Quilts by Julie Ramsey
in progress
Jul 1st
When I was home to visit my parents in January, my mom and I checked out a massive sale at a fabric store that was closing. I ended up bringing home a full bolt of Alexander Henry’s “Astral Works” fabric, which was VERY busy, but I thought I could do something fun with.
With all the crazy colors, I figured a stack-and-whack would be in order! I finally decided to cut into the fabric last night, and I’m really impressed with the kaleidescope effect that I’m seeing.
The finished quilt will be on a white background with dark pink (or maybe yellow, haven’t decided yet) triangles between the pinwheel blocks. I’m really excited about how this is going to turn out, and even more jazzed by the fact that there’s easily enough fabric to do a second copy of this quilt in the same style. Hooray for fabrics with long repeats!
Crazy-quilt uke case
Jun 12th
My sister plays the ukelele, and I’m making a quilted case for it. She ordered a bunch of fabric scraps on Etsy, and I’m doing a crazy-quilt style case for it. I originally planned to do just a pattern of different-sized squares, but after mis-cutting a large section, I decided to run with it and add all different shaped pieces.
The next step is to quilt the top, then cut similar-shaped pieces out of a solid fabric for the bottom. I’m not looking forward to inserting the zipper, but I’m sure I’ll figure out how to do it eventually, even if by trial-and-error 
Hawaiian Shirt
Apr 27th
I’ve got one quilt for Quilts for Kids from one of their kits almost finished, but I want to send along a second one made from my own fabric as well. I found some funky Hawaiian-shirt-type fabric at Jo-Ann on Sunday, and decided to make up a simple crib quilt featuring it. I finished this top in about four hours, and it only took that long because I made the alternate blocks with cut triangles instead of a double-half-square-triangle method.
I love the color in this one, it’s very bright and cheerful. After the fact, I think I should have gone with a bright green instead of the pink, but I still like the combination and think it’ll bring a smile to a child stuck in a hospital.
A productive weekend
Apr 25th
Both commissions are finished and ready to ship out on Monday! Hooray!
With time to spare, I decided to start working with my bundle of fat quarters. I used a slightly different pattern than I originally intended, going with the square “bento box” pattern, rather than the rectangular one from the magazine that I’d started with. Between last night and this morning, I managed to finish up the top for a small lap quilt (45″ x 60″) relatively painlessly. The pattern is very easy, and would be great for beginners.
I think this one is going to be mailed off to my grandparents in Iowa once it’s finished. My grandfather has been in the hospital with pneumonia, and it’d be nice to give him something cheerful to take to the hospital if he ends up in there again.
Princess Kaitlyn
Apr 11th
The top is finally finished! Time to sandwich it and start the machine quilting– with a very simple design, probably just outlining the large squares– this afternoon.
I’m really happy with the way this one turned out. The top is a little wavy since I didn’t use any stabilizer for the appliqué (oops, lesson learned for next time), but I think the overall effect is really fun.
Pinwheel top finished!
Apr 5th
Finally got the top for my latest pinwheel quilt finished this weekend. The plan is to get it bound this afternoon, and hopefully start in on the machine quilting tomorrow.
Earthy pinwheels
Mar 31st
I love doing “stack and whack” projects because I have no idea what the blocks will look like until I’ve actually gotten them all sewn together. The variety is so pretty!
These blocks will be set on point, bordered in teal, and then have an outer border of the original fabric. I can’t wait to see what the finished product looks like!
Fun with appliqué, part 2
Mar 25th
The appliqué quilt is nearing completion! All I have left to do is stitch down the picture of the princess (who’ll have a face soon!) before it’s time to sandwich and quilt the whole thing. I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out– and I can only hope that the lady I’m making it for likes it as well
Earthy stack and whack
Mar 25th
The fabric for my mom’s commissioned quilt showed up on Tuesday, and it was too pretty not to play with. I put together three of the eight stack and whack blocks yesterday, and I’m really pleased with how they turned out. It’s amazing how different they can look, despite being cut from the same fabric!
Appliqué in progress
Mar 19th
My newbie attempts at appliqué are going pretty well, I think. I’ve put this together over the past two and a half days, and even though there are a few spots where the stitching jumps off the edge of the fabric, I’m really happy with how it looks so far.
