Project: B's baby boy quilt

So many of my friends were having baby boys, while I was pregnant with a girl.
So here goes another boy quilt. 

The approx. finished dims were given as 38.5" x 42.5".

Here are the fabrics we decided on:

And off I went (after using graph paper to figure out the size of each of the blocks).

If you look closely, it basically turns into 4 rows with sashing strips between each row:

So, then I sewed the top row with the color blocks and the white strips in between. 

After that, I did made the wider row into two steps: add the sashing strips between the color blocks and then sew the vertical sashing strips in, completing the row.

Then I sewed a row together with the sashing strip to 3 of the 4 rows. Next, I put rows 1 and 2 together and then 3 and 4 together.

Once that was done, I needed to add the border by doing the vertical ones on the ends and then the top and bottom border.

The finished quilt top:

After that process was done (to make the quilt top),
the real fun began to figure out how I was going to quilt this.
I decided to take a look at the original posted quilt and took inspiration from that:
boats, stars, and waves.

So I started by drawing stars on the yellow and green areas:

And then boats on the whale fabric:

Basted it pretty quickly:

And traced on an infinity stencil on the white borders and sashings:

I quilted the stars by adding a ripple effect:

I did a swirly wave for the blues:

A better view of it on the backing:

All the quilting done (back view):

A close up:

Quilted front view:

Close up:

All trimmed up:

I did a lot of auditioning for which fabric would be the binding 

and I finally decided on this solid blue:

I did a zig-zag stitch for the binding:

And then it went into the washer and drier to get the marking off:

I'm so happy with how this turned out. 

There are no limits when you use some math in your life :)

Project: Triangle Baby Girl Quilt

So, I've been trying to find my groove again- the way in which my life seems "normal". A friend of mine is pregnant with baby girl number 2 and I couldn't help myself to ease myself back into sewing but by doing a simple triangle quilt for her. I gave her a plethora of fabric choices (because I have a ton to choose from still). This was our final decision (but as you can see from the second picture we needed just 1 more color to shake things up). The cream with birds and blue is a flannel backing we chose:

I used my handy dandy triangle ruler to cut them out (it's a 30 degree triangle ruler). I had already decided that the pattern would be 9 rows with 14 triangles across the top (two of which are halves).

First row up on the design wall:

All the triangles up on the wall, held up by pins:

First row sewn together:

Second row sewn and then sewn together to the top row:

(*I pressed the triangles in opposite directions so that they would 

nest/line up better when sewing the two rows together)

A close up shot of how well I was able to line up those triangle points 

(because I had to brag and was excited that it worked):

Then, the next wet of two rows sewn together:

And the two sets of two sewn together:

Rows 5 and 6 sewn together:

And then rows 7 and 8 sewn together and then sewn to rows 5 and 6:

Finally all the rows sewn together, for the final quilt top:

Basted the batting with the backing and quilt top:

We had decided to do simple, clean lines for the quilting, using the presser foot edge as the spacer:

All the quilting done:

We were torn for which color to use as the binding. Eventually, we chose the purple to give the quilt more of a pop:

Quilting all done - front (pre-wash):

Back (pre-wash):

Close up of the quilting (pre-wash):

All washed (with a shout color catcher which caught some purple)

Front:

Back:

Quilting up close on the back:

Folded over for a cool shot:

This quilt is going to be so well loved, I know it! The finished size ended up being 33.5" X 36".