Bloggers Quilt Festival Spring 2014

It's That Time Again!  Blogger's Quilt Festival is here!!!

The linky party opened a few days ago and it has prompted me to finally get online and blog about the quilt I made my niece Arielle for her birth.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Giggle + Squeak pattern from SUCH Designs
Fabrics: Various fabrics in mainly purples, greens, and greys with a few pops of blues and pinks
Methods Used: Applique, quilt-as-you-go, straight line quilting & free-motion quilting
Quilted: By me on my home machine
Dimensions: 46" x 46"
Completed: March 2014

Arielle's nursery theme was Monsters so I knew right away which pattern I would use.  I bought the Giggle + Squeak pattern from Carrie of SUCH Designs a few years ago at a quilt show and she was such a lovely person to meet.  It's always nice to know that people are just as wonderful in person as they seem on their blogs.

 I loved adding all the little details to the faces in each block.  Some definitely came out looking more monster-like than others, but I love them all.

And while this photo isn't the greatest for showing the true colors of the quilt, I love that the quilting is easy to see.  I quilted each block differently as inspiration hit me.  My favorite is the top center since I free-motion quilted loops and hearts in it.  I also loved the top left, which is just a back and forth squiggle, but it took only a few minutes to finish so it was awesome.

 I didn't want to buy any additional fabric for the back so I used up all the leftovers from making the front.  I've never made such a scrappy backing before and I love it.  Since I did quilt-as-you-go on the front there's very minimal quilting on the back. 

I also did a little embroidery tag for the back and appliqued it on in the center of the large square of text you see on the bottom right of the above photo.  And do you see the date?  Today is actually Ari's 6 month birthday! Happy 6 months little one!!!

These photos of Ari enjoying her quilt were actually taken over the weekend, so this is her just a few days shy of 6 months.  She's shaping up to be quite the bruiser, just like her cousin Penny.

Oh, and here's one of Penny with her cousin's quilt before I sent it off.  What do you guys think? Do the girls look alike???

What Can I Say? I'm Selfish

....Selfish Sewing that is!

I have fully embraced this round of Selfish Sewing Week and I've been spending as much spare time as I can in my sewing room working on projects just for ME. 

So far I've managed to get one project done each day of Selfish Sewing week, and I have plans for the rest of the week.  Let's hope I can keep this ball rolling!

Monday: Open Wide Pouch (Tutorial by Noodlehead)

Tuesday: Ruby Top (Pattern by Made-By-Rae)

Wednesday: Maritime Shorts (Pattern by Grainline Studio)

Thursday: Maritime Shorts #2 (Pattern by Grainline Studio)

I realized that I don't have a picture of the completed Ruby Top I made on Tuesday, so you will all have to make do with my work-in-progress picture I snapped.  I'm currently wearing the top otherwise I'd try and get a shot of it now.

Which brings me to Me Made May! (Like I don't have enough things going on).

Here goes!

"I, Steph Granite, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '14.  I endeavor to  wear at least one handmade item each day for the duration of May 2014 and to make a new garment each week"

I feel like it might be hard to wear something EACH DAY, but when I think about it I have quite a number of handmade clothes, so I should be able to so it!