"ELMO" blocks completed

Between last night and most of today, I finished the three remaining blocks for Breagha's Elmo quilt.

Block #7

Block #8

I hestitated to use the blue in this block since the other blocks are mostly yellow and red but I simply wanted to pull Grover (he's the blue character) out. 

Block #9

After using the blue in block #8, I thought I might as well throw some pink in too.

So that makes 9 blocks completed and I even managed to use all the different Elmo fabrics that my daughter and I collected for this quilt.

Now that I have these blocks done (each block measure 14 1/2 inches so they are large blocks), I spread them out on my diningroom floor and played with them, arranging them, leaving them, coming back to them and finally decided on the following layout.

Now, to sew them altogether, decide on how to border it and although I have numerous ideas.....I have not settled on one that I want to finish this quilt off. 

Because I have never done a quilt like this before, I had to leave it out and look at numerous times before I came to the conclusion that I liked it.  The main critic is just under two years old and I suspect she will like it because of the characters and the bright colors.  It's lovely to quilt for a child.

Progress on the "Elmo Quilt"

Very productive day, managed to complete three more blocks for the Elmo Quilt.

Block # 4

Block #5

Block # 6

This will be the center block of the Elmo quilt and is, without question, my favorite so far.

Elmo Quilt - Work in Progress

My latest work in progress is an Elmo quilt for Breagha.  After collecting various Elmo fabrics from Ebay (Michelle even found fat quarters with Elmo on Ebay in Scotland and mailed them to me), I finally started on this project.

Searched many quilting blogs to get ideas on how to put this together and finally decided to try a quilt without a pattern.  I have always been such a "traditional" quilter, using patterns that were tried and true, so making this quilt is totally "out of the box" for me. 

Progress is very slow.....it's probably going to take me longer to sew this quilt together than any other quilt I have ever made but I have to admit, I am enjoying it more than I thought possible.  I am beginning to understand why some quilters have gone "modern" and make quilts without a pattern. 

Block #1

Block #2

Block #3

So far, my idea is to make 9 of these blocks with various Elmo fabrics and once they are done, then decide on how to join/border them. 

Off to my sewing room to work on blocks 4 and 5.  Will post again when blocks are completed.

Latest Quilt

Well, there is quite a story behind this latest quilt.

You may recognize the fabric in this quilt that was used in Breagha's Surprise Quilt.
I had ordered 33 fat quarters of the "About Town" line from Connecting Threads because my daughter, Michelle, loved this fabric and wanted a quilt for herself.  She also chose the tossed nine patch pattern that I used in making Breagha's Lollipop quilt.

So.....like the good mother I am......I made up this quilt for my darling daughter.  Well,
as soon as I photographed the top and emailed it to her in Scotland, I KNEW she wasn't thrilled with it.  It was quite simply, not her style.  Bear in mind, my daughter chose the fabric and chose the pattern. 

The kicker here is that I loved it and it's been quite some time since I've made a quilt for myself so before I even put the first stitch of handquilting in it, I knew it would probably be making it's home with me.  I very wisely did not back it in flannel and used a cotton, lol.

Used a wonderful green for the binding....which compliments all the greens in this quilt.

A white cotton backing.

A test run on my bed!

A photo of the quilt sitting on the leather storage bench, where this quilt will be stashed until it needs pulling out for cold winter nights. 

I have since ordered another 66 fat quarters of this fabric and have agreed to make Michelle a quilt again, only this time, it will be another quilt identical to Breagha's surprise quilt because that is really the quilt that Michelle wanted in the first place, lol.

I fear that if Michelle does not get the log cabin quilt, Breagha might lose hers.  As it is, Michelle has "borrowed" Breagha's quilt and is using it on her own bed!!!!!!

Breagha's Lollipop Quilt

It all started with Moda's Lollipop charm packs by Sandy Gervais........I ended up buying 7 of these from Ebay.  I just love this designer and especially loved the Lollipop series.

Then came the decision of how to use the charm packs (and I only ended up using four of them to make this quilt).  I decided on Eleanor Burns "Tossed Nine Patch" pattern which uses five inch squares.

And this is the end result.  A perfect pattern to showcase all the fabrics in this line.  The quilt finished at 54 inches square, a perfect size for little fingers to drag across the floor or for a little person to snuggle under. 

I did not back this quilt in flannel.  I desperately needed a break from the "flannel" backings.  I backed this in a very soft, natural muslin fabric. 

Breagha's little stack of quilts is growing and although she is under the age of 2, it will be interesting to see which quilts will be her favorites as she gets older.  Grandma plans to ensure she has a good collection before that happens.

Breagha's Newest Quilt

This quilt was made for my little grandaughter to use when she goes to the park or for a picnic.  My daughter has been using a very old quilt for this purpose and I simply can't have my grandaughter sitting on something "old". 

The cat in this picture does not belong to us.  He lives next door but likes to come over every single day - even going so far as to sleeping over almost every night.  I guess you could say he does live here, lol.  He is a quilt lover himself and has to do a "test run" on every quilt that is made.

Back to the quilt......I used my Go Baby to cut the squares, which measure 2" when cut, 1 1/2 inches when sewn.  I initially thought the fabric reminded me of crayon colors but when my daughter, Michelle, saw it, she said it was pink and rainbow colors.....and I liked that alot better.  I handquilted flowers on the white centers and again, Michelle wanted a change, she thought using colored quilting threads for the flowers would make them "pop".  So I gathered up all the quilting threads I had and did the flowers in a variety of yellow, pink, red, burgundy, green and blue.  The squares were handquilted in pale pink, in the ditch. 

It really does make the center flowers stand out, colors were used randomly throughout .

Backed the quilt in flannel. (Yes, I know, for someone who doesn't like flannel, Breagha's quilts are almost all flannel!!!!) The binding was done in yellow as well.

It's a lovely yellow with bright green frogs. 

So, that's one more quilt done for Breagha.  Next stop is the post office to have it shipped over to Scotland.  It should arrive in time for a spring outing......

Breagha's Scrap Quilt

This past Mother's Day my husband told me to go ahead and order one of these awesome little machines.

Of course, when I placed my order, they were already sold out so I had to wait two full weeks........oh, what a difficult time that was.

As soon as it was delivered, I pulled all my small pink scrap pieces and all the plain white I could find.  I had Breagha's quilt cut in no time flat - what an awesome little machine, especially for using all those scrap pieces that a person can never throw away but can't be bothered with. 

So, this was the end result:

This is truly a scrap quilt.  The batting was pieced together as well as the backing.  The only piece that didn't come from scraps is the pink binding. 

Breagha will be arriving from  Scotland in just three more days and her grandma has a few quilts waiting for her.