Score!

Mom and I hit up a quilt/craft show at the Arizona State Fairgrounds today and check out our new stash! We walked around for hours and drooled over all the pretty pretty fabric and quilts, and Zoey (in her stroller) yelled at people that stood in the way in front of us. What a helpful 8 month old! 

We got some awesome bargains on a couple of half yard bundles, and some more amazing deals on yardage form various vendors. However, our favorite was still the wonderful ladies from our favoritest LQS, 35th Ave Sew & Vac. That is where our lovely new Eden (Lila Tueller for Moda) fabric came from. It is amazingly beautiful, and super soft!

Mom's new additions

My lovely new stash

Broke open the half yard bundle, isn't it fun?

Ok, so you have to check this out. The top fabric was from mom's half yard bundle of red and whites. It is EXACTLY 18". The cut on the bottom was from another vendor, and check out the amazingly generous half yard cut she doled out! When we got back we were pretty amazed to compare them! Oh, and the lady we got our nice generous cuts from (I got a cut of fabric from her too) was actually the designer of the fabric mom got! We thought that was fun.

Now we both need to get cracking on some sewing! Poor mom is machine-less for the next 2 weeks while Bernie is at the sewing machine hospital though, so she has lots of time to get some projects cut! Maybe I can get her to post some of her WIPs and finishes that she hasn't blogged yet...  :)

Kirsten

Strawberry Pinwheels

I have a new finish to show! Our church schedule changed to 8:30 am this year, and it is a little chilly out that early! Those of you in places other than Arizona, don't laugh at me... All of our quilts are way too big to easily take with us to keep the kid warm, and her little snuggly blankie is too small (its about 18"x18"). Enter excuse to create! I have been dying to make some pinwheels, and I have my awesome Candy Kisses fabric that I decided would be perfect and girly for a little Zoey quilt.

Top before sandwiching

Completed quilt

I must once again apologize for my poor photo quality. It is muddy and wet outside, and my inside lighting leaves something to be desired. My pictures definitely don't do the colors justice!

I didn't have enough warm and white batting in the house to use for this project, but I did have some higher loft batting that was left over at work that my generous boss gave me. So, I went with it! It made the quilt a bit poofy, which I'm not super happy with, but Spencer likes it, and it will be fun for Zoey.

I got some furry stuff from Joann's for the backing, because Zoey has a couple other things with it and loves it. And because I had a coupon so it made it cheaper than minkee, which was what I thought of using originally. I also machine stitched the binding on (a first for me). Once again, I'm not completely happy with how it turned out, but it was SO satisfying to get it finished so fast! And with a little more practice, I think I could make it look good, so I might do a few more like that. We will see. Especially since I have a baby quilt that needs to be done by next Saturday...

Now we have a nice cuddly decent sized (30"x30" finished size) quilt for this Sunday! And I LOVE the pinwheels! I think I see a larger quilt in my future...

Kirsten

Loose Change or Aaron's quilt

When I saw this pattern by Tula Pink, I knew I had to make it!  I thought it looked just like a coin quilt, but with loose change, not nice and neatly stacked coins.  So I'm calling mine, Loose Change.

The front!

For Christmas, I made quilts to send to two of my sons that are serving missions for our Church, which I will blog sometime. Then I thought my youngest son, and the only kid still at home, also needed a quilt for Christmas. Of course, I didn't decide this until a few weeks before Christmas, but I remembered the idea of a Loose Change quilt and also that a few months ago, I purchased 2 Moda Grab Bags that had strips from Essence by Sandy Gervais and Shirtings 1875-1900 by Terry Clothier Thompson lines.

The back (notice Aaron's toes peeking out at the bottom)

I decided to go with a color scheme that would go along with his favorite color, which is burnt orange, and the darker tones from these two grab bags were perfect.  I added a few other fabrics, including several from Buggy Barn Basics by The Buggy Barn for Henry Glass & Co, and others that I found at my favorite LQS. Since I started this quilt so close to Christmas, and when I had tons of other projects that I was madly trying to finish for Christmas, I gave my boy his quilt only half way quilted and with no binding.

Today, I finally finished Aaron's quilt and he will be able to sleep with it tonight.  The binding is the Red Polka-Dot from Wiscasset by Polly Minick and Laurie Simpson for Moda Fabrics.

 The Label

I took the pictures outside while it was still light, if overcast and I hadn't washed it or sewed on the label yet.  This was a little later, inside and using a flash.  I really wish I had a better camera and more talent at taking pictures!

Tracy

Zoey's Quilt finished and a lot of Park Slope!

I have pictures! And not just one finished quilt, but TWO!! First up, Zoey's string quilt.

It might be slightly out of focus; it was windy outside and a 48"x64" quilt makes a pretty good sail! I love this quilt! I'm glad I made it for my kid, so it can live in my house for the next 18+ years.

Here's the back. The solid is white, and the bit of blue and green were ALL the scraps from the front. I was very pleased at how well I didn't plan my strips! I didn't get a good picture of the binding; it is an orange print with small flowers from the fresh squeezed line by Sandy Gervais. I quilted with loopys all over. I think that has become one of my favorite ways to quilt!

Close up of a bit.

Next up is a quilt I made for two friends, Curtis and Jessie, that got married the day after Christmas. Talk about making a stressful deadline! And it didn't get its label unil the 26th, and I didn't get a picture of that.

This one was inspired by this quilt on Cluck Cluck Sew. I ended up using different dimensions than hers, because I wanted a larger finished size. This one finished at 60"x80", and all the prints are from the Park Slope line by Erin Mcmorris (My favorite!!).

The back. I love the bird prints!

I quilted with wavy vertical lines except for this one corner block, in which there is a turtle.  This takes a little explaining...see, when I got married two and a half years ago, Curtis, the groom to whom this quilt went, got me and Spencer a ginormous (1 foot high-ish...) ceramic turtle from Rocky Point, Mexico. Apparently when he got it, he wanted it to be one of those "you gift it to the next married friend" gifts. Well, unfortunately, Tortuga the Guard Turtle(as we named him!) who resided outside our front door, was STOLEN just 2 short weeks after he came to live with us. Dang dumb people...So, to make up for poor Tortuga's disappearance, I put a turtle of Curtis's very own on their quilt. Hopefully his won't get stolen!!!

Here's a shot of the turtle from the back, where it is a little easier to see. I found a clipart picture, enlarged it, traced it onto the the top, and free motion quilted it on. I am pretty happy with how it turned out! And with the quilt overall, for that matter. It kinda ended up a little "flowery" and "girly", so I felt a little bad for Curtis, but I knew Jessie would love it, so I decided it was ok! And going back to the Mexico part of this story, I have been down to Rocky Point with both Curtis and Jessie (separately and together funny enough!) and now whenever I see this quilt(now only pictures...) I think of Mexico! Aah, Rocky Point, a trip is waaay overdue...