Random Roundup #22

I’ve been working on some quick little projects so I have a lot of little things to share.

Midibag:

I was preparing for a minor surgery and had quite a bit of nervous energy so I made a Midibag the day before which worked great for holding my clothes, phone, and wallet. I also got a few compliments from the nursing staff.I combined 3 mini charm packs – one Modern Background Ink and two Just a Speck by Jen Kingwell. The bag turned out so cute and was the perfect size! You iron the squares to the supplied interfacing and then fold and sew it together. The pattern contains interfacing for 2 bags. I need to decide on mini charms for the second bag. It’s a great little bag for art and craft fairs or the beach.

With the remaining squares, I was able to make this cute little pouch which is now with my sister-in-law. It worked beautifully for transporting a selection of Peppa Pig figures to my nephew.

Microwave Bowl Holders:

My brother’s family requested some of these bowl holders last year when they were here and I finally got around to making them as a housewarming gift. I use a great tutorial from Happy Hour Stitches.

Fabric Swap Box:

My guild is setting up a fabric birthday box swap and I needed a box to use to turn in my bought or ‘curated from stash’ fabric. The accessory box from The Container Store can hold 15 to 18 fat quarters depending on how you fold them. So I created a fabric name label to fit that box. I used my favorite fabrics for this one.The letters are from the Just My Type – lowercase pattern by Kristy of Quiet Play. I used headbands as the straps and sewed them into the binding and it worked beautifully.

Summer Sampler 2019:

I have been wanting to join in on the Summer Sampler that is hosted by Lee at Freshly Pieced, Katie at SwimBikeQuilt, and Faith of FreshLemonsQuilts but I was always preoccupied. This year the theme is Piecing Bootcamp and I love learning new techniques or improving my current techniques.There are two different finishing options but I just adore this curved layout. I’m planning on rainbowing this thing up and chose to use the Ombré Confetti Dots that I’ve been hoarding. I’m combining that with Tula Pink Fairy Dust and a grey Essex linen and it’s going to be epic!This Sampler Series starts tomorrow (May 20) with a block being released once a week. Here’s the link to sign up through Katie’s blog – Summer Sampler.

Stash Enhancement:

Alison Glass Holiday arrived and I cannot wait to get started on the quilt I designed last year. These fabrics will just pop!

I also received Alison Glass Sunprints Light. No plan for those but I just had to have them to fill in my low volumes.Lots more to share but I will pause here to take a breath and get some more sewing done!

Until next time- happy sewing!

Flying High

A few weeks back I joined a sew-a-long that I had been seeing floating around Instagram. I not only joined it but dove in full-force. I was mostly done cutting and piecing by the end of that first day. The only thing holding me back was not enough background fabric. Etsy to the rescue but that meant that I had to wait a few days to finish it up.This is my first transparency quilt attempt but I had been intrigued for a while. I’d really only seen them in solids and I don’t tend to use that many solids so that was holding me back from trying my own. I saw this Hold Tight pattern on Instagram and just had to give it a whirl. I knew that if I was going to use blenders that they needed to be the same pattern in order for the transparency effect to work. I had this gorgeous bundle of Pick up Sticks just hanging out in my sewing room that I received as a birthday gift from a great friend.I started throwing them on the floor using the pattern color chart as inspiration.Then the cutting and piecing began. I am not afraid of piecing curves as I gained a lot of experience with my Teal Fizz quilt top. I loved the first section as I was very secure about the color pull for those balloons. I cut out and pieced all that I could before my perfect background fabric ran out. Waiting for the next weekend was hard….but then I was back in business and got the rest of this top pieced.I pieced the backing by using a pastel charm pack and some leftover green and blue minky that I had in my stash. I also had the perfect binding fabric (Kona Oasis) and the absolute best shade of Aurifil to go with it. This 50 weight Mako Cotton (#4182) was in the Alison Glass box set. I love breaking open a new spool. So exciting.This quilt went together super fast and is so adorable. I want make all the balloons all the time!I used that same Aurifil color to create strings for the balloons and had them mimic the wavy quilting that I did. The quilting shows the movement of them just floating away.I’m hoping to finish a bunch of quilts this spring as long as I don’t continue being distracted by new projects. I think I’ve added about 5 within the last 2 weeks. Does anyone else have this problem?

Happy sewing everyone!

Color Me Happy!

My nephew is due to join this world in a few weeks.  It was about time to finish up some of the projects that I have in mind for the sweet boy and his momma.  First up were these burp cloths.  The pattern is a free one from Cloud 9 Fabrics.  There is no theme or color picked out yet so I did a little bit of everything.  Fun cotton prints on one side and soft flannel on the other.  So easy to put together and oh so useful.Then I finished (basted, quilted, and bound) the Crayola play quilt.  It so colorful and bright with super soft and cozy Minky on the back.The triangles on both the front and the back are the offcuts from the X blocks.  I randomly sewed them into pinwheels.  I hated to see them all go to waste so I used them throughout the quilt top and back.  I really like the look it created.It was so dark with just the green print that I added the low volume white blocks to lighten it up.  And I bought up every bit I could find of the x-plus fabric from the Best Day Ever line.  It’s such a great fabric for all the kids quilts that I’ll be making in the next few years.  And, I am now all out of the schoolhouse chalkboard fabric and can’t find it anywhere.  It was one on my favorites!

I echo quilted around each X and added vertical and horizontal lines every 2 1/2 inches.  Such great texture was created especially on that fabulous Minky!  It’s such a fun and soft quilt.The deep blue binding framed the whole piece perfectly!

Now I’m tackling my very first Divided Basket by Noodlehead.  Let’s see how much more baby decor and quilts I can get done before the baby arrives.  Time is a tickin…………

Foxes in Pearls

I broke open a Fabulous Foxes Jelly Roll to start on a charity baby quilt.  I had a free pattern sheet that I had gotten somewhere that was basically bows and thought this fabric would be cute in that type of quilt.  The pattern was also Jelly Roll friendly with 2 1/2 inch cuts.Here’s the first section completed.  I did change it up a little from the free pattern, by Riley Blake Designs, and added some 1 1/2 inch sashing.The glasses on the dots just kills me!  I love it.  I’ve got more bows to make and then I think I will be adding some of these awesome dots to get it to the size I want.I may back it in this cuddle fabric that I picked up at the Hancock going-out-of-business sale. I think they would clear stock faster if they had a 1 yard minimum instead of a 2 yard one.  It’s easier to add 1 yard each of random prints to your stash than 2 yards.  I saw some prints that I liked but not enough to get 2 yards worth. However, I did get some of my favorite Kona Cottons – medium grey and steel.And these dots….I thought they would be great for a lot of projects – there was less than 2 yds on the bolt so I got the End-of-Bolt discount as well as the 60% off sale.  

Projects to finish in June:

• Fab Foxes baby quilt
• IKEA-hack ironing station
• Wonky Cross quilt
• Graduation pillow for my niece (Class of 2016!) – I have an idea to put into play at her graduation party so we’ll see if that actually comes to fruition

It’s time for summer sewing!

A Friendly Forest

My quilt guild donates baby quilts to LeBonheur Children’s Hospital each year.  This event doesn’t occur until late summer but I like to have a few ready to go.  The first one for this year is made using a charm pack of Forest Friendzy.  The little owls are so adorable.  I used every bit of the Charm Pack and the sashing is from a jelly roll I had of Moda Bella Solids in Navy.  The colors are so vibrant and fun and I loved working with them. I used a solid orange binding with a little bit of green added and I’m glad I did as I think it lightens up the darkness of all that navy.  I quilted it using a variegated brown and backed with a mint and brown flannel dot print that was in my stash.  The flannel is soft and snuggly and worked really well with the colors on the front. It’s such a cute little quilt and I cannot wait to donate it to this fabulous hospital.

At my last guild meeting they handed out some fabric that we could use for one of these baby quilts so that should be the next one I work on.  It will be fun to see what each member of the group comes up with.  Everyone in the guild is incredibly creative but our styles are all a little different.  All the different mushroom quilts should make for a fabulous show and tell. I’ve got a couple of ideas and I really like the blue prints.  This line is a bit retro and is slightly out of what I am attracted to but I love the challenge of the whole thing. 

March Goals:

I’ve got a few goals for March that I think I should be able to accomplish.

1. Baste, quilt, and bind the Wavelength quilt – I’ve got everything I need to get this done.
2. Baste, quilt, and bind the 2012 Crafsty Block of the Month quilt – it’s such a fun design and I adore the fabric I used for it – I have everything I need for this one, too.
3. Mushroom Baby quilt – nothing is done yet for this.  😊
4. Go through my stash and give any fabrics that I no longer like to a friend who is just starting to sew.  Use same stash and batting scraps to make small quilt sandwiches to practice free-motion quilting.

I’m going to stop there as I know how I am and don’t want to overdo it.  But, I do want to get a lot done before vacations start revving up in late spring and into the summer.

Brick by Brick

I recently finished a baby quilt to give to a friend for her cousin. I have never met my friend’s cousin but her story touched my heart.

She is in her late 20s and has a 9 year old son from an old relationship. She is the type that never gets a break – broken home growing up, in and out of relationships with those that don’t deserve her, etc. From what I have heard she is a good person with a good heart. She works full-time at a small town bank and within the last year or 2 she met and married the love of her life. All was right in the world. She was in love and pregnant with her second child. She is currently about 7 1/2 months along. About a month ago her husband committed suicide and left her alone. She’ll have to raise 2 children basically by herself. She has joint custody of her oldest child but now no one to help with the baby.

She has been overly stressed since the incident and the pregnancy may be at risk due to her current emotional state. My friend stated that her cousin had nothing yet for the baby. I felt I should help in some way. I didn’t have any baby stuff in the gift closet – time to restock that, right? So, I decided to make her a quilt for the baby. The doctor has determined that it will be a boy.

I recently purchased some Giraffe Crossing by Riley Blake from #thegreatfabricdestash on Instagram and the colors are just perfect for the design I was thinking of.

Browns, oranges, yellows, muted blues. I mixed it up with some boy-centric fabrics I had in my stash that have dinaosaurs, tools, numbers, and letters. Don’t you just love this chalkboard print?

I chose a brick pattern using 4 1/2 x 9 1/2 inch bricks and spaced the colors out to make sure I wasn’t doubling up on anything. I backed it with dark brown Minkee and quilted with Stitch-in-the-Ditch. That Minkee is just divine and so soft and cuddly.

I gave it to my friend to give to her cousin and I hope she is somehow comforted during this horrible time in her life.

I’m entering this quilt over at the Blogger’s Quilt Festival – small quilt category – so be sure to head over there and vote starting on May 23rd.

Stroller Symphony

This week contained many projects finished, started, worked on, and designed. It started on Sunday with the design and start of the Stroller Symphony stroller blanket. I went with a large log cabin design and decided to border and back it with some Minkee fabric.

I’d never worked with the Minkee fabric before so I did a little research and found a lot of tips to get the best out of the experience:
1. Cut with a rotary cutter to decrease shedding.
2. Pin and pin and pin and pin and pin and pin to avoid slipping while sewing.
3. Sew with the Minkee down so the feed dogs can grab it and pull it evenly.
4. If you must iron then put a towel over it so that it won’t melt (it is polyester and will melt with direct heat).
5. Keep a lint roller handy and do a clean sweep of all your implements after sewing the Minkee to de-fuzz your equipment and work area.
I pinned in a cross-hatch pattern so that it was pinned in both directions and would not move.

After using all the tips, I didn’t have any trouble with the fabric at all. The blanket turned out so cute.

I definitely won’t be wary of using that fabric in other projects. It is so soft and cuddly. It will be perfect for the musical family that gets this blanket at this weekend’s shower.

Blogger’s Quilt Festival

I was excited to hear about the Blogger’s Quilt Festival over at Amy’s Creative Side. I have decided that I will enter my ‘Steeler’s Baby!’ quilt in the Baby Quilt Category. Be sure to head over there and vote for my quilt starting this Monday, November 28th.
As you may recall, this quilt was one that was decided upon on a Friday and completed on Sunday by dinner. It was a whirlwind of activity that weekend.
I have co-worker that is due next month. I’d been thinking about making her a baby quilt but just never committed to it. She is a huge Pittsburgh Steeler’s fan and I definitely wanted to do something that referenced that love but was not so much ‘in-your-face’ by using Steeler’s fabric. I hit Hobby Lobby – I just love their fabric selection – on the way home from work and found my inspiration fabrics.

I went home and opened up EQ6 and started designing. That process is in a previous post. Then I started cutting and sewing my little heart out. I couldn’t believe how quickly it went together and I’m glad I made the decision to make it. Her shower is in 2 weeks and I cannot wait for her to receive it.

Steeler’s Baby!

One part of the Festival allows me an entry to win a new BabyLock sewing machine. I can really use that so I can get access to more embroidery stitches to use when quilting. Very exciting!

Undersea Adventures

So I’ve been working on a toddler quilt with an underwater theme. Yes, I started another project. Crazy, I know. Anyway, my boss is adopting a 15 month old boy from China and will be back in a couple of weeks. I found this great fabric that I just love and it fits very well into the room decor.

So, I got started with an inspiration pattern from a scrappy quilt book that I have and combined some other elements of other quilts that I have seen. I then started my Electric Quilt software and designed with those elements in mind.

I found this fabulous chalkboard fabric that I’m going to use for the back. I used that and letters and numbers to get him familiar with English language and I sure hope the parents find it useful.

I think I got pretty close to my original design and I’m really happy with it. I’m at the basting stage and it’s been a little windy outside and I’ve been a little lazy. But, I want to attempt to spray baste this quilt. I’ve never tried a larger one for this process. I’ll need to get it done this weekend so I can start actually quilting it. Wish me luck.