Category Archives: quilting

Quilting Weekend – Shopping

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The Lancaster area is great for fabric shopping; there are dozens of stores with a wide selection of fabrics and decent pricing.  As I suspected, the hobby of quilting is similar to knitting in that the “set up” is so much fun.  I guess what I mean is that picking out the pattern, shopping around, looking at and touching all the beautiful yarn or fabric is much more fun than the actual execution of the project.  In any case, I thought I’d share with you some of the beautiful fabrics that I picked up.  Some I bought for a particular project (summer skirts) and some just spoke to me and I had to have them.

One of my favorite stores – and the highlight of the shopping trip! – was going to Burkholder Fabrics store and admiring the rows and rows of the Amy Butler fabric. I also fell in love with Joel Dewberry‘s Aviary 2 Collection. Can’t you just see all these pillows lined up?

I’m also kind of in love with Khristian Howell‘s Bryant Park collection – it just feels so natural and vintage.  Here is “Rooftop Garden in Earth”:

I picked up a pre-cut charm pack by Moda and I think I’m going to make a smaller version of Ashley’s project, from FITF, with white sashing.

It was fun browsing the hundreds of fabrics, such as the food-themed prints with pickles and french fries, that I will probably never purchase .  I also couldn’t help smiling at the Scrabble fabric and The Fruit Ladies by Elizabeth Studios.  How funny is this!?

Who are your favorite designers?  What are you quilting with this summer?

Hexagon Quilt Top

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This quilt was inspired by the gray/purple fabric that I found in my mom’s sewing room and a quilt-a-long found on Flickr.  The idea is to create half hexagons and assemble them into vertical rows and placing the fabric to give the look of full hexagons.  I used a free template posted in the Flickr group and a handy EZ Six ruler to cut the 6 inch pieces.  After cutting, cutting and more cutting, I laid them all out on a piece of flannel next to my sewing machine for easy access and then joined the rows to form the quilt.

Because some of the fabric had a particular design, I was very careful about cutting out some of the half hexagons, which made it that more time consuming.  It took me a day and a half of non-stop working and I think it will end of being a baby quilt size.  But I’m happy with how it turned out and will be adding a black and white border eventually (my machine is broken).  What do you think?

Quilting Weekend – Pillow

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It’s been a little over a year now since I made these two pillow covers with fabric from the Del Hi Collection designed by Valori Wells (FreeSpirit) - that I got on sale from Purl.

Recently inspired by Sew, Mama, Sew! Pillow Month tutorials and Elizabeth Hartmen’s Mod Mosiac Floor pillow from Oh, Fransson! I decided to make a third throw pillow at Quilting Weekend using Del Hi scraps as well as some scraps I had leftover from making this dress.  I highly recommend Elizabeth’s mosiac tutorial, it was a fun process piecing them together and I love the look of the white sashing bordering each fabric.  What I am finding I love most about quilting is that you can make a beautiful project from little scraps that you would have otherwise thrown away.  

Instead of a zipper back like I finished the other two, I went with an envelope back (here is a tutorial by Modkid if you want to replicate) and had to fudge it a bit with some white fabric because I didn’t make it big enough.  Oh well, Hugo doesn’t care and I can still wash the pillow cover just as easily (which is the point with a dog who sheds like him!).

And then there were three.

Quilting Weekend

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For years my mom went away for girls weekend twice a year in which she called ”Quilting Weekend.”  Sometimes they would rent a place in Lancaster, sometimes down the shore – but either way she always came back with lots of finished projects.

I recently joined her and her girlfriends for my very first Quilting Weekend at a B&B in Strausburg, PA.  Four days of non-stop sewing, creating and shopping for new fabric (of course!).  I’ve been making my lists of sewing projects – some quilts, some pillows, and some clothing.  I’ve been so inspired by these blogs and wanted to share with you. 

Film in the Fridge
you know what i love?
The Silly BooDilly
Crazy Mom Quilts
Oh, Franssom!

I have also been perusing Flickr groups for ideas and photos of inspiration.  Some of my favorite groups are here, here and here.  The last link is a Flickr group for ‘Quilts for Kids’ which is an organization dedicated to making quilts for children in need.  I should mention that my mom’s quiliting group donates hundreds of quilts to them every year (I made one in October).  In preparation for quilting weekend, I organized all projects by fabric and photos and/or pattern in plastic bags which made it so much easier to get started right away.  I’ll be sure to share with you over the next couple of weeks what I worked on.  I hope you like them!

What are you working on this spring?

Quilted Table Runner

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I went on a little road trip to Lancaster, PA last Saturday to visit my mom and her sewing friends
at their weekend getaway.

I rented a car and hit the road. I was happy to get out of the city and connect with nature since we don’t get to see many changing leaves here (check out the side view mirror in the picture above).  The bed and breakfast shares land with an Amish farm and the landscape of rolling hills was beautiful.  My mom and her friends had completely taken over the main floor of the B&B with their sewing machines, fabric and other materials to make quilts and sewing projects. 

They let me join in and make something with donation upholstery samples, so I decided on a table runner.  First, I laid out all the squares of fabric and paired the coordinating colors together – putting one light and one dark together.  I placed them on top of each other (right sides together) then using a ruler and a pencil, I drew a diagonal line on both sides of the ruler and then sewed on top of those lines. 

Then I cut each square in half diagonally, dividing it into 2 triangles between those two lines I just sewed.
Once complete, I pressed the seam allowances towards the darker triangles.

Then using the Omnigrip 6 inch square ruler, I trimmed them all down to a perfect size. 

Half-square triangle blocks like this can be pieced in a number of different configurations, including zigzag, diamonds, hourglass, simple rows of triangles but I decided on pinwheels.  I arranged 12 half square triangles units into 3 pinwheel blocks.  

Using a 1/4″ seam allowance, I sewed the rows together, matching edges and midpoints carefully. Then I pressed the new seam allowance either direction to create a flatter block (but this was hard to do with such thick fabric) and joined them, making one row of three blocks.

I added a 1 1/2 inch border around the entire piece and then started on the backing.  I layed out the backing fabric, batting, then the quilt top on a clean, smooth surface.  Since my project is small, I used a table but you may need to use the floor for a larger project.  You really should tape down the backing of the quilt to keep it secure, but we chose not to for this.

Then I placed my quilt on the batting, spreading out to smooth any wrinkles.  I cut the batting to 2 inches from the quilt, being careful not to cut the backing fabric. 

Once the fabric was arranged the way I wanted it, I used curved safety pins to secure all three layers.

Once I placed all of my pins, I used scissors to trim through all layers about two inches from the edge of the quilt top.  Then I quilted straight through all three layers using my mom’s fancy machine.
I am really happy with the finished project and I think it’s happy on my table with two kabocha squash sitting on top of it. :)
Happy Halloween!

Quilted Table Runner

Posted on by


I went on a little road trip to Lancaster, PA last Saturday to visit my mom and her sewing friends
at their weekend getaway.

I rented a car and hit the road. I was happy to get out of the city and connect with nature since we don’t get to see many changing leaves here (check out the side view mirror in the picture above).  The bed and breakfast shares land with an Amish farm and the landscape of rolling hills was beautiful.  My mom and her friends had completely taken over the main floor of the B&B with their sewing machines, fabric and other materials to make quilts and sewing projects. 

They let me join in and make something with donation upholstery samples, so I decided on a table runner.  First, I laid out all the squares of fabric and paired the coordinating colors together – putting one light and one dark together.  I placed them on top of each other (right sides together) then using a ruler and a pencil, I drew a diagonal line on both sides of the ruler and then sewed on top of those lines. 

Then I cut each square in half diagonally, dividing it into 2 triangles between those two lines I just sewed.
Once complete, I pressed the seam allowances towards the darker triangles.

Then using the Omnigrip 6 inch square ruler, I trimmed them all down to a perfect size. 

Half-square triangle blocks like this can be pieced in a number of different configurations, including zigzag, diamonds, hourglass, simple rows of triangles but I decided on pinwheels.  I arranged 12 half square triangles units into 3 pinwheel blocks.  

Using a 1/4″ seam allowance, I sewed the rows together, matching edges and midpoints carefully. Then I pressed the new seam allowance either direction to create a flatter block (but this was hard to do with such thick fabric) and joined them, making one row of three blocks.

I added a 1 1/2 inch border around the entire piece and then started on the backing.  I layed out the backing fabric, batting, then the quilt top on a clean, smooth surface.  Since my project is small, I used a table but you may need to use the floor for a larger project.  You really should tape down the backing of the quilt to keep it secure, but we chose not to for this.

Then I placed my quilt on the batting, spreading out to smooth any wrinkles.  I cut the batting to 2 inches from the quilt, being careful not to cut the backing fabric. 

Once the fabric was arranged the way I wanted it, I used curved safety pins to secure all three layers.

Once I placed all of my pins, I used scissors to trim through all layers about two inches from the edge of the quilt top.  Then I quilted straight through all three layers using my mom’s fancy machine.
I am really happy with the finished project and I think it’s happy on my table with two kabocha squash sitting on top of it. :)
Happy Halloween!

My First Quilt

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This past Sunday my mom came over and taught me how to make my first quilt – I’m ecstatic and hooked!

This is a nine patch quilt designed by Cindi Rosenberger, made with Laura Ashley fabric.  It was so interesting learning the little tips and tricks and I had many “ah ha!” moments.  It was quite fun.

This quilt will be donated to Quilts for Kids, whose mission is to “transform discontinued, unwanted and other fabrics into patchwork quilts that comfort children with life-threatening illnesses and children of abuse.”  The story of how they got started is really fascinating and not only do they help children but they keep discontinued fabrics out of the landfills.  There will be more quilting in my future!