It's finally time to share my Diamond Ripple quilt!
The original inspiration for this quilt came from THIS block by Quilt Matters (Can you see the individual blocks?), and THIS quilt by Hoosier Toni, which I apparently totally copied.  ;P
This quilt was my "back-burner project" for quite awhile.  It didn't really have a deadline, so I worked on it here and there when I could.  I actually made a lot of the blocks while on vacation at our cabin last summer.  Everyone thought I was crazy for bringing my sewing machine on vacation, but to me - sewing IS a vacation!
This quilt is for ME!  Well, more for my husband, but since we sleep in the same bed, it's all good.  :)

We acquired a new bed a few... years... ago.  Our previous bed was Queen size and the new one is a King.  All of a sudden none of our quilts were big enough.  Naturally, this called for a new quilt!  And this one is huge.  Trust me on that.  :)  576 HST units, in case you were wondering. 
Jeremy picked out the colors AND design for this quilt and I convinced him we wanted the gray background.  I love how the little pops of red make the quilt sparkle.
For the quilting, I kept things simple (Jeremy is always insisting that I quilt with straight lines.  He really has it in for pebbles and stippling).  It was actually easier than I expected (for a King sized quilt...).  I just quilted diagonal lines across the whole quilt, jumping across the colored sections and only quilting in the background.  Quilting straight lines can be pretty tough on a huge quilt like this, but I was pleasantly surprised to realize that quilting them diagonally gave me the benefit of having less quilt in the throat of the machine most of the time (compared with what it would have been like quilting horizontal/vertical lines).
For the binding, I chose the same gray fabric as the background.  Mostly because I had a bunch leftover and I was being economical.  You could also say I was trying to be modern.  ;)  The backing is a 104" wide denim chambray print from Connecting Threads.  Sometimes I really love a pieced back, but sometimes it's so nice not to have to worry about it. 
 And here it is on our giant bed.  No more fighting for covers!  Yay!

Recently, I participated in a service auction with some of the women in my neighborhood. I donated a set of hot pads and a set of bibs.  In return, I ended up with an afternoon of babysitting AND a free haircut! I'm calling it a win.  Anyway, it's time for me to share what I made with you.  😊

My friend requested something with this blue/gray print for the hot pads:

I made them with hand pockets.  😏

For the quilting, I did cross-hatching, swirls, and outlining.



Oh, and I bound them by hand. These babies were THICK!

Next up, another friend requested girly bibs for her granddaughters, and since I didn't have very many in the shop, I decided to make a whole bunch and list the extras in my shop.











And lastly, another friend saw the little thread catcher/pin cushion I made WAY back when I first started sewing, and asked me to make her one for her sister-in-law.  I roughly followed THIS tutorial, because I wanted the hanging basket to be removable.



That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by!

Also, the bibs were one of my goals (#4) from this quarter's Finish Along, so I'll be linking up!

Next up for our Quilt Class is the Flying Geese block!  This is what a single "flying goose" looks like in fabric:

Piecemeal Quilts

We'll actually be making 8 flying geese, which can then be arranged in several different ways, including some of these:

The Crafty Mummy

The Crafty Mummy

The Crafty Mummy

The Crafty Mummy

And here are a few flying geese quilts that caught my eye:

Quilt With Us

Fancy Tiger Crafts

Beech Tree Lane Handmade

Simply Pieced

Bind Quilts

Robert Kaufman

Fresh Lemons

ME!

Flying Geese can be made using one of 4 different methods (Methods 1-3 are shown HERE - Craftsy Blog)
Method 1: Traditional Method: Cut three triangles and sew them back together
Method 2:  Corner Triangles (Starts with one rectangle and 2 squares)
Method 3:  No Waste Method (Makes 4 flying geese at a time)
Method 4:  Paper piecing (Pieces are sewn directly onto paper - this method is more commonly used when the flying geese are going to be arranged in an unusual formation).


Our alternate block is going to be the sawtooth star block, which is made using squares and flying geese units:

Honeybear Lane

Suzy Quilts

Okay.  Here are the things you need to know about actually MAKING flying geese units in ANY SIZE:
First of all - if you are doing your own math (which is super easy) just remember that the FINISHED WIDTH of your flying goose needs to be twice the FINISHED HEIGHT of your flying goose.
Here is a great tutorial for making any size flying geese using method #2 (one goose at a time):  Pat Sloan
There are TONS of tutorials out there for making flying geese using method #3 ("no waste" four-at-a-time), but this one is my personal favorite (and she gives you the formula for making any size flying geese):  Happy Quilting
And finally, a great demonstration of how to sew those geese together without losing your points:  Pat Sloan

Here's the low down on the different methods we covered in class:
ONE AT A TIME METHOD:
-Makes it easier to have lots of variety in your block
-Uses smaller pieces to start with
-Will have wasted fabric (you'll be cutting off corners and throwing the fabric away)
-No trimming required (usually)

FOUR AT A TIME METHOD:
-Makes four geese with the same fabric, so you are more limited in your fabric choices
-Uses bigger pieces to start with - in the long run uses LESS fabric
-No fabric is wasted
-Trimming is required (if you cut your pieces oversized - in my handout, the measurements have ALREADY been oversized)

So there you have it.  Here are the instructions.  Let me know if you need help!  Flying geese can really be so fun. :)
WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Block 7: Flying Geese

I officially got my first commissioned quilt from a non-friend/family member!  Yay!
Donna contacted me on Etsy and asked if I could make her a simple, masculine, Queen sized quilt to match a particularly busy rug in her bedroom.  Of course I said yes!
We settled on a Carpenter Star pattern using not-quite-solid Moda Grunge fabrics.
The quilt top came together quickly and easily, especially for how big it was.
Donna gave me free reign to quilt this pretty much however I wanted.  We agreed that feathers and straight lines would look nice, so that's what I went with.
Quilting this was SO FUN!
I've always wanted to try some echo quilting in negative space, and this quilt gave me the perfect opportunity.  If you look closely, you'll see that I quilted a THIRD star shape in the borders around the main two stars.  Lots of marking, but I think it was worth it.  (I used a Hera marker, for anyone who is wondering).
I even found the perfect backing for the quilt - the subtle print actually matches the design on Donna's rug pretty well. 
Here are a bunch more photos of the quilting.  :)
And a phone shot of the quilt top on my Queen bed, of course.  For scale.  :)


This quilt is also #11 on my Finish Along list.  YAY!  Linking up, when the time comes: