Pips for my Peanut

My oldest is turning 9 in October and this was supposed to be her 5th birthday present.  This was definitely one of my oldest WIPs (I have one more that is older that will be finished before summer!!).  I struggled with this quilt because there are directional prints that are upside down that shouldn't be upside down, like girls on swings, kids on scooters and puppies.  And because these blocks bothered me, I didn't finish.  

This quilt wasn't about me...it was a quilt that my peanut was promised and that she loved.  I remember laying in bed with her and seeing this fabric and her begging me for a quilt made out of it.  

I finally got around to finishing the quilt and then wanted to use up some wool batting that I had...and then I had problems.  My basting spray did not hold very well with this wool batting and there are some serious(!!) puckers on the back of the quilt.  The good thing is my 8 year old really doesn't care and is so excited to have her quilt.

I finished it just in time for her to break her arm on the first bike ride of the season.  So she is cooped up for a while and is enjoying the snuggles with her new quilt.

The fabric is Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hoey.

I am linking up with Fabric Tuesday, Show and Tell Tuesday , Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Needle and Thread Thursday and Finish it Friday.

Birthday Present and Some New "Art"

Another dance team member has a birthday this weekend and her favorite color is blue.  She came up to me after the last birthday and asked me if I would make her a doll sleeping bag set too (melt my heart).  So sweet and innocent at almost 8.  She is also getting her first American Girl Doll too.

My Mom acquired both of my Grandmas' sewing things when they moved to assisted living and a nursing home.  I went through and gathered up all the interesting notions and wooden spools.  They now have a home in shadow boxes in my sewing room.  I couldn't be happier with how they turned out.  The metallic looking package in the lower right corner of the large frame is a set of needles that came with tuna fish...really needles with tuna?

Another finish with a sad ending

My Grandma's birthday was 2 weeks ago and I didn't quite finish a quilt that I had made for her...life got in the way, dance got in the way and finishing costumes before a performance.

I finished quilting the quilt Saturday and had planned on sewing the binding on Sunday. 

Sunday I took my girls to church and went grocery shopping.   I got home and started to eat lunch.  My sister called and I didn't answer.  She called my husband's phone and he answered.  My Grandma was in the hospital and wasn't going to make it through the night.  My parents were getting on a flight from to San Francisco at 4:30. 

My husband immediately bought me a ticket on the same flight and I quickly packed before hitting the road for the 1.5 hour drive so I could fly with them.

We made it to San Francisco and she passed away 5 hours later.  I'm heartbroken...incredibly sad for my family's loss but happy that my Grandma is with my Grandpa.  She made it to Heaven to spend his birthday with him and their wedding anniversary.

I brought her quilt on the airplane with me and finished the binding on my flight home to get my husband and girls to drive to Cincinnati for her services and burial.  I'm not sure where this quilt will end up...whether I keep it or give it to my Mom.

I am linking up with Fabric Tuesday, Show and Tell Tuesday , Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Needle and Thread Thursday and Finish it Friday.

Doll Sleeping Bag

My daughter is really close with her dance team and they like to have sleepovers (as a team). They all also love their American Girl Dolls.  Since there are several birthday party sleepovers coming up, I decided to make sleeping bags for each birthday girl using her favorite color. 

I will write up a tutorial for this one day, super easy...a charm pack, scrap batting and 3/4 yard of lining/binding fabric.

My daughter lays the charm squares out, picking some for a pillow too :)


I am linking up with Fabric Tuesday, Show and Tell Tuesday , Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Needle and Thread Thursday andFinish it Friday.

Birthday Present

My Brother in Law turned 40 last week and we will see him this coming weekend at a family gathering.  There was a great flash sale at Fat Quarter Shop where all their collegiate fabric went on sale 60% off.  I scooped up a bunch of WVU fabric to make his quilt as well as one for his brother when he turns 40 in 2 years.  I am pretty sure I will have enough fabric to make a quilt for my husband as well :)

It's a perfect snuggle under lap size quilt.  My quilt holder was so excited to "make the blog" even with her split open chin.

I am linking up with Fabric Tuesday, Show and Tell Tuesday , Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Needle and Thread Thursday and Finish it Friday.

48 four patches for a 40th birthday

48 four patches are sewn for a 40th birthday present.  I have to cut out the 4.5 inch squares tomorrow and I will have this flimsy finished in no time.  

A twin will be made for the brother for his 40th in 2 years...and I have way too much blue and gold solid fabric left over. In my haste to order I greatly over calculated my solid needs...guess I will be making a solids quilt in blue and gold :)

Back in the saddle

My nephew turned 2 last week and is obsessed with fish.  The blue fish are made with fabric from his baby quilt and the crabs are fabric from his Christmas present.  Needless to say he loved it!

                                   

Trying to get a photo of him in the shirt was near impossible...he's 2 and on the go.

 

 

Third Birthday

We just celebrated a third birthday at our house and the birthday girl requested a pink and orange quilt and a bed for her baby.  Even though I made her a quilt, it is second fiddle to a gorgeous pink, orange, yellow and red quilt that her Nancy Nancy gave her (she can't say or chooses not to say Auntie Nancy).  I will have to snap it from her bed at take some photos because it is gorgeous!

 

Over the summer we went to an estate sale and found this great doll cradle for $8.  It was a God awful shade of yellow and in need of a few screws, but otherwise was in great condition and it looks exactly like our oldest's doll cradle which was my great-great-great aunt's.  I painted the cradle bright pink and orange per the birthday girl's request and purchased some craft foam to make a mattress.  

 

 

 The cradle sheet is made out of a Kate Spain fabric from the Honey Honey line.  It is perfect...pink and orange!

There were scraps leftover from the quilt that I made so I trimmed them down into 2.5 inch wide strips and made a doll quilt to go with the cradle using the jelly roll race method.  It turned out super cute and I had enough scraps to make the front and the back of the quilt. 

 

Next came the birthday girl's quilt.  It was a bunch of blocks on Monday and her birthday was Sunday.  I finished piecing it on Tuesday and quilted it Friday night.  I bound the quilt in the car on the way to my parent's house and again on the way home.  I was able to give the birthday girl her quilt on the night of her birthday.  I used the free pattern over at Moda Bakeshop, but modified it to make the quilt wider (I added 2 extra rows).  There was a ton of extra fabric leftover which allowed me to make the quilt wider. 

 

The pattern utilizes a dessert roll and came together very quickly.

The backing is the same great pink and orange from her doll cradle.  The quilt was made using a dessert roll of Honey Honey and some white yardage.  I ended up using a Cuzco print for the binding because the birthday girl wanted orange (her favorite color). 

 

She loved her quilt and has it in her bedroom.  She is not currently sleeping with it because her great Aunt made her a pink and orange quilt as well and put a Hungry Caterpillar (her favorite book) tag on it.

 

I am linking up with Fabric Tuesday, Show and Tell Tuesday , Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop? and Finish it Friday.

Three finishes this week!

First, I quilted and bound two quilts that are going to their new owners this week. I have been machine binding recently and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed hand binding both of the quilts. They are washed and all crinkly! I also pieced some flying geese and put the first row of the 2012-2013 mystery block of the month quilt together.

 

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Purple quilt

I just bought this fabric yesterday and will be making a disappearing 9 patch with it. It is about as monochromatic as I get. My Grandma loves the color purple and her 84th birthday is coming up. It is also going to be her last birthday at home as she is moving into an assisted living facility for people suffering from dementia. Her memory has been slipping incredibly quick and I know that she will love this lap quilt in her new home.

The fabric is all Amelia by Me and My Sister Designs (love this line!!!)

60 Years, Oh my!

The very first pattern that I ever bought was the one for this quilt. My Aunt N sent me a list of quilting websites and one night while browsing through them I found this pattern. I knew that my Mother-in-law would love the pattern as her life is deeply rooted in her faith (the pattern has changed slightly since I purchased it. My pattern did not call for the applique). She has been divorced for the last 25 years or so and raised my husband and his two brothers on her own. Her faith was one of the things that helped her through that incredibly difficult time.

I bought the pattern and began my hunt for fabric. The quilt was made in beautiful pinks and creams, which I loved, but she is more of a yellow and blue kind of lady.

So the pattern sat in my pattern box for a year or so before I finally found fabric that I liked. It is a mix of Storybook IV fabrics and other miscellaneous 1930's colored fabrics. I ordered the fabrics and they sat for one year in my fabric closet (yes I have a closet :) ).

January 2012 rolls around and I decide that I needed to get my rear in gear and start working on this quilt, so in the midst of Sorority Recruitment (I am an Advisor), I decided to start the quilt. I cut and cut some more. I do not even remember how many tiny squares are in this quilt. I did take some short cuts and did some strip piecing and made some 4 patches to make things go a little quicker. The piecing took a whopping 8 bobbins to complete! I finished the quilt in 2 weeks, spent another 3 days quilting it and 4 nights sewing the binding on.

I was going to take this to my long arm quilter, but I have become more confident in my free motion quilting skills and took this quilt on. By the time I drove to and from my quilter to drop the quilt off and did it all again to pick the quilt up, I could be mostly complete with the quilting. I am not sure what I was thinking because this puppy is large and it was heavy because I used wool batting. It took up my entire kitchen floor to baste it!

It was quilted in an all over meandering pattern using an off-white thread. The cross is quilted in a different manner using a variegated blue and white thread (it is actually the thread that I used to quilt her youngest grandson/my nephew's quilt). I washed the quilt to make it all nice and crinkly and to make sure that there were not any stray dog hairs from basting on the floor. As you can probably tell, this quilt is rather large. I had to stand back so far in order to get the whole thing in the photos!

I hand stitched the binding to the quilt. I like the way that hand stitching a binding looks. You can't tell from this picture, but the back is covered in puppy dogs. My mother-in-law loves dogs, but no longer has one of her own. Now she has a couple thousand to sleep with :).

I had some extra fabric so I made a few throw pillows and coordinating pillowcases to match the quilt.

Her 60th birthday is not until July, but we are going to see her in April. We decided to give her the quilt now, rather than taking the quilt and all it's accessories with us when we go away in July. If you are reading this post, she has already received her quilt.

My Sister's Quilt

When I turned 30 my sister put together a fantastic scrapbook for me that friends and family from all over the country contributed to.  Since my sister was turning 30 a short 15 months after me, I knew that I had to do something fantastic for her.  She loves bright and cheery colors and I knew that Clementine by Me and My Sister Designs was perfect for her (you can find some here).

I found a pattern and ordered fabric and got to work.  The quilt is a standard double size.  At the same time I was making her quilt, I was also making one for my husband.  My husband and my sister each knew that I was making a quilt for the other, so when I spoke about heading to my quilter, neither was any wiser.  Oh, and did I mention that I was pregnant when I started both quilts and had a 4 year old and an infant when I finally finished them up. 

The fun polka dots are the backing.  I couldn't find any pictures of the quilt once it was quilted.  My quilter did a fantastic job and was able to order thread that matched perfectly.  I emailed her a link to the fabric line and she went from there.

At the time I made this quilt, it was the largest quilt that I had ever made and it definately had the most piecing ever (I think to this day it still has the most piecing of any quilt I have made).  

My sister loved the quilt and it now sits on her guest bed when I come to visit. I know that it gets moved into her room when I am not there :).