Friday Finish - I Spy with My Little Eye!

 Squee! It's done! And just in time for DT's half birthday. They're 18 months old today. Time is flying!

And what better present than a quilt? True confession. It's a total coincidence that this was finished in time for their half-birthday.

156 fussy cut and Kona wonky framed Polaroid blocks. No repetition of fabrics, though there are more than a couple hedgehogs, foxes and owls... they are very popular!

I had a couple different plans for the binding. In the end, I didn't want to take away from the rainbow goodness of the top, so I opted for a matched binding. Fiddly? Yes. Worth it? Definitely! And it brings some rainbow to the back as well!

 Every time I look at this quilt, I see another fun block. I can't wait for DT to be able to name them all.

  More quilts loungin' on rocks. If only we both could have stayed all day.

  My quilts seem to want to go to the park lately. Or maybe it's me.

I'm almost as pleased with the back as I am with the front! I improv pieced the letters. On the back, you can see the simple quilting. Stitched in the ditch around each Kona frame with travel lines through the improv sections. This quilt is all about the colour and the Polaroids, so the quilting needed to be simple. Thanks to Val @ Purple Boots and Pigtails and Linda @ Scrapmaster for their quilting consult!

And the eye! I am so very, very happy. I printed a clip art eye and free pieced it. Yup. It was crazy. And it worked. (For the record, I did an extensive search for a paper piecing pattern first!)

 Who can resist a binding roll, even a sloppy one, with all that Kona rainbow goodness?

The Deets  
Title: I Spy Polaroid for DT
Size: ???
Fabric Used: Fussy cut prints and lots of Kona
Konas Used: Medium Grey, Tomato, Red, Rich Red, Cardinal, Persimmon, Carrot, Tangerine, Orange, Papaya, Sunflower, Buttercup, Canary, Sunny, Corn Yellow, Chartreuse, Kiwi, Parrot, Grasshopper, Lime, Cactus, Pacific, Peacock, Turquoise, Malibu, Niagara, Riviera, Regal, Amethyst, Purple, Magenta, Heliotrope, Tulip, Wisteria, Lilac
Quilting: Stitch in the ditch around each framed Polaroid blocks
Binding: Pieced Kona rainbow 

Backing: Predominately Kona Medium Grey with improv pieced letters and various sizes of Polaroid blocks

Favourite Part(s): Seeing DT pointing and naming the critters in the Polaroids (see below), swapping with my quilty pals to get lots of variety in those Polaroids, 

You can read more about the process of creating this quilt here, here, here, here, and here.

And here's what you've really been waiting for! They don't appear here often, but it seemed fitting. GT is fascinated with this particular deer. Days later, she keeps coming back to it.

 "Cah-cah" = car. One of BT's first words and a go-to in his vocabulary.

This quilt makes me so very happy. Working on it was a joy. Watching DT interact with it? More joy. Imagining the play for years to come? Boundless joy. What more can a mom ask for?

I'm linking up today with TGIFF @ Quokka Quilts, as well as Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts. Happy Friday the 13th!

J

P.S. This was one of my goals for Q2 of the 2016 Finish Along.

Friday Finish (& A Giveaway) - Tula Tigers for T

Finishes seem to be few and far between at A Quarter Inch from the Edge lately, but thanks to last week-end's MMQG retreat, I've got one to share! It's Tula Tigers for T, one of my goals for Q2 of 2016 Finish A-Long.

Though it's far from their usual habitat, these Tula Tigers needed to get outside. We're still a little ways from green, but at least it lets the colours of this quilt shine! The quilt is made using a fat quarter bundle of Tula Pink's Eden in the from Fabric Please!

  The quilting mimics the triangles and flying geese blocks that formed as I laid out the random blocks.

I was really tempted to use the tiger print on the back, but I'm taking a risk with this quilt already, so I went for a safer print, Labyrinth in Glacier.  To use as much of my FQ bundle as possible, I pieced a section for the back. This is great cost saver too when you want to use a fancy print for backing. By piecing a section and adding a strip of Kona Silver, I only had to buy half the backing fabric.

  I wasn't sure about the random layout to begin with, but it's grown on me!

 There's something about a path like this that makes me want to keep on walking. Perhaps another day!

 Tigers lounging on a rock... happens all the time, right?

I know, I know. Pictures with shadows aren't cool. But the angles they made sort of worked with this quilt!

The binding features Kona Silver and scraps of the Tula prints from the top. I wanted to use as much of the FQ bundle as possible!

Don't you just love a quilt roll? When I'm gifting a quilt, I very often just roll it and a pretty ribbon around it.

The Deets  
Title: Tula Tigers for T (Crudité blocks from Quilts du jour)
Size: 48 by 64 inches
Fabric Used: Fat quarter bundle of Tula Pink's Eden provided by Fabric Please!
Konas Used: Silver for background and binding
Quilting: Straight line quilting with random pattern and spacing using Auriful 2600 (light grey)
Binding: Kona Silver with scraps of Tula Pink Eden, hand stitched with Gutterman 102 (grey) 

Backing: Pieced, predominately Tula Pink's Labyrinth in Glacier with a strip of Kona Silver and a scrappy section

Favourite Part(s): Making blocks from a library book and the hope that this quilt will make a loved one smile. Fingers crossed on those tigers!

Read more here! 

And here's the best part! Are you crushing on this Tula fabric? If so, you could win your very own bundle by leaving me a comment below and telling me what you'd make with it. If you're a follower of Fabric Please!, you get a bonus entry. Just leave a comment telling me how you follow.  The giveaway will be open to international participants until 11:59 pm Atlantic Daylight Savings Time on Thursday, April 28. If you're a no-reply blogger, please leave an e-mail in your comment.

I'm linking up today with TGIFF @ Fleur de Lis Quilts as well as Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts. Pop on over and check out some Friday Finishes!

J

P.S. This was one of my goals for Q2 of the 2016 Finish Along.

TGIFF/Friday Finish - The Unmasking of Quilt Protection Program Project #1

Welcome to TGIFF @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge! If you're new here, I hope you'll take a few minutes to have a look around and perhaps leave me a comment or two. For regular readers, you've suffered through the vague references to QPP Project #1 for a long time now.... 

Today is the day. I unveil to you Daylily Daze! A gift for my parents, avid readers of this very blog.

It's 30 unique sixteen patch blocks - each one inspired by a daylily. What's a daylily, you say? It's a flowering perennial plant and my parents love them! You can pop on over to the American Hemerocallis Society and learn more if you'd like.

Each sixteen patch block has an eight Kona colour palette inspired by a particular daylily. The colours are randomly placed. The patches are 2 inch finished.

On a dull (almost) spring day in Nova Scotia, the only green to be had at the park was this quilt. ☺

It's bound in Kona Peridot. I considered a scrappy binding, but decided there was lots and lots going on already!

The back features an oversized version of the Zissertwin block. It's a unique daylily hybridized by my parents' friends and named for DT.  The rest is improv pieced Kona greens used also used for the sashing.

Who doesn't love some wavy organic quilting? I think its becoming the default quilting style of my lovely little guild. I went a little wild and used variegated thread. I know. Wild.

Since this quilt was a long standing item in the Quilting Protection Program, I didn't do much in the way of WIP posts. I hope you'll come back next Wednesday when I blog a little about the process I used to create this quilt.

My Mom (and Dad too) loved it so much that they took it to New Hampshire's quilting Mecca, Keepsake Quilting!

The Deets  
Title: Daylily Daze (A JMTZ original!)
Size: 55 by 64 inches
Fabrics Used: Konas and only Konas.
Konas Used: 103 different Konas went into this quilt. Refer to Kona Love for more information
Quilting: Organic wavy lines in variegated green (Gutterman)
Binding: Kona Peridot, hand stitched with Gutterman

Backing: Pieced from Kona greens used for sashing

Favourite Part(s): Creating a one of a kind quilt for my parents to thank them for 40 years of love and support and capturing in some small part their love of daylilies

Now it's your turn, link up those fabulous finishes here and don't forget to tour the other finishes and spread the comment love! Please include a link and/or button for TGIFF! so your visitors know all about TGIFF!

An InLinkz Link-up

J

P.S. This quilt would not have been possible without the amazing (and free) on-line tool that is Palette Builder 2.1 @ Play Crafts. Many thanks to Anne for her genius in creating this and for her generosity in sharing it! 

Friday Flimsy Finish - Tula Tigers for T

As I've said before, when things are rough for people I love, I'm sometimes feel stuck. Words don't always help. And with a busy homelife of my own,  being there with a hot meal or a sweet treat isn't always possible. But you know what? I can quilt. There can be extra love sewn in.

And there's lots sewn into this flimsy made from FQ bundle of Tula Pink's Eden.

If you're wondering about these blocks, they're Crudité blocks from the book, Quilts du Jour. Each block comes in a 8 or 16 inch version and has a number of different ways it can be put together. So many options!

I'm never 100% sure about those tigers. Are they awesome? Are they too much? In any case, my inability to cut them up led to these 16 inch blocks! ☺

It's not a huge quilt - measuring roughly 48 by 64 - but it's big enough to curl up under. And to bring some smiles to someone special who needs them.

Once I get this flimsy all quilted up, there's a giveaway coming your way, courtesy of Fabric Please! Your very own bundle of Tula Pink's Eden! I'm hoping you won't have to wait too long.

And I've got a start on the back. There's naught but scraps left after piecing this panel and setting aside some strips for binding.

I'm linking up with TGIFF @ Dizzy Quilts, as well as with Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts. Pop on over and see some fab Friday finishes!

J

P.S. Don't forget to come on back next Friday with your own finishes. I'm hosting TGIFF!

OMG! February Finish

Two for two! I've achieved my OMG for February, to repair J-Boy's Good Old Hockey Game quilt.

I even texted this pic to J-Boy in the middle of it all to let him know his quilt was almost ready to come home. He's been so patient!

Once I got got the bias tape made, it didn't take much time at all to stitch it down. Even the little endy bits didn't cause me too much trouble. The much sought after Wonder Tape did its job beautifully and held the bias tape in place, even with all those curves.

I also made a preemptive strike and re-stitched the red centres on the face off circles. One can't be too careful. I even managed a speedy delivery via my mom. I have been known to finish things and then have them hang out here for weeks, waiting to get to their forever home!

 

Unfortunately, the day she was taking it was a day of torrential rain and general darkness. No natural light to be had. Ugh. I was worried about the additional red thread on the quilt back, as the original pieces were appliquéd to the top before layering. But it doesn't seem to show too badly!

I opted to give the quilt a quick wash before sending it back. I used two Color Catchers and washed it on cold. And the pre-washed reds still had some bleeding. Oh well. Have you ever looked closely at hockey ice? The line aren't perfectly sharp anyway. And J-Boy loves it no matter what. 
That makes an auntie happy indeed.

If you're wanting to make some bias tape of your own, pop over and check out my tutorial. It's very detailed. ☺ I'm linking up today with the OMG: It's Finished Party for February over at Red Letter Quilts. Now to think up a goal for March!

J

Finish - A Mini Mini Cuppa for Q-D

Yup. I'm addicted. Another mini mini.

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, at our very first Q-Squared Quilt Therapy session, Q-D brought a certain quilt to work on. When I hadn't seen it in forever in a day (much less completed), I asked after the "Hot Chocolate" quilt. She looked mystified. Apparently, what I remembered as paper pieced mugs of hot chocolate were, in fact, mittens.

And thus, the idea for a mini mini was born! I got to digging about on the  internets and then I found the fabulous paper piecing patterns of Tiny Toffee Designs. My goodness, she has some tiny, tiny paper piecing patterns! Given how tiny these pieces are, it seemed best to do a little colouring to keep things straight.

The funny thing is I coloured willy nilly - before this fabric pull! Q -D loves, I mean LOVES, Carolyn Friedlander prints. So it was my goal to get lots into this wee quilt.

And off I went! These pattern pieces are very, very wee.

I used this little pic as a test to see if the mug would have enough contrast with this background. Digital cameras - not just for documenting your progress!

Mini minis are so very satisfying! And entirely doable during naptime... so long as DT (visible on screen in the blurry background) stay asleep.

I love my 12 inch rotating mat. Not so much for the rotating aspect, but more so because it fits so nicely beside my machine - perfectly positioned for trimming paper piecing.

Because I actually shortened my stitch length before starting (as recommended by pp experts everywhere), it wasn't a nightmare to take the paper off. Go figure!

All quilted and ready to bind... I kept it pretty minimal. The wavy lines are meant to be steam coming off the hot chocolate in the mug!

I planned to use Yvonne @ Quiting JetGirl's tutorial for selvage binding, but none of the CF prints used in the mini mini actually featured her name. Ack.

I had to break one of my hard and fast rules ("NEVER remove selvage before using the yardage"), but Q-D is worth it!

I carefully positioned CF's name for maximum readability. Q-D cares about that sort of thing! And I care that this fabric was "Kona Coordinated" ☺

In a break with my usual handstitching shenanigans, this binding got machine sewn. Quick and dirty! And voilà... complete with an inscription on the back!

I'm linking up today with TGIFF @ Quilt Journal as well as with Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts.

J

P.S We swapped last night at our MMQG meeting. Q-D loved it! But I bet she'll leave a comment saying as much! ☺