baby quilt

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In Full Bloom

April 29, 2010 in Finished Objects | 13 comments

How can you see all of this color and not jump up and down with happiness for Spring?

In Full Bloom - flying away!

This is a baby gift for my cousin’s new little girl, Mia.  Crazy story left me rushing a little with this one – my cousin actually didn’t find out she was pregnant until she was about 30 weeks. A few more weeks and she would have been on one of those TV shows! So, yeah, it was a bit of a surprise to everyone involved. But regardless, the whole extended family is plenty excited to have a new baby in the family.

In Full Bloom - front

The starting point for this quilt was the Alexander Henry Apples & Pears print.  I’ve had a yard of it in my stash forever, and the colors seemed like a good place to start.  I like the way the white in each block kind of reminds me of the white outline around each fruit in the inspiration fabric.  Though I think in my head I originally thought the white space would be more prominent, I like that it ended up so bright and colorful. Nearly all of the fabric in this quilt was already in my stash before I started.

In Full Bloom - back

The back is nearly all of the remaining Apples & Pears on one side, and a nice girly pink on the other with a few print blocks for fun. The pink is one exception to the from-the-stash statement: I was cutting fabric for the back when I realized I didn’t have quite enough of a single color of pink, so I had to make a run for some more. Whoops!

I did my favorite loopy quilting in white thread.

In Full Bloom - detail

Speaking of quilting – LOVING free-motion on my new machine.  The extension table makes such a huge difference, plus I got one of those teflon-y sliding mats and the spiffy gloves, so the quilt slid around quite nicely.  The stop/start button was an enormous bonus during free-motion, because I knew the needle speed would remain consistent without thinking about how heavy my foot was.  The fact that it takes a second to ramp up to full speed when you hit “start” was also really nice.  I did have a few periods of annoying thread breakage, not sure to what I should attribute that problem. But it’s one that has not completely disappeared and is always a pain.  That said, I was overall very happy with the experience, and remain quite enamored of my new (and still nameless) sewing machine.

At any rate, that counts as my first finish for Spring to Finish! Now I’m off to trim some pinwheel blocks…

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Charlie

February 2, 2010 in Finished Objects, Quilts | 15 comments

That’s right, it’s madness up in here! Two finishes in less than a week! Well, it makes sense, as these two babies were born less than a week apart.

My nephew, Charlie. My very first nephew. My brother’s son.  He was born last Wednesday, about 10 days ahead of schedule. I was already working on the quilt when I got the call, but obviously his arrival sped things up a bit.  I hope they like his quilt. Because if they don’t, I’m taking it back. Because I am in love with it.  It feels so “boy” without beating you over the head with BLUE and TRUCKS and STEREOTYPES!

Charlie

It all started with a fat quarter bundle of Robert Kaufmann’s Animal Party prints that I bought from an Etsy seller, ages ago. I bought it on a whim, thinking it would be great for a baby boy at some point. Lo and behold, the ultrasound revealed that my brother’s first child was, in fact, a boy. And my sister-in-law mentioned something about a jungle/animal/explorer theme.  Golden!

I was undecided on what to do with these prints for a long, long time. I toyed with a whole bunch of different ideas, and couldn’t settle on one that I liked. And then Ashley posted about the Spotted Squares quilt she’s working on, and I had my inspiration.

Charlie

I felt compelled to be somewhat organized about it, not totally improvisational. (Because, seriously, improvising takes time! I like to chain-piece, people!)  They are all 8″ (finished) blocks. There are two different sized center squares (2″ and 4″, finished). There are two different layouts (centered and off-center). And there are two styles (print/color borders and white borders).  I picked fabrics from my stash to coordinate with the prints I already had, sticking mostly with brown, green, blue, and orange.

Oh, and the back. I kind of love the back. As much, if not more, than the front. I have to remember to do an actual quilt like this. Maybe for my kids…

Charlie

I was also torn as to how to quilt it, as I seem to be on almost every quilt I make.  I didn’t want to quilt it too densely, that much I knew.  But I’m psyched with what I went with: straight horizontal and vertical lines at random intervals.  I love that it kind of works with the square-but-wonky style of the front. I marked the lines with a washable pen and my ruler to keep them as straight as I could.

Charlie

Binding is from Connecting Threads, their Riviera line, which is now discontinued and on major clearance (those circle/dots are still available in three different colors).

Charlie

Anyways, I’m thrilled that this one is done. And I can’t wait to deliver it in person on Saturday, when I fly to Chicago to meet my sweet new nephew. Hooray!

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Lucy Elizabeth

January 28, 2010 in Finished Objects | 17 comments

My first finish of 2010 is for a good friend and her brand new baby girl, Lucy.

It was no secret I would be making a quilt for her, and I just waved goodbye to it on the mail truck. I was going to wait a couple of days to post about it, but someone decided she wanted to see pictures…

Lucy Elizabeth

Once I found out this baby was to be a girl, I ordered a charm pack and a jelly roll of Hushabye.  I went through various thoughts on what I’d actually do with it, and eventually settled on this.  5″ (cut) centers, 2.5″ borders.  The solid is Kona Cotton in Bone, which wasn’t quite so stark as plain white.

Lucy Elizabeth

The back is the bunny damask print from the same line, with a strip of squares.

Lucy Elizabeth

Quilting is diagonal lines in pink thread. Binding is also from the same line. Yes, I said I was going to try to do fewer quilts using all fabrics from the same line, I know. But I bought this fabric last October, so I think I get a pass. And sometimes it just looks so nice, you can’t pass it up.

Anyways, it’s in the hands of the postal service, on its way to Manhattan.  I hope Lucy likes it! (And her mom, too, I suppose…)

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Headed South for the Winter

December 10, 2009 in Finished Objects | 12 comments

No, not me. Sadly.  Staying up in the chilly Northeast.

But this quilt is headed to El Salvador, which sounds absolutely delightful right about now.

Odyssea Double Hourglass

A good friend of mine had me make this one as a gift for a family friend who lives in El Salvador.  I actually had it finished over a week ago, but was waiting for word on the new baby’s arrival so I could put the initials on the back.  I had a bit of fun using the Odyssea line from Moda.

Odyssea Double Hourglass

Thanks to all for suggestions on how to quilt it. I went with Angela’s plan to do diagonal lines.  The blue border was a suggestion from, of all people, my husband. And I love it! It’s Kona Cotton in Cadet, sort of a lighter navy blue.

Odyssea Double Hourglass

The double hourglass blocks, as I mentioned before, are from the tutorial at Cluck Cluck Sew.  You must try it if you haven’t.  Not hard, and awesome results!  This one started with 2″ strips.  The whole quilt was about 30×36 before washing.

Odyssea Double Hourglass

As an aside, I am NOT a fan of taking pictures of quilts indoors! Hard to get a good angle, hard to get back far enough with my fixed 50mm lens, hard to get the colors to come out right. Blech! Stupid winter… think I can stowaway with my friend and this quilt?

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Girly Zig-Zag

November 21, 2009 in Finished Objects | 5 comments

Well, I’ll say one thing in favor of making the same quilt several times over: it gets faster every time.  Or, at least, that’s the case with Amanda Jean‘s no-triangle zig-zag.

Pink & Purple Zig-Zag

I cut, pieced, and assembled the entire top during our retreat on that delightful little Featherweight.  It was only too funny doing it in the presence of the person who wrote the tutorial.  She could scarcely believe that I was able to put it together so fast, and without laying out the whole thing.  I assure you, the first time I made it, I had every piece laid out on my guest bed, and put it together one seam at a time.  I was terrified to move it, as I was sure I’d lose my place or put it together wrong.  The second time, I set out the rows carefully and did them one at a time, but didn’t have to lay it all out at once.  This time, I chain-pieced the whole thing.  It was a little ridiculous.

Pink & Purple Zig-Zag

Anyways, it was a commissioned quilt made for my friend’s mother, as a gift for a new baby.  She requested pinks, lavenders, and creams (the cream fabric in between each row is actually a subtle print, not a solid, which gives it a warmer look close-up).  The back, on specific request from the purchaser, is a small pink print. (Hard to see, photos were taken quickly and in less-than-ideal light.)

As with anything I’ve done multiple times, I’m now ready to put the pattern aside for a while.  But it really is a great one, so I imagine I may come back to it again someday.

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Apples & Owls

October 15, 2009 in Finished Objects | 9 comments

Fresh out of the dryer, a finished quilt that I made for my friend Danielle as a baby gift for a friend of hers.  I guess she liked the last one I made, enough to ask for another!  (Geez, that was a month ago? Time flies…)  Anyways, for this one, she said her friend’s nursery was sage green and white, and she got a kick out of the apple/owl/tree prints that I showed her.  So, off I went.

Apples & Owls - front

It’s not necessarily my go-to color pallate, but I’m really happy with how it turned out.  Half of the blocks are 4″ (finished) squares of the print with a 1.5″ solid green border (Kona Cotton in Tarragon, I remembered this time!).  The other half have a smaller center, a half-inch bit of white, and then an inch and a half of a print.

Apples & Owls - detail

A little hard to see in the photo, but the pale green has white polka dots, the orange has tone-on-tone circles, and the other print is a yellow/brown/white sort of scalloped stripe.

Apples & Owls - back

The back is more of the Tarragon solid, with some randomly-placed blocks of the focus prints.  And, yes, I did hang this quilt on my swingset to take a picture of it. Oh, like you’ve never done it…

Apples & Owls - on the swingset!

The binding is a sage green and white/cream ticking stripe.  You know how I feel about striped bindings. LOVE!

Apples & Owls - Folded

And, of course, a little label with the new baby’s initials and birthday.  I love my new initial technique, by the way, and will share the step-by-step shortly if anyone is interested.  Pretty straightforward!

Apples & Owls - monogram

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Blue & Brown Stacked Coins

September 14, 2009 in Finished Objects | 4 comments

I finished a commissioned quilt for a friend of mine a day or two ago.  She wanted a gift for a new baby boy, preferably in shades of Tiffany blue and brown, and she liked the stacked coins design.  Here’s what I came up with:

Blue & Brown Stacked Coin

The solid is about the closest I could find to Tiffany blue. I believe it’s Kona Cotton in Cornflower but of course I never remember to write these things down.  The solids were a bunch of fat quarters I found from various sources, including several prints from the Kaufman Monaluna line.

Blue & Brown Stacked Coin

The backing is a fabric my friend and I fell in love with, Zoology by Michael Miller. How fun is that? The background is a very dark brown, though from a distance it can look black.

Blue & Brown Stacked Coin

I made a little label and embroidered the new baby’s initials and birth date.  The label border and the binding are from Connecting Threads, their Riviera line.  I thought the fabric quality was nice and the price is great!

And I really love the organic straight lines for the quilting (inspiration here). Enough that I may have taken back some of the nasty things I’ve been saying about my walking foot. Not only does it look neat and modern, but the way it crinkled up in the wash made it seem extra cushiony. It measured about 36×30 before washing, not entirely sure how much it shrunk.

Speaking of the wash, there were some minor heart attacks involved when I ran it through the washer & dryer.  You see, for the first time since I jumped on the no-pre-washing bandwagon, I neglected to throw in a color catcher.  And lo and behold, the damn thing bled. I am tempted to blame some of the, ahem, bargain fabrics I got at Joann’s, but of course I have no evidence. Just faint brown spots that nearly made me cry in frustration.  I scrubbed it with Oxi-Clean and sent it through the wash a second time, and they’re still there.  Thankfully, my husband tells me I’m crazy.  Even knowing what the problem was, he says he looked closely at the quilt and could barely find the spots.  So it’s not a complete tragedy, but you know I was freaking out pretty badly.

So, there you have it. Another finish, hooray!

And just wait until I get back from visiting my in-laws for Rosh Hashanah this coming weekend.  I’ll have another finish to show off, and many of the fabrics will look awfully familiar…

Piecing a zig-zag

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Five and Six

September 10, 2009 in Finished Objects | 4 comments

Two finished little quilts have arrived at their new home in Texas, and I have it on good authority that they were well-received.

Two ragged squares

Marie is a blog-friend who has boy/girl twins about the same age as my kids, and she wanted two ragged-square quilts for her kiddos.  A red one with dogs and a blue one with trucks/vehicles was the request.  I might have stretched the color palate a little on the “blue” one, but I hope it’s satisfactory. They both measure roughly 24×36″.

Post-washing closeup

I’m happy with the way they turned out, nice and scruffy after a run through the washer and dryer.  Truth be told, though, these two mark the fifth and sixth ragged-square quilts I’ve made this year, so I hereby declare myself done with that pattern for a while.  I don’t begrudge people for wanting it. It’s cute and soft and snuggly. I’m just ready to move on to something else. But would you believe that this marks twenty finishes for this year?! I can hardly believe it. Of course, more than half have been quite small, but still. 20!

Backing and binding

Speaking of which… more finishes to show off shortly, and more starts, too!

And, tangentially related to sewing, head over to my other blog to see a fun use my son has discovered for empty spools of thread.

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Doll Quilt, done, and other progress

August 24, 2009 in Finished Objects, Piecing | 8 comments

I am very pleased to announce that my DQS7 quilt is complete!

DQS7, Finished!

It’s sort of a nine-patch of wonky log cabins, if that makes any sense at all.  Nice, bright pieces from my scrap pile, with a bit of white to give it some space.  The quilting is done in white thread in a sort of square-spiral to mimic the blocks. I didn’t measure it, but I think it’s about 20 inches, square (before washing, haven’t decided if I’ll wash before sending or not).

DQS7, Back

I really like the back, and think my partner will, too.  That big pink floral was in my scrap bin from a previously abandoned project, and I’m glad I got to use a nice big piece of it.  The label might be my new favorite method, courtesy of Sarah’s tutorial.

DQS7, Folded

I thought the crazy colors and sort of wild, almost sparkly print for the binding worked pretty well. I was worried it would be too busy against the front, but I think it’s OK. And it’s only a doll-sized quilt, after all, I think you can get away with it being a little busy and not have it get overwhelming.

Anyways, it’s done! Yay! Just want to get a goodie or two to send with it, and then I’ll ship it off to its secret new home.

In the meantime, I’ve also finished the two ragged-square tops for Marie’s kids, and just need to baste and quilt them. Marie, I hope you like the preview!

Two ragged square tops

I’ve also got two commissioned quilts for baby boys in the works, both of which were requested to have some blue and brown, so I’m actually using a lot of the same prints.  The pile of fabric was just sitting up on my shelf, mocking me, so I finally did all of the cutting yesterday just to feel like I was finally making progress on them.  One will be a small version of the stacked coins quilt, the other will be a zig-zag.

Brown and blue coins

Brown and blue strips

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Buried in Fabric

August 17, 2009 in Piecing | 3 comments

Feeling a little crazed and behind-the-ball now that I’m back from vacation.  I suddenly realized that I have (at least) five quilts plus three new Bee blocks that need to be done by the end of September.  Thankfully, four of the five quilts are rather small, but still. I feel like I’m really frantic to get them done. Maybe because I have so many others on my list that have yet to be started?

Progress check is as follows…

Two ragged-square quilts for Marie, one top is mostly pieced and the other is cut and ready to be put together. My only debate at the moment is whether to make it 24×30 or 24×36. They’re six-inch blocks, and I just can’t decide if the 24×36 looks too oblong or if it works. Will have to ask my husband for a non-sewer’s judgment this evening.

My swap quilt for DQS7 is moving along.  I finished my nine wonky log cabin blocks last night, so they’re ready to become a completed quilt top. Hopefully it should move on pretty quickly from here. The blocks themselves were a bit slow-moving, but assembly of the top will be straightforward and I think I know what I’m doing for backing and quilting.  I hope my partner likes it!

Blocks, done!

The other two on the list are also custom orders for baby gifts. One is a small coin quilt, and one is a slightly larger zig-zag.  Both include a lot of brown and blue and some green, so there will probably be a fair amount of fabric overlap. I’ve got most of the fabric set aside, but haven’t cut it yet.

It doesn’t help that summer has arrived with a vengeance, making up for a very chilly start. Heat index is well above 90 today, and my house is sorely lacking in central air.  Let’s see how much I can get done with a fan pointed straight at my head…

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