Video: Free Motion Quilting - Flower

I've ventured from my beloved meandering free motion quilt pattern! My mom gave me Angela Walters' Free-Motion Quilting book a while back and I have been wanting to try her techniques on a quilt. I made a little video showing how I used her flower quilting pattern. Here's to trying something new! (Don't mind The Office playing in the background.)


Flower Free Motion Machine Quilting from Ashton Lloyd on Vimeo.

You'll notice that I didn't worry about the tail end of the thread all over the place. Once I finished I just snipped it and pulled it out. I figured my petals wouldn't be as smooth if I stopped to cut it out. It's faster this way too. I also have a machine that will automatically sew when I push a certain button; pair that with moving the fabric around at a consistent speed and the result is really even stitch lengths!

View the video in your browser here.

New Fabric! Kate Spain - Daydream

I received a new charm pack in the mail recently! I purchased it when I bought the backing for my Square Baby Quilt from the Missouri Star Quilt Company; it was their daily deal. I purchased the charm pack for only $1.95! Such a good deal. 

The fabric is the Daydream line by Kate Spain for Moda Fabrics. It's so bright and cheery! It would be perfect in a spring baby quilt. Although, all of my friends are having baby boys, hopefully someone will be having a little girl soon!

Square Baby Quilt Complete

I finished the square quilt I have been working on recently! I love the way it turned out. I hope my sweet friend does too. I hope she wraps her little baby boy up it in when he gets here! As I mentioned before, this quilt is based on "Modern Meadow" by Lee of Freshly Pieced. She said hers is based on "Chain Linked" by Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter. 

Edit: You can find my tutorial of this quilt here.

Washing and drying quilts always make them so crinkly. So fun!

The light was really harsh when I was snapping these pictures, but I had about 20 minutes to take them and wrap it up before we went to the shower.

For the backing I used a gray and white striped fabric called Stripe Gray from the Lost and Found 2 collection by Mind's Eye for Riley Blake. I've found that I love neutrals for the back of my quilts lately. It makes the piecing on the front stand out so much more. 

I picked up this t-shirt box at Michael's. There is one about 2 minutes from our apartment. Dangerously close. I just used some black paint I had on hand to write little Lukes name on top. I've found that using apparel puff paint makes it so easy to write text when you're in a time crunch. All in all this was such a fun quilt to work on.

I also featured this packaging on my Calligraphy blog if you wanted to check it out!

Related Posts:

Square Quilt Pieced

Square Quilt WIP

Square Quilt Blocks

Knightley's Banner

I made this banner for a sweet friend of mine. We had it hanging behind the food table at her baby shower. The banner is made out of linen and white cotton fabric. After I made the flags, I painted Knightley's name on them in white acrylic paint. While that was drying, I made the thick rope/ribbon I would soon sew them onto. Once the flags were dry, I sewed them onto the white fabric. 

I think it turned out so cute and am happy she decided to use it as decoration in her sweet girl's nursery!

I also posted this on my calligraphy blog if you wanted to check it out!

Baby Girl Pinwheel Quilt

Today I thought I would share a baby girl quilt my sweet mom finished recently. I gave her a Hello Gorgeous charm pack by Melissa Ybarra for Windham Fabrics for Mother's Day last May and was so excited to see what she had done with it. I purchased the fabric from Missouri Star Quilt Company. They have so many precut options. She used that charm pack along with white fabric (not sure what kind) and linen for the sashing. Isn't it beautiful?! If I remember correctly, I think she used the bottom left hand corner pinwheel print called Petal Penache for the backing.

The pinwheels are just half square triangles and really pop against the neutral linen. She quilted it using the meandering free motion quilting pattern. Here favorite too! Elizabeth Hartman has a great tutorial here. 

A couple of weeks ago she gave this to a family that adopted a sweet little girl. I'm sure she will love it!

Daniel's Cap Alteration

Daniel has a camo cap that he wears while hunting. The last time he returned from a hunting trip he showed me the plastic snap closure on the back of his cap had broken. 

Rather than throw it away, he decided to try and revive it himself. He wanted to add a leather strap and brass closure in place of the plastic one. He ordered the materials online and got to work once they arrived. 

I think he did such a great job! It looks so much nicer with the leather and brass. 

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Camo Box Pouch

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Square Baby Quilt Top Pieced

I finished piecing the top together for this quilt! I need to quilt and bind it to take to the baby shower this coming Sunday afternoon. I'm also making a cake for the shower. So much to do! All fun though.

I just got the backing fabric in the mail! I ordered just enough. I think its only about 1" bigger all the way around than top piece. Way too tight for me. I'm going to have to pin like crazy.

I have some blue striped fabric left over from the backing of this quilt that I think I'm going to use for the binding. Either that or gray. I haven't quite decided yet.

I also included the little sketch I did to figure out the color and layout of this quilt. I basically used 1 grid square as a 2"x2" piece of fabric. It's been pretty helpful having it available to look at. 

Now onto quilting and binding!

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Square Quilt WIP

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Daniel's Camo Box Pouch

I recently made Daniel a camo box pouch as a little stocking stuffer. We had some heavy camo canvas on hand that worked perfectly for this. I didn't even have to use interfacing. 

I used a bright orange zipper and thread. I think it turned out pretty manly and fun. I followed this Perfect Little Pouch tutorial from Make it Modern. So easy and fast!  

Daniel really likes it. He's currently keeping his gun cleaning supplies in there. Such a Texan.

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Daniel's Cap Alteration

Daniel's Apron

Half Square Triangle Baby Quilt Complete

I finally finished binding this Half Square Triangle quilt. It sat in a chair all folded up for at least 6 months. 

Edit: You can find my tutorial for this quilt here.

Why is it so hard to finish the final step sometimes?

The design was inspired by this quilt from Crafty Blossom. All of her quilts are so beautiful! 

I just used 6 solid fat quarters for the front of this quilt that I picked up at City Craft. I also bought my backing and binding fabric there as well. You can view my piecing process here.

I like the bright pop of orange the binding gives. 

I quilted this in my old faithful meandering free motion quilting pattern. It's my favorite!

This turned out to be such a fun baby boy quilt. I can't wait to give it to the little guy!

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HST Quilt Tutorial

Square Baby Quilt WIP

I finished piecing together the strips for the square baby quilt I'm working on. 

Above are the white blocks sashed with gray fabric and below are the gray blocks sashed with the white fabric.

It won't be long now before this quilt top is pieced! 

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Chicken Pin Cushion

My sweet mom made me this chicken pin cushion a few weeks ago. Isn't it so cute?!

I mean, how do you look at that face and not laugh! So cute. Especially with the little tulle poof on top. 

Thanks mom! I can't wait to keep my pins in this fun little chicken!

Cutting Guide: Cuts from a Fat Quarter

I decided to make a little sheet illustrating the number of squares you could cut from a fat quarter based on the size you needed. This way, I won't have to do so much math! Ha. It's probably best for my brain to have to do math but this is just so much easier and prettier to look at than a calculator.

View the 8.5"x11" version here.

View all of my cutting guides here.

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Half Square Triangles

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