Matching Quilts in the Etsy Shop!

I finally have a couple of new finishes to share!!!  I had been sitting on some scraps of Amy Butler charm fabric, and I had no idea what to do with them.  I created a wall hanging from these fabrics nearly 10 years ago, and had stashed the leftovers in the drawer and forgot about them.

Recently, I decided I need to start working through some of my scraps, and make pretty things from them.  These quilts are the first on that list.  It felt great to make even a small dent in my scrap stash.

The quilts are almost the same.  They have the same fabrics in them, both measure 51" square, and have the same backing fabric (by freespirit).  The only difference is the layout.  One of the quilts has prints on the outside edges, and the other has the border fabric on the outside.  That's it, the only difference.

Both were longarm quilted on my handi-quilter (by me), one quilted with swirls, and one quilted with flowers.  I used Quilters Dream batting in both, and I love the way this batting quilts up.  I have far fewer issues with this batting than some of the other popular brands out there.

These would be great quilts for little girls, especially if they share a room.  They are close enough to match, but you can still tell which quilt is which.

Of course, these quilts are also great summer couch quilts.  The batting in them is light, and they are the perfect size for your favorite couch or chair, or even an evening by the lake.

I really love how these turned out.  They are simple, but I didn't want to detract from the boldness of the fabric.  I love how modern they are.

Both are for sale in my Etsy Shop, and can be found here and here.  In all honesty, if I didn't already have a quilt made from these fabrics, at least one of these would be staying with me!

Thanks for visiting!  What scrap projects have you been working on lately?

Cristina
The Quilted Mitten

My Favorite Quilt I've Ever Made...For Now

I love all of my quilts in one way or another.  Sometimes I love them for the fabrics, sometimes I love them for the memories they bring to the forefront of my mind.  Sometimes I love them just because they were fun to make.  Every once in a while though, I love one for all of these reasons, and when I look at it I am immediately happy.  This is one of those quilts.

For now, this is my favorite quilt I've ever made.  I don't know exactly why.  Maybe it has to do with the unique pattern (from Livin' Large 2 by Heather Mulder Petersen).  Maybe it has to do with the Fabric (Parisville by Tula Pink), which I hoarded for YEARS before I finally decided what to do with it.  Maybe it has to do with the colors, modern yet not too loud.  In reality, it is probably all of those things.

Piecing for this quilt was more difficult than I anticipated.  If you look closely I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to find where the trellis pieces don't match exactly.  I think the difficulty was that you need to match diagonal seams with perpendicular ones.  Thankfully it isn't largely noticeable and the overall affect is really fun.

I love this fabric so much.  I don't know if it's due to my love of historic dress, but as soon as I saw the "Marie Antoinette" wigs I knew I needed this fabric in my life!!!  How fun are these ladies!?

I had considered putting a border on this quilt, but by the time I finally got the center of the quilt done, the fabric was long out of print.  In the end I think I actually like it better without the border, and it's still a large full size quilt which works well on a bed or to snuggle on the couch.

If you read my last post, you might recognize the backing for this quilt.  I've been trying to shop my stash first, especially for backings, but I didn't have enough of any one fabric.  I DID have two pieces of yardage that were the same color though, and they both blended well with the pink on the front of the quilt.  An extra strip of purple gave me enough fabric for the back, and it felt GREAT to use up these pieces of yardage that had been hanging around a long time.  Both of these salvages were dated 1999!  20 years after they were printed, they finally found a use.  

The binding was from Tula Pink's True Colors collection.  It blended great, and I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg to get fabric from the Parisville collection.  Sometimes I find it's easy to get caught up in the "need" for fabric from the same line, but often I can find another choice that's more economical.  

Do you have a favorite quilt?  What makes it your favorite?  Do you find that your tastes change over time, or are you loyal to your favorites long term?

Happy Monday!

Cristina

The Quilted Mitten

All in the Family - Part 1 of 2

Hello Everyone!

I have 2 quilts to share with you in the near future.  Both of them were finished quite some time ago, however I am just now realizing that I never got the opportunity to show them to you!

I think it was about 3 years ago now (sheesh I'm behind), my Aunt K contacted me about making her a quilt.  Originally she was interested in finding one that I had already finished, or had a finished top, but in the end I didn't really have anything ready made in the style and colors she was looking for.  Ultimately we decided that I should make her a quilt of her own.

She really loved a quilt that I was working on with Parisville fabric by Tula Pink, however I had been hoarding that fabric quite a long time, and it was long out of print.  Luckily, Elizabeth by Tula Pink had just been released which was similar in color story and style.

Because there were so many prints in this collection, we decided to use pre-cuts to get all the color variety and pattern into the quilt.  We also used one of my quilt patterns "When in Rome"  which works great with charm packs or a layer cake.

This picture shows my "design wall" (aka a quilt hanging on the wall), as I laid out the blocks for the best color placement.

It feels weird to review my own pattern, because I'm obviously biased, but I do really like the way this plays with charm packs AND yardage.  It's a good way to use a whole collection while also highlighting larger prints.  The center block and the border are bigger cuts so that you can show off the feature fabric without losing design.

Here is the center of the quilt with all of the blocks and sashing.

 After the center, there are a series of borders including a pieced border of half-square triangles.

I love the way this quilt turned out.  The hardest part was letting it go, because I love Tula Pink so much!!!  I quilted this all over with a floral pattern, and even backed it with Tula's extra wide fabric.

 My favorite part was that she loved it. :)  That's always my favorite part.

Ooh!  I almost forgot!!!  I stashed more of this fabric!!! ;)  I haven't started it yet, but there will be a version 2.0 of this quilt added to the Etsy shop at some time in the future.  If you are an Etsy user, favorite my shop to stay in the loop.  :)

Thanks everyone!!!  Hoping for an early spring!

Cristina
The Quilted Mitten.