Pillar of Fire using the Helix pattern

I would like to introduce my newest quilt "Pillar of Fire" it was created using my Helix pattern (At least that is what I am going to call it for now).  A few weeks ago I talked about the creation of this quilt in the post
My Orange and Gray Needs a New Name! As such I needed a name.  I loved the suggestions and all of them would have fit great.  I am going to call my pattern Helix. This quilt its definitely a Pillar of Fire.

This quilt has more then 30 colors in it.  The blocks are 2 1/2 inch blocks of many different shades of orange, yellow,  and red.  The back of this quilt was a solid piece of orange fabric I do not remember what it was originally bought for, but it was decided that it was way too bright for it.  But I think it fits this quilt well.

In my post This, That, and the Other Thing I talked about how I was having trouble deciding what binding to use I had bought the orange binding that I ended up using and was wimping out and thinking about something else, any way long story short I got talked into using it and doing a biased binding (which I had never before done, and it will be a while until I do it again).  I sort of suck at reading directions on how to do it and I ended up with a serious mess on my hands with dozens of short pieces all sewn together.  But in the end it looks wonderful.

I quilted this quilt with my quilting of choice, an echo quilt.  Because of the small 2 inch view able blocks and echo's on all sides I ended up doing a lot of quilting on this little quilt and I think it turned out fantastic.

Last of all I want to thank my son James for taking the pictures of the quilt.  I think he gave it a neat look and feel with his pictures.  While I am thanking people, thanks goes to Ella from Throw a wench in the works for the name Helix which I will name my pattern.  Also to Karen from The Recipe Bunny for suggesting the name Pillar of Fire for the quilt. And for giving me the confidence to attempt a biased binding Elizabeth from Such as Sew and Sew and to all others who help and give me suggestions along the way.

http://amyscreativeside.com/2013/05/17/bloggers-quilt-festival-wall-hanging-quilts/

Kids and Quilts

Today I had the joy of seeing another child's joy in quilting begin.  Last week we gave her family a quilt to thank then for all the wonderful kind things they have done for us.  When we were there, she commented that she wanted to learn how to quilt.  So last Saturday we invited her over and let her chose material from out stash to make a quilt.  She picked the wild flowers that Rebecca picked out and to help tone it down some Tanya added some 5 inch solid squares she won some where in blog land.

I started out by cutting up the fabric that she picked into 5 inch blocks to match the solids that Tanya added to our mix.  I had her line up the first 4 rows first, before we started to sew.  The above picture was taken half way though.  The quilt top ended up 9 blocks wide by 12 blocks long.

She was a total natural at the piecing.  I showed her how to pick up and keep track of the blocks she was sewing and then showed her how to keep putting it back together.  I taught her how to chain piece and was impressed with her speed and skill at doing it.  In just 4 or so hours we were able to get the top pieced.

Before she went home with her quilt top, Tanya was kind enough to cut batting and a back out of flannel for her. Together Tanya, my daughter Rebecca and our new quilter were able to baste her quilt.  The plan is that she will tie the quilt with the help of her mother and sisters and when that is done she will bring it back, 

Link a Finish Friday #54

It is now time for Link A Finish Friday.  Today I would like to start with a big thank you to Fat Quarter Shop who has offered to Sponsor our Link A Finish Friday with Prizes.  This month's winner (February) will win a $15 gift certificate to spend at Fat Quarter Shop. 

Please remember to thank our sponsor by visiting their store at http://www.fatquartershop.com/ their blog http://www.fatquartershop.blogspot.com/ and Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/FatQuarterShop

Pineapples from Julie's Quilts & Costumes

Barn Raising Quilt by Busy Hands Quilts

First 2013 Quilt from Ramblings of a novice quilter

These are 3 of the wonderful quilts linked up last week.  Please share with us what you have done this week.

1) Who likes rules. Toss them out.

2) Add a link to your finish blog or where ever you show off your finishes (Not limited to quilts but I like them the most).
3) Visit a few of the finishes and comment or encourage them on.
4) Monthly random winner picked from all of the months linkups to $15 gift card from Fat Quarter Shop.

Not required but fun to do

1) Follow my blog.
2) Follow the blog of all those that link.
3) Link back to my blog.
4) No finish, go quilt and stop reading the web.

Happy Valentines!

This post is to Tanya from the Family that Loves you.  Richard, James, Rebecca, Jared, Julia.

Happy Valentines from Me and The kids to you.  Your Heart is finished (OK well its only a quilt top but hey its the 13th and my basting queen is not home to baste it.)

I did make a cute little something to go on the back.  Since you think its too big to be a wall hanging (quilt top above, not the cute little thing for the back) maybe we can add a border and make it a quilt for you.

Quilt for a friend

This post by Tanya. This is a quilt we made for friends.  They gave us tons of hand me downs for little miss Julia.  It measures about 52 by 52 inches.  We have planned on making them a lap quilt for quite a while,we just had to get Christmas over with and have some free time.  This is the first quilt that has a label made with the new embroidery machine.

We figured this was the perfect quilt to have for their family with four girls. It has a ivory minky back, so it should be great to curl up on the couch with. Overall I think the quilt and new label turned out pretty well. I'm sure I will get better with the labels over time. It is the biggest quilt I have pieced so far. It is pretty much the last of the "Twirl" fabric, OK some of the small flowers are in the quilt Richard is making.

We delivered the quilt last night. The girls all tried to claim it, their 2 year old thinks it belongs to her.  We are going to help the 11 year old piece a simple quilt top with odds and ends from our stash this Saturday.  Yep, and we came home with 3 more bags of baby clothes. I don't think I will need to buy Julia clothes in a while.