Kayce's Quilt

In just a week from today, another one of my favorite people is getting married.  My friend Kayce will be walking down the aisle and I will be there to support her and her future hubby.  I have my dress and shoes and oh no... I need to email her about a hair appointment.

Her shower was the end of August and since it was the same as Matthew's 8th birthday I could not go (he can't be 8!!).  I did want to make sure that she knew I was thinking of her, though, so of course I made a quilt.  Her favorite colors are blue and green and I wanted to make sure I used them in her quilt.  Well it so happened that a couple months ago I was playing with a bunch of half square triangles that I had made and it was the perfect colors for her quilt.

Bright blue and green are paired with a fun text print that just happens to be in the quilt I made for her little boy, Orion, just a couple months ago.  It was meant to be!

I added some borders to the top to make the size better for a cuddle quilt (or picnic quilt with Orion).  

I backed the quilt with more of the green and blue alternating a stripe of the other color and the text print through it.  The center of the quilt is stitched on the diagonal through the center of the half square triangles.  The borders have squiggles and swirls.

I am so very happy with the swirls on the border.  Getting better with each quilt.

I added a little label to the quilt in one of my favorite ways, a couple of hexagons.

I wrapped it up and sent it to Kayce's parent's house for her shower.

Kayce's Quilt

52" x 62"

Kona Solids and fun text print

Pellon Nature's Touch 100% cotton batting

Pieced and quilted by me

One more picture Kayce shared...

I can't handle the baby cuteness!

Guest Posting at Holy Craft

Hi all!  I am guest posting today at Holy Craft sharing a tutorial for this fun t-shirt pillow.  Yup, that is a t-shirt from 25 years ago :)

Head on over to Holy Craft and check it out!

Sharing a guest post...

I did a guest post tutorial a while back (2013) for a quilt as you go tutorial for t-shirt quilts at Holy Craft and figured i would share it here, too. 

Hi I'm Carolyn and I blog over at Sweet Boater Chick.  On my blog I share many quilts and projects that I put together along with family events and fun times with my two nephews.   And if you were wondering, the name of my blog comes from my love of white water kayaking.

One type of quilt that I tend to be asked to make for friends and family is the t-shirt quilt.  This is one of the quilts that I have created with the method I am going to share with you today.  It is created with all different race t-shirts.

I am going to share my method of making this quilt, but this time I am going to make a pillow.  You will need;

1 or more t-shirts
lightweight or sheer weight fusible interfacing
cotton fabric for sashing and the back of the pillow
plain white fabric for the back between the layers
cotton batting

To start the project you want to do a rough cut of the t-shirt, leaving a large amount around the design so you can trim to the size you need later.  Next decide your layout if you are using more than one t-shirt.  (It is the same if you are working on a quilt)

Take one of the t-shirt pieces and fusible interfacing to the back, make sure not to press directly on the design from the front, I always press the interfacing on t-shirts from the back.  The interfacing makes the t-shirt more stable and easier to work with.  After adding the interfacing trim the t-shirt to the size you need for your design.  I usually do this in steps, all interfacing then all trimming.

Once it is trimmed I add my sashing.  The pink is cut 2 inches wide and the blue is cut 2.5 inches.  It is easy to add width to your pieces with the sashings.  Press the seams away from the t-shirt, this will make it easy to secure it to your backing later.  Put each t-shirt and sashing block on 100% cotton batting, baste it with pins, and trim around it.

The next step is to quilt the t-shirt.  I know that there is no back yet, but this makes it a lot easier when making a quilt.  I did free motion squiggles on the t-shirt, around the outside of the design on the yellow and just squiggles on the white smaller t-shirts pieces.  I then sewed the pink and blue together using a half inch seam allowance.  

The half inch is important for pressing the seams open, which you want to do when sewing the t-shirt blocks together.

Next, add the white backing to cover the batting.  Stitch in the ditch between the t-shirt and sashing in the blocks to secure the backing.  On the edges, I serge or zigzag the layers together and now it is all ready to add the pillow back.

I did a simple envelope closure on this pillow, the two sections of the closure overlap 3 inches.

Flip it right side you, stuff it with a pillow form (or in my case a quilt that I folded up), and ta-da you have a fun t-shirt pillow.  (I took off the pink because I decided it was too long).  I can see this fun pillow on the spare bed for when my nephew, Matt, stays over.  He loves all things space.  

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and stop over to see the other projects I have on my blog.
Thank you so much Rachel for the opportunity to guest post here on your blog!

All Framed Up...

...On the Jersey Shore.

A little while back I tested a pattern for Sweet Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs.  It was her All Framed Up pattern.  My goodness, this was such a nice easy pattern that was easy to read and went together so quickly.  I was able to get the cutting done so quickly (even with interruptions), I liked how it was broken down in the instructions.  And the entire quilt went together in just a day.  Score on the perfect new quilt gift pattern!

This pattern screamed for me to use some special fabrics that I have been hoarding saving for just the right project.  These fabrics are special batiks made for sale here only on the Jersey Shore.

I finished the top in early July and took a few quick pictures at the boat with help from my little nephew, such a great quilt holder.

All Framed Up top with Chis helping hold it.

In August I was able to finish the quilting and the binding.  I am in total love with this quilt, but as soon as my dad saw it he asked if it was for him.  Hmm, this is the first time he liked a quilt this much.  He really liked how the fabrics stood out in the blocks.

 I quilted my All Framed Up on the Jersey Shore quilt with free motion wavy lines and waves.

It is backed with a green batik that reminded me of sea grass, perfect for a shore quilt.  

We have clams, sea grasses, and shells in the quilt.  The purple just matched the special fabrics perfectly.

Up close you can see the lines and waves that I free motioned across the quilt.

I am loving this pattern and how it really lets the fabrics stand out.  It was so quick to come together and I can totally see another beach themed quilt done with this pattern.

Quilt Stats - 

All Framed Up on the Jersey Shore

52" x 52"

Pellon 100% cotton batting
Various batiks, including special NJ ones :)
Pieced and quilted by me on my home machines.

Linking to linky Party Tuesday at Freemotion by the River and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story. 

Kailee's Quilt

My friend Nancy recently asked me to create a quilt for her niece who just had a baby girl.  The baby's name is Kailee.  She had seen this quilt on Pinterest and wanted something similar.  I had so much fun creating this quilt for her.  It was simple and colorful and I needed a break after working on those memory quilts for so long.

I went to my stash and pulled some fun colorful fabrics for the quilt.

I laid out the colors and cut the strips to random widths, making the quilt 45" long and 36" wide.

The name was appliqued with a zigzag stitch before piecing the strips.  I quilted the quilt a quarter in from each seam across the quilt adding swirls in the strip that has the name appliqued on.  

Nancy asked if I could make it super cuddly so I backed it with a soft yellow minky.

I love how the swirls really show on the minky.  This was my first time using a basting spray.  I figured because minky is stretchy it might help hold it in place along with the safety pins.  The minky did not move at all and free motion quilting the swirls went smoothly.

Nancy loved the quilt and I even got Oma's approval (she is brutally honest, haha).

Kailee's quilt measures 36" x 45" 

Front is a mix of prints from my stash.

Binding is a purple raindrop print.

Backing is minky

Batting is 100% cotton Pellon Natures Touch .  

I am linking up to Linky Tuesday at Freemotion By The River and to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

Studio Tour

So over at Ellison Lane and The Sewing Loft there is a studio space blog tour going on.  There are so many beautiful studios that have been shared that I was like, umm mine is nothing like that.  And I saw that some sew in the dining room or kitchen so I decided to jump on board.

I sew in the corner of a spare bedroom.  Yes I tend to take over the entire room and make it difficult to clean for a quick guest visit, but that is because I have a chaotic crazy creative gene (or so I like to say).

My desk is an L shape and over it I have my bulletin board that I have notes from quilty friends, pictures of and from my nephews, and my 1st place ribbon from quilt con (that quilt now lives on the living room wall).  I store my second machine to the right on top of a couple storage bins.  I love to open the blinds during the day when I sew, I have a great view of the backyard.

My design wall is made up of a large foam core board that was used in framing when I worked at a craft and fabric store.  It leans on the wall at the head of the spare bed.

I have storage for my thread, bindings, spare needeles and other small items in these drawers.  I have fat quarters here, too.  On top of the fat quarter is a pile of UFO's.  I need to get those going.  I also pile my bundles here.   In the drawers beneath I store some backings, but mostly it is sheets and such for the spare room.

Behind the door I hang my templates and rulers.

Since I don't have a studio, I store my fabric stash in my bedroom.  My desk has great shelves on it and I love seeing the colors every day when I wake up.  Clearly this desk is no longer used since the fabric is even on the top of the desk.  On top are some of my favorite physics books.

The second shelf is when you walk into the room, on top there is storage for some scrapbooking stuff and a couple bins with fabric projects.  I started this stash many years ago when I first worked at a fabric and craft store and I share much of it with my mom, even my friends.  I am a huge sale shopper and hit up the sale rooms at my favorite stores regularly.

And this short shelf has both scrapbooking and a couple math books.  Also some trims are kept on top on top.  Next to it there are bins with other fabric storage.

Not pictured is my Domestic Rotary machine in a table that holds my serger and a couple other machines that are in other areas of the house that I am not using right now.  

I am spread out with my sewing, but I don't mind since I still have the ability to sew and create.  My little sewing space is prefect for me and I love that I can just wake up and create something amazing every day.

A Lovely Year of FInishes - August

Not even the end of the month and I have already finished my goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  Can you believe it?!?  I am so excited to say that the 4 memory quilts that I have been working on for the past 2 months are completed and to their homes.  Part of the quilts were my July goal (July finish) and then the rest was my August goal (August link).

Fair Warning - this post has a ton of pictures for these 4 quilts.

Quilt 1 alternates between a block with 2 - 4.5"x8.5" bricks and a block 4 - 2.5"x8.5" strips. It is quilted .25" outside the seam of each block.

  

Quilt 2 alternates between a block with 2 - 4.5"x8.5" bricks and a block 4 - 4.5"x4.5" squares.  It is quilted .25" outside the seam of each block.  

Quilt 3 is done in the subway tile pattern.  Each tile is 4.5" x 8.5 ".  I quilted on both sides of the seam of each row.

Quilt 4 is done with 2.5" strips and 2.5" squares.  This idea came from a quilt I saw while searching through quilts on pinterest and through the necessity of using the pieces that I had.   It is stay stitched periodically in the ditch across the quilt and then 7 pairs of vertical lines are quilted into the quilt, too.   In the end, I think this one turned out to be my favorite.

Each quilt is different because the 4 recipients of the quilts had their own special relationship with their mom so I felt they deserved different quilts.  I made sure to put special pieces of the clothing into each quilt, saving as much of the embroidery as possible.

All 4 quilts do have the same backing, a pretty leaf print.

I had a helper when I was trying to take pictures.  Spooky, my neighbor's super friendly cat, came to check out the quilty fun.  

Can't wait to link up at the end of the month and see what everyone else has finished for A Lovely Year of Finishes this month.