The Caffeinated Quilter

Bloggers’ Quilt Festival

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Emily

Welcome to those of you visiting from the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival! Today I’m sharing one of my all-time favorite quilts. I made this a couple of years ago for my dad. It commemorates his years in Boy Scouts, including shirts from his Cub Scout day camp, Philmont, and Wood Badge. It was also a huge milestone for me. I started out as a hand quilter, and this quilt was my first real attempt at seeing how far I could push my machine quilting skills.

The eagle applique at the top was inspired by Sarah Ann Smith’s book, Threadwork Unraveled. I had never attempted thread painting before, but it was tons of fun.

For the quilting in the sashing and borders, I used an all-over pebbling design. I used over a thousand yards of blue thread. In the sashing, I quilted the words of the scout law in the negative space, quilting the pebbles around stickers I made of each letter. Hopefully this will show up in the following pictures.

“Courteous” below the green patch at the bottom of this picture.

Fleur de lis in between the Wood Badge patches.

“Trustworthy” between these two patches.

In the border around the quilt, I used the same technique to quilt the Scout Oath. Here you can see the first line, “On my honor.” All of the quilting was done on my Janome Memorycraft 6600 machine. Have I mentioned before how much I LOVE that machine?! You can double-click on any of these pictures to see them larger.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out all the amazing quilts in the festival at Amy’s Creative Side.

You can comment on the quilts to be entered in drawings, and vote for your favorites. Enjoy!

Posted in projects | 2 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day!

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Emily

Even with the new baby chaos, I did not let Mother’s Day sneak up on me this year. I had grand plans for making a couple of small, hand-pieced gifts. Like these sweet little sachets, a free project from Lark :

I made them- the pattern is easy, quick and well-written. Then I tried to find dried lavender to fill them with. You would think someone in the entire Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex carries dried lavender. Not that I could find. (If you know of somewhere that does, please let me know! I can still overnight these little guys!) So instead, I bought apple cider sachets at Bed, Bath and Beyond, thinking I could cut them open and fill the tea bags. They smelled wonderful and cinnamony in the store. I got them home, left them in the laundry room overnight, and woke up the next morning to a house filled with fake apple scent. Literally, the whole house smelled like JoAnn Fabrics at Christmastime. Yuck. So these are likely to be a post-Mother’s Day surprise.

The other day, I stumbled upon a hexagon book I hadn’t seen before. I’ve been on pins and needles waiting for it to arrive in the mail, and it arrived yesterday. Happy dance! It’s all vintage hexagon patterns, and they are AMAZING. So much inspiration!

I loved seeing some of the classic names for blocks. (Like what we call Texas Star, they call the Boutonniere block.) Some of them were so intricate, it puts our modern hexagons to shame. One of the best parts of the book is seeing the pictures of the original patterns as they were printed in the Kansas City Star newspaper. They printed the templates with the number and color of each needed for a block, and a drawing of the completed block. That’s it. Yardage and piecing sequence was all up to the quilter, I suppose. Sure makes our contemporary patterns look wordy!

I’ll definitely be posting more about this book as I incorporate the blocks into projects. So many ideas, so little time. . . .

Posted in Great products, Hexagons | 6 Comments

Peppermint Hexagon Tutorial

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Emily

This week candied hexagons came up again on the Inklingo yahoo group. So I looked in Linda Franz’s awesome Idea Book, and was surprised to find some hex designs I hadn’t seen before. They’re from the original Frederica Josephson Quilt, which inspired the Candied Hexagon quilt. Of course, I had to try out one of them, and was delighted by how easily it pieced together. Since I haven’t seen this one on the Inklingo sampler blog or anywhere else, here’s a short and sweet tutorial on how to make one.

Supplies needed:

One 1.5″ (measured on a side) hexagon

Six 1.5″ equilateral triangles

Six 1.5″ diamonds

(All of these are available on the Inklingo Shape Collection #3 cd)

Finished hexagon measures 3″.

Step 1: Attach diamonds to each side of the hexagon. You can sew this continuously by hand.

Step 2: Attach the triangles between the diamonds. You’ll have to do each triangle individually (not continuously as above).

Step 3: Press the corners of the hexagon, alternating between pressing toward the hexagon and toward the diamond. This will ensure the block lays flat.

Here’s a close-up of the pressing on one side:

Ta da! I love this design. I could see it working as a flower, or a mint in fun Christmas colors. I’m curious as to how it would look with a bunch of them clustered together. Definitely time to pull out the colored pencils and hexagon graph paper. Have a great weekend!

Posted in Candied hexagons | 1 Comment

Baby Steps

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Emily

We are slowly adjusting to the rhythm of being a family of seven. No one has asked to return the new baby to the hospital yet, which I’m taking as a good sign. He’s growing so fast. And he doesn’t seem to mind me hand-piecing while he snoozes in my arms. Thank goodness I’d gotten so many projects ready to piece before he came. Even if I just sew a couple of seams a day, it feels good to see projects continuing to progress. Here’s a new shot of my candied hexagon quilt. The rosette on the left is new.

I’m having fun with the different sizes and scales of the clusters of blocks. The patterned star in the middle is three tumbling block hexagons.

Here’s a picture of the back of the rosette:

Pressing hexagon blocks is an unusual challenge, as each seam intersection includes three seams. If you press them all the same direction, the corners form a tiny hexagon block. I haven’t mastered the knack yet, but I’m getting better. It’s kind of fun once you get going on it.

I’ve also been working on #4′s quilt, and Tumbling Snowflakes. I think I may actually enter Tumbling Snowflakes in a local show this summer. (There, it’s in print– I have to commit now, right?) We’ll see how that goes, as it means finishing the quilt before the end of May.

So, what’s on your to-do list?

Posted in Candied hexagons | 9 Comments

Way Overdue :-)

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Emily

Both the blog posting and the baby ended up way overdue So my apologies for the lapse between postings. Our precious new little one arrived last Monday evening. After he took his time moseying along. I went into labor at 4:30 in the morning, and he was born near 7:30 pm. What a day!! But we are all thrilled the little guy is finally here. Especially kiddo #1, who has been waiting all his life for a baby brother. Life is good.

Quilting, however, has taken a back seat to snuggling and cuddling and massive doses of that wonderful new baby smell. I hope to post some new candied hexagon pics soon. But for now, it’s naptime

Happy Stitching (and snoozing!)

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

New Candied Hexagon Quilt

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Emily

This baby is certainly taking his/her sweet time on arriving. Tomorrow I’ll be at 41 weeks. /sigh. However, I’m filling the moments with relaxing hand piecing. I almost have the top for kidlet #4′s quilt done.

I started on the queen sized Candied Hexagon quilt I’ve been plotting since last fall. The picture above is my progress so far. I’m so excited about this quilt. It’s a commissioned quilt for a dear friend of mine’s son and daughter-in-law. The fabrics were all used in their wedding, and include some gorgeous vintage table linens (which you can see in the solid hexes above). The individual pieced hexagon blocks measure 3″ on a side. You can find out how to make those on the inklingo sampler blog by searching “hexagons”. The center in this photo is a new idea I’m playing with. Sort of a “candied rosette”, if you will. . .I wanted to expand some of the designs in my head beyond pieced hexagons. Hopefully I’ll post more on that, including maybe a tutorial, once this baby arrives and I can think straight again.

Make sure you head over to the Quilting Gallery this weekend. The contest is dresden plates, and my friend Isabel entered an awesome baby quilt (it’s nearly as cute as her little girl- and that’s saying a lot!!). It’s called “Natalie!”

Happy Stitching!

Posted in Candied hexagons, Hexagons, Inklingo | 3 Comments

Spring Colors for a New Quilt

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Emily

Here’s the start to kiddo #4′s quilt. I’m using Inklingo, and each hexagon measures 2″ per side. The flowers are huge. The colors coordinate with her two big sister’s quilts, but the design is much different. You’re probably wondering why each flower is missing a petal. I didn’t mess up, but did that on purpose. Once I’ve got the layout done, most of them will get their last petal. Some will have something else. You’ll just have to check back and find out what that something else is But you know I couldn’t make just a plain old grandmother’s flower garden quilt. If this works, it may be a new pattern soon.

I’m having so much fun with the big hexagons and bright prints. So far, I’m piecing this one entirely by hand. It’s not taking as long as you might think. I got eleven flowers done in a single day. I like the simplicity of hand piecing. It’s so much easier to put down when the kids need something, or to take along to work on while I’m in the waiting room at the doctor’s office.

I hope you’re enjoying spring weather, or at least the start of a bright new project. Happy Easter!

Posted in Hexagons, Inklingo, projects | 2 Comments

A Completed Quilt Top?!?

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Emily

So, I wasn’t sure which would happen first, baby #5′s arrival or the completion of the Tumbling Snowflakes quilt top. Thanks to Inklingo, it was, amazingly, the quilt top. I say “amazingly” because I would have never dreamed it possible to piece (mostly by hand!) a quilt with 1,084 pieces so quickly. But here it is, barely a month after I started working on it. I’m thrilled with the way it turned out. Now I just need to add borders, and figure out a quilting design. Hopefully the pattern will be complete and ready for sale by the beginning of the summer.

The really crazy part is, this quilt was FUN to make. I remember thinking as I designed it, “Man, I’m glad I don’t actually have to MAKE this quilt for the contest, this would be a beast!” But it wasn’t. Having the sewing lines printed on the fabric helped tremendously with matching points, and piecing straight seams on the sewing machine and y-seams by hand really made the whole process fly by.

I think I’m going to machine quilt this top. With sparkly threads. If I dare. Any recommendations on good sparkly threads? I’ve never been brave enough to try those before.

Now I’m on an Inklingo kick for new projects. I’ve started work on the queen size Candied Hexagon quilt that has been on my to-do list for months. I also started on kiddo #4′s quilt, using 2 inch hexagons. More on that later this week.

I hope the week leaves you with quiet time to stitch in the midst of Easter preparations.

Happy Stitching!

Posted in Hexagons, Inklingo | 18 Comments

Welcome Spring!

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Emily

I had so much fun meeting some great quilters with last week’s Quilt Gallery contest that I just had to enter again. . .

I made this quilt a couple of years ago for kiddo #3 (my pre-hexagon obsession days!) It’s based on a Ruth Jensen pattern and was a blast to make. The wings of the dragonflies and ladybugs are three-dimensional. We had so much fun scouring quilt stores for good “wing prints” and polka dots. She picked out the fabric for the dragonfly in this close-up herself:

I remember being in such a hurry to finish this before #4 arrived. I didn’t quite make that deadline, but I was close. Which reminds me. I haven’t even started on kidlet #4′s quilt yet! I did finish the design for it the other evening. With Inklingo, I’m hoping it will go together quickly, as soon as I hit the quilt store for some good bright green and yellow fabric. And after I finish up Tumbling Snowflakes.

I know, I promised pictures of that over the weekend. But if I just wait to post for a couple more days, I’ll have a much better overall picture for you. How fun is that?!?

Until then, if you want to vote for Snugglebugs on the weekly Quilt Gallery contest, voting opens on Friday. Hope you’re having a great week!

Happy Stitching!

Posted in projects | 7 Comments

Some Seriously Gorgeous Hexagon Quilts

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Emily

It’s always reassuring to see I’m not the only quilter in the world insane enough to think in 60 degrees instead of 90 degrees. Check out this week’s Quilt Gallery Contest; the theme is Hexagons and other EPP quilts. Be sure to vote while you’re there! (Of course, if you want to vote for my wildflowers, I’d be good with that too ) Even with that small sampling of quilts, I’m so impressed with the myriad ways people combine hexies to make something totally original.

If you’re new to my blog, welcome! And if you clicked over from the contest, you might be interested in my Wildflowers page, located in the black banner above.

Check back later this weekend for more progress pictures of Tumbling Snowflakes. Over half the rows are pieced, and I can’t wait to get them stitched together so I can see the center snowflake in reality. Now, of course, the countdown is on- I’m two weeks away from my due date, so I have no idea if I will finish the quilt before kiddo #5 arrives or not. It’s always an adventure.

Happy Stitching!