Baby Geese Quilt

I feel like the past month and a half has been uber productive for me, for no other reason other than I finished not only a divided basket, but this baby quilt. 

Yes, this is my Michael Miller challenge quilt, which doubles as a baby quilt for my cousin's new son. When I got the fabrics earlier this year, I thought they'd make for a fun baby quilt. I was right. 

I had to rush to finish this one though. I had the binding half hand sewn to the the back, when I got a text from my cousin on November 26th - his son was born a couple of weeks early. So I got to work that day, finishing sewing the binding and washing the quilt so that I could gift them this new quilt on Thanksgiving the next morning. 

I just did some simple straight line quilting, which always seems to take longer than planned. Why do I always pick things that take a lot of time? Who knows? But I love the effect. As I was part way through quilting, I was worried that they quilt would be too stiff with all of the quilting, but fortunately it wasn't. The backing is something I picked up at Marden's during retreat a few years ago. I forget what it is. I quilted this with 50wt Aurifil on my Bernina this time around. 

Baby Quilt - Finally a Finish!

Holy Cow! Has it really been more than three months since my last blog post? I guess that's what happens when you mix work, grad school and summer together. I admit, I haven't had the time to do much sewing, but I did manage to get this quilt finished back in June to give to my wonderful cousin before she had her adorable son.

I got a lot of the piecing done at retreat back in March and slowly finished piecing the quilt together and quilted it, echoing around the tumbler blocks in the months after.

I cut the tumbler pieces out using four charm packs and my tumbler die for my AccuQuilt using some Pure charm packs I had lying around.

It was a big accomplishment to get this one done in time for the baby shower. The final stitch went into the binding the morning of! My other cousin is having a baby in December, so I guess I should get moving on that one. Actually, I might turn my Michael Miller challenge quilt into that baby quilt since I'm still working on that. 

Purple & Green Baby Quilt

One of my dear friends is having a baby next month, so of course I just HAD to make her a baby quilt. She's having a baby girl and is decorating using purples and greens. Don't you love when someone tells you what colors they're using? It makes it easy to pick out fabrics, although sometimes I enjoy coming up with my own fabric combinations.

Her baby shower was this past weekend, so I was able to give her this baby quilt in person. I was so happy that it was still well received and everyone, including mom and dad, loved the quilt.

I had a fat quarter bundle already with a bunch of greens, purples and blues, so I went with it. I cut 3 1/2" strips and cut a bunch of triangles using my Hex N More ruler. I did add a couple of additional fabrics, because I can't just leave something as is!

I pieced the top while at retreat and machine quilted it there on my domestic. I haven't quilted on my domestic in a little while, but it was fun. Heck, quilting anything is fun.

I backed it in a fun print I got at Marden's last year at retreat. I think it's a Michael Miller fabric. I bound it in a purple print I got at Marden's this year. I totally forgot to bring a binding fabric with me to retreat, so I'm glad I bought something that magically worked.

I can't wait to meet the baby, and I hope this quilt is loved. I stressed to the mom that when I give a quilt, it's meant to be loved and used. I even gave her a card that said to use the quilt and wash it as needed. I'd love to make another quilt for the baby because it was loved so much! That's the best feeling in the world for a quilter, wouldn't you agree? 

WIP - Another Baby Quilt

I love having a leader and ender project going at any given time. In fact, I usually have a regular project and a paper pieced one going at any given time so that I can pick the project to work on whether I'm working on a regular quilt project or a paper pieced on. At retreat, I started a new leader and ender project - a baby quilt for a family member having a baby boy this summer.

I cut up four Sweetwater Pure charm packs using my Accuquilt Go! tumbler cutter. While at retreat, I sewed them into pairs. As I've begun working on other projects, I've been sewing these together, first in pairs and then sewing those pairs together.

This one should go together pretty quick, pending I actually have time to quilt and don't have machine issues again. I'm really trying to be random here and not spend too much time figuring out where fabrics go.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. 

A Quilt in Use

It's always nice to see a quilt you gifted in use. Last week I visited my cousin to take some one month pictures of his beautiful new son. While I was visiting, they used a quilt I made for some tummy time and a couple of one month pictures.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the photo shoot.  I come from a very musical family (remember the guitar quilt?), and I wouldn't be surprised if this little guy learned to play a few instruments himself.  What I love about this picture is that it looks like he's belting out a tune, using the guitar as a microphone.  I mean, he can't be that upset, he already has his first Martin guitar, albeit it's made out of fabric and not wood.

Now that face looks a bit more happy! My heart just melts looking at this precious face. 

Finish Friday: HST Baby Quilt

Last weekend I quilted and made the binding for a baby quilt so that I could hand sew the binding down and have something to do if I lost power with Sandy.  Well, I lost power around 7pm on Monday, about 5 minutes after I finished cooking dinner - talk about great timing.

So, I did what any quilter would do.  I set myself up on the couch, propped a flashlight on my chest and spent a couple of hours sewing the binding on. It certainly took longer doing it by flashlight, but it sure beat the alternative of sitting around doing not much of anything.

It's finished in a nice, soft flannel print that matches the colors on the front.

I quilted this one pretty simple; I echo quilted around all of the seams, horizontal, vertical and diagonal. Just a 1/4" on either side on the seam.  Simple but effective. If you study the quilt closely, no print was used more than once on this quilt, so it's kind of like an "I spy" quilt in that respect.

To make the HST's, all I did was take a bunch of 5" squares, draw a line on the diagonal and sew on either side of the line to create two squares.  I then trimmed up the squares to 4.5" square before piecing everything together.

I went back and forth on what to do for the binding and finally settled on a red print from my stash.  I think it is from the "Fresh" line by Deb Strain. I really love how it adds another pop of color to the quilt.

Overall, I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  I'm looking forward to washing this and seeing it become all soft and crinkly.  I used two layers of 100% cotton batting to give it an extra soft, plush feel.


And a reminder... it's time to nominate your favorite quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I'd love it if you nominated and voted for my Dazzling Diamonds quilt - Quilt #78!

Another "Baby" Quilt

Using this same pile of fabrics, I am in the middle of creating another "baby" quilt.  I say "baby" because it really isn't for a baby.  It's for a sibling of a "still-cooking" baby.  I'm all about being equal.

This is the start of this one.  I'm hoping to make this more of a throw or twin size.  The squares in the first picture are 5" square and I sew on either side of a center line to create two 4.5" HST blocks out of one set of fabrics.  I have a ways to go with this one, but I think it will be really great once it's finished.  I'm really linking how this one is coming out.

Baby Boy Quilt

With this bunch of fabric, I plan to make 3-4, or even 5 quilts for family members and friends who are having babies this year and early next year.

I'll throw in some red for those who don't know what they're having.  Several folks already know they're having a boy, so these colors are perfect for that.

I threw this baby quilt together.  I've been wanting to make a half square triangle quilt for a while now, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity.  It measures 24" x 36".  I thought about making it a little bigger, but I always hear that people make baby quilts too big, so I thought I'd stick with a small one for now.  I really like how this came out.

I thought about using Minky on the back, but the more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards using a flannel instead.  I'm thinking flannel might be more practical. 

I'll probably just do some straight line quilting on either side of the horizontal, vertical and diagonal seams.

Tumbler Quilt Finished

I finished my tumbler quilt last week and I brought it with me to get some good photographs when I went to visit my parents at their beach house.

I love the way this quilt came out. I started this as a leaders and enders project a while back.

I used four charm packs of Kate Spain's Fandango line that I cut out using my Accuquilt Go! cutter.  I used the baby die for this one since the regular die is larger than a charm pack. 

I quilted this one by quilting on either size of the zig zag seam and I really like how it came out.  I think the quilting looks even better on the back of the quilt.

It's backed using an Art Gallery print that I had in my stash.  It's from the Botanica line. 

My brother-in-law is expecting a baby in November, and if it ends up being a girl, I was thinking of giving this quilt to the new baby since it's a perfect baby sized quilt.  I forget the actual dimensions, but it took just a one yard cut of fabric for the backing.

Twister Quilt Finished!

This weekend I finished putting the binding on my twister quilt.

I love the way it came out.  I used two It's a Hoot charm packs for the twister portion.  I then used coordinating fabric for the binding and backing.  The white around the outside of the quilt is a Kona white.

I quilted this little quilt on either side of the horizontal and vertical seams.  I was trying to think of some way to play off the twisting pinwheels, and realized that with this type of quilting, the quilting would go through the long point of every pinwheel.

 I love this mini quilt.  I think it would be a perfect baby quilt.  I know so many people having babies this year, so who knows, it could wind up being for one of them.

I can see myself making more of these twister quilts in the future.  They come together so quickly and look great.

Tumbler Quilt Finished

I started making a tumbler quilt using Kate Spain's Fandango fabric a while ago as a leader and ender project.  I started by sewing tumblers in groups of twos randomly, but with purpose.  I never pieced the same color or pattern together.  The pieces were cut with my Go! cutter out of two charm packs of Kate Spain's Fandango.  Well, I finished the quilt at retreat this weekend and I can officially have my design wall back at my house. 

Here's the quilt up on the design wall at retreat. I have been working on this one for quite some time, at least six months, so it's good to see it completed.  I'll probably finish it with some straight line quilting. It's not very big, so it shouldn't take me that long. 

Here's a close up of the quilt.

This was quilt top number one that I finished at retreat!  Yay!

Baby Quilt Tutorial

I made this baby quilt for a friend with a matching baby bumper and I thought I'd share this quilt as a tutorial.

Materials:
(I used Eden by Tula Pink for this quilt, except for the yellow)

Purple (nine-patch and binding): 1 yard
Green (nine-patch) : 1/2 yard (you'll use almost exactly 1/2 yard, so if you may want a little extra for a buffer)
Purple/Green Vine (blocks): 3/4 yard
Yellow (inner border): 1/2 yard
Border: 3/4 yard (you'll need exactly this, so you may want a little extra for a buffer here as well)
Backing: 3 yards


Finished Quilt size: 42" x 54"

Cutting Instructions:
1. From the purple, cut 8-2 1/2" strips for the nine-patches.

2. From the green, cut 7-2 1/2" strips for the nine-patches.

3. From the purple/green vine fabric, cut 3-6 1/2" strips.
4. Cut 17-6 1/2" squares out of the 3 purple/green vine strips that you cut in step 3.

5. Cut 6-2 1/2" strips out of the yellow inner border fabric.
6. Cut 6-4 1/4" strips out of the border fabric.


Instructions:
1. Take 6 purple strips and 3 green strips and sew them into three sets of purple/green/purple strips, pressing towards the purple.

2. Take 4 green and 2 purple strips and sew them into two sets of green/purple/green strips, again, pressing towards the purple.
3. Take your sets of purple/green/purple strips and cut 36-2 1/2" strips.

4. Cut your green/purple/green strip sets and cut them into 18-2 1/2" strips

5. Sew 18 of your purple/green/purple strips to the 18 green/purple/green strips

6. Add your remaining 18 purple/green/purple strips to the other side of the green/purple/green strips.

7. Sew 14 of the nine-patches to 14 of the 6 1/2" squares

8. Sew your sets created in step 7 into 7 rows of 2 nine-patches and 2 squares

9. Take your remaining 4 nine patches and 3 squares and add them to the end of the 7 rows so that you have 4 rows that begin and end with a nine-patch and 3 rows that begin and end with a square.

10. Sew your 7 rows together to begin assembling your quilt top, alternating the nine-patches and the squares.  
11. Add the inner border
12. Add the outer border
13. Piece your backing
14. Baste, quilt, and bind the quilt and enjoy!

Baby Bumper
I also made a baby bumper using additional nine-patches and squares and a 2 1/2" yellow border.  I used 13 nine-patches and 13 squares to make a really long bumper to wrap around a crib.  I used an additional  yard of purple for the nine-patch and binding, 1/4 yard of the green for the nine-patch, 3/4 of a yard of yellow for the border and 1 1/2 yards for the backing.

Enjoy.  I'd love to see pictures if you decide to make one.