Wordless Wayback (2014) Wednesday

 

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Spring has Sprung?

Happy Monday morning quilting friends!  Here it is April 9th and I wake up to more snow!   Mother nature has lost her mind.  Father time needs to show her a calendar.  Yes, I love snow and it is so pretty but I'm longing for spring flowers, digging in the dirt and taking off a few layers of clothing.  My studio is bright and happy year around with flowery quilts everywhere.  So I thought I would share one of them with you today. This is Scrap Happy Baskets.

You can find the block tutorial here for the quilt above.  I didn't write a full tutorial for the quilt but I did give the width measurements for the block frame and sashings here.  

The finished quilt with better color and quilting closeups can be found here.

How about another sneak peak of what's been keeping me busy?  This is my newest pattern that will be released later in the week.  See you then!

Thanks for stopping by my snowy little spot in Podunk!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Prepping for more scrappy goodness

In between quilting and the ho-hum chores of daily life I've been cutting scraps for the next easy scrap quilt.  The Podunk Posy I designed a few days ago will be the hardest part, and she's not hard at all!  Just to prove it to everyone, I'll be posting a tutorial for my Podunk Posy next week.  And there's more....I'll also post tutorials for the rest of the quilt as I make it, sorry no PDF pattern this time.  The quilt is so simple I think most of you could make it without instructions.  Keeping things simple has been the theme so far this year, so might as well just keep on rolling with it.  I came up with an idea but couldn't decide on the corners of the quilt.   So why not just share all three patterns!

PLAN 1 

with baskets in the corners.  The baskets are from a previous tutorial that can be found here.

PLAN 2

Butterfly corners, this block has a smaller version of the quilt block in my Flit and Flutter quilt.  I'll be sharing the pattern for this block as well.

PLAN 3 

checker board corners, this was my original idea for this quilt, but I can't have just one plan now can I?!

The finished size of the quilt is 72 x 72 and has over 300 2.5" squares.  

So which Plan is your favorite?

~ Lea Anne ~

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Friday Finish

After hours of taking pictures I gave up, deciding that they will do.  This is the last photo taken with the famous watering can, of course tons of editing to give it a vintage look.  I've also made the pictures a tad bit bigger in this post for those quilters that want to see details.

Experimenting started from the very beginning of this quilt.  So I might as well be consistent throughout.   The scrappy basket block is an old pattern that I reworked.  The original block is completely appliqued with no flowers or leaves.  In my version the basket is pieced and I've added a few more appliques shapes.  A block tutorial with free printable templates can be found here on my blog.

 The white backgrounds always say "Quilt me to death", so I did.  But I really love the feel of a quilt that has minimal quilting.  The decision was made to do minimal quilting outside the blocks.

 The background fill quilting is my favorite fill.  I've no idea what you would call it other than random.  A little of this and that with a touch of McTavishing.

 The backing is just some old yukky fabric.  It's become sorta my trademark to have a totally odd piece of yukky fabric on the back.  Sometimes more than one.  Use what you have, and like many quilters I've tons of fabric bought years ago that doesn't appeal to me anymore.  

I'm linking up with Sarah over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Hop on over to see other Finishes this week!

~ Lea Anne ~

Today's freebie from CluckCluckSew

Click here for pattern

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Scrappy Spring Baskets Quilting

While I'm in the mood to quilt might as well make the best of it.  There was no real plan for the quilting before putting my Scrappy Spring Baskets on the frame.  I knew I wanted tons of quilting in the white areas but other than that it's design as I go.  You can find the tutorial and templates for this quilt block for FREE here on my blog.  And some basic sashing measurements here.

 The quilting design in the outer border and sashing reminds me of ric-rac.  Thinking I might go back and do straight line zigzags for more detail.  This is my favorite background fill design.  There's no real pattern, it's just do whatever fills the space.  

Remember Friday when I was talking about the fabrics in the Country Girl quilt and how I used NON quilt shop quality fabrics.  Well hold on to your socks...the yellow sashing in this quilt is a twin bed sheet!  Pretty darn cute for a sheet, huh?  Most of the fabrics are LQS quality but there's also some shirtings and vintage fabrics hiding in here also.   LQS fabric is about 75 to 80 thread count, batiks 100.   So I've been told that you should never use any fabric in a quilt that is over 200 thread count.  Is that so?  Then why does the LQS sell a 300 thread count, wide backing fabric at $16 a yard!  Pardon me but a 300 count sheet is cheaper than that!  Are sheets hard to quilt?  NO, the only thing I do differently is using a smaller needle sometimes.  Longarmers typically use 16 or 18, this is why most longarmers will say no sheets for backings.   I use a 14(on this quilt) most of the time because I don't like large holes in my quilts.   But for some quilts... the Country Girl and Summer Romance I used a 10.  Oh yes you read that right a 10 on the frame.   WARNING!  IF YOU USE A SMALL NEEDLE YOU MUST SLOW DOWN YOUR STITCHING.  This another reason why longarmers don't like sheets.  They want to quilt fast and make money, can't say that I blame them for the rules, it's all about the money.   The smaller the number on the needle the more likely it will bend and crash causing damage to the machine or quilt.  Why would I take that chance?  Oh I guess I just like living on the wild side!   

Other than that it's because while watching a YouTube video of a famous quilter(who has now pulled the free videos and sells them) she said she uses the smaller needles and finer threads and higher count fabrics(silk) on a quilt frame.   If she can do it and sell a quilt to the Quilt museum in Paducha for $10,000 then I can do it too.  Well all but the the selling a quilt for $10,000.   It's not that I don't love LQS fabrics, I DO.  It all really boils down to I'm thrifty and like to Quilt Out of the Comfort Zone.  Any fabric can be quilted if you use the right tools for THAT quilt.  

Need more inspiration?  Hop on over to 

Judy's @ Patchworktimes for Design Wall Monday

~ Lea Anne ~

Today's freebie from Rose Johnston @ Threadbare

Click here for pattern 

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Scrap Happy Baskets is ready

 Happy Monday and Memorial Day!   It's important to me to take the time to thank our Veterans and anyone who has lost a love one while protecting our freedom.  My gratitude is also extended for those who are serving and the families that wait stateside for their safe return.  Many blessing to you all.

So look what I finished a couple of days ago.  The battle of the borders gave me a little trouble until finally deciding to go simple with a small white border.  Then after quilting use a colorful binding for the "Pop" factor. 

So many fabrics, wishing now that I had counted how many.  Since I gave you the pattern for the block.  I'll give you a quick run down of how I finished the quilt just in case someone wants to make one.  The gingham was cut at 1.5" strips.  The yellow sashing is 2.5" strips.

 And the final white border is 2" strips.  

 Making this quilt top was so much fun that I just couldn't stop till it was done.  I'd really like to quilt it NOW but there's already a quilt on the frame.  So she's folded and is next in line.

 The scrappy mess was still scattered about the studio when I started another.  This one will be more traditional with lots of American Rose applique.  I might even do hand applique....maybe.  The only bad thing about hand applique is that it takes months instead of weeks to finish.  It's hard for me to stay focused for weeks let alone months.  

~ Lea Anne ~

Linking up with Judy over at Patchworktimes for Design wall Monday.

Today's freebie from Sewmamasew blog.  Designed by LittlemissShabby

http://www.sewmamasew.com/2014/04/mini-medallion-quilt-tutorial-sew-along/

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