Under The Sea!

So with operation Birthday under way, there has been a lot of sewing. I keep getting more and more ideas of gifts she NEEDS:)...ok more like mommy wants to make her. Here is the quilt that started it all........and by all I mean the softies and theme for her party.

I love the sea creatures. The panel repeated once too, so I cut the repeat off and turn it into a skirt for her, but that's another post. It's a little big so it will be the perfect zoo skirt this summer! Have to be styling while in the aquarium! 

And a close up. My lighting wasn't the greatest, but it will do.

As for the back I used a bed sheet I picked up at the thrift store. Goes so well with the purple up front! Love it!

Ok last picture for real!  

 

I used Leah Day's quilt as you go technique and am totally in love! I feel like I can tackle large projects and not have a jacked up back with puckers and what not.

Raspberry Stripes

Sweet little striped quilt for a baby soon to be born. Mama-to-be is having her shower this weekend. She doesn't know I've been working on something so I think she'll be tickled (pink, of course) to unwrap this goody along with her other surprises.

 The main fabric is an oldie Amy Butler, and I just added a bunch of other strips to go along with it. I backed it with a snuggly raspberry flannel. It's so soft and warm. Baby girl is lucky Elise is too big for it:). I quilted it with simple stripes. 

 

I think it fits her style perfectly. Not too girlie and not too frilly. And as a plus, the daddy's favorite color is orange so I snuck a little in there for him too.

#12 yeah!

And here is my final block for 2012's BOM. I finally found it embarrased to say clipped to my design wall nice and safe. geeze :). It's painful being organized sometimes:). I'm late posting my final block as I've already started quilting. I'm loving how it's turning out! I'm using Leah Day's quilt as you go method and just think it's brilliant.

And I loved it so much I signed up for 2 spots for this year's BOM so the quilt will be big enough for our bed hopefully. It's a sampler quilt and I chose the color way with a gray background and solid Kona colors for the designs. can't wait!

MQG Madrona Road Challenge

I am so excited. I am finally done and was able to meet the challenge's deadline. Here's my Madrona Road wonky star wall hanging. It's already hanging in my foyer and I love it. Wasn't sure about the yellow background at first but it really grew on me! My guild chose a stars and stripes theme for the challenge so I pieced the wonky stars and quilted on the stripes. The stars are all nestled in with each other and I love the random order of it. 

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This is my favorite star, i think because of the center fabric. 

Not sure if you can tell in the pics, but I played with the binding and made a few of the stars part of the binding. I really love this effect. It might be easier to see in the larger picture. I quilted with a 12 weight aurifil wool thread. It was a gorgeous variegated yellow. It looks really good in person and you can see the extra thick stitches opposed to normal cotton thread.

I have a few more finished projects to still post, it's been a very productive January!

BOM #10

10 down....2 more to go. I might just finish on schedule :).

Quilt Bee Starter Block

I am so super excited...yes, super excited to be part of my first quilt bee! or it might be a round robin...not sure what the differences are but I am so super excited:). I choose to do something simple and just ask for a scrappy-wonky log cabin.

This is my starter block........it's headed off in the mail soon. I'm hoping this gets me motivated to start using up my scraps...the pile is over flowing. This also lets me add some variety into my scrappy quilt, getting some other quilters scraps. I can't wait to see what goodies they have to add.

Wonky Hippo Quilt

 Yeah....it's finally done! My (ok, Elise's) wonky hippo quilt is done!

 

I did pretty simple straight line quilting with a fun yellow to orange variegated thread...that almost has a little purple in it if you look close but not enough to be distracting.  I like the way the color change makes the borders move a little. I think it's an in person thing though. 

 

These blocks were so easy to make and very quick! I used some special store bought fabrics, pulled from my stash and have one hand dyed fabric in there too. 

And what great product goes without a little quality assurance testing.....

 

I think it passed. 

So close I can taste it

My wonky hippo quilt is almost done.....so close I can feel it being snuggled under.....ok not really. The quilt is part of a quilt guild challenge that I wasn't going to participate in until I went fabric shopping with my girlfriend and found this adorable hippo fabric and new it was perfect for the challenge. I started by simply wanting to make Elise....another:)......yes mom another, quilt but then the blocks were so much to make and it grew and kept growing until I realized it was really close to being twin size and I could probably just save it for her until she's in a big girl bed.......yes I'm aware I'm years away but I felt better about buying more fabric knowing it was for a future bed than just another throw with occasional use.

So the wonky hippo was born and I made a matching pillow as I've shared so no snuggling probably once it's done, off to the quilt guild meeting and then folded and stored for a few years:). I laugh quietly because by the time she gets a twin bed....I'll probably want to make her a different quilt for her bed....but don't tell Brian that:). I'm not in trouble yet today.

I'll have full pictures to show later this week. I'm off to cut binding, which I'm thinking scrappy, well a little scrappy because I'm too OCD to do total scrappy no matter how much I always love it on others quilts.

Wonky Hippo Quilted Pillow

 Last Friday, I showed what was underneath my needle and I am so thrilled to share the finished project! More just thrilled I started a project and it's finished:)

 It's a matching throw pillow made out of the scraps of a quilt I am working on for Elise. I started it late one night after royally messing up my quilt entry for QuiltCon......boo. it was a sad couple of nights afterwards ripping out all my stitches. Anyways, I needed a quick victory and I needed a fun, sort of mindless project (i.e. no seam matching, measuring or exactness)

Here's a close up. I did a quick meander all over with monofilament thread. For the back of the pillow, I finished it off envelope style. So, now back to the machine to requilt my QuiltCon quilt and, I need to finish up the Wonky Hippo quilt before our next guild meeting - it's on a deadline.


Check out where I'm partying today.

Underneath My needle #1

Here's currently what's underneath my needle this week. It's going to end up being a throw pillow to match a quilt for little bit. I'm super excited with how it looks so far. I used the scraps from the quilt.

 
What do you have in the works?

Circle Quilt

I totally gush over anything Riley Blake when it comes to sewing for little bit. I found this cute little fabric on a crazy sale and new I had to have it. The little woodland creatures are just so cute. I threw in a few other fabrics from some different lines. It's super bright and cheery. Perfect for any little girl.

It's a quilt as you go method, and I must say I really enjoyed this method......as my close quilting friends know - I hate basting. hate it. So no basting and no batting. There is muslin in the middle and it's surprisingly warm and pretty heavy for a little quilt. I'm hoping to make one for my own bed using a batik I have lurking in my stash and some of my hand dyed fabrics.


Check out where I'm linking up to this today.

Elephant Quilt

I made this quilt for little bit before she was born, and I fell in love with it hard the first time we played on it. Tummy time is pretty popular around here. The patterns were so busy that I was glad I stayed with a simple design and quilting. It's already been washed a gazillion times and drooled all over:). Just wanted I made it for.

Sudan Wall Hanging

My wall hanging using my fabrics from Sudan and my dyed fabrics is finally completed. I am so excited with how it turned out and love it hanging on the wall in my entry way. The lighting isn't the greatest in the pictures but it's visible.

 Here it is on my design wall before completion. The lighting is much better in my sewing room to bring out the true colors.

Here is a pic of the backing and the original fabric that was given to me. My mom heads back to Sudan in less than a month and I can't wait to see what treasures she brings back this time! 

Quilt for Tiffany

So my handsome brother got married to his beautiful sweetheart. She's a doll and I wanted to make her the perfect quilt so she would know how much I loved her and was delighted to have her as my new sister and in our family. A little bird told me how much she loves pinwheels so I thought this little pattern would be perfect for her.

 

It was so much fun making it for her and even better giving it to her, she had a huge smile on her face:). Last I saw it resides on their couch for when my fan loving brother tries to freeze her out of their living room.