Challenge yourself

If we don't challenge ourselves we don't grow! This quilt is one of my favorites! It is made with the vintage Aunt Gracie prints. The squares are 2 in. squares then sewn into a pinwheel pattern. Sometimes we do the safe block or strip quilts. But be daring - do something new. Even if it does take you a while. You will appreciate it in the end. And learn a lot too! It wasn't too hard- but it isn't just a simple block quilt either.

Love Amy Butler

So I saw this way cute book at Hobby Lobby. It was an Amy Butler book. It had some cute ideas of things to make (not quilts but just stuff with all her amazing fabric.) There was this cute fabric book she made out of it. I think I will try to make it one day. But for now - here is a quilt out of a lot of her fabrics. This quilt was given to my friend who went through the whole adoption process with me. I talked to her the other night and I thought of her and this quilt so there you go.

Make fun stop borders. It adds so much to your quilt!

Since I am catching up...... TRY THIS FOR YOUR BACKING!

So, at Hancock Fabric they have this fabulous furry fabric called like comfy cuddly or something like that? Anyways, I put it on the back of these 2 baby quilts I made for friends. It turned out so cute and it is so SOFT. I even rolled it over and used it as the binding on the quilt instead of the traditional binding. I liked it. This stuff is the SOFTEST stuff you will ever find. I LOVE IT. My new favorite thing! Try it out. (make sure to wait until it is on sale or use a coupon. $12.99 yard)

One of the next quilts I will finish quilting!

A quilt always makes a room!!!

I made this quilt for my BEST friend. I loved it so much- I made myself the same quilt. Well I gave hers to her about 2 years ago. And mine is still sitting in a box waiting to be finished. The quilt fabric is AMY BUTLER, APRIL CORNELL, and HEATHER BAILEY. I love all their fabric! Recently my friend Tiff (who this belongs to) came out to visit me here in the heartland- and we had fun decorating and rearranging my house. It made me want to finish my quilt to remember her and also to add to my new improved living room. 

This is a GOOD IDEA if you are a quilter

If you are like me, you probably make a lot of quilts but then give them away to friends and their babies. Well make sure you take a picture first before you give it away. The journal is just about full now! 

Hello from the Heart Land!

Hi, First of all let me introduce myself. I am Carissa, I had this great idea to start up this blog with sorta an online journal of all my quilts and sewing projects...... Well..... I told my mom who is an AMAZING quilter (and anything home made) about my idea- she said lets do it together. Of course I then got really busy and never posted so my mom (shannon) has made it more of a Shannon show and tell more than me. SORRY!!! SO, here are some catch up posts. 

OH HOW I WISH I HAD TIME TO QUILT..... OH HOW I WISH I HAD TIME TO POST ON MY BLOG...... 

Here is the latest project I did. We had a bunch of Dental Wives get together and sew a Friendship quilt. We each made a quilt block -using the same pattern (Thimble Blossoms Wild Thing). 

All the girls who did it. (except for like 3 of them). I LOVE all these girls and am so glad I have a quilt to remember each of them by. 

Each girl made 25 of the same blocks out of a color that she was given (we chose spring time colors).  She was in charge of sewing them up and was given about one month. Then we all got together and swapped our blocks. It was so fun to see what everyone chose. I haven't yet put my blocks all together. When I do I will post the finished product. Along with the different ways people put them together. 

Yep, we're slackers. Ok, not really.

Sorry we have been such slackers lately. Carissa and I both have new and very busy callings. I'm tagging her so she has to do the next post because hmmmmmmmm, I think I'm the only one that has posted anything on the Shannon AND Carissa quilt blog. You might have to just accept the sewing blog for a while.

This is what I have been insanely busy with. Not quilting but sewing! I finally finished all of the pioneer bonnets (along with 10 not pictured that went to leaders) for the girls who are going on our pioneer trek. I also resewed their skirts (you know what I mean if you have ever turned 12-16 year old girls lose with sewing machines.) and put the waistbands on.

I have been making shawls, overseeing the making of 74 baby quilts for Humanitarian Aid (in memory of the 74 babies and children that died from the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies), making pins and posters for girl's camp, and now making "Possible" bags. Yep, I am the trek coordinator and loving every busy minute of it - only bad thing is no time for quilting.

The girl's theme for camp has to do with flowers so we are incorporating that into our "Possible" bags for the trek. These bags hold everything that they would "possibly" need - water bottle, journal, sunscreen, etc. I saw this fun idea on a quilt at Deseret Book and have wanted to try it for a while. I will be making about 30 of these so I will take pictures to show you how easy it is to do it. When they're washed they are even cuter! Well, that's all for now (isn't that enough?)

What is this?

I found this while cleaning out my basement. My mother-in-law made this for me the first year we were married and you can tell there are some really old fabrics in it. It is hand pieced with fabric over thin cardboard. It has something inside it like rice or sand so it must be a doorstop maybe? If you've ever seen something like this, let me know. I think it must have been one of those Relief Society projects like the cracked glass grapes or something.

T-shirt quilts

I have been cleaning out my basement. I found some garbage sacks of old t-shirts I have been saving to make some t-shirt quilts out of. I didn't want to keep storing the huge bags so I washed them and then spent a few afternoons cutting 14 inch squares out of them. I folded them all neatly and stored them in zip-lock bags until a later time. I have a sack for each of the boys. I'm thinking maybe next Christmas. I'll keep you posted.

Apron exchange

I joined an apron swap last month and this is the apron I made for my partner who lives in Canada. It is the Emmeline apron by Sew Liberated. It is reversible and sew (clever, huh?) cute. It's pretty easy too.

Finished tops

I have managed to get a few quilt tops done lately and I quilted 3 quilts but haven't sewn the binding on yet. That might have to wait a while (I'll show those when they are done) The top photo is a Valentine quilt. I made up a stack and whack heart square. If you want to see how it's done, let me know - I'll share.

I LOVED this fabric line - Charisma by Chez Moi for Moda and the pattern called Wild thing by Thimble Blossoms. I had loved the picture on the front of the pattern and wished I could find the same prints. When I got home with my pattern and a charm pack, I realized they were the same. YEAH! Carissa has been making one of these with her dental student's wives. Hopefully she can post some pictures too.

This is another Valentine's quilt. My hearts are just basted one waiting to be hand appliqued. Oh well.

I saw this quilt hanging up at Pine Needles at Gardner Village in Salt Lake and loved it. It is old fashioned and I loved the pinks and blacks. Not real fond of gray but it works here. Yep, it's waiting to be quilted too.

Flamingo Party!

I know, people think I'm crazy. I fell in love with this flamingo fabric by Modo so I decided to throw a party. You can see my full length apron (below) and then I made all of my friends and family a half apron like our lovely model is wearing above. I just used McCall's #M5284. They whipped up really quick and the only bummer was Carissa wasn't here to be silly with. (Don't you just LOVE the flamingo glasses above?)

For the party everyone had to wear pink and bring a summertime dish. Good way to chase away the winter blahs.

Easy Table Runners

I know we've been slackers lately. You'll soon see why. Anyway, here is a fun idea to use up all of your scraps. I made 3 table runners out of scraps from my Valentine's quilt and Julie's strip quilt that I made last year. They were really quick and easy and I think the people that received them liked them.

Elisa is at it again! This is one of three baby quilts she is in the process of making for soon-to-be nieces and/or nephews.

Look at the CUTE quilts Carissa's friend Melissa made! They are soooooooo darling. Good job!

CREATE!

An Easy Tutorial

Our youth group at church has taken on the ambitious project of making 74 baby quilts for Humanitarian Aid. This is how we "bound" the quilts before they were tied. It's easy and fast.
#1 - lay out your batting.

#2 - Lay your top fabric face up on the batting.

#3 - Lay your bottom fabric face down on the top fabric. The two fabrics are facing each other - rights sides together.

#4 - I round the corners because it's easier to sew and looks nice.

#5 - Pin all the way around your quilt.

#6 - Sew through all three layers with a 1/2 inch seam making sure you don't have the writing on the selvage showing. Leave a 12 inch opening on the side for turning.

#7 - Trim the excess batting and fabric around the quilt leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

#8 - Turn the quilt right side out and smooth out side seams.

#9 - You can topstitch around the outside if you want (and sew the opening shut while you're at it) or you can just whipstitch the opening shut by hand.

Your quilt is ready to tie! We had 20 quilts laying out on the floor and the kids sat around them and tied. We got all 20 quilts done!