Chenille blankets, part deux

Remember the chenille blanket I made in case baby #2 was a girl? Well, now Madeline has inherited it. She calls it her "nap time" blanket and totally loves it. I do too! Right before Christmas, I received an Etsy order to make a matching pair for a set of newborn twin girls. These blankets are a labor of love, that's for sure, but the end result is SO worth it.

I used my favorite all time fabric line, Hunky Dory by Chez Moi. You might remember it from...uh, EVERYTHING in Maddie's room.



I used hot pink, light pink and white flannel for the chenille back.



Don't they look so pretty all packaged up and ready for shipping?



I have some really cute fabric and some yummy flannel to make one for Will, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Maybe that would be a good fall project...

Molly

Dresden Plate fun...

Since I've begun dabbling in quilting, I've been dying to try out the dresden plate block. It's so very vintage, but can still be modern and fun with the right fabric choices. (side note, the more I sew, the more I realize how much it really, really is all about the fabric)

I made this little table topper for my sister's birthday - she just did a little kitchen revamp and I tried to tie in a lot of the colors she chose.



I intended to just quilt an outline around the flower, but I got carried away and ended up carrying the zig zagging pattern all the way to the edges of the topper. I kind of love it.



My "to-do" list is a mile long, but I'm still hoping to make a Christmas version of this for my table.

Doesn't it look cute on my sister's corner table?



Molly

Kaleidoscope Quilt Along!

I've been wanting to join a quilt along for awhile now and Don't Call Me Betsy just gave me the perfect reason: The Kaleidoscope Quilt! I've been eyeing this quilt for such a long time and this was a great excuse to bite the bullet and put the pedal to the...err...carpet?

This quilt will be a challenge for me, because I plan to make it entirely out of my current fabric stash, which is dwindling by the day. I'm going to have to buy solids and backing, but other than that, I'll be raiding my craft closet.

I have until June 23rd to pick fabrics, so in the meantime I plan to finish up this little crib quilt:



Yup, more pinwheels in a house. These blocks just make me happy, I can't wait to finish this top!

Molly

Rise and Shine mini-quilt

This was my first stab at a miniature quilt. I've found that I really enjoy the process of quilting, but I have a short attention span so full size (and even baby size!) quilts can feel a little monotonous to me by the time I'm nearing the end. That's not the case with a mini quilt! This one measures 13x16 and every part of it was so much fun to make! If you're new to quilting, this is a great way to get your feet wet without the commitment (and expense!) of a big quilt. I tried a little embroidery on this one too.







Mini quilts are generally used as a wall hanging, but they work as a unique table topper or placemat too!



I see many more mini-quilts in my future! This one is in the shop.

Molly

Covering my bases...

The biggest downside to not finding out the gender of your baby before birth is not being able to buy and make gender-specific baby stuff. I really wanted to make a special blanket for the new baby, but I couldn't decide on a fabric that would work for a boy or a girl. So... I made two!

If it's a boy...

I was inspired by this amazing quilt (it was her "if it's a boy" quilt too!) - and I'm really happy with how my version came out! The fabric is "Make Life" by Sweetwater, and it's the perfect color scheme for the blue room that will become the nursery if it's a boy.

If it's a girl...

First of all, this might be my favorite fabric ever. It's Amy Butler Water Lilies and I've been hanging on to this large piece for a looong time waiting for a worthy enough project to use it on. I used this tutorial for blanket, which involves hand-made chenille. Even though it has a solid front - this one probably took me about three times as long as the "boy" quilt. But it was SO worth the time. The flannel chenille is super soft and totally worth all the hand cramps i got from cutting all those layers of fabric. I LOVE this blanket.

So whenever this little baby decides to arrive, he or she will have a cozy blanket to snuggle in. Yes, this means I'm still pregnant...what are you waiting on, little one?

Molly

Maddie's Quilt

I finally got around to taking proper pictures of Maddie's big girl quilt. Which, by the way, she loves to tell people that "my mommy made for me". She sure knows how to make Momma's heart swell.

Here's the back. I used the block tutorial from this post over at Moda Bake Shop. These blocks were SO much fun to make. I ended up adding an extra strip to the block to make them slightly bigger.

Okay, one more picture and I promise I'm done foaming at the mouth over this quilt.

I'm already assembling my next quilt. It's for the baby...if it's a boy. I kind of think it is...this week anyway. My official "if it's a girl" quilt is still bouncing around inside my head, but it'll be ready for paper soon. Wait, you guys didn't forget that I look like this now, right? Actually, this is about 5 weeks ago...so, yeah. Somebody is growing like a weed in there!

6 weeks until my official due date! I have a LOT of baby crafting to do! Not to mention clean the house, stock the freezer, take down the tree...uh, anyone want to volunteer to be my maid? It pays in leftover Christmas chocolate. ;)

Molly

The Quilt and Plans for a Homemade Christmas

Last year we had a semi-homemade Christmas. This year I'm committed to making the majority of my gifts. *insert nervous laugh* I'm a little freaked out that it's almost November and I've barely started, but I'm trying to just ignore the calendar and just get down to business. My gift to-do list is almost complete and I've assembled most of the materials that I'll need to make this happen (I'm hoping that will motivate me to actually DO it.)

Over the last year I've been bookmarking and saving tutorials and ideas like a crazy person. Seriously, it's a problem. I'm working on sorting through all my saved projects and putting together some Christmas gift idea posts based on recipient.

Oh! Guess what I finally started? *Squeal*

Somewhere inbetween all this Christmas crafting, I need to squeeze in finishing this quilt and making matching curtains and bed linens for the big bed switcheroo. It needs to happen soon, people. We're ready, she's ready. Anyway.

I'm almost finished piecing the top and simultaneously working on a pretty awesome pieced strip for the backing. I'm still terrified to actually *quilt* something this size, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Molly

Quilting: The adventure begins

Ever since I laid my eyes on this fabric, I've known it was meant to be a quilt for Madeline. But, there's one small problem.


I've never made a quilt.

So a couple months ago, I started reading and researching quilting. What fabric to use, what kind of batting to use. Sashing, cornerpost, pinwheels, log cabin squares, borders. Different methods of basting, spraying, pinning, clipping. Quilting with a walking foot, free motion quilting, long arm quilting. Birthing a quilt, binding a quilt, mitered corners, blind stitches...


It's enough to give me a headache.


But I still want to do it. She's still in her crib, and I'm crossing my fingers that we'll be able keep her in there until I have a chance to get educated and get her "big girl" bedding done.


So. We all have to start somewhere. I purchased a walking foot for my machine and started simple. I saw this great tutorial over at the Polkadot Chair and thought it would be perfect with the minimal cutting and straight line quilting. But even though it was simple, it still gave me a chance to practice making my quilt sandwich, basting, quilting and binding.


It was fun! It didn't take me nearly as long as I expected and I have a sweet table runner to show for it. I even successfully mitered my corners.

So, I'm feeling a teensy bit more confident about this whole quilting thing, and I'm planning on attempting some free motion quilting on this adorable doll quilt as soon as my darning foot arrives. Hopefully I'll be ready to start on "THE" project sometime in the next decade. :-)

Molly