Bursting Heart and Angel Quilt Finished

A couple of pictures of the Bursting Heart and Angel Quilt.  This one without the binding.

And this one of the final  finished quilt.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Bursting Heart and Angel Quilt Coming Along

Honestly, I don't think I have an original thought in my head.  But my...oh my...am I easily inspired.  I can look through Pinterest and my mind is in a whirl wind of frenzied ideas.  You saw from my last post Denim Angel Quilt Block Tutorial how I was inspired for the denim angels quilt block.

Well then I ran across this Bursting Heart Pillow tutorial over at the Blue Susan makes... blog.  And apparently I am not the only one inspired by others because she admits that her inspiration came from an Amy Butler's pattern Alchemy Sweet Slices Pillow.  So I had to try to adapt it to my beloved denim.  And this is what I came up with...

And I have incorporated it and the angels into this quilt that is slowly coming along.

I've also included a couple of my denim hearts and I may try to do a tutorial on those in the near future.

Denim Angel Quilt Block Tutorial

 I cannot take credit for this idea.  I found it on Pinterest and have to give Kudos where Kudos are due.  It started out as X-mas Ornament:Angels at the Selimut-ku blog.  But the denim colored blue angel from El Patchwork De Kris caught my eye and I thought that might make a quilt block.  And it did quite nicely.

I do machine quilting on a regular machine, so I always try to work with a 10-inch block.  It is limiting but just easier to maneuver around in the space on regular machine and so set about trying to increase the size of the angel to fit nicely on a 10-inch block.  So I started by trying to find something perfectly round in my kitchen to use for my circles and I came up with the bottom of a paper towel holder.  I think the top of a whipped cream container would have worked just as well. 

The diameter (measuring across from one side thru the center to the other) of the cut circle was 7 1/4 by 7 1/4.

Next I went to my Photoshop Elements and started with a new document with measurements of 5 1/4 and I chose a heart shape and stretched it to fit the measurements and printed.  I layered Wonder Under and my fabric that would be the wings and cut the heart out.

I cut circles from my denim to make my angels.  All of my denim is recycled and I tried to choose a denim that was faded a bit more than my denim blocks because I wanted that contrast in color.  I chose my 10-inch denim blocks that I had already premade and made sure that I chose blocks that had very little seam to them.  And sewed my circles with a over locking stitch right at the very edge leaving about an inch or two for turning.  Usually a seam is recommended and then you clip the seam to work around the circle but because I was working with denim and denim tends to fray I felt that close to the edge with the locking stitch was called for.  I turned my circles and just my closed scissors to help push the edges out.  I ironed the circle being sure to turn in the inch or so that was unsewn.  And went back to my machine to do a scalloped decorative stitch around the edge. 

When I was done the edges tended to want to curl up a bit probably because of the way that I had decided to do the over lock stitch but I was ok with it.  I just thought we would have a bit of a flirty angel.

Next I turned down the collar or what will make the little cape of the angel and ironed.  I was making 4 for the same quilt so I made sure that they were all the same.

This is where I started playing to decide if my colors were balanced and pleasing to me.  I called on my sister to help me decide which looked the best.

I folded down the collar leaving a bit of a space at the top for the head. 

 I created yoyos from different printed fabrics to see which I thought was most appealing. I tried them with the gathers turned up and with them turned down.

We tried them with little black eyes.

We tried them with a rose embellishment.

And with a button embellishment.



With opposite printed fabrics for the face.

With a pink face.

And a white face.  This is the one that we finally settled on.  I like denim for the dress and I think it shows off the decorative stitch so much better than the others.















At this point I positioned everything on my block where I wanted it to be with the Wonder Under beneath the heart, moved the angel off the heart and ironed my heart to my denim 10-inch block.

I have not been turning the edges of my appliques down and I hope that I don't regret this after the wash but I think the wonder under will hold everything in place.  If you think you would rather turn your edges under just cut the heart a 1/4 inch larger and do that before you iron it in place.

Next I used a decorative blank stitch and stitched around the raw edge of the heart.

Next I moved the angel onto the block and centered and pinned it in place.

Next I opened the collar up so that I could see the crease.

And I sewed along the crease.  The contrasting color will not hurt here as the collar will fold back down and cover it.

Then I folded the collar back into place.

And then tacked the collar to secure.  Not to worry with my stitches because the button embellishment will hide any faults.

Next I tacked the button in place.

Then I used the same blanket stich to go around the head.

I love my denim angel block.  I think she is just gorgeous.  I hope the tutorial was useful.

Lap Quilts Delivered

Two lap quilts made as gifts for friends...met one of my friends for dinner last night to deliver them.  The other friend doesn't know that it is coming...so it will be a nice surprise for her.

Another Try

Ok, so I decided one more try at the stars and I am a little more pleased with this set than the last but I have decided they really just aren't my thing...I will use them in a quilt but so far all of my recycled jeans/denim quilts have all been put together in a mod podge way so hopefully they won't stand out like a sore thumb.

This time I started with a 12 1/2-inch square and when I trimmed they were at 10-inches but one of the points I think is too close to the edge and I'm concerned my sashing with probably cover a bit of it when I go to put my block together.  This time I did not stack and slash but used some lines on my ruler that I normally don't use for angles and tried to line the edge of each block at the same place to try to get the cuts to run across each block at the same place.  The blocks did come out some better but I don't know...doing this block just feels a bit stressful to me and I don't like that feeling when I am quilting...to me that is my relaxing time...and I guess I don't like thinking quite that hard... :-)

Here are my blocks....

Eli's Quilt

He he he...I am so proud of myself...I have actually posted several times this year.  I don't know that I could ever be a great blogger...but considering how bad I have been about it in the past...well lets just say remembering to blog more than once in a year is really good for me...and woooooo hoooooo...I have far exceed that one for this year.

Ok...so what I wanted to share is that I have finished the last quilt.  It was started for my grandson Eli.  Made from old jeans of the people he loves.  When I told him that I was going to make a quilt for him he was so excited.  He said that when it was done he was going to go to bed with it...put his remote in one pocket...and his snack in another and not getting out of bed.  That made me smile. 

When I did Trev's quilt I actually did not quilt the blocks but for Eli's I decided to machine quilt each block and you can see a close up of some of that in this post.  It is the first machine quilting that I did.  I like the stippling but I'm not very good at it so it is going to take some practice I think.  I also joined his blocks just a bit differently I really like how his turned out better and now I am a bit concerned how Trev's will hold up in the wash since the blocks were not quilted...so I may have to make Trev another one after I have finished one up for all the other boys.  I seem to be getting better with each one.  LOL...and probably may have to cycle thru them all once I really get the hang of this.  The great thing about doing these for the boys though is that if I have a small flaw...like my stippling not quite being up to par...they really don't care...they are just proud of their quilts.  Hope you enjoy the pictures of Eli's quilt.

And finally the best part...Eli enjoying his quilt...

The Next Denim Quilt Started

I've started the next denim quilt.  I'm trying to machine quilt each block as I go.  This is the first time that I've done this and also the first time I have done the sashing this way.  I'm thinking not too bad for my first attempts but I am definitely going to have to put more practice in. 

I had to put one of my sewing machines in the shop today and I'm actually kind of glad that I did.  It forced me to go back to my old Brother XL6562 and it sews so much smoother than the one I just put in the shop.  It is also a Brother but is one of the computerized Project Runway models.  My only problem right now is that I've lost the darning plate to this old one so I can't free motion on this machine but I'm going to order another one and I think I am going to start using this old machine more.  It is not computerized but I'm thinking it is more heavy duty than the other and can take my quilting better.  I'll keep the other because I do like the decorative stitches it offers.

Frozen in Over the Weekend Quilting

I don't know what it is, other than maybe just the cold weather, but I always want to quilt in the winter...well we were iced in this weekend and I worked on quilt blocks all weekend long...here are just a view examples of the ones that I made...I love doing quilts made from old jeans...they just have the nicest weight about them...and I can put them together like a crazy quilt or make them more orderly as I so choose.