Project: To bring some comfort part 2

As you can guess, this is a continuation of sorts from the last post. Here is the second quilt I decided I could make for this family:

I decided I would cut this layer cake into 5" squares and 

then when I dissected it, it was just a simple 9 patch. 

I think the only "hard part" for this quilt was putting the like 

colors together to make the 9 patch work well. So I started and pinned it up on the design wall:

I was running out of room so I only pinned up the ones with the colors and the white block in the middle (having two quilts going at once is a little space consuming on the walls):

  

I then just sewed the nine patches up pressing seams to the dark side (also that helped when I was putting blocks together so the seams would line up and nest with one another):

It was slowly taking shape :)

Once all the nine patches were sewn together, I sew the rows of 4 together and then the 5 rows together.

I chose to go very simple and modern for the quilting on this one- straight lines on either side of the edges of the blocks. I trimmed it up and this is how it looked (courtesy of my husband holding it up so I could get a good picture of it):

I found a red fabric I had and knew it would be the perfect binding on this quilt to really give it a pop!

(before wash)

After wash:

Final size: apporx 54"x 64"

I hope these quilts are of some comfort to these girls.

Project: To bring some comfort part 1

My husband had sent me a text during the day that a co-worker had passed leaving behind two young daughters. He wondered if I could make a quilt for each of the girls. I hopped right on that and found simple but beautiful quilts I wanted to make and had some fabric I've been anxious to use.
Here is the first one:

The fabrics I had was what is called a layer cake, which means they are precut 10" squares. Doing my math, I decided that each of the long strips were going to be 5"x10" and the sashing in between was going to be 2.5" strips. The fabric I used is called "Whisper" that I bought from Missouri Star Quilt Company:

So, I cut each 10" square in half once and put them in a pile:

Penny LOVED to hand me pieces as I pinned them up on the design wall (without the sashing strips yet):

The next step was to sew each row together going vertically in preparation for the long sashing strips. Then I pinned up the sashing strips and started to sew 1 sashing strip to 1 row of the printed fabric.

After that, I sewed each row with a sashing strip to the one next to it and so on until they made a beautiful quilt top:

I had the right size cotton sheet in a beautiful purple that I decided to use as the backing for this quilt. I spray basted all three layers together and then traced the stipple stencil all over the quilt:

Then came the free-motion quilting :)

I wasn't always perfectly on the lines but stayed in the same close area.

Once the quilting was all done, I trimmed up the quilt and prepped it for binding. I had a lot of extra pieces (5"x10") and chose to cut them into 2 1/2" strips and sew them together (there was almost double the amount I needed). I went ahead and did a straight line for the binding to keep it simple:

And I LOVE the way it turned out.

These are pre-wash photos (so you'll still see the marker from the stencil):

Then, into the wash it went! All the marker came out (thanks to my color catcher sheet).

(excuse the mess...)

Final size: apporx 54"x 64"

Next quilt is on the next post....

Project: E's Baby Boy Quilt

My new friend is expecting a baby boy soon and so we brainstormed. She wanted a woodsy kind of themed quilt and simple. We both loved the look of this quilt:

And the cool swirls for the quilting is something I wanted to try to replicate on my own:

So, here were the colors we picked out and I cut them into squares. There are 9 colors and 8 of each:

So when I was pinning up the squares,I had to make sure (for my own peace of mind) that there was space between the same pieces of fabric and that there was only 1 in each row (there's my OCD kicking in):

I sewed the blocks into rows and then the rows together in groups of two and then the sets of twos together until the quilt top was done. Then, I basted the quilt top, batting, and backing (a solid charcoal grey) and drew some of how I wanted to quilt onto it. I started quilting and then when I got to where I didn't have any marks on it, I was on my own to free motion quilt. I think it turned out pretty great:

Back view:

I trimmed the extra off the sides (squaring it up) before I put the binding on:

I bound the quilt with the same grey as the back and bound it with a straight line instead of swirls or anything to keep it simple after a swirling pattern for the quilting:

And here's an up-close of the quilting and binding:

I forgot to get some glamor shots of it but it has now been delivered to this soon-to-be-mom of a little boy. I know it's going to be well loved!

Project: Baby Boy Quilt

My friend's relative was going to be having a baby boy and she asked for some help to make a quilt. She had tried and with her experience, I chose this pattern and to do it for her.

It's pretty simple half square triangle and a four patch. I decided to sketch it out with the colors I was going to be using and also to get a sense of what sizes I'd need to cut for the squares.

Here were the colors we chose:

I started pinning the four patches on the wall to play around with shapes and contrast:

I then added the half square triangles (always looking back at the design to make sure I was putting them in the right way):

I then sewed the block together to make a row and then sewed two rows together and then the next set of two. A couple reasons why I stopped there for a pause- I decided I was going to do something special for this baby quilt (and something I'd never tried on my new machine before).

I decided to add their baby's name in blue. I had a scrap piece that I tried about 4 times or so on before I did it on the actual block!

Next, I sewed the last row of blocks together and then the two set of two rows together and then the last row on:

And then pressed:

I thought about different ways to quilt it and this is what I settled on:

("x"s in the four patches and then a stitch in the ditch for the half square triangles but I made them continuous lines so I went diagonal with the arrows help)

I basted all the pieces (quilt top, batting, and backing) all together
and started executing the quilting plan:

Stitch in the ditch means you just sew right in the line 

so it's almost invisible except for on the back:

Here's the back view of it all quilted:

And a front(ish) view:

Trimmed after quilting and ready to bind:

Prewashing (bad lighting :( )

All washed and dried front view:

Back view:

Up close on the embroidery of his name:

It is now being well loved by baby boy!