Penguin Quilt

 

Like the reindeer quilt, this quilt was also on my list of aspirational goals for 2025. It experienced some delays in completing it. I almost finished it in May - it was completely quilted and ready to bind - but then I decided to rip out all the quilting and buy a walking foot. With so much straight-line quilting, it had pulled badly. It took about 12 hours to undo all the quilting, but it was worth it. The walking foot made a big difference, especially when it came to the binding.

Reindeer Quilt

Naturally the first quilt I finished this year was one that was on my list of secondary goals. This is the Rock Star quilt pattern, and it came together quite quickly. Most of the fabric was already in my stash, though the green was a fairly recent acquisition as a potential option for the cherry quilt.

Cheery Cherries Quilt

When I finished the twin kaleidoscope quilts, I needed a break. After procrastinating on my original economy block plan for this cherry fabric, this quilt came together in record time. I found the design, the math worked for the fabric I had (which was not much of the red print), and I had the planning done in a week. Initially I made 30 blocks. Then I made 12 more and pieced the top, but it needed one more row. Fortunately I had just enough leftover pieces of green fabric to make six more blocks. Thanks to a holiday weekend, I pieced the entire top in four days. I realized I've done very few quilts where the entire quilt is the exact same block, especially in the exact same fabric and orientation.

Kaleidoscope of Stars Quilt B

This quilt is a non-identical twin to my first kaleidoscope of stars quilt. The main difference is the combination of fabrics in the blocks, which you have to look rather closely to notice.

Kaleidoscope of Stars Quilt A

After giving a quilt to my cousin for his daughter's first birthday, I knew I would need to make quilts for this baby's future siblings and cousins, and by this time, my other cousin was expecting a baby boy, so I bought some fabric...and then we moved. Baby cousin #2 is now almost 18 months old, and I've finally finished his quilt!

 

Thread Count Quilt

I love the colors of this quilt. Although the design is very simple, it took forever to find a design that worked with these fabrics! It is called Thread Count by Amy Gibson. I used 5" squares and 5" x 15" strips.

Plaid Quilt

I've been collecting these 6" squares for years, and it was finally time to assemble them into a quilt. There are at least two each pattern, but no more than four. There is one I didn't plan to use that only has three. After assembling 80 blocks, I decided I needed another row, but that was as big as it could get. Before we moved, I found the two fabrics I used for the front. One of my quilter friends suggested I incorporate somewhere to "rest the eye." I did buy some solid fabric, but I could not incorporate it into the design.I am very pleased with how it turned out, despite how busy it is. It was hard to find fabric to coordinate with so many colors, and both the wood grain and navy crosshatch are perfect. I am pleased with how pleased I am with it, given how much I loved the very different color palette of my last quilt.

Hidden Foxes Quilt

 

This is undoubtedly the most beautiful quilt I've ever made. I just absolutely love the color combination. My sister asked if it was for my cousin's new baby and I said, "No! It's beautiful! I can't give it away!" It is a perfect little girl quilt though, and it does need a home. I had all the triangles cut and laid out last year, but I set them aside as motivation to finish the Hunter's Star quilt.

Hunter's Star Quilt

I finished my first quilt since 2020! I started this quilt in 2020, right after I finished the fox and feathers quilt. I made a bunch of half square triangles, was not motivated to trim them, and set it aside. Then we moved again, and that managed to consume an entire year. I was finally motivated to pick it up again because I cut a bunch of triangles for another quilt, coincidentally featuring the scraps of the fox fabric, and decided I should finish this quilt before starting another. 

Fox and Feathers Quilt

I've had the fox fabric in this quilt since 2018, so it felt very good to finally find a design I was pleased with and get started. It was also nice that it came together so quickly once I had a design. I had hoped to highlight the foxes a bit more, but with only 2 yards, fussy cutting wasn't the best use of the yardage.

New Wave Quilt

When I came across the pattern for the unicorn quilts, I also came across the New Wave quilt. It seemed like a good design for one set of fabrics on my 2019 quilt goals. I made a few tweaks. I wanted to get more wedges out of a single fat quarter, so instead of using the template, I made my wedges 2" on the short end, 5" on the wide end, and 8" across. Surprisingly, I was able to piece the front entirely out of my stash, though some fabrics show up more frequently than others. The blues don't all quite match each other, but with the white sashing in between, they blend well enough.

Churn Dash Quilt

I bought two remnants of this pink and blue fabric that were only a half yard each. With the large pattern, I didn't want to cut them up too small, and I was able to get ten 8" squares out of each. I decided on a churn dash block to highlight them. Fortunately it wasn't too hard to find coordinating fabrics. I really like the contrasting white, but that limited my choices for quilting as I didn't want to quilt with colored thread on the white fabric or with white thread on the pink and blue fabrics, so I ended up outlining each block.

Scrappy Granny Square Quilt

I started this quilt last year. Then we moved, and all the little squares got packed up. (Sound familiar? In two years, it's my second scrap quilt that's been interrupted by a move.) It completes my second 2018 goal. Even after two scrap quilts, I still had a shoe box full of 2.5" squares of fabric, but I was left with a lot more of some fabrics and colors than others, so I needed a quilt design that worked with those imbalances. Enter the granny square.

This quilt was pieced in diagonal rows to avoid sashing or seams between blocks. With 13 colored squares per "block" and 80 "blocks," this quilt involves 1,040 2.5" colored squares, plus 455 white pieces - 108 rectangles for the border and 347 interior squares - for a total of 1,495 pieces.

My previous granny square quilt had a big granny square block on the back, a design I wanted to repeat. I didn't have enough of one fabric to just do one block, so I extended the design. Unfortunately, it didn't quite align properly on the bottom and left sides. I quilted it in a grid pattern. The front uses white fabric, but the back uses a grey and white print since I didn't want that much white on the back, and I bound it in a grey and white polka dot fabric. 

Finished size: 66" x 85"

Want to make one? Check out the tutorial on how I pieced the top. 

Blue and Beige Triangles

Another triangle quilt, though a slightly different design than the last two. This blue and beige print has been on my list of goals since 2016, so I've probably had it quite a bit longer than that. The blue arrow print was purchased right before our most recent move, but the other two blue prints have been in my stash awhile, as was the lightest of the beige prints. I finally made the decision to finish it up and purchased two beige prints, as well as solid beige and blue fabric, since my previous triangle quilts included solids. Originally, I planned a diagonal design, but, because the arrow print was a remnant, I didn't have enough fabric to do that and the solid beige fabric got eliminated in the redesign.

Baby Triangles, Version 2

I try to avoid making the same quilt twice, but I had a lot of fabric left over from last year's triangle baby quilt. Having bought it leading up to moving, I erred on the side of caution and bought more than I thought I'd need. Conveniently, my sister's friend was expecting a girl and using the same colors for her nursery, and the triangle design just comes together so quickly, plus I had leftover triangles already cut. I used up most of the peach fabrics, so I had to sub in a few fabrics Julie eliminated from her palette. I was worried it wouldn't look as good, but I like the darker pink.

Dresden Plates Quilt

I made these three Dresden plates before we moved last year, so I was motivated to make this quilt my first project of the year. I only had enough scraps for three Dresden plates, so my first task was figuring out what to do to fill in the rest of the quilt top. Though the design is simple, it still took a bit of calculating to figure out appropriately scaled dimensions for everything, but it came together quickly after that. I have never appliqued a quilt top, so I got some Heat'n'Bond to adhere the Dresden plates to the quilt top before sewing them down. I was very glad I did this before quilting.

Triangle Baby Quilt

This quilt is for my new niece. Julie chose a more muted color palette than Claire's airplane quilt. I didn't love the colors at first, but I am really happy with the way it turned out. When Julie told me she wanted a triangle quilt, I bought a triangle template because I hate cutting triangles with my rectangular ruler. Fortunately I bought most of the fabric before we moved because we don't live anywhere near a fabric store now. 

I quilted it with a zigzag pattern similar to Claire's quilt. Julie wanted a grey binding, so I went with the same silver fabric as my last scrap quilt. Eventually I'll get back to the quilt for which I originally bought this fabric!

Finished size: 41" x 58"

Scrap Quilt #3

I started this quilt in 2015, right after finishing my last scrap quilt. Then we moved, and all the little squares got packed up. It is 25 blocks of 49 2.5" squares.

The Irish chain design is a little harder to see than I anticipated.

Close up of the design

Triangle Trees Quilt

Making a quilt out of this tree fabric has been one of my goals for the past two years, since I've had it for awhile. This quilt went through so many variations of the layout, and this one is definitely the most visually interesting. Most of my quilts don't have borders like this one. I was inspired to use this half-square triangle design by an image I saw at work. I made a quick sketch only to discover when I got home that I didn't have as much of the tree print as I thought, and I didn't want the size to be limited my that. I had exactly enough tree fabric to make 80 blocks. Then one of my cuts went off the rails, ruining one of the blocks. Fortunately I had this swirly orange to substitute in, and I made 4 substitutions for the sake of symmetry. Blue would have been a logical substitution as well, but when I got to the back, I was glad I hadn't done that.

I had two green fabrics I was debating between, then I used a completely different one, since this one was a much better match. I bought this green swirl fabric thinking I would need it for the back of the Bright Birds quilt, but I didn't end up needing it, so fortunately it found the perfect home in this quilt.

Close up of the front fabrics

Bright Birds Quilt

I have had this bird fabric forever, and the green and pink dots possibly even longer. The green dots date back to at least the dinosaur quilt from 2010. At one point, I had this print in purple too, but not in the quantity I had pink and green, nor was it a bright enough purple to match this quilt. Purple is a tricky color to match, so I was relieved to finally find this purple fabric last year.

The back is perfectly pieced from the leftover fabric!

Finished size: 65" x 77"