I love what I call tube quilting!  I don't use the method as often as I would like but I wanted share this baby quilt with you all.  Below I have photos of my step by step process but the best tuturial for this quilt is from Missouri Quilt Company:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5WgTyqB8Pc

This pattern is called Summer in the park. It makes such a pretty baby quilt.  I used batiks and kona white.  My batiks were from a jelly roll, all I had to cut was the white, and it went together so quickly. I was done sewing the top together in 45 minutes.

My jelly roll was 2 1/2 inch strips the width of the fabric. I cut strips of the white the same size.  Sew one strip set with the white in the middle and one strip set with the white on the outsides.
Open and press seams to the dark.

Lay one strip set on top of the other (right sides together)
Sew a 1/4 inch seam on each side to create the fabric tube.
Run your iron over the tube to set your seams

**be sure to sew a straight 1/4 inch seam you will use that seam as a guide for cutting.

Using a ruler with a 45 degree angle line, place the 45 degree line on your top seam and make a cut to remove ends of strip set and true up the first block. Then move your ruler to the bottom seam and make your next cut, this gives you your block.  Continue along your strip until you don't have enough left for a full block.

I get four blocks out of one fabric tube.

You can save the ends and use them as a scrappy border.  Hmmm.. I will have to try that next time.

Press your seam to set it before you press it open

Open and press seam to the dark.  This helps you to match up your colors when you sew the blocks together. I often make a quilting cardinal sin by NOT pinning my blocks together when I sew them. I finger pin by checking my seams, as I get close to them, while sewing I put my finger on the seam to be sure it doesn't move as it gets close to the needle. 

If you don't commit this sin and you pin the seams before sewing the blocks, being pressed to the dark will help guide your pins and not have a lot of bulk at the seams.

For this baby quilt I used six fabric tubes, these are the blocks all cut and pressed.

Look at these blocks I see tons of ideas of how you could put this together.  How would you design these blocks?

Play with your blocks and have fun!

I followed the Summer in the Park tutorial from Missouri Quilt Company   ( I placed the link to their tutorial above from YouTube. )  I love this pattern and think it works great with any colors you choose.

Here it is with borders, waiting it's turn for the quilting machine.

I think this is an adorable baby quilt. Hope you enjoyed my step by step guide for this pattern.

Happy quilting!

So cute and cheerful!

Curly que quilting gives this quilt an even more whimsical motif

I have a friend that asked me to make a baby quilt for a lady who is pregnant.  The lady that is pregnant lost her mom and is having her first child.  My friend contacted "grandpa" and was able to get two shirts that were "grandma's".  The yellow border and the balloons are from the shirts.  I used a charm pack full of fun and funky colors and offset it with Kona white.  I plan to use rick rack for the balloon streamers and I embroidered the balloons with the baby's name, mom's name and grandma's name. 

Isn't this quilt bright and fun?
Happy quilting!!

I LOVE this idea and it is finally complete!  I am so pleased with how it came out.  I used three embroidered blocks and 6 crazy quilt blocks embelished with stitches and the lace cutouts. All of the material with the exception of the gray material is from my wedding gown. 

I love this simple horizontal setting for the blocks and the gray material is just gorgeous. With all the embelishments I decided on minimal quilting. I cross hatched the embroidered blocks and did some simple stipple and swirls in the a few spots on the other blocks.

Now onto the next quilt.......

Happy quilting!

I am still working on my wedding gown quilt.  Had a slow couple of weeks on this quilt, I was preoccupied with customer quilts.  But I did have sometime to sneak in some ebroidered blocks to add to my quilt.  I used the satin from my gown and a light and dark grey silk thread to embroider an S on one block and a heart with the year we were married in the other.  I am so excited to get this quilt done. 

I learn something new everytime I do a quilt and with this quilt I am learing patience.  These two blocks should have been the easiest and the shortest time spent. Boy was I wrong. First lesson learned is that I need to clean my embroider machine after each use.  I had embroidered a lot of hand towels earlier this month and when I started to embroider this block the top thread kept breaking. I would rethread, try again and a few stitches in, it would break again.  I was getting frustrated (did I mention I was learning patience, it's a difficult process for me)!  So mom to the rescue again, I called mom and she asked me if I had cleaned the machine lately.  I had not because in my mind I had not used it enough to warrant a good cleaning.  She had me pull the plate off the bottom and low and behold there was a TON of lint from those darn towels.  Well got it all cleaned and my machine worked like new again.  Should have been smooth sailing from there right?  Wrong! Second lesson learned, I used a stablizer on the back of my blocks because I wanted to give it a bit more strength and to minimize the puckering (which will quilt out later).  Thinking I had taken the right steps to make the block "perfect" I took it out of the hoop and put an iron on it to "set" the stitches.  Being in a hurry, forgot to tear away the stablizer and melted it to the back of the block.  UGH!!!  Had to start all over again. 

I now have 2 great embroidered blocks for my quilt and have learned a lesson about patience!
Happy quilting!

Sunday sewing equals three more blocks for my wedding gown quilt.  They are in raw form but will all go together soon.

Block 1 complete!  I did this in a crazy quilt style block. I am trying to use all of my dress minus the bow and bodice. I am even using the lining from inside the dress. The lace and the lining of the dress is thin and see through, so I decided to use a gorgeous gray cotton by Northcott as the foundation block.  I will be using it for the sashing too.

Here is a close up of some of the embroidery done on the top seams.  I am planning on this being a wall hanging for my bedroom so no more than 9 blocks, my unfinished block is 10 1/2".



Check back soon for more blocks!

Happy Quilting!!

Well, its in pieces now!  This is a picture of the front panel of my gown.  I had promised BIG progress in my last blog, however it is taking longer than I anticipated. With this delicate material I am taking my time to remove the gathering in the fabric without making new puckers.  Next in line is to remove the scalloped lace on the bottom, to be reused in the quilt. 
After that it should be smooth sailing. Hahaha, I crack myself up!  We will see how it all goes, but I have high hopes and tons of inspiration.

Big Bow, to use or not to use? I wasn't sure if I wanted to use the bow as is or if I wanted to take it apart.  Being married in the 80's this HUGE bow was the style, it was located on the back of my dress where the train hooked to the bodice.  Not sure I can incorporate into the style quilt I am doing, but I hate taking it apart. May have to store it for a future project, I am thinking it would decorate the outside of a basinet or something along those lines, but all the same it will go back into storage, as I am sure a project like that is pretty far in the future.

Suggestions and comments are welcome

Happy Quilting!

So I pulled my gown out of storage and hung it up to air out. Took some pictures and started on this journey. While admiring my gown, I turned it around and noticed BROWN SPOTS on the bodice which is covered in lace, pearls and sequins.  I panicked, knowing I didn't want to have it cleaned again just to then cut it up and make my quilt. 

I did what every girl would do and called my mom!  She had told me once that she had cleaned her wedding gown in her washing machine and it came out beautiful.  Well after talking with mom and doing what she said, I should be in an OXYCLEAN commericial.  Mom told me to use OXYCLEAN and put it in the washing machine on delicate cycle. I really didn't have anything to lose since I was planning on taking it apart anyways.  But I really loved the intricate lace and knew I would be sad if I couldn't use it in the quilt.  So I went for it and it came out beautiful!

Well now it's in pieces!!!  I just loved the bodice, and how it came back to life, and is as white as the day my mom bought it for me. I can't bare to take that piece apart.  But stay tuned I have a great idea for it!!!

The rest of the pieces, the front of my gown, the train and the bow will all be incorporated into my quilt.  I have decided to use crazy quilting as my foundation!  Check back soon there will be BIG progress!

Happy quilting!!!

What inspires your next quilting project?  Is it a pattern you saw in a magazine, book, or a friend's quilt you just loved?  Is it a piece of fabric you found on your last trip to your favorite quilt shop? 

For me, it is the fabric, I love to find a great piece that I just can't leave the store without. I always buy 3 yards (thanks to my Aunt Sandy - a little tip she gave me on my first experience shopping for quilt fabric, a queen sized quilt will need 7-9 yards of fabric, 3 yards of one fabric is plenty to make it your focus fabric or borders, etc) I love scrap quilts too so with 3 yards of a great piece there is usually plenty to add to my scraps! 

When I am making a memory quilt, I always look at the materials I have to work with and then come up with a design that compliments the materials.  So as you can see for me it is all about the fabric. 

My newest project is being inspired by my wedding gown!  My husband and I recently celebrated our 23rd anniversary and I had a desire to see my gown again.  When I took it out of storage, I fell in love with it all over again!  The style is so 1980's!! I am sure I could never repurpose it to wear it again (I am a quilter not a seamstress), I have 3 sons, so won't be passing it down. My mom worked so hard to afford my perfect wedding gown and I wanted to give it life again. Inspiration hit me!  Why not take my favorite parts of the dress and incorporate them into a wall hanging for my bedroom.  The rest I will keep boxed up and maybe use for my sons wedding quilts or maybe future grandkid quilts! The inspiration I feel looking at my wedding gown after 23 years seems limitless just like my love for my husband.

Below are pictures of my wedding day and the gown 23 years later out of storage.  I can't wait to start! 

Leave me a comment telling me all about what inspires you! Share your pictures and stories of the projects you are working on. I would love to see them.

Happy quilting!

Our wedding in 1989!

Train of my wedding gown

Front of my wedding gown