Progress on Penny Patch Quilt

In response to the cold and often dreary weather of late, a bright, happy quilt seemed to be in order.  When I began my quilting adventure in early 2012 I had very little color and pattern selection confidence (an area still needing improvement in my repertoire).  I tended to purchase a lot of fabric lines for a project and trust that the designer would educate me.  The first fat quarter bundle to come home was Good Fortune by Kate Spain.  As it has a special place in my quilting memories, it has been sitting on the shelf waiting for the right project.

I think I found the right project.  I am sure you have seen the Penny Patch Quilt-Along by Rachel at Stitched in Color and all the lovely finished quilts that have been appearing in blogs and on Flickr.  I bravely untied the FQ bundle and pulled out some Kona white, ash and pansy.

 It was a lovely Sunday afternoon cutting this up to yield these piles.

Over a few nights, I had completed 60 4-Penny Patch blocks.  It makes me happy to see how little trimming was needed.

 Now, I had 120 6.5" blocks to arrange.

 Using my design floor, and after playing for a couple of hours with block placement, I think this will work fine.

What do you know, the primary color just happens to be orchid.   How very trendy of me!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday and Lorna's Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.
Kathy

Dr. Who and Chalk Fabric Bags - Why Not?

It was just few days before Christmas and I was really, really, really busy.  But not too busy as I was still viewing quilting blogs (for relaxation).  I happened upon the Dr. Who Quilt Along (that, by the way, has been going on all year...really, Kathy...where have you been?).  I know NOTHING about Dr. Who except that my niece is a huge fan.  This I cannot resist.

Being a clueless Aunt, I corresponded with the very helpful Soma at Whims and Fancies who set me on the right path.  I have been doing quite a bit of paper piecing lately as part of the T-Shirt Quilt finish, so I had some momentum.  Right after Christmas I started on these blocks.

 The Tardis.

K-9

What to do with two paper pieced Dr. Who blocks?  Make a book bag of course.

For her sister I just had to use some chalkboard fabric (sorry, did not get a picture of the table runner I made with this material) to make her a book bag:

Happy New Year gifts for my two lovely nieces!   Linking up with Amanda Jean's finish it up Friday party.

Kathy

Hello 2014!

2013 was a busy, fun year for KayakQuilting.  Doing these collages made me realize how much I actually finished.  First the quilts:

 and some pillows...

 and some bags, table runners and one more pillow!

Wishing you and yours all the best in 2014!  And let the sewing fun continue!
Kathy

PS Linking up with Play Crafts Year in Review linky party!

So Many Gifts

It's getting to the end of the holiday season.  I'm ready to clean my house of pine needles and empty the refrigerator of turkey and ham leftovers.  But as I do, I have added to my overflowing portfolio of special memories culminating with an amazing New Years Eve in Boston celebrating First Night, swing dancing with the Boston Symphony Swing Orchestra and even a few minutes of fame being interviewed by a Boston TV news broadcast ("Were you at all concerned about coming into Boston for First Night?" ).

Of course the greatest gifts of this holiday season are those memories with family and friends...but I dare say I did manage to score many lovely, thoughtful Christmas gifts!   Yeah!  For example, my dear friend Tracey and her family (who were the recipient of one of my first quilts) gave me this book:

OK, so have you read this book?  Amazing.  Highly recommend.  I know all of us quilters hope that someday we will create a quilt that will mean as much as the Keeping Quilt means to the author's family.  (So many tears when I first read this...oh and did I mention that my friend's family includes two beautiful adopted Russian children...read the book for this connection.)

I am one lucky girl.

Christmas Reveal: Quilt #4 The T-Shirt Quilt

I finished my first T-shirt quilt.

 This is too big a quilt for my usual quilt holder, hence the dangling from the second floor window.

 In addition to the t-shirts I cut up, I added four paper pieced blocks using the Star Wars Lego patterns by Quiet Play that she so graciously made available.

 Given the bulk of this quilt, the only quilting I did was to stitch in the ditch around each block and add my son's name.  Spray basting made a huge difference in being able to work with all this bulk.  The backing is Soft N Comfy from Joann Fabric.  I decided to include batting as well, so you can imagine how heavy this quilt is!  But my big, strong son is up for that challenge!

The finished size is 60" X 80", a large lap quilt.

Zach and I are both very happy with this quilt! Yeah!

Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!
Kathy

Christmas Reveal: Quilts #2 and #3 The Christmas Quilts

It's time to share a few finished projects now that Christmas gifting is complete.  This year, I sent four quilts home.  The first quilt I gifted I discussed in this post.

I gave this quilt to my mother-in-law who has plenty of beautiful quilts of her own handiwork, but I knew she would appreciate this one...and she did!

The next quilt was this one:

The pattern is one of the Serendipity quilts by Missouri Star Quilt Company, a fast and fun quilt to assemble.

The fabric is primarily Christmas Spirit by Holly Taylor, one of the first jelly rolls of fabric I purchased when I began my quilting infatuation last year.   I had fun quilting this with loops and an occasional holly leaf.

 Keeping the holly theme in the fabric backing...

 I love how this little lap quilt came out!

With the remaining strips from the jelly roll (and a few other ones), I made this quilt following the pattern from Christa Quilts Jolly Jelly Roll quilt along.

 I even followed Christa's quilting suggestion using a wavy stitch on my domestic sewing machine.

I really must remember to use this quilting style more often!

So, those are the Christmas themed quilts...one more to share!
Kathy

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve and we are ready (I think).

I'll be back in a few days with a few Christmas reveals.  In the mean time, I wish you and yours all the best in this holiday season!

All the best,
Kathy