Brilliant Banners: A Finished Quilt

I really wanted to make a Banner Year Quilt by Andrea Tsang-Jackson of 3rd Story Workshop since I saw her pictures of it on Instagram. I figured a year end teacher quilt was a perfect reason to put one together!

I also thought that this pattern screamed out to be made out of scraps and I always have an abundance of blues so I dumped out my bins and paired a whole bunch of solids with patterns so that each banner would have both. 

I did mess up the placement of one of the banners which caused another banner to be in the wrong place but I take this to be an artistic choice instead of a mistake. Are you with me?

Here is Brilliant Banners:

The lap size was slightly smaller than I expected but now I know for next time.

There ended up being a range of blues AND greens to create some interest (and use up more scraps).

The back is more trusty Lizzy House mini Pearl Bracelets in Dragonfly. There is a handwritten label (by my 5-year-old) in the corner which makes it even more special IMO.

This quilt went to my Junior Kindergarten's teacher, Ms. M. My JK LOVED school this year and absolutely thrived under Ms. M's care and so I was delighted to gift her this quilt and that she was totally surprised! (Honestly I thought that by now the teachers at that school would compare who had my kids since I always make a quilt! Ha!)

Summer Sampler 2019 So Far

I really enjoyed the Summer Sampler last year so I signed up again this year. My quilty friend A is also planning to do this but waited for her kit to arrive and hasn't yet jumped on board. I think she may start soon as we have a sewing day Monday!

I just wanted to share my blocks that I have created so far. I ended up challenging myself to do this as a monochromatic scheme (in all greens with white and grey accents) after last year doing it all in neutrals. So far it is challenging me just the right amount and I think I will like the end result. I even know who will be the recipient! (Though he doesn't know yet!). I also like that I am using up lots of green scraps!

Here are my blocks so far:

Some Stuff I Made

I made some things. So I am just capturing them here for the record.

I made this lined drawstring bag for the WEMGQ exchange of shoe bags. It is Jenni Baker's Lined Drawstring Bag pattern in project size since when I tested it seemed to fit a pair of shoes well.

I made some Sister blocks for the WEMQG block lotto using the Kona colour of the year, Splash. Cute, right? It matched so well with this Elizabeth Hartman print.

 I  made a couple of minis for the program I did with a guild mate, Carol, about mini quilts and mini piecing. 

 I made another project-sized lined drawstring bag to hold a birthday gift for my daughter's friend who turned 11. There is a squishy pink ladybug stuffed animal inside. :)

 I made a bunch of bunny bags to fill with some Easter candy for some loved little people. I do NOT recommend the pattern which is poorly written and which I ended up modifying quilt significantly, but I DO like the outcome. So cute, right?

I made a drawstring bag for Erinoak Kids as a community project for my guild. The instructions are absolutely terrible but once I figured them out, this bag came together in no time. (Sorry for the horrible picture of the end result).

 And, sorry for another horrible picture, but I made a recorder case out of sloth fabric for my older daughter who wanted something more appealing than the standard Yamaha case. Apparently all her friends are jealous. :)

I made 49 faceless dolls to give to a student at my school who is trying to collect 4000 of them by mid-May to represent the 4000 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls here in Canada. It is a national tragedy and source of shame and if you are not familiar with it you should learn more.

If you wish to contribute some dolls they need to be here by May 15. See my Instagram for more details (@lynnfilliter)

 I also made a sleeping bag for our friend's son who LOVES stuffed animals. My daughter picked out Petunia (the platypus) and then I made this custom sleeping bag for her:

 Petunia's sleeping bag resulted in my daughters requesting sleeping bags for their own stuffies. So I told them they could each pick one animal and I would make a sleeping bag using fabric of her choice.

Here is Tulip in her giraffe and yellow stars sleeping bag:

 Here is Koala in her Harry Potter/Elizabeth Hartman sleeping bag:

So I have been working away and keeping all of these images on Instagram but it feels nice to use my blog to also have an account of these makes. Which one is your favourite?

A Quilt for an Owl and a Flamingo of Tigers

After making my younger daughter a quilt for her doll, she insisted her owl, Oscar, also needed a quilt. Because of course he did.

 She was very particular, laying out all these HSTs that I had leftover from another quilt (that is almost finished and I should be able to post about soon!) and then handing me each HST in the order she thought I should sew it. 

 She occasionally stopped to test my pieces against her owl to make sure it was the exact size that she wanted it to be. Adorable but slow work.

 The finished results is somewhat adorable, though that binding does not really work for me. It was chosen by my daughter out of my scrap bind for bindings because it has owls on it. Of course.


On a different note, at the West End Modern Quilt Guild in March we learned about making art collage quilts from Tish, one of our awesome members. Our exchange for May is a mini quilt using this technique. I decided that a flamingo would be super graphic and easy to tell from a silhouette and got to work. And I am DELIGHTED with the results!

Rotary cutter for size

If you look carefully you will see some Tula, some Elizabeth Hartman and some strawberries from Alison Glass as well as some TIGERS! PINK TIGERS from an old Cotton+Steel print. SHUT UP ISN'T IT ADORABLE?! I hope that whomever the recipient is as in love with it as I am!

2019 Goals

So what are my plans for 2019? Last year I managed to accomplish every. single. goal. Wow! I am impressed with that. Maybe I can do the same in 2019!

Here are my goals:

1) Finish my Summer Sampler 2018. The top is all finished and I have the batting. I just need to buy some backing (7 yards of it!) and it is already spoken for. My mom hinted very strongly that she sure would like this one. So to Mom it goes!

2) Finish my Polaroid quilt. This top is made, and so is the backing. It is one of the one I will be basting at my friend A's house this week. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it and it isn't going anywhere. (Except nowhere near the dog).

3) Finish the quilt I started for my older daughter's teacher as her year end gift (end of June). The top and backing are made. This will be basted on Thursday.

4) Finish the quilt my now-10-year-old made when she was seven so I can donate it. It is quite the colour combination but she has lost total interest and with very little work it can be finished and donated.
5) Make a Stack quilt for my younger daughter's ECE. I haven't picked the fabric yet but I am dying to make a Stack quilt so I am excited. 

6) Make a Banner Year quilt for my younger daughter's Junior Kindergarten teacher. I haven't pulled this fabric yet either, but there is so much potential.

7) Make a Meadowland quilt for my best friend who is getting married in September. I have a fabric pull for it but I think I need to beef it up some more. Stay tuned for progress on this one!

8) Speaking of that wedding, I need to make about 70 fabric succulent pots for her wedding favours. Yikes! Wish me luck!

9) I have a whole bunch of Lizzy House fabric squares all cut. I want to add the newest Constellations fabric and then make a basic patchwork Lizzy House quilt with each square being different!

10) I have a bunch of red and white HSTs ready to sew into a baby quilt to donate.

11) I also have a bunch of turquoise and grey HSTs to sew into a baby quilt, also to donate.

12) I have assigned myself a BOM using the Doctor Who pattern from Quiet Play and A Joyful Fox. I will make one doctor a month (and hopefully she will make a Thirteenth Doctor before 2019 is out!)

13) I won a bunch of book cover blocks at West End Modern Quilt guild and had already cut fabric to make a ton more for a book quilt for my uncle.

14) Speaking of West End Modern Quilt guild, they are doing a BOM too, so I will participate in that. I'm hoping to do it in 100% scraps (with the exception of the background fabric).

15) A Sew Together bag for my mom. She saw the one I made for my MIL and commented on how much she liked it. I am thinking for her birthday in May.

And those are my goals! I think they are achievable, though I need to find a way to baste in my own house. Oh, which I guess brings me to:

16) Repair the three quilts my dumb dog damaged. Already almost done repairing my Christmas tree quilt. The one I made my husband for our anniversary is a much more serious case. And my quilt made of tiny text fabric squares just needs a binding repair. Note: Puppies and quilts do not mix! 

Summer Sewing

Despite having a busy summer I did find time to sew. I have several that are nearing finishes but I thought I would track a bit of what I have been up to!

My Aviatrix Medallion is almost done! I just need to get the binding on it and then it is going right on my bed!

I had it quilted because I was worried that I would mess it up. I chose an edge to edge pattern and Quilting by Design quilted it for me.

The binding is ready to go on. It is the same fabric as the backing, an Alison Glass fabric from my favourite of her lines, Ex Libris.

I have also been hard at work on my Polaroid quilt. The top is actually all finished and I just need to get the backing made. I even have the batting ready to go!

I also have been enjoying Summer Sampler 2018. You receive a new travel-inspired block pattern every Monday. This coming Monday, September 10, will be the last of the blocks. I have managed to make every block on time! I challenged myself to do them in neutrals (blacks, white, grey) and with scraps. It has been such a good exercise for my creative brain! Here are the first blocks!

I will have to decide how I want to finish this one up.

I also did LOTS and LOTS of fabric purchasing this summer. I mean, that is not unusual but I am definitely ready for a fast. From September 1 to January 1 I will not buy any fabric with the following rules: 
1) I can preorder Lizzy House Constellations. She is THE designer for me and she is not even designing fabric anymore so I absolutely need her to add to my giant stash of LH.
2) My guild has a shop hop on October 20. I will try to be modest but to not be able to buy anything will make it much less fun.
3) I can buy materials that are required to finish a project. Batting, more of a solid that I need, zippers, fusible, etc. If it is for a specific project that can't be completed without that then I can buy it.
4) Spending gift cards doesn't count.

I think the just because buying will be shut down with this fast but note that I have many preorders arriving in the next few weeks because of preorders so I will still be showing lots of pretty on my Instagram account!

Hope everyone else has been getting lots of sewing done!