Twirling

Twirling in  the Fall 

Oh ,did you think I meant a baton twirler?  Not this kind of twirling!

This week, the leaves really began to turn colors and fall off of the trees.  I love seeing them twist and twirl in the air as they float down to the ground.

That definitely put me in the mood to make a fall mini quilt for my quilt stand in the kitchen.  I had the perfect pattern:

Mini Twirl   by Fig Tree & Company  ( available here )

Mini Twirl Pattern  { here }

 I rounded up my bag of  Fig Tree  "Oldies but Goodies" scraps....  and  got busy sewing up  four little leaf blocks.        

Four Mini Twirl Blocks     by Susie's Sunroom

                                                 
The pattern calls for making 9 twirl  blocks, but I only  needed my mini quilt to be about 12 inches square.  Four blocks , with a bit of sashing turns out to be the perfect size for my quilt stand.   I love making this twirl block!  It was so  fun making this leaf shape... with no half square triangles!  

Mini Twirl Quilt     by Susie's Sunroom

     Quilt Stats:

      Pattern:    Mini Twirl Quilt     pdf file   by Fig Tree & Company  (here)  
         *** I love this leaf, Joanna !!  **

       My mini quilt size:  12 " across by 13 " high

       Block size:  5 1/2 " unfinished
       Fabrics:    scraps of various older Fig Tree & Co. fabrics  ( including Patisserie,                 Millhouse  Inn, Breakfast at Tiffany's,  and Buttercup )

     Fusible Interfacing:  Heat N Bond      for the stems

     Piecing thread:  Aurifil #2021  50 weight

     Batting:   scraps of Warm and Natural  Cotton

    Quilting:  by Walking Foot using Aurifil #2026.  I tried some free-style, random wavy lines- to make it feel like wind blowing the leaves

    Binding:   Quarter Inch, Single Fold Binding aka Flat Binding, following a tutorial by Made by Chrissie D {here}.    I wanted a very minimal binding, and it was pretty easy to machine sew onto the mini quilt.  

   Hangers-  I made 2 little quilt hangers on the back - by using  Carole's  tutorial at From   My Carolina Home {here}  and { here }.  So easy and works like a charm!

Aurifil thread makes such beautiful quilting stitches!

This was a fast and fun little quilt to make! 
Fig Tree has a full sized Twirl  leaf block available , too.  Wouldn't that make a  gorgeous lap quilt, using  Fig Tree fabrics !

I'm off to my sewing room!

Linking up at:    Fabric Tuesday  @ Quilt Story   and
                        Building Blocks Tuesday @  Quilter in the Closet  and
                        Let's Bee Social  @ Sew Fresh Quilts      and 

A Kissy Fishy Finish

The Finished "  Kissy Fishy "  Quilt

I have been on a roll with finishing  up my quilts.  (Lots of Happy Dancing  going on now as I write this ... so  excuse any spelling errors! )

My latest finish:  The Kissy Fishy Quilt       ** Super Cute Pattern Alert  **

Kissy Fishy Quilt    pattern by Sew Fresh Quilts  { here }

Pattern:   Kissy Fishy Quilt    by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts   ( here )
Size:   54 " x 54"  approximately
Fabrics:  Fish-  Color Wheel Stashbuilders  by Connecting Threads  ( a variety of Quilter's Candy prints)
            Background:   Lotta Dots- a  white on white dots tonal ,  by Connecting Thread
Thread:   Aurifil  - # 2024  50 weight - for piecing
Batting:  Pellon 970  Thermolam   
Quilting:    wavy , horizontal lines, using my Walking Foot-  Aurifil  -  # 4655  - 50 weight- a varigated blue , to look like water

The quilt top-

And, then, for the back of the quilt,  I made a few more of Lorna's friends,  from the Elephant Parade Quilt Along (here)...  the turtle, frog and bird !  (Aren't they sweet?!)

The turtle, frog and bird, "the neighbors",  will be the stars of the back of my quilt!

I made the quilt sandwich, and quilted wavy lines horizontally across the quilt, using my walking foot. The quilting thread is  Aurifil #4655, which has a blue and white varigation. I hope this gives the feeling that the fish are swimming in water.  

The horizontal rows were marked  by pinning on both sides of my  1.5" - wide ruler.  I just had to keep the quilting  inside of  these  pinned lines.

Pinning to mark the boundaries of the wavy lines

I used a pretty blue Tic Tac   fabric for the binding-

My Kissy Fishy Quilt     by Susie's Sunroom

Here is the finished back of the quilt... featuring these cute characters!!  ( I am just going to have to make an Elephant Parade quilt some day!!)

The Kissy Fishy quilt is a perfect size for a children's quilt.  (I'll be saving this quilt for any grandchildren that may come down the road....)  

I think it's  a splashing success!   

I'm off to my sewing room!

Linking up at:     Let's Bee Social  @ Sew Fresh Quilts    and   
                          Fabric Tuesday  @ Quilt Story  and
                          Building Blocks Tuesday @  Quilter In The Closet  and
                         Finish It Up Friday  @ Crazy Mom Quilts    and
                          Can I Get a Whoop Whoop!  @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict  and
                          Fabric Frenzy Friday @  Fort Worth Fabric Studio    and
                           TGIFF  @  Rainbows. Bunnies. Cupcakes.       and
                          Finished Or Not Friday  @ Busy Hands Quilts

A Walk in the Park

A Walk in the Park

Whims and Fancies blog

                                                         

It was a cloudy day, and I was tempted to say it was not pretty enough for a walk .
But we went anyway...

The lush  vegetation contrasted with  the  jagged-edged barks ,  in the woodlands surrounding the old mansion .

I wondered what lie beyond the stone wall, topped by the elegant stonework arches...






Ivy-covered stones and  gangly pines in a row ...

and .... yet more  English Ivy vines , persistently creeping  towards the sky.

It  turned out to be a perfect day for exploring some paths. And for looking around an old mansion's gardens , at  Ridley Creek State Park.

Go on over to Soma's blog , Whims and Fancies,  to see so many beautiful photographs!

Linking up at-      Wandering Camera @   Whims and Fancies

I'm off to my sewing room!

Apple Picking Tree Skirt

How About Them Apples....

I bought this super cute pattern, Apple Picking Quilt,  by Lori Holt, a long time ago. 

Apple Picking Quilt   by Lori Holt  { here }

Last week, I bought a bag of Ginger Crisp apples for my mother, and remembered that I had this  Lori Holt apple quilt pattern in my files.

So, I dug into my laundry basket of fabrics that I had pulled to together for making my Farm Girl Vintage Quilt.  ( FGV quilt  block patterns from the book, "Farm Girl Vintage" by Lori Holt.)   You can see my quilt Here. 

This is what I made....

 A Green Apple 

These 12 inch blocks make up so quickly!

A Red apple

Adding on a third scrappy apple

Before I knew it....

Whiskers is heading over to the quilt top to check out all of the apples

As I was making the apple blocks, I realized that this would make a really "delicious"  tree skirt  !

Inspiration:   I saw a video by Rob, at ManSewing, with Violet Craft, on how to turn an unfinished quilt into a tree skirt  {here }

The finished quilt came out to be 33 " by 33 " , after adding some sashing to the four sides.  

I made the quilt sandwich,  and quilted straight lines, at 1.5 " apart, both horizontally and vertically, using my walking foot.

Then it got hard.... 

I became REALLY nervous when I had to cut out the center circle, and the line out to the edge!!  I held my breath and used my special ( very sharp) Gingher Dressmaking shears, and cut!   Success!!

Next, I  sewed  up 4 ties, and pinned them on to the opening, before sewing on the bias binding.

The ties are pinned 

 I machine sewed the bias binding to the front of the tree skirt.  The binding was then hand stitched to the back side.  

Oops... after reading  checking out the pattern, I realized that I should have embroidered the seeds to the apple blocks  before putting the front and back together!  Carefully, I  stitched the apple seeds without thread coming through to the quilt back .  It was slow going, but worth the effort. I  like the addition of the seeds to the cut apples!   ( Note to self:  make a note on the pattern to embroider seeds right after making the quilt top !!)

Embroidering the apple seeds

And here is the finished " Apple Picking Quilt" tree skirt for my pencil tree!

My "Apple Picking " tree skirt    Susie's Sunroom

Before: The Apple Picking Quilt ...After: the Apple Picking Tree Skirt  ! 
by  Susie's Sunroom

I love the little patchwork apples!

I am so happy with my new little tree skirt!

I wonder how long it will be until it is covered with little black kitty hairs?!  LOL

Don't be afraid to cut into that small quilt to make your own tree skirt!

Next on my "To Make" List-   make a Christmas Tree Skirt before December.  (  I won't be  limited to tree skirt patterns to find what I like!)

I'm off to my sewing room!

Linking up at:   Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict   and
                       Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio   and
                      Finished Or Not Friday  @ Busy Hands Quilts     and
                         Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts   and
                           Fabric Tuesday   @ Quilt Story  and
                          Finish It  Up Friday  @ Crazy Mom Quilts