Love! It feels good to be starting to check projects off the list for the nursery!
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Baby Love!
During my quilting retreat with my mother-in-law I was able to finish the quilt top for my baby girl's nursery. Around Valentine's Day I saw some great patterns for heart quilts and I decided if our baby was a girl, hearts would be in the nursery. So here we have it, a heart filled baby quilt!
Love! It feels good to be starting to check projects off the list for the nursery!
Love! It feels good to be starting to check projects off the list for the nursery!
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Quilting Weekend- Here I Come!
This weekend I'm off to spend the weekend quilting away with my mother-in-law. I can't wait! This will be our third time doing this. The previous two times have been so fun and productive.
On the first year I completed our Christmas stockings. They were a surprising amount of work! I did NOT expect them to take the entire weekend!
On our second trip I worked on my Christmas advent calendar. I finished about half of it during our weekend. This was also a TON of work that it didn't expect to take the entire weekend. I sense a theme here! The end product was finished shortly before the beginning of advent and it was truly beautiful!
This year I'm breaking the Christmas theme and working on baby girl projects! Hooray! I have a stack of lovely feminine prints from the Lavish line by Katarina Roccella.
In keeping with my overly optimistic theme of what I can accomplish, I'm planning to work on a quilt, a crib skirt, a changing pad cover, and possibly work on piecing the diamonds on baby girl's stocking. I should be able to accomplish all of that in one weekend... right? RIGHT?! We will see how much progress I actually make, but one thing is certain, it will be more than I accomplish being at home!
On the first year I completed our Christmas stockings. They were a surprising amount of work! I did NOT expect them to take the entire weekend!
On our second trip I worked on my Christmas advent calendar. I finished about half of it during our weekend. This was also a TON of work that it didn't expect to take the entire weekend. I sense a theme here! The end product was finished shortly before the beginning of advent and it was truly beautiful!
This year I'm breaking the Christmas theme and working on baby girl projects! Hooray! I have a stack of lovely feminine prints from the Lavish line by Katarina Roccella.
In keeping with my overly optimistic theme of what I can accomplish, I'm planning to work on a quilt, a crib skirt, a changing pad cover, and possibly work on piecing the diamonds on baby girl's stocking. I should be able to accomplish all of that in one weekend... right? RIGHT?! We will see how much progress I actually make, but one thing is certain, it will be more than I accomplish being at home!
Monday, April 25, 2016
Swooning
I've been admiring the Swoon quilts for quite awhile now and I finally decided to take the plunge and make one for myself. I bought a stack of Flea Market Fancy fat quarters several years ago during the rerelease that looked like they'd be perfect for the job.
I jumped in and started making my blocks. So far I have 3 done and I LOVE them!
The fact that they're 24"x24" blocks makes the work they require totally worth it. Each block has it's own personality. I love seeing how the fabric choices and placement make each one unique.
And my favorite so far!
My plan is to make 12 blocks for a queen sized quilt. I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of them turn out!
I jumped in and started making my blocks. So far I have 3 done and I LOVE them!
The fact that they're 24"x24" blocks makes the work they require totally worth it. Each block has it's own personality. I love seeing how the fabric choices and placement make each one unique.
And my favorite so far!
My plan is to make 12 blocks for a queen sized quilt. I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of them turn out!
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Christmas in... April
A couple years ago I made beautiful quilted stockings for our family. I truly love them and they're my favorite part of my Christmas decorating.
This August we are expecting a baby girl to join our family, so I'm in need of another stocking. I've been tossing around ideas and trying to decide what type of pattern to use.
First, I decided to try a lone star style pattern like this inspiration photo.
I used this tutorial from the Hopeful Homemaker to try to recreate it. I really love it, but my first attempt was far too large to work for a stocking. I guess I'll have a new Christmas pillow cover! Whoops!
Next, I decided to go a similar route with this style. I like the diamond pattern and thought it would be a nice alternative.
I modified the previous tutorial to be a little smaller to make the diamonds. Once I made a handful of them, I realized I didn't really love the look with the light cuff like our stockings have.
I decided to swap out the solid for one of the more neutral prints in my Christmas fabric. Still not loving it.
I do really like the diamonds though, so I'm going to keep going with it in a slightly different direction.
Now I need to make quite a few more diamonds!
First, I decided to try a lone star style pattern like this inspiration photo.
I modified the previous tutorial to be a little smaller to make the diamonds. Once I made a handful of them, I realized I didn't really love the look with the light cuff like our stockings have.
I decided to swap out the solid for one of the more neutral prints in my Christmas fabric. Still not loving it.
I do really like the diamonds though, so I'm going to keep going with it in a slightly different direction.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Blog Revival
After quite a lull in sewing, I've recently jumped right back into sewing and it has been GREAT! I have found that I've missed this avenue to share my projects, so here I am- attempting to revive the long dead blog. If you're reading, please say hi. It would be nice to know if there is even one person out there reading this blog. :)
I currently have project ADD, but I'm trying to really focus on finishing up the quilting for my 2 year old's big boy bed quilt. It's going slowly, but I'm almost there!
Hopefully the binding will be on this weekend!
I currently have project ADD, but I'm trying to really focus on finishing up the quilting for my 2 year old's big boy bed quilt. It's going slowly, but I'm almost there!
Hopefully the binding will be on this weekend!
Monday, January 16, 2012
I did it!
One of my main goals was to finish my dad's quilt before our baby arrived. Thankfully, I was able to have all but a few feet of binding left to stitch when I went into labor. Hooray! I was able to finish the rest up that following week and threw it in the wash on Christmas Eve to wrap and give my father on Christmas day - exactly one year late. It worked out perfectly actually since his actual gift for this year arrived in early December.
When my dad opened the box and saw that it was his quilt he was so excited and surprised. It was great! It felt so good to be done with it and to see him to happy to receive it. He proceeded to use it for the rest of the afternoon! According to my mother, he had been using it as often as possible since Christmas and does not let anyone else touch it!
All in all, this is one of the most time consuming quilts I have made. The finished size is roughly 70" x 90". That means there are 63 of those square in square blocks that required a lot of cutting, sewing, pressing and trimming. I'm quite happy with the look but I'm not sure I'll be making one of those again in the near future. If I do, I might consider being less anal retentive and forgo the trimming after each ring. I think the quilting looks perfect for the quilt. I don't have a photo to show it so you're going to have to trust me on this one! I did straight lines running 1/4" off the outside seam of each block and then one line diagonally through each block in both directions. It is minimal so it let's the pattern show and keeps it cozy. I initially wanted to stick to only horizontal and vertical lines, but I know that, even with all that trimming, the inner seams world never line up enough to make the quilting look straight(ish).
The blocks are made with various varieties of four different color combinations to represent my dad's favorite Detroit/Michigan sports teams: the Detroit Lions, Detroit Tigers, Detroit Pistons, and the Michigan Wolverines.
For the back I used licensed prints of all of the teams except the Tigers. Surprisingly, quilting cotton for the Tigers is not available. As expected, my father liked the back more than the front. Figures!
All in all, I'd say this quilt was a success! As many are aware, I was highly skeptical when I embarked on this endeavor. I'm glad it worked out that both me and my father were happy with the result.
When my dad opened the box and saw that it was his quilt he was so excited and surprised. It was great! It felt so good to be done with it and to see him to happy to receive it. He proceeded to use it for the rest of the afternoon! According to my mother, he had been using it as often as possible since Christmas and does not let anyone else touch it!
All in all, this is one of the most time consuming quilts I have made. The finished size is roughly 70" x 90". That means there are 63 of those square in square blocks that required a lot of cutting, sewing, pressing and trimming. I'm quite happy with the look but I'm not sure I'll be making one of those again in the near future. If I do, I might consider being less anal retentive and forgo the trimming after each ring. I think the quilting looks perfect for the quilt. I don't have a photo to show it so you're going to have to trust me on this one! I did straight lines running 1/4" off the outside seam of each block and then one line diagonally through each block in both directions. It is minimal so it let's the pattern show and keeps it cozy. I initially wanted to stick to only horizontal and vertical lines, but I know that, even with all that trimming, the inner seams world never line up enough to make the quilting look straight(ish).
The blocks are made with various varieties of four different color combinations to represent my dad's favorite Detroit/Michigan sports teams: the Detroit Lions, Detroit Tigers, Detroit Pistons, and the Michigan Wolverines.
For the back I used licensed prints of all of the teams except the Tigers. Surprisingly, quilting cotton for the Tigers is not available. As expected, my father liked the back more than the front. Figures!
All in all, I'd say this quilt was a success! As many are aware, I was highly skeptical when I embarked on this endeavor. I'm glad it worked out that both me and my father were happy with the result.
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