Sugar-Sugah: 2018

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Flower Sugar Very Berry Cherry, by Lecien of Japan

What can I say about this fabric? I love it so much I want to marry it! Well, maybe not to that extreme but I do want to buy a ton of it so I can make every quilt in the world with it! This quilt is made from Charm Packs. I ordered the fabric right before we went on our summer vacation. I knew it would be waiting on me when I got home and couldn't wait to get started!

It came together fairly quickly and I love how all the bright colors pop against the white. I have several expectant loved ones. This quilt is tucked away in my sewing room until I hear "boy" or "girl" so I know who to gift it to! Hmmm Maybe I should start thinking on some boy fabrics just in case! The last few projects have quilted like buttah since I switched my batting to Quilters Dream Cotton Batting. It really makes a big difference. I used a mason jar lid to grid the quilt top in perfect circles.

The backing is from the same line in a turquoise blue with little cotton flowers. I used a black and white striped fabric to make the binding. Soooo sweet!!

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

McKenna's Quilt I

I'm sure that I am in the same boat with most quilters. You have a huge list of people you want to make quilts for and a huge list of quilts you just want to make! I try to merge the two so that I can continue to sew at my pleasure, make what I want when I want and if it's giftable to one of the people on my list, awesome! I've had my granddaughter McKenna on my list a good while. McKenna is now a first grader and not a baby anymore. I wanted to make her a quilt that wasn't babyish or baby size but something that was bigger and that she would love all the way through college and beyond. I found this adorable fabric shop and as soon as I saw this fabric bundle, I knew it was for McKenna. I added a few of my stash fabrics, the gold polka dots and Zig zag.

I also made the binding from the leftover strips of fabric. Although I did measure, I'm always afraid I haven't made enough!

On a side note, I love what I call my "squaring drawer". I can just sweep all the tiny pieces of fabric there while squaring. It really helps on keeping the mess down!

While I'm already off track, I want to mention my sewing machine. After my beloved Esante died in the middle of a project, I ran down to Walmart and grabbed this Brother Project Runway for about 120.00 bucks. Although it drives more like a Ford than a BMW (like my Esante), it's been perfect for my piecing needs. I don't think it would handle actually quilting, but since I mostly quilt by hand it's not been an issue. I only planned on using it until I could upgrade but keep putting the upgrade off because for right now, it's perfect.

Because I want to give McKenna and my other granddaughter Estelle both big girl quilts at the same time, I decided to put off quilting until after I get Estelle's done so that I could quilt them back to back and hopefully have them both done in time for Christmas. Here are some pics of the quilt top. I will post the finished quilt when it's all quilted and ready to go.