Project: Growing Boy Quilt

Yet another quilt has inspired a friend of mine to ask me to create this for her. Her little guy is already one so making a crib quilt seemed to be silly so we decided on a lap sized quilt (around 60" square quilt- think hello kitty quilt I did for my daughter). I introduced her to a new pandora box of pinterest and she found this quilt I had pinned which is fairly simple in design and quilting but very clean and modern as well:

Here's the link to the pattern I used 

(I made my a 7x7 instead of a 5x5 to make it the size I wanted):

http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/quilt-patterns/wall-quilts/bolts-blue

It's a pretty straight forward kind of quilt.

I gave her the option of buying her own fabric or having me do it and she opted to try her hand at coordinating fabric. I think she did an AMAZING job! Here they are cut to the 2" strips needed:

I sewed the strips into the patterned block of color solid color solid color 

and cut them into 7.5" squares 

(I know in the pattern I linked it says 8" squares but somehow 

my 1/4" presser foot was off so I did the best I could with what happened).

Here's how it looked when I laid out all the blocks and sashings before it became a quilt top:

(note: the border isn't in the picture yet)

Before I sewed them into rows, I had my engineer husband look at where each color block was to make sure they didn't seem to close or anything like that. Ah, the upside of marrying a left brain :)

Quilt top without border before pressing it:

I decided to go with how the original picture with regards to the quilting 

(which is similar to the last baby quilt I did).

 The quilting is only on the cream color and outlines the rectangles. 

Here it is started:

And then adding the binding:

All laid out before I washed and dried it:

All clean! (Please ignore the mess on the side.)

And a fantastic back view of the quilting:

I am so happy to have tried this quilt out. I did have some learning curve in it (but I feel I learn something new from each quilt). Finished size is about 63"/64" square. 

This beautiful quilt will grow with this little guy for years to come.

With all the things that have been going on in my life right now, 

I was happy to have this completed in about 10 days (not consecutive).

Project: V's Baby Surprise

Well, this quilt is for a dear, sweet friend who has gone through a lot. I feel so blessed to know her. She always waits to find out the gender of her babies until they are coming out. So, we picked this gender neutral baby quilt. I've been DYING to do this kind of black and white quilt so I was excited.

And here is the fabric I chose... (can you tell I've been WAITING to do this one?)

And this as the backing:

Pieces all cut- So, I looked at the photo from my pinterest account and figured the aqua squares were about 1/3 the length of the black/white blocks. I made the aqua blocks 2"x2" and the black/white blocks 6"x6" and the white sashings were 2"x6".

I laid it all out on the floor. I tried so many different ways and came up with this. If I tried to scatter them so the same colors would never touch, it never worked so I decided that if the same colors were going to touch, I might as well make them in rows. I hope she likes it....

I chain pieced this into a quilt top quite quickly. I sewed each row of blocks into a whole row and then pressed seams. I then sewed each row of sashings to a row of black/white row. I always keep it laid out on the floor as I go to make sure I don't sew the wrong rows together. I alway sew 2 rows together until the end and then each set of 2 rows together and then into one big quilt top (I hope that make sense).

We decided to keep the quilting in a clean, modern touch by doing straight lines. First, I quilted on the inside of the sashing rows all the way down (about the width of my presser foot), starting in the middle and working my way out to each side vertically and then did the same thing for the horizontal rows:

I then quilted around the inside of each black/white block (again about the width of the presser foot):

For the binding, I went ahead and cut 2.5" strips of the black/white fabrics that I used and did that as my sashing. I think it turned out well:

Front view (before washing):

Back view (before washing):

Front (after washing):

Close view after washing/drying:

I think it turned out beautifully. It took longer than I thought but mostly because last week we had a MAJOR heat wave (of over 90 degrees and with no a/c it was TOO uncomfortable to quilt or do much of anything for that matter and many dr appointments for me and my family). I started it around June 23rd and worked on it for about 5 days (not consecutively). I hope the new baby enjoys it (although we wont know if it's a boy or girl until October). 

Oh, the finished size was near a 40"x40" square. :)

Project: Orange Peel Quilt

So, my friend having twins.... Yea... I saw this one that would pair well with the appliqué quilt. Plus, I just got the orange peel template from Missouri Star Quilt Company (because it was a daily deal).

Here's the general idea of how it would look; to make a baby sized quilt, I'm using 5" squares (finished size after seam allowance should be about 4.5") and needed to make it 9 squares by 9 squares (total of 45 squares of colors and 45 squares of background):

Here was the final color choice.

I just needed 9 "orange peels" of each (to make the 9x9 quilt). Now, there are a couple good methods to use the orange peel template- the freezer paper method or appliqué. I went ahead and used this FANTASTIC tutorial by Missouri Star Quilt Company this time (next time I do this, I'll try the freezer paper method):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tyAig7XupI

So- this was a total of 81 5" squares. Here are some photos of my progress:

All the pedals and squares cut (not the fusible interfacing at that point).

Quilt top laid out- pedals fused on, rows not sewn together yet:

I quilted a zig-zag stitch around the pedals. Quick tip I learned from my mom- ALWAYS start in the center when you're quilting something like this so that it doesn't bunch up anywhere 

(even after basting).

Quick look at 4 together:

And bound up!

And the backing:

For those wondering about a timeline on this, it took about a week but that was with a lot of life's interruptions during a crazy time for our family. Hopefully, the next one won't take as long ;) Finished size is about 40"x40".

Project: Mother In-Law Quilt

So, my daughter has this really interesting habit of picking quilts off my pinterest board and designating a person to them.  She picked this quilt for her grandma and picked out this BRIGHT color pallet:

 I did go ahead and buy the book for this pattern (Pattern called "Spanish Tiles", Book called "Living Large 2") because I'm not talented enough to break it down on my own (or have time to break it down as I'm in massive time crunch mode). So, a couple changes from the top photo to what I did was the white outline of the blocks ended up being the green and then the pink, I used a white type color instead. Looking at the colors my sweet daughter chose, I was kind of skeptical as how it may turn out. But she has a good eye apparently. Here are some blocks broken down as I made them:

Ziplock baggies worked so well (as I was working on multiple projects so keeping things labeled and together was the best idea for me). Once I had all my pieces put together, I was able to lay it out on the floor and see how it would all come together:

Before it was sewn together into rows and into a quilt top (and no outside border):

Quilt top before the outside border:

Outside border added:

What a difference it makes to have these fabrics together. 

I was SHOCKED at how well it looked once it was all laid out.

It just goes to show, you can never tell how well a quilt will end up 

if you just have all the pieces next to each other until it's been pieced and ready to go.

Basted and ready for stencils:

Penny requested a butterfly stippling pattern as the main idea for quilting it.

Then, I did a pumpkin seed stencil for the outside border.

I used the white from the sashing as the binding as well and I think it turned out lovely.

And amazingly enough, I had enough fabric (plus some left over) to use for the backing.

The finished dims (approx.) are about 52" x 63" (more or less). I think Penny laid the big blocks out perfectly and that she did an AMAZING job picking and putting these colors together. I know I never would have. My mother in-law will be receiving a surprise package soon ;)

Project: Surprise Quilt

This sweet woman wanted to have me build her a quilt. So, naturally, I obliged but I didn't tell her when it would done or that I was just going to give it to her. It started out with this pattern:

She wanted it in yellow and blue (Swedish colors) so we picked these two out together and I came up with this block (I used the same tube method as L's baby quilt so I could make the block on point).

I did press the seams open in the middle (for the whites) and then to the dark sides for the other parts. I ended up using 110 blocks (they ended up being a finished size of  ~5.5" to 6". 

It was fairly simple to lay the blocks out in this simple pattern

And of course, child labor was free.... 

(giving her an opportunity to practice her learning with patterns and colors)

Here's it all laid out :)

I decided on a regular stippling pattern 

(it ironically covered four blocks at a time so it was pretty easy to trace out).

I also chose a blue for the backing and the same blue that on the quilt for the binding.

After the wash:

A little close up:

And here it is with it's new owner- so happy to have this quilt:

I was able to finish this quilt in under a week. 

The finished size was approximately 55" X 60" (give or take a little).

I am so happy to have this quilt in the life of this sweet woman 

and getting the enjoyment from this quilt. 

I hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.