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. :) 

Wee Wander Quilt

Well, hello and welcome back! Indeed, let me welcome myself back to this little blog.  The thing is, I haven't had as much time for quilting in the past two years, and I haven't felt much motivation to blog. But I do feel that "keeping up" with the quilting community inspires me to keep sewing. It feeds my creativity and my motivation.  

So sharing a blog post or two every now and then will hopefully keep me connected to my quilting (and other) friends and keep me motivated and on track in my quilting goals.  Also, I just like to have pictures of my quilts in one spot. That's here. There are a few quilts that I made last year that I was in such a hurry to gift that I didn't even photograph them.  Now, that makes me sad!  At the time, I didn't think that I cared too much. But it turns out, I do.  So here's to better documentation of my quilts!

As it turns out, this is my THIRD quilt out of these "Wee Wander" by Sarah Jane fabrics.  The other two were baby quilts (seen here) that were given to a friend and sister-in-law for their new babies.  But this one is for MY baby!  Actually, it's for my oldest baby, Elyse, for her ninth birthday.

The pattern is called "Red Velvet" by Camille Roskelley, and gee did I wish I had a bigger design wall when planning this quilt. My sweet husband was a dear to put up with it sitting (in dozens of pieces) on the bedroom floor for what turned into two weeks!

We're always told not to play favorites, but heck - this print (above) is mine!  The girl reminds me of how I used to collect fireflies as a child, and now, she reminds me of how my daughter currently does.   She looks like us!

So many of these prints are really lovely and perfect for my daughter. She loves the outdoors and especially loves horses, so I love that particular theme in this fabric line.  I also love how the prints used for negative space still had images in them, like the girls feeding the birds.

A last little touch that I think is sweet is the addition of this "P.S. I love you" tag.  I have a miserable track record when it comes to labeling my quilts, but this was a super cute find at a local quilt shop, and I've enjoyed adding them to quilts lately.

And of course, a huge "shout out" to Anne who quilted this with her signature "meander". Thanks, friend!

Up next... my third "Posy" quilt.  Can't wait to share that one.  See you back here soon!

Not much to show...

... for not posting on this little blog for over a year! Oh dear! I have really let blogging fall by the wayside, and to be honest, quilting, too! It's been so sad. But I have missed archiving my work in this space.  I have shared some of my makings on Instagram and Facebook, but it's just not the same.  Every now and then I will come back to this space and look at old quilts that I made and be thrilled all over again with some of the things I've done but forgotten about!

So I'm going to try to post every now and then just to keep a record of what I've been sewing.

First up... I don't have a good picture of this finished quilt, but you get the idea: half square triangles of Cotton + Steel.  This was a charity quilt for a good friend of mine.

Next up: this quilt went our friend, Gracie.  She one of Charlotte's best friends and good helpers, too! When she turned 16 earlier this year, it was time to whip up a quilt for her.  I used a jelly roll of Mormor by Lotta Jansdotter and a Camille Roskelley pattern. I love how it turned out, and I think she did too!  ;)

After Gracie's quilt came another quick quilt from pre-cuts and another Camillle Roskelley pattern. This one was a surprise for a quilt-loving friend at church.

Now this little pillow was done just a week or two ago.  I'm still working on a quilt for my youngest, Marian.  I'm trying to make a quilt for each of my four kiddos on their even-numbered birthdays.  Marian was turning four earlier this month, but alas - her quilt is still in the making.  But these little economy blocks came to the rescue.  I did a handful of them back when it was the trend, but didn't make enough for a quilt before I got distracted moved along to something else. But don't they look so cute as a pillow?  They were a quick fix to my little, gift problem as I finish up her quilt.

Now I've saved the best for last... this is my third "Wee Wander" quilt and what I think is my best quilt ever! It was surely the most complicated pattern that I have ever done.  And I just love this fabric so much. These colors are not quite true to life as this picture was taken with my phone, but maybe one day I'll get this quilt in a proper photo shoot.  It's really worth it!

Despite the small photo, it really is a fairly large quilt (for me, at least). The pattern is called "Red Velvet" by Camille Roskelley (again!) and it finishes at 64x73 inches.  My friend, Anne, graciously quilted it for me nearly a year ago! But I kept it a secret from my eldest, Elyse, till her ninth birthday party last week. (No, not an even-numbered year for her, but the quilt was ready, so why not? In fact, maybe it's a year late.  I doubt she got one last year...)

So that is all for now.  If you are still reading, after all this time, and now all the way to the end, you  might be wondering - "But what about Charlotte?!" She is doing so very well. She has been off of chemo for over two years now, and her subsequent MRIs still show "stable disease." That's the short version, and hopefully I'll do a longer post on her soon.  Soon! ;)

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!

Raffle quilt for Allergy Research

*Note: Quilt Raffle has ended.  Julia Jech is the winner. Thank you for all the entries and support!*

It might be hard to believe, but this lovely quilt could be yours by the end of this week!  Ain't nothin' in life free, though, friends, so I'd better give you the details...

Tracy used Allison Harris's "Suburbs" pattern.

One of Charlotte's best friends in all the world is this sweet kid:

Elijah is the son of my friend, Tracy. (And yes, he is every bit as sweet in person as he looks in this photo... and then some!)

Lots of lovely fabric by Bonnie & Camille

Tracy has made quilt after quilt after quilt for my brain tumor auction, and now she's made another one to help raise money for allergy research because her sweet Elijah is living with life-threatening food allergies.

And even some Wee Wander goodness!

Here is what she wrote on her fundraising page:

"Our sweet Elijah's life is affected by food allergies every day.  He is so sweet, strong, and resilient - he constantly amazes us.  Even though he has risen to the challenges before him each day, having to be kept separate from so many things to keep him safe is very, very hard for him.  We pray each day for his allergies to become less sensitive or go away.  We pray for researchers to find ways to help or to find the cause.  We pray that we can keep him safe so the unthinkable never happens.  We educate the people around us to help Elijah have the most normal childhood possible.  FARE supports both research and education.  We ask you to support our team and join us in prayer for a cure.

*Note: Quilt Raffle has ended.  Julia Jech is the winner. Thank you for all the entries and support!*

Look: a little gray house made out of wooden planks!

"We are having a raffle for a large, throw-sized Christmas Quilt to thank our donors.  For every $5 you donate, we will put one ticket in the bucket.  When you donate $20, we will give you a bonus ticket.  Winner will be chosen on the eve of the allergy walk."  (That would be this Friday night!)

You are still welcome to support food allergy research, but...

*Note: Quilt Raffle has ended.  Julia Jech is the winner. Thank you for all the entries and support!*

This kid's gonna be a heartbreaker... so handsome!

Even $5 will get you a ticket into this raffle!  And really, that's nothing when we're talking about keeping our little people safe.  Elijah is one of the nicest boys I know.  Really: he is always looking out for others.  When he comes to play at my home, he sticks close to Charlotte in order to make sure she is doing okay and having fun.  Or, last time he was here, we couldn't find him.  But he was off "babysitting"  my youngest, Marian.  (Which I guess means that we couldn't find her, either - oops!)  Anyhow, we love Elijah so much, so please, be nice like Elijah: donate a few bucks.  And you just might win this very pretty quilt...

*Note: Quilt Raffle has ended.  Julia Jech is the winner. Thank you for all the entries and support!*

The quilt is no longer available, but you are still welcome to...

Click here to donate now and help us say FAREwell to food allergies.

Kai's Quilt

Look at this kid!  Isn't he just the cutest?!

So this is Kai (the name is short for "Malachi").  He is my friend, Tracy's, fourth child.

Kai at two months old

Tracy is the same, sweet friend who kept my kids every week for the last year and a half while I took Charlotte for chemo.  (And the same friend who made this quilt and this quilt and this one, too.)

So one day in early May, Tracy told me that she would be leaving within the week to go pick up Kai from Las Vegas and bring him home.  "What?!"  Even though her adoption papers had been with the agency for almost a year, this all seemed very sudden.

Well, off she went to Vegas to pick up Kai.  Now even though I had other baby quilts in the queue, I stopped everything and whipped up this quilt top.  After all, Tracy would do no less for me.  I got the top done (tweaking one of Camille's patterns), then off I  went to New York City for a long weekend with the husband.  (Our May trips make Tracy and me sound much more exciting than we are in real life!)  

Of course, Anne came to my rescue yet again.  While I was enjoying myself in NYC, she did her great meander on this fun quilt, even though she had a teeny newborn herself!  (In the picture above, I just love the Sarah Jane print of cloud shapes; particularly, the little house makes me think of Kai having a forever home in Tracy's family.)

The quilting was all done when I returned home, so Anne dropped the quilt off, I slapped the binding on, and it was ready for Tracy and Kai when they returned from Vegas.  Hooray!  I love a good surprise; and what could be better than a surprise quilt?

Tracy likes Ed Emberly, so I did the backing in these frogs.  Which, I must add, I have seen in pictures online, but oh my goodness: they are sooo  much cuter in real life!

I am so happy that this quilt has been such a hit with Tracy and Kai.  Tracy just loves the colors!  And of course, she loves Sarah Jane and Camille, too!  I think I nailed this one... yay!

Our family is so happy that even though we've moved to a wonderful new home, we are still not too far from Tracy's family - just about an hour away!  They've already come to play at our home in the woods.  

I wish I had a picture of all of them, but they are all so quick and busy that all my pictures came out blurry!  The one above is of Kai's big brother and sister, Asher and Betsy, with my Elyse in the middle.  What sweet kids!

(Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts, NTT, Free Motion Mavericks, and Quilt Story.)

"Posy" Churn Dash

You know those little butterflies that you get when love is new and fresh?  (And, er... that last well into your tenth year of marriage? ;)  )  Yeah.  That's how I feel about this little quilt.  Be still my beating heart.



I think that it is just so perfect.  One reason I love it is because most of the fabric was given to me.  For free!  And from different people!  So I put it all together, did a little churn dash pattern from Camille's book, and voila!



Look at that center block... a print from Sarah Jane's newest "Wee Wander" line of fabric.  I just had to sneak it in!

The backing and binding are from a line called "Posy" by Aneela Hoey.  They are just fantastic fabrics!  Little girls reading "The Big Book of Adventures for Girls" and playing with hens!  Oh goodness... I love a sweet farm scene.



The binding is machine-stitched to the front, then hand-stitched to the back.  Perfectly mitred corners, if I do say so myself.  :)

And then there's the quilting.  My friend, Anne, really outdid herself on this one.  Can you see the big flowers and swirly patterns?  She did a really fabulous job.



I mentioned in my preview post that I was going to have a hard time parting with it.  It's true, but I think I'm ready.  It needs to go... my husband doesn't appreciate sharing my affection. With a quilt... of all things.  Help save my marriage and kids with brain tumors...

Click here to bid on this quilt.  *Bidding Closed.

Quilt Stats:
Size: 36 x 36 inches
Made by: Me
Quilted by: Anne Reinhart
Fabrics: quilting cottons

(Want to see more?  Click here to see all the quilts that are on auction until Saturday, April 5, 2014.)


"Someone in your life needs a quilt, and someone in mine needs a cure."
  Charlotte's gRACE for a Cure 2014 Quilt Auction to benefit the PBTF

"I Spy" Nine-Patch Baby Quilt

I made this little nine-patch quilt from some scraps that I had in my stash.



There are so many neat prints in here that I really like the idea of this being a great "I Spy" quilt.



Mushrooms, girls playing with dolls, birds and flowers...



More girls and dolls...



Another bird... and see the pinwheel?



And the patches of text fabric are really great, too.  There are wonderful little encouragements like, "Be happy today!"  And "everything is going to be all right."



I did the backing in a pink houndstooth quilter's flannel.  It's super soft and snuggly!

Click here to bid on this quilt.  *Bidding Closed.

Quilt Stats:
Size: 40 x 40 inches
Made and Quilted by: Me
Fabrics: quilting cottons and flannel (for the backing)



(Want to see more?  Click here to see all the quilts that are on auction until Saturday, April 5, 2014.)


"Someone in your life needs a quilt, and someone in mine needs a cure."
  Charlotte's gRACE for a Cure 2014 Quilt Auction to benefit the PBTF

Spring Auction Preview #7

Okay... this auction is creeping up on us!  Are you ready?  (I'm getting there...)



Here's a little sneak peek of a nine-patch quilt that I put together quite some time ago.  This is a baby quilt that I made using some of my favorite scraps.  That Sarah Jane piece from "Children at Play?"  I love that sketch of the girls playing dollies!  And those mushrooms sure are fun, too, eh?

Do you know of a little baby girl who could use this sweet quilt?  (I do, but drat!...  I've already set this aside as an auction piece.)  We'll all just have to come back next month to bid on this and many other fun quilts.

Quilt auction for brain tumor research kicks off on March 31, 2014.  See you there!

Our Beach (Quilt) Adventure

Last week, I resigned myself to the sad fact that we had not made it to the beach this year, and so I shared my beach quilt "finish" nonetheless.  And then - what do you know?  We made it!  And oh my - this quilt looks so much better in the sunlight and on the sand. Not to mention the accent of my handsome husband holding it up.  (Isn't he a good sport?  Look: he even dressed to match!  What more could a girl ask for?!)  

It was windy on Sunday, but we had the help of my in-laws, so we took off for our beach adventure.

It was a great day for digging in the sand...

... for contemplating life while watching waves crash onto the shore...

... and for falling in love with the beach for the very first time.

I hope your weekend was as happy as mine!