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!

A Postage Stamp Quilt-Along Update!

I meant to post this last week, but somehow forgot!

I told you about the Postage Stamp Quilt-Along at p.s. i quilt -- here's all 16 of my jelly roll strip sets, arranged in a quilty-preview! I pulled a few of the almost white strips from my mixed neutrals jelly roll and set them aside for a different project and pulled in a few of the lighter Harvest Home strips in their place. To make up for those missing strips I cut a few strips of some of the coordinating darks from my stash I'll be using in the pieced backing. They blend right in!

The patchwork step of the quilt-along was just posted this morning! I'm hoping to get started on it this afternoon! :)

A Quilt Along and my opposite fabric loves

Have you heard about the Postage Stamp Quilt Along at p.s. i quilt? I'm really excited about it! I've always wanted to make a postage stamp quilt and this quilt sounds like the perfect opportunity!

I went shopping in my stash and look at the goodness I found! The focus jelly roll is a by Blackbird Designs and the line is Harvest Home. It has a beautiful dusty blue, my favorite olive green, a great cranberry, a fabulous greyish-purple, a rusty brown I just can't get enough of and a golden tan than my stash is absolutely full of, so if I need to fill in a few squares, assorted yards are on standby. In place of the "solid" jelly roll I'm using a set of assorted neutral prints I bought years ago at a quilt show! Most are tone-on-tone muslin prints ranging to the tea-dyed look. I may pull some of the brighter ones, but they aren't really as bright as they appear in this picture.

I'll be piecing the backing since I haven't typically had the foresight to purchase more than a yard of any single print for a single-pieced quilt backing, but I think that will make for an especially fun quilt! I'll be using a combination of Blackbird Designs Harvest Home and Rhubarb & Ginger lines and 3 Sisters Chocolat for the back and binding.

After all my recent stash digging I've been struck my just how diverse my fabric tastes really are. Is that strange? It seems to me that most people love one style and they stick with it, but not me. I love the traditional florals and I can't deny that, but I adore the modern lines and colors too, like Kate Spain's Central Park in combination with Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet. This combination excites me just as much! (This will be my next quilt, I just haven't decided on a design yet!)

So apparently what I'm going to have to do when I finally get my stash all organized is have a traditional side and a modern side. :) 

Tell me! What are you fabric loves? Are your tastes as confused as mine? :)

A few pics of what I've been up to!

I made another version of the Oliver + S Music Class skirt and shirt (long sleeve this time), but with a woven wool and a gorgeous Liberty of London cotton!

(Please ignore my finger in the picture!)

I made a few patchwork scarfs for Christmas gifts! I used this tutorial by Trish over at Two Peas in a Pod Homegrown Designs! The scarf really is quick to make and turns out so nice!

For my 6yo's Girl Scout leaders, I used a combination of Amy Butler and my very favorite Meadowsweet prints. This one is 80-some inches long.

And for my grandma, I made one with a few April Cornell layer cake squares and 1 jelly roll strip. This one is about 60 inches long so it's easier for her to manage.

Another Bake Shop Recipe! Lily & Will Log Cabin Baby Blocks!

Be sure to hop on over to the Moda Bake Shop today! I have a special recipe featured!

I made these using Bunny Hill Designs' Lily & Will line, with just 2 charm packs!

You may recognize that these log cabin "blocks" were based on my original Project Quilting Log Cabin block entry made with a Basic Grey Eva charm pack

!

My Above All Fabric Wish List

Melanie of Above All Fabric is holding a fun little contest! Her site has a handy wishlist feature and three lucky winners are going to win gift certificates just for blogging about what's on saved on their wishlist!

Here's just a bit of mine!

Anna Marie Horner Little Folks - Baby Bouquet - Dusk

I finally got some voile, the last bit of Melanie's Coloring Garden, also in Dusk, and it has such a nice texture!

It's no secret I love Oliver + S patterns! I'd really love the pick up the latest, especially the Hopscotch Skirt & Knit Top and the Nature Walk Pullover & Knit Pants!

For the Nature Walk Pullover I've been eyeing the super-cute Riley Blake All Star 2 line! Here's a little mock-up I've made using a photo from the Oliver+S website and fabric photos from Above All Fabrics - add the magic of Photoshop and....

That's Mini Star - Orange on top and Bullseye Star - Orange on the bottom.

Also on my wishlist, the adorable Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress!

I think it would be so cute for Spring in Jenean Morrison's Picnic Parade Mingle in Pink!

And with that I'll end my wishlist post. I do still have more on my wishlist, and even more I've been admiring but haven't added on yet, but I can't post it all! :)

Farmhouse Funk Pillow

I had the pleasure of working with another one of Trish's (aka Two Peas in a Pod Homegrown Designs) lovely patterns a while back and I've been so eager to so you all the result! She debuted finally debuted the pattern at Fall Quilt Market!

Trish has such a fun style! The Farmhouse Funk Pillows really show that off too! Mixing various fabrics, leaving raw edges and using a fun freehand stitch/sketch technique on appliques create a playful end result.

I made a "rooster" pillow but was inspired by the bits and pieces of Bloom & Grow fabric I had left over from my girls' Sydney dresses.  Instead of using the applique pattern included I fussy cut one of the birds out of the large print I used for the dress bodices and made the front panel of the pillow from the fabric I used for the hood.

I didn't have enough fabric left to make the backing just as Trish described in the pattern, so I had to piece together scraps. (My brand new pillowform was extra fluffy at first! The back doesn't gap open anymore.)

And those cute little tail feathers? Those are from the tiny bits I had left of the fabric for the skirt panels, some are even trimmed of selvages I'd saved back! I also used a piece of felted wool that was once a $1 thrift store sweater and a piece of denim from a ripped pair of jeans! 

I didn't have any cording (or any coordinating fabric left) so I used some pretty crocheted lace to trim the pillow.

I just love the result! Don't you? I really want to make a few more pillows to go along with it! I think I will have to try the cute bouncing daisy and buttons & bows designs next time! You can pick up Farmhouse Funk Pillows Pattern at the Two Peas in a Pod Homegrown Designs Etsy shop or at one of the retailers that carry Trish's patterns!

A few more strip-pieced pleated skirts!

It's been such a pleasure to hear from people who have used my Moda Bake Shop tutorial and see their results too! I wanted to share these for your inspiration!

This skirt was made by Marci for her 1-year-old!

And this cute skirt was made by Meredith!

Much to my daughter's dismay I send the original outfit off to be displayed in the Moda Bake Shop booth at the International Quilt Festival in Houston going on right now. I'm hoping to get a picture of it on display for her, so if you happen to be visiting tomorrow, snap a photo for me in booth #1938!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2010

It's time for another Blogger's Quilt Festival! I've joined in 2 of the previous 3, so I really wanted to jump in and post for this one!

I've posted about this one before, back this summer when I made it and entered it into a contest. I call it "Windy Days Pinwheels."

This quilt is 36 1/2" x 36 1/2".

In the previous Blogger's Quilt Festivals I've posted about each of my girls' quilts (here and here). They coordinate and use a lot of the same fabrics, so it only made sense for me to post about my little boy's quilt this time! I used a lot of the same fabrics again, but just omitted the girly-er prints and used a darker cranberry instead of the rose pink. I also started collecting extra fabrics in these color families as soon as I found out he was a boy, so 2 1/2 years of collecting creates quite the stash. :)



Here's a peek after I chain pieced all 96 half square triangle units together!

My little guy thought it was only fair if he got to help make his own quilt! I hid the rotary cutter--he was safe, don't worry! Although I probably should have hidden it from myself. Not long after I took this picture, while trimming down the half square triangle blocks, I proceeded to trim a bit off my own finger! It was a horrifying sight, but my fingertip healed much better than anyone anticipated. My left pointer finger is just a bit more pointy now. :)

After I got up the nerve to touch the rotary cutter again, I pretty quickly finished up piecing his quilt. I machine quilted it on my sewing machine with a simple diamond grid pattern and added the binding.

Best of all, my little guy loves it! :)