Krystal’s Baby Quilt

I received word that this quilt has reached its new owner, so I can post it now!

I usually take my quilt pictures inside, so having to battle the little bit of wind that was going was so not cool! Anyways, while at a play group at the park, I got my friend Kristin to assist my efforts to snap a picture before I went to the post office.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any close-up pictures! So, the sashing is two shades of kona; I think it is brown and espresso…I REALLY have to start marking my solids when I buy them! The blue diamonds are mostly prints from Sweetwater’s Pure fabric line, though there are a couple others mixed in, too. The border is a brown with blue pindots, and the binding is a blue and cream pinstripe (both Pure, too).

I had issues with the back of this one…So, I measured the top and the backing, and the back was about an inch too narrow…I added in one blue strip(same fabric as binding), and then went to baste. I baste on my kitchen table, so about 6” was hanging off one side. When I went to move it to put in the last few pins, somehow my backing was TOO SMALL!!! Too small?? I measured it! Why is it too small? I was sooo mad! So, I unpinned all of my basting, cut the backing again and added in another strip. Problem solved!

Can I say I love this quilt and this pattern? I am definitely making this one again and again, in many other colors!

Oh, by the way, I made this quilt for my old roommate, who is due to have her baby in just a couple weeks. So Krystal, you can pop that baby out now! ;)

Quilt, Craft and Sewing Festival

This weekend is the Quilt, Craft and Sewing Festival in Phoenix, so Kirsten and I and Kirsten's bff, Melanie, loaded up Mel's 2 little munchkins and fought our way through the hoards of other fabric crazed people and helped the economy just a bit.  This was Melanie's first time, mine and Kirsten's 2nd. We had already scoped out the map and knew where our 2 favorite quilt shops were going to be, so first we headed to the one that we only get to see at the shows, but they are also online and located right here in Arizona! Above All Fabric has the greatest selection of modern fabrics that they bring to the shows! I got a FQ bundle of All Star 2 by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake. I also got a few 1/2 yard cuts from that same line as well as some other fabrics that were dying to come home with me.  Smart blogger girl Melanie (who has an amazing camera! And mad photo skills.) took some pictures of their booth and managed to capture Kirsten, who was watching her goodies being bagged up and Mel's fabric being cut and also the VERY patient ladies that were cutting our fabrics. I always feel a little sorry for the ladies that have to deal with me and Kirsten when we are on a fabric buying frenzy because we usually buy a few of the same fabrics and have to pass bolts back and forth and try to keep them straight on how much we each want of each fabric. Today was no different and we even got Melanie into the fray since she had already picked up a bolt that I wanted a cut from!  Anyway, it really makes our shopping so much fun and these ladies are super nice and I will definitely be ordering some Central Park yardage from them online when it gets in, probably MONDAY!!!! It's already on the truck and on its way, but didn't make it in time for the show.

Then we finished wandering through that building, scoping out lots of other vendors. We got to stop and watch some ladies with spinning wheels turning fuzzy stuff into yarn. Okay, so that's how I explained it to Melanie's 4 year old that I had kidnapped and was pushing in her stroller around the show.

Then we went to the next building, yes, 2 full buildings of vendors to peruse! In the next building, we found the Bernina dealer and got to take a spin on an Artista 630 and try out the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator). OH.MY.GOSH!!! Can I just say I might consider giving up food to save up money for one of those (actually any Bernina with the BSR)!!!!!  I had actually spent a few drooly minutes with an Aurora 440QE at a shop a few weeks ago, but Kirsten and Melanie had their first experience today and we have all agreed that maybe we should stop buying fabric and start saving up for new machines.

But we didn't exactly start on that fabric fast yet, since our very favorite local fabric shop had a booth just a bit further on and we didn't resist a stroll through. 35th Ave Sew and Vac has the very nicest ladies that work there and we haven't gone a month without going to their store since we discovered them about a year and a half ago! They always have a fun selection and they generously put coupons in our local coupon magazines that come in the mail, so we get great service and also nice discounts. (incidentally, that's the shop that rang up my sale at $18,976,685.94 and practically gave the sales lady a heart attack! Kirsten and I just laughed and took a picture of the cash register!) Anyway, they had Dilly Dally by Me and My Sister (I love their designs!!!) on their shelves and I have been dying to get my hands on some of that, so 12 little fat quarters found their way into my bag! After I got home and looked it over, I decided I will have to visit their store very soon to get some yardage, too! (darn)

Oh, so do you want to see a picture of my pretties?

Since my stash has grown ridiculously fast since I have rediscovered the happiness that is sewing and fabric, I decided to start tracking my purchases/usage. Not to post regularly but just so I would know. And being the computer geek that I am, I set up an Excel spreadsheet so it can do all the math for me. So, those 3 pretty little piles?  Mostly fat quarters and 1/2 yards? Yeah, that's 14 yard of fabric right there. I feel a little gluttonous!!! Guess it's time to start saving for a new machine and work off my stash for a while!

Mug Rugs

I finally got to attend my first Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild meeting on Saturday, and I had so much fun! How awesome is it to be surrounded by people who not only understand your quilty obsession, but share it? Fantastic!

Anyways, we had a mug rug swap while there, and here is my contribution

Front:

Back:

I had some questions as to how I pieced my front, and I had to admit, I didn’t really know! I set out my scraps sort of how I wanted them to go together and started sewing bits together! It was fun, though I did end up with one Y seam; poor planning! The solid is Kona Coal, and the rest of the fabrics were all scraps, hurray!

And here is the amazing mug rug that I received!

It is already pinned to my wall above my machine :) But ew bad lighting in my room, sorry!

Here’s all of the lovely mug rugs hanging out together.

Fronts:

Backs:

By the way, the cute one with the little 1” squares on the front was the one my mom made :)

I can’t wait until the next meeting, so fun!

Wednesday Project

I just wanted to show a quick peek at my current project.

Since my last uhh….at least four quilts have been in a bit more subdued and boyish colors, I was itching for some brights and pinks!! This definitely fills my bright and pink need :) And did I mention, this entire quilt is coming from stash? Woo woo!

I have two blocks completely finished; I had to make sure I was doing things correctly before I cut up all my fabric. This one is going to be fun! And I’m using best press for the first time…my first block went a little wonky…but the second one is almost right on, so, right on!

Still binding the quilt in my last post, and now I have a cute little mug rug to bind, too! I will show that off after Saturday’s Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild swap.

Happy Wednesday!

One of those…

This has been one of those quilts where one thing after another goes wrong…Well ok, it was really only a couple things that went wrong, but still! Now it is ready to have the binding hand stitched, hurray! Once it has winged its way across the country I will be able to show you what it actually looks like. By the way, it looks SO COOL! I am definitely making this one in other colors, too. It’s a good thing I made this specifically for one of my favorite people or it would SOOO be living on my couch instead of getting shipped!

Walk in the Park, part deux

So guess what? I just finished my first commission quilt, how cool is that? See, custom work is nothing new to me, since that is what my “day job” is, but this was my first custom quilt.

And look at how good it turned out? I think I shall call this baby…hmm…Second walk in the park. Tee hee! This is my Walk in the Park’s baby brother; it is only 36”x44'” finished size.

I used my square in square method (again) for these blocks, then added a border, and voila, a super cute quilt that is on its way across the country to live in a little boy’s nursery!

I backed it with this lovely fabric from Kate Spain’s Verna (oh Verna how I love thee!), and I used an Amy Butler dot as binding. And wow do I like binding smaller quilts! They take so much less time!!!!

And since this quilt is destined to be a wall hanging, I added a rod pocket to this cute thing. And I had my wonderful assistant (aka Spencer) help me model it too. Thank goodness he was home while I was taking pictures! It’s hard to tell, but I have a clear acrylic tube through the pocket in the photo. That’s what I had available at the moment :)
So overall, I declare my first commission quilt a success! Oh, and I have a new project on my wall right now, more on that one soon!

Handmade Christmas

Yeah I know, Christmas was weeks ago, but I couldn’t post these BEFORE Christmas, lest the recipients spy them out!

See, I have four awesome sisters that are all either teens or very close to it. And what does every teenage girl need? That’s right, a cute purse! And oh guess what? I have lots of fabric sitting around begging to be made into cute things, so I found out favorite colors and got to work!

I wanted to keep every single one of these bags! But I was good and actually gifted them :)
The far left and center right bags were made with the buttercup bag pattern from Made by Rae, and the far right and center left were made with the Juliet Bag pattern from Me and My Sister. I did shrink the Juliet bag to 70% size though, cuz I wanted a cute little bag. But now I think I’m going to make a full size one for myself…time for a new purse!
And while I was thinking about my handmade Christmas stuff, I realized I made another gift but TOTALLY forgot to get pictures! Luckily, it was for my mom, so I will get pictures to post soon! It’s not cheating to “borrow” someone’s scraps to make them a gift, right? Tee hee!
Have a great weekend all! I am feeling much much better today, so I am off to enjoy naptime the best way possible…quilting!

Awesomely Amazing

Sooo, I am sitting on my couch wishing that this nasty cold I caught would have chosen someone OUTSIDE my household to attack…And since the kid is definitely not letting me sleep, what better way to pass the time ‘til the relief aid gets off work than to write up a blog post?


These are the awesomely amazing quilts I made for the awesomely amazing twins, Logan and Jaxson! Their mom has been my friend since high school, and was my roommate for a few years during college. So of course when they announced they were having twin boys, I started getting to work on some quilts!

When I started planning these twin quilts, I had no idea what to do. When I thought twins, I thought matchy matchy, but then I thought well that’s no fun! First, what’s the fun in having the same exact quilt as your brother? Second, what better way to spark fights in kids? “That one is MINE!” “No it’s not, it’s mine!”

My solution? The same quilt pattern, but with completely different fabrics! That way there is never a question of whose is whose, but there is still that element of similarity.

And I think it worked out pretty well!

Here’s my favorite part! This was the last scrap of this turtle print I had, and I knew I had to include it, but there wasn’t enough left for a large center block, and if I made it the small size it would cut the poor turtle up! So, this one block is a different size. AND the surrounding blue fabric is the only fabric that is in both quilts.

I totally would have had these quilts done BEFORE the boys were born, but as is the nature of twins, they came 10 weeks early (right Joanna?). I think I was partway through quilting when they were born. But that’s ok, I didn’t gift them until the baby shower almost two months later :)
So there you have it; the awesomely amazing twin quilts!

What I got for Christmas

Before I show off the awesomely cool twin quilts, I decided I would share all the cool stuff I got for Christmas this year! My loved ones really do love me, cuz check out all the cool sewing/quilty stuff I got!

 

Kona Coal and White, some Martinique yardage to make myself a skirt, A Verna jelly roll that my mom has been hiding from me for SIX months, enough thread to last me a few months(tee hee), and some various notions. Oh, and if you are wondering what the package with the sticks and tubes in it is, t is the COOLEST thing ever! It is called a Turn It All, and it makes turning fabric tubes super easy! Once you use one, you never want to mess with a bodkin or a big safety pin or any other turning method again!

Anyways, I was pretty dang spoiled this Christmas, and wanted to share :)

A New Year!

Is it really 2011? Does it seem like 2010 just raced by for anyone else?

So, to start off the new year, I am showing off the last two newest additions to my shop. They have only been listed for what, a month? :) Then I have a pair of awesome, adorable quilts to show you that went to my good friend who had TWINS at the end of October, and then I can finally show off all the good stuff I made for Christmas! A little late. Oh, and I might have a current project or two :)

Anyways, this first quilt was born from a desire to do a plain old patchwork quilt, and a desire to use that super cute car print you see in there!

Ironic that now that it's done, I wonder if it would have looked better without that print included!

The hubs said this quilt looked vintage-y to him, so I named it the "throwback quilt". Or he might have called it that...I don't remember. But he is very helpful throughout my quilting process! If he is home while I am basting, I get him to come look and tell me how to quilt that particular quilt if I am having trouble deciding. And he is usually right on the money for choosing the best way to go!

So this one ended up with vertical line quilting. It's not over-quilted, so it's still soft and snuggly :)

I love this backing fabric. When I bought it, I had NO idea what I would use it for, since at the time I didn't have any fabrics that remotely went with it. But look at that, it totally worked for this one!

This one finished up at 41"x45", and it is listed in my shop.

I will spare you the long story of how this quilt came to be, and why it ended up in my shop, since this post is getting rather long and wordy...Suffice it to say, it's cute and it's here!

The solid blue is Kona Royal Blue I believe, and most of the other fabrics are Animal Party.

I went with a solid brown binding, and now can't remember which kona it was! Need to start labeling them when I buy them...

I found this cool stripe in an end of bolt bin at a LQS just as I was finishing the top, and knew it had to be the back! Luckily, the piece was just big enough :)

This one has some straight lines sort of outlining the bricks, and finished at 34"x40".

So here's to the new year with some (hopefully) more consistent blogging!