Graduation Quilt {Finally Finished}

Without a doubt the emphasis here is on finally!

Our youngest's High School graduation was only12 months ago...no need to rush into anything! 

I'm pretty sure when he received the sneak peak of his quilt that he never dreamed that it would take mom this long to finish it! 

Here's the sneak peak he had 12 LOOOOOOOONG months ago...

Doesn't he look amused!?!

I had just told him that, that little square was his whole quilt. 

Without any further delay, here is the finished quilt!

The original plan for this quilt was an Irish Chain Quilt and technically it still is an Irish Chain.

Though taking a quick look at it you would never guess that the pattern is Irish Chain. 

So, the youngest took one look at the layout I had planned for his quilt and wrinkled up his nose, "Too much white!" for his taste. So we switched out the solid white squares for black star fabric. 

Unfortunately I had already pieced all of the 361 tiny little black and white nine-patches. 

The simple change of one block completely changes the overall effect of the layout. 

I thought about naming it, "The Lost Irish Chain." In the end, I went with "Universe of Opportunities," a nod to the new chapter of life that graduation marks and in reference to the outer space fabric used on the back. The backing may even be his favorite part.

All over Free Motion Swirls for the quilting. 

This is the same quilt that I had so much trouble with the thread skipping stitches, balling up and making nasty little nests on the back side. I spent waaaaay too long adjusting tensions, changing needles, stitching speed before throwing out the thread and switching to my trusty, awesome quality Aurifil thread!!!! 

Once I changed threads I didn't have asingle problem the rest of the quilt.....too bad I didn't switch threads sooner. Because I spent as long as I did trying to make the other thread work properly I was left me with a bit of a dilemma....rip out everything I had stitched or find a way to "fix" all the skipped stitches and bird nests. 

I really considered ripping out all the stitches and starting over, for half a second.  If it had been a customers quilt I would have done just that, of course I would have given up on the crappy thread much quicker, leaving me with a whole lot less to rip out. 

But......

Since this was a "family" quilt I was going to "cheat" and stitch as nicely as possible over all the problem area with that awesome Aurifil thread. I wouldn't have considered this "fix" for a customer's quilt! Thankfully most of the "fixes" don't show too much!

As always I LOVE how the stitching looks on the back! 

 In this photo you you can actually see the start of the Irish Chain along the edge.
I've studied these pictures in amazement at how color placement can make such a huge difference in the look of a quilt!!

 

 Even though my trip back to Missouri concluded with me bringing our youngest back home to Missouri....making him available to help with quilt photo shoots, this cute little hopper was the only assistant I could find willing to help me out with this particular shoot and he insisted on being included in the photos!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing some quilting love with me! 

I greatly appreciate all your support along the way! 

Blessings &

Happy Stitching!

Marcia 

Pixelated Quilt Tutorial Series - Pixelated Four-Patch {Part 2 of 4}

Today's tutorial is the four-patch method for piecing a pixelated quilt. 

For this tutorial I will be using a pattern designed by Angela Pingel of Cut to Pieces.

Part one (using strips to piece a pixelated quilt) of this four part series can be found HERE.

Today we'll be working with Luigi, a favorite of many Super Mario fans.

1. Prepare Pattern 

Once you've chosen the pattern for your block you're going to divide the block into quadrants, and mark off the quadrants with a sharpie. Once you have the main quadrants marked off, use a different colored sharpie and begin marking four patches. Use a ruler to achieve straight lines.

Helpful Hint: 

Notice in the pattern below that while the block is square with an even number of rows there are not an even number of paired rows. You don't want to divide a pair into two separate quadrants...keep them together.  i.e. the upper left quadrant is 4 pairs across while the upper right quadrant is 5 pairs across.

2. Cut Squares & Stay Organized

Cut 1 1/2" strips the length of the fabric and then cut as many 1 1/2" squares as needed. 

Refer to Tutorial 1 for a helpful hint when cutting squares. 

Staying organized and labeling colors is important, especially if you're working with similar hues that can be easily confused. Use whatever system works best for you.

3. Layout a Quadrant

It doesn't matter which quadrant you begin with. Choose where you want to start and using the marked diagram lay out the pieces for that quadrant and only that quadrant.  

 After laying out the quadrant, working from left to right and top to bottom begin pairing squares that will be chain stitched. Leave the farthest left hand vertical row where it is and flip the row to it's right on top of the first row with right sides together.  Starting with the top pair begin stitching seams (which will be the right hand side of the pair - as long as you keep things oriented as they are).

4. Chain Stitch Pairs

If you chain stitch these pairs together in order from top to bottom keeping them with the second row pieces on top, they will be ready to pair up to easily create the four patches. You can work with one row at a time or chain all the pieces before moving on to the next step.

5. Pair the Pairs - Create Four Patches
To easily create the four patches clip the chain stitching between every other block. This will leave you with pairs ready to press and stitch.

Take each pair and press the seam allowances in opposite directions.
You can finger press these seams if you like...but be aware that it won't be as crisp and precise.
Using an iron will give you crisper seams and make matching seams even easier.

Personally when I press I use a good shot of steam on every seam. I know the "Quilt Police" say never to do this, but I feel it gives me a cleaner, crisper seam.

6. Sew Four Patches Together

Match the seams and "lock" them together where the seams butt up against each other.
Stitch all the pairs of rows together. 

Two Options for pressing seams of the four patches:

1.Swirl the center. 
This will reduce the amount of bulk and ridges in your finished block.
If you utilize this method you will need to clip the thread from the chain piecing that we didn't clip earlier. After clipping that little thread, pull apart the couple of stitches in the seam allowance to open up the center seam allowance. Once you open up the center section the seams have a natural direction they will want to lay. Lay it out flat and  press the seams in a swirl/pinwheel.



 2. All One Direction. 
Leave everything as it's stitched and press the seams together in one direction.
If you choose this method, it's helpful to coordinate the pressing of the other four patch center seams so that you can continue to utilize the locking method for matching seams.

After you have all your four patches sewn together lay them out again, using the pattern diagram to verify to everything is sewn together correctly.

Now you'll treat each of these four patches as a single square and begin creating bigger four patches.
You'll notice in the photo below that this quadrant cannot be divided into nice four patches there are a couple of extra pieces making it more of a 6 patch. This is totally okay. Make the four patches first stitch to two extra pieces together and attach them to the end of the four patch next to it.

7. Sew Large Four Patch Sections Together 
Once you have all the bigger four patches and six patches sewn together it's time to sew each of those together to finish that quadrant.

8. Complete Quadrants
Repeat steps 3-7 to complete each of the other quadrants

9. Sew Quadrants Together
Once you have all four quadrants complete it's time to stitch the quadrants together.
Match and lock the seams pinning if necessary and stitch.

Press the seams in opposite directions, match seams of last two sections, pinning again if necessary and stitch your final seam.

10. Finished! Time to Celebrate and Admire your work!

Advantages of the Pixelated Four Patch Method: 
 1. Blocks are divided into sections that can be completed in a small amount of sewing time.
2. Don't need a huge amount of space to layout one quadrant at a time.
3. Easily stored away until the next time you have sewing time.
4. Seams are easily aligned, using the "Locking" Method
5. Seems to go together fairly quickly.

Disadvantages of the Pixelated Four Patch Method: 
1. There will be more ridges than with the other methods.
Swirling the centers will reduce the amount of ridges created.


Thanks for stopping by today!!
I appreciate your support and the love you all share with me. Thank you!
The next tutorial in the series will be: The Stabilized Method

Happy Quilting!
Marcia

A Tea Cozy {Finished}

Finished up the cutest little tea cozy today.

This was a special order that I was honored to be asked to make.

Of course I had to add a few extra special touches....I just couldn't resist. 

Hot Pink Chevron Tea Cozy

 The only direction I was given was 1) a tea cozy that sits over the teapot and 2) pink chevrons.

I used the Medium  Hot Pink Chevron from Riley Blake Designs. 

The direction for this little cozy didn't call for any quilting, but it was just calling out for it. 

Using a walking foot, I used the edge of the chevron as my guide, lining it up with one edge of the foot and echo quilted the chevron print. I thought about adding a second line of quilting, but this seemed like just the right amount. 

The binding is the Hot Pink Solid from Riley Blake Designs.

(both the chevron and this solid are available in the shop www.littlepinkrose.com)

The binding is cut on the bias using the continuous bias binding method....my favorite binding. 

To attach the binding I stitched it down, folded it over the raw edge, covering the stitching line and used a stick glue (for fabrics) to tack the binding in place. 

Then from the side that I had just stitched I top stitched about an 1/8" or so from the edge, using the presser foot as a guide and making sure to catch the opposite side in the stitching.

The final little touch was choosing an adorable little dot print that coordinated well with the pink chevron. Because of the way this little cozy is pieced together it's also reversible, with that in mind I picked an adorable little dot that coordinated with the pink chevron quite well. The dots are from a retired collection called "Sunshine" by Riley Blake. If she gets tired of looking at Pink Chevrons there are cute little dots hiding just a turn of the cozy away!!

Reverse side of Tea Cozy {aka Inside lining}

I'm heading off to spend some much needed time with my youngest "not-so-little" man. 

Leaving the hubby at home....this way I can spoil the child a bit....shhhhh! 

Miss you gals already!
I'll be back in the shop next week

But, in the mean time I'm leaving you with a "Vacation Special" 

FREE Shipping on all Domestic orders 

$10 off all International orders

April 17-23

To Visit Little Pink Rose click HERE.

Happy Stitching &
Many Blessings!

Marcia 

Special Deal

1 Day Only Special
While Supplies Last



LUXE in Bloom Fat Quarter Bundle
$20.00 -- SAVE 28%
Expires April 16 at 10PM EDT or Out of Stock

Visit Little Pink Rose HERE. 

Click on the photo to go directly to today's deal. 

Happy Stitching &
Many Blessings,
Marcia

New Pincushions

I've had a great time putting all these together along with several more just waiting to be filled with crushed walnut shells!  The buttons all came from my collection....some are vintage buttons that I've been collecting over the years, some are hand dyed buttons and others are fun novelty buttons I've found browsing fabric shops around the country.  I love buttons almost as much as I love fabric.

These are all available in the shop: www.littlepinkrose.com

While I was digging through my stash I came across several pieces from the quilt that I made my mom and new she would love a pincushion out of the same fabric. I can hardly wait to give it to her!

It'll be a great little birthday gift, from her favorite daughter! 

I am a bit of a introvert .......okay that is probably the understatement of the year......but I can be quite content and happy being alone for very long periods of time.  I know for you extroverts that's a completely foreign concept, but for me it's true. 

For a long time I really didn't see anything wrong with this comfort and for the most part I still don't, after all it is how the Lord created me. 

But, I have come to realize that even though I'm okay with lots of alone time, I do need time with people. I need to be around others, interacting and engaged in activities with others...even if just for a short time. Since I can be so content being alone I've also realized that I have to force myself to get out of the house and engage with others.

With that realization in mind I made the decision to join the Quilting Clubhouse at Kelly Ann's Quilting in Warrenton, VA.  Once a month I make the drive over to Kelly Ann's to spend some time with wonderful ladies who all share a common bond, the love of quilting and sewing!

While Kelly Ann and I are technically competitors, I don't see our relationship as one of competitors and I'm pretty sure she doesn't either. She has offered me invaluable advice as I've worked to set up and grow my online shop and I always feel welcome in her shop and free to pick her brain when I'm in need of help on the business side of life. 

Below is the quilt top from last year (I'm in the middle with my quilt).

Once quilted this quilt is going in on our guest bed, along with some coordinating pillows.

2012 Swirly Girls Clubhouse Quilt "Weekend Getaway"

Last week we received the fabric, "Poppy Love" for the 2013 Clubhouse. 

This quilt will be going on my own bed and will become the decorative theme for the master bedroom and master bath. We've lived here for over two years now and I couldn't decide on paint colors or curtains or anything for our bedroom, but when I saw this I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Though I am going to have to invest in several yards of extra fabric to complete the vision. 

These blocks are extras....made from the scraps leftover from the month 1 block.

The one on the left is my first attempt at improv piecing. I guess it's not too bad. 

We'll see what the rest of the ladies think.... 

I have decided that if they don't care for it, I'll keep it and make up a lap quilt or one of those bed runners, or maybe a pillow.

Thanks for stopping by and hanging out with me for awhile! 

Happy Stitching &
Many Blessings,
Marcia 

P.S. 

Stop by the Shop and save 25% on your entire order.

Use Coupon Code: TAXDAY25

ends April 15th 10pm EDT