Montana Fleece Animals

Okay, so the fleece animals are only from Montana because that's where I made them.

My friend Cassandre (Yarn All Over) was kind enough to send me a wonderful book to make cute, lovable stuffed critters.
This is my first attempt. His fluffy coat may not be the best, but I didn't buy a single thing for this project. Yes, I have THAT much stuff. I think his eyes might be too close together, too. I hope he gets to work grazing that yard.

You can find out more about the book, Wild and Wonderful Fleece Animals on Amazon.

Stash Busting!

I just couldn't leave well enough alone. I just had to make another quilt. I decided I didn't want to cut fabric for this quilt. I wanted to use the four patches I already had. I picked through the bin full of blocks and pulled a bunch out.

I also pulled out some strips that seemed to fit what I already had and made up some more four patches.

With the help of Electric Quilt I put in a larger center block made up of several four patch blocks, added borders and started putting things together.

Electric Quilt wasn't that helpful when it comes to putting a bunch of blocks that aren't the same together, but it did tell me how many blocks I'd need.

'Round and round. I used some of the strips I'd found to put in the borders, trying to keep some semblance of order but keep it scrappy. I made sure to keep with the half-square corner blocks. Those were left over from yet another project.

How many projects really went into this? Hmmm... I think there are blocks from a wall quilt I made in New York to a nice lap quilt I made for my friend when I lived in Rhode Island. Some baby quilt bits are in there, too.

Overall, I think it came out quite nice. Honey says it looks "springy." I think the colors do come together to make something that reminds one of spring.

The good news? I only had to cut once. That was for the final border. I'm not sure what I'll back it with. I think it would make a great cuddle quilt for a little person. In that case, it needs flannel. Little people love flannel. Or, that's just my perception of little people.

Before I finished it, my mind was already working on what I should do with some more of those orphan blocks and strips I have hiding in bins.

Well, that's it for this week. I'll have to figure out what to do next week. I heard a rumor that we're going on an adventure next weekend. I'm not sure how that will work out. I'll let you know if I find any fabric.

And a Matching Bag!

First, I have to apologize for the quality of the picture. It seems my camera and I are not getting along. I failed to check my "during production shot" so you totally missed out on that part of this project.

Here is the finished bag. I used a few of the "extra" four-patch blocks I had left over, put them together into a 16" x 16" block, cut what remained of the focus fabric to match, then used some of the blue to make the straps.

The front, back and both sides are quilted with wonderful free form flowers sewn in red thread. I used a lighter batting to cut down on bulk. The straps go all the way around the bottom (the bottom is three layers of fabric without batting) to support the not-substantial weight of a quilt.

As you can see, it fits very nicely into the bag so she can carry it with her on the train back home.

It also occurred to me that this would be a great knitting bag. That's right, quilt-errific and can hold your yarn and needles. I think it would really be better with some inside pockets. I'll have to keep that in mind for my next "quilt transportation unit" is needed.

Finally..... A Project!

Yes! That's right, I have found the fabric, the sewing machine, thread, scissors, etc. and the motivation to create something.

(This post was intended to arrive yesterday, but blogger was refusing to upload pictures. Sorry for the delay.)

My Aunt came to visit me for a week or so. She quickly realized that we are wicked boring. It was easy to convince her that she really needed to make a lap quilt to commemorate the trip and to keep her busy. That took us to the local Ben Franklin for supplies. We found the perfect fabric to pull my stash into some semblance of order. Stash-busting is fun. Besides, it means I get to buy more fabric.

I broke out my Electronic Quilt software and came up with something I figured she'd like. After playing with color we went looking for the fabric. Before the move, I knew where everything was. Now.... well, I think the whole first day was just finding all the quilting fabric and the batting. We ended up changing the color choices a little to meet the stash, but I think it will work out fine.

I have wanted to do a quilt with a big center block and several borders for a while. I made sure to take pictures of each step so you could see it grow. I suppose I could have broken it up into several posts, building suspense. I just didn't have the time. With Auntie's help I worked through the whole top on Sunday.

Each round, I used the focus fabric and chose fabrics that were contained in the focus fabric to create the four-patch borders, separated by solid borders.

There was a horrible cutting accident when I put the border on the center block. I cut to actual size of the yellow strip and had to add another one to make up the difference. I think it came out okay anyway.

Round and round we went until we hit 44" x 44". Then came time for the batting and backing. Since I'd gone over the size of your standard fabric width, I had to piece together the back.

Also, because I wanted to keep Auntie involved, I picked a fluffy batting so we could use the tie technique to hold it all together. (You'll have to wait for the finished product picture.) I added the binding, helped with the ties and we were almost done.

Of course, now I need to make something for her to carry it in to get it back home. Wouldn't want her to try to tote along a lap quilt on the train without a bag. Wish me luck. I'll have that one posted later today (assuming blogger lets me post pictures, that is).

Comments for this post are strongly encouraged. Please, let us know what you think!

Also, because I liked how the multiple borders thing worked out (thank you Electric Quilt!) I think I'm going to try it again. Maybe I can work through my scrap bag a little.