Blogger's Quilt Festival

For Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival, I thought I would share the quilt I made for my cousin's baby. This is the quilt that made me discover the online quilting world and inspired me to be a part of it. The first Blogger's quilt festival came along just as I was starting this quilt and it was a great first impression of this awesome online community. There are tons of great quilts this fall, so click the logo above to see all the other amazing entries.




When my cousin, Andrea, and her husband, Adam found out they were pregnant, I was thrilled for them. Andrea and I are just about the same age and when we were younger spent time together with another one our cousins who was about the same age. We called our selves "The Three Little Fishies" since we had bonded over making fools of ourselves singing that song at a family reunion.


I knew I wanted to do something special for her and thought a baby quilt would be perfect. I had no idea what I was going to do and a friend of mine suggested looking around on flickr. I had no idea how amazing it was going to be! There were so many amazing quilters with modern styles that I fell in love with! I found tons of fabrics in online shops that I had never seen and that was so much more in tune with my taste than most things I had seen.


So even though I made this little quilt, for Andrea and Adam's "Little B", it has turned into a great gift for me and my sanity. I've always loved making things and working with fabric but I got myself completely stuck in a box. As soon as I looked online, I realized that quilting and sewing is something that I can do in my own young and modern way and have it be a great creative outlet. I've tried so many different techniques in the last 6 months and I can't wait to keep trying new things!


Isn't Brady just the cutest? This is him at 4 weeks.

If you want more of the details about this quilt, click here for the original post.

Little Quilt for Little B

I finished my second quilt, this one a little bigger than the last. I love it and think it's super cute. I only hope the mom-to-be thinks so too! I'm also hoping "Little B" will get lots of use out of it. Everything was pre-washed so I told my cousin she should have no fear in washing it.



I used mostly Michael Miller's Bots N Rockets fabric and added a blue solid and some dots I found at a local quilt shop. I love how fun the fabric is and I think the bright colors will still work as he gets bigger. I used a disappearing nine-patch design and I think it adds to the whimsy.

It measured about 36" square, a little on the small side, but perfect for "belly time" or tossing over the car seat.



Since I didn't want to emphasize the squares, but rather the jumble of color, I went with circles in a kind of bubble pattern for the quilting. It was my first real try at free motion quilting (my quilting foot finally arrived). I wasn't quite feeling up to stippling the the whole thing, and I like the look of the circles. They aren't all smooth or exactly round (even though I drew the circles on the quilt before quilting), but I'm trying not to be bothered by that.

The back is more of the Sprockets fabric and a round label.



I really like the label (don't mind me smudging my last name for posting online). I used freezer paper to secure it before I wrote on it and it went much better than the last one. I ironed it on with fusible web and then did my first blanket stitch around the edge. Once again, although it isn't perfect, I'm quite happy for my first try.

Sunday of Tops

This was quite the weekend for sewing. Yesterday, I attempted to make Rae's Spring Ruffle Top, but sadly it just didn't work out. It looks like a cute shirt, but it doesn't fit right and wasn't flattering at all.



I probably should've known before I started that I'm a little too busty for this shirt to work well. I also made a mistake with my measurements so the top band was too tight so it sat too high. All in all, I probably could try this shirt again and it would go better, but I think I'm just going to rip the thing apart and use the fabric for something else.

On a happier and more successful note, I'm coming along with my Rockets Quilt. Last week, I visited a local quilting shop and found a great dot print that goes perfectly with the Bots N Rockets fabric I already had. Since the colors are so bright and I wanted a fun, kind of crazy design, I decided to go with a disappearing nine patch. I started with 5" patches that I sewed into nine patch blocks.


Then cut them in half...

and voila! Disappearing nine patch blocks


Here's what they look like all put together. I'm thinking that I'll use the gears fabric for a border to make it a bit bigger and then bind it with a bright solid. Red, maybe? What do you think? Should I use something different for the border?

Holding Pattern

I didn't forget about my blog, but rather, my projects are all in a holding pattern. The pink and green baby quilt is waiting on a new presser foot (I should get it this weekend) and the Bots and Rockets quilt is waiting on having time to finish getting fabric. But I'm excited about what I have so far. I'm thinking that I'll add a lighter blue solid, a green solid and a yellow solid.


I joined a mini quilt swap on flickr (Swap Til You Drop) for May and I'm excited about the theme: alphabet mania. We'll see what letter I end up with. It will definitely be a fun project since it has to be smaller than 15" square.

I also got some fabulous new Michael Miller fabric that I'm thinking will turn out to be a new bag. I love the colors!


I was out of town last weekend visiting Jon's dad and I'm headed to Minnesota for my sister's wedding this weekend (which I'm really excited for), but I am itching to get going on these projects.

I've been hiding something...

2 posts in one day...this is just silly!

But, I was waiting to post this project since it was a present and I didn't want to ruin the surprise today. For Whitney's birthday, I made her a case for her double pointed knitting needles (you should check out her amazing knitting creations here!). I based the case off of this tutorial. I added trim to the pockets and since Whitney has some mischievous cats that tend to eat anything string-like, I used snaps for the closure. The fabrics are Paula Prass, Par Garden Trellis in Aqua, Michael Miller, Mod Geo in Sage and Patricia Bravo, Living Elements in Coral.



In unrelated news, I got some great new Michael Miller Fabric from his Bots and Rockets line. I'm going to use it for a baby quilt for my cousin who's having a little boy this summer. I'm so excited to get going on this project, but I'm not going to get a chance the next couple weekends to get the rest of the fabric I need, so it'll just have to wait. sigh.