a little bit of me.

{the start...}

...of a new project.  finally.  :)

The Start - the pulling and selecting and matching and pairing of fabrics has always been one of my very favorite parts of quilting.

AND then the browsing of blogs and pinterest and flickr while choosing JUST the RIGHT pattern to show off those fabrics, while hopefully also still giving me a bit of a challenge in order to keep my interest while piecing and placing fabrics...

Well... I just miss it.  And that's how I knew it was time for a new project.

I started by wading into my long-ago abandoned "office & craft room" (it has since become merely a dumping ground for tupperwear storage bins full of outgrown little boys clothes and the occasional box of photography packing supplies) -- and then digging my way into the closet to pull out all of the fabric bins that I'd crammed in there almost 3 years ago.

This little stack of pretty aquas and cobalts and greys is what first emerged.

And then I added in some greens...

....But now I'm thinking less green - and more summer ocean hues - might be the perfect way to go.

And I broke out my KONA Cotton swatch book (my favorite solids!) to start pairing colors to go with this assortment of prints...

...I think Candy Green (it seems like the perfect aqua!) is a must!

I can't wait to see where this heads - & I'll be sure to share more of this project here.

:)

{FMF Charm Squares}

Because sadly my quilting posts are FEW and FAR between these days -- today I'm sharing what's been a work in progress for almost the past year...

...this is just simple 5 inch charm squares - all cut from the flea market fancy line of fabric. 

This is without question my FAVORITE fabric line ever.  I hoarded it for a few years until it was re-released last year, at which point I bought TONS MORE.  ;)  And decided that I could part with enough to do a generous sized lap/couch quilt for our family room.

Now that the top is finished (as of this past weekend!), I need to browse pinterest for backing ideas (since I never like to just do a single fabric!), and maybe binding ideas, too.  :)

 

here's to hoping that I can get it backed, basted and quilted by the time summer hits!

:)

 

{Zigs & Zags: A Chevron Style Quilt}

My quilting time has been limited since Noah joined our family two years ago, to say the least.  :)  Finding time to work on a project - and actually complete it - is a challenge...  I sometimes visit my Pinterest Quilting board just to stare longingly at all of the gorgeous project pins that I'd love to attempt, yet repeatedly chose a nap or extra sleep over, instead of starting one.  ;)

Knowing my limitations, I really don't take on custom projects any longer - which was why I was hesitant when Jennifer emailed me asking me to create something for her baby-on-the-way last Spring.  I absolutely ADORE her - and have always loved her scrapbook & card projects (she's been a major scrap crush of mine from the start!) - and after discussing what she wanted, decided that this might be the project I needed to get me out of my sewing slump.

We collaborated on the color palette and created this modified zig-zag quilt (using this tutorial) - and based off of a solid & similar chevron style quilt found on pinterest (that I can't seem to locate right now!) - and this is what the result was:

...I love the pretty colors paired together, and especially that there's so much aqua involved!  The background fabric for the chevrons (big chunk pieced on top and bottom of the five rows of zigs & zags) is Michael Miller's Ta Dot in Sea.

...The wonky grey with white dots print used as the bottom chevron (and as the binding) is from Riley Blake's Tuxedo line.  And ignore my "chick prints" - I finished this around Easter time(!) just didn't manage to blog it until now.

...The backing is super simple but still offers a bit of variety - three big chunks pieced together.  I stipple quilted this with a free motion stitch & lots of swirls.

...I was so happy to be able to actually finish this on time and before she had her sweet baby.

Hoping there's more quilting time in my future this fall, with both boys back in school!

:)

{Birds & Bikes - the Quilt}

This is the quilt that single-handedly stalled my "quilting-life" per say.  ;)

(along with a now almost 2 year old, but then newborn baby!)

...I started piecing the blocks for this quilt before Noah was born.  It's modeled after one of my favorite quilts - the sunshine squares quilt that I made to coordinate with Noah's nursery. 

I made it for one of my closest friends - her little girl was born about 4 months after Noah was - and she loved Noah's sunshine squares, and wanted something similar - and had decorated her baby's nursery with a pink & green & aqua color scheme + cutie PBK birdie bedding --> and thus "Birds & Bikes" was born.

...The backing is just pieced chunks of fabric - including the pink Heather Ross bikes that I adore (long ago out of print!).

I'm not exactly sure what happened, but it somehow took me a year and a half to complete.  ha.  And so I dropped it off at her house - a little bit late(!) - last month.

Hoping she still enjoys it and it can "stretch" it's lifespan into a toddler quilt of some kind.

;)

{Amy Butler Blocks}

Yay.  I have a quilt to share today.  (it's been a while since i've been able to say that!)

I started this quilt almost 2 years ago...  Right after I finished THIS quilt.

It's lots of Amy Butler Scraps from that quilt (and my stash) pieced into blocks and then sashed with white Kona cotton.

The back is lots of white Kona with a sprinkling of scrappy bits and pieces.  I designed the back with photography purposes in mind, thinking that all the white mixed with the scrappy, pretty patches would be cute & simple & classic for baby girl photos.

Since I started this before I even got pregnant with Noah, & then finished the quilting on it during his pregnancy -- I set it aside, and had it in the back of my mind that I'd finish the binding on it after he was born, IF he had been a girl.

:)  ...which he clearly wasn't.

And so - the binding just got finished this month (its a solid shade of pink Kona cotton).  The quilting is free motion stippling with white thread.

It measures 46x46 inches - so while on the larger size of baby quilts, and it would also make a really good toddler-sized quilt, or lap quilt.

The blocks are exclusively Amy Butler prints - many out of print - I've ALWAYS loved Amy Butler's fabrics and have collected them for years - even before I started quilting.

...Since I don't have a baby girl to enjoy this quilt (and no new baby girls in my life in the near future!), I'm listing it on etsy.  YOU CAN SEE THE LISTING HERE.  SOLD!!!  I rarely list my quilts on etsy, and I hope this one goes to someone who will love it as much as i do.

:)

{a QUILT for a cause.}

anyone remember this mini-quilt?

well..... If you perhaps liked it so much you wanted it for yourself ;) -- you may be in luck!

i've donated it to my friend Kristina to auction off on her blog - to benefit Caylin's Cure.  Caylin is Kristina's 5 year old daughter, who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes last March.  All proceeds go to help fund Diabetes Research.  So I encourage you to PLEASE BID!!!! :)

If you're interested in bidding - just hop on over to her blog here and leave a comment with your bid amount (if that amt is higher than the bid before you!).

When Kristina asked me to be a part of this fundraiser, and I dug the little tree mini quilt out of my craft closet, I also found an abandoned quilt-top that I had sewn & pieced before Noah was born.  Carpel tunnel craziness took over my wrists & hands at the end of that pregnancy, and I was unable to finish the quilt.  Fast forward a year, and I just haven't had the time (or energy!) to sandwich, quilt and bind it.

And since my quilting blog posts have been FEW & FAR between this past year, I did want to at least share the quilt-top in this post...

...because, lucky enough - it's found a new home with my friend Emily who was looking for something for her cute new baby Henry in this same pattern.  A total coincidence but I'm super-excited that it's going to a good home and will be made into a quilt soon enough!

I followed the tutorial that I linked above, and used lots of fabric from my stash - most out of print (before you email me and ask where you can buy it ;).

I'd like to make something else (someday!) with this pattern - and finish it! - as I really love how the scrappy patchwork circles turned out.

And finally - just a little peek at the quilting project that seems to have been dragging on over the ENTIRE LAST YEAR.  Which just tells you how little i have quilted since Noah was born.

This is for my good friend Katie's baby - who was born LAST OCTOBER - yikes.  Sorry Katie!!!  ;)  I actually did get to sneak in a few hours of quilting time on it last week though.  Which i consider a small miracle.

:)

{Scrappy Stripes - A New Quilt!}

((so much fun to be able to write a quilty blog post today!))

;)

The quilt that i blogged a peek of HERE, is finally finished.  yay!  When I was on my quilting streak before Noah was born, I was truly convinced that I would still have plenty of time to sew and quilt after he arrived.

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'm seriously thrilled that I had the chance to get just this one project done in the 9 months since he's been born.  ;)

And I'm calling it "Scrappy Stripes".

It was 100% inspired by this quilt here.  I love looking at Flickr for quilting inspo! 

I wanted a project to use a bit of my long-hoarded Flea Market Fancy stash on, and this was the perfect opportunity.  I just cut wonky & chunky strips of various prints that i liked and arranged with strips of white cotton in between, and seamed it all together.  The wonkier the better.

In fact - it's so "wonky" that one side of the quilt is longer than the opposite.  oops!  but that's totally ok.  Noah told me he doesn't mind. ;)

All of the baby quilts (with the exception of the every month "if it's a boy quilt") that I crafted while I was pregnant and waiting for Noah were made to match his gender neutral nursery - since we didn't actually know that he was a HE.  And so this one was made especially for him.

My goal was to get it done before he was crawling - so that he could use it as a little playmat on the floor - but we quickly jumped into scoot/crawl mode this week - so I guess I'll just have to play on it myself while he scoots all over the place around me.  ;)

As previously mentioned - the fabrics are mainly from Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy line along with her Katie Jump Rope line (both out of print) with a few other favorite polka dots and other prints thrown in.  They were all in my stash already.

The actual quilting was free motion stippling with white thread.

The backing is super-easy -- almost all Kona white cotton with one big scrappy stripe running through the middle.

The binding is mainly an Amy Butler grey colored solid that I had leftover from this quilt - mixed with a few other prints used in the quilt - for a truly scrappy looking binding to match the theme of the quilt.  :)

I attempted to get Mr N to model his new quilt, but all he really wanted to do was crawl away...

...until i tackled him for .2 seconds to snap this:

:)

(he's picked up SO much speed in just a matter of days!)

Be sure to check back to the blog tomorrow - i have a SUPER FUN giveaway planned that you won't want to miss!!!

{there's been...}

...some quilting going on around here.  ;)

i finally really broke into my treasured flea market fancy stash for this one.  Not that i have time to finish it anytime in the near future, but for now it's looking pretty tossed to the side of my office while i make a dent in my March Into the Woods Studio Calico kit (which i LOOOOVE btw!).

hope to share the whole (finished) quilt sooner rather than later.  ;)

{finally a new quilt: Sunshine & Waves}

a new quilt.  ((kind of...))

;)

i started this sunshine & wave-inspired quilt a couple of months before Noah was born.  I'd always wanted to try a zig-zag style quilt - and thought that this color combo would be a good gender neutral choice to match the nursery.

& the quilt would have been done long before noah arrived if it wasn't for that pesky carpel tunnel that crept up on me a month before he was born.

I'm SO glad to be rid of that!!! :)

FINALLY got it back out and finished the binding a couple of weeks ago!

I used this tutorial - which was super easy to follow...  and chose to just stipple/free-motion stitch the quilting of it...

fabrics are all just pulled from my stash.  nothing was specially purchased for this project.  and before you email and ask where you might be able to purchase them, let me just break it to you that at least 1/2 the prints are out of print and rare/hard to find.  (sorry!)

the backing is pieced chunks of aqua and yellow...

and the binding is simple aqua kona cotton that i had leftover from the wonky star quilt.

(eric was my official quilt holder upper this weekend - he's getting good at that job!)

and i think that baby noah loves the way this one tuned out.

:)

{Olive's String Quilt}

Thought I'd end the week with a quilt. > & I'm honestly just thrilled that i managed to blog more than once this week.  ;)

(yay - it's been a while since i got to blog a quilt...!)

i made this during the spring - for my amazing friend Gabby's daughter, Olive.  It was mailed off to Gabby the day before i delivered Noah, but I just haven't had a chance to share until now.

Gabby and I were due on the exact.same.day. >> June 9th.  Sharing this pregnancy with her was seriously such a blessing for me.  she has - and STILL - keeps me sane on a daily basis.  ;)  Noah is 6 days older than Miss Olive (who was born on June 8th).  I love that.

Olive's nursery is yellow with lots of pink and green - hence the color combo of the quilt!

I used this string block tutorial - which was super easy to follow, and i really enjoyed making something different like this...  There are 16 string "blocks" in Olive's quilt - making a total of 4 larger "blocks" and then i bordered those with white Kona Cotton.  The binding is just a shade of pink Kona Cotton (simple to help compliment all of the crazy  pattern in the string blocks).

the backing is a tree print from erin mcmorris that i love...

...the blocks are made up of LOTS and LOTS of different prints from my stash.

...i used a stippling free motion stitch to quilt with - the result will be a yummy vintage-y puckered look once the quilt is washed and dried.

I am so *wanting* to start on a new quilt sometime soon...  If only I could find a way to cut fabric, piece, press, baste, & quilt while I hold Noah (who is currently passed out & balanced on my chest while i blog this...).  hehe.

;)