Packers T-Shirt Quilt

Holy cow ladies and gents...T-shirt quilts are the bomb to make! I loved every second of the process. I can't wait to make more! Plus, I think it turned out pretty rad, so that makes it even better.

Here's where I began (apologies for the blurry photo) - a big stack of T-shirts and other various Green Bay Packers' paraphernalia. 

One of the first questions I get asked is where I got all the T-shirts. Let me answer that now. Some were from the quilt recipient, but the vast majority are from a friend's mom and mother-in-law who live in Wisconsin. These two kind ladies went to second-hand stores and purchased used shirts and jerseys for me to use. Could not have done this without them!

Here's a picture of the quilt almost done...

And the top done...

Quilted and bound...

A bit of a closeup...

And the back...shows the quilting quite well. I quilted a bunch of chevron lines on my HQ Pro-Stitcher at various widths apart in chunks. I thought it fit the sporty feel and was not girly in any way.

Here's my very happy nephew...one could safely say he's a Packers fan. (This was a gift for his high school graduation.)

Seriously...I had a blast making this. I have bins of my kids old clothing and I can't wait to dig in and make some memory quilts.

Stitch on!

Star Struck!

Last week, Angela Walters was in the Handi Quilter's studio filming for QNN tv. I had the honor of meeting her and somehow convinced her to sign a few things for me. She's one of my quilting idols - I think her approach and attitude towards quilting is phenomenal and so inspirational, especially to non-professionals like myself.

Before she began, I suggested she warm up and make sure the pen worked (wink, wink) on my whiteboard in my office (like I hadn't already tested the pen before she came in!).

Then I had her sign my trusty Fusion first (just in case she ran out of time or patience ;)

And it turned out amazing!

Then I had her sign two books she authored that I owned copies of...and as if that wasn't enough, she gave me her one and only hard copy - her advance copy!! - of her new book Shape by Shape (due out in September)!! 

And by the way quilty peeps, this book is fantastic! Pre-order now! Each section has a typical pieced shape, and there are a bunch of different ways to quilt it with detailed instructions on how to quilt the design. Angela breaks it down and they are easy enough for even me to follow! I love the hexagon section so much - it inspired me to work on finishing up a hexagon quilt. 

That's her signing...

She's just as nice and genuine and down to earth as you might expect. I can't wait to see her again. 

Happy Quilting!

Happy Friday

Just a little sneak peak at something I'm going to finish up this weekend...

Modern Crosses

I was having a bad day, well really, a bad week. What's a girl to do but go on a little fabric splurge!? I went to one of my favorite LQS, and ended up heading home with this little bundle of joy.

I didn't really have anything in mind when I was picking these fabrics, other than I wanted to try to play with the concept of low volume/low definition prints with some rich/bold prints. When I got home, I was going through some books and magazines and saw this little gem:

 

Perfect. So I decided to begin Modern Crosses from Modern Log Cabin Quilting. They are sort of like the plus quilts that have been popular as of recently, but a little fatter and better I think. I began with making a few blocks to see how they would turn out.

Love. LOVE. L-O-V-E!

And here are the 14 together I have completed so far. 

Not sure how big I'm going to make this. The pattern in the book is for an 80x80 quilt, which is pretty big. I'm not sure I want to go that big. I'm going to make at least 42 blocks, so a 54x63 size throw (9" finished block size), and then see if I want to go any bigger.

Happy Quilting!

Fabric Alphabet Letters

I made these alphabet letters for my daughter using my fabric stash. She loves them. Hopefully they will also prove to be educational as well.

Can't Wait!

Don't you just love the excitement of a new project with the most awesome fabrics!? I do!

I picked these up at a local quilt store the other day thinking I would use them for a sunflower quilt I am doing at my upcoming quilt retreat this fall. However, after thinking about it, I don't think these fabrics will be right for the pattern. The pattern uses an unfinished raw edge for the sunflowers, and I think these fabrics would look better in a more polished pattern. I may have found just the right pattern, but am not ready to commit yet.

For right now, I'm just going to enjoy these beautiful fabrics. I could just sit and look at them all day.

I think the large flower pattern and a couple of fat quarters are from Free Spirit, and most of the fat quarters (and pink dots) are from the Lucy's Crabshack by Sweetwater for Moda. There may be some Reunion by Sweetwater for Moda as well. I don't know. I just LOVE THEM ALL.

That green bird fabric is the only one I'm a bit unsure of. It was on the ultra-ULTRA sale rack, and I got all three yards for only $6. Couldn't pass it up. Just not 100% this is the right fabric or not to be a border for this project.

Getting Braver!

I acquired a new-to-me long-arm quilting machine. This has been very exciting and scary and overwhelming and fun all in one.

I've used it to quilt six or seven quilt tops now, and I have done stars and loops, loops and flowers...basically pretty easy patterns...but all free motion. I finally decided to be brave and try a more challenging pattern. This is a quilt my mom and I worked on together that is for my almost-two-year-old baby girl. I love how it turned out! And I'm super excited to try new patterns and get some of my quilt tops finished.

I love the idea of making an entire quilt from start to finish, and I've gotten much better at embracing the imperfections. After all, if I wanted perfection, I could have machines and computers do it for me.

This quilt is actually done...the binding is even sewn on it, and now I just need to hand stitch the binding to the back. And it's been seen sitting that way for a couple months now. Must get to it.

Lexi Pop Finished

This quilt is made using Fandango by Kate Spain for Moda. I used a Jelly Roll and a few extra strips from some fat quarters I had. The pattern is inspired by Sugar Baby Quilt from Moda Bake Shop. I basically used the block instructions but made more and then just used one size sashing. I thought the log cabin-ish block would complement the geometric type patterns found in the Fandango line.

(Notice my cute little helper!)

This quilt is for my niece Lexi who just turned 18 and will be graduating high school this month. I think this will be a super fun quilt for a young woman heading out into the world on her own.

I love how the quilting turned out. I did an all-over freehand flower pattern on my HandiQuilter 16. Finally getting used to the machine and really loving it! Can't wait to get more quilts up on it.

And the binding turned out super cute too - love striped bindings!

I hope she likes it!

Giggles Quilt

It's been quite awhile since my last blog. Several reasons. One, my husband commandered my laptop so I have been without computer access for quite some time. Two, I have not had as much time to quilt as usual.

But, I have been working on this quilt for my girlfriend. She's having a baby girl and I wanted to make something special for her to match the baby's room. She was using these fun apricot and pink colors. I was lucky enough to have a charm pack from Riley Blake's line Summer Song. I was even luckier to find one of my local quilt stores, Cottonwood Fabrics, had a few bolts of this line left in their clearance section.

I was hoping to applique the baby girl's name, but they are not sharing the name they have chosen, so I improvised. When I think of my children as they were babies (or are babies as the case may be), I love their giggles the most. Such joy to hear a baby giggle! A great milestone and one I felt worth documenting.

Here is the finished quilt...

I've been doing so many gifts recently, which I love to do, but I was getting bored and wanted a challenge, so I took on flying geese. This is my first attempt, and I am really proud of how they turned out.

I was also really happy with how the applique turned out. The yo-yo for the dot on the i is also my first yo-yo. The quilting was also the first time I had done some small, filler quilting on my new-to-me HandiQuilter 16. I'm starting to get more comfortable with it and I can't wait to keep trying more and more!

Here is my friend, Valerie, after opening her quilt.

Another Finished Quilt!

This is SOOO exciting! I am actually finishing projects...of course, these ones have due dates - much like the mommys these are going to. Having a deadline always helps.

This morning I am taking this quilt to my girlfriend's baby shower. She is having a little girl. She is doing the room in a dark purple/plum-ish type color and I thought these fabrics would go well.

Here you can see the quilting a little bit better. This is the third quilt I have quilted using the HandiQuilter 16. I did a simple freehand loop and flower all over the quilt. I'm still getting comfortable with the machine.

You can see there is an assortment of prints in this quilt. I believe I picked up this custom charm pack from Quilts Etc. awhile back. There are some Moda It's a Hoot, which is one of my favorite Moda lines in quite awhile.

I picked up the border and backing fabric from Thimbles and Threads - a quilt store I just recently discovered that is right in my backyard! Who knew!? I'm so glad I found it. Cathy and Janet are so wonderfully helpful and nice.

Back to the fabric. The mommy-to-be is a hip, modern mommy so I thought this simple plum-brownish with simple flowers would be perfect for her and tie into the crib collection she purchased.

Here it is all ready to go!

Sunday Night Show N Tell

So this quilt began as a simple blanket (at least that's how it started in my head!) and somehow evolved into this very cute quilt! My goal was to only use fabrics from my stash, and I needed to do something quick - fast! Hence the original quick blanket idea. But, the fabrics that inspired me I didn't have enough of to make a blanket with, so I started adding and cutting fabrics, and somehow ended up with this:

To try to make up for some time, simple quilting - simple lines spaced far enough to keep the batting happy. I loved all the fun little boy prints - fun dinosaurs, dogs, polka dots, and stripes.

Oh gosh, forgot to mention. The manager at my daycare is having a boy next month and I wanted to make her a handmade gift...always my goal. In one of my typical rants, it is SO difficult to find boy fabrics. I don't think any of these are super spectacular fabrics, mostly stuff from JoAnns, Walmart, and Hobby Lobby, but cute nonetheless and they ended up working out very nicely together.

And for the backing, I was lucky enough to have a yard of this super cute dark brown large polka dot fabric. I think it provides a nice contrast.

The only thing left is the binding, which I didn't find anything in my stash that really spoke to me, and I am thinking some sort of orange would be really nice. I don't have enough of the orange polka dot used in the quilt, plus I didn't know how the orange polka dots would work with the brown polka dot backing, so maybe an orange stripe?! If you know me, you know I LIVE FOR stripes and polka dots! My two favorites.

So I will be back to the quilt store tomorrow (oh bummer!) to try to find something fun to finish this quilt off with a pop of WOW and FUN.

Although my corners aren't perfect...for me they are pretty darn good!