Hushabye Baby Quilt

I have a small baby quilt to share today. Back in March of 2011 I was lucky enough to win 2 charm packs of Hushabye from KT Quilts. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I'm a huge Tula Pink fan. I missed this line and was excited to get these charm packs. I've been wanting to do a simple patchwork quilt for a while and these charm packs were perfect for the project.

I laid them out pretty randomly though I will admit to some fussing with the order. I think it came out super sweet!

I have a friend expecting a baby girl this summer so this has her name written all over it.

I had a little bit of yardage from my LQS so I used that on the back of it. The quilting is simple straight line quilting through the diagonal. Enough to make it sturdy, but yet keep it soft and fluffy.

And I couldn't resist throwing in a little Children at Play with my label. It matched so well and is one of my favorite kids fabrics.

The only other place I used a non- Hushabye Fabric was the binding. But the green Parisville played so nicely, you'd never know it was a different line.

Quilt stats:

Size: 35" x 43"

Pattern: patchwork

Fabrics: Hushabye by Tula Pink

Quilted by: Myself

Finished: 6/15/2012

YAY! I'm a finalist!

I was so excited when I saw Jennifer posted her finalists for the Summer Sewing Contest and my quilt made it in!!

I'm in some very good company and flattered to be there. If you have a few minutes go check out all the pretty inspiration right here. And if you feel so inclined, I'd love your vote. :)

 

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments you have left on the quilt. It was definitely a fun quilt to make. My 4 mth old has fallen in love with it because it's so colorful. He lunges for it every time I walk by it with him. Guess that means it is his right? 

Rainbow QST quilt finish

**This quilt is now for sale in my Etsy shop**

A few months ago I joined up with Kati's (From the Blue Chair) Color Wheel Charm Swap. I didn't have any plans for the fabrics, but I loved the idea of getting a whole rainbow of different fabrics.

Then at a PMQG meeting, Anna brought in this quilt and I fell in love with it! She was inspired by this Red Pepper Quilts HST Overload quilt.

Now I don't know if there is a difference officially between Half Square Triangles and Quarter Square triangles, but I made mine with what I've been taught are Quarter Square Triangles (hence the name).  You simply sew around the four edges of two charms and then cut an "x" through them. Then you have 4 triangles from the square, each a quarter of the square. Clear as mud right?

Enough rambling.

I knew these fabrics would be perfect for that kind of values quilt and here is what I came up with.

It's a lot smaller than Anna and Rita's version since I used 5" squares to start with, but I think it would make a fun baby/kid quilt.

Some of the fun fabrics.

I wound up using the raspberry that I had contemplated for dresden sashing and decided against. I think it works much better on this quilt. The brightness would have been too much for the dresdens.

The backing is all stash - yay! And the quilting is straight line.  One thing I would change if I did this again is I would press the seams open. I normally don't do that (I hate steam burning my fingers!). But I wound up with some lumpy intersections which made the quilting a little wobbly. It's nothing a good wash and fluff won't fix, but was a little frustrating in the process.

Quilt stats:

Size: 30"x45"

Pattern: Inspiration here

Fabrics: Rainbow Charm Swap collection

Quilted by: Myself

Finished: 6/6/2012

linking to Summer Sewing at Ellison Lane Quilts.

A little nautical dress

This little outfit is for my niece who is turning 1 soon. Her mother (aka my sister) is a huge fan of anchors so when I found anchor fabric (Dear Stella) I knew I had to make something for her. I had seen these cute little cross back dresses in the past so I went on the hunt for a pattern. I found McCalls M535 and it was perfect (and I think it was only $3).

However, as anyone who has made clothing knows, you should always order the fabric after finding your pattern. I didn't have enough anchor fabric to make the whole thing!!  First up I made the dress in anchors and used some leftover white lining fabric I had from my own top instead of lining it with Anchors.

The back is the best part....

Or maybe the adorable buttons??

So then I found some cute polka dot fabric that went with it and I made some bloomers. I must admit, I've never been good at bottoms of any kind. Even pajama bottoms baffle me. I don't know what it is. So I'm hoping these fit. At least she can put on solid white bloomers if these don't work.

Then I realized I had a ton of polka dot fabric left so I made another top!

Check it out, more adorable buttons. These are a coral color.

And I had just enough anchor fabric to make the little hat.

I think it's all totally adorable, I hope my sister likes it too. And more than anything, I hope it fits my niece! She's a Florida baby so I know she'll get a lot of use out of these little dresses.

I'm linking to Ellison Lane's Summer Sewing Contest.

My Kitchen Windows - quilt finish

This quilt has been on the back burner for quite a while. I'm finally getting to those items that keep getting pushed to the bottom of the WIP list. Meaning - I am using up the stash - woohoo!

The prints in this quilt are Sanctuary by Patty Young (plus one Prince Charming, Tula Pink). I loved this fabric line and bought a fat quarter set of the cool colorway with no plans for it.


Then I found the Kitchen Windows Pattern in The Practical Guide to Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman and I knew it was perfect.

I pieced my label on the back and used up more of my stash (yay!).

I was stumped on how to quilt it and decided to use the Baptist Fan FMQ tutorial from Don't Call me Betsy. I just altered it and used every other line on the ruler and make it a little less dense.

This quilting was a roller coaster for me. First off, let me say, quilting is not my favorite part of the process so I'm usually looking for the quickest method possible.

I've never done marking on my quilt for quilting before. With the contrast between the solids I had to use a light pen and a dark pen to be able to see the lines. So by the time I was done marking this, I had to set it aside for a while and take a break. Once I started quilting it, it was pretty easy. But when I was done I was not happy with it. My lines were very wobbly and didn't overlap nicely. I was frustrated but threw it in the wash anyway.


When it came out, it was fantastic!! Never underestimate the wash. :)

My binding is a fabric I found at my LQS. Sanctuary was out of print by the time I got to this one but I was happy to find this print that matched the colors.

Quilt stats:

Size: 52"x 68"

Pattern: Kitchen Windows (Practical Guide to Patchwork)

Fabrics: Sanctuary and Kona solids Spearmint and Glacier (I think)

Quilted by: Myself

Finished: 6/4/12

Sweet Harmony Handbag

A while back I posted about how I found this "lost" project. I had purchased everything I needed a few years ago and somehow totally forgot about it! With Sara hosting Purse Palooza it was the perfect time to finally get it done.

The pattern is Amy Butler Sweet Harmony Handbag and Tote. I chose to make the handbag. It's made out of Amy Butler Love which is one of my all time favorite lines. My favorite quilt ever that I've made is done with these fabrics. I didn't realize you can still purchase the whole line here. I may have to contain myself!!

As usual with an Amy Butler pattern, the results are a very professional bag.  But also as usual, you need to read the directions carefully. I had the bag almost finished before i realized I forgot to add the outer pockets!

The bag gives you the option to do zippers or pockets on the inside. with such small pockets I just did open pockets.

Now I just need to get my kids out of diapers so I can carry a small bag again!

I'm entering this bag in Purse Palooza 2012. And Ellison Lane's Summer Sewing Contest.