Throw Quilt Archives - QA Creations

November 11, 2014September 18, 2015

Stash Bee Square Dance Quilt

This year I participated in the Stash Bee, an online bee made up quilters all over the world. I was in Hive 12, and my month was May. I asked the members of my hive to make me blocks from my Square Dance quilt block tutorial using the paper piecing pattern that I created for this project (now available on Craftsy).

Here she is – in all her glory! The members of my hive did such an amazing job with their blocks. The variety that they added to this quilt is what really makes it shine! I will really enjoy sitting on the couch cozying up with this quilt this winter knowing that so many people helped make this quilt happen.

A huge thank you to Heather, Cheryl, Jennifer, Michele, Kristel, Laura, Toni, Genevieve, Francis and Willa!

Above are some pictures of the quilting in progress. To see more pictures, please see my Quilts Actually blog post about the quilting of this Square Dance quilt.

This quilt was a little rushed because I was working to complete it before the fair. The binding and I spent some late nights, a lot of time in front of the TV, and an all day guild meeting together in order for it to get done.

It was worth all the work though… I finished it in time to enter it in the North Carolina State Fair, where we earned 2nd place in the Group quilt category! I’m going to say we were robbed… just kidding… I didn’t actually see the 1st place quilt, so the possibility does exist that it was better.

Once I was able to pick up the quilt after the fair, it seemed like everyday was sunny or rainy so it I had to wait quite awhile for a nice overcast day to take proper photos. Luckily, our fall colors were at their peak, making a nice backdrop.

The back of the quilt really shows the quilting in detail. I also added a few extra blocks in a strip along the bottom. I love that little pop at the bottom! I was also quite proud of myself for adding the hanging sleeve right away (granted…it was forced because I wanted to enter it in the fair), but usually I wait forever and don’t have any backing fabric leftover to use. The sleeve looks so much nicer in matching fabric!

Note to self: make the hanging sleeve when you first finish the quilt from now on.

This is my Stash Bee Square Dance with my miniature quilt Square Dance. These two quilts have earned a few second place finishes – North Carolina State Fair, Quilting in the Pines Quilt Show, and Floral Fantasy Quilt Show.

Finally, a photoshoot out-take… My daughter was “helping” to arrange the quilts just like mom. Maybe I have a future quilter on my hands! Or a photographer…

Thanks for stopping by!

-Heather

Linking up to whoever has the link up post this week of the following:

Anything Goes Monday, Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts, Let’s Bee Social Wednesday @ SewFreshQuilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Whoop Whoop Fridays @ Confessions of a Quilt Addict, TGIFF, Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Ft. Worth Fabric, Show off Saturday at Sew Can She, Sewing Saturday at Simple Simon & Co, Stash Bee Link Up

May 16, 2014May 31, 2014

Blogger’s Quilt Festival

Welcome to my entry to the Spring 2014 Blogger’s Quilt Festival – the Spinnaker Quilt!

This quilt was a work of love, my Christmas present to my dad for Christmas 2013 (over 5 months ago already – can you believe it?)

The inspiration for this quilt was a brightly colored spinnaker on a racing sailboat. My dad actually requested this quilt, and when dad requests something like this, I make it. He wanted it to have yellow, green, red and be bright and cheerful. I like to think I met his requests.

Each of the 238 rectangles in this quilt are 2 inches by 7.5 inches finished size. I used a variety of fabrics and tan linen to allow the eye a place to rest.

The quilting is an allover design of rounded rectangles, with the goal of softening up the hard rectangles while keeping it masculine.

The back is pieced with the linen and anchor fabric to make the backing wide enough to fit the quilt.

The quilt roll shows the grey crosshatch binding.

This quilt measures 68.5 by 53 inches, which is 243 inches around – just barely a large quilt category. A little more in process information can be found in my original entry on this Spinnaker Quilt.

Thanks for visiting from Amy’s Creative Side!

– Heather

January 10, 2014September 18, 2015

Spinnaker Quilt for my dad

Now that Christmas is over, I can share the Spinnaker Quilt that I made for my dad.

This summer I went to visit my parents and Grandmother in Wisconsin. While I was there, my dad described a skirt he had seen and asked if I could recreate a quilt like it. He wanted a quilt made up of rectangles about 2 inches by 8 inches in yellow, red, and green with some white in there to calm it down a bit. His major descriptor was that he wanted it to be bright and cheerful. Later, the request was modified somewhat as he said it reminded him of the colorful spinnaker sails at a sailboat regatta.

I had already pulled some nautical fabrics before the spinnaker theme was requested, so I knew I was going in the right direction. My dad grew up around boats, and had a boat most of his life. Some of my fondest memories growing up are from sailing down the Columbia River at dusk.

Each of the 238 rectangles in this quilt measure 2.5 inches by 8 inches prior to sewing.

My trimmings turned out quite pretty, at least more so than usual.

The layout is 34 rectangles vertically and 7 rectangles wide. The top photo is prior to being sewn together – it was a risk to use the design floor with baby and dog around.

The back is pieced – I didn’t have enough of the one main fabric, so I pieced in the linen and anchor fabric as a design choice. Plus, I think pieced backs are kind of fun.

I chose to quilt it with a new panto – rounded rectangles. I wanted something masculine, yet the rounded edges helped to soften the design. I think a sharp quilting design would have been too much for this quilt.

I debated about the binding, but after getting some confirmation from instagram friends, I went with the gray binding. It fit the nautical theme much better.

And now for the stream of finished pictures… The quilt had been finished for several days before I finally had a sunny day to take them!

I had trouble taking pictures of the back thanks to my helpers – my two girls. First, the dog wanted to see what was going on outside.

After I closed the window, the daughter walked over trying to figure out why she couldn’t see outside.

It’s a very large throw, which made it a little difficult to get a photo of the entire thing inside my dry house. I don’t risk quilts outside when it is wet.

Lastly, the roll shows the binding color the best.

My dad loved it! Below is my dad’s view of the quilt being shown off Christmas morning. So much so that he said it was too nice to use and that he wanted to just hang it up. Luckily, my mom (who crochets, and therefore understands that things are made to be used) told him it was too nice not to use and that he has to use it. A successful Christmas quilt!