red & aqua

 
 
I am finally posting about this quilt I finished for my brother and his family. This was meant to be a Christmas gift but I didn't finish it until May - whoops! 



The awesome thing that made this quilt possible is that all the fabric for the top was provided from my sister-in-law Amanda's stash and I just did the sewing. She loves fabric like I do, so I told her to choose her very favorites from her shelves and I would surprise her with a quilt for their living room.

She pulled the reds and aquas and greys - mostly from Camille Roskelly's Bliss and Ruby lines. I did large pinwheels (starting with 10" squares) and used this handy method from my friend Marion. Made the half-square triangles go so much faster!



I put plush grey minky on the back and managed to quilt it myself on my little machine. I think this is about the largest size I can fit in that machine. I just did straight-line quilting along the squares. I think minimal quilting actually makes for a more cuddly quilt.




It wasn't meant to be a baby gift, but I finished it just days after their 6th baby was born. Cute little George. Heaven knows when you have a newborn, a lot of time is spent on the couch or bed snuggling/feedling/rocking so I think the quilt will come in handy.

 

 

I love the way it looks on their couch.

finished size, approx 50"x60" 

linking up:

Charlie's Zig Zag (finished!)

I finished my nephew's quilt over the weekend! Thanks for the opinions on the quilting. As you can see from the poll on the right -- the votes were pretty even - 50/50. I did do more quilting and I like how it turned out - especially on the back.  I took these next few photos on Saturday morning, before I tossed it in the wash for the first time. David held it up for me real quick, after removing the training wheels off Max and Ruby's bikes.

See? Here they are - so proud of themselves. Max wanted his training wheels off (finally!) and of course Ruby was one step behind him. So cute - they took right off and acted like it was no big thang.

I loooove pulling a new quilt from the dryer and seeing how it gets all soft and wrinkly!
I always wash/dry quilts before I give them away (if/when I can part with them, that is).

I didn't have enough of any single fabric, so I did a scrappy binding. It turned out cute and I didn't have to make the tough decision of which fabric to use - haha!

I always love packaging up the final product ... I wrapped it up like this and gave it to my sister-in-law. She loved it -- yay!

fun links:

 

sneak peeks.

Here are a few teaser pictures of my projects from this week (or so).

I'm almost finished w/ the quilting on my halloween cuteness!
I cant' wait to snuggle under it and watch a (not too) scary movie and eat pumpkin bread. hehe.
I'm just about to my favorite part -- the binding! I'll post the finished product soon, I promise.

And remember when I teased about another polka dot quilt that you could possibly win?
This is  it! It's wild and crazy and scrappy and I hope one of my dear readers will love it.
The details of the giveaway are still being sorted out in my head. Don't worry -- it's not complicated, I just need to get my ducks in a row. :) Until then, you can enjoy this teaser pic:

Happy Weekend :)

Max's Quilt

I finished Max's quilt over the weekend. I love how it turned out.
There are 105 unique squares (no repeats!) paired with the white squares.
Max chose light blue minky for the back.

And if you can't tell, I'm not a perfectionist. My corners don't always match up and my lines aren't very straight. I just tell myself it gives the quilt more character. ;)

I need some lessons on how to photograph quilts.
It's tough!
The kids were having a hard time holding it up.

So I got David to help. He's hiding behind it, of course.

finished size: 54"x51" - I wanted it nice and big so it could grow with him.

((which square is your favorite?)) 

Max likes the car.

I'm so predictable, I know. (polka dots!!)

I have to give Max credit for the binding fabric, too. He found it (at JoAnn's) and at first he wanted it on the back but I suggested we use it for the edges.

I love how it turned out. I think I want to use striped fabric for all my quilt bindings now!

Fresh from the dryer this morning:

(so soft and crinkly!)

I'm now experiencing the post quilt let-down. Can anyone relate?? Sorta like when you finish a really good book and go thru withdrawls. I was so excited to finish it but now I'm feeling the need to start my next quilt.

next quilt (i think)

I'm feeling very inspired by Julie and Heather .
I use their first names like we are actually friends in real life -- hehe.

I must make my own version of this quilt. I love the triangles so much! I have never done triangles in a quilt so maybe this would be a good start.

But first I better finish this one. I'm working on this for Max. There are no repeat fabrics ... 100 different squares paired with white squares (4" cut). I'm going to back it with light blue minky (Max's choice). I didn't buy any fabric for this quilt ... I love using stuff from my stash!

the diet coke is a crucial part of the process

i added the white squares to make the scraps 'pop' a bit more

he's excited about a quilt just for him.

I haven't been able to work on this quilt for a few days and I'm dying to get back to it. Maybe this post will inspire me to finish it!

currently working on:

This is a minky rag quilt that I'm making as a gift for my friend. I have no idea if this friend reads my blog, but if she does then I guess she's getting a sneak peek. Is it you!?

I just finished this pink/brown owl quilt as a custom order, too:

I have a tutorial HERE ... it's just the same idea, except with squares. I love the way these minky-backed rag quilts turn out. They have the perfect weight and drape to them.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Sweet Tweet Quilt

I just finished this cute little quilt for Ruby. 
I had a Tweet Tweet charm pack that I used for the middle. I was so very tempted to go buy more from that fabric line for the borders, but I forced myself to use something from my stash. So I'm not sure what the pinkish-red dots or white floral border are. I backed it with pink dot minky. It turned out to be about 38"x43" ... just the perfect size for my little 3-yr-old.
The stips around the edge are 2.5" and 5" (cut).
Such a fun and easy size ... I finished it in about a week.

If you click on the picture above or below, you can see how I quilted it. I did the straight lines with my walking foot and tried a little free-motion quilting with my darning/free-motion foot. I used a thin cotton batting in the middle.

My favorite part of making a quilt is doing the binding! (I love the hand-stitching part, surprisingly)
Anyone else? What's your favorite part?

The quilt is already getting great use. Ruby cuddled up for a rest this morning and Simon (and Woody) put it to good use this afternoon. I could have cropped Woody out of the picture, but I thought it was funny.


*I'm linked up to
LuckyLinky Tuesday
Get Your Craft On 
SewCute Tuesday 
and
Sew and Tell Fridays

p.s. are you a follower yet? I will do a giveaway when I reach 100 followers!

Click the "follow" button on the right! ------------------->

funky squares

My friend commissioned me to make a quilt for her friend. She said make it bold, funky, and "anthro."

Well I don't know if it's "anthro" but it's definitely funky. Not as cool as this quilt or this one, but I sorta used them as inspiration pieces.  I used 15 different fabrics and tried to not repeat anything more than 3x. They are 10" squares and it's all backed with minky. 

I dit a minky rag quilt (but with squares) and I like how it turned out. 

I really forced myself to put random fabric combos together.

I really wish I had better photography skills, but do your best to enjoy these amateur shots. :)

For the baby

I've been wanting to try free-motion quilting for awhile. I learn pretty much everything from my quilting idol, CrazyMomQuilts. She has a great tutorial here.

I didn't piece a quilt top for this one. Just used this darling Dick & Jane fabric with white flannel on the back. It's a small quilt for my baby - just 32"square. I started AND finished the whole thing last night. I'm crazy like that sometimes. The free-motion quilting was actually really fun!

Ruby helped model it today. She can't wait for the baby to arrive! Six more weeks ....









Oh, and here are a couple blankets I made last week. Just simple 2-sided blankets w/o batting.
The boy one is flannel and chenille. The girl one is regular cotton and flannel (dots). That apple/pear fabric has been around awhile and I still just love it.


(I burned some chex mix earlier and my house still stinks.)