April Cubicle Quilt {Finished Mini}

My coworkers have enjoyed seeing my cubicle-sized mini quilts that match my larger monthly wall hangings that hang at home. I made ones for January, February, and March before getting distracted by plenty of other projects.

To make the April cubicle mini to match the April wall hanging at home, I decided that my cubicle mini would just have a scaled down umbrella (thank you, Google Images clip art machine). I had made the pieced background for this over a year ago in shades of green. I picked a larger floral print for the umbrella and brown for the handle.

For the satin stitching, I used brown on the handle and pink around the umbrella. For the quilting, I used a green and yellow variegated thread in rows of loops.

The backing is an old yellow and green stripe from my stash and the binding is a yellow, green, and pink leafy print left over from some older baby quilts that I made (in approximately 2013!).

This will be going up in my cubicle on April 1st! Now I have over a month to try to get one done for May.

Sharing at Finish it up Friday and Oh Scrap!

Patriotic Blooms {Finished July Wall Hanging}

Let's take a walk down memory lane to June 2015. Yes, I said 2015.

That's when I finished the fusible applique on my July wall hanging. That's also how it has sat for the last nearly two years. Since Memorial Day Monday was a "bonus free day" for me, I decided to pick a long-term WIP from the list and make a dent in it. I chose this project because it was small and could reasonably be completely finished in just a few hours, and that's what I did!

For the applique stitching, I used red Aurifil around the white squares and flowers, olive Aurifil on the leaves and stems, brown on the flower pot, and white around the flower centers.

Around the flowers, I used a oval shaped satin stitch and it makes the flowers look like they are ruffled! It's a really fun detail that was spur of the moment and I am so happy with it! It really gives the quilt some additional texture and interest rather than regular satin stitching.

 

For the quilting, I quilted meandering loops and five pointed stars. Perfect for a patriotic quilt!

For the backing and hanging pockets, I used what was left of the red, pink, and cream leaf print that I had used in this backing. For the binding, I used a red tonal fat quarter and made bias binding.

It feels so good to have an old WIP crossed off the list! Hopefully this summer will see some additional significant progress made on some of my old WIPs.

Quilt Stats:
Name: July Mini Quilt
Pattern: adapted from "Calendar Quilts" by Kim Schaefer
Size: 28" x 21"
Fabrics: Scrappy patriotic fabrics and other various scraps
Techniques: Satin stitching, machine applique, free motion quilting
Quilting: Free motion loops and stars

Sharing at Needle and Thread Thursday and Scraptastic Tuesday!

Christmas Mini and Monthly Mini recap

One last finish for 2015!

Even though this was finished after Christmas, I'm keeping it up until I take my Christmas tree down next week.

It's just so cute! The tree and part of the outer border is actually made out of the extra fabric from my Blitzen Basketcase quilt. While I was initially thinking I didn't use enough red, I think the very red border helps balance out the green-ness of it.

I quilted each section with a different filler pattern: the tree pot is bricks, the tree itself is overlapping wavy lines, the star is an echo star, and the background is a meander that alternates between swirls and stars. I did all of the quilting with off-white thread.

For the binding I used a red tonal print that I had in my stash that was already cut into strips (I think it was a left over from one of my mom's projects that I commandeered the scraps from) and used a decorative stitch to do the final tacking down.

The backing is a fabric I bought in the Joann's clearance remnant bin YEARS AND YEARS AGO. And it was perfect for this project! The pockets are from an old Denyse Schmidt line that I still seem to have a whole pile of in my scrap bin.

So here are all of my wall hangings that are done:

I think that is pretty good progress on these considering how many quilts I finished this year!

Happy 2016!

Finished November Wall Hanging

This is post #2 of a three finish week!  Check out #1 here!

When last I posted about this project, I had decided that my turkey wall hanging for November needed some leaves in the corners of the top.

Here's the top all finished and quilted:

I went all out on quilting this one. Each part of the turkey was done with a different style of FMQ.

The turkey's snood (the red part -- I had to look up the real name, I always just call it a gobbler) is overlapping wavy lines (like in this wall hanging). The turkey head and neck is upside down clamshells to make it look like feathers. The leftmost feather is a spikey feather frond. The middle left feather is overlapping straight crosshatching. The center feather (which you can't hardly see the quilting on) is spindly swirls.

The middle right feather is a swirly wood grain pattern. The far right feather is a traditional feather frond. The rest of the quilt is a large meander. I did all of the turkey quilting in brown thread and the meander in the background with off white thread on the front and brown thread on the back.

In this picture of the back you can see some of the quilting on the center feather better.

And this one shows the wood grain pattern feather.

I used the same brown fabric from the backing (left over from this quilt) to bind it. This one turned out so cute! Mr. Turkey probably needs a little button eye before November too.

Here's the back with my hanging pockets.

Come back Friday for Finish #3! Sharing this finish at Free Motion Mavericks!

Turkey and Tree

Since I actually got my August wall hanging done before the end of August (wahoo!) I started working ahead on the upcoming months. I have October done, but September, November, and December are not. I had the backgrounds all sewn together for November and December, so I cut squares and formulated a plan for September, but haven't sewn anything together for that one.

So while my mom was here and we were sitting around chatting, I got all of my fusible applique pieces cut and ironed on to my backgrounds.

The turkey took BIG pieces and I had a hard time finding pieces big enough! I think he's pretty cute though. 

Here's the gobbler with all of the satin stitching done in brown:

I wasn't sure if I should add anything to the border or not, so I went ahead and did all of my turkey satin stitching and I think now I am just going to add some leaves in each corner. The outer squares on this one are pretty enough on their own, but just the turkey seems a little stark.

And then I made my Christmas tree!

This one I did all red border squares because it just didn't have enough red! This one I was only able to get part of the satin stitching done -- just the tree -- before having to call it a night:

Now the plan is to add some leaves to my turkey and satin stitch those and then the November one will be ready to baste and quilt! I have big plans for quilting this one! And December just needs the satin stitching finished -- nothing else to add! And somewhere in there maybe work on September, since it IS next month...

Linking up at Linky Tuesday, Sew Cute Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday!

Finished August Wallhanging

A real, live finish!

I was able to finish up the satin stitching Tuesday night, did the quilting on Wednesday night, and added the pockets and bound it last night!

And ta-da!

I did a curly swirly meander for the quilting, similar to what I did for this baby quilt, but on a smaller scale. Here are some close up shots of the satin stitching and the quilting:

Stems...

Lil' bee in the corner...

Flowers... I did end up using bright yellow, but I am happy with how it stands out!

Another lil' bee...

For the backing and the hanging pockets I used a stashed fabric that I had a yard of. For the binding I used a large scale polka dot print that has lavender and white dots on a purple background -- absolutely perfect for this project!

No puckers! Wahoo!

I'm very excited to hang this one up in my kitchen today!

Linking up with Free Motion Mavericks, TGIFF, and Finish it up Friday!

Buzz Buzz

Since I failed again and didn't get my July wall hanging done in time for the Fourth of July (or the majority of July for that matter) I decided to skip ahead and get the satin stitching started for my August wall hanging.

I am so happy with the bee hive! The brown thread I had was perfect for outlining and after a wee bit of tension adjusting it was sweet and smooth. I'm slightly less thrilled with the green because it's exactly the same color as the fabric I used for my stems and leaves. The stems after stitching show almost none of the fabric -- and I actually widened the width of the stems to get them to show better!

The flowers will be outlined in yellow (I think) but I might have to get a lighter yellow than the bright lemon yellow that I have. The bees will be done in all black and I'll do stitched stripes instead of appliqued stripes. And as cute as their little antennae are, they are hella hard to stitch around, even when you decrease your stitch width. Thoughts?

I'm also SO happy with the purple! The pattern has this one with a blue background and I definitely wanted to mix it up! I'm going to quilt this one with all over swirls because a number of the background fabrics are swirly.

Hopefully I can get this one finished for real before August starts. I still have my May Flowers hanging up in my kitchen!

Sharing at the normal Tuesday places: Fabric Tuesday, Linky Tuesday, Sew Cute Tuesday!

Building Blocks Tuesday: Come on over!

Welcome to anyone stopping over from Quilter in the Closet! I'm very excited to guest host Building Blocks Tuesday!

If you're new 'round these parts, I'll do a quick introduction. I'm Alison, I've been blogging here at Little Bunny Quilts for almost four years and I've been quilting for more than half of my life! I live in Maryland with my husband and our pet bunny, Clara. By day I work at a nonprofit biotech company, and I also am the Bee Mama for the Stash Bee!

Here's a quick peek into some of my recent projects:

1. 2014 Stash Bee Quilt 2.Twin Quilt 3. Beau's Ties (pattern available!)

4. Monkey Shine Stars Baby Quilt 5. Ocean Waves Mini Quilt 6. Quilter's Choice QAL Blocks

Lately I have been seriously suffering from a lack of time to work on my projects, but I have a little progress to share!

These have been done and mailed for a long while, but here are my May Stash Bee blocks for Jacki:

I also have one June Stash Bee Block finished up for Leo -- I'm planning to make her one more tonight -- under the wire, of course! This is a fun, BIG block -- 16 inches finished! I think if I were to make it again, I would try to eliminate some of the seams. I've really liked the blocks I've seen thus far that my other hive mates have made and I am very excited to see her finished quilt!

I've also been working on a series of monthly scrappy wall hangings for my kitchen. You can check out more of that here! I finished up all of the fusible applique for my August wall hanging and now it has flowers and bees!

Thanks again to Jen for graciously allowing me to host Building Blocks Tuesday! I'll be hosting again in a few weeks!

An InLinkz Link-up

Romantic Garden Progress

Lest you think that all I do is work on QAL stuff, I finally have some other progress to share!

I've been working on my Block As for my Romantic Garden quilt and now have nine out of thirteen completed! 

Strangely enough, I'm missing three of my pink and green HSTs. I suspect a bunny might have stolen them. If I don't find them, I will have to remake them -- boo!

I've also been working on my next two monthly wall hangings and making serious progress! July is all ready to be satin stitched! I plan to outline the white squares in either red/light blue/dark blue for contrast from whatever block it is in. I plan to outline the red flowers with yellow.

Since it is much easier for me to get the fusible applique part done these days, I also started working on my August beehive. The pattern for this one also had a blue background, but I decided to go with purple with this one. This was actually one of the first backgrounds I had put together way back when I started working on these! Those stems will eventually have some pink or orange flowers on them.

Linking up (late) at WIP Wednesday, Fabric Tuesday, and Linky Tuesday!

Finished May Wall Hanging

I'm not doing so great getting these done before their intended month starts, but such is life -- it's much better to have it finished!

I took the advice of a number of you that suggested that the border needed a little bit of something added -- so I went ahead and added the three little bug-a-boos that the pattern has, but didn't do any other decorating.

I outlined the bugs in all black, the flower stems in a medium olive, and the flowers are done in red, orange, or yellow -- but contrasting to whatever color piece of fabric it is outlining.

I added another quilting pattern to my repertoire -- a branching vine and leaves. This isn't quite a "meander" because I basically went across the quilt in diagonal lines of vines and leaves and made the leaves close enough together from neighboring branches to make it look continuous. One thing I found out in the process was that after I quilted the main diagonal vine from bottom right to upper left, it was easy to add additional branches on the right of the original branch, but much more difficult to add branches to the left. I guess it's just a directional thing -- working in one direction on one side and the opposite direction on the other.

Here's my little bug-a-boos and some closer-up shots of the quilting.

For the backing I used a large piece that was hanging out in my stash. I honestly can't tell you what it is nor where I got it, but it works well with this project nonetheless. The binding is the same fabric that I used for the flowers' stems and leaves.

Another one done, and on to the next one -- sort of. I'm not 100% thrilled with the June design from the pattern book (ants and watermelon) so I'm going to skip ahead and work on my July one in the hopes of getting that one done before the 4th of July.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Free Motion Mavericks!!

Don't forget that the next Row QAL tutorial will be posted on Monday and to follow Honey, Bunny, and Doll on Pinterest!