Project Quilting - Be My Valentine challenge

The 3rd challenge of Project Quilting season 2 was posted last week and I really wanted to join in! (Voting is up now!)

I came up with a plan pretty early but the week started with a sick kiddo, then came a snowstorm, then migraines…. I finally cut fabric on Thursday and got out to pick up a frame on Friday! Originally I'd had a 10" tall 20" wide frame in mind, but just couldn't find one! So it turned out to be for the best the I waited to start sewing until I found the frame. This frame is 11" x 14".

I made this special little framed quilt as a keepsake for my husband and myself as a reminder of our family. Each heart represents our kids, the rosy heart is our oldest who adores pink, the middle is our second purple-loving daughter, and the third is our little boy. The green border made up of half-inch squares represents me and my husband. (They were inspired by the recent postage stamp quilt-along!)

All the fabrics used for patchwork are either from the kids' baby quilts or from my latest quilt that I made for my husband and I, so it's neat to pick each little piece out and see where it came from!

The hearts were crazy pieced then raw-edged appliquéd on to the pieced background.

In this close up if you squint you can almost see the free-motion quilted loops and hearts on the background.

As I did last season in Project Quilting, I gave myself an additional challenge for each one I completed to try something new! This is the first quilt I've completed with raw edge appliqué and the first quilt I've placed in a frame.

Head on over to Kim's Crafty Apple and see all this week's other Project Quilting entries! Be sure to vote for your favorite!

Catch up post! Postage Stamp Quilt Top & Ladybug Party

The Postage Stamp Quilt-Along was so fun! Right on schedule I got the top pieced and I'm so happy with it! I have enough extra blocks to include a strip along the backing too (which I still need to piece!).  I'm still debating if I'll quilt it myself or send it off to be long-arm quilted.

My little girly turned 5 and chose a ladybug theme for her party, so lately I've been consumed by ladybugs!  We happened upon some red taffeta with black velvety polka dots on the super-clearance rack and it was just calling to be made into a ladybug birthday outfit!

I also appliqued a t-shirt with a little ladybug for her to wear with the skirt! (And made her cake to match the shirt!)

For party favors, all the kiddies got crayon rolls! The girls got the pink ladybug ones and the boys got the dragonfly ones. I used this tutorial. They are certainly quick, but if you plan on making them for party favors, save your sanity and start sooner than the week before the party! I think I cut them on Tuesday and then got around to sewing them on Thursday and finished them on Friday for the party on Saturday. Way too much added stress, even if they did turn out cute!

I'll post soon about my Project Quilting Be My Valentine entry! I've also got some fun sewing-for-boy fun planned that just happens to coincide with the Celebrate The Boy fun starting tomorrow at Made By Rae!