Next Up

These lovely solids arrived in the mail last week & I can't wait to cut into them! I'm planning to make the Vintage quilt from Camille Roskelley's book, Simply Retro. (I LOVE this book, by the way!) Guess I can't get enough of granny squares. 

In order from left to right, these are Kona colors: Oasis, Sage, Caribbean, Aqua, Turquoise, Pomegranate, and Pool. I don't have a Kona color card, so I was scanning different websites, trying to find good shades of blue-green, and unfortunately ended up with three that look awfully similar:

The finished quilt has 12 blocks, so my plan is to make 11 of the blocks in the blues, with one block of Pomegranate. Right now I'm thinking I'll pull out the Oasis and hunt down one more shade of blue - maybe a really dark turquoise. So, the colors I *think* I'm using are these: 

Excited to start this next project - I'll keep you posted on progress! Oh, and if you want to see some lovely examples of finished Vintage quilts, check out this link party hosted by Jana.

Christmas in... August

So excited to share a finish with you! It may be August, but I finally finished my Christmas quilt!!

This Christmas quilt has been in the works for a ridiculously long time... I don't actually remember how long. Two years? Three? I decided last Christmas that I wanted to finish it in the middle of the year sometime... not even remotely close to Christmas. There's always enough going on at Christmas without trying to squeeze in one more project.

The fabric came from Connecting Threads several years ago, and the pattern is Small Plates from Elizabeth Hartman's book The Practical Guide to Patchwork.

This was my first "big" quilt finish. I've only completed baby quilts thus far... although I have a couple other big quilts in progress. Finishing this has definitely motivated me to work on the others, though! I was a little intimidated by a bigger-than-baby quilt, but it was fine.

I quilted it with straight lines 1/4" on either side of the main seams. I'm pretty partial to straight line quilting - I just really like how it looks. Also, I spray basted it (with Mom's help). It was the first time either of us had ever spray basted (and Mom has made TONS of quilts), and I'm a big fan now. I thought the spray basting was much easier than pin basting, plus it was SOO nice to quilt it without worrying about removing all those pins. And, I'm super pleased with how it turned out - there are a few small puckers after quilting, but I think it would have been worse with pin basting (for me, at least).

One quick note about the backing - when I ordered this fabric from Connecting Threads, it was on clearance. I couldn't find coordinating fabrics with enough yardage to make the backing, so I just got two completely different Christmas fabrics. Soo, when I picked this project back up this summer I was no longer thrilled with my backing choice, but I decided to go with it anyway since I already had the fabric. I ended up being okay with it once it was quilted, though. My tastes in fabric have changed quite a bit, and I'm learning so much about sewing and quilting that I'm content to consider this just another learning experience.

Oh, and a name...I'm {obviously} new to this naming-your-quilt thing, but for now I believe I'll call it A Square Christmas. Feel free to leave more creative ideas in the comments!

Looking forward to snuggling with this quilt in December!

Linking up with Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Quick Hello

I'm finally getting into a bit of a routine with baby girl and have had lots of ideas floating around lately. This cutie is a huge part of the reason I've been absent - you can't blame me, can you?

I'm looking forward to sharing some of what I've been up to with you! And since I have more ideas than I'd ever have time to actually complete myself, I may see if I can convince any of you to try them instead! I've come to realize that I enjoy dreaming up projects, even when I don't complete them myself. (Mom, you know this better than anyone. Glad you let me share ideas with you!)

So, stay tuned... a good many crafty posts coming soon, along with some other topics, like some books I've enjoyed lately and perhaps a few recipes.

Beginnings of an Hourglass Pillow

With baby #2 on the way, I've been working on several projects to make the nursery a little more girly. We're not changing anything big - like the paint color (currently grey) or curtains, but I have a few small things to make it more hers. Big brother is also moving rooms, so I'll share a few things we're doing for his new room at some point.

Project #1 for baby girl's room is a pillow made of hourglass blocks. It's getting close, but for now here's a peek at some of the blocks.

I used this tutorial from Red Pepper Quilts for the blocks, only started with slightly smaller squares. I started with 4" squares and will end up with 3" square hourglass blocks. After joining them together, each little hourglass will finish at 2.5" square. 

Looking forward to seeing this fun little pillow finished - I'll be sure to share a picture!

Sewing with Kids: L-O-V-E Banner

Hello there! Thought I'd pop in and actually post something new for you to enjoy. :) One thing after another has kept me away from this blog for way too long, and as always, I'm making no promises as to how often I'll post. Baby girl is due less than 6 short weeks from now (yes, she's one of the reasons I've been hiding), and I'm sure that once she's here I'll be right back in hiding for a while.

For now, though, I have been sewing away with K every week and we're having a blast. She got a sewing machine for Christmas so we've had a chance to try a few new things from Sewing School 2: Lessons in Machine Sewing. For Valentine's day (yes, this was a while ago...) she had the idea to make a banner.

K picked out all the fabrics & cut the pennants out. Then, the letters were perhaps the trickiest part. We found a computer font she liked & printed them, then cut them out. We traced the letters backwards onto Heat'n Bond Ultra, then ironed it onto her letter fabric. Then we cut out the letters, peeled off the Heat'n Bond backing, and ironed the letters onto the pennants.

Finally, K zigzag stitched the ribbon onto the pennants to make the banner. She did a fabulous job! I love seeing her creativity and style in designing her projects & selecting the fabric.

I also love how much my little guy enjoys K coming over! They got some fun reading time in this particular day, even with all the sewing.