Happy Easter!

I made these adorable felt bunny finger puppets for my daughters' Easter baskets. How cute are these? We're hunting for eggs at our house today, having brunch at a favorite restaurant and visiting with family.

Things I love about Easter:

1. Spending the holiday with family
2. A time of renewal
3. Lots of baby animals!
4. Pastel colors everywhere
   
5. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate
   

For my Easter gift to myself, I found the new Denyse Schmidt collection for JoAnn's at my closest store. So cute and spring-y! I could not resist getting a few of the prints. (I got some chocolate, too.)

Wishing a very happy Easter to all!

Grayson's Quilt

I finished this lovely, squishy quilt for baby Grayson last week as part of my April quilt-a-thon. I am so excited- it's the first larger quilt I've free-motion quilted and I love the way it turned out. I used a meandering line pattern, inspired by Trisha's DQS quilt.


I used a lot of scraps and strings for the center panel and the detail of this quilt, using gray, black, orange, brown and red. I decided to break up the dark gray border with this little bit.


I went with a gray Robert Kaufmann flannel on the back. This flannel is so thick and soft! Since Grayson lives in the cold northern plains of Canada, he'll need a nice warm quilt most of the year.

I added some red and brown flannel from my stash when I realized that I had bought not quite enough gray for the back. That's what happends when you design on the fly- it is harder to plan yardage for quilt backs, but you get to make fun improvisational choices that lead to a more unique and exciting quilt!

The binding is mostly a gray on black dot, but I had just a few inches shy of the length I needed, so in went the white and red polka dot! It ended up being the perfect place to label the quilt.

My wishes for Grayson are stitched into this quilt- may he create a life of beauty and warmth with all the bits and experiences he encounters!

Flower Garden

The last quilt I finished in March was this Flower Garden, based on the Garden Path quilt from Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again. I free-motion quilted this in the ditch (a long story involving a broken walking foot) and machine bound it with solid dark gray. The quilting gives great texture and leaves the quilt nice and soft- perfect for the little baby girl it is going to.

It turned out that I had the perfect backing in my stash- this vintage floral thrifted find. It was exactly the size of my finished top- no piecing required! I love that serendipity- it was obviously meant to be!

Here's a closer look at the backing- the gray and yellow background tie in perfectly with two of my cornerstone colors from the front. The blue and red flowers are so vibrant and brilliant! I handwrote the label on the leaves on the back.

Flower Garden was truly a joy to make- the way it all came together so graciously was a pleasure. Made from scraps and stash, it's truly a testament to beauty we can find in what is around us every day. I hope it brings lots of beauty and brightness to it's recipient!

Little Gifts

Both of my daughters had birthday parties to attend this weekend (it is definitely spring- it is birthday season!) so we put together some little gifts- first a knot bag for my 9-year-old's "Cute Things" themed gift swap.

We put a Paul Frank Lip Smackers tin inside- I heard this was super popular and one of the other girls' moms wanted to buy one from me. Remember when these were super popular a couple of years ago? I always planned on making one but didn't get around to until just now. They are very quick and easy, especially if you remember to clip the curves when you are sewing at 11 PM on Friday night after teaching all week ;-) Now my daughter wants to make them with her friends at her birthday party next weekend, too. The tute is no longer on line, but I did find the Japanese Knot Bag PDF (thanks Google!)

My 5-tear-old took this sweet little doll quilt to her fancy salon party. It will be the perfect size for her friend's American Girl Doll. I had made a series of doll quilts last summer, so it was great to have one on hand for gifting. It was really hard for her to choose one to give away though- she wanted to keep them all!

I did get my sewing machine back from the shop, but the jury is still out on how well it is working. I had some problems with it but think it may actually be my walking foot that is now the culprit. In any case, I got out this old sewing machine that I picked up at Goodwill for $20 a while a go and stashed in the garage. I had started reading about how to fix it up and somehow got convinced it was a another fixer machine without ever even trying it.

It's a Singer 201-2 and she is a beauty. She sews so smooth and quiet, and all I had to do was clean out some lint from under the throat plate. I need to look into getting some accessories for her, but she may be taking over as my main machine.

Look at the gorgeous Deco-y plate on her! I think she must be from the 1930s when this model came out. By the '50s, these plates were all vertically ridged. I'm just amazed that my 8 year old sewing machine has at least partially worn out, but this 80 year old one is going strong. I'm hoping to give both these ladies a test drive getting some quilting done this week!

Baby BOOM!

I want to share a couple of baby quilt tops I have made in recent weeks. I am clearly in the midst of a baby boom- if you look back one day and see that there was a tremendous population surge in 2010 and 2011, you'll know that the people I know are in large part responsible. Yay for procreation! Seriously- I love babies, and I love making quilts for them!

First, a baby girls quilt... based on the Garden Path quilt in Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again (which is one of my favorite quilting books ever!) I started pulling strips for a little girl with a gray nursery (with pink, green and yellow accents), and quickly realized this was a perfect opportunity to make this quilt that I have always loved. It was so fun to fit all the strip sets together-- I definitely plan to make this quilt again and again!

This quilt is for a brand new boy named Grayson... the colors remind me of his talented daddy's art. More strips, more improvisational piecing, a Gee's Bend feel... another quilt I have always wanted to make. The orange, brown and red with gray combination was a happy surprise when I started pulling strips and strings for this quilt... I like the masculine, earthy feel of these colors, and hope they will stay with little Grayson for a long time!


The funny thing is, both these quilts started out in the same place conceptually- I planned to make Chinese Coin quilts (which I have always wanted to make.) I love that they ended up in two different, but wonderful places... and I still have a Chinese Coin quilt in my bucket list :-)

Baby Blocks: Blue #1

Here is my finished quilt from the weekend: a simple Baby Blocks with a lot of blue fabrics, plus some orange and green. I like a quilt of simple 6" squares for exploring different color and print combinations. I had a lot fun playing with different rotations of the stripes on this one... they turned out pretty kinetic and fun!

The other fabrics that came out to play for this one include the ducks form Lizzy House's Red Letter Day, some Prints Charming prints and solids (I love the hand on these, they are velvety soft!), orange dots from Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jump Rope, and some assorted picks from my stash, including a vintage pillowcase with stars.

It's backed with a thrifted cobalt blue solid, which also serves as the binding. Thanks to LeeAnn, I was able to finish machine-sewing the binding last night and deliver it to a lovely mom-to-be today for her baby shower.

I considered a couple different quilting options before deciding on this plaid-like pattern inspired by the Prints Charming wavy plaid. At about 40" x 50", I think this quilt will be enjoyed by it's soon-to-be-born recipient for quite a while!

In Other News

I made socks! I started these just after Christmas and finally finished them for my 5-year-old. She loves them. I had a lot of fun making them. I wonder how long it would take me to make a pair for myself... Does anyone have a favorite pattern for fast socks for long footed ladies?

A Special I Spy

Here's a happy finish for the weekend... a fun I Spy quilt for a 3 year old girl who is battling leukemia. My daughters gave it the "Awww, cute" approval rating so I hope it brings her lots of comfort, enjoyment and happiness!

I feel very grateful to be able to create this for her... that I have the time and resources to make something to benefit others. Looking at the patches in this quilt, I am also grateful for the generosity of so many Flickr and blog friends who have swapped or sent me the novelty fabrics that have made many wonderful gifts. You all put smiles on a lot of faces, mine and hers included!

Let's hear it for quilts: YAY Quilts!

True Colors

I joined up with the Flickr Scrapbusters Challenge 2011 for a couple of reasons:
1. There's nothing I love like a scrap quilt
2. I have a lot of scraps, and the strings are especially out of hand. Or I should say- out of basket, since my bags of color sorted strings are just... overflowing.
3. The lovely LauraJ invited me!

So... I started a string quilt (oops! There's another quilt to add to the list!) I had my strings sorted into rainbow colors, so I started making rainbow blocks.

As Cyndi said, "Your true colors, True colors are beautiful... like a rainbow."

So pretty... I LOVE these colors... but I've made more than 10 8-inch blocks, and barley a dent in my string stash....

We're having a lot of fun with these, through. My 8 year old is helping choose the strings, and she loves peeling the paper off the backs. I have to admit that is my least favorite part of string blocks, so we make a good team!

We're going to keep making blocks until we either have enough for a twin size quilt for her, or all the strings fit in the basket- whichever comes first!

Little Boy Blues

... and a few greens! I finished up this little book stack quilt last week for a friend's new son. I have wanted to make one of these forever! It's a really simple design but I loved the opportunity to showcase large expanses of different fabrics. Maybe one day, each stripe will be a racetrack, a runway or field. I quilted it in organic horizontal lines for a nice texture.

The back is blue gingham with green polka dot binding. I like how fresh and happy these colors are together!

I wrote the label directly on the dots of the binding- I think this is the funnest label ever! Now back to doing a lot more piecing...

So Long, Summer

Today is my 3rd grader's first day of school, the rain is pouring down, I'm back in polar fleece. Summer already seems like a long-lost friend... but she was so loved while she was here! It was truly a glorious and enjoyable summer, just far too short.

A big part of the fun was crafting with my daughters. We made cloth dolls, with me as the seamstress and them as the art designers.


Nothing better than girls and dolls! They also made dolls out of juice containers, and craft foam "paper dolls." Lots of fun there!

We also celebrated my 4-year-old's unbirthday party (she is a Christmastime baby, so we party with friends at another time of year) A tea party, dress up, hoola hooping and running in the sprinkler in addition to the requisite cake & ice cream. Wheee! I whipped up some cloth favor bags for her frinds to take home their party crowns and stickers.


I am still working on my WIP list, but as I was cleaning up from the party, my rotary cutter slipped and I started cutting squares for a new quilt, just because the fabric was soooo pretty.


Whoops! The list gets longer and as long as the rain keeps falling I'll keep sewing and waiting for summer to return again

The Finished Sun Break

Here's the Sun Break quilt, just finished today and fresh out of the dryer, all crinkled up and lovely, taking a test drive in the grass. Fresh air? Check! Sunshine? Check! A chubby cheeked baby rolling on top? Well, it will have to take a long trip down under for that.

I used an old Old Red Barn quilt along for the pattern, with a range of pink, orange, grey and cream prints. I finished the top for this back in January, but it has been sitting in my stack of tops to be quilted since then.

I used the trimmings from the strip sets I cut into quilt blocks to make a little pillow. My daughter took this picture. She is a quite the budding photographer!

I adore curved corners and I think they are perfect on this quilt.

Curved corners might be my favorite thing about this quilt. I will be making more quilts with curved corners for sure. That little Japanese print is really cute... and I love the light, bright colors peeking through the greys too!

Now to figure out the best way to send this set all the way to New Zealand!

10 Step Crochet Hook Roll

One of my daughter's friends recently started crocheting, so we made her a crochet hook roll for her birthday. It was a hit- even as a new "hooker" she has already lost her crochet hooks at the bottom of bags. (Aren't the possibilities for crochet puns endless? I'm going to refrain so I don't have to groan at myself when I make another one of these!)

I looked at a number of crochet hook roll tutorials, but couldn't find what I was looking for- just a small, simple roll that would be easy for a 9 year old to use and carry. This tutorial came close, and was a helpful starting point for the size of the roll. I ended up using different materials and construction for a softer roll, though- here are my instructions on how to make it.

This is a great project for fat quarters or larger scraps of material. You can use quilting cotton or home dec fabric.

You will need:

2- 10"X11" rectangles- one for the exterior and one for the inside.
1- 11"11" square
1- 10"x11" rectangle of quilt batting
approx. 30" of ribbon
fabric marking pen or pencil
a sewing machine and basic sewing sewing supplies
About 30 minutes to an hour

1. Have all your pieces cut and ready to go. Fold the 11"x11" square in half and press. This will be the pocket for the hooks.

2. Place the pressed rectangle on top of the lining rectangle, lining it up with the folded edge in the middle, and the raw edges along the bottom of edge of the lining. Pin it in place.

Mark off lines for sewing the pockets at 3", then every 1". This will give you a larger pocket for a small pair of scissors, and about 7 hook pockets.

Sew along the lines.

3. Next, lay the lining on top of the batting.

Fold the ribbon in half and position it at the top edge of the pocket, on the 3" scissor pocket side. Machine or hand baste in place.

4. Place the exterior rectangle right side down on top of the batting and lining. Make sure the loose ends of the ribbon is secured in middle. Pin the exterior in place.

5. Sew around the entire perimeter, leaving a 2-3" opening at one side.

6. Trim the seam allowance, to reduce bulk (pinking shears work great for this if you have them- I like how they reduce the bulk without cutting too close to the seam.) Make sure to trim off the corners on the diagonal and leave the seam allowance along the opening so it's easier to turn right side out in the next step.

7. Reach inside the opening and turn the whole thing right side out. Poke your fingers into the corners and along the seams to get them nice and smooth.

Carefully turn the tabs of seam allowance along the opening in and press, then pin. Also press the rest of the piece so it is flat and the edges are even.

Top stitch all the way around about 1/4" from the edge. Take care to secure the tabs you have turned and pinned along the opening as you top stitch.

8. Your roll can be finished now, but I added a flap at the top to help keep the hooks from sliding out.

To add the flap, turn the top edge down 1 1/2" and press.

Sew along the pressed fold to secure. Now the sewing is done!

9. Finish your work by pulling the loose threads to one side, knotting and burying the ends.

10. Finally, roll it up and get ready to take your hooks anywhere you go!

Stitching Up Some Fun

I've been doing a good bit of library book borrowing this summer, especially looking at quilting and craft books for inspiration. My 8 year old daughter has been really interested in embroidery, and learning some "actual stitches" as opposed to just messing around with a needle and thread, so I checked out Colorful Stitchery by Kristin Nicholas for her.


We liked the book so much- both the instructions and the projects and ideas- that we bought a copy on Amazon. Funnily enough, it's an old library copy....


I designed a sampler for my daughter so she could learn a number of the basic stitches right away.


She did a great job and it turned out really cute! She learned cross stitch, chain stitch, straight stitch, running stitch, back stitch, French knots, lazy daisy, stem stitch and satin stitch. That's pretty good for a little summer sampler! Her 4 year old sister is now asking for one of her own, so she'll get plenty of practice!

Blue & Brown

Here's another baby brick quilt, inspired by the Kaffe Fassett quilt from Glorious Patchwork, this time for my cousin's first baby. I made another one of these last year for a friend's baby, and had lots of soft shirt fabric left. I usually dislike making the same quilt more than once, but I really enjoyed creating this simple pattern with a slightly different fabric selection. In addition to a warmer red check, I also added an Amy Butler stripe that wound up sitting next my stack of shirt fabrics and looking rather handsome with them. Serendipity being one of my favorite design partners, it stayed in the quilt and directed my attention to the brown as a perfect anchoring color. I quilted it in brown, mostly straight, lines along the seams, and added a few wavy lines, too, just for fun.

I wanted to add a personal touch, so I monogrammed their last name in the lower right corner. It was my first attempt transferring a computer font for embroidery and I love the result!

Going with the brown theme, I knew that I wanted solid brown for the backing, but I didn't have any in my stash. I ended up cheating on my fabric diet- I found a sheet on sale that was the perfect color, and used it for a self-binding, too. It was a far better deal than buying that much fabric by the yard! And I love looking at the tone-on-tone quilting on the back just as much as the front.

Now to wrap this baby up and mail it off to it's new home.