One Fish Two Fish

- Ann Petersen 1 Comment

Recently my husband’s cousin had a baby, so I had a great excuse to make a quilt.   I found a fat quarter bundle of Dr. Seuss fabric that I thought would be fun to work with and set about drawing up a pattern.  The bundle included a bunch of panels, so I drew up my pattern to highlight those panels.

I pieced it during an Albuquerque Modern Quilt Guild sew day – it came together quickly.  I also found a digital edge to edge fish pattern that was so cute I couldn’t resist.

This is the finished quilt – it was cloudy the day we took photos, so unfortunately there are a bunch of shadows.

More details:

 

 

 

 

and the back:

this is the best photo for seeing the cute fish and loops edge to edge design:

I hope Gary’s cousin loves this quilt!

 

This was on my Q2’18 FAL list, so I will link up at the end of the quarter.

 

 

Angela Quilting Along Challenge Quilt

- Ann Petersen 2 Comments

Angela Walters recently hosted a ‘Quilting a-long’ – not a Quilt a-long, a Quilting a-long, because this was all about the machine quilting.  She published a simple quilt pattern for the top and posted weekly YouTube videos that taught new techniques.

I got going late with the challenge because I didn’t want to have the quilt on my long arm for 9 weeks.  I whipped together the top during my quilt retreat in March and loaded the quilt on my frame a few weeks ago, just after Angela’s last instructions were published.

I enjoyed following along with the videos and with people in the Facebook group.  I wound up not following the instructions for each of the blocks exactly, but rather tried to challenge myself to do new things and things that I’m not very comfortable with.

This is the finished quilt:

I had a big fat quarter bundle of Grunge Hits the Spot, and I bought some grey Grunge for the background.  The backing is a Grunge Hits the Spot fabric in bright blue – so indeed it is a total Grunge Fest!

I think the spotty grunge turned out to not be a great choice for the blocks as the designs were really hard to see – both when quilting them as well as now that they are done.  But I had the fabric in my stash and didn’t really want to buy more to do the challenge.

Here are some more close ups of the quilting:

The top:

the middle:

and the bottom:

some more close ups of a few blocks:

I swear these are the best swirls I’ve ever done!

with Maggie the model:

and all rolled up:

We took photos on a Saturday and it was a really pretty day outside:

I had a lot of fun trying out different designs on this quilt and pushing myself to try new things.  I’ve never done that big of a feather across the whole quilt, and I think it came out great.

Thanks to Angela for hosting the Quilting a-long!  The next one starts on Monday!

Sewing Machine Bag

- Ann Petersen 5 Comments

I had a great time at my first quilt retreat in early March, but dragging around all the gear was not the most fun. I have few events coming up – guild sew days and a few classes – so I decided buying an inexpensive lightweight machine would be a good thing to do.  After considering a few, I bought an Ever Sewn Charlotte, and have been enjoying it quite a bit.  It’s always fun to get a new machine!

But to be useful, my portable machine needed a bag to tote it around.  I thought about buying one, but then remembered that I won a few patterns for bags from the FAL link up last year and thought this would be a good opportunity to try one out.  I also had some Alison Glass prints that I wasn’t sure how to use in a quilt, and this seemed like a great opportunity to use them.

I bought A BUNCH of interfacing – yikes!  I had no idea there were so many kinds of interfacing! – and prepped the side panels.  This is a panel with a photo of the pattern – the Aeroplane Bag from Sew Sweetness.

I finished the bag in time for my guild’s sew day last weekend – here it is:

The other side:

and a side view:

Yes, with the mix of Alison Glass fabrics it is a bit busy!

I don’t make a lot of bags so this guy took me a bit of time to get together.  I just tried to take it one step at a time and went really slow.  I’d probably do the zipper differently if I did it again, but it worked out well enough.  I modified the inside – the pattern has you make zippered pockets, but I really wanted a bigger open pocket to hold the power cord and foot pedal.  This is the modification I made for that pocket:

this is the finished inside of the bag with the lining in place:

I put my machine and all the accessories inside and they fit really nicely!

 

I am SO HAPPY with my bag and so glad I took the time to make it rather than buy one.  I don’t know that I have a lot more bag making in my future, but I am really happy with how it came out.

I took her on her first excursion last weekend, and she worked like a dream at our guild sew day.  I’ll have to sign up for more sewing excursions!

This was on my Q2’18 FAL list, so I will link up at the end of the quarter.

 

 

Scroll To Top