Wednesday, June 18, 2008

A New Twist

As I have mentioned once or twice before, it is raining babies in my life. Twin girls were born last week in Los Angeles who are patiently waiting for quilts. Fueled by ice coffee and the fear of drowning in fabric, I managed to knock out this little number this evening. There is a tuck on the seersucker side that needs to get reworked, but otherwise it is pretty much done.

The twins' mother made her feelings about pink pretty clear, so I picked up this awesome seersucker at Purl. It is made up of red, yellow and blue stripes. I backed it with a solid white and quilted it with the painted yellow thread.

As for the quilting design, I traced the center of the flower and drew the petals freehand. The flowers alone didn't provide enough quilting so I added partial circles to the border. Overall, I am thinking it is pretty cute. It should segue nicely from a crib to a toddler bed too.




Quilt Action Shots - Part V


Here is sweet Erol, napping with his new quilt. He is only a week old but already an accomplished model.

Tied Up With A Bow


I am sad to see this one go.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Something A Little Different

On this muggy, no rainy, now sunny Father's Day, I am off to visit with a very new father and his brandy new son. His son Erol is a week old today - he came just in time to make this Father's Day pretty special.

Erol's arrival gave me the perfect kick in the butt to try something I had been sitting on for a while. Ever since I bought the lovely painted yellow thread, I have wanted to try a really simple quilt using it for the quilting. And use it I did.


I took two yards of Alexander Henry's "Fishies" and two yards of white, and quilted them together with a nice thin batting. I sewed all three layers together, with the rights sides of the fabrics facing each other (good thing the white is right on both sides so there was no real way to mess up) and left a good size gap on one end. I turned the layers right side out, smoothed out the wrinkles, and then used a good sized tupperware lid to trace circles all over the quilt.

Update: I should explain the circles a little better. After sewing the three layers together and turning them right side out, I secured the layers together with quilting pins. Once everything was nice and flat, I took a tupperware lid and traced it with a disappearing ink marker. I traced about 5 circles, then just followed the lines on my machine with my walking foot very slowly. I then traced more circles and repeated the process until I thought there were enough. After I was finished with the circles, I top stitched the border to help hold everything down.

After quilting the circles, or bubbles, I quilted a yellow border around the edge and hand sewed the gap left for turning. I love the yellow on the white - it stands out but the colors are still subtle. I like it but would also love to see what it would look like with a higher contrast - maybe a painted red thread next time...

The quilting on the Fishie side is very subtle. I am a little disappointed that is hardly visible, but that might be because the pattern is soooooo busy that most quilting couldn't compete with that full stretch of fish. I like it though - and I am already picturing it on a toddler bed for when Erol is a little older.


When I bought the Fishies, I also picked up a fun peachy colored seersucker. I am going to try something similar with that one to see if the textured seersucker will show off the quilting better. Wish me luck. Good thing there are twins waiting for quilts in Californina to keep me motivated.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Weekend Update

This is just a quick post to show off some of my weekend projects. Friday night I put together the baby quilt. All it needs is a little binding. I am really happy with how it looks.



And after way too long, I finally sewed new bedroom curtains. I had my eye on the Notari pale blue print for a long while and was able to purchase it last week. I simply hemmed the sides, top and bottom and then picked up some ring clips for the top. Now I just need some cute tie backs and I will be all set.




Thursday, June 05, 2008

Quilt Action Shots - Part IV

Allow me to introduce Miss Brielle, who is growing so fast and is clearly enjoying her quilt. I am counting the days until I get to meet her in July.


And if you ever wondered why I sewed baby quilts, action shots like these pretty much sum it up. Are you checking out those little chicken legs?

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Charm Quilts Are In The Air Tonight

I mention this because there are at least two other quilters working on and dreaming about charm quilts as I write this.

I was recently commissioned by a lovely friend to make her two baby quilts. We did a little online shopping on Reprodepot and then finished things up on Sunday at Purl Soho for some wonderful collaboration.

Since my to-do list is taller than Empire State Building and is starting to keep me up at night, I decided to start applying more week night energies to crafting. Last night I worked in a load of fabric laundry in between a run and tonight was all about cutting.

I absolutely love these prints together. The colors are so bright and vibrant. I cut out the 4.5" squares in the colorful prints and 3 x 4.5" sashing in white. The large Moda dots is also the backing for this baby.