Anna's Wedding Quilt is Underway :)

I had planned on making Anna a quilt for her wedding but thought I had some time... NOT!  The good thing about having friends who quilt is that when you need help making a quilt FAST, they are there for you! :)

This Thursday I am hosting a sew day for everyone to come and help me get the top together.  Konda has to work that day so she came over last Friday for a sew day and redesigned one of her quilts to fit a king size bed.

Charming Old Maid by Konda Lukau

(I'm not putting on borders, just lots of stars and hst's)

It was so awesome to have her work out all of the math!!  

There are definite bonus's to having a math professor for a quilting buddy ;)

Don't perfectly cut squares make such cute piles?

AND she CUT THE WHOLE THING OUT!!!

I can't wait to see it come together :)

Baby HST Chevron Quilt

Our friends had a sweet little baby boy a few months ago,

and doesn't every baby need a darling quilt.

I have been hoarding this cute little stack of fabric since the beginning of the year.

The fabric came in the Fat Quarter Grab Bag I bought back in February.  Blogged about HERE.

I was thinking that it might be perfect for the baby my sister is expecting, but she is having a GIRL!!! :)

I also have been wanting to make a chevron quilt out of half square triangles :)

Here is a mini tutorial of how I did it :)

I used THIS method to make the half square triangles.

I used 5.5" blocks to make my hst's.

Two 5.5" blocks make four 3.5" hst's.

For this quilt I used 12 green 5.5" squares,

18 blue 5.5" squares,

7 white 5.5" squares,

37 assorted coordinating print 5.5" squares,

and four white 2.5" by wof strips.

Arrange your hst's in a 12x12 arrangement that make the chevron pattern.

I chose to sew each row one by one.

Then pressed the seams of each row in opposite directions.

...then I sewed the rows together... pressed and added the white border :)

Simple Simon!

The back is grey minky for extra cuddly softness :)

I bound it with charcoal grey that matches the minky.

The Brown Quilt Blues are OVER!!

The quilt is finished :)  It is SO big that my girls had to hold it over the edge of the porch, sideways :)  It measures 104" by 97".  It is for my daughters 20th birthday next week.  She recently moved into an apartment with a queen size bed.  Blue and brown are her favorite colors.  I hope she likes it :)  It's in the dryer right now.  I'll post some close ups and retake these pictures later.  The sun was funky.  Just for those who don't know, this is the second quilt top that I did.

Full view sideways.

The full view of the front, properly oriented :)

The back, oriented correctly.

Full view back sideways.

Here are the "post wash" photos.  I have to say that I liked it better after getting back from quilting, but now that it is bound and has been washed...I LOVE IT!!!   I really do like it now :)  Just a bit of a warning.... there are at TON of photos!

It's so soft and squishy now :)  I am sad that there is no minky on the back.  I'll have to make her a tv quilt with minky later :)

Back from the Quilter

Plopped on my bed for a looksie last night.

At bed time, I tossed it on the living room floor so I could get a fresh look at it first thing in the morning. Since the kiddos are gone, I wasn't worried about them running all over it :)

Konda Lukau (Moose on the Porch Quilts), my quilter ;), told me that some time away from it would do me good. She was right. I am still not in love with the colors and would do many things WAY differently now, but this was my second quilt and it has a special place in my heart. It is for my oldest daughters 20th birthday in a few weeks. She will love it. It's so big and heavy, I am not sure how I am going to wash it. It fits our California king bed PERFECTLY, so her queen bed will be really well covered. I hope she likes it. I post more after I get it bound. It will take me several evenings to get this bad boy done ;) I am binding it in a dark blue and tan gingham.
PS- I have lost .6# this week :)  I am WAY happy about that!  I haven't been as good as I should be with the eating and exercise so down ROCKS!  A weird thing has happened, I would rather sew than get on the elliptical. ;)
PPS- I have been doing a lot of talking to myself about getting a grip about exercise.  I am still sad that running has not come back into my life like I'd hoped after the accident.  I am focusing on losing the weight with the elliptical, but I have an itch to run.  I think I'll get some lubricant for the treadmill and start walking a few days a weeks too.  Oh the things life likes to throw in our path...
PPPS- Konda told me that they are starting a quilt guilt down here, actually right up the street from my house!!!!  I am SO excited!  I joined the modern quilt guild at Broadbent's in Lehi yesterday, and now I'll have one close to home!!!!  It is even during the day, 10-2 :)  I am SO excited!!!!

February Creative Sewing Block of the Month

These are my half square triangles all sews and ready to be cut apart.
Pretend they are vertically hanging and not horizontal ;)

The half square triangles all ready to be pressed and trimmed

Laid out and mostly sewn

All sewn and pressed :)

ps- I finished Kate's Over the Rainbow quilt.  I need to take it's picture and post it, but I don't want her to see it before her birthday :)

One finished... one off to the quilter....

The Brown Quilt Blues is all finished and ready to head off to the quilter :)  It's going to Konda because it is HUGE, 88x99, and I DON'T LIKE IT!! :p

Nice neat corner

My FAVORITE corner...

Larger view of the finished quilt top

The HIDEOUS quilt back

Close up... still ugly :p

Less ugly in this picture

Here is my FAVORITE quilt!!!  MY Valentine quilt just makes me HAPPY!  It is SO soft and cozy with the Minky on the back :)  It just brings joy to my soul :D  

Binding using my bobby pins :)

The back side all finished

The front.  I LOVE this quilt!

SO cute all wadded up on the chair :D