Baby Quilt

I wanted to bless a friend with a cute quilt for her new baby. She's a stylish chickadee with impeccable taste, so picking some trendy fabrics was fun! I love blue, yellow, and gray, and she specifically requested the orange and chevron.

I drew up a simple pattern.

The plan included large squares of chevron interspersed with 9-patch.

My nine patches were made from 3"x3" squares.

Then I started sewing them together...

How cute are those little Forrest creatures?!?!

Then sewing rows together...

I originally planned 5 blocks by 7 blocks but the size was getting away from me, so I just did a 5x5 square with a simple one inch border and then a 5 inch border with cornerstones made of a 4 patch.

Some machine quilting and some ties!

A quilt isn't finished without a label.

I love how it turned out! Here's hoping she and baby do too!

Strips with Flowers Quilt

This one us soooooo cute! When I saw it on Pinterest, I knew I had to make it! Plus, it's super simple, and therefore, fast!

Sew various STS strips together so that you have around 60 inches in length. Your quilt will then be trimmed width wise to the smallest selvage--probably about 40 inches. I quilted the layers together here just with simple lines following the strips every 2 inches or so. Here's the backing with a label! (A quilt isn't finished without a label, they say!)

Then you make these adorable flowers. I just eyeballed them and sewed a 2" circle onto a 3" circle and then keep adding layers of circles til you have about 5"-6" bottom circles. I sewed the outside edge to the next layer and then sewed the outside later of that one to the next and so on...

Then I appliqued the stems and leaves with my machine and added the flowers! 

Here's the finished product. Made for a baby girl in the family!

Pieced by Christina Konrad.

Quilted by Christina Konrad. 

Easy Zig-Zag Quilt

This us a quick and easy variation on a chevron/ zig-zag design! I needed to whip something together relatively quickly, so I found this idea on Pinterest!

It's just strips of colored fabric sewn to a background fabric.

 Then laid out in the design.

Then sew the rows together and then rows to rows.

You can start to see the chevron design come together, although I don't love my color choices as much as I had hoped.

Here's the finished product. Made for a baby boy in the family!

Pieced by Christina Konrad.

Quilted by Christina Konrad. 

2015 BOTM

2015 BLOCK OF THE MONTH

This year's block if the month is a paper piecing quilt! Ever paper pieced? It is definitely not difficult, as I assumed it would be. It is, however, super super duper time consuming! 

Here is the block for January...

The whole center medallion is made of 32 triangles. The whole block took about 14 hours! I love this and I love that my points actually worked and it's beautiful!

I don't think I'm going to finish the quilt though...each month is basically making 32 triangles that go into 16 squares which are sewn together into 4 larger blocks. I don't have 14 extra hours every month!

But, since I have the fabric for a whole quilt, I am planning on doing this pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Co.

The quatrefoil quilt!

http://youtu.be/V3A7ZWzAzRs

Stay tuned!!!

Intersection/ T Block Quilt

I finally got my new machine up and running and it is SO nice! 

I decided to make a quick quilt for some precious people that I adore (for a wedding gift). 

I found this idea from the Missouri Star Quilt Co. They do wonderful tutorials and they are always filling my head with new ideas that I HAVE TO DO!!!

This quilt actually went together so fast because it is mostly large pieces and you can chain stitch every step! Awwww! It's been a while since I could do that! And did I mention how nice and efficient the new machine is?!?

Here's just the top! See the "T" design?

Here's the finished result...

4th of JULY!

My favorite time of year!

New flag wall hanging, banner of Americana themed sayings and mason jars! Love crafting for the home!

The bunny, the bunny, mmmm, I love the bunny!

This is a knock off of a scrapbook page I made eons ago. I decided to make an Easter wall hanging. The back is a great turquoise blue, to represent the sky. It's about 20x20ish. 

Then, I just started cutting pieces for the body, the ears, the inside of the ears, and the tummy. I just ball parked it, but you could pre-draw patterns if you weren't sure how big to make them. I would do that on wax paper and get a general idea of the lay of the land. I used greens and yellows for the boy bunny and pinks and turquoise for the girl. 

Here's what that looks like half-way through.

At this point, you use wonder under or heat and bond to adhere all the pieces to the background fabric. Then I machine stitched  around the edges (fast appliqué). 

Once you have that, you can start to add embellishments! I added buttons for the eyes and nose, as well as the boy's shirt. I made a string of  beads for the girl. I made a bow-tie for the boy and a hair bow for the girl.

Then you can stitch in little details like mouth lines, ear accent lines, etc.

Then I added the outside border. This helps fasten the bunnies down.

Afterward, I decided to add a strip of fabric that was scrunched up in order to make it look like grass.

Fin!

Here's my month block, too!

BOOTM II: march

This one is extra tricky because almost every piece of fabric was cut on the bias, meaning every piece is extra stretchy. Fabric is kind of funny like that. 

You can stretch it this way 

and it doesn't really go.

Or this way 

and it doesn't really go!

But this way

or this way

are crazy elasticy.  So when you cut pieces of fabric into odd shapes, like triangles, things can get extremely off kilter. And so, if you don't pay extra special attention, your pieces go all caddywampus!

Here's the finished product! I think she turned out pretty well!

Special Someone Quilt

In honor of valentine's Day...and how much I love making quilts, I present a Someone Special quilt.  But I don't have anymore space in my house, so now I get to make them for other people! This one will be for a sweet friend that I miss everyday! I know she has mainly reds and browns in her living room and my favorite colors are green and turquoise, so it's a little piece of her with a little twist of me! I'm excited about how fast it is coming together!

This is the finished quilt on her couch! Awesome!

Pieced by Christina Konrad

Backed with twin sheet!

Quilted by Jennifer McCrea

Finished 2015

Winter Wonderland...

It snowed. Snow in Seattle equals quarantined to your home until the great melt-off. I know this seems silly to those of you whose lives can continue with feet of snow, but Seattle snow is wet and Seattle is a city of hills. So, if you want to get anywhere without taking out a neighbor's fence or the community's transformer, we walk or opt to stay home.  I guess I could invest in X-country skis...that would make a trip to the store a but quicker! With that, I haven't left my house in 3 days. I don't do well is such circumstances, so I've been trying to keep myself entertained...sewing usually does the trick. As I was pulling down the Christmas decor, Matt suggested that next year we decorate in Seahawks colors only...the grinch suggests we decorate in a particular motif--I jump! Absolutely, we can decorate in all Seahawks colors! That gives me an excuse to do more projects! I spent a few days looking for quilt blocks that looks like snowflakes. Thankfully, my class provided a good start! So here I am working on providing my husband's request...

Snowflake pattern on L: Block 1 from Lonestar Pizzazz by animas quilts.

Snowflake pattern on R: resized Swoon block by Thimbleberries.

I LOVE Valentine's Day!

To be honest, I've never been a fan of Valentine's Day. The only fond memories I have of the holiday are from my freshman year of college. Those memories are slightly morbid. I lovingly burned things in honor of my poor broken hearts (plural because I had lots of them in my younger years)--"All By Myself" wafting through my mind. Let's just say I didn't really embraced any sort of warm, fuzzy, lovey-dovey feelings. But, if having a bonfire with some of your closest friends isn't warm and filled with love, I'm not sure what is?!? Ah, memory lane!

Anyway...I have been working on updating our home decor because I need it to match. I know, sinister and ocd! I'm ok with that!

Here's the new V-Day selection!

St. Patrick's Updated

So, I got new lamps for Christmas from my momma! I love them, but they are turquoise and I have a slight obsessive compulsive personality--meaning I need stuff to match! So, I've set out to redo my decor a bit to not be "matchy-matchy", but at least coordinate. I started my "quilting" hobby with holiday decor and it's been fun to redo stuff because I actually know what I'm doing now!

Here's our March/ St. Paddy's Day stuff!

Wall hanging and month block for my big display calendar. Also have a table runner for the dining room table.

BOOTM II: february

This one was a doozy! I might have to redo it but here is my first try for all posterity to witness! Until now, I hadn't done very many blocks with pieces cut on the bias before. The bias is stretchy so you must take extra care when sewing on it so that things don't get misshapen or stretched. I thought I did pretty well for my first try! But, I now know the challenges and will be up for the task as more blocks come my way! 

Here is {Lonestar Pizzazz} block 2!

 

Look at all those  points!!!

BOOTM II: january

This year's quilt is going to be more challenging than last year's, even though it is about 30% smaller. This year's quilt {Lonestar Pizzazz} has LOTS of points and everything has to be extremely precise. That's difficult because there are so many pieces and for some reason my machine doesn't understand how important a 1/4in. seam is! It meanders somehow. Not sure if that is operator error a if my machine is flawed? I have to take extra are to make sure it's just right. Nonetheless, here is block #1!

Sept/Oct/Nov Blocks

I continue to learn so much about quilting as I finish the yearlong journey that has been the Amish with a Twist quilt.  I have learned the precision absolutely matter.  I have learned that grace is necessary for many parts of life, but expecially for quilting.  Those two lmost contradict themselves, but I find them both helpful and necessary reminders as I venture further down this path.

This month, I shared with someone that I quilt and they were surprised by it.  They had assumed that quilting is a thing of the past and I assured them that they could not be more wrong.  Quilting has a cultish following.  People do it and do it well.  There is pride in their creations and generosity in their hearts.  I love that I can go to class on any given day and absorb wisdom and pointers from a plethora of more experienced devoted quilters.

These are the final three blocks of my 104"x104" Amish quilt.

Bear Paw

 

Double Wedding Ring

 

Tea Cups and Saucers

I should start putting the whole thing together soon!  64 of 64 blocks done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!