Project Quilting season 9 challenge 2 - Triangulation

So for this week of project quilting, season 9 challenge 2, our challenge was triangles. So many options but I wanted to try something different. I googled and looked and finally was inspired by a picture I found on Pinterest. I couldn't find a pattern so I made one up for the English paper pieced triangles.

I love how it is turning out, but it was taking forever. So Saturday night I decided to take 4 of the triangles and turn them into a baby rattle toy for my niece. I finished hand stitching the triangles together and stuffed it then closed up my little toy. I think Ellie Rose will love her triangle.

The sides are 3" long. I love my little pink anchors in the middle. Maybe I'll make a goal to include nautical in each challenge.

So plan A from challenge 1 is still in process and now plan A from challenge 2 is still in process. Maybe next challenge I can finish my plan A, haha!

I created my epp triangle toy in my home in Lanoka Harbor, NJ.

A Lovely Year of Finishes - January

I hopped on board A Lovely Year of Finishes again this year.  I loved having that extra push to finish up projects.  This month I chose to finish up a triangle dinosaur quilt that I had been putting off forever.  I had the fabrics sitting in a pile since the summer and just never got around it it.  I chopped them up finally at the end of December.

January Goal

So at the beginning of the month I sat down and finished up this quilt top and even a second top just because... I mean I had the fabrics already and why not make two when it is so easy as this one.  A good back up for anther baby.  (Which has already been claimed)

I quilted this with simple straight lines, just a presser foot width from the seam lines.  It adds such a fun pattern to the quilt.

It is bound with a fun stripe that complements the colors on the front.

I pulled a fun red chevron for the back.

The quilting looks pretty cool on it, too.  it is kinda busy, but that's ok with me.

Tumbling Dinosaurs
31" x  36"
Cotton Fabrics
Pellon 80/20 blend batting

A Lovely Year of Finishes - June

Wow, I can't believe it is the end of June already.  I feel like this year is flying by.  I finished up my goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes about 2 weeks ago and I can't believe it took me this long to write about it.

I started Orion's quilt right after he was born.  I had an idea what I wanted to do, but once I saw his sweet little face I knew exactly the quilt for him.  I finished the top quickly and it took me a little bit to figure out how I wanted to quilt it.

So I decided on quilting it with straight lines vertically about 3 inches apart and then 4 sets of 4 horizontal lines that are 3 inches apart.   I think that it will be enough quilting to hold up to a growing little boy.

The back is a fun letter print.  I picked it up a while ago from my LQS and it matched perfectly with the front.  And I have to share my excitement that this entire quilt came from my stash!  (Em, I know you know how big my stash is and you probably aren't too surprised, haha.)

I really love his name on the quilt.  I sent it out to the little guy this week.  Can't wait to hear what his mommy thinks of it.

I am linking up to the June Finishes at Sew Bittersweet Designs and Fiber of All Sorts.  There are so many great projects that were finished this month!  Hmm, now to decide for next month.

Orion's Quilt

I am halfway through with my A Lovely Year of Finishes goal.  Baby Orion was born to one of my besties on May 31.  The moment I saw the little guy I knew the quilt I had to make for him.

So now Orion's quilt top is together.  I decided to use some of my Oh Deer by Moda charm pack and a fun newspaper texty print.  I started the top by making patchwork letters for his name.  I used the technique by Oh Fransson, Simple Patchwork Letters.  

It was so simple, I made up patchwork blocks and then cut out my letters.  After cutting out the letters, I add fuseable web to the back to make it easier to applique the block to the background fabric.  I found it funny that even though there are over 100 spools of thread in this house, I had to go and but 3 more because I didn't have the right colors.  After I had all the colors, I zigzagged around each letter.


Since the little guy's name is Orion, as in the constellation Orion's Belt, there had to be stars on his quilt.  I made some scrappy stars and for extra color pieced in the little birds.

 
And for fun, a picture from the back.  I love seeing the light through a quilt.

Now I have to quilt it.  I am thinking about free-motion where the newspaper texty print is.

Calvin and Henry's quilts... take 2

Wow, I have been sewing like made lately trying to finish up everything I have planned.  I know things will be cut, but that doesn't mean I won't try to get done all I can.  My sister, Cindy asked me a while back to make her two quilts for a friend.  She was very specific of what she wanted for colors and patterns.
I came across Riley Blake Fox Trails on sale on Craftsy and immediately snatched up a fat quarter pack.  Then I saw Classic Jurassic on sale at Fat Quarter Shop and thought wohoo, so I go that, too.  Two boys, two fabric bundles, well on my way to getting it done.  Or so I thought... Cindy only wanted parts of the bundles and she didn't want the primary colors of the Classic Jurassic so I edited my fabrics and added some Color Weave by PB textiles (I love the linen look of those fabrics).  On my way again... well... my first quilt top she did not like at all. (She said she wanted a quilt, a regular quilt... ugh!)  I have plans for fun quilting on this, but it will wait until I have time now.

Sorry for the cell phone pic.

So I went back to the drawing board and came up with these tops.  Of course that was after spending two days being cranky about her objection to the circle top I created.  I decided on a simple subway tile pattern.  

Calvin's Quilt

Calvin is 2 and he loves dinosaurs.  She got him a book and a stuffed dinosaur to go with the quilt.  I can see him yelling. "dinosaur... arrrrr!".  His quilt measures 42"x 48".

 Henry is 6 months and is just a little cutie.  He watches everything and takes it in like a little old man so the argyle and plaid match his personality.  His quilt measures 36" x 42".

Henry's Quilt

A strip down the back and some straight line quilting finish the quilts.  The boys share a room so I wanted them to match, but be special just for each of them.  

Cindy is very happy with Calvin and Henry's quilts take 2.  Thanks goodness because there would not have been a take 3.  Another thing off my 100 Day Hustle list.

I will be linking up this week to Linky Party Tuesday at Freemotion by the River and to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

Anthony's Quilt

This quilt was made a while back, it is Anthony's quilt.  It was my first try at the disappearing nine patch pattern and it was super easy and looks great.
I used a bunch of fabrics with cars and other things that go on it that I had collected because they were too cute to pass up when in the sale rooms.

With the fun patterns, I added in a few solids to help calm down how busy the fabrics felt.  I quilted it with the squiggle stitch over the seams then added the binding by machine (my favorite way).

It is backed it was a large stripe that I did a little piecing to.  (It was too much like a circus tent without the added strip.)  

This quilt was given to Anthony for his first birthday, his whole family loved it.

I'm linking up to Freemotion by the River Linky Party Tuesday  and to Quilt Story Fabric Tuesday. Go check out all the fun link ups!

Chasing Rain Baby Quilt and Bloggers Quilt Festival.

So the other day I was hanging with a boater friend of mine and we were talking about kayaking and my goodness do I miss being on the water.  And to top it off, lately I have been seeing posts on Facebook of everyone checking levels of creeks and rivers to see what is running where.  So essentially they are "chasing rain".  One particular day when rain chasing was happening I decided to whip up a fun quilt that said to me, chasing rain.  I pulled out my fabrics left from Puddle Quilt and got to cutting.  I sliced up a bunch of equilateral triangles and sewed them together randomly, ending up with this super fun quilt.

 I quilted it by stitching a quarter of an inch outside the diagonal seam lines.

The back is an extra row of the triangles pieced into some solid purples.  (I love how the quilting makes the back look like argyle!)

I headed to the Barnegat Bay bay to snap some pictures before the storm, Sandy, makes her way up the coast.

Maybe I should have called it chased by rain, as soon as I finished with my pictures a quick shower rolled in.

This baby quilt finish comes just in time for Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side

Chasing Rain Quilt Stats:
Measures 32" x 34"
Made with Kona cotton and Bella solids from my stash in blues and purples.
Pieced by: Me
Machine quilted by: Me
Best category: baby quilt, two color quilt, quilt photographer.

I am so excited to see all the quilts that the blogging world has to share.  Head over and check them out.

Stacked Coin Baby Quilt 2

After I finished the stacked coin baby quilt for my sister (here) I realized I had just enough scraps left to make one more.  I really liked how quickly it went together and how there were no seams to match up so I whipped up another one.

I had a few less purple pieces, but it is just as cute as the first.  

I backed it with a pink with white stars that I found in my LQS sale room... $5 a yard!

It has warm and white batting and is free motion quilted with variegated pink thread.
This quilt measures about 29'x39', perfect for a little baby girl.

I decided to list this on in my Etsy shop.

I am linking up to Linky Party Tuesday at Quilting by the River and to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

A Simple Baby Quilt

My oldest sister let me know about a month ago that she wanted me to make a baby quilt for her to give someone.  I of course said sure, not a problem.  She originally said she needed it for July, but she really meant June.  She asked me about it this weekend, oops.  Luckily I had already cut out pieces for it so I just had to sit down and do some sewing.

I did the quilt in a stacked coin style, cutting each piece 2.5" by 5" for the coins and the sashings are 3" wide.

The binding is a simple purple with little squiggles in it.   I think it frames the quilt nicely.  

The backing is a pink with a light pattern that reminds me of free motion quilting that I picked up at JoAnn's on Sunday (my LQS was closed already).  

The batting is Warm and White, it gives the little quilt a nice feel.  I did a free motion loopy squiggle on it.  Not too close together though, I wanted it to stay nice and soft for the baby.  

The finished quilt measures 33" x40".  It was super simple to make and to be honest, one of the best things is the fabric for the top came almost entirely out of a bag of "you pick" scraps I got at my LQS.  $5 gets you a gallon zip top bag to fill, it must close, and it is all yours.  My bag was seriously over 5 lbs :)  

 Oh and I had this little helper under my feet when I was trying to get photos between the rain.  She is my neighbor's cat Spooky who spends her days in my backyard.  The is the most friendly, person loving cat ever.  She was nipping at my ankles because I wasn't petting her.

I am linking up to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story and to Linky Party Tuesday at Quilting by the River.  There are great projects at both!

A Sweet Baby Quilt

Fair warning this post is sooooo full of pictures of a very pink quilt :)

So a very good friend of mine had a little baby girl last month.  I was so very excited when I got the text at 2:30 in the morning that it was a girl!  I was not able to make it to her baby shower the month before, but I sent here out a package with Bunny and Ellie.  She did not know what she was having ahead of time so I had to wait to start the quilt.  Well I got the text Wednesday morning, the 28th,  and so after physical therapy that day I made a trip to my LQS to shop for fabrics.  I wanted to match Bunny and Ellie as much as possible.  I was so excited to be shopping for pink!  I already had the white raindrop from Ellie and the brown and blue polka dot.  I also had the pink and brown and the blue and brown flower fabrics.

So while at my LQS I pulled out all the pink and brown that I could find and only the best would do.   I ended up with the pink with the brown splotches, the pink and white dot, and the brown and pink polka dot.  I also went to another fabric shop I love and got the pink and brown circles and the backing.  I pulled a piece of pink and brown swirly from my stash that I have been saving for something special.

The backing... love it!

So I decided I wanted to make this a fun quilt with lots of little squares, I love the look of postage stamp quilts, so I cut out 2 inch squares of my main fabrics and make blocks with them.  I didn't want a pattern, I like the random look.  So I made blocks of 9 squares by 9 squares.  I also decided I would be turning them on point.

Only halfway done with blocks at this point.  Pressing all those seems took forever!  But I kept at it...

And now the top was all done!!

I love how neat all my seems look!  

Ok, I am also proud of my corners... that was a lot of work!

I decided to free motion quilt the baby quilt.  This was the first quilt that wasn't a mug rug or mini that I have free motion quilted.  I did each block separately and then did a squiggle along the borders of the blocks.  I used a variegated pink thread that really stood out against the brown.  I used warm and natural for the batting.  

Closer look of the quilting. 

And the back.  I framed the backing fabric with the brown and pink swirly.  You can see the pattern of the blocks if you look closely at the quilting from the back.

I loved the look so much that I decided I needed to make a smaller, snuggley quilt that will be perfect in the car or stroller or to be dragged around when she is a little older or ever a quilt for her dolls when she is older, too.  This block I made 10 squares by 10 squares and then made small borders.  I also free motion quilted this, but I backed it with minky that I framed a little piece of the backing (thank heaven for little girls) so I didn't want too much quilting to keep it super soft.  

Both together... I love all the pink!

I am so happy with how these two quilts turned out.  I love all the pinkness!  The baby quilt is about 48"x48" and the mini is about 20"X20".  

I sent them off to their new owner.  I find it so exciting that there is a new little person in the world and I love that I was able to make her a special gift.  I can not wait to meet this little bundle of happiness that I made this quilts for.  

And here is a link to a picture of the sweet little girl with her new quilt.  

I am linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story and at Quilting by the River Linky Party Tuesday.