More Giggles

This is actually the first Giggles & Giggles quilt I completed. My mom and I made this quilt probably about a year ago - she is such a trooper and does the ruffling for me - for my daughter, who is two now. 

It was a very cute kit Emily at Materials Girl in Draper, Utah had put together. I love all the rich, bright pinks and oranges, with touches of gray and yellows. Perfect for a tiny little girl with a very large personality.

This is the pattern by Sew Much Ado.

This was also my first attempt at doing some fancier free motion quilting designs.

It is certainly far from perfect, but I went outside my comfort zone and I'm happy with that. Practice practice practice! My new philosophy when it comes to long-arm quilting: have a drink, put on your big-girl panties, and get stitchin!

Here's a peek at the back:

And a few more looks....

Gathers & Giggles Galore!

Another baby quilt done! Only one more to do....that I know of anyways.

The mom-to-be is not the girly-girly type, so I wanted to stay away from the typical baby pinks and purples. She has a bit of a hippie flair to her, and I think this quilt is the perfect fit!

This is from the Gathers & Giggles pattern by Sew Much Ado (click here to learn more).

 

I have been very brave (at least for me!) in trying new free motion quilting patterns. Every design on this quilt was something new for me. Here are some close-ups of the quilting.

 

Here is a peek at how the back of this one turned out:

 

 

 

I have also been working on perfecting a machine binding technique. This is the fourth time I have done it and I think it turned out perfectly.

 

Happy Monday!

Winter Wall Hanging

Finished up my winter wall hanging quilt Saturday night. I had a fun quilt night with some new quilty friends. I have such a great time quilting with others who are just as passionate as I am.

I used more muddy, civil-war type fabrics for this one...not my typical fabrics of choice, but I'm trying to branch out. Such fun applique. Now she just needs to be quilted, some buttons put on the snowman, and hung up! She may not make it up in time for this winter season, but for sure for next year!

Holiday Fun

I feel like I had a real Christmas this year. My kids are getting older, I had a lot of time off from work, and my parents were visiting.

For the first time ever, we made treats to give to neighbors. I think they turned out gorgeous and they were tasty too!

I was also able to get some quilting in. This is a panel, along with stripe border fabric, that was given to me by a new quilting friend. I simply appliqued the four corner pieces and put the thing together. I'm not huge into panels, but this one was so darn cute, I couldn't resist! Plus, I'm more apt to try some new quilting designs on a panel.

I also started a winter wall hanging:

I'm just working on blanket stitching all the applique pieces. I should have this one put together soon enough!

Boston Lobsters

I can't find the words to describe how much I love this quilt. LOVE. 

Isn't she perfect!? I made this quilt for my manager who is having a baby boy in about a month. She loves Lobsters, Boston, and the Red Sox. When I found this lobster print (which I'm hoping really is lobsters and NOT crawfish), it just seemed perfect. When I was looking for fabric to go with it, I came across a Reunion Jelly Roll (by Sweetwater for Moda) I had in my stash, which complements it perfectly - so many great navys and reds.

Just a simple 16-patch that I strip-pieced and then alternated with the lobster squares. In case you are interested, these are 8-inch finished blocks, so this is somewhere around a 40x40 quilt.

I just did a simple stipple for the quilting, and did machine binding.

Aren't they cute!?

Civil War Quilt Top Finish

This has been a long time coming....at least ten years worth! I participated in a $5 quilt top class a summer probably back in 2002. The idea went something like this: $5 for your first block kit and instructions. If you came back the next week with the block done, you got the next block kit for free and so on. Well, I did the blocks each week, but never put the darn thing together - I even had the sashing, border, and backing fabrics purchased!

I went back to the store the other day to show the owner. She was delighted to see that I was finishing up this one. At one point, she even went so far as to refer to this as "vintage." Not sure it qualifies just yet, but she's well on her way!

Here she is:

 

This will not be going down as my most technically well done quilt ever. Not even close. (It really is a mess!) This class, at the time, was probably a little much for me. But I'm proud of it and I'm even more proud that I went back and finished this one. 

This is also my first and only quilts using civil war fabrics. They are really growing on me. I recently purchased a set to do a second quilt top in, so be on the lookout for another civil war/muddy color top from me. 

I'm thinking since this was a sampler quilt, that I will try out some new quilting designs on each block - a quilting sampler. Hopefully it won't take me another ten years to get the quilting done =)

Happy New Year!