WIP Wednesday 4

I had a nice intro written about my daughter catching snow on her tongue while x-country skiing and watching the snow swirl under the light from our headlamps, but somehow it got lost. Thanks blogger. So, I'll get right to it. Here's what I've been working on....

On the Go...
I finally finished my interlocking stars quilt top. I followed Elizabeth's instructions to press the seams open, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I've always been pretty against open seams, as they always seemed like, well, just too much work. But I have to admit the top lies nice and flat, and I didn't have to pin any of the seams. Up next is a backing pieced from my stash, and some free-motion quilting. Hopefully I'll have a finished quilt to show you next week. This baby is due asap. (And, no, not mine this time.)

Interlocking Stars Quilt - pattern by Elizabeth Hartman

Finished....
I made a quick pillow for my friend's little girl who turned 2 last week. My husband thought I was crazy to make a 2-year old a pillow, when she probably really wanted a toy. I explained to him that the pillow is really for her mom who will appreciate it much more than a toy that beeps, squeaks or sings. At least I'm that kind of mom. I gave embroidery a try for the first time. I have a ways to go, but I actually enjoyed the process. Thank goodness for youtube. I was going to give hand quilting a try too, but I just ran out of time. I'd love to make some pillows for my own kids so I'll try it then.

Sleeping Beauty Birthday Pillow

On Hold....

• Little Man Quilt - just needs the binding sewn down.
• Maple Leaf Rag. I know, I know. Soon. I hope.
• Wonky Star Charity Quilt
• Wonky 1/4 Square {Bee Inspired} Quilt
• Colour Wheel Quilt

I just joined Angela's UFO group on flickr. I'm hoping it will help me to take stock of my UFO's, and finally make a dent in them. And I think I might even give up on a couple of them. You know the ones. With the fabric that is brown, green and maroon. Oh, yes, I have a couple of those.

Hope you had a great Wednesday.

WIP Wednesday 3

It's been pretty slow this week. But here's what I've been working on.

On the Go...

I've made good progress on my "Little Man" quilt. I love that this quilt is completely out of my stash. Everything. Batting, binding, sashing, backing, fat quarters. Unfortunately, it didn't even make a dent...

I finished the straight line quilting this morning and got the binding made and sewn it on the front.

Now I just have to hand-sew the back of the binding. Perfect excuse for some mindless TV. Hubby and I have been watching "Once upon a Time." What are you watching these days?

Just Started...

I did start one new project this week. But it is a surprise. I cut into my purple Sleeping Beauty for this one. I love this fabric and it has been in my stash for way too long. Hi. My name is Barb. And I'm a fabric hoarder. But I have to admit, it feels pretty good to see it in a project. Really good.

On hold...

• Maple Leaf Rag. This is really all I want to work on, but between baby quilts and cleaning up the house for showings, this has been put aside. I hope to pull it out again this weekend.
• Interlocking Stars. Still waiting on some Kona White. It should arrive any day. Thankfully the baby is still happy in utero.
• Wonky Star Charity Quilt
• Wonky 1/4 Square {Bee Inspired} Quilt
• Colour Wheel Quilt

Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday. It is beautiful and sunny here in Northern B.C. I'm off for a walk with my kiddos.

WIP Wednesday, on Thursday.

Oops. I missed WIP Wednesday yesterday. Hubby was home sick, so we had an impromptu family day and made a quick trip to Quesnel. We will be moving there eventually, and since I hadn't been there since September, it seemed like a good day for a road trip.

And the good news, while searching for the dance studio (which has moved, of course) I even found a new to me Quilt Shop that had lots of Moda fabric (sorry they don't seem to have a website. At least not one that I could google). Let me tell you, when you live in the land void of decent quilt shops, I'll take one that stocks Ruby, Hometown, Cosmo Cricket and the new Kate Spain any day.

So, since I missed the big link up yesterday, I'll just show a few shots of another baby quilt I've got in the works. My babysitter's mom is having a boy in a week or two, so I decided to use what I had on hand to make a quick baby quilt.

Little Man Pattern by Camille Roskelly. I love that it only uses 4 fat quarters.

I chose the Little Man pattern from Camille's Simplify book. What a great pattern. It only uses 4 fat quarters and some background and border yardage and it goes together fast. As in, really fast. I had the quilt top made in no time. And I used up every last scrap to make a striped backing too.

Striped Backing

And I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. I don't really love the fabric line. It is "Be a man" by David Day. I think I bought the fat quarters and some yardage when I found it on sale and I was feeling guilty that I never make anything for my son. I still feel a bit guilty that I never make him anything, but it feels great to use up this fabric.

Now I just have to the thing quilted. I'm thinking straight lines since my machine is being fussy about stippling these days. Might be time for a tune-up. I just can't bare to be without it while it is in the shop.

Happy Thursday!

Interlocking Stars

I'm jumping on the interlocking stars bandwagon. I'm typically behind the current trend, or I just ignore it completely. For example, I'm ignoring the Swoon band wagon right now, even though it is so, so tempting. Okay, I joined the flickr group, but I'm trying very, very hard to just watch from the sidelines.

Anyway, back to those cute interlocking stars. Amber made a sweet little pillow a while back, and Darci has a great tutorial too. And of course, Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson has a quilt along going right now.

So, just to warm up, I made my sister a little pouch for her birthday. I used 2" squares and pink and aqua scraps. I'm pretty new to zippers and pouches, but now that I've gotten over my fear of zippers, I have to say that they are a fun and easy present. (My sister loved it, by the way).

If you are new to pouches too, I really like Kelly's tutorial. She shows how to put those cute pieces on the end of the zipper. And even better, she shows the technique, so you can adapt it to any size of zipper or pouch. I like being taught how to fish....

On the design wall

I also started an interlocking star quilt for a friend who is expecting in February. I'm going with a pink and aqua colour scheme with a little grey thrown in to keep it from being too sweet. My friend is pretty sure she's having a girl, so hopefully she's right, or else I'm going to have to make a quick boy quilt too.

I'm basically following the quilt along from Oh Fransson, except I used 4.5" squares, and I am making it smaller (10 x 12 squares instead of 20 x 24).

Hope you had a fabulous Tuesday. I'm hoping to post about another baby quilt in progress tomorrow for WIP Wednesday.

Are you trying to avoid any popular quilting trends? Or have you jumped on the wagon?

My First Schnibble

We had a new niece born just 2 weeks after Susanna. I was hoping they'd have a little girl since they already have 2 boys, so I started a very girly quilt earlier this spring. Lucky for me the baby was a girl.


My First Schnibble Quilt is X-Rated!



The pattern is Shnibbles X-Rated. I used two April Cornell charm packs that my mom bought me a few years ago when her LQS closed. While the fabrics are lovely, they aren't really my style. But I think my sister-in-law will like it. I hope so anyway.

Close-up

I really like this pattern. I'd love to make another sometime. But probably with bigger squares. There was a lot of piecing put into this tiny quilt.

Backing

I got some Valorie Wells fabric on sale at Christmas in Kamloops and it was perfect for the backing with the left-over charm packs. The label turned out to be super-sized for this size of quilt, but I stuck it on anyway. I thought about making a new one for about half a second. But honestly, who I am kidding...this quilt is lucky it got a label!

Quick Quilt Stats:

Size: 31"' x 31"

Pattern: Schnibbles X-Rated

Fabric: Little Romance by April Cornell (Moda)

I'll leave you with a photo of the lily of the valley that is finally in bloom in my yard. Let's just say that we are weeks behind this year. But the Canucks are playing for the Stanley Cup, so I can't really complain, can I?

Lily of the Valley

Now do I dare pop this quilt in the mail? Or is a mail strike looming?

Susanna's Quilt

The lovely Susanna is now one month old...it really is crazy how fast time flies. To be honest, I just adore this little girl. And so do her big sister and brother.

Sweet Susanna!

I did actually make her a quilt before she was born. Before we found out that she was a little girl. It is pretty gender neutral. In some ways, I wish I could go back in time and make it a little more feminine. It would have been a great excuse to actually cut into my HR Far Far Away. Anyway, here it is...

Susanna's Quilt

I started collecting blue/aqua and yellow fabrics as soon as I found out I was pregnant. Let's just say that this part of my stash is now overflowing. I decided to make a very simple quilt as my pregnancy brain couldn't handle much more. Each block has a fussy cut centre of some of my favourite fabrics.

My favourite block

I backed the quilt with a cozy Robert Kaufman flannel. I bought it at our local LQS and it cost me an arm and a leg. (No really, it was tres, tres cher...). But it was worth it. It is so, so, so cozy.

Flannel backing

I just quilted it with simple diagonal straight lines. At first I was disappointed that I cut through the centre of each square with my quilting lines...wasn't there a reason that I fussy cut all of those centres??? but now that it is done and washed, I've come to terms with it and I'm pretty happy.

1 month old already!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now just a bit of housekeeping...you may have noticed that this blog was pretty silent during the SMS Give-away Day (the first I've missed since I started this blog). I decided not to participate this time around, but I will have a give-away very soon. Any suggestions on what you'd like to win? 

Happy Thursday!

Oh Susanna!

Thank you to everyone for your kind comments. I'm sorry I haven't responded to all of you, but I trust that you understand and you'll forgive my rudeness. Life with 3 kids under 5 years old, is well, busy. But Susanna is sleeping pretty well during the day so I've had lots of time to spend with her big sis and big bro.

Sweet Susanna - 6 days old

In March, I was lucky enough to win a beautiful charm pack from Corey, aka Little Miss Shabby.

Beautiful Charm Pack from Little Miss Shabby

My original plan was to make a little quilt for the NICU ward at the hospital (our guild provides quilts for all preemie babies born in Prince George). However, when I made that plan I was convinced this baby was a boy. Now that she's here, I just can't resist the gorgeous prints Corey sent. So, I started sewing them together last night and I'm going to make Susanna a quick patchwork quilt.



Doesn't Susanna look sweet on her quilt?



And since I'm using Corey's charms for Susanna, I promise to use my own fabrics to make a preemie quilt too. They are small (max 30" square) so I don't think it is too crazy of a plan.

Thanks Corey for the beautiful fabric.

Speechless!

When I started this blog, I considered it as a way of documenting my hobby. I never could have imagined that I would make friends...honest, to goodness, friends...from my blog. But I have. And I've also rediscovered the kindness of people all over this beautiful world of ours.

I returned home from my first-ever quilt retreat last weekend to find a parcel from Darci. She told me she was sending me a little something for participating in her interview with a sewer series so I decided to save it until the kids were asleep so I could enjoy my package.

Baby Quilt from Darci

But never in a million years did I expect what what was inside. Darci made our new baby a beautiful quilt. Isn't it gorgeous?

Close-up...Aren't those little squares yummy?

The colours match my nursery perfectly. I'd admired them over on flickr, but never thought they'd be for me! Check out how it coordinates with my new moses basket bedding!

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The quilt works perfectly with the new Moses Basket bedding.

Thank you so much Darci. I was overcome with emotion when I opened your parcel. It is the first gift our new baby has received, and I will treasure it. And use it. The quilt is the perfect size for the carseat, stroller and as a floor quilt. You are so sweet to think of us.

I appreciate your gift, but I value your friendship more.

Happy Easter everyone!

Back Online!

We came back from a quick trip down south to visit the Grandparents, and our Internet died! It is amazing just how much I can get done when I`m not constantly checking flickr, blogs, etsy, ebay, etc, etc. But we are now back online, and I`ve been working on a few projects.

I quilted that baby quilt from my last post. I used Nettie`s tutorial for straight line quilting. Let`s just say that I`m no Rita from Red Pepper Quilts. The lines are what I`d like to call ``organic.` Part of me wants to pick some of them out, but the 34.5 week pregnant part of me decided to leave them as is. I am letting go of my perfectionism.

Almost done...

I also got inspired to do some work on my quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap 10. I machine appliqued the centre yesterday and made the backing. Now to just sandwich, baste, quilt and bind. Perhaps this weekend...

Doll Quilt Swap 10 quilt top complete.

We`re finally getting some spring weather up here in the great white north. But there is still at least 5 feet of snow in the yard. My daughter was outraged yesterday that the snow didn`t miraculously melt with the first day of Spring. How do you tell a 4-year old that green grass is a long, long, way offÉ

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Note: For some reason, my laptop keyboard has decided to use the french settings this morning. That É is really supposed to be a question mark. I`ll figure out how to fix it today and I promise to fix this post asap.

Percy the Tank Engine...aka Quilt Basting Assistant

Yesterday I attempted to baste a quilt while my kids were awake. Percy decided that he needed to help.

Percy the Tank Engine 'helping' with basting a quilt.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the quilt in the photo...the blocks are from here. Yes, a full year ago. But I'm working on all of my UFO's....I promise.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my SUTK swap projects. Sorry I didn't respond to you individually...it was just that kind of week. But I appreciate and value each and everyone of them! Thanks for reading.

Edit: Go check out Cheryl`s post about quilting with kids in the house.

Pink Patchwork

One of my good friends had a little baby girl last week, and we decided to throw a last minute baby shower for her this weekend. So of course, I had to make her a quilt. And since she already has a little boy, I thought that the quilt had to be pretty girly. 

Don't you think moms of sweet, brand, new baby girls want to embrace pink? I know I did. So I made a quick patchwork quilt in shades of pink and grey.

 And I made a couple of zig-zags, a la Denyse Schmidt, for the back. Then I just quilted a 1/4 from each seam.

 Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

It is a bit loose though - my last minute basting left a bit to be desired. Note to self: Must work on my hasty basting technique in the future.

Hope you had a great weekend! Things here are a changing...moving truck arrives Tuesday!

Finally Finished

I finally finished this quilt. It sat around forever with the binding waiting to be sewn down. Hand-sewing the binding is my least favourite part of quilting.I love the back almost as much as the front.Have a great weekend and happy sewing!

Tale of Two Baby Quilts: Part 2 Dinosaur Shoes

If my sister-in-law has a baby boy (and I am rooting for his name to be Jean-Phillipe because it would be perfect with their french last name...probably won't happen though...darn) this is the quilt that I will give him. I named it Dinosaur Shoes because of the two prints in the quilt. Obviously Dinosaurs and Shoes.
My husband bought me a fat-quarter pack a while back of the Dinosaurs, Shoes, Black Dots and Stripes. My husband LOVES bright fabric and quilts so I seem to make a lot of those. Anyway, for this one, I used the pattern from Fons & Potter's Easy Quilts. And it was easy! But I also think that it is very effective with the black and yellow.

I put flannel on the back because I love the soft texture for baby quilts and I put a strip of scraps just to break it up. I am loving pieced backs!

I used a great variegated thread of bright colours for the quilting and it was so much fun - especially on the black. I can't wait to make another bright quilt so I can use the thread again.

A Tale of Two Baby Quilts: Part 1 Baby Girl

My sister-in-law is expecting her first baby any day. And while I loved not knowing the sex of my own two babies until their 'birthday,' when it comes to creating for new little ones, I hate not knowing if the baby is a boy or a girl. This time around, I was sick of making gender-neutral quilts, so I made two instead!

It has been a very long time since I made a really 'girly' quilt, so I started with some beautiful pink and yellows for the baby girl quilt. I used a pattern from Fons & Porter's Easy Quilts Magazine I really love quilts that go together really quick and easy and this pattern was perfect. And because of the tiny sashing strips, I didn't even have to worry about lining up the seams. I haven't finished binding yet, but I'm very happy with how it turned out.
I even pieced the back! It's a little crooked, but I love how the nine-patch breaks up the back.

It was also the first quilt that I attempted to free-motion stipple quilt. I have done a few smaller projects (pillows, doll quilt, place mats) but this was the first real quilt that I have done without the safety net of my walking foot. Again, it isn't perfect - the stitch length varies considerably, but I am slowly learning to throw out my quest for perfection. (And let me tell you, having two kids in two years really helps with that quest!)

So now I'll I have to do is sit down and finish (and start) hand sewing the binding. (Did I mention that I really don't like hand sewing?!?)

I'll post some photos of the boy quilt soon.

Barb