Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Jon and I traveled to Philly to visit with his family and meet his new (6 week old) niece, Zoe. We had a great time and she's such a cutie!

Zoe's Jungle Quilt

Jon and I are really excited about how the jungle quilt turned out! We love the faces and there are more great patterns in the book we used (Quilts, Bibs, Blankies...Oh My!) Thank you so much for all of your input on my last post. After much back and forth, we agreed with most of you about the orange binding, but Jon wanted to go with a green thread after we decided to quilt with a leaf pattern (This blog has been inspiring me to quilt different designs).



If I had to pick again, I think I would've gone with a blue or orange thread. The green worked well with the motif, but does clash a little bit with the lighter blue and the pink.



The backing is Alexander Henry's 2D Zoo which is such a great print! The final size is 36"x36" which is the same size as the quilt I made for Little B. It's a little on the small side, but with how much use Little B's parents have been getting from theirs, I think it works!



Jon and I are going to meet Zoe this week when we head down to Philly for Thanksgiving and I can't wait! Her parents don't know we've been working on this and I'm not sure they are even aware that I sew as much as I do.

As I mentioned, we decided to go with a meandering leaf design for the quilting. I also quilted around the outer edges of the animals in the same colors I did the satin stitch applique. After a bunch of doodling, I figured out a fairly straight forward way to do the leaves. I'm still really new to free motion quilting but I didn't find the leaves much harder than a stippling. Since it's hard to see on the quilt, here's what the practice swatch looked like:



Since it took me a little while of doodling to figure out how to make this shape, I figured I'd share how I did it.

As a side note, I did want to mention that I heard concerns about using invisible thread for a baby quilt. Since the nylon thread doesn't break like natural fibers, it could get caught around a small finger. I tried getting more information about this but I couldn't find a good source, but it is something to keep in mind when picking threads.

Team Project

I need some advice.

 

The asking for help part is towards the bottom of the post, but here's some back story. Jon and I have been busy this weekend working together on a quilt for his new niece, Zoe. She was born October 14th, but we're going to meet her for the first time at Thanksgiving. We've been planning this quilt for a while (wow, was that post really in June??) and of course a deadline will get anything finished!

We picked out the fabric together last weekend, which was fun since I don't think we've ever done that before. He's had a lot of fun tracing and cutting the appliques and figuring out the placement of the fabrics.

I also had him sew all the nine-patches since straight lines aren't too bad. He's used the sewing machine once before to make pillows and I think the nine patches came out pretty well considering he's never done it before. I did the appliques, but he cut most of the shapes which was really helpful.

What do I do now?

Orange Da Dot binding (right) or Blue Prints Charming (left)?

What color thread do I use for quilting since there are so many colors? I have no idea how to pick thread colors, so any advice on how you do it is much appreciated.

How should I quilt it? I don't think I want to quilt over the faces (I don't need to, do I?), but I'm pretty open about what to do with the rest of it.

I could stipple, but I was also thinking about swirls and/or leaves or something... any ideas? It's not very big (only about 35" x 35") so I'm willing to be adventurous. Let me know what you think!

Another block and a new project

I made another block for the Sew Kid at Heart Quilting Bee. This block is for Adrienne (aka Arnden's Space). She's making a quilt for her next little one. I love how bright the fabrics she sent are!



I used a paper piecing pattern called Hawaii. It seemed perfect since I wanted to do a star-type block and I've had a bit of a Hawaii obsession lately... I just really want to go! The "Quilter Cache" site is an awesome resource and you can even search for patterns by the size of the finished block, which is great for bees.

I'll probably make a second block, but first I have to figure out something else fun for these great fabrics!

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Jon and I are planning a new project to make together. It's going to be a baby quilt for his sister. She's expecting a girl!



We're going to use the Alexander Henry 2D Zoo for the backing and the appliques from the book on the top. The plan is to do something that has a hint of pink, but is just generally bright and fun!