I finished off the binding of the 50 Shades of Brown quilt, stitching on the patio on a beautiful day. Lovely breeze, umbrella for shade, and a cool drink. Quiltalong in 2020 by Lori of Humble Quilts Blog.

The binding took hardly any time at all.  

This pic shows the quilting texture a bit more.  Simple stitch in the ditch.  I posted these pics on Lori's Humble Quilts Facebook page and the quilt garnered a lot of attention and kind words.  I may enter this one in the upcoming Fair.

Another little quilt bossed its way to life almost immediately. I was looking through my patterns binder and came across the Mini Charmers 2 booklet, from Anka's Treasures, designer Heather Mulder Peterson.  The quilts are based on 2.5" charm squares.  Having a full drawer of scrap 2.5"squares, I eagerly dove in. 

Such a fun detour. 

The Folded Corner Clipper tool came in very handy.  I like to trim off the excess from the corner before stitching the seam, so I don't have to mark it. 

The rows came together quickly and I then got all the rest of the white background cut.

All straight stitch sewing and really only a couple of seams to match--a pleasure!

All done except deciding if I want to add the applique leaves to the flowers.  Lots of different colorways could be made of this pattern.  Love it.