Marine Baby Quilt (Quilt 11)

I finally figured out how to post my Flickr images to my blog!  Hooray!  I've got my fingers crossed that this will solve my PicasaWeb space issues...

Anyway,  I just completed a baby boy quilt.  I have been complete out for awhile and I really wanted to have some boy quilts/gender neutral quilts on hand for gifts and in my Etsy store.

I was excited to try out a tumbler quilt for the first time.  I had leftover scraps from my Seaside Windows quilt and it was a great combo.  I love the orange and bright blues.

A few things I learned when making a tumbler quilt - a plastic template will make your life easier.  I tracked on down at a quilting store that will make a variety of sizes.  When quilting a tumbler quilt with lines along the seams, do the straight horizontal lines first, then the zigzag ones.  The zigzag quilting lines tend to pull the quilt a little which can distort the straight lines.

I'm really please with this quilt - I love the whales and the sunsets.  While this is geared to a baby boy, I don't think it's exclusively a boy quilt.

Well back to work - I have 3 other baby quilts on the go right now and many more planned in my head.

This quilt is for sale in my Etsy shop here.

Picnic and Fairgrounds #2 (Quilt 10)

Last summer, I purchased all the US & Australia lines of Picnics and Fairgrounds (obsessed much?).  With a portion of the US line, I made a quilt for my grandma's 80th birthday.  The rest of the fabric has been waiting patiently in my sewing room, waiting to be turned into a quilt for the couch.

I rearranged my priorities and thought - it's time for one quilt for me!  All the squares are 4" - making a total of 330 squares, using 31 different prints!

I love this combo because it is very vintage and picnicy.  

Ages ago when minky was on sale, I bought some red for the backing since there was no bright blue (which is what I used last time).  Months later, once the quilt top was finished, I knew red was not the way to go.  I went out and bought the blue minky at the store where it was never on sale.  Oh well, the fabric called for perfection

I chose black & white stripey binding a la Rita of Red Pepper Quilts.  I found this stripe out in the mountains when we were on a weekend getaway.  I now regret only buying 1/2 meter.  It was Northcott fabric by Ro Gregg.  I thought about doing gold for awhile, but this black and white is much better.

Despite the quilting disaster, everything else went off without a hitch.  The bright fabrics look so good in just a simple patchwork.

We are already enjoying cuddling under this quilt on our couch.  It is a great size ~ 53 x 78.

Mini Teacher Quilt (Quilt 9)

My oldest daughter is just finishing her first year of preschool.  Because she's my oldest, I have the will to do crazy things still, like make her teacher a homemade gift.  I'm actually really grateful to this teacher as I totally give her the credit that my daughter is now able to speak in sentences.

I wanted a gift that wouldn't be too large - just a small wall hanging.  I think this one ended up about 12" square.  I also wanted something that a preschool teacher might like.  I originally thought of something more cutesy involving applique and birds.  It didn't sit well, and since I'm on a dresden plate kick...

Cool fact about this quilt is that my daughter chose all the scraps for the petals and arranged them in the flower shape.  She is very proud that she "made" it.  I did everything by machine to speed up the process - piecing, applique, quilting and binding.  It was done in two days.

Other cool fact - I took the pictures during the solar eclipse

My daughter also picked the "dishes" to go on the back.  I found this Lizzy Dish print at my LQS and got a fat quarter that they cut especially cut for me.  Needless to say, when I was there again last week, I picked up the other fat quarter since I love this print so much. 

My machine sewing on the binding turned out ok - I even added my signature loops

I'm really pleased with the project.  My daughter is almost 4 and this was doable with her (not quite ready for the sewing machine - although she thinks she is). 

On a completely different and irate note, I have pretty much run out of Picasa web storage.  Apparently photos need to go somewhere??  If anyone has any good solutions...  I'm figuring that's why people put so much up on flickr.  I really don't want to pay 2.49 a month for photo storage.

Giveaway Day!

It's giveaway day!  I'm participating in the Sew,Mama,Sew! Giveaway Day and I'm also celebrating my one year blogiversary this month

Comments are now closed

And the winners are #59 - Jo (Freshcut bundle) and #134 - brandi (Fly a Kite bundle)!  Thanks everyone for participating.

Your feedback was great - it's so interesting to know how much everyone enjoys reading blogs.

The goodies - two separate prizes of a fat quarter bundle each

This first bundle is 6 fat quarters from Fly a Kite by October Afternoon

The second bundle is 6 fat quarters from Fresh Cut by Heather Bailey.

To qualify, just leave a comment below - if you want, tell me what you favorite quilting book is (I'm looking to expand my library).  That's it - no hoops, unless you want to follow the blog.  I will ship internationally.  Giveaway closes on Friday - May 25th at 5pm.

Have a great day and be sure to check out the other blogs in giveaway day - there are 5 categories!

What's going on in the Sewing Room...

Well, my pictures are quite what I'd hoped for them to be today.  I received some great goodies in the mail, but I will wait until I have proper pictures to post about them.

The cool part about this post, is these pictures were taken at the beginning of today, and I got so much done, nothing looks the same this evening:)  This dresden plate is a gift for my daughter's preschool teacher.  We absolutely adore her and I tried thinking of something cool to give her for the end of the year.  I had my 4 year old pick out scraps from the scrap bin (I limited how many of each color) and once I sewed the tips on the petals, she arranged them into a circle.  She is so proud of herself since she got to take part in this project for her beloved teacher.

I finished this quilt top on Tuesday night.  I used my remaining pieces of Aviary 2 to make a patchwork baby quilt (5" squares).  I basted this quilt and my tumbler quilt today and have started quilting!  I also have my hand sewing of a binding on another quilt that I'm working on.  That makes a total of 4 projects on the go.

A Sulky Disaster...

In my last post I eluded to a disaster... Last week I decided to begin quilting a patchwork quilt I have been making for my couch.  This will be the first quilt that I'll be keeping, that I've made, in over a year.  I have been hoarding my Picnic and Fairgrounds prints (all 31 from the US and Australia) for this very purpose.  The top was quite large - 53 x 79" made up of 4" squares.

I made a similar quilt for my grandma a while back (minus the Australia prints - hadn't broken down yet).  To complete my masterpiece, I thought - "why don't I try those pretty Sulky threads I see in all the LQS?"  Loaded them up and started to quilt.  That's when the thread started breaking - every 2-8".  It just got worse and worse.  I wanted to cry.  I even started pulling out stitches - I had already done 7 lines of quilting...

I almost gave up.  But this fabric was too pretty - I had to solve the problem.  So I read online - actually there a lot of bad reviews for Sulky thread I'm sorry to say.  Seems like everyone has this thread breaking problem.  I did find a few useful tips that I tried.  First - I put in an embroidery needle - larger hole.  Second - I took the thread off one of my thread guides - the one right before the needle eye.  Third - I turned my tension almost to zero.  All this combined with an already slow pace (I managed to pick it up to 1/2 speed at the end), made the thread stop breaking.

I'd be lying if I didn't say all that was a pain in the butt.  Also, with the tension all out of whack and an already heavy quilt, my stitches could have been prettier.  My bobbin thread left some blue dots that couldn't be helped.  I also wanted to kill all minky fabric by the end - this quilt was heavy and awkward in an already difficult situation.  Good news - it's over.  Now on to binding, and hopefully I'll be able to use this quilt and not be too critical.  NEVER AGAIN will I use Sulky thread.  Guttermann may not be verigated, but it likes my machine.

Dresden Doll Quilt in DS Quilts fabric - Quilt 8

I finished this lovely quilt a few days ago, but I haven't had a chance to post about it.  As things aren't really going well in the sewing room (a disaster that I will post about later), I figure it's time for a break.  This quilt was created for the DS Quilt Doll Quilt Swap on Flickr.  I participated in round 1 (a pinwheel quilt) and love it, so I jumped right in when I heard there would be a round 2.

My partner wanted me to use blue DS Quilts fabric with white as the background.  After doing a little research (a secret swap), I found that a dresden plate block would be perfect. When I thought about snazzing it up, I saw this picture on Flickr and got some good ideas. 

I already had decided on hand quilting, but I got the idea for the green border and the blue background.  It is all hand appliqued on - the dresden plate to the white, the green border to the white, and the blue onto the green.  I did a bunch of tracing, careful cutting and ironing to get everything right.

I love how the hand quilting looks from the back!

Here is the entire back - all made up of leftovers scraps. Since the applique borders involved cutting out the centers, I had several pieces left over. I haven't really done something like this before - it was piecing just a bit at a time, adding pieces when need.   I really like the narrow navy blue strips.

I'm a big fan of loops on the back for doll quilts so that they can be hung on the wall.  I added loops that matched my stripey binding - hopefully my partner approves!

Seaside Tumbler Quilt Top

I'm so excited about quilting right now - not sure what it is, but sewing and starting new things is all I want to do.  Luckily, I'm not knee deep in unfinished projects - yet.

To keep my scraps under control, I've been trying to use them up right away.  If you remember Seaside Windows, I ordered a fat quarter bundle and I knew from the beginning, that I would have plenty of scraps left over from the quilt.  When I looked at my leftovers stack, I originally thought of doing a simple patchwork, but just around then I ran into another one of Rita's tumbler projects, and decided to make my own tumbler quilt.

I just love how the top turned out - the bright colors really make it.  I used my own cardboard template to cut out the shapes, but afterwards I found a plastic template that I bought that will cut out this shape in a variety of sizes.  Because I know I will make another tumbler quilt.  And perhaps a few more after that too :)

Bird Baby Quilt (Quilt 6)

I finally finished this quilt which has been in the works for way too long.  I'm glad it's done since it's been on my mind for months.  I created this pattern during a craft sale after seeing Joel Dewberry's Aviary 2 collection.  My favorite print is the one with the turquoise flowers.

I am so in love with the color scheme!  Brown, orange and turquoise - absolutely genious!  The brown wood print worked perfectly - all the pieces blend in really well together to make the larger sections look like one piece.

I drove out to my LQS that is out of town since they have a great selection of flannel.  I was happy to find this backing as the blue was a super close match.  The orange binding was the obviously choice, although I'm sad I used up all of that print (too bad I'll have to order more... which means I'll have to order other fabric too).

I free motion quilted with these vine leafs travelling up the quilt.  I was so insecure about them as they don't look uniform at all.  In retrospect, I would have done meandering loops with leaves on the smaller scale.  Everyone has told me they look fine, but I still have confidence issues with free motion quilting on my domestic machine.

I am over the moon with this finish as this means I have completed my "have-to" list that I made in the New Year.  Now I'm hoping to quilt another quilt that is all pinned and ready to go and create a few quilt tops that I have in mind.

Hedgehog Dresses!

After resting and finishing my long overdue curtains, this past week I decided to finally tackle some dresses I've been meaning to make.  Before I had my Easter weekend visit to the hospital, I had just finished washing all the fabric from the dresses and was ready to trace the patterns.  So now, four weeks later - they are finished!

These dresses are made with a pattern by Mod Kids called Addison

This is my first real sewing project where I made a piece of clothing.  I have done 2 poodle skirts before, but they don't count.  This is the first time I followed a pattern and had no help.  I must say I am really proud of myself! It does help that the pattern is so cute!  I wanted something a little warmer for our tempermental Canadian weather.

I picked up the matching shoes so the girls could wear them to church.  I was surprised I could find that color of red.  The fabric is from Lizzy House's Outfoxed collection.  When I first saw Outfoxed, I knew I had to make something with the blue hedgehogs and red pearl bracelets.  Tracking down enough fabric for the dresses was another matter as this collection has been so popular.

I even made little matching hairclips for the girls.  As you can see, my girls absolutely love the dresses!

I definitely recommend this pattern - it goes from size 2T-10, although I don't think I would tackle a 2T as I made a 3T and it was pretty tight as it was.  The sleeves were the most challenging part with the tight armband, but it all worked out.

Fat Quarter Idol - Meet me at the Picnic

Another Fat Quarter Idol week at Sew,Mama,Sew!  This week's theme is "Meet me at the Picnic"

I was drawn to grass greens, blue skies, and of course red.  Check out my board on pinterest, or head over to Sew,Mama,Sew! to participate in the contest.

Fat Quarter Idol at Sew,Mama,Sew!

Sew, Mama, Sew! is having a Fat Quarter Idol Contest - every week there is a theme and participants choose 12 fabrics from their website to create a bundle that fits the theme.  This week's theme is "Sweet Child of Mine" and I chose the following 12 fabrics to fit the theme:

I have never created a fabric bundle before - I often rely on fabric collections to keep me on track.  I chose what colors I wanted, chose some of my favorite fabrics and then used the colors to help me select the rest.

Check out my pinterest board and try making your own bundle!

New Camera! and Fabric Goodness

I'm back!  My beautiful new camera came in the mail yesterday - Nikon D5100.  I don't know much about cameras, but my husband does, so I let him narrow down the pickings and I chose the winner.  I have to say I'm a bit intimidated, but I'm also thrilled with the gorgeous pictures it takes.

My Sugar Creek by DS Quilts finally came in the mail today!  I'm participating in the DS Quilts Doll Quilt Swap on Flickr and I need some blue DS fabrics for my doll quilt.  Now that it's arrived, I am excited to get started, although, truthfully I have a lot of projects on the go right now.  My last two weeks have just been resting and watching a lot of House so that I don't overexert myself.

I also couldn't resist this lovely Monsterz fabric bundle that I got from Fabricworm.  I originally picked out just boy colors, but I realized it would cost the same to get the whole FQ bundle.  These monsters are adorable!  Lets hope I can get so sewing them really soon.

Be Back Soon

Just a quick update to let people know I haven't disappeared.  It was a rough week and as a result I'll be spending the next week or two recovering.  While I've been reading some great quilting books (including Denyse Schmidt's newest), I won't be doing any sewing anytime soon.  I hope to be back very soon once I'm feeling better.  Cheers.

Update on my lack of posting...

This past week I completed another gorgeous quilt top which I would love to show you, but... I lost my camera!  Waah!  I think it fell out when we went on a weekend trip to the mountains in Banff and it fell out of my purse when my children were going crazy with the stroller, which had my purse hung on it.

Anyway, I'm pretty upset about it - luckily I have all my quilt pictures saved to my computer, but my family pictures from the past 3 months may be gone forever :(  So, I might be in the market for a new camera if intense cleaning and searching doesn't reveal my camera soon.  I guess I should start researching sweet cameras, but honestly I'm not that excited about it...