a little bit of me.

{Aqua & Yellow Wonky Stars}

#1 - both eric and i are LOVING all of the baby guessing - so thanks for entertaining us - and be sure to enter a guess if you haven't already ;)

#2 - thanks to pregnancy-related insomnia, here i am at 2:30am+ >> blogging.  :)  and i figured what better to finally blog than the aqua and yellow wonky baby star quilt...

so here it is...

 

not sure i'm loving the way the colors photographed, so you will have to take my word for the fact that the color combo looks much nicer IRL.  k?

and just to recap - its much like the yellow and grey stars that i made for my friend melanie... :)  just a different color combo, and a fourth row of stars!

i used this tutorial, which was super easy to follow!

the giraffe in the center of one of the stars was hand embroidered prior to cutting that center block - you can find the giraffe embroidery pattern in this etsy shop...

the aqua solid is a kona cotton fabric, & the rest of the prints are mainly from my newly acquired yellow stash of prints - that have been used on lots of baby projects during this pregnancy...

and the backing is a yellow and aqua polka (same fabric that i used on the bumper in the nursery) with some other scraps mixed in...

& i have to thank eric for being the official "quilt-holder-upper" on this one.

;)

{Sunshine Squares}

I thought I'd start the week off right...

...with a quilt.

;)

I'm def getting to the point in the pregnancy where all i really want to do is lie on the couch and eat cupcakes - :) - butttt....

there are still a few crafty projects that i want need to get done for the nursery...

...so i craft on.

this quilt started a few weeks ago bc i didn't think that there was enough yellow in the nursery (after we painted the walls and set up the crib bedding)...

i'm really happy with what it adds to the room - which I'll be sharing in a few weeks when all is done!

but for now - here's just the 'sunshine squares' themed quilt...

(complete with a few wandering giraffes!)

...each block was assembled with a center square of pattern, and then strips of the same fabric (or white kona cotton) around.  I overcut, then trimmed each block down (some more wonky than others) to 7 inches square.  36 blocks total.

...the backing is almost all kona white cotton with a few scraps thrown in.

...quilting was just simple straight line along either side of each block seam and then around the outer part of the center pattern of each square.

...binding is a shade of yellow kona cotton, and fabrics are a mix from my stash...  the giraffes in particular are from australia and can be found here.

:)  happy monday everyone.

{friday & sunshine squares}

it's late in the day, but i'm still posting...

which means i totally blogged all WEEK.

im seriously proud of myself ;)

really wanted to share photos of the wonky star baby quilt that I made to match the baby's bedding...

buttttt, between running off of 5 and a half hours of sleep (not good for me!), and finishing up all of my SCRUMPTIOUS studio calico May kit projects (> which i will have sneak peeks of to share soon!)...

photos of the wonky stars just did not happen today.

:(

so instead i thought i'd share a quick pic of another quilt (for the baby) that I finished this week...

i'm calling it "sunshine squares"...

its the perfect splash of bright yellow and white (with a dash of orange) for the nursery.

still needs binding on it...

which may have happened sooner, but my elna had to go visit the sewing machine mechanic for a tune-up / clean-out...  (i miss it!)...

i will def share the whole quilt once its finished, tho.

happy weekend.

:)

{if it's a boy...}

there is a quilt ready.  :)

i just finished the "official" if-it's-a-boy quilt...

lots of aqua + green + grey.  yum.

but honestly i love the color scheme so much that if it's a girl, she's getting it too!

there is probably a much easier way to go about making a quilt like this, but this is the way my brain figured it out...

i started by cutting 6x6 inch blocks of a BIG stack of fabrics.  then i cut each in half diagonally.  i arranged how i liked then sewed together square blocks, so that i was sewing the diagonal back together between two triangle "halfs" - to make a block again.  after sewing the block together, press seam in one direction, then trim each block down to 5x5 inches.  Assemble quilt top and quilt quilt-lines as you like.

i tried so so SO hard not to buy anything new for this quilt - bc really my stash of fabric is PLENTY....

(...& bc i know someone will ask - fabrics are a HUGE range from my collection, lots of flea market fancy, some wee play pez monotone prints, japanese import elephants, katie jump rope, amy butler prints, kona solids, some liberty of london that i've been hoarding, and more!)

the backing was pieced with big chunks that i had in my stash...

...and i pretty much succeeded in not buying anything until i ran out of the aqua thread that i was using to quilt the quilt-lines with.  and not wanting to randomly change thread colors mid-quilt, i broke down and bought another spool ;) - still i consider it a success at making something with what i had ;)

:)

ps - the binding is a Kona shade of aqua that i had extra from bc i'm using it throughout the nursery...

and just for the record - i am still thinking that this baby is a boy!

*******

pps - been cleaning out my closet of 1/2 finished craft projects and added a BUNCH TO MY ETSY STORE - check it out here - lots of CUTE QUILTED PATCHWORK BIBS TOO!!!  (the link is now in my sidebar too!)

:)

{Yellow & Grey Baby Stars...}

I have so much crafty goodness sitting around waiting to be blog-shared...

and the 30-week-pregnant-me has just been a big slacker when it comes to blogging.

it's like i *think* about blogging, but then i just say "nahhhhh, that can wait".

ha.

so i'm pretty thrilled that i am actually getting *something* blogged today.

thought i'd share the baby quilt that i made for my friend Melanie's brand new (and ADORABLE!!!) baby girl...

i knew that her gender-neutral color scheme was yellow & grey - so that is where i started when choosing the fabrics for these wonky star blocks...

btw - i used this fabulous wonky star tutorial - only i made my squares slightly larger to start (i think i cut them to be 5 inches square instead of 4.5).

the background grey is an amy butler solid - perfect to coordinate with all the AB prints in the blocks.  there are also some japanese import elephants (you can find these on etsy), and some minny mu bees (my new favorite print!), along with other prints from my stash.

the binding is one of amy butlers lotus dots...

the quilting lines were done around each star, around the inside of each star's center block, and in a diagonal direction out each of the 4 "corners" of every star.  oh, and along the seams of the blocks, too.

and the backing is a solid yellow kona with some print scraps mixed in.

i loved how this quilt turned out so much that i made the baby quilt that will match *my* baby's nursery bedding, in the same wonky star pattern....

...will have that one photographed soon to blog... (i hope!)

and if you want to see more of melanie's amazing nursery - you can check it out here...

(it's super inspiring!).

:)

{scrappy applique pillow}

Wanted to share a recent Fiskars project...

the Fiskars craft site is doing a 'project a day' for the month of March (since it's Craft Month!).

This scrappy applique pillow went up yesterday...

I created it as a pillow cover with binding for a square throw pillow (i bought the square throw pillow insert from Joanns).  The flower motif is made from altered Fiskars circle punches and circle templates - as patterns.

You can see all of my directions here - CLICK!

the background fabric is just a basic linen.  and the binding is even scrappy too ;)

i used lots of flea market fancy scraps from my scrap box, and a bit of amy butler, too.

& i did a basic straight stitch on the appliqued "petals" because i kind of want the edges to look more frayed and vintage-esque over time...

and i then quilted with an echo-look around the floral motif...

 

:)

{if it's a girl...}

i want to have a very girly quilt ready for her.

and so, i decided to turn my "month" of the little quilting bee that I'm in - into just that.

i sent out fabrics from all of my FAVORITE designers & lines, in shades of green and pink...

...and sent Heather Ross "scene" center squares along with each (dream bikes, pink camper vans, and pink gnomes).

and asked for log cabin-ish blocks.  i cant wait to see what everyone makes.

this is what i made ;)

 

thinking that i'll sash them all in a pale pale pink.

and, if its not a girl, then the next person who i really REALLY like - who has a girl - is getting this!

;)

{21 weeks}

eric took this shot over the weekend...

...i feel like i've been so much better at getting shots this time around than last, not sure why!?

had an appt this morning and the baby's heartrate was 152.  i'm totally still thinking boy.

;)

so much so that i just ordered the most adorable aqua and white pixie hat from etsy.

and... as mentioned, here are a couple of wonky star blocks from the baby's in progress quilt...  (that i posted a pic of the fabrics for, a few weeks back).  I'm using this tutorial - but changing it up a bit by starting with 5 inch square blocks instead of 4.5 inch.  really enjoying the way that they turn out...  and almost done with all the blocks for the front...

 

i hand embroidered the giraffe on this one.  totally into giraffes for this baby's nursery!

 

and one more...

 

...so excited that i went with the yellow and aqua color scheme - took me a while to decide, but i'm really liking it.

:)

********************

PS - updating with a link to the etsy shop where i found the giraffe pattern for my hand embroidery - click here to check out all of her adorable patterns!

{Hello Sunshine! a stroller quilt with shapes.}

yay.  i have a quilt to share today.

:)

finished this one up last fall as an assignment for the Fiskars Crafts website...

you can see the info/instructions (and sketch!) here.

i knew this would be a great opportunity to get something done way early for the new baby...

and so i decided on a smaller(ish) stroller quilt.  the finished quilt measures roughly 30 inches square.

it's kind of like a modified coin quilt style.  mixed in with me just doing whatever i felt like ;)  (which always works best, right?!).

Our stroller now is a peg perego p3 in bright orange!  we have the matching infant seat that goes along with it.  we're def planning on reusing that infant seat and just replacing the stroller (bc really ours has seen MUCH better days) with another orange P3 (apparently i have a thing for orange strollers!)...  and SO, i wanted this to match.

and still be gender neutral.  which i think it is.  :)

was able to use lots of favorite fabrics here - many of which are out of print and hard to find (for those of you who email and ask about certain prints), and then sashed everything in white kona cotton.

 

the shapes (house, tree, & sun) are just fun & add a bit of interest i think.

i used white thread to quilt it with a free motion stitch...  so it'll be perfectly-super-crinkly when it's washed.  YUM!  :)

the backing is just easy-peasy amy butler dots, the binding is from denyse schmidt's out of print flea market fancy line.

...& the baby is currently jumping around in my belly as i type this so hopefully s/he approves!

;)

ps -the wonky stars from my fabric post last week are going so well!  will post a little peek this week...

{yellow, aqua, and maybe a little orange...}

just a peek at the fabrics that i started cutting today for a quilt that will hopefully match the new nursery...

i love the combo!

i'm going to do some wonky star blocks... & i'll try to post a pic of one next week...

it looks like a fun pattern!

:)