Herringbone Baby

One of my dearest friends brought an adorable baby girl into to the world earlier this year.  Naturally, the baby was in need of a quilt from her "Aunt" Kelsie!  My friend isn't a big fan of super baby-looking pink things, so I chose the more classic herringbone quilt pattern with different colors mixed in.

When I stopped in the quilt store the owner had just started a quilt with these fabrics.  They had the perfect colors to coordinate with my friend's nursery, and just begged me to bring them home.

I'm currently quilting my pinwheel quilt, and it's coming along well.  Looking forward to sharing that finished project soon!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Finished Marmalade Squares

Happy 2015, everyone!  One of my goals before the end of 2014 was to finish my Marmalade Squares quilt I started in the summer.  I'm pleased to say that I did!

This is my fourth completed quilting project this year, and it's the first year I've actually done "real" quilting.  In February my Ring of Stars queen sized quilt with my sister, then I collaborated with my sisters to make some wallhangings, and quilted a baby quilt panel.  I really feel I can officially consider myself a quilter!

This was really quite a fun project, and is done 2 months before Baby is expected to be born.  It's so nice to have things ready in advance!

Hand Quilting

I love the whole quilting process.  The piecing, sandwiching, binding: all of it is quite enjoyable.  But probably my very favorite part of making a quilt is the actual hand quilting.

All those tiny stitches making patterns across the quilt…

Being able to work on it while I watch television or sit chatting with my friends…

My kitten pouncing on my thread or snuggling in my hoop...

The feeling of being so close to the end…

Yes, this is the good part.  :)

Sailor Dog

My sister found this sailor dog panel at JoAnns and gave it to me for my birthday because she knew - being the lover of all things nautical that I am - that I would love it.  :)  It made such a fun and easy project.  And is completely adorable!

The cats love a good quilting project!

Because it is a printed panel this was really just a hand quilting project.  It was made even simpler because there were no bulky seams to go through.

I went really very basic with the quilting, outlining the print and going diagonally through the sky.  But I did decide on a scroll pattern that resembles waves beneath the boat.

I just love it.  What could be better than a baby quilt with a sailor dog on it?

Square Blocks

My marmalade square blocks are going together wonderfully!  At least, they were until I realized I hadn't cut out quite enough squares...  Just a little cutting and I can finish the last block!

These are really fun and easy!  Makes me want to try a postage stamp quilt.  :)

And look who my cat brought home with him the other day:

Literally, my (boy) cat walked inside our house and right behind him walked in this kitten.  He is so adorable, and very friendly.  Kittens are absolutely delightful!!!

334 Two Inch Squares

A few days ago I began turning my lovely fabrics into squares for my Marmalade Squares baby quilt.   There are a few larger pieces, but mostly 2" squares.  334, to be exact.   

A friend teased me that cutting that many tiny squares would be really tiresome, but I found it went surprisingly fast.  Gotta love a good rotary cutter!

And now I have a stack of sqaures ready to be pieced.  Done with the rotary cutter; on to the sewing machine!

New Fabric!

New fabric time!  Because I've nearly finished my current quilting project - and that means it's nearly time to use my adorable duckling fat quarter.  Yay!

I decided to use the free pattern/tutorial for the Marmalade Squares Quilt from Moda Bake Shop because I love bright colored fabrics on white backgrounds.  :)  So excited about this project!

Lily's Berry Hat

A friend of mine had a baby last month, a sweet little girl.  And doesn't every little girl need a berry hat to keep them warm and snuggly through the winter snow?

I used the Berry Baby Hat pattern from Ravelry.com.  It was simple, fast, and super cute!

Happy New Year!

Tractors and Gingerbread Men

The other day I posted this ballerina I made for a little friend of mine.  Today I'm showing off the ornaments I made for her brothers.

I had originally planned to make a train ornament for the older boy.  Then I asked him if he likes trains or trucks better.

And he said trucks.

As I was rethinking my plans, I noticed he played with tractors almost the whole time I was there.  A tractor it was!

It's unbelievably difficult to find a cute pattern for a felt tractor.  In fact, I couldn't find one at all.  But I did find a few inspirations that gave me a place to start for drawing my own pattern.  I'm pretty pleased with the end result.

For the five-month-old I wanted to make a baby's 1st Christmas ornament, but I couldn't find very many baby boy ornament ideas that were cute.  I decided to go with an old favorite and make a Christmas stocking with a gingerbread man on it.  Not particularly baby-ish but very, very cute.

Have a very Merry Christmas full of blessings as you celebrate the birth of our Lord!

Elias's Blanket

Elias's blanket is ready to welcome him into the world, and I can't wait to meet the little guy!

This was my first time using a printed fabric for backing, and I love how it turned out!  I actually purchased this backing fabric because our local fabric store had only one blue flannel.  And since pink didn't really seem appropriate for this project...  But I love this flannel!  I'll definitely keep an eye out for printed flannel in the future.

Deciding what color to use for the running stitch along the binding was a hard decision.  Orange or yellow?  Then I realized I didn't have enough orange embroidery floss to make it around the entire blanket, so yellow it was!  Love it when hard decisions become so easy.  :)

Because I used the yellow around the perimeter, I chose orange for the message on the back.

Praise God for the blessings of children!

Just the Topping

I put together the top for baby's blanket, but wasn't able to finish as I had yet to purchase backing fabric...

But when I got a text this morning saying that little Elias had been born, I made sure a visit to the local quilting store was included in our afternoon errand-running.

So the backing flannel is in our dryer right now, and I'll hopefully finish the blanket tomorrow.  :)

Fabric Squares

I have a friend who is pregnant with a little boy, and as I was trying to decide what to make her, I remembered I had some left over squares from the boat baby blanket I made a couple years ago.  So I got a few coordinating fabrics, figured out how many squares I'll need, and started cutting!

I have exactly enough squares to make 2 blankets - one for my friend and an extra.  It never hurts to have a baby gift around for busy times of the year!

Oh, and just so you know, my friend doesn't read my blog so I'm not ruining any surprises here.  :)

Alphabet Soup Quilt

Look what I got at the quilt show! Only $2 on clearance, I thought it was very cute.



And my sis got this pattern. So sweet!



Aren't they adorable? I know a few ladies who are pregnant, and these might just make the perfect gifts... Though since it's called "alphabet soup," I may just have to mix the letters up a bit. :)

Pink Flowers and Polka Dots

Well, after some hazardous mishaps and a pin head melting to the collar, I finally finished this toddler dress the day before the competition!




The pattern is McCall's 5791. I made a size "large". That means I don't exactly know what size it is, but I would guess it's somewhere between 9 and 12 months. (I tried to compare it to this darling 7 month old, and she decided it was fun to hold the hanger and wave it up and down. So stinkin' cute!)



This was my first project with piping, and I just adore the end result. It may become a fixture in my sewing projects. :o) It also provided the perfect opportunity to add more contrast giving the dress more interest.



It went pretty smoothly, and I was very surprised and pleased with the scores I got. All-in-all a good experience, though it was a little stressful to finish the day before competing!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! Hope you are having fun and wearing green! :o)

Last January Craftings

Okay, I didn't get all of my January Sew 12 hours posted while it was still January... So here is a conglomeration post for the final hours in the January portion of the challenge!

Firstly, two more days of cross stitching resulted in most of a yellow flower...



A friend helped me make my very first pair of earrings to give to another friend for her birthday! It was so fun, I may have to get some tools and start making more jewelry! And I think Amelia likes them, so I'm happy. :o)



And the last hours went on this toddler dress I'm making for a competition. I've never entered anything I've sewn in a competition before, so I'm a little nervous... But hopefully everything will go well!



Hooray for the 1st month of my challenge being completed! I'll try to get my hours posted more in sequence this month... We'll see how it goes. ;o)

Simplicity's New Baby Layette Pattern

I've fallen in love with Simplicity's reproductions of vintage baby layette patterns and have been slowly collecting them when they are on sale at JoAnns. I happened to check their website today and discovered the newest one in the collection! This sweet little thing is a reprint from the 1950s - my favorite fashion decade!



Isn't it adorable? Next time Simplicity patterns are on sale, I'll have to pick one up!

Baby Dress Stash Busting

When I first started sewing pretty much all of my “dream projects” consisted of dresses for my dolls, so I bought three floral prints for my three dolls so I could make them matching dresses. However, I never actually got around to making the dresses, and have now been storing this fabric for… I don’t know how many years!

A use for this stashed fabric appeared when I made this baby dress a few months ago using a free pattern we found online. I really liked it, and it only took a few hours to make, so I thought it would fun fun to try again with different design elements. This time around, instead of ties I made a new bodice with buttons!




After I got started I realized I had enough fabric for two of them, so I made another the same day. The buttons are just for decoration as the dresses really close with Velcro that I sewed beneath on the underside of the straps. I had originally planned to use snaps, but Mom recommended Velcro since the dress is for newborns and she thought it might stay closed better.



I found some navy rickrack in our stash, which worked out perfectly for some details on both dresses. I had to buy the dark blue buttons, but other than that it was completely made of things we already had either in my closet and the sewing room. It's so nice to stash bust!



It’s hard to believe that a baby could actually fit into these because they are so small! When I walked downstairs after finishing the first one my mom thought it was for a doll! But it’s the version for a 9-11 lb baby, so hopefully it will fit on a newborn just fine. And a tiny newborn has to have cute clothes when she's born, right?

Baby Dress

No, I haven't forgotten that I have a blog. And I have been doing a fair amount of crafting. But have I done much on the computer? Nope...

I made this little baby dress last week and am finally getting around to posting it! Kiri found the Itty Bitty Baby Pattern a couple years ago, and I thought it would be great for some stash-busting!



I will probably be making 2 more dresses from this pattern soon, since I have 2 more pieces of this fabric in different colors. I originally bought three of the same fabrics(in different colors) to make dresses for three of my baby dolls. It was going to be one of my first sewing projects... hmm...



I'm planning to embellish all 3 a little differently. The bow was a last minute thing that I added (originally I was gonna put on rickrack, but I didn't end up having any that was the right color...) because I had the perfect amount of binding tape left. I think a ribbon bow would look better, though, so maybe I'll change it.



This project was really fast and easy. If you have 1/2 a yard of fabric lying around and want a quick project, I recommend this sweet little dress!



Does it seem I'm all about baby things recently? Maybe it's cause I know lots of ladies that are pregnant? And baby things are always so sweet. :o)

Finished Boat Baby Blanket!

I finished the top and got the backing fabric for this blanket a while ago, but hadn't bothered to actually finish it yet...



But when I got my new Heritage Celtic Thunder cd, I wanted something I could do and listen at the same time, and finishing this up was the thing! :o)



Now I'm dreaming of a future day when I'll be playing with a sweet little baby boy on this blanket... :o)

Blanket top done!

I put the last rows together today, so now my blanket top is finished!



It's got a sailor look with the embroidered sailboats that match the blue fabric...



I didn't get backing when we were last at the fabric store, so it's time for an always welcome occasion - a trip to JoAnn's! :o)