Quilty Goodness - More Things I've actually finished!

Growing up I thought that quilts were so cool, but also too much work to ever make one of my own.  The patterns were amazing and totally intimidating to a novice sew-ist (I prefer that to sew-er). Then I saw the 1600 quilts and thought "Hmm, that seems simple enough, just sewing in straight lines, minimal cutting, and fast!" and decided that I'd try it out. 

I found some clearance jelly rolls at Joann's and one (or maybe two?) weekend(s) later, viola, quilt top!  Then I had to figure out how to make it slightly longer (not quite long enough for a twin bed), back it, quilt it, and bind it.  My little sewing machine was able to chug along and do straight lines, but I didn't know much about quilting at that time.  (Such as, some batting has a minimum distance between sewing lines.  Or that the more you quilt, the more it crinkles.)  All in all, for a first quilt, I was pretty proud of myself!

(I even got the seams mostly even!)

 

(My youngest insisted on laying on it right away, so it passed the kid test!)

(My quilting wasn't that straight.  Or close, but it did the job!)

After that quilt, I found a cute jelly roll at the quilt expo and decided to make another 1600.  This time I did my quilting 1/4" on either side of the seams, after using spray basting, an excessive amount of pins, and a walking foot.  The walking foot actually broke, but I was able to finish it!

(She also had to try this one out, just the top.  This was before I added the borders to make it fit a twin sized bunk bed)

 

(Maybe this is enough pins? I ran out and had to buy more!)

(Finally finished!)

After that, my son felt left out, but I was burnt out on the 1600 and wanted something more 'exciting.'  I found a pattern for the Giant Vintage Star quilt, probably the easiest quilt I've ever made.  18" squares cut in half and sewn together.  A total of 16 squares and almost large enough for a full sized bed!  I had to add on some borders at the top and bottom to give it enough length, but that was an easy fix!

(Easiest and coolest quilt I've made so far!)

 

Unfortunately, this quilt was much too large to quilt on my little machine.  But I was lucky enough to have a friend that was willing to do the quilting for me!  Working together we found a pattern that mimicked the stars and swirls of the star fabric, plus hyperdrive lines coming out of the star, and it is awesome!

 



(Awesome quilting!)

 

(Finished quilt, she feels required to photobomb them now.LOL!)

 My next quilt came from a fun pattern The Queen's Floor, and was another one that was fun and pretty easy!  I used a layer cake of pirate fabric, and yardage, from Riley Blake's Pirate Matey's line.  I kind of loved this quilt, but it was baby sized and without a baby to use it, there was no excuse for me to keep it.  Instead I found a new home for it.  Someday I'll make myself a larger pirate quilt, in my spare time.  ;)

(Finished quilt top) 

(Quilted echoing the arrows 1/4" inside the seam lines)

(Back is a pirate map!)