So Curvy WIP

I don't know about you, but sewing curves - that seems terrifying.  Well it did. 

I LOVE curves in quilts.  I just never understood how to cut them, or sew them, or contemplate them.  lol.  But I decided I wanted to learn and my first step was getting some templates.

I got the 6in (finished) templates from Jen over at BettyCrockerAss.  She has an etsy shop and had some templates made.  They weren't expensive and I really wanted to learn how to use them...
Then I got them and I was so excited.  She even sent cute charm squares with them. 
Of course I had to experiment with cutting and sewing curves right away.

They are not perfect, but as perfect as they can be for a newbie.  ;)
I used am elmers glue stick to hold my fabric in place and that was WAY better than pinning for me.  

Originally I just pulled out scraps, but now it is going to be something.  I just have to get the right background fabric. 

Have a lovely weekend! 

 - Katelyn

There's scrappy...and then there's scrappy

At least that was the reaction of one of my friends when I posted pics of these doll quilts on Instagram. 

I didn't to waste any of my Oh Deer! scraps from my virtual quilting bee quilt.  So I saved any scrap that was at least an inch in width and length.  Then I tried to put them together.   It was awful.  I have never done improve piecing before - I am a planner.  I have never worked with scraps before, esp. that small.  I will never do that again.  It took SO much.  I thought I had tons and would be able to make more than two doll quilts, but I could barely make one.  I had to pull out much larger scraps, that I was saving in my scrap bin - though after this fiasco, I'm not quite sure what for.  lol
In the end I like the one with the bigger scraps better.  I have learned my lesson. 

tiny scraps

bigger scraps

I quilted these with a free motion meandering stitch...at least I tried.  It was good practice and I think I may be getting there.  The backing and binding are solid brown.  I love how the binding seems to contain the craziness. 

These are going to be for my two oldest nieces for Christmas.  I hope they enjoy them.  
That's 2 gifts down and 8 to go...
Only 41 more days till the deadline...and lots of family fun!

I'm linking up to Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Fabric Tuesday @ Quiltstory, and Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation.

 - Katelyn

Busier Than Ever

Is that a word?  Busier?  Oh well. 
I may have forgotten about adding corner triangles to my virtual quilting bee blocks...like before I even started making them.  So when Amy posted the next step in the quilt...I panicked.  Square-in-a-Square?!?! My blocks were already (can I use the word busy one more time?) lively.  However, after much deliberation I realized that I had enough fabric left over and thought it would look fine. 

I do love them!! 
I am planning on calming them down a bit with solids.  Amy has posted the Boarders and Sashing instructions now...so here is what I have planned:

Cream for the sashing, Red Birds (from the Oh Deer line) for my corner squares, Kona Corn Yellow for the first little boarder, and Kona Peacock for the bigger 2nd boarder.  I'm thinking solid brown for the binding and for the backing...what do you think?

- Katelyn

Quilting Bee

Some of you might not know what a quilting bee is...I certainly didn't before I participated in one.

The definition is "where people gather together to make a quilt."
Well, I recently participated in a Virtual Quilting Bee hosted by Amy Smart over at Diary of a Quilter.  So instead of gathering together to learn to make new and different blocks, I just logged onto her blog every two weeks and made a new one from there.  I used a fat quarter set that I already owned for the project, Oh, Deer!  by Moda.


You can still get the fat quarters at a few places, one that I know of is Lily Bella Fabrics.

The Bee just finished the 16th, and final block.  It has been so much fun to participate!!!  Now in a few weeks Amy is gonna come back and tell use how to put the blocks together to make a quilt.  Though I have some idea how it will look because of a previous quilt she made from a different quilt-along.
Here are my blocks:

 Busy, right??  I don't feel like this is what I am drawn to usually, but I kinda love them.  And I think that once I put a solid sashing between the blocks they will calm down a tiny bit.  All of the blocks (unfinished) are 8.5 inches and the quilt will be about 70x70. 

There are three blocks where I used a cream solid (towards the beginning of the bee), but I think I will still use the cream for a sashing - those three may just pop out more.  Then I'm thinking a red and blue for my squares and borders (if we really put it together just like the one Amy made).  Thoughts???


I decided to go back to the same color scheme for my last block that I used in my first block...tie it all in for me:

Block 1

Block 16

 And I had so much fun learning new techniques, like paper piecing (which I talked about in this post):

Block 15 - Paper Piecing

And fussy cutting:

Block 12

Block 6

I just can't believe that its almost over.  It has been so much fun!!

 - Katelyn