BluePip Designs

It's been a little quiet around here - we took our final summer road trip and had a wonderful time.  All my quilting time has been spent doing things that aren't super-blogpost-worthy, but let's check in anyway!

My Paper Round quilt is basted and quilting has begun!


The backing finally arrived for my Sweet Treat quilt and I dropped it off to be quilted last night.  A special end-of-summer treat for myself!


I am still behind on my Summer Sampler blocks - I'm really struggling with fabric choice for some reason.  But I did manage to make a decision for one of them - only four more to go!


Finally, my 100 Days quilt is halfway done!  50 beautiful blocks all sewn together.


Not bad for only having a few days to sew this week!

Quilt alongs are fun, but I'm itching to finish up another big quilt!  And the easiest way to finish a big quilt is to finish one that's practically done - my Paper Round quilt!  I just missed finishing the top when it was my monthly goal back in February, and it's been sitting and waiting ever since.  In my defense, I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to back it with and how I wanted to quilt it.  But I am ready now - I unfolded it and did the first pass ironing, then dragged it outside and took a new picture of it with borders on for this post.  My quilt plan is in place and I am ready for the challenge!


I'm linking up my goal with Elm Street Quilts.

I spent most of July alternating between catching up on my quilt-alongs and spending time with my kids both inside and out.  This worked out really well because I felt like I was getting a lot done even when I only had twenty minutes or so to sew!

First, my Summer Sampler blocks.  As always with this sampler, I am mixing things up and creating my own interpretation of the blocks.  There are currently three blocks in the "to make" pile but I adore the nine that I have done already and can't wait to have this quilt on my bed.


Next, my 100 days blocks.  This year it's a new pattern and there's lot about it that I really like: the unique way Angie wrote the pattern, not all the blocks are square, most of the blocks are a quick sew, and the blocks aren't in any particular order based on what elements make them up.  My plan for a pastels has slipped a little, but I'm ok with that.  I've long been obsessed with crazy quilts and making this is a joy. 


Finally, m…

Today we are traveling almost exactly eight years into the past.  Eight years ago yesterday I finished my very first quilt!


You'd think I would have gone outside and taken a picture, but it was my first quilt photography experience too.  Plus my current quilt-holders were a little too small to be helpful (one wasn't even born yet!).
Some thoughts.  I borrowed my mom's circa-1980 Kenmore sewing machine to make some boppy covers when I was pregnant with my second child because I didn't like any of the ones they had in-store (they turned out great, if you are wondering!).  Then my mom came to visit and took the sewing machine home with her.  I missed it so much I ended up buying my own machine two weeks later!
I had always been interested in quilts, and this was the first time that I had dedicated access to a machine to try it out.  My mother-in-law is a quilter and she gave me this pattern (which I no longer have) from one of her quilt magazines.  She told me it was stri…

Flying geese.  I love them and I hate them.  One of the reasons I decided to make the Ricochet Quilt last summer was to improve my technique with these units.  If you're like me, you hate the waste of piecing them traditionally, but struggle to get them to the right size with their points intact with the no-waste method.

Enter the (almost) no waste flying geese method.  This method lets you make four geese at once that end up slightly oversized so you can trim them down to the perfect size.  You can also use a full quarter-inch seam instead of a scant seam.  This prevents the tops of the geese from getting cut off.  Finally, it gives you a little more room for error in case one of your squares is slightly off.



Cutting
Cutting is based on the size of your FINISHED flying goose block.  There's a chart after the picture, but in a nutshell:

You will need one large square for the goose (inner) fabric.  Size of square is your desired finished width plus 1.25 inches.  Cut the square o…

Quilt-alongs!  There are always so many good quilt-alongs to choose from, and this year is no exception.  I am currently working on three: Gnome Angel's 100 Blocks in 100 Days, with her fantastic new Kinship pattern; the 2019 Summer Sampler, and the Quiet Play Pattern Club.  All of them are very different and keep me busy in different ways.  Each has a distinct style and colorway: 100 Blocks is traditional and I'm going for pastels, the Summer Sampler has curves and is black, red, and yellow, and Quiet Play is all pattern pieced and bright and full of rainbows.

My goal for the month is to piece together all the Quiet Play blocks I've already made and make at least three more to add to the sampler.  I was hoping to have the bee made for this blog post, but after a series of disasters, it's just not going to happen.  One piece had the paper rip early and everything just got off and on another I put the wrong color fabric in the wrong spot and I'm not sure it's re…

I am happy to report that I have made a lovely dent in my WIP stash, as per my goal for June.

My Trinket quilt (April goal) has been fully finished since last month, and I finally got outside and took some beauty pictures of it and wrote a blog post.  We've been using this one quite heavily since the last stitch went into the binding, and I'm glad I got a few pictures before anything got spilled on it!

My Tula Pop quilt (May goal) got quilted and faced, a new technique for me!  You can read more about that in this blog post.

My husband always uses a hand towel under his coffee cup on his dresser in the morning, so for his birthday I made this simple mug rug to use instead.  There's no pattern - I was just playing around with my new drunkard's path ruler set. Because of its small size (7"x9") I just brown-bagged it and then quilted it after it was done.  Not a technique I'd use on a larger project, but it was perfect in this case.


Finally, I don't post…

This quilt took a year to piece (with a 6-month stint in the UFO corner), a week to quilt, and then another month or so to actually photograph, but after a little adventure with my kids it is finally ready to be shared!


It took more discipline than I normally have to plan out all the colors so that the rainbow effect worked, but I am thrilled with how it turned out in the end.  All fabrics are Alison Glass - I love how the charcoal Insignia gives the empty squares just a little bit of movement.  After all that work, I didn't want to take away from the rainbow effect, so I just did diagonal line quilting - the diagonals through the corners match the colors of the blocks they are going through.  The "in between" lines match the color they are passing through as well.


The back is all Alison Glass as well, and also features the bonus block that was part of the sew-along.  The busy pattern is Collection in Ink and the binding is Path in Storm - both from the 2019 Sun Print c…

Tula Pop is done!  This was a fun, fast sew from Suzy Quilts called Sugar Pop.  I started with the half-jelly roll of Tula Pink Pinkerville fabric that was in my April Sew Sampler box and went from there.  Important note: this is not actually a jelly roll pattern.  You will need yardage to do the last two colors on the sides that don't have the bi-colored leg.  The background solid is a piece of Princess by Kona that I just happened to have on hand and the solids in the X are from my unlabled solid scrap box.


My guild challenged us to try new techniques this year, so I decided to experiment with this quilt.  After reading several tutorials on facings, I decided to follow this one by The Silly BooDilly.  My strips were only 1.5" wide and I ironed them under before attaching them, but otherwise I followed it faithfully.  It certainly wasn't any faster than making and attaching traditional binding but I really like the feeling it gives to my quilt.


And those beautiful green …

Today is the last day of school - the year went by in a flash.  I definitely didn't sew as much as I thought I would, though the fact that I started working part-time is mostly to blame for that (and no regrets on that front - I love the new machine that I was able to purchase with my earnings!).

My youngest asked me to make a mini quilt for his excellent kindergarten teacher, who, according to him, loves cats, books, and the color orange.  After a little discussion, we decided to use the Tall Tales pattern and came up with this sweet little mini.  He chose all the fabrics himself and we outsourced the embroidery of the titles to my ever-patient mother-in-law.


We packaged it up with a sweet little note for him to bring to school tomorrow - hopefully she likes it!  I'm not planning on any grand sewing adventures (a la Quilt Block Summer) this year; in fact, I am inspired by South Bay Bella and I'm just going to work on WIPs during the month of June.  I've got two finish…

Last week I was riding high, working on a couple of different projects at once, when I hit the worst possible roadblock: not enough fabric for not one, but TWO of them.  Ugh.  I ordered it online, then pretty much ignored my sewing room because there was nothing else that I wanted to work on.  However, I'm happy to report that once the fabric arrived, I jumped right back in and was able to make some lovely finishes.

First up is my Sugar Pop top, which was my goal for May.  This little baby quilt went together quickly and effortlessly - I'll talk more about it in its "finished" post.  For now, I'm linking this up at Elm Street Quilts.


Next is this lovely Adori block that I made as a bonus to the 2019 Summer Sampler.  I wasn't a big fan of block number one, but this one makes me happy.  I'm enlarging the quilt so it fits our king-sized bed, which means I need at least three extra blocks.


The other projects still aren't quite ready to be shared, but hope…

I've been on a hard-core "finish it up" streak lately - I haven't started a new project since February, which, to be perfectly honest, is forever for a quilter!  This all changed last week when I got my newest Sew Sampler box in the mail - there was a mini jelly roll of Pinkerville by Tula Pink and I couldn't resist diving into it, especially since I had a cut of Princess in Kona that matched perfectly!


I realize it's not a great picture, but it's not very portable right now!  I'm currently working on quilting my Trinket quilt, but my goal for May is to get this pieced together too!  I am linking up my goal at Elm Street Quilts.

Another successful month!  I finished up about 10 minutes before the kids got off the school bus and had my oldest take this rainy day porch picture when he got home:


I struggled at times to find the "right" fabrics to make my ombre work, but it all came together in the end.  All the fabric (except for the solids) are by Alison Glass, who also designed the pattern.  I've got the backing fabric and a quilting plan - can't wait to get this one out of the sewing room and onto the couch!
I am linking up my finish at Elm Street Quilts.

Where have I been all month?  Piecing Trinket blocks, enjoying the warm spring days between the wet, blustery ones, and making Easter baskets for my kids!




Every time I do something like this I remember that I like making flat things more than 3D things, but I love the finished baskets despite their quirks.  These were extra special because my oldest picked out all the fabric and notions that I used!  I had fun trying new quilt patterns on the insides as well.  The Minecraft bucket is just a simple block pattern, but the Pokemon one has Pokeballs and Picachus and the Harry Potter one has lightning bolts!



Now we have a birthday to celebrate - the owner of that Minecraft basket is a brand-new nine-year-old as of today!

April is here!  It's the month of birthdays and spring break and winter being over - pretty much the best month of the year!  I'm still in "finish-it-up" mode, so my goal this month is going back to Quilt Block Summer: time to finish up my Trinket quilt top!  I have not touched this since last September, and it was about halfway finished when I set it aside.


In the past three weeks, I've sewn 15 more blocks for it as part of the Trinket sew-along on Instagram.  Today kicked off week four and here is my Instagram post from this morning, also featuring part of March's Rainbow Blossom sewing:


The quilt is mostly Alison Glass fabric, but I do through in a few solids when I feel like it!

I'm linking up my goal at Elm Street Quilts.

My Modern Fans quilt is done!  If you scroll back through the blog (or just click that link) you'll see that I finished this top back in November.  I bought a back for it online and when it arrived it was all wrong.  Then I couldn't find anything else that I liked, so the quilt was just in a state of limbo.  Enter my guild challenging us to try new things in 2019!  I took a look at this quilt again, particularly the madras print that was my jumping-off point for the rest of the colors, including the green solid and orange grunge that just scream "Fall!  Pumpkin Patches!  Cool nights!" when you look at them, and decided to take the leap: my first flannel-backed quilt!


I wasn't sure what to expect with the flannel, but it didn't give me any trouble at all.  I did pre-wash it, something I normally don't do, but that was the only change I made.


One other thing that I've been working on is not over-quilting my quilts.  Since the fans are all wonky (for lac…

I'm just popping in today to share my finished Sweet Treat quilt top!


I was a few days late for finishing with the sew-along, but I'm thrilled with how it came out and have no regrets!  It's going into the "finished tops" pile for now - I decided the only acceptable backing is one of the new prints from the Ruby Star Society so I have to wait a few months for it to arrive.  Luckily I have plenty of other things to work on (or maybe I'll just be outside enjoying the beautiful spring weather!).

This is the first block I made for my Rainbow Blossom sampler.  When I finished it I hung it on my sewing room wall (as I sometimes do) and after looking at it for two months I decided I wanted it there permanently!  One morning to quilt it up and one evening to hand-stitch the binding also made it a satisfying fast finish.

The back is just a solid piece that I had laying around - I think it was a freebie from the 2016 shop hop I participated in.  The important part is that it was exactly the right size and I think it's fun to be able to see all the quilting sometimes!


Now back to quilting bigger things!