I-Beams

I found some free time this past weekend to sew up another quilt top! This is I-Beams by Purple Pineapple Studio. I found this pattern at my local fabric shop and loved that it used only 1 fat quarter/beam. The background was quite a bit of yardage, but I certainly got a lot out of each of the six fat quarters!

This was also the first time that I selected the colors/patterns myself. In hindsight, I think that I could have gone with at least one more bold (darker gray? tan?) color between the coral and multi-color far left beam. I am learning!

I hope to drop this top and the batik top off with my quilter later this spring - I'm excited to be building up a nice stack of homemade quilts for our family. When these last two are complete, it will bring the grand total up to 6! I figure I will need at least 3-4 more so I won't miss them so much when the girls take one with them as they grow older.

New Quilt (brown tones)

(ETA photo in February 2020)

I was so excited coming off the flannel quilt that I immediately got to cutting another quilt top, this time in brown batiks. Since I really struggle with selecting fabrics and patterns, but love to sew, quilt kits - and a good relationship with a local long-arm quilter - are what allow me to continue down the path of creating beautiful and functional pieces for our family.

This one is a discontinued boundless batiks kit from bluprint. I love the way it is coming together!

Flannel Quilt - quilted and bound

This one is going to be a favorite for the girls, I just know it. It's warm, and just heavy enough to get your cozy on in front of the fireplace (or reruns of Parks and Rec).

This is the Marcus Fabrics Blue Boxes Flannel Quilt Kit by Craftsy, quilted by Heather of Blue Turtle Quilting.

Sun Salutations Quilt Top

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ETA (2/8/20)

What an absolutely lovely quilt. I am so happy with how this one turned out - and it came back to me in February, right when we need some respite from the gray and white snowscapes all around us.

The quilting was done by the extremely talented Heather of Blue Turtle Quilting.

Flannel Quilt

I surprised myself with some extra time this holiday break and cut and sewed another quilt top! This one is made of mostly blue flannels and was a joy to cut and assemble.

This is another quilt kit - my preferred way to sew quilt tops these days - this time from Bluprint (Craftsy). It is the Marcus Fabrics Blue Boxes Flannel Quilt Kit.

I was a bit nervous after reading some of the reviews. Lots of folks talked about crooked prints and running out of fabric. I had just enough and not much to spare (I didn't run out) and I also wasn't too bothered by prints not lining up exactly. I can see how this might annoy some quilters, but I am not a perfectionist. I am more of the 'let's see if we can even pull this off' kind of sewer - so I was thrilled with the final result.

The finished top, batting, backing, and binding is already with Heather at Blue Turtle Quilting. She thinks this one might be done by mid-February!

Holiday Quilt (quilted)

Just in time for the holidays! I got my quilt back from Heather and hand stitched the binding down. What a fun addition to our living room this winter. And as my daughter says, "Quilts are in heavy rotation in our house during the winter - we can always use another one!"

Holiday Quilt

During some vacation time from work I was finally able to do the assembly for this whimsical holiday quilt. I purchased the kit last year and did most of the cutting. Then it sat until this year when I was able to assemble the blocks and put the whole top together.

I dropped off the quilt top, batting, backing, and binding strip with Heather of Blue Turtle Quilting. I am really looking forward to having this one around the house for the winter holidays!

Handmade Holidays

I took a break from knitting again - I had started on a pair of socks that I thought might be a gift for the holidays but my wrist really started to act up and I was having trouble doing yoga and pilates so I thought I would pull back from knitting for awhile.

Instead I turned to some mittens from up cycled sweaters, a new quilt block pattern and some lingering cross stitch patterns to help craft up the holidays.

The mittens went to some special people that have been helping me out with a volunteer project over the past year.  I even used some felted handknit sock legs for the cuffs - they were dropped off by a sad neighbor that had felted her own socks and didn't want to look at them anymore.  I told her I had been there myself and gladly took them from her.  I am really happy that I was able to put them to good use in two new pair of mittens!  Each pair of mittens is lined with cashmere - a lovely addition that I discovered really makes the mittens enjoyable to wear.  I mean fleece liners are nice, but cashmere?  Wow.  I also got around to making cashmere liners for my tree mittens and have been wearing them most days this winter.  They are perfect.

I made these three coordinating tree wall quilts for myself, my Mom and my Mother-in-law for Christmas.  I was inspired by the patchwork forest tree tutorial by Diary of a Quilter and once I started making the blocks I couldn't stop!  I wound up with over 100 blocks after one weekend of sewing and from there it was just a matter of organizing the blocks into sets that were well coordinated.  I kept the one of the far right (next photo).

Each has a nice hanging pocket on the back and all were quilted with straight lines.















I also have never framed any of my small cross stitch patterns from over the years.  This Santa had been sitting in a box for a couple years and it was time to take it out and get it up on the wall.  I went to a big box store to get some custom mats cut that would fit off-the-shelf frames.  I then mounted the linen fabric on all natural cotton quilt batting (a recommendation from a local framing shop) and placed it in the frame for the wall.  Success!

I did the same with the Winterwoods ABC's from Alicia Paulson which finally got it's proper place in our hallway.

Next up for framing are the Peace on Earth cross stitch, our family pixel portrait and a recent color pencil drawing by my 7yo which she made during a recent trip to our local art museum.

And next up?  After gazing at my Winterwoods ABC's I logged back onto Alicia's blog/website to see what else she might have available...and the ornament kits are amazing.  Can I say that again?  They are a-maz-ing.  I just ordered Snow Day and can't wait to dive into making them after the craziness of the holidays subsides.

Gift giving

This gift started over 5 years ago.  In September of 2008 I finished the quilt top (you can follow the posts backwards here).  I am not sure why I ultimately folded it up and put in on the shelf.  Maybe it felt too big to quilt myself?  I had the batting, the backing and top done, but never got around to finishing it.

This past fall I have had to prioritize my time in a way that is different from the years and months past.  No longer am I crafting to take a break from writing my dissertation.  Likewise I am not crafting to fill my days with something other than baby food and diapers.

Life has shifted in our household: we have four growing daughters now - no babies anymore - and no plans for more children.  I have gone back to work teaching and am spending the remainder of my time this year volunteering at their school.  I know that life balance is ever shifting and precarious.  This past fall tilted more towards the computer/classroom/meeting end-of-things and less towards the sewing machine/knitting needles/making end-of-things. 















This fall, however, I re-discovered this work from many years ago and called upon a neighborhood friend for help.  She is an incredibly accomplished quilter and after seeing my work agreed to complete the project for me.  I left her with the top, batting and backing.  Two weeks later I went back to her house and picked up this beauty.

There is history behind this quilt.  Briefly, the backing fabric was a cover for a blanket that was kept at our family cabin for many years.  It used to be bright fuschia, but faded in the sunlight.  I salvaged the fabric for later use when the cover developed a big rip down the middle.  More than this, however, is the additional story layer added by my friend that helped finish it.  She added a heart patch to the back - covering a small hole - that gives it the extra touches that will be discovered, and re-discovered in years to come.

I intended the quilt go back to the cabin, but my Mom wants to keep it around the house instead.  I don't blame her - it did turn out quite nicely.  This, along with a pair of upcycled wool mittens, were the only hand-made presents I gifted this season.

Quick and Dirty

Or at least that is how it felt to get this quilt done. I am starting to go a bit nuts with waiting on this baby and needed to do something to distract myself; something to get my mind off every twitch, twinge, contraction and ache. I decided cleaning up the sewing space was in order and that's when I (again) unearthed this quilt-in-progress. It is actually the first quilt top I ever pieced, before I understood anything about cutting, sewing, quilting, fabric or the like. In fact, I think that this top has been pieced and folded up for just under 6 years. So I pulled it out, spread it out and did the best I could to sandwich it with a back, and pin it, while being 40 wks. pregnant.

It didn't turn out great. The quilting is haphazard, wonky, imprecise and pulled and puckered in all the wrong places. But the quilt is done. I also tried out a fully machine-sewn binding (fantastic tutorial here) this time around. I love it and will definitely use the technique again!

And in the end I don't really mind the way it looks. The monochromatic purple, while arguably overwhelming, is soothing to me for some reason. I like the squares, the rows and rows of shifting color and pattern. The quilt has been washed and was quickly appropriated by my youngest for her use. In fact, she accompanied me the whole time I quilted it, giving me positive feedback now and again, "that looks GREAT mama!" she would say to me from time to time. Underneath her sassy exterior, and often-times challenging modus operandi, she can be my biggest cheerleader.

Maybe there is something in this last bit of pregnant frenzy that is teaching me about what life will be like with four little ones. It won't always be perfect, the way I planned, or seamless, but it will be full of fun, and full of unexpected pleasures in unforeseen places.

Table Runner

This past weekend I was able to finish off a project that I've been thinking about for a couple months. I have been itching to make a reversible table runner but didn't quite know how to go about it.

A couple weeks ago I grabbed some fabric and started cutting squares, mixing and matching colors and patterns until I was happy with what I came up with. I quilted it with diagonal lines which I think work pretty well here. I washed it when I was done with it which gave it a crinkly look, and which makes it look a bit like a blanket, but I still think it works as an everyday runner for the dining room table.

I also tapped into a friends Rumpelstiltskin challenge which provided me the encouragement to really dive into the lovely fabrics that have been sitting on my shelf for awhile. I don't know what project I was waiting for to use them with - the perfect pillow, skirt or blanket pattern - but I also realized the keeping those fabrics tucked away upstairs meant that I didn't get to gaze on them daily as I do now. I much prefer it this way. Part of the Rumpelstiltskin challenge for me over this year will be to really use what I have; take full advantage of the affordances that are tucked away in my fabric stash. Get out the good stuff and use it, dammit.

You can join in on the challenge too. Head on over and check it out. No hard and fast rules, just lots of encouragement and inspiration.

Table Runner - front


Table Runner - back

The sewing machine has been humming

Two quilts are in process and the tops are finished! I'm currently piecing the back of the second one and working on the binding strips. With any luck, they should be quilted and bound by the middle or end of this month. Then they can take their permanent place on these beds. I'm not too sure of the final sizes yet, but they are looking like a good fit for the twin beds. I would have preferred them to be a bit wider, but since I didn't follow a pattern, I'm just happy that they cover the beds, period.

The 'coins' were cut at 2 x 7 inches, with the white spacers 3 x 7 inches. There is also a 7 inch border around the entire quilt.

I hope to get better photos of these once they are finished - its been cloudy and cool 'round these parts lately.

I think some some smaller projects are coming up next, more pillows and bags for the girls. And maybe I'll finally tackle putting in a zipper...

Fall Quilt

Finished just in time for winter! This was the biggest, most massive project I've ever worked on. I felt like I was wrestling with a crocodile to get the darn thing through my machine. I knew I was working with something big when I had to move the living room rug out of the way just to make the sandwich. Boy, was that an ordeal! The girls were wonderful, however, and very respectful: always careful to step around the quilt and not run all over it.

Now that it is finished and I am taking pictures of it I am coming to fully appreciate how bit it actually is. The photos are taken with the quilt on our queen-size bed. And it still spills over the bottom of the bed. I can't believe it. I wanted to make a twin-size quilt, I started out making a twin-size, and am pretty sure that I followed the directions for a twin size, but it came out more like a full or queen. (Note to self: I won't EVER undertake anything this big again - too difficult for a beginner like me to handle. Lap quilts are perfect.) I thought this might go in our living room as an extra blanket for the winter, but maybe this will become a guest blanket. It really is too big and heavy to manage in the living room. Oh well, more excuses to quilt and sew? I can't complain. But any new projects are on hold until after the holidays.

In the meantime I have to quickly learn about piping and putting in a zipper. My mom's handmade holiday gift depends on it!! Yikes!

Fall quilting

The fall quilt is underway. I hope to finish the top and the border this week. I purchased the batting and thread so I am all set with materials. On to the work.

As I sit here looking at the color choices for my most recent quilts I am starting to see my personal style - as chaotic as it is right now - starting to come through.

With knitting, finding my style came easy, but it took time. I have been able to grow from beginning patterns to more advanced projects with yarns that I love (I still make bad choices though, stay tuned...). Quilting is proving to be as much, if not more, of a challenge as I learn. There are lots of fabrics that I love, the problem is that I struggle with how to put them all together (I know this is common). This quilt looks a bit too rainbow for my taste, so I tried to line up the dark browns close to the center which I hope will play off the dark brown border. On the other hand, I am happy that went with so many patterns. I think they give the quilt overall movement and character without being too dramatic. The prints are all small enough, and close enough in size that they almost appear to blend from one to the other without too much difficulty. Maybe I'm off my rocker, but I think I like that aspect of it.

At the end of the day the fact is that I spent way too much moo-la on the fabric NOT to love it - so of course I LOVE it, but the trick moving forward might be taking more time in my choices and exercising restraint with color.

In other quilt related news, I received my adorable lap quilt from my BTRS swap partner. Thanks Lisa! I think I'll attach a binding, and maybe a baby-themed applique, then gift it to some soon-to-be parents during the upcoming holidays. My handmade holidays are off on the right foot!

Quilting on my mind

With quilt month quickly coming to a close I find myself with three quilting UFO's and a three works that are "in process". This photo is of the first quilt top I ever pieced; the purple monster that has been hanging around my fabric stash for, oh I don't know, like 3 years. I have finally gotten around to getting some backing fabric and batting. The second UFO is a wall hanging that I am almost finshed with. I have the perfect spot to hang this one, just above the staircase. I am also supposed to be finishing up my quilt for the quilt-a-long. Just have to find the time, somewhere, to do it.

On to the three "in process" pieces. here is a photo of the fabric I sent off for the BTRS lap quilt swap. I can't wait to see what my partner sends me in return! Then I purchased some Amy Butler (see below) and assorted solid fabric. Coupled with my FFF fabric from Sew, Mama, Sew I have enough to make two more lap quilts - this way I'll have one for each of my girls. These are the three "in process" pieces as I haven't really even started on them yet.

Quilt month has definately shown me that I am interested in quilting; and I am able to make a quilt from start to finish.

Quilt-a-long: Week 13

Week 13: The top is finished! I went with a nice white background and will use the backing fabric to make the binding. Since all the other squares were made from fabric in my stash I didn't have enough of any one color to do a binding. I also don't think that a mixed-pattern binding would look very good on this quilt - given all the colors and patterns in the blocks. For this one, simple is better I think. Next week: the final construction. I am coming close to the end of my tutorial...it has been a wonderful journey.

Quilt-a-long: Week 12

Week 12: Backing fabric. This is the last square! I can hardly believe that I made it to the end. I did feel myself getting burnt out as I completed this block. My seams don't exactly match up, but since I am at the end I felt like just going with it. No seam-ripping this time.

As I started working with the background fabric I began to notice lots of fading and water stains. But I am just going to move forward with it anyway. Keeping the backing fabric is what gives this piece a sentimental twist. I'll have to be sure to note that on the label for this one.

For next week: the background fabric, cutting, repairing and ironing the backing fabric and making the sandwich. If I am feeling really motivated I might even make the binding strips in anticipation of finishing this one up. First I need to get my hands on a 1/2 inch bias tape maker.