Bats!

I know it's way late for anything Halloween but I have a friend who loves Halloween and this is perfect for her birthday. I saw this tutorial and had to try it, she has great instructions. The only thing I changed was the amounts of fabric for group A and B. I wanted to have my color groups checkerboard so I did 14 for group A and 13 for group B Here's a photo of my finished block.

My only nit pick is that my block didn't square up to 18½" as she suggests in step #10. My block fell just shy and I'm not sure if this is from some of the stretch in the fabric or perhaps each vertical seam should be sewn with a scant ¼" seam. I prefer a little wiggle room to square these things up.
I was planning on making this into a pillow for my friend and an 18" pillow form would have worked perfect but now I'm not sure I can make it fit. I will most likely make another one of these blocks and I will definitely adjust my seam allowance.
Thanks for reading♥

Pinning my next quilt

I've pinned my next quilt which will probably be called falling leaves. It's not terribly big It almost works as a tablecloth for our dinning table which seats 4-6 but it's a tad short at one end. This time when I laid out the layers my backing first and then batting I made sure to smooth things out really well before adding my quilt top. Using my curved safety pins I pinned generously about every 5-6 inches. I was very happy when I removed my quilt from the table to see how smooth and un-bunched the back was. Using my dinning table was a very easy and rewarding method this is the second time I will have basted my quilts this way and I am pleased with the results.

 I apologize these photos are kinda blurry there's not very good natural light in the dinning area.

 Here I had to take some photos under my lamps at my sewing table so you can better see.

 And here's the back all nice and smooth.

I can't wait to start quilting this one...
Thanks for reading♥

Delectable Mountains Quilt

Finally finished.... It's been awhile since I have fully finished and completed a large quilting project, and it feels good. The finished size is 84" x 84".

 I wish I had a better place to photograph the whole quilt but this was the best spot with natural light.

Sorry my photos only show sections I haven't figured out a way to hang and photograph my whole quilt. 

Any ideas?

These next two were taken on my worktable under my daylight lamps.

But wait there's more... I made a little quilt to match, which is just 40" x 40" 

Still to be completed I have a single pinwheel 20" which I was going to make into a matching pillow. When I've completed this I will add the photo. 

So I don't know what to call this quilt and I'm not even sure the correct name for the pattern but what I have come across in my searches is delectable mountains. I know I first saw this quilt or one like it on the cover of a magazine years ago and knew I had to make one myself. I figured at the time that I could easily figure this pattern out and for the most part yes, after all it's just some triangles of varying sizes put together. I should have purchased the magazine at the time because I have never been able to track it down since and I'm sure their instructions would have saved me a lot of time and errors. As simple as triangles can be at the time I didn't realize how much stretching and distortion can happen with all those bias edges. Over all I love this quilt flaws and all because when you admire the bigger picture they don't seem to matter much. And at the end of the day when a loved one snuggles under their brand new quilt, happy and content with their handmade treasure that's all that really matters.
Thanks for reading♥

Bias Tape continued

I found another bias tape maker on one of my trips to Joann's they had a limited selection in the store but have other brands and size options on their website. In store they carry the Dritz brand found in the quilting notions section.

Here's the one I got.

It definitely looks different than the one I currently have seen in this post.

I decided to try it out...

 At first my results were a bit disappointing this certainly doesn't look very even.

 But I fiddled with it a little more...

 And I'll say that it came out okay.

I definitely see room for improvement either in my patience and skills or these devices. I still really like the paper bias tape make from my earlier post. I think the reason is the extra guides after your fabric has been turned that keep it even so you can iron it down, I think I might try a combination of metal and paper guide next time I make a lot of bias tape.

Has anyone tried the Clover brand bias tape makers? I'm curious how or if they differ any from the Dritz brand Nancy Zieman has a set and a video. Her's come out so perfectly and even how does she do it?
Thanks for reading♥