Quilting Linda: A Quilting Blog by Linda West

Jul

15

A Quilt for Charlotte

Posted Saturday, July 15th, 2017 in baby quilt, My Projects | Read More

Little Miss Charlotte is one year old! We had a party for her in June for just the family. Now we are having a party for friends of the family ( postponed due to illness in June). I gave her a toy on her birthday and saved her quilt for the second party.

I bought the pattern for this quilt at the QT ReVu in 2016.The pattern includes three different quilts but I chose the fish for Charlie because Under the Sea is the theme of her nursery. I also found a cute panel with a doll (mermaid) and accessories.

The second picture has the true colors of the quilt and doll. I love this fabric and think that aqua is now my favorite color.

I free motion quilted it in a water pattern with a few swirls thrown in here and there. Click on the picture for a close up view.

Sep

24

“Mingled” Baby Quilt

Posted Saturday, September 24th, 2016 in baby quilt, Patterns | Read More

My local quilt shop had a “baby shower” sale last weekend. They had sample quilts hanging in the shop that were made from the new patterns/book. The first quilt to catch my attention was the Mingled pattern. It is a very simple quilt but the assembly was intriguing. When the shop owner explained how it went together, I knew I had to make one.

I had some leftover flannel from a kit I bought several years ago that would be perfect for this quilt. As soon as I got home with the pattern, I checked to see if I could use the flannel  to make the Mingled quilt. By adding just one more piece of flannel, I had enough to make it.

The quilt is made in three vertical rows with the center row made of Half Square Triangles (HST). The only difficulty I had in making this quilt top was turning the triangles the wrong direction. I put the pieces on my small portable design wall to make sure I had each color in the correct position. This is a very easy quilt to sew.

I have plans to use this pattern again and make some changes to the length of the larger pieces. By changing the size on one side, the points could be off center. To make a larger quilt, more fabrics could be added plus a border. I am not adding a border to this quilt. It is a small quilt, 34″ X 40″.

Stay tuned to see what other projects I have been sewing!

Apr

18

Elephants on Parade

Posted Monday, April 18th, 2016 in baby quilt | Read More

We are expecting the birth of our third grandson any day and I haven’t finished his quilt. I have the quilt top done but it needs to be quilted. Before I can quilt it, I have to replace one of the leaders on my quilting frame. That is my goal for today!

Here is a picture of the baby quilt top.

I plan to quilt it with white thread in a large meander pattern.

Jul

2

A Hunter’s Star Baby Quilt

Posted Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014 in Accuquilt Go cutter, baby quilt, Quilting | Read More

Bob gave me a Hunter’s Star die for my Accuquilt Go cutter last Christmas. I made a sample block and loved the way it went together. I decided to use this die to cut out a quilt for my newest grandson, Ezra. I have had a bundle of 6 Lily and Will fat quarters along with  coordinating background yardage that I was keeping for something special. I decide this was the “something special”. I had to purchase fabric for borders and a quilt was born!

I was able to cut out two blocks from each FQ using the background fabric for the contrasting fabric.

May

1

Hot Air Balloon Quilt

Posted Thursday, May 1st, 2014 in baby quilt, Quilting | Read More

I worked on a quilt for our newest grandson for about a month, a little a time. I had to think and rethink how to design a quilt with hot air balloons to go in the room that he shares with his big (2 year old) brother. I found some balloon designs online at EmbroideryDesigns and purchased them. I used thread colors to match the colors in fabric I was using in the border and to match colors in other decorations in the room.

I machine embroidered the blocks, assembled them into a quilt top and quilted it. After the quilting was finished, I thought there was too much empty space on it. I drew some small hot air balloons and hand appliqued them on the quilt. I also drew a larger balloon in three sections and appliqued it on the quilt. Before appliqueing them, I machine stitched outline stitches with black thread to co-ordinate with the embroidered blocks.

I finished the quilt and gave it him when we visited on Easter weekend.

The quilt will hang on the wall above his crib.

Jan

18

2013 Christmas Baby Quilts

Posted Saturday, January 18th, 2014 in baby quilt, jelly roll | Read More

I didn’t blog in December for several reasons. First, Bob and I were in Columbus for almost half the month. My daughter gave us a  new grand daughter, Samantha Grace,  on December 10. We stayed for over a week to help out when they came home from the hospital. We went back to C-bus to celebrate Christmas on December 26 and we were there for four days. Jeff”s family came also. It was wonderful having our entire family together for three days.

The second reason I haven’t blogged is because the quilts I made were for Christmas and I couldn’t show them until after I gave them to the babies. I used the Moda Bake Shop pattern, Oink-a-Doodle-Moo, to make quilts for Eli, Samantha, and the new baby that Jeff and Christina are expecting in March.  All three quilts were made using one jelly roll and two panels of Oink-a-Doodle-Moo fabric plus some other pieces from that line of fabric.

Nov

10

5 Little Monkeys

Posted Sunday, November 10th, 2013 in baby quilt, Five Little Monkeys | Read More

I finally get to share a baby quilt that I have been working on this year. This quilt is for my daughter’s baby, due in a few weeks. I worked on it in spurts. I did the small embroidered blocks first, then worked on the blocks with multiple monkeys. Some of the larger blocks each took about three hours to stitch out on my Janome Memory Craft 10001. When I finished two of the large blocks, they were too large for the quilt and had to be redone. I used those blocks to make pillows. The borders were the part that intimidated me. I had never stitched any item that had to be re-hooped and stitched on one long piece of fabric. I did a trial on a piece of muslin to get a feel for how far apart to start stitching the words. It is not perfect but it is finished!

Jennifer helped me pick the fabrics used in the quilt but she did not see the finished quilt until the shower on November 9. She has decorated the nursery with this quilt as the inspiration for the theme.  I can’t wait to see it hanging on the wall!

And here it is….

and the pillows….

Aug

30

Eli’s Tractor Quilt

Posted Friday, August 30th, 2013 in Accuquilt Go cutter, baby quilt, Quilting | Read More

Our grandson loves tractors. When he visits us, he likes to ride on the old pedal tractor that Grandpa played with as a child, and ride with daddy on the John Deere lawn mower.When I saw how much he loves tractors, I had to make him a tractor quilt.

I had several John Deere fat quarters that were a Christmas gift from Jeff and Christina several years ago. I also had a tractor panel that I bought to go with the FQs. I cut the FQs into six inch tumbler blocks with my Accuquilt Go cutter and joined them to make borders around the panel. I quilted it with a meandering design.

When I showed the quilt to Eli, he pointed to it and said, “Tractor!”. We put the quilt on the floor and he danced on it and then rolled on it as he wrapped it around himself. Next he stood up and dragged it behind him as he went to the bedroom. I think he likes it! LOL

I’m sorry for the poor photography but he was on the move!

May

16

My next big project…

Posted Thursday, May 16th, 2013 in baby quilt, Five Little Monkeys, Quilting | Read More

On Mother’s Day, my daughter and her hubby announced publicly that they are expecting in December. That means that grandma has to make a quilt! They plan to decorate the nursery with a monkey theme and I have just the quilt pattern for that! In 2008 I saw a cute “Five Little Monkeys” pattern in Quiltmaker’s Quilting and Embroidery magazine. It incorporates the 5 Little Monkeys rhyme in the blocks and border. Last summer I started the embroidery. Some blocks take over an hour to stitch out.

Last week I went to Columbus for a few days and Jennifer and I went fabric shopping for the rest of the quilt fabrics. I am changing the colors a bit, with orange as the predominate color. This is the fabric I bought.

Feb

20

Birthday Blocks from 2006

Posted Monday, February 20th, 2012 in Birthday Block Quilt, Quilt Blocks | Read More

When I went to the quilt show in Columbus, Ohio last year (2011) I found a pattern called BQ2.http://www.mapleislandquilts.com/images/Product/large/MIQ965.jpg I bought it because it is perfect for large print fabrics. It is also perfect for setting 12 inch blocks together and has directions for 9 and 6 inch blocks.

These are blocks I received in a birthday block exchange on the Quilting Forum in 2006. I will list the forum names of the people who made the blocks in each row, left to right.

Row 1:  Bon, Vanislegirl, Anne

Row 2: grammyp, Quiltdiva, bkfdwife

Row 3:  ColleenNY, hagar, Teresa nc7

Row 4:  Amy, benken, Jennifer in VA

There really are not any wrinkles in the blocks. I did not have the quilt top lying flat on the carpet when I took the pictures.

Feb

5

“Hooterville Quilt”

Posted Sunday, February 5th, 2012 in baby quilt | Read More

I made this quilt for our first grandson, Elijah Grayson who is expected in March. The pattern is named “Hooterville” and is shown with the owls made from lots of bright colored fabrics. I have had the pattern for a year and was waiting for a reason to make it. When Christina decided to decorate the nursery in brown and green it inspired me to make it in those colors. I bought 20  fat quarters in brown, tan, green, and orange along with green dot border fabric.

I satin stitched around all the owls and trees using Madeira embroidery thread.

I  embroidered the label and cut it out in the owl shape for on the back. The back is the green dot fabric with a pieced row of leftover owl fabric across the middle with the label in the center. (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the back!)

Oct

30

My Birthday Quilt

Posted Sunday, October 30th, 2011 in baby quilt, Quilting | Read More

I have been participating in a birthday block exchange on the Garden Web Quilting Forum this year. There are 13 people in the group. Each person chose the block pattern and fabrics they would like to receive and the list was sent to everyone in the group. We made a block each month and sent it to the birthday person. In October it was my turn to receive blocks.  I chose the block called “Road to California”. My fabric choices were any color 1930’s fabric with bleached muslin for the background.

I received 13 blocks  (one person made two blocks) and I made three more for a total of sixteen blocks. I arranged them to form five stars (can you find them?) and added a border.

The backing is bleached muslin to match the background fabric.

Jul

29

City Girl Row Robin – Week 4

Posted Friday, July 29th, 2011 in baby quilt | Read More

This week I decided to make all the blocks the same.  Some of them are a bit wonky. The pattern suggested cutting the final blocks at an angle. The final border was an inch larger than the finished block so I had to square it up to a 12 inch finished square.

The final row will be posted on Monday. I hope to work on it next Wednesday. See you next week!

Next week I will decide on the final placement of the rows.

Jul

22

Modern Row Robin Quilt Along – Week 3

Posted Friday, July 22nd, 2011 in baby quilt | Read More

I have had a very busy week and didn’t have time to quilt until Friday. This week we are making different sized houses. I took the easy way and made each house from just one fabric. This row has a large amount of white space. This will require some special quilting. I haven’t joined the rows at this time. I may want to rearrange the placement of the rows after I see the last two rows.

This is Row 3 – House Block

Unless there is a lot of white space in the next two rows, I plan to place the House Row in the center of the quilt.

Jul

15

Modern Row Robin Quilt Along

Posted Friday, July 15th, 2011 in baby quilt, Fabric Stash | Read More

Last week a quilting friend sent me an email with a link to a Row Robin that does not require exchanging rows with other quilters. Five bloggers are creating this  row quilt by posting a new row each Monday  for five weeks. I have completed two rows at this time.  I am using fat quarters from  Moda’s City Girl line of fabric.

The finished quilt should be 48″ X 60″. I think it will make a nice baby quilt.

Row 1 was posted by  Lisa Marie from That Crazy Quilty Girl

Row 2 was  posted by Melissa from Lilac Lane

I did not place my row 2 blocks in the same order as the designer.  I want the  largest star to move  into the row from the end because  it only has four points, progressing down the row to the smallest stars.

If you would like to quilt along, visit the sites listed below.

Row 1- Lisa Marie from That Crazy Quilty Girl
Row 2- Melissa from Lilac Lane
Row 3- Heather and Megan from Quilt Story
Row 4- Anne Marie of Gen X Quilters
Row 5-Jen at ReannaLily Designs Blog

Check back next week to see my next row!

May

1

Sauder Quilt Show – 2011

Posted Sunday, May 1st, 2011 in baby quilt, Fabrics, Quilt Shows, Quilting | Read More

On Saturday, six of my friends and I went to the quilt show at Sauder Village in Archbold, Ohio. There were about 400 quilts on display and a few demonstrations.

The featured guest quilter was Nancy Prince of Orlando, Florida. Her quilts were wonderful thread painted landscapes.

Nancy Prince Quilts

We shopped at Threads of Tradition after viewing the quilts. I purchased fabric to make the “Dr. Seuss on the Loose”  quilt  shown in the June 2011 issue of Quilter’s World.

Mar

5

Getting an early start…

Posted Saturday, March 5th, 2011 in baby quilt, Fabric Stash, Fabrics, My Projects, Quilt Blocks, Quilt Guilds | Read More

Each year my small quilt group, Piecemakers, makes a baby quilt for the first baby born in the new year at CMH (Community Memorial Hospital). We decided we wanted to get started early this year  so there is not a rush at the end of the year to get it quilted. I appreciate this since I am usually the person doing the quilting.

Carol and I went to a quilt shop in Roanoke, IN the last week in December, 2010, and found a nice panel to use for the center of the quilt. We decided to make a border of four-patch blocks using the colors found in the panel. The quilt group looked through our stash at the church and found colors to match. I cut the fabric into strips and they were taken home by several members.

Last Thursday the group arranged the four-patches around the panel and Kris and I sewed them into borders at the meeting. I brought them home and added them to the panel today.

As soon as I find fabric for the backing, I will load it on my quilt frame and do the quilting.

Jan

30

Quilt Guild Garage Sale

Posted Sunday, January 30th, 2011 in baby quilt, Fabric Stash, Fabrics, Quilt Guilds, Quilting | Read More

At the Appleseed Guild meeting in January, the program was a garage sale. About ten people rented tables and sold unwanted quilting supplies. There was a nice variety of items available for purchase. My “find” was this lunch box filled with ‘Funky Monkey’ fabrics. I measured it when I got home and found I have over five yards of fabric. One piece has one square cut out but all the other pieces are uncut. I plan to make a  quilt and maybe include a sock monkey in the lunch box for a baby gift.

Dec

18

Quilt for 2011 New Year’s Baby

Posted Saturday, December 18th, 2010 in baby quilt, Piecemakers Quilt Group, Quilting | Read More

Every year my small quilt group, Piecemakers, makes a quilt to be given to the first baby born in the new year at Community Memorial Hospital. This year we each made disappearing  four patch blocks using bright fabrics. Carol put them together using black polka dot  sashing fabric and I quilted it with bright variegated thread.  Colleen is adding the binding, using the same black polka dot fabric.

Welcome baby!

Nov

22

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

Posted Monday, November 22nd, 2010 in baby quilt, My Projects, Quilting | Read More

This baby quilt, book, and bear are for the baby of my son’s friend. The quilt is made from fabric designed by Eric Carle, the illustrator of the book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. The fabric has pictures of the animals that are in the book. I fussy cut them for the large squares that surround the center block.

I found the pattern in a magazine that was loaned to me by a friend and bought the book and stuffed bear at Kohl’s.

I made the quilt top using a red fabric for the star points and forgot to pre-wash the fabric. I was concerned that the red would bleed, so I took it apart and used a pre-washed red/orange fabric for the triangles.  Luckily, I had not added the last border before I realized my mistake.