May
5
Mystery Quilt (and giveaway)
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I posted a question about appliqué quilting on facebook recently and got interest in the project. But I’m not ready to reveal what it is. However, since it’s kind of a — ummm — different piece, I thought it might be fun for you guys to try and guess what the appliquéd part is. I couldn’t find any other examples on google images or flickr, so I think it will be pretty unique when all is said and done.
I meant to take lots of pictures along the way, but most of the time I was working on it, the sun wasn’t out and pictures were all dingy, so here are some closeups (almost) after the fact.
And I know getting the bragging rights for guessing correctly is enough, but I want to send something out to the first person who guesses correctly anyway. So these little beauties below are the “prize”. Two tiny (about 2″ square) lavender filled sachets. Made from the scraps of the pencil roll I made for Alexis a few years back (she still has it and uses it!). I found the botched (meaning too narrow) rainbow pieces when I was cleaning out my scrap box. And as I’m a sucker for all things rainbow, I knew I had to use them up somehow.
So the rules — All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with your guess. I don’t expect anyone to get it from this first picture, so I will be posting wider and wider views over the next week or so. Post your guess as a comment on those posts as they appear. (I will lock the comments on each thread as the next “clue” goes up). First person to guess correctly gets the rainbow sachets above. (Be sure to leave your email address in the comment form — it doesn’t show to the public, only me — so I can contact you!)
Now don’t be shy!
May
2
Sasha’s Quilt
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I finished this little beauty more than a year ago. I even started the draft of this post back then too, but I guess I got distracted having my own baby. Anyway, Sweet Sasha is now a big one year old… and I still haven’t met her in person! That makes me so sad. They grow so fast. I hope she loves her quilt though.
I chose solids again for this particular family, because I have this overwhelming need for things within a family to “match”. Or maybe it’s just me trying to be fair (even though my ultimate philosophy is that life isn’t fair). You’ll recall her sister’s quilt. Only, I didn’t know her sister would be a girl. I’m glad her parents didn’t put me through all that guessing again. Picking gender neutral colors is a big pain in the butt!
So this time around knowing it was a girl, and knowing that I would use solids again I went looking for inspiration. I think I knew I wanted “girl colors” without being TOO girly. So I chose the orange/yellow/pink combo. And I found this quilt on flickr to use as my inspiration. I had planned to do the same layout of the blocks, but got to playing with them and accidentally came up with the layout above. I love it!
You can see the hand quilting in the above photo as well. I’m really pleased with the way it came out. I’m also glad I didn’t go nuts and try to do some sort of floral motif in each of the big white squares. I think that would have been over the top girly.
I also struggled with the backing for this quilt. You might also remember that I originally had chosen a different backing fabric. However, the dots and circles just didn’t have the right vibe to me, and I found this lovely floral flannel in my stash. There was literally just enough of it for the backing. I think I trimmed one inch off of on of the short sides when all was said and done. I’m so pleased to have come up with the perfect use for one of my favorite fabrics of all time!
It’s interesting that I was so apprehensive about using solids when I did the first quilt. I think I was worried that they wouldn’t provide enough interest for the eye. But they have really grown on me, and I’m about to embark on my next project using solids. A quilt for one of my own kids! Gasp! Yep, Alexis has grown up in to quite the little lady, and is ready for a move from her “baby” decor. (Ha! I say “baby” because the fabrics I chose for her room before she was born were lovely Laura Ashley fabrics without a single hint of baby in them.) So we’re still in the planning stages on that quilt, but we have a good start. I’m sure she can’t wait to see it posted here!
Oct
17
All purpled out
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I posted some of the pictures of this quilt on Facebook already, but just for consistency (and in case any of my readers are still out there after this giant hiatus), here they are again.
Willy Wonka (the womb name) was born yesterday and this is his quilt. Can you tell his mom likes purple? I have to admit, I was very leery about making a purple quilt. I was worried it would be too purple. It really almost is, and I doubt I’ll use purple fabric for anything in the near future, but overall, I’m pleased with the outcome.
For the stars, I used a stack and whack approach. I started with 9 inch squares of fabric and these blocks ended up just over 6 inches when I was done. I kept swearing to myself during the first round of stars (I did 8 at a time) that I would photo the entire next set for a tutorial. Unfortunately, I ended up trying a different method on the second set. (If you look closely you can see that in some of the blocks, the points extend all the way to the edge. Those are the first batch.)
There were definitely not enough tutorials (here’s one and I can’t even find the other one) on how to do this out there, and I still have two stacks of squares left, so maybe — in my copious spare time — I’ll get around to making more blocks. Would anyone want those when I’m done? Because, I don’t know that I could bring myself to keep them. I’m just all purpled out. Gasp! Maybe I should have a contest!
Wow, that looks even ickier typed out than it did in my head. A contest? really? Someone call a doctor.
And just because I’m feeling daring, here’s the next project on the blocks (ha ha… no pun intended). Someone is having baby number two. I think she just wants another quilt.
You can see just how not purple it is.
Mar
11
Apron Strings tied!
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I’ve been busting my butt trying to get this quilt done for the silent auction and my daughter’s school. This is the first quilt I’ve ever machine quilted, and I’m pretty happy with how it came out. It was definitely faster!
The colored fabric (except for the binding) is Moda’s Apron Strings line from a few years ago. I bought a charm pack back then, cut out all the triangles, and shoved it all in a bag and left it there until about 5 weeks ago. I’m not sure what I was thinking trying to do a pattern with this shape, but it seems to have come out ok. I only frogged it about 3 times.
The binding was a major pain. I walked around my local quilt store for hours looking for something that would work because the main fabrics were no longer available. Finally, I admitted defeat and asked for help. The binding was the third fabric the awesome ladies at the quilt shop suggested. I didn’t notice it until I got it home to cut, but it’s actually a Christmas fabric. I’ll have to find something to do with it this year, since I’ve got a good 3/4 yard left.
I was thinking the other day, that I have made 3 baby quilts (though this last one could be categorized as a lap quilt) in less than a year. There’s another one in the works though, my friend Rebecca is expecting now!
Dec
23
Rolling for Pencils
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I was going to get all sappy and tell you how six years ago today was the worst day of my life, but it’s just too close to Christmas to get all gloomy. So instead, I’ll show you the one handmade gift for Alexis this year.
I’ve been thinking about this project ever since I saw the one over at Pink Chalk Studio. And I decided it would be a great inexpensive stocking stuffer for the oh-so-spoiled Alexis. Besides, that kid loves her art supplies. I didn’t even have to go shopping for any of the stuff. The fabric all came from my scrap bin – which seems to grow exponentially every month, I should really find some more stash/scrap busting projects. And I confiscated the pencils from Alexis herself. When I spent SIX hours last week cleaning out her room, I found more markers and pens and pencils than anyone person should be allowed to have.
I’ve seen these things all over the net, and they’re all beautiful, but I really love the ones that have the graduated rainbow pattern for the pockets. I’m a sucker for rainbows. I also really liked the look of the linen for the background fabric. It’s the perfect compliment to all the busy colors, and it’s classy. I adore linen. Unfortunately the scraps of linen I had left were not wide enough to cut the backing fabric from one piece, so I used a small strip of the pieced fabric to connect two pieces of linen for the back. I love how it turned out. There is just a hit of what you’ll find inside when it’s all rolled up.
I had a couple of false starts when I was making this. I actually had to piece the stripes twice because the first time around I made them too narrow for the pencils to actually fit in the pockets. THAT was annoying. I thought I might actually have to go fabric shopping because the orange and that yellow-green (what’s up with yellow-green/green-yellow and blue-green/green-blue anyway? Who can really tell the diff?) were tiny little scraps to start with. Somehow I managed to squeak out just enough for the two stripes, though, and so my stash was busted. Yay!
Now. Seriously. Pass on the list of scrap stash busters, my room is a huge mess.