Comfort and Joy

Another baby means another baby quilt!  Little baby Joy came just before Christmas, and I wanted her to have something with red and green.  I didn't want it to scream Christmas, so I used a little Bliss fabric that I had in my stash.  

I had a cheater panel and some 2 by 5 inch strips. I ended up quilting it with blue, red, green, and pink.  I quilted straight lines in the off white borders.  I really like the effect.  

My kids call the baby blankets I made for them their special blankets.  My daughter thinks every baby needs one, and just so Joy knows it was made especially for her, I added her name to the corner.

I used blue diamonds from connecting threads for the binding and green from Hancocks for the backing.  

Penny Patch Quilt

When I saw the quilt along for the 4 Penny Patch, I knew it would make a great gift quilt for my mom.  I had some Shelburne Falls by Denyse Schmidt that I had been hoarding and a few of her fabrics from Jo-Ann's that were perfect.  I really, really like the way this turned out! 

I quilted it in a diamond pattern.  If I were going to make this one again, I would definitely try a different pattern for that.  I think the dogwood flowers that the originial quilt uses might be fun to try. 

I have never labeled a quilt before, but I thought this would be a good one to start with!  The backing is a full sheet.  This is a pretty large throw quilt, 60x72.  I'm very happy with it, and I hope my mom likes it as well! 

Elephants on Parade

Baby quilts are my favorite.  They come together so quickly and are so satisfying!  This one is for a sweet little girl for someone I work with .  I hope sweet Sybil loves it!

 

 

 

Remarried to the Farmer

Christy and I have decided to make all of the Farmer's Wife blocks.  I've started these once before but was very unhappy with how they were turning out.  I found a Yahoo group that has all of the paper piecing templates, so they turn out much neater.  I have done the first 2.


This is called Attic Windows.  My pieces are mixed up a little, but I don't mind.  I like it.

This one is called Autumn Tints.  I really like the larger print fabric.  I'm using scrap packs from Sew Fresh Fabrics for all of my blocks.  The packs have some really great fabrics that I can't wait to use.

This is something else I'm working on.  I'm trying to use up all of the scraps I have left from my Gypsy Caravan quilt.  I had a whole pile of odd sized pieces, so I'm trying something new. 

I've not been posting much, but I've been doing tons of sewing.  I made wrap skirts for my 10 Brownies.  I've finished a baby quilt and have one ready to bind.  I finished my T-shirt quilt.  I'm just horrible at taking pictures of the finished products!  I'm trying to get back to it! 

Baby Benton

I made this quilt back in October, I think, for a friend's baby.  Baby Benton is finally here and enjoying his quilt!

I still love this quilt and have all of the fabric to make a similar one for myself.  I really like the oversized star.  If you're interested, the tutorial can be found here.

Gypsy Dance Top

A month and a half ago, Bree over at Distant Pickles put out a call for pattern testers.  I volunteered and was able to work on testing Bree's new pattern, Gypsy Dance. I had some LouLouThi fabric that I has been hoarding that I thought would be perfect.  It was!

I thought I was going to make a twin, but it ended up being a queen(ish).  The finished top is 81 x 100. 
Do you know how hard it is to get a good picture of a quilt that big? :-)

This pattern has a lot of pieces, but they are all squares and rectangles.  I usually avoid designs that require so much precise piecing, but I'm glad I did this one.  I took my time with the piecing and most of my points are pretty good!

 

 

The brown with the butterfly and roses is my favorite piece of fabric!  I ordered some more to incorporate into the backing.

I had a PILE of triagles left over, so I started sewing them together, just so they wouldn't end up in my scrap box with nothing to do.  I ended up triming them into 3 1/2 inch squares.  I'm piecing them into a strip of diamonds to put on the back. It looks like I'll have enough for a baby quilt left over after that!  (Maybe not a whole baby quilt, but certainly enough to make blocks for one!)

This pattern was very easy to follow.  It wasn't hard at all, just time consuming with so many pieces.  If you are interested in trying it, Bree over at Distant Pickles is finishing it up and I think you'll be able to order it soon!

A boy and a bug

I've been working on testing a pattern (which my husband deleted all the pictures of), but I found time to make this chevron baby quilt.  The baby shower was this past weekend, so now I can share it!

Don't you love it when you know exactly what you want to do for a gift?  The nursery for baby P is grey and turquoise.  The shower invitations had grey and turquoise chevrons on them.  I have loved this Backyard Baby fabric since I saw it and knew it would be perfect.  I had the grey in my stash (which I've been trying to use!) so I was ready to go.


I cut my own 6 inch squares so the zigzags would be a little larger than if I had a charm pack.  This ended up being about 45 x60, so it's a good size for tummy time!  It will also work on a toddler bed quite well. 

I love this fabric.  Click on the picture to see it better.  The green is jars of bugs.  The x's are the little helicopter things that fall from trees.  (My sister used to feed them to my brother and tell him they were peas.  Parental supervision?  Nah.) The trees with the swing hanging is my favorite print, but I really like them all.

The binding is some fabric I found at Hancock's at the last minute since I forgot about the binding when I ordered the fabric.  You can't see very well, but it's actually 2 shades of green that look like blades of grass.  It matched perfectly.

I used the tree print and some leftover pieces for the back.  I love that little dog under the swing. 

I can't wait for baby P to be here to enjoy it.  Baby quilts are my favorite. 

What I've been working on

After not sewing much for a month or so, I've been very motivated lately!  I made a huge bag to take to the beach... like my kids can sit down inside of it big.  I had big plans to take pictures of it while we were on the beach, but that was obviously a ridiculous plan.  Have you even been to the beach with 2 kids?   I will try to get some pictures of it soon. 


I made the one on the left.  I have a friend who has twins and she bought the one on the right at a consignment sale and wanted a match.  The fabric is exactly the same even though it doesn't look like it.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but I'd like to see how it looks on a kid!  I think if I tweek my pattern a little, I'll love making these.

This is my new project.  It's going to be a twin sized quilt.  I'm testing a pattern (woohoo!) for a blogger.  It has close to 400 pieces, and I miscalculated how much fabric I had in this bundle I've been hoarding forever.  Now I have to find some more of it or find something to coordinate with it.  You'll see more about this project in the weeks to come.  I even have a deadline, so hopefully I'll get it finished by mid August!

Baby Quilt for Little Lela

My friend Mandy recently had her 3rd baby, Lela.  I had made quilts for both of her other sweet babies, so Lela wasn't going to be left out! !I had some Summer House by Lily Ashbury charms that I thought would make the perfect bright blanket. 


I think it would be great for a little fun in the sun!   

I had a few HSTs left over, so I used them to make a diamond on the back.  I quilted around the diamonds on the front using green and blue thread. 

I have never done bias cut binding, but I knew that these stripes need it.  I didn't find a good tutorial, so it was a little harder than I thought it would be, but I LOVE the stripes!

I stitched her name on it, just so she'll know it's especially for her. 
My skills have improved ALOT in the last 4 years, so maybe Lela's won't come apart a little everytime it gets washed! 

McEgg Baby Quilt

When Mandy sent an email with the fabric she had chosen for little Salvador Dali, I remembered I had some scrap packs with it in them.  I just love the little blue and green animals and got inspired when I was looking through the scraps for them.  I used several other blue and green "boy" scraps that I found.  I think the sketched cars and truck are my favorite.  My boy like the dinosaurs and carried the fabric around.  A pair of dinosaur pants is now on my list of to dos!

The back is a dot striped sheet from Target.  It wasn't the plan, but it matches perfectly! I also used it for the sashing on the front. 

I didn't get a great picture, but I quilted it with swirly circles, I guess I'd call them.  I also outlined the squares.
I hope little Snoop Dogg McEgg loves it.  (No?  Speedy Gonzales?  My favorite, Sammy Davis?  What do you have?)

Embroidery 101 Finish...finally!

So I've been gone forever! I always hate it when bloggers disappear. I've been having some migraines that put me out of commission for a week or so. Then I started working on some baby gifts that I don't want to post until the mommies get them. I did finish this quilt weeks ago and have been waiting for the opportunity to take some good pictures of it. Apparently that is never going to happen, so these will have to do. I really like the finished product.

The front of the Embroidery 101 quilt. It makes me want to take a picnic.

The back. On of my favorite backs I've done. I had to creatively piece it because I was not going to buy any more fabric!

I think this little block is my favorite. I love the picnic basket.

I know that several of my loyal followers really liked this quilt as well, so I thought I'd mention that Clover and Violet are getting ready to start Quilt Along. Go check it out. I'm going to do it, I think. I'd love to actually know someone who's working on it in real life!

Charm Baby Quilt Finish

Our first Second Saturday Sewing project was a charm baby quilt. I have had the top done forever, but hadn't just taken a few hours to finish it the rest of the way. I've decided that I'm not going to buy more fabric until I finish some things up, so I did it.


I just quilted on each side of the long seams and did some parallel quilting on the border.

I thought it might look a little like the plaid on the backing if I used a larger stitch and spaced the lines differently. I don't think i really achieved the effect I was hoping for, but I still like it.

I used some multi-colored plaid for the back. I think my favorite part is the aqua binding. I really like the way it looks with both sides of the quilt.

To be honest I didn't really care for this top at first. I didn't love it or hate it. It seemed blah to me. After I finally worked on finishing it, I do really like it. Hooray!