quilted patchwork coasters

I have a lot of quilt projects in the works right now – a coin quilt that I have yet to begin piecing as well as the sorta-finished quilt top I posted on Tuesday – as well as a few more that are completely pieced and ready for quilting, but since they’re gifts I can’t post them until after the winter holidays. Anyway, lengthy lead-in to the fact that I feel like I still need some practice on quilting technique before I begin these larger projects. That’s where my current fondness for quilted patchwork coasters comes in. I get to practice quilting on my machine & binding. For these I didn’t sew together the ends of the binding & instead tucked the beginning under the end piece. It created a little lump that I’m not too happy with, so I’ll probably switch back to sewing the binding ends together – continuous quilt binding.

The second set is not really a set or patchwork. It’s just a pair of coasters for the mister to use for his fancy root beers & “pink stuff.” Our aesthetic tastes differ drastically. He loves skulls, camouflage, & red/black combos. I love bright, springtime color combos with some brown or grey thrown in. I keep a fair amount of skulls in my stash, though, to create crafty stuff that he’ll love and use.

strip quilt top

I finished sewing this together back in May, but I’ve had the hardest time figuring out where to photograph it. I still didn’t get a great shot, but it’ll do for now.

I am totally in love with that wavy stripe fabric, but I could only find 3 fat quarters of it. I was trying to evenly space the 2 stripes of the multi-colored fabric, but I ended up adding a few extra strips to the bottom of the quilt and now it looks a little off. I may end up moving the lower wavy stripe in order to balance it out. This quilt is intended for our queen size bed. I had hoped to have it quilted by the end of the summer, but since I’m at a loss as to what to do for the back and may end up repiecing the top, that doesn’t seem likely. I’m still really happy with the turquoise, brown & mustard combo, though. It’s good for me to step away from green every now & then.

bird mobile

Finally got around to making a bird mobile from the spool sewing tutorial. I exclusively used fabric received in a patchwork-themed fabric swap a few months ago. The mobile shown was gifted to my sister-in-law for her birthday. It serves as decoration in her somewhat bare living room.

These birds are addictive to work on. It’s fun to dig through my scrap box and pull together interesting fabric combinations. They’re also a great project to work on while otherwise distracted. These were all constructed as the Mister and I furiously worked out way through the last few seasons of Doctor Who (the library only lets you check out a season for a week). My plan is to add more birds to the leftover pile and pull together a slightly more elaborate set-up for some lonely corner of our house.

chronicle books giveaway

I entered a giveaway for Chronicle Book’s Crafty Stickers over on Linda Permann’s blog a few weeks ago. It feels like I’m always entering these things and never winning, but I won this one.

The book of stickers came in yesterday’s mail and they’re adorable. I love them. Chronicle threw in a surprise, too. Not only do I now have my own copy of Crafty Stickers, but also Dutch Door Press Labels & Stickers, which are just lovely. Really lovely.

Thanks again Linda & Chronicle Books.

I have a ton of crafty projects to write up and post here & on my flickr account, but there’s not enough light in the morning and by the time I get home from work, the light is gone. I hope to get some of the documenting done this weekend.

the beginnings of something

Our bed is in serious need of a summer-weight quilt and I’ve been wanting to make a quilt for myself for over a year.  I’ll solve both problems by pulling together a coin quilt.

The quilt is based on the Stacked Coin Quilt from Last Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts, but will be constructed differently because some of the scraps I wanted to incorporate weren’t large enough. Here’s to all those little rectangles become awesome like the quilts I’ve collected as inspiration.

There’s also a 2009 Coin Quilt piece-along going on. I sorta missed their starting by a few months, but I’m hoping to catch up and have this baby finished up by the mid-summer.