It's a Sham!

I have a Friday finish!  It has been a loooooong week.  I finished the quilt top and, upon request, made a quilted sham to go with the quilt.  But nothing has gone according to plan or smoothly. Probably because I was cajoled into finishing the quilt (and to make a sham) by Thanksgiving instead of before Christmas.  (Silly me,  I do know how to say, "No" - certainly wasn't in my right mind).  The quilt top, pieced backing are upstairs draped on the longarm.  The binding is sewn together, pressed and ready to go.  I will be busy all day tomorrow quilting and sewing on binding.   I do hope tomorrow goes a lot more smoothly than today!!

Constellations Quilt top done!

Today, I finished sewing the blocks, rows together and the borders.  Whew!   Weekend of sewing but yay!  The quilt top is done!  Now for the backing, the quilting and the binding.  This will definitely be a finish for 4th quarter.  There are 30 blocks and each block has 45 pieces.  Lots and lots of flying geese! 

 

 

I love this one!  But alas, I can't keep it.  I made it for my neighbor and friend.  It is going to be a Christmas present for her 10 year old Grandson in Ohio. 

 

Need to catch up on some BOM's that I am in - just what I need after this quilt!

Buckeye Beauty Baby Quilt

I recently found out that a cousin of my husband is going to have a baby boy soon.  As they are big fans of OSU Buckeyes, I wanted to make a quilt with the Buckeye Beauty block - a traditional block.  As luck would have it, this Missouri Star Quilt Company Jacob's Ladder tutorial was e-mailed to me a couple of days ago.  I brought out a layer cake of Deb Strain's Meadow Friends from my stash.  Jenny uses charm packs in the tutorial, but I wanted to see what I could do with a layer cake.  I pulled out 16 squares that I liked and went to work.

Here is a picture of the top:

(Buckeye Beauty is also called Jacob's Ladder)

 

For the half square triangles, I marked a line diagonally from each corner.  I sewed a scant 1/4" from each side of the line drawn.  I then cut down each of the lines and down the middle.  Here is a picture:

 

 

 



I used my 4 1/2" HST Bloc-Loc to square them up.  (This is a gadget that I am using and enjoying!)

 

 

 

Here is how I made the 4 patch from the layer cake squares:

 

 

 

I marked a line down the middle of the square and then stitched a scant 1/4" on each side of the line.  I stitched down each edge of the squares going in the same direction.  I cut on the line in the middle, rotated the block 90 degrees and cut down the middle (5" in).  I rotated the block back and cut 2 1/2" from the middle cut parallel to the stitching 1/4" in from the middle and on the edges.  I pressed those open, laid them right sides together with the same colors opposite and seams nested, and sewed down the two edges again.  I then cut 2 1/2" in from the edge.

 

 

To use up the other layer cake pieces, I decided to go with a keyboard border.   I used leftover pieces in the backing. 

 

 

There you have it, how to make a Buckeye Beauty baby quilt with a layer cake!  A great time saver!  The ending size is about 42" x 42".  I did have about 5 pieces of the layer cake left.  So glad that I bought fabric for backing and binding back when I got the layer cake!