Teacher gifts this year

In all the holiday busy-ness, I never shared my teacher gifts. I had 16 teachers to make for this year because of my little guy being in a toddler room and my older one in two schools (blasted part time kindergarten!). So for the majority of teachers, they got these little Mini Treat Totes. I've linked to the free pattern for you.

These went together so fast! I did most of them during our Philly MQG retreat in November. And i used a lot of my adorable Kawaii fabric from the Pink Castle Kawaii Fabric club. Here's a close up of one of my favorite pieces.

I got a great groupon for the Body Shop and got body butters to put in these bags for the teachers.



I decided that my daughter's kindergarten teacher needed a bigger gift. She has 25 kids in her class but still really takes the time with each kid. So I made her the Jane Market Tote from the pattern I bought a few years ago.

 These are such a great bag. Good all purpose size and quick to go together!

The pattern doesn't call for it, but I use stabilizer in it so they are a little stiffer and will maintain shape a little better. Helps when you are trying to load it.

I also made some key fobs for the bus drivers, but forgot to take pictures of those. I hope they are happy with them!

Must love purple again....

I have another quilt to share, but it looks very much like something I've made before!

 Yup, my Must Love Purple quilt that I showed at Bloggers Quilt Fest 2012. I was contacted by someone who wanted me to recreate this for her and I was happy to do it. After all, I love purple!

Most of the fabrics came from my stash, but she did provide several and I tried to tailor the color palate to what she sent me. I had taken this to a retreat to quilt it and was asked where I got all the purple. I realized that I have just been collecting it! When I find it, I buy a little bit here and there!

The tutorial for this block can be found here at Nittany Block Party.

I kept the quilting deliberately loose (as in, not densely quilted) so the quilt will be nice and snuggly. I only quilted along the scrappy stripes and then around the borders. I used a variegated thread (didn't get a great shot of that).

This is ONE BIG QUILT! Because I stink at quilt math, she asked for 80" x90" and I wound up at 90" x 100"! LOL  To give you a sense of the size, one of the 4 parts that makes up the square is 6.75".

You can see the quilting a little better on the back of the quilt. All of the greens and the blue back here are extras of what the client sent me.

I made the binding scrappy too. I always love a scrappy binding. Now to send this off to it's new home!

Quilt stats:

Size: 90" x 100"

Pattern: X String Block

Fabrics: Mix of scraps and stash

Quilted by: Myself

Finished: 11/14/2014

Oh my gosh you guys! I am so humbled and excited. This was my first time doing an all applique quilt. And the first time doing free motion on a longarm! I'm so thrilled to have won the favorite quilt in the applique category. I just wanted to post and thank you all for your votes! This is so thrilling for me and I appreciate all of your votes!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Mini Flower

I am also entering this quilt in the Bloggers Quilt Festival - the Mini Quilt Category. I made this quilt over the summer for the Schnitzel and Boo mini quilt swap on IG. This was a design I had seen on an accuquilt block contest that I used and interpreted for the swap. Final size on this was 20" wide and tall.

First thing I did was a test version in my own colors.

 

I decided it needed an added border and that I loved the spiral quilting. I gave her pockets in the corner for hanging and a little note on my label.

The recipients colors were fushia and orange. Not a color combo that I typically work in, but I LOVE! It was so fun to step out of my box and make this. And I think the colors are perfect for a flower.

If you like it, please go and vote for me at the Bloggers Quilt Fest!

Bloggers Quilt Festival - The Tree Edition

Hi everyone and welcome to my little stop of the Bloggers Quilt Festival. I'm entering these two quilts as one entry into the Applique category because they are the same quilt in different colorways. So if you like what you see, please go and vote for me! :)

Of course there is a story behind these quilts!  My sister's girlfriend had asked me if I could make her a baby quilt for her girlfriend. I immediately agreed. I love doing baby quilts! She told me the mother loved trees and so I started searching for a great tree pattern.

Shortly after I had started the planning process, she sent me an email. The mother had her ultrasound and she was having twin girls!! So, could I make two tree quilts.  Well, that made the price of this Lilly Pilly pattern much more affordable!

The other story behind this quilt is the binding. This is the bridesmaid dress worn by the woman who commissioned the quilt at the mothers wedding. I thought that was such a sweet touch! I had wanted to do a very wide binding, but once it changed to two quilts I was nervous about having enough!

 

For the backs of the quilts I decided to use only one print so they could be flipped over. I love these backing prints!

Both prints are part of the Joann's designer collection (but I can't remember the specific names). 

 

The tree trunk, branches and birds are raw edge applique. The leaves were done by drawing the shape on interfacing, sewing to the fabric and then flipping inside out. That way I was able to just free motion stitch those down.

I do have to say, I'm most especially proud of the quilting on this.  I was able to go over to my friend Denise's house and use her long-arm. For the first time I used the front side and did free motion quilting based from Angela Walters new book Shape by Shape Quilting. I can't say enough good things about that book - go check it out!

And just a close up of the cute little birds on the tree and my quilting within the leaves: 

I'm very proud of these quilts and I hope you've enjoyed seeing them! If so, please go vote for me on the applique page right here.

Quilt stats:

Quilt name: Trees for Twins

Pattern: Lilly Pilly

Fabrics: scraps, kona white and snow, bridesmaid dress

Finished size: 38"x51"

Finished: 10/5/14

A special wedding gift!

I just finished and photographed my Metro Lattice quilt from Sew Kind of Wonderful. This quilt is going to be a wedding quilt for my nephew who is getting married next weekend.

They are in their early 20's and so I wanted to find something with a cooler vibe for them. I thought this was appropriate since it is a new twist on the Double Wedding Ring.

I found out that the bride's favorite color is purple so I went with my favorite Joel Dewberry line so far, Bungalow. Mixed it with a kona purple (I don't remember which one!) and a kona snow and voila!!

My feet as I try to get high enough to take the photo!!

My lovely friend Denise had me over to her place to long arm this quilt. I'm so addicted to long arming, I love how fast it is and the great results. Here are some shots of the quilting I chose. I love the secondary pattern that looks like a heart.

I have to say, I love how this pattern came together. This is my second quilt with the Quick Curve Ruler and I love the detail they put into their pattern writing. Everything is clear and easy to follow and leads to such impressive results (in my option).

I went with the blue color on the front for the backing. I found this print from ModKid at Joann's and I loved it so much I did the entire back in it with my label pieced within.

And the binding is one of my favorite prints from Bungalow. Cut on the bias it makes a really fun binding.

I hope the newlyweds love it as much as I do! I'm having a hard time parting with it!

 

Quilt stats:

Quilt name: Wedding Metro Lattice

Pattern: Metro Lattice

Fabrics: Joel Dewberry Bungalow, Kona purple and snow

Finished size: 57" x 69"

Finished: 9/22/14