Big Baby Churn Dash

Super quick post here... I'm just trying to keep a log of the quilts I finish (which are just too few and far between these days - ugh!).

Anyhow, this little baby quilt was for the baby of a dear friend of mine, Sarah. She named her fourth baby, Theodore - isn't that too cute?!

I used fabrics from Sarah Jane's "Magic" fabric line, and this print below was my favorite - architectural plans for castles! I loved using it as my low-volume print for the background. The gray print has dragons and the navy blue is stars. Perfect for an aspiring knight!

My friend, Sarah, was so gracious not to mind that the quilt was oh-so-many months late! She loves her some handmade goodness, though, so I knew I'd get a deadline extension. :) 

A "Made in Cherry" Made with Posy

Dear Little Posy Quilt,

How I love thee.  

You took forever to make.

But keeping all your fussy cut images upright made sewing each square one by one well worth it.

I love your strawberry backing...

...and how you crinkled up so softly after the wash.

You were even so easy to quilt.  

Last but not least, I love your photo bomber, too.

Affectionately,
Your quilter

"Happy Go Lucky" Hourglasses

 I finished this quilt maybe two months ago now... just trying to catch up on my blogging.  :)  

I paired a few fat-eighth cuts of Bonnie & Camille's "Happy Go Lucky" fabrics with some solids that I had on hand.  Then I dug into my scrap bin for the piano keys border.

I just love how it turned out!  Really: this is one of my top three favorite quilts.

I did the backing with another piece of "Briar Rose" that I had on hand. I'm just not sure I can get enough of those mama bees knitting!

This was a gift for Baby Lucy whom I know from church. Her mother is a dear who appreciates handmade goods and once upon a time called my quilts "Rad."  Yup... that's how you get on the fast track to a handmade quilt in my book.  

"Rad" + new baby = I'll whip you up a quilt in no time.  ;)

A Sherbert Pips Quilt

Marian's birthday was back in November.

This pretty quilt was finished only a few months later.

I took two charm packs of Aneela Hoey's "Sherbert Pips" line and did a little "disappearing nine-patch" pattern.

Then I added some Kona Ash sashing and a border of Sarah Jane's hopscotch print.

So quick and easy!

And then I sent it off to my quilter for a little "meander" goodness.  (Don't you just love that girl on the swing?)

The backing got a little interesting as I tried to use up every charm and not purchase new fabric, all at once!

Marian might be the littlest person in my home, but she's my biggest quilt lover.  This quilt is no exception.

In other news, I celebrated a birthday earlier this week.  I don't really like cake - unless it's made out strips of binding and sitting atop a pretty, little dresden plate! Such a charming little gift, wouldn't you say?


(Linking up to Finish it up Friday.)

The Kate Spain Scrappy Quilt

Happy Saturday to you!  I don't know about you, but I just love a lazy Saturday with not much on the agenda.  And that's what I'm having today!  It's a welcome break.  

The past two weeks have been filled with planning, cleaning, and hosting Charlotte's 4th birthday party.  (That's right: she's FOUR years old!!!)  And then it took me a bit to recover.  Here's to life in my thirties.  Sigh.

Anyhow, here's a finished quilt!  Hooray!

Do you remember my Kate Spain HST Overload quilt?  Well, I had a few scraps remaining, and I just could not part with them.  So I sewed them together, then cut them up, sewed them together again, and came up with some scrappy half-square triangles.

If I remember correctly, I believe I cut the squares to 4-inches, before doing the HSTs.  So they are rather small.  Which means the scraps are even smaller!

Then I added the border, and then I didn't like it.  :(

So I sent it off to Anne, and wouldn't you know... she saved it!  She did this very tight meander only in the negative space, leaving the triangles and border with quilting.  The texture is fantastic.

I think I found the smallest scrap.  In the picture above, see the blue patch on the top?  That's made up of TWO fabrics.  The one on the bottom right is probably not even as big as half my pinky nail.  Teeny tiny!

And I love the texture on the back, too.  I did a strip of that gorgeous peacock fabric.

What I think really rescued this quilt in my mind is the binding.  Anne took it upon herself to do that for me.  Isn't she a dear?  I was going to do a scrappy binding, but boy does she ever have an eye for these things!  The gray stripe on the bias is just fantastic.  Now I simply cannot part with this quilt.  Perhaps it is time I start to keep more of my quilts, anyhow.  Thanks so much, Anne!  :)

What's so great about this "finish" is that I feel like my quilting has been in a slump lately.  When we moved early in the summer, I was able to set up a really lovely quilting space out in our sun room.  The problem with that is that the sun room is not at all insulated.  So it's about 30 degrees out there right now!  And that has put a damper on my productivity.  But I have been getting quilts that I worked on earlier in the year back from quilters, and so I still seem to have a "finish" or two each month.  

How about you?  Are you busier than ever this winter?  Or has quilting taken a backseat to other endeavors?

(Linking up Amanda Jean and with Cynthia for "Oh Scrap!")

Harrison's Gray + White Mod Quilt

My sister, Theresa, is having her first baby soon - hooray! I am so thrilled for her and for her husband.  Of course, I had to make the baby a quilt!  My only regret is that I did not have it done in time for the baby shower last month.  :(

Anyhow, Theresa decided that she would do Baby Harrison's nursery in gray and white.  (And by the way, isn't "Harrison" just the best name?)  Theresa has a very clean and modern aesthetic, so I thought that more modern quilt would appeal to her.  I came up with this:

I just did a "stack and whack" technique that my friend, Anne, taught me after she pulled off this gorgeous quilt for her brother.  I added the borders then quilted along the vertical seams and voila.

I also put together four, little burp cloths backed in gray minky.  Theresa's husband is a Virginia State Trooper, so I thought they might like this "civil servant" style fabric.

It's my first attempt at a modern-style quilt.  Theresa loves it, and her State Trooper husband loves the burp cloths, but what do you think?  Please be honest... Modern is not really my style, but maybe I'll give it another shot in the future.

Wee Wandering {Part One}

It is no secret that I am a huge fan of Sarah Jane fabrics.  My first three quilts were done with her "Children at Play" line.  Her latest line, "Wee Wander," was released one year ago and is (hands-down!) my favorite to date.  The fabric is so wonderful that I did not feel the need to go with a fancy or complicated quilt pattern (not that I ever feel that need).  

So both of these quilts are free tutorials from Amy Smart.  The tutorial for the above baby quilt can be found here.  This little quilt went to my brother's new baby, Nyasha.  She is his fourth child and is just as adorable as can be!

I backed both quilts with this print of fireflies and jars.  

This second quilt I shamelessly copied almost exactly, again, from an Amy Smart pattern.  (This pattern can be found here.)  And this quilt I made for my friend's baby, Evie.  It's just too bad that Evie has already celebrated her six month birthday.  Sigh... One of these days, I'll have a baby quilt ready before baby is born.

I just had to have the swirl quilting done on this, and I surely could not do it myself, so Logan helped me out again.  Thanks, Logan!

And with the scraps I put together a little boxy pouch, following this tutorial.  It was only my second time using a zipper, and I think it went pretty well... only... don't inspect the inner lining too closely, okay?

The little pouch turned out to be a perfect gift for Elyse when she turned seven years old earlier this month.  She was able to tuck her new camera and new binoculars right inside it.  What a pretty little lady.

It will probably be quite a few more months before I'm able to pull off a "Wee Wandering {Part Two}" post, but I do love this fabric so much that I am making a larger, lap-sized quilt for me.  The pattern is a bit more complicated (imagine that!), but I already have the cutting done.  Wish me luck!

The (less than!) One Dollar Quilt Top

You did read that correctly. This quilt top?  Yeah.  It cost me less than a dollar.  Shoot!  What a deal!

Sometime over the summer, one of the local quilt shops here decided to host a "yard sale."  So the customers brought in their unloved fabric, and it was offered up at about $3/yard.  In turn, the customers who sold their fabric received store credit for their sales.  (Isn't that just a great idea?!)

See all these pretty squares?  They were pre-cut, and in a scrap bag (with a bunch of other fabric!) marked at $2!  These squares did not take up even half the bag.  Hence, my less-than-one-dollar quilt top.

And check this out: Heather Ross matroyshkas!  Sheesh. I looked those babies up on Etsy, and don'tcha know it: someone is hawking these for $5 per 5-inch square!  Now that is surely highway robbery.  Still, as if I didn't already think I got a sweet deal, that discovery makes it even sweeter.

Now about the same time I made this sweet purchase, my friend adopted her darling, third child.  So I just sewed these little squares all together and voila : (almost) instant baby gift.

And really: isn't it just so bright and cheery?  Perfect for new babies and their cute, chubby cheeks!

(The backing?  More Heather Ross strawberries.  Love those.)

And speaking of chubby cheeks.... Here is the sweet baby, already getting in some good, old-fashioned tummy time.

Now this is why I make quilts!  What a precious baby girl!  Love her to pieces...

Stacked Coins Quilt

Happy Labor Day! I hope that you are having a wonderful, long weekend.

This is a sweet little baby quilt that I originally intended for our brain tumor quilt auction back in April.  But, it was not finished in time, which was actually perfect!  "How can that be?" you might ask.

     1. I had PLENTY of quilts to photograph and to blog and to link to eBay, etc.  It was very time-consuming (though all for a great cause, of course)!

     2. I found an even more perfect charity for this little, rainbow quilt!

One day when Charlotte and I were at her chemo appointment at Duke, we started chatting with our friend, Miss Mary Margaret.  Mary Margaret runs art programs for the children in the hospital through an organization called Arts for Life.

Mary Margaret knows that I quilt, so she mentioned that her aunt was making a quilt for her to auction off during an upcoming fundraising event.  The event is called "Local Color."  Well, I had just finished making this little quilt, but it was homeless!  (This is a rarity... only the second of its kind in my home.)

Anyhow, when she told me about "Local Color" and I thought of all these colorful coins stacked one on top of the other, well... this just had to go to Mary Margaret's cause!

Of course, I can't be talking about all this sweet charity without giving some other gals some credit.  The "Tones" by Michael Miller charm pack was sent to me by the talented and generous Amy Smart (visit her blog here - especially if you need some great tutorials and patterns).  And the backing and quilting were donated by my sweet friend, Anne, of DS Pickle Dish fame, of course.

Are you local to North Carolina and available this Friday night?  Local Color will be such a fun night!  Grab a date, then book your tickets here.  In addition to your dancing shoes, don't forget to bring some cash or your checkbook for the great items at the auction.

Have a great week!