Squiggly Circle/Zig Zag Swirl

A few gals asked me about the free motion quilting I did on the Stained quilt I just shared with you.
I'm calling it the "Zig Zag Swirl."  Better than circly thingy.
Anyway, there a bad video that I shot that will give you an idea of what the movement looks like.  (Don't mind that I had to keep picking up the foot to go over the fabric.  My son glued some fabric in place for a pillow for my mother, so I was keeping it down with the quilting.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SYDkWeTa0Q 

Also, here are a few tips for you if you'd like to try it on your own:

You'll want to start from the center and work your way out.  Determine how big you want your circles and how small/tight or large/loose you want your zig zag to be.  Mine was less of a zig zag, more like a squiggle.  Okay, maybe I should call it the "Squiggly Circle."



If you get pinned into a corner like the one pictured below, you'll want to make sure that you make the circle the same size as the rest, so move your starting point closer to the edge, even though it will be cut off.  Go around until you can't go full circle any more.  Then you'll bring it to the side (where the pencil is pointing) and bring it down a bit, the same amount that it would be if you had gone around the whole way.  You want to keep the illusion that it's the same size circle.  Do that on the sides until you've filled in your space.



 Sometimes you'll only have to do that once, like in this pic.

Hope you like it and let me see, please, if you use this. I'd love to know! xo

Claiming

Just claiming my blog on bloglovin' like all other bloggers out there. 

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Well, since I'm here, I'll show you my finished Stained Quilt-a-long quilt that I finished in June.  I finally figured out where I hid it while I was on my 4 month road trip...at my mother in law's!



The quilting was a squiggly circly thingy. I don't know what to call it, but I wanted to try something new.  Here it is on the back, which is pieced from a few different red/blue/white fabrics that I've had in my stash forever just waiting to be used.

A scrappy finish

As I think about my WIP that I have going, I am happy to say that I have finished a quilt that will be given to a friend in the near future...whenever she has her baby shower.  It's a girl! And I had all these great scraps left over from my niece's string quilt (here) that I wanted to use up.  It's a perfect fit.



I just cut 3" squares of white and then sewed the little triangles I had left over to opposite corners of the square.  I used the same fabric for each square, but definitely could have just gone totally scrappy and used different fabrics everywhere.  Originally I wanted to do different colors radiating out of the center, but I didn't have enough of the same colors to do that, so I went this route, and I like it.



I know that my friend will love it for her new baby that is due in June...just before I leave.

Which reminds me, I have to make one more quilt for my second niece, Taylor, before I leave.  I have the materials cut out (some of them) and will start piecing soon. I am using the Kaleidoscope QAL pattern from don'tcallmebetsy.  Pics to come when I'm through.



 I'm linking up today to see what others are up to.
 crazymomquilts.blogspot.com

 

A Quilt for Silas

I'm making progress on making sure that all my nieces and nephews have a quilt from their Aunt Sarah before I move to London in June.



This quilt if for the newest little guy. He was born 12/12/12! What an awesome birthday! His name is Silas and he is soooo cute. I get to meet him for the first time in 10 days. I can't wait!


My sister picked out the fabrics and asked for a big quilt that he can grow into. (I really know that she wants it big so they can cuddle up on the couch together!)




I'm so happy I found the same line of fabric in a soft flannel for the back. I'm sure that they're going to love to cuddle up with this...although I want to be the first one to cuddle with him next week!

It's a Dog's Quilt

A friend bought new red leather chairs and wants to keep them looking new.  But her dog loves to sleep on one of the chairs at night.  So she asked me to make a quilt that will be for the dog to sleep on and protect her chairs.


I know how much she looooves her dog, so I knew I wanted to find just the right fabric.  And I did! There's a little dog on it that looks just like Truffles.

I drew a larger version of the dog onto a white piece of fabric that was backed with interfacing for stability, and then "drew" the dog face on it with black thread.  I can't believe how easy it was!



And I love the way they turned out.



And so did my friend.  And hopefully Truffles will love to sleep on it.

I made the back simple, because I figured that she would put the back face up for the dog to sleep on.



I also added some bones and paw prints into the free motion quilting.  And her name is in the center square.



 It was fun trying something new.  I think I'll add this type of sewing into more projects!

Linking up today at CrazyMomQuilts.  Enjoy your weekend!

A New Pillow

This 20x20 half square triangle square has been sitting in my closet for over a year now.  I made it from scraps left over from my Swoon quilt....that still has not been quilted...but that is another story.

Today, I broke out the scraps of muslin and wadding and put it all together! Yay for a quick finish.



I also worked on little envelopes for my kids to keep their allowance money.  They each have three envelopes, one for saving, spending, and tithing.



Here's a pic of my little ninja doing one of his  chores.



Hope you have a great weekend!

I'm linking up at CrazyMomQuilts.

Which Layout?

I'm working on my next quilt. It's for my niece.

This is the design she likes and the colors she wanted. I have more than half of the blocks left to make but I keep playing with the ones that I have ready. Now I have to decide how I want to place the colors. Take a look and let me know what you think.

In this layout, the same fabrics are placed across from each other.



In this layout, the colors are placed randomly.

I don't know which one to go with. I like them both. Want to weigh in? I'd love it if you did...as long as you aren't offended if I don't choose your way!