Carnaby Street X Plus Quilt!

I am loving today's quilt by Kelly from My Quilt Infatuation! It's gorgeous!  I love the colors against the gray...bottom line I'm really into COLOR!  I also really enjoyed reading about Kelly here especially how she made her first quilt...awesome!  So take a minute to read it.  Also you can see here Kelly's other quilt finishes.  Enjoy! 

Well, my groovy Carnaby Street X Plus quilt is finished!!  I actually dreamed about it last night and woke up at 7:00am so I could work on it and get it finished today.  We're heading to visit family on Wednesday, so I have a million things I should be doing, but quilting is way more fun than laundry and packing, right?

I chose my good old standby for quilting in a light gray thread, and I'm happy that it helps to disguise my unfortunate mismatched plus seams a little bit.  I used the same teal tonal chevron for the binding that I used as a border in the back, and I like how the chevrons point toward the quilt.  That is totally a happy accident!

I placed my label a little too close to the edge on this one...whoops!

I can't decide which side of this quilt I like better!  The back is so much fun with all of the improv piecing, but I think that the front has almost a 3D effect with the Carnaby Street jumping out against the gray background.

This is my second Carnaby Street quilt and I am not sick of the fabric at all.  You can see my first oneHERE.  The colors in this quilt just make me happy (and kind of makes me want to watch Austin Powers)!  I love the fun, groovy vibe.  Which side do you like best?

A walk in the woods, a charity quilt from Charlotte's gRACE for a Cure...

This is a sweet story from Lauren, who has a sweet daughter Charlotte. Charlotte is a little girl fighting a brain tumor. She is a beautiful little girl. Her mom, Lauren creates amazing quilts and sells them off in auctions to donate to brain tumor research. What a lady! Be sure to visit her blog and help spread the word and support her efforts....

I have a little story to share about my latest quilt.  A few weeks ago, Charlotte, Marian, and I were being ushered around Duke's pediatric oncology clinic, on our way to get Charlotte's chemo.  We passed by a 3-month old baby and her sweet mom.  After sleuthing Nancy-Drew-style for the day, I determined that this sweet baby was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. 

Knowing all too well what it is to have your world turned upside-down when your three-month old baby is given a brain tumor diagnosis, I desperately wanted to reach out to this family.  And of course, my love-language right now is quilts.  All day long, though, I felt uneasy about using what might have been my obvious choice of fabrics: Sarah Jane's "Children at Play."  I do have quite a bit of this parade print remaining:

I did not feel excited about using this fabric, though, thinking that it might not lend itself to the sober nature of the situation.  You see, before I realized that Charlotte is the one riding the pink elephant and could appreciate that one day she'll be able to raise those paralyzed, little arms up in the air, I have to admit that I might have been a little bit mad at this fabric.  That sounds silly, I know: to be mad at fabric.  It was really more that I was mad that this fabric is so sweet and innocent and pain-free.  And not only is Charlotte's life not like that now as she receives chemo and numerous other interventions, but it has never been nor ever will be like that. 

Enter: Aneela Hoey's fabric "a walk in the woods."

Two days after I met Anne, she dropped by my house with a wonderful bag of goodies (fabric and thread), including a stack of fat quarters from this fabric line.  First of all, who doesn't love Red Riding Hood?  But second, I remembered what this sweet line is called even before I read the tag.  And then I knew that I had to use it. 

I remember the time of diagnosis well.  It definitely felt like "a walk in the woods."  Most moments were so very dark.  I couldn't see the forest for sake of the trees: could we trust her doctors?  Did we have the right neurosurgeon?  Could she not be cured?  Was she declining before our very eyes?  And on and on and on. 

Yet, there were moments of light shining through the trees.  Sweet nurses who were so compassionate and empathetic that they cried with us.  Near strangers reaching out to us to tell us that we were not alone - through gifts to us, gifts to Charlotte, and most of all, through prayer.  And of course, there was the comfort and peace of God himself.

So after a bit of thought (and second and third opinions), I decided to use "a walk in the woods" for this newly diagnosed baby's quilt.  

I used the seven fat quarters that Anne gave me and also pulled in nine of my own fabrics.  There were a few fabrics that I ended up not liking in the quilt, so I arranged them all along two sides and trimmed those sides after stitching together the quilt top.  I used this disappearing nine-patch tutorial and am mostly pleased with how the quilt turned out.  My close-up pictures did not turn out very well, I think due to the weight of the quilt as it hung on the fence: the seams look so wonky, though I assure you that they are straight in "real life."

I backed it in a pink minky and gave it a gray binding.  I love the gray on pink contrast, but I also love the reminder to look for the silver lining in all things.  Even when things are so very dark and we might not be able to do much more than to stumble through the woods, even so, there are many things for which to be grateful.


Quilt Stats:
Measures: 37 x 50 inches
Pieced and Quilted by: Me!
Fabrics: A Walk in the Woods by Aneela Hoey
              and others from my stash

FRESH POPPY REPOST: NURSERY REVEAL...

Before Megan and I started QuiltStory we had another blog called Fresh Poppy Design. Because of a few reasons to boring to list, we started QuiltStory, and poor little Fresh Poppy Design has just been sitting over there, neglected. Over the next year or so we will have reposts from that blog, ones that we love and want to remember, and then we are going to delete the blog...Hopefully many of you are seeing these posts for the first time....

Okay, he is only 15 months old,

 but his nursery is finally finished...

let Little Dude take you on a personal tour...

These were an easy fix. Just bought Ikea white panels, and added the cute Amy Butler fabric to the bottoms. I plan to add a tutorial to the blog. Super easy...

My Husband did the board and batten (is that how you say it?) Walls. Well, he did the woodwork. I did all the painting and caulking. NOT FUN! However, I am in LOVE with how it turned out. I want it all over my house. But easily over 20 hours on that project alone...

Seriously! How cute is he sitting up there? There is the cute elephant painting my Mommy dear made for him. Also the quilts are from me and my aunt. I don't have all his baby quilts here. There are 5 of them. (If you count Megan's. And should we? I mean she still hasn't finished it!)

My Father in law built me this book case years ago for my girls. I repainted in this pale aqua. I need to give my Mom a little time to get her life back in order from her vacation, then I plan on putting her to work. I want gray fabric liners for the baskets. Pretty please Mama?

I found this vintage window frame at a little craft fair about 5 years ago. It has never looked so cute! I put some cute Rylee Blake fabric to back it, and I love how it turned out. Then I just added some little cup hooks to hang his hats. Cute?

I found this little shadow box at TJMaxx. It is so hit an miss there, but sometimes  you can find the perfect little gems. Inside are the hats I knit for him when he was a newborn. Heart pang...sparkly tears...  We want to freeze him in time and it isn't working!

My Mother in law made me the CUTEST baby blessing sailor outfit ever! It fit him for the 2 seconds he was blessed, then off it went. How were we to know he would be so huge? But I knew it would make for darling decor. The dandelions are made with vinyl on one of those cricuts I don't have but want desperately! I had a super nice friend make them for me :) 

I have a tutorial for this too. This cute fabric chandelier. It is from Ikea. I just remade the shade. Super easy, super custom, super cheap! ($13 bucks)

These frames above his bed are from Ikea too.  I took the photos inside. He was only 2 weeks old...man what is this salty discharge coming from my eyes???

The bedding I made with my Mother in Law. She is the best to craft with. I just cute and measure and she sews like a crazy woman in a labor camp. I let her have breaks occasionally, but not much. We had fun making them together. We didn't finish, so  naturally I send the crib skirt fabric back with her with detailed instructions and a deadline of when I would like it shipped back. She was several days early!

The children cracked me up goofing around in the corner (especially Sophie's face).

Okay, now that this post took me as long to complete as the room did...I am OFFICIALLY finished with his room and ready to move to another.

I am so happy with how this turned out. I kind of want to kick him out and move in myself. I had such a hard time with a boys room. No flowers or pink or ruffles. It took me a while to work it out in my head. 

What I love the most is that almost everything in that room is made by me or someone in my family. It is totally unique and custom.  The only problem with going this route, is that your baby may be 15 months old before it is complete.

Modern Confetti Quilt from St Louis Folk Victorian

Bee quilts are so fun...I love seeing how they come together!  And that's the kind of quilt we're featuring today from Kristy of St. Louis Folk Victorian.  Kristy describers herself and a modern quilter who loves old houses...love it! :)  This confetti quilt turned out oh so cool and modern and I love the collaborative work and how touched Kristy was by her friends effort.  Check out Kristy's blog and some fun tutorials!

You've likely heard me mention the Lou Bee Girls before; but you really don't understand how much I truly adore these Ladies.  It all started with this...

The STLMQG was expanding by leaps and bounds and a few of us decided to start a small quilting bee where we could take turns making blocks for one another; with the hope that at the end of a year's cycle, we each would have a quilt to call our own.

Several "group" names were tossed around including: Sew Saint Lou, St. Louis Seam Ripping Society, Stitch to my Lou, St. Louis Thread Company, etc.  Somehow we decided to agree on "Meet Me In St. Lou"; which because of it's length quickly became "Lou Bee".

To our surprise a few months later, Juli Ann, our resident Artist created this amazing logo.  If you look carefully, you'll see that she intrically added each member's name (Cara, Grace, Jamie,Jessica, Kristy (Me), Juli Ann, Laura, Lynne and Mary Claire).

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In July of 2011, I started off our bee with an Improv Confetti block similiar to what I had seen here. While I had wanted to choose a crazy bold color for the background, the pressure was too much and I decided on two shades of beige...BORING!!!  

Yet, once I added a scrappy mix of fabrics in yellow, orange and red; I was confident in my decision to use beige as the background.

The Lou Bee Ladies didn't disappoint and the following month I received 16 completely unique Improv blocks with the most intricate detail.  I sadly let those blocks sit for 9 months afraid of how I should piece them together.

Finally, at our Sew-In this past April; I was determined to get them pieced together and as you can see...I did.

The quilt top sat like that for another 3 months and finally this past weekend I felt confident enough to finish.  Having limited machine quilting abilities (straight stitch and intentional wonky-stitch), I decided to tackle this with horizontal stitching measuring 1" apart.  

As soon as I finished that last stitch, cut that last thread and pulled it away from my machine, I knew that I had finished something truly magical.  This quilt will be a constant reminder of the women that I am honored to call my Friends.

In the words of writer, Anais Nin:  "Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."

Mary Claire, Lynne, Cara, Laura, Jessica, Juli Ann, Grace and Jamie

Thank You from the bottom of my heart !

Patchwork Chevron from Knotted-Thread

Well, according to me at least, you can't go wrong with anything chevron!  Hey that kinda rhymes :)  Jennifer from the Knotted-Thread has a fabulous patchwork chevron finish that we're featuring today.  Love it. Jennifer works with kids and enjoys quilting in her free time.  Check out her 2011 finishes and 2012 finishes for some cute quilts! 

One more to add to the completed list!

Patchwork Chevron

 I posted the completed top here
As some of you may remember I fell in love with the patchwork chevron here
but did not have 4 charm packs to work with so I modified it work with 2 packs.
My process is explained in the previous post

I went with a simple chevron quilting in the solid spaces

I used two of the prints from "Good Fortune" for the backing as well as some 

Kona Medium Gray and a piece of Stars in Shade from the new "Quilt Blocks" line in periwinkle

This quilt is for sale in my etsy shop.

Quilt Stats

Pattern - patchwork chevron modified by me

Size: 54" x 70"

Fabric - Good Fortune by Kate Spain, Kona Medium Gray, Quilt Blocks

Quilted by: me

Ruby Hexagons Quilt by The Life of Riley

I'm excited to show you today's quilt! It's a gorgeous baby gift made by Rachel of The Life of Riley.  I'm excited because it is a little different than most quilts we feature, it's all hexies!  So sweet and a great baby gift.  Check out The Life of Riley, she's a great quilter as seen here on her 2010-2011 finishes and 2012 finishes but she's also a great cook!  She's got a great list of yummy recipes too!

The quilt is finished and delivered!  Welcome baby Lucy!

 99 Hexes.  33 fabrics - 3 of each in the quilt top.  80 diamonds.  20 half diamonds.  8 triangles and 4 half triangles.  The hexagon fabric is from  the Ruby line by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.  The white is a white on white leaf pattern.

 The hexes were pieced into rows by machine, the diamonds and triangles were pieced in by hand.  The border was done by machine.

 The back is a solid piece of flannel also from the Ruby line.  Soft as butter!

 I did some free motion quilting of flowers and leaves.

 A picture of the label which you can read about here.

Posts about how I put it together  Here.  Here.  & Here.
The quilt label post Here. 

Pretty Pillowcase Tutorial

Welcome!  Today is my stop on the Festival of Half Square Triangles from Canoe Ridge Creations.  All month Megan (of CRC) has had tons of inspiring guest tutorials all using HST's.  Then starting next week you can link-up your projects that use HST's and are entered in to win awesome prizes.  Click here to find out more!

Ever wanted to know how to make a pillowcase?  Maybe a pillowcase with some pretty details or piecing?  Well look no further!

Pretty Pillowcase Tutorial

• I will give instructions for two different pillows, a chevron pillowcase and a pinwheel pillowcase.  All fabric/cutting requirements are for a single pillowcase.  If you would like to make both you will need to double accordingly.
• All seam allowances are 1/4".

Fabric Requirements

1/2 yard of a solid

*1/8 yard of print for band for pinwheel pillowcase

*Two 1/8 yard of print for band for chevron pillowcase

3/4 yard of print for main pillowcase

Cutting Requirements

Pinwheel Pillowcase

1. Solid: 5.5" x 39" and 5.5" x 20.5" and 2" x 5.5" and two 1.5" x 5.5" and six 3.5" x 3.5" 
2. Print for Band: six 3.5" x 3.5"
3. Main Print: 25" x 39"

Chevron Pillowcase

1. Solid: 5.5" x 39" and 5.5" x 19" and eight 3.5" x 3.5" 
2. Print for Band: from each print four 3.5" x 3.5" squares, eight total
3. Main Print: 25" x 39"

Create HST's using all the 3.5" x 3.5" solids and prints.  For pinwheels a total of 12 HST's.  For chevron a total of 16 HST's.  If you need help making Half Square Triangles I have a tutorial for the method I use HERE. Square each HST to 3" x 3".

Tip:  If you are new to HST's or still can't get it perfect I recommend cutting your squares a little larger than required, by 1/4".  In the end you can cut it down to size with a little trimming.  

Create pinwheels and chevrons pieces like below:

Piece together band.  Piece together first side to side and then top to bottom.

Note: Numbers shown below are the cut fabric requirements, not the finished sizes. I wanted you to know which pieces to use.

 click to enlarge

From here on out the instructions are the same for the pinwheel pillowcase and chevron pillowcase.  I will use whichever picture describes the instructions best regardless of design.

Now we put it all together.  This is what is known to me as the "burrito method".  What is great about this is it allows the band to be lined, but all of your seams end up on the inside.  There are 5 steps and photos below of each step.

Step 1: With the design on the top (important!) place the main pillowcase and band right sides together.

Step 2: Match the unfinished top edges of the band and main piece exactly together.

Step 3: Take the bottom of the main piece and carefully roll it up until you see about half of the band      underneath.

Step 4: Bring the band back over the rolled main piece.

Step 5: Pin the three edges together, taking care to keep all the unfinished edges matched.

Phew! We're almost there!  

If you have a serger I would serge along the pinned edge.  If not do as I did, sew a straight line and zig-zag over top.

Next pull out the main pillowcase piece.  You'll see how nice it looks!  Press entire piece.

the extra gray hanging out the bottom is the other pillowcase :)

Fold pillowcase together and sew along the bottom and side.  Again if you have a serger I would use it here or sew a straight line and zig-zag overtop.

Turn pillowcase right side out and press.  I top stitched along both the bottom of the band and top of the pillowcase.  It helps everything lay nicer plus adds a more professional look!

Done!!  I am so happy with how these turned out and am wondering what took me so long!! I can't wait to bust out a few more!

Please let me know if there are any issues with this tutorials. I will respond in the comment section.

Please give credit and link back to us if you use this tutorial!

Fabrics used: Denyse Schmidt's Aunt Edna print for main pillow, Joel Dewberry's Heirloom for chevrons and pinwheels, Kona bone for solid.

Linking to these parties: Finish it up Friday's at crazy mom quilts; Sew and Tell at amylouwho; Pity Party at Thirty Handmade Days; weekend wrap up at Tatertots and Jello.