Simple Patchwork - The Girl Edition

The boy version turned out so cute, I HAD to make a girl version.

I just love simple patchwork...especially in low volume prints, with pops of brightness.

 

These are just 4" finished squares. Finished size is 32x40. 

Binding and backing....turned out perfect!

And my very reliable photo bomber...

 

Bicycles Lane - DONE!

Finished up this quick strip quilt last weekend.

I'm donating this quilt to a high school friend who is raising money for their adoption of a little girl in China. They are hosting a dinner and silent auction in a couple of weeks, and I am hoping this quilt helps them get a little closer to bringing their daughter home.

Tried out some Flower Power long-arm quilting:

Loved this fun and funky chevron print for the binding....

My daughter has yet to miss "helping" during a quilt photo shoot.

Most of the fabrics are from Riley Blake Designs Dress Up Days line by Doohikey Designs.

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!

Silly Dinos

I decided to determine if my Cricut Expressions can help me reduce time when appliqueing. And, to my delight, it works! This cute dino was cut out using my Cricut and then appliqued on to the onsie (a gift for my girlfriend Lori who just had her baby girl).

I made this little shirt for Lori's son, who is almost 5. He LOVES dinosaurs (also very popular in my house) and thought I would make him a little something special. I did the T-rex the old-fashioned way, but used my Cricut to cut out the RaWR! text.

I'm very happy with how these turned out and love to have another gift idea in my repertoire.

Also super excited to see what I can get my Cricut to cut out of fabric. It seems the larger, less-detailed objects and fonts do well, but the smaller, more-detailed objects tend to not cut out as well. Still, this will save me lots of time!

For anyone out there wanting to try this out, I set my needle all the way down (I believe it was the 6 setting - regardless, whatever the highest number is what you want to turn your needle position to), speed set to slowest, and pressure set to highest. I also sort of went along with the needle and tried to keep the fabric down as much as possible (occasionally it would sort of hang up and the needle would catch it). I was using Heat N Bond, with Heat N Bond side down on the sticky mat.

If anyone has tried this, please comment on what success you have had!

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.