Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry!

Hi, all! It's been a while since I've posted anything. I don't get much computer time anymore when I'm so busy with the kiddos. But I really wanted to enter a quilt in the Blogger's Quilt Festival over on Amy's blog. So here it goes... I'm entering this into the Modern Quilt category. Seems pretty modern to me, anyways. :)

If you follow my blog, you may have seen this one before, but it's my fave... My Diamond in the Rough Quilt! I think this design is sometimes also called a kite shape, but they look like diamonds to me. Same diff, right? Anyways, I made this quilt using some Innocent Crush fabric by Anna Maria Horner that I had in my stash, along with some Kona Cotton in Ash. I really love how the color pops with the grey.

However, my favorite part of this quilt is that none of the diamonds are perfect. They are all wonky and it looks so fun! :) I did some wonky diamond machine quilting, along with a few hand-quilted diamonds, using Anna Maria Horner's line of Pearl Cotton thread.

I kept the back pretty simple by making some coins of more Innocent Crush in between some more Kona Ash. I used a pretty hot pink solid for the binding. It's one of my favorite quilts! Did I say that already? ;) Oh well! Enjoy!

And if you have a chance, stop on by Amy's blog and check out all the beautiful entries for the Blogger's Quilt Festival! :) Have a great week!

Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry!

Pure Boy Quilt

 I finished this quilt over the weekend. It will be for my cousin's baby boy, due in August. It was really easy to put together for two reasons. 1. It was made using a jelly roll, so not as much measuring and cutting. 2. It's a baby quilt... so much smaller! :) I actually love this design and hope to do some more similar quilts in this way. 

I used the Pure fabric collection by Sweetwater. I've had the jelly roll in my stash for a while. I love the blues and browns, and the cute little words. And argyle! 

*Side note: See those little hands? They belong to my son... my little helper! I figured he could handle holding up a small quilt. :)

So, I guess the blocks are essentially a rail fence design, although I didn't line them up all perfect in a zig zag or other design. I was a bit more random with them, because it's funner that way. ;) Yes, I said "funner". Anyways, to make 5 blocks, I took 4 jelly roll strips (approximately 2.5"x 42" each), sewed them together, pressed, then cut them into 8" squares. Easy peasy. Repeat 6 times to get 30 blocks. I had leftover strips to use for the binding, and little 2" squares to use for the pieced backing along with some matching baby blue. This could easily be done in a day, if you don't have anything else to do. For me it took maybe a week. Lol! Yeah, I was busy. 

I also made some more baby boy tie onesies. One of them is some more fabric from the Pure collection, another is an 80s video game look-alike (not to be mentioned... ahem, copyright), and of course, my favorite sock monkey fabric in a velcro bowtie. :)

Hope your week is great! 

Pure Boy Quilt

Catching up on blogging... again!

Sorry it's been so long... again! I have such a hard time finding time to get on the computer. I've been keeping busy with lots of sewing. I've lost track of how many quilts I have in progress now, but I've finished 2 quilts this year already. :) I know it's late to think about the new year... pretty soon it will be the middle of the year! But, here's a little mosaic of the quilts I finished in 2013... I ended up making 14 total quilts (the mosaic shows 13, but I made 2 of the "Grandpa Quilt" for my 2 uncles).

1. grandpa quilt, 2. heart quilt, 3. AMH Loulouthi quilt, 4. AMH wonky cross quilt, 5. Pinwheel quilt, 6. Giant Log Cabin Quilt, 7. Baby Circle Quilt, 8. Pinwheel Quilt, 9. Baby Quilt, 10. Baby Patchwork Quilt, 11. Baby "I Spy" Quilt, 12. Quiltquilt1, 13. crosswordquilt114. Not available15. Not available16. Not available

I love seeing the year's work this way. I know I made way more than just quilts, but I'm bad about taking pictures of everything I make.

I've already made a couple things for 2014. I have plans to make at least a quilt a month... again, as well as trying out some new patterns and techniques. I'm looking forward to learning new things, and not being scared of trying something different. :) 

Here are two quilts that I've finished this year so far: 

I made this Chevron Quilt for my friend in January. She's a major Broncos fan, and she had the quilt just in time for the Super Bowl. Too bad they lost. :( I feel like I jinxed them. 

I just finished this quilt over the weekend. I actually started it last year, then got busy over Christmas (as usual), and it got put away for awhile. I call it my "Diamond in the Rough Quilt", although I think they might be called "kites" instead of "diamonds". Same diff, though, right? ;) I used Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush collection, along with some Kona Cotton in Ash. 

My favorite part of this quilt...? None of the diamonds are perfect. I think it looks so much more fun with them all jagged and wonky! I did a wonky diamond machine quilting along with a few hand-quilted diamonds here and there. 

I kept the back pretty simple by using more Kona Ash, with some "coins" of more Innocent Crush. I had some solid hot pink that I used for the binding. It looks totally girly! ;) I think this is my new favorite quilt. I'm still trying to decide if I should sell it or keep it. What do you think? 

Hope everyone is having a great start to Spring! 

Catching up on blogging... again!

Taking a breath!

Well, December certainly was a busy month! Now I need a good long break from the hustle and bustle. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families. Sorry I haven't posted recently. I haven't had time for much since before Halloween! I made handmade gifts for all the adults in my family, but I didn't get a chance to take pictures of all of them. I always forget that part. Here are some of the things I did get pics of...

I made "scarves for my sisters", using my precious leftovers of Anna Maria Horner flannels and voiles from my giant log cabin quilt. These went to my sister, my two step-sisters, and my two sisters-in-law. 

I made remote caddy pillows for 3 of my brothers-in-law. Just pillows with pockets, handy for remotes, iPhones, or snacks. ;) Sorry, no pics. 

I finished this crossword quilt for my brother-in-law, who was requesting a quilt. Really, my sister was requesting a quilt for him, since he kept stealing the one I made for her. :) For the "answers" I used his name, and names of his family, as well as some other things. I embroidered all of the letters, and I also embroidered a couple of pharmacy related items (mortar and pestle, and pill bottle), since he's a pharmacist. I used a couple of charm packs of Kona Cotton in the Silent Film palette, as well as some white and red. Some of my favorite colors together. 

I used some Kona Cotton in Ash for the back, as well as some leftovers of charm squares from the front. 

Here's a close-up of the pill bottle. 

I also made a bike lunch bag for my step-dad, and some heart quilted coasters and hot pads for my mom. Again, no pics of these. Don't know what I was thinking... 

The hubs surprised me with an old Singer sewing machine. I think it's from the 1920's or something. Supposedly, it runs, but I haven't tried it yet. Right now, it's just a gorgeous decoration for my dining sewing room. :) We also just celebrated our 10th Anniversary this month! Told ya it was busy... 

Of course, I've also been busy keeping the kids occupied. I love when my son is out of school! I usually get an extra half hour to sleep in, and we get lots more time to play. We had to make some cookies for Santa, and my son had his heart set on gingerbread cookies. It was my first time making them, and they turned out pretty good. Really soft too! Of course, we loaded them up with sugar so Santa could go into a diabetic coma! 

Here's the recipe I used, in case you want to try it:

Ingredients:

2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

2/3 cup molasses

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp baking soda

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp

1 large egg, beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

4 cups flour, plus extra for dusting

Preheat oven to 325F. 

Place brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, and ginger in a large saucepan over medium low heat. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda.

Stir in butter gradually, stirring well between additions to combine. Add egg, vanilla, and salt to sugar mixtrure, stirring to combine. Pour into a large bowl and add flour gradually, stirring to combine.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until dough comes together and is no longer sticky, adding flour by the tablespoon if necessary.

Roll out half the dough on a floured work surface to 1/8-inch thick. Cut dough into desired shapes. Place on prepared baking sheet and bake until edges are slightly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating. 

*Note: I halved the recipe, and I made my cookies a little thicker, probably closer to 1/4" thick. They were great! 

Hope you all have a wonderfully Happy New Year! Wow... 2014! Time flies!

Taking a breath!

Small Business Saturday!

Happy Saturday! :) For a discount on anything in my shop for Small Business Saturday, use coupon code SBSATURDAY15 through today, November 30th. Stay posted for a Cyber Monday coupon code! Have a great weekend!

Small Business Saturday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I finished this quilt several days ago... I was waiting for some sun to come out, so I could get some decent pictures of it. We had rain from Thursday through Saturday... unheard of in AZ! But very welcome! It definitely feels more like fall now! :)

So, I made somewhat of a Spiderweb Quilt, using a jellyroll of Saltbox Harvest by Deb Strain. I've had it in my stash for awhile. I had seen a tutorial on making these cute hexagon shapes using jellyroll strips, and an equilateral triangle template. I did it a little bit different, using only three strips instead of four, but it turned out similar. 

I've been wanting a fall quilt since I started quilting. I love the fall colors, but sadly, they never seem to last very long in the stores, or anywhere you go during the season. Every year, I get frustrated to see the Christmas stuff come out before Halloween is over, and absolutely no Thanksgiving or fall decorations after Halloween. I am glad to have my house looking like fall, at least until the beginning of December. 

I tried something new for the quilting, and I also learned something too. I probably should've used a walking foot. But, I struggled through, using my free-motion spring-action foot until it decided to break. :( Then I switched to another free-motion foot, which actually worked a little better. I tried making some sloppy hexagonal spiderwebs along the strips. They turned out okay, but overall, I'm a little disappointed. I envisioned something prettier. Luckily, I won't be putting this in the shop, and I can enjoy these colors--as well as the mistakes I made--in the comfort of my own home. :)

Here's a closer view of my imperfect quilting on the back. I used a gold thread, and kept the back simple with a nice chocolate brown. The quilt is smaller than I thought it would be, but it makes a nice lap quilt or throw quilt for the couch. 

It looks great in my brown, fall home, and will be used while the boys are watching football on Thursday! :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

More Quilts, and other projects

I finished another quilt yesterday, and I've also been working on some other little projects. 

Getting ready for Thanksgiving! :) Are you?

I made this quilt using 2 charm packs in white, and 1 layer cake in Quilt Blocks by Ellen Luckett Baker for Moda Fabrics. The blocks were pretty easy to put together, and actually, I've had the quilt top done for awhile. But, I had to move my sewing table dining room table for my son's birthday party, so I had to take a short break from sewing. Anyways, I just took two 5" squares, lined them up on opposite corners of a 10" square, and sewed in diagonals, as if I were making half-square-triangles, but in this case, it made elongated hexagons, as my son pointed out. It's so funny. I hadn't even noticed that they were hexagons, but he looked at them, immediately said, "Mama, aren't those hexagons?" "Why, yes. Yes, they are hexagons!" He knows hexagons are my fave. I love that kid! :)

I love the colors in this collection....  I think I say that about almost every quilt I make. It is all about the colors, isn't it? ;) I also love this fabric, because they look like pretty little quilt blocks... flying geese, stars, and flower gardens. So cute! I did my usual all-over meandering stipple. I must be afraid to try new quilting designs or something. :/  I used the Spectrum Flower Garden print for the back, and I had some pretty blue fabric in my stash for the binding. I think it's Kona Cotton in Blueberry, but I can't remember. I was running short on the blue binding, so I finished it off in a lime green Circles by Riley Blake. I think it looks kinda neat with a little pop of color on the binding. The quilt is a nice size. Approximately 54" x 63". Great for a toddler bed, twin bed, or a large throw for the sofa. This quilt will be up in my Etsy shop soon. 

I've also been working on some other things. We will be getting our family pictures done this weekend, and I made a little dress for my daughter. I used some of my favorite Anna Maria Horner fabric, and this pattern, which I absolutely love. It is so versatile and pretty easy, especially for someone like me, who prefers making quilts to dresses any day. My son will be wearing AMH too. I ordered a tie for him off of her website. So cute! :)

I will probably be finishing up this quilt today. I'm sewing up the binding right now. Since Fall is my favorite season, I decided I need to have a Fall Quilt. I've had this fabric forever! It was a jelly roll of Saltbox Harvest by Deb Strain, that I finally decided to put to use. I thought a spiderweb quilt for fall would be kinda fun, so I gave it a try. More about it next post. ;)

I've also made some cute little fabric pumpkins using some pretty AMH scraps. They are pretty easy and fun to make. Here is a great tutorial. I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year, so I've gotta have some cute decorations around the house. One of the pumpkins ended up too long, so I made it into a butternut squash... kind of. Lol.

 And what Thanksgiving would be complete without a Lego fall scene. My son put this set decoration together. He sure loves his Legos! :)

Some good news came to me yesterday... someone bought a fat quarter of my fabric on Spoonflower! I feel like a celebrity! I know I'm no Anna Maria, but I feel pretty darn special anyway! ;)

Hope you're having a great week! 

More Quilts, and other projects

A Party and a Quilt

Sorry I've been away for a while... These last couple of weeks have been busy with lots of family birthday parties... including my son's 6th birthday! He decided on a Lego themed party. There are SO many ideas on Pinterest. Here are a couple of my favorite things that I made on my own.

I recycled some saved up Kiwi Crate boxes and made them into Lego brick party favor boxes. I had a couple of small shoe boxes that I recycled as well. By the way, my son and I love Kiwi Crate! He looks forward to all their fun projects every month! :)

I made a Lego brick bunting using primary colored cardstock, a circle punch, and 3-D foam stickers to make the studs. 

I also made a few large Lego bricks using some cardboard boxes and wrapping paper, as well as a Lego Minifigure photo prop. We also had many Lego activites, such as drawing minifigures, building the tallest tower, building and racing cars, making Lego bracelets, guess how many Lego candies, and a Lego pinata. Of course, we also had Lego cake. :) My son had a great time! 

Now back to quilting... ;) I finished this quilt today. A simple patchwork baby quilt using 2 charm packs of Posy by Aneela Hoey. I love the colors and the cute little pictures in this fabric collection! 

I did my usual meandering stipple all over for the machine quilting. 

I kept the back simple and used Kona Cotton in pink. I also used up the last 4 charm squares to make a little hexagon patchwork applique design, which I hand-sewed on the back of the quilt. 

I decided on a purple gingham for the binding. I love gingham! The quilt measures approximately 35" by 45". A good crib sized baby quilt! By the way, this one is up for sale in my shop as well. :)

Up next, Thanksgiving! My favorite!

What are you working on this week? 

A Party and a Quilt

Another Baby "I Spy" Quilt

So, I finished another quilt this week... just in time to enter it into the Blogger's Quilt Festival contest! If you haven't already, check out Amy's blog by clicking on the link above. Check out all the beautiful quilts! :)

As you know, I love making baby stuff... and I especially love making quilts, so I decided to make another baby quilt, with a favorite "I Spy" theme. 

They are so fun and simple to make, and a great way to use up scraps! 

Oh yeah, and kids love playing "I Spy". 

My son still uses his, and now my daughter is getting good at "spying". ;)

I did a mix of solid colors and different children's fabrics... some favorite characters too!

 I tried to keep it somewhat gender-neutral. 

I quilted with my usual meandering stipple, but didn't want to quilt over the "spy" fabric, so I just quilted the borders and sashing. I also added some "tags" by putting pieces of folded ribbon along the edges as I was sewing on the binding. I used a scrap piece of alphabet fabric for the binding.

I also kept the back simple again. I had this good size piece of flannel fabric with safari animals on it. It will be nice and snuggly for babies. I plan on listing this in my Etsy shop soon! :)

Hope you're having a great week!

 Happy Halloween!

Another Baby "I Spy" Quilt