Needle and Thread Thursday Time!

Happy NTT, y'all!  My secret sewing has been a success, and I am pleased to call this one finished!

If you missed my last post, this one is for my wild thing for Christmas, and it was made entirely in secret.  That's a little bit hard to do around here because he's pretty observant.  Even though the sewing happened while he was at a retreat this weekend and finished while he was at school, every single incriminating scrap had to be thrown away in the outside trash.  He can spot LSU colors from a mile away.

 I pieced the backing with some leftovers, of course, and framed all of the busy pattern with a solid Kona Purple binding.

A snuggle with a quilt is almost as good as a hug from mom (though I still steal those when I can), and it makes my heart happy to know that he will treasure this quilt for years and years to come.

So, before we link up this week, let's check out some of the awesomeness from our last party.  Carole at From My Carolina Home linked up this perfectly pretty Autumn Jubilee table topper-

This lovely is from Myra at Busy Hands Quilts, and it is her brand new pattern, called Castle Dreams.

I love this In the Pink quilt from Kris at Sew Sunshine.

and finally, I cannot help myself this week.  I have to show this improv stunner, called Crown of Orchids by Jess at Quilty Habit.

There is so much fantastic eye candy every single week!  Time to link up your latest projects!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

*If you're new to the party, here's a helpful tip for linking up- select "Auto Crop"  when selecting your thumbnail photo.  For some reason, trying to crop your own image results in the dreaded "white question mark box," and we definitely want to see your awesome work!  :)

What Momma's Boy Wants

Our wild thing is an only child, and we have worked hard through the years to make sure that he knows, that while he is dearly loved, he is not the center of the universe.  That sometimes means that even when we can afford to give him something he wants, we choose to make him work to pay for it himself because we want him to appreciate what he has, and value more than just possessions.  When he asks Momma for a new quilt though (which doesn't happen very often), all bets are off.

At the ripe old age of twelve, my big boy still snuggles with me, but only on his own terms (and even that's a big secret).   My heart melts to see him wrapped up in a quilt I've made, and I'm sure that won't change, no matter how old he gets.  So, when he asked me for an LSU quilt, I got busy planning;  and when he was away at a youth retreat this weekend, I took that opportunity to get busy sewing!

He got home from the retreat yesterday afternoon, and I got all of the evidence hidden away.  I will be working like a madwoman over the next few days to finish this quilt while he is at school, and pretty soon it will be wrapped up for Christmas!

Party Time!

Rain, rain go away!  Hurricane Patricia (or, what's left of her) has been making its way across our area for the last few days, and although my plants are grateful, it certainly makes getting decent quilt photos impossible.  I had to settle for snapping a few inside pics of my latest finish since this quilt needs to be delivered to its new home soon.

Even as a rival team fan, I have to say that I like how this one turned out.  The team fabric is subtle, and the pattern is modern and masculine enough for its recipient.

I used the partial squares that were left over on the back, along with chambray.  In general, when I make a quilt for a man (or boy), I try to keep the backings pretty simple but still interesting, and I love using chambray for them.  It's 57 inches wide, so that makes it really easy to just add a small strip of scraps and call it done;  and what man do you know that doesn't like denim?   The binding on this one is Kona Rich Red, which I had left over from my Truffles quilt.  The finished quilt measures 62" square, which is a weird measurement for a quilt that is eight blocks across.  It's because the starting blocks finish at 16.5," which are then cut into fourths, making them 8.25" before sewing, and finishing at 7.75."  Clear as mud, right?

Sooo...let's jump to a few features from last week's party, shall we?  Jennie at Porch Swing Quilts showed off this stunning flowering snowball top-

Jayne from Twiggy and Opal linked up this cool quilt using her Denyse Schmidt stash.

and Micki at 2 Dogs Studio shared this fun little quilt.  This is a great way to show off little sampling of large, bold prints!

Okay, friends!  Time to link up your latest projects!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

One Thing Leads to Another

Well a few of my latest quilts, namely my two Ole Miss quilts and my LSU Love quilt, have prompted another friend to ask for a team quilt for her son- 'tis the season for gifts, you know!  She asked for the Stacked Squares pattern for the quilt, and only wanted a tiny bit of team fabric (fine by me!).  She was also open to the addition of a few more colors than just the traditional red and navy to add some dimension.

Ole Miss sometimes wears retro helmets that are actually powder blue rather than navy, and occasionally the team sports shades of gray as well, so I incorporated those colors in the design, and I really love the depth it added to the quilt.

As I mentioned before, the season for gift sewing is in full swing, which means that I am also working on a couple of secret projects.  It's always tough for me to keep these kinds of projects off of my blog (I am the worst secret-keeper), but at this time of year, there's just no way around it!

Another thing I can share though is that I just got a full fat-quarter bundle of the Ambleside collection, and I have a great plan for these sweet colors as soon as I finish up this latest quilt.

NTT and Team Spirit

This quilt was pure fun, from the first bit of fabric browsing to the last stitch in the binding.  I finished it up yesterday, and I thought that a photo shoot at our city's youth league football field would be fitting.

The finished quilt measures 72" x 99" so it is a generous twin size, and this pattern was really easy to size up (fyi- I started out with 30 complete blocks, in case you want to tackle this pattern).  Since several have emailed me to ask- you can find the original (free) pattern HERE, which explains how the quilt is constructed (including photos);  however, I changed the measurements slightly to make the pattern fat quarter or yardage-friendly, since I rarely use precuts.  My measurements (and cutting diagrams can be found HERE).

Now that the quilt is all finished, I love the addition of the gray and white even more.  I feel like just that little bit of neutral fabric really keeps the purple and gold from being overwhelming.  In another context, I would refer to this color as yellow, but we LSU fans say that our colors are purple and gold, rather than purple and yellow.

I kept the back simple;  just Kona Purple with a wide stripe of the busiest LSU fabric.  I quilted it with white thread, and I love how it shows up against the purple.  There was a time (a long while ago) that I would shy away from really dark, solid backings because I worried about the contrast showing every single imperfection in my stitches, but these days I am more comfortable with my quilting, and as it turns out, these high contrast backings are really some of my favorites.

The binding is Kona Corn Yellow, and it frames the quilt perfectly without adding any extra pattern.  My first instinct was to put a gray binding on the quilt to pick up the gray in the top, and I really struggled with the decision; but my husband's reasoning won out when he reminded me that gray is actually not an LSU color.  As it is, I think it mostly just blends into the front, which is good, and it really pops against the back, which is fantastic.

This one has already been shipped off to my friend, and I can't wait to get his reaction when he receives it!

Alright!  Last week's party was filled with lots of awesomeness, so check out some of my favorites!  This string quilt from Kris at Sew Sunshine is so beautiful, and I love the contrast of the bright colors against the weathered barn in her photos.  Amazing!

Chelsea at Patch the Giraffe linked up this pretty Picnic Pinwheels quilt.  I love it!

and of course, the fact that I am a sucker for a rainbow quilt strikes again, so I can't help but feature this Rainbow Patches quilt by Myra at Busy Hands Quilts.

Y'all just amaze me week after week!  I can't wait to see what you have going on this week!  Time to party!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!