Quilts by Julie Ramsey
finished
Fun with color
Aug 6th
My best friend from high school recently had her second baby, and I made quilts for both the new little girl and her big brother. I zipped through the big brother quilt, and put together the top for the baby quilt, but never got around to actually quilting the one for the newborn. No big rush, as I was having a hard time getting in touch with the mom so she could send me her address! I finally got the mailing information this week, and as I sat down to finish the baby quilt, I decided that I really didn’t like it. The color balance in the border isn’t great, the top didn’t quite lie straight, the pattern repeat on the teddy-bear fabric made all of the squares look the same, bleh. Time to try again!
I wandered around the fabric store tonight with no inspiration, as all my books and magazines were turning up nothing complicated enough to be fun to make, yet simple enough to put together in an evening. I ended up picking out 10 fat quarters (since they were on sale for a buck apiece!) in five colors, knowing that I had a handful of FQ patterns waiting for me at home, and hoped for the best.
Onward to a Google search for “fat quarter baby quilt patterns,” and an image search for crib quilts. Finally, I stumbled upon a quilt on Etsy that I really liked– inspiration! I grabbed my notebook and trusty mechanical pencil and sketched out the design, then the sizes of the patches, how they’d been cut from the original design fabric (charm squares), then how I’d cut the pieces out from MY fabric, and in about fifteen minutes, I had a fully penciled-out quilt blueprint, just like that!
The actual cutting and piecing came in at about three hours– long enough to prep spaghetti for dinner and then watch Julie & Julia on Netflix while I worked. I’m honestly amazed that I could pull something like this off in so little time; it feels like only yesterday that I tediously plodded through the steps in my first “Quilt in a Day” book and took the better part of twenty hours to piece a log cabin pattern. I’ve really come a long way since I first started, and it makes me feel really good about myself to know that I’m good at something unique like this 
Sewing in stereo
Jul 12th
My latest project was to sew a messenger bag big enough to hold my new Street Fighter arcade stick. That’s actually been a fun art project, as I’m conspiring to swap out the original art for a design of my own. I decided I needed somewhere safe to keep my stick (as the current location on top of a cabinet attracts a TON of dust), and I’ll need a carrying vessel anyway if I ever end up taking it to play at the local arcade. Thus, a handmade messenger bag was begun.
I forgot how difficult it is to sew in three dimensions, rather than the flat creations made in quilting. I used to do a lot of apparel sewing, particularly making Renaissance faire costumes, but it’s been years since I had to read a pattern, so it took a while to get back into the swing of things. Once I figured everything out, though, I think it came together fairly nicely.
My only complaint with the pattern is that the pockets were a bit difficult to get on. I messed up the alignment of them a bit, so they look a little sloppy, but at least they’re (mostly) covered up by the flap. The inside is very neat, thanks to a snazzy lining, so overall I’m very happy with it.
Zodiac stack-and-whack
Jul 4th
Finally finished the stack-and-whack quilt! The top doesn’t quite lay flat, and there are a few triangle points that got cut off, but otherwise I’m very happy with how it turned out. I especially love the colors– I’d expected it to be a lot more gaudy, but it turned out very happy and cheerful.
Disappearing Nine-Patch
Jun 27th
I had a big stack of charm squares from a discontinued line from Connecting Threads sitting in my sewing box, leftover from an abandoned project that just didn’t work with the busy fabric, and today I decided to do something with them. Not knowing what else to do with a bunch of charm squares, I decided to try my hand at a disappearing nine-patch pattern, which worked up very quickly this afternoon.
I’m very pleased with the way it turned out, and it’s bigger than I expected– somewhere in the neighborhood of 40″ x 50″. The color scheme probably excludes it from being a baby quilt, but it makes a nice small lap quilt, and hopefully I’ll be able to find it a home where it’s appreciated.
Mind the Garden
Jun 24th
I was on the lookout for a quick project, and I found this pattern at my local Jo-Ann. Conveniently enough, they’ve started to carry jelly rolls and charm packs, so that made my life easy! Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough charms of the color I liked to make the full lap quilt, so I got creative and made it one row shorter, left off the borders, and called it a baby quilt.
Even though the color planning is a little off and there are a couple of spots where same-print patterns are touching, I’m happy with the way it turned out. It’s definitely a very cheerful quilt, despite having such a mellow color scheme, and I think it’ll look even better once I get it machine-quilted.
Baby Quilt Number Two
Jun 19th
Finished the piecing for the second baby quilt in about two hours. I need to iron the top out from the front, since the borders aren’t laying correctly in the picture, but overall I’m pretty happy with it. I probably should have gone with a darker color for the outer border, maybe have done yellow sashing with a blue border, but I think my friend (and the new baby) will like it a lot.
Table runner
Jun 14th
Rather than starting a new full-size project, I decided to tackle a table runner (the first I’ve ever done in that size). This one is for a family friend whose house is decorated in red, so hopefully it’ll go reasonably well with the decor in her dining room!
A new-brother gift
Jun 4th
One of my best friends from high school just had her second baby this week, hooray! Since I didn’t get a chance to send off a gift for the birth of her first, I’m making quilts for both kids to get shipped off soon. I decided on a very quick-and-easy pattern that I could work up in a few hours.
The first quilt is for the big brother, who’s about a year and a half old if I recall correctly. I wanted to do something bright and colorful, and this large-scale jungle print fit the bill perfectly! I love the way the bright blue compliments the green leaves and sets off the animal blocks.
I’m going to piece the second quilt tomorrow. The main print is teddy bears on pale green, with light blue sashing and yellow and green borders. It ended up being the same color scheme as the “boy” quilt, but much more subdued. I think it’ll look very cute and I look forward to seeing the finished product!
Irish Chain
May 22nd
After at least a month of sitting on the shelf, waiting for borders to be added, I finally finished my double Irish chain quilt. I’m really happy with the way this one turned out; it looks a lot better than the smaller Irish chain I did several years ago when I was just starting out as a quilter!
This quilt would be a great option if you’d like a custom quilt– there is a TON of flexibility with the color schemes, and it would look great in just about any combination you could choose!
Adventures in sub-par workmanship
May 21st
Today, I finished up my latest Quilts for Kids project, made with the fabric the charity sent me to work with. I really love the colors in this one, it’s very bright and happy– probably a little more over-the-top than I would have chosen for a project, but I’m sure it’ll liven up a hospital room!
The frustrating thing, though, is that the quilting on this one did not go well. The back tension ended up being loose, and I didn’t notice until I had the entire quilt quilted, so it’s full of loose loops that I’m afraid will tear apart. On top of that, there’s a decent-sized fold in the backing… oops.
I’ll chalk this one up to being a rush job, and rest assured that some sick child isn’t going to care about a few loose stitches here and there, and instead enjoy having something bright to hug in the hospital.
