Sea Monster Baby Quilt

It has been awhile since I shared the flimsy for this baby boy quilt. I usually quilt up my finished tops right away. July was crazy so this one was folded up and neatly stashed away until everything calmed down a bit around here. I'm not quite ready to bid farewell to summer just yet though... then again we do have football to look forward to!  This quilt was featured at My Quilt Infatuation Blossom Heart Quilts and Quilt Story!!

I used a tutorial by cluck cluck sew called Scrappy Summer. I have seen this pattern referred to Penny Patch as well.

It was a great scrap busting project and I made it a little larger than I usually make my baby quilts because these blocks were fun to do and before I knew it I had a few too many! I used a palette of orange, navy, blue, grey and mustard along with Kona White for the the four-patch blocks. I love when I don't have to buy anything new to finish a quilt! Not that I mind buying fabric!

I quilted it in a meandering pattern using a variegated light grey thread from my Tula Pink Aurifil collection. Then bound it all together with a spotty mustard and white binding. I don't always wash my quilts after they are finished but I couldn't help but want to see this one all crinkled up! The crinkle factor is one of the main reason I love to use meandering even though meandering is tricky for my brain. I love how fluffy and snuggly it turned out. The backing was just the right choice so thanks to those who shared opinions in my last post about this quilt!

The constellation fabric above glows in the dark! I didn't have a particular little guy in mind for this quilt but I do remember my own kiddo loving glow in the dark anything! Just to be sure it worked I did take this into a closet and 'oooh and aaahh' over the glowing fabric yesterday! Plus there are monsters - sea monsters!!

I would absolutely use this baby quilt pattern again. My finished quilt is around 37x48 and is available in my etsy shop for some sea creature, outer space loving little guy or little guy at heart!

Link Parti's 

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Herringbone Quilt, Final Fat Eighth Bundle Project

After making two triangle quilts (here and here) with a fat eighth bundle of Coquette by Chez Moi I did something a little different and made this girly herringbone quilt. It has been quite a while since I used a lot of white in a quilt so it was fun to revisit something familiar. This quilt was featured on Quilt Story!

I pulled out all of the green and blue fabrics from the bundle leaving just shades of pink, purple and yellow. The blues ended up in a herringbone pillow, the greens are just orphaned to the scrap bin for now.

The backing is pieced in purple and yellow - I was a little nervous that I wouldn't like how it turned out but I'm really happy with it.

I especially love the chevron pattern on the back left by the quilting! I followed every row on either side of the seam using my walking foot. I used white thread since I was using a big dash of Kona White in this baby quilt. I used just under one yard of white for this quilt which measures 36x38.

When making my rainbow herringbone quilt last year I worried that it would be difficult to line up the seams but it is actually a very forgiving pattern. You can grab a link to the herringbone tutorial on my pinterest tutorials board.  I modified it some but the instructions are really good. My cut pieces were 2.5 x 9 which makes this a jelly roll friendly pattern too! I did have a little trouble with the rows not lining up this time around - there is a good dash of 'eye-balling' that goes into this quilt when piecing the rows. At first I thought my seam allowances were off but it ended up that my eye-balling was the issue. I must have had beginners luck when doing the pattern the first time because I didn't experience this issue the first go around.

I'd love to say this is the final installment of my fat eighth bundle but I have a huge pile of scraps so I'm not quite finished with these fabrics. I've used them so much I might just add them to my overflowing scrap bins.

Fat Eighth Bundle Projects 

Just to recap my projects from one fat eighth bundle and 1 1/4 yard of white 

Herringbone Crib Quilt, 36x38, plus 33 inches of white

Herringbone Pillow, 18 inch square, plus 10 inches of white 

Triangle Baby Quilt, 31x31

Triangle Crib Quilt, 36x42

A small mountain of scraps!

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to Show and Tell Tuesday Sew Fresh Quilts My Quilt Infatuation crazy mom quilts Whoop Whoop Friday Sew Cute Tuesday and Quilt Story 

Postage Stamp Quilt

I'm so happy to be finished up with this oversized baby quilt! I love these colors in the Up Parasol line by Heather Bailey and used up every last scrap of them finishing this postage stamp quilt. This quilt was featured at Quilt Story: Fabric Tuesday!!

I added a bunch of scraps from my stash including Art Gallery Pure Elements solids in coral and light pink and several strips of my Birds and Berries collection plus a couple of others strays that fit in. Since these colors are a little out of my typical jive I ended up selecting a solid minky dot in celadon for the backing. Whenever I am in doubt for the backing I tend to gravitate towards a minky in solid. It seems to go with everything!

I liked the solid minky color against all the small squares - there was so much going on that a solid color worked well here. I went ahead with a solid light pink by Art Gallery for the binding after doing a couple 'binding auditions' on instagram.

I kept it really simple with the quilting here; using light teal thread in alternating directions on every other 'stamp.'  I really like the diamond look that it leaves on the backing.

I was really wishing that I had some of the Up Parasol plaid for the binding...  probably going to need to stash some of that!

This quilt was made up of 9 patch blocks created with 2.5 inch unfinished squares. 9 patch blocks measured 6.5 inches when completed and the total quilt size is 43x48. This quilt coordinates with the postage stamp pillow I created last week. Usually I do the pillow as a bonus project but this time I wanted to see if it was feasible with my patience level to actually finish an entire quilt using 2.5 inch squares. Turns out it was, but I've moved on to some nice equilateral triangles for my next project!

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to Whoop Whoop Friday crazy mom quilts Sew Cute Tuesday Quilt Story and Show Off Saturday 

Promise Circle Finished Quilt

I've finished my first do.Good Stitches quilt with the amazing Promise Circle! This quilt was featured at My Quilt Infatuation Needle and Thread Thursday!!

Do you see the green grass up there - spring is really, really here, finally! My month to be the quilter was February; I selected improv log cabins in hot pink, navy, teal, white, mustard and mint.  I'm thinking I may need to do another quilt in these colors soon.

I love doing improv log cabins; sometimes randomness is just the thing!

It was such fun to see the different fabrics and variations of the block from the rest of the Circle.

I quilted in a meandering pattern, my practicing has been paying off! For the binding I selected a textured solid in mustard from Andover, I think the actual color is called Hay Stack which is fitting.

I pieced a backing from solid mint and hot pink flowers with tiny lime colored centers, all from my stash. It feels so good to finish a quilt without buying anything! Just another one of the good things about do.Good Stitches - stash management.

The blocks were 12.5 inches unfinished, some contained one large log cabin and some made up of four small log cabins. The finished quilt measures around 50x68. do.Good Stitches is an online charity quilting bee; this finished quilt will be heading to Enchanted Makeovers. One more indoors shot - these bright colors were tough to capture... probably needed to push more buttons on my camera... which ones though?!?

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to My Quilt Infatuation LAF Sew Cute Tuesday Quilt Story and crazy mom quilts 

Wonky Rainbow Burst Mini Quilt

I could not be any further behind with my blogging!! I'm here and sewing... although sewing lots of things that I've already shared here before. I am finally caught up with custom order requests and even managed to squeak in a Caribbean vacation this month with the hubby. Back in December I mentioned joining a rainbow mini quilt swap on Instagram. It was my first swap and so much fun! This quilt was featured at Richard and Tanya Quilts!

I made this mini quilt over winter break. My partner mentioned that she liked Heather Bailey and low volume fabrics. I had a jelly roll of Up Parasol by Heather Bailey and a bunch of prints from my stash that played really well together.

Thankfully my partner also likes wonky and since I've been head over heels in love with Greenleaf Goods wonky pinwheel tutorial for awhile it was a chance to try the pattern on a mini scale and a fresh layout similar to Wavelengths by Lee at Freshly Pieced. If anyone is wanting to see detailed construction on this mini let me know I'd be happy to put a tutorial!!

Capturing the rainbow was the trickiest part of the mini but this layout finally won me over! I had the perfect backing for a quilting enthusiast. The swap required a label, which is something I never do, but it does make it special doesn't it?! Plus I got to use my 'fancy stitches' on my Pfaff to attach the label, something I almost never get to do while quilting. I should make more labels I think...

 I quilted the mini in one big concentric circle. I started at the teal center and did a free motion circle until I reached the edge of the quilt and then I switched over to my regular walking foot to quilt the rest, restarting at the end of each arch. I changed thread colors with the rainbow.

On the theme of rainbows I added a rainbow binding too

I sent my mini to Australia several weeks ago and recently received my swap package; head on over to instagram to check out the amazing mini package I received!  Can't wait to join a new swap now that I'm finally caught up with almost everything.... except blogging!

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to Sew Fresh Quilts crazy mom quilts LAF and Whoop Whoop Friday 

Star of the Show Rainbow Mini Quilt

It is no secret that I’m pretty much in love with V and Co Simply Color line – her first line ever, by the way. It would be okay with me if she just did that line over and over… The fabrics are so bright and colorful. I used it on my rainbow herringbone quilt and rainbow quilted pillow cover last year. I came across a bunch of Simply Color fabrics just before the New Year and bought them up! The first item to be made from my coveted stash is this rainbow mini quilt, a special request from a client who needed a ‘star of the show’ for her mini quilt wall! This mini quilt was featured at Richard and Tanya's Link a Finish Friday!!

Yum! This mini is a redo of the rainbow pillow cover although this one needed to be a little larger as the pillow was an 18 inch square and the client was needing a 20x20 for her mini quilt wall. The adding of one more row going across and down proved to be a challenge! I did use a few scraps from my stash and a number of fabrics from V and Co Simply Style line which has many of the same colors.

I decided on a rainbow binding, although any of the colors probably would have worked out well and if it were for me I would have done teal or mustard… or maybe the plum because it is gorgeous! For me to say that about a purple is really something; I have almost no purple to speak of in my stash, it just isn't something I’m drawn to, but these purples are amazing!

Since I machine stitch my bindings to the front and back – first I stitch the binding to the back and then flip and machine stitch to the front – I had a rough time deciding on the color of thread to use on the front binding with the rainbow colored binding; I didn't want the thread to be overly obvious against some of the fabrics and blend right in with others… I nearly went with white which would have stood out on most but decided on grey at the last minute and was really happy with how it turned out. Last fall I attended Madison Quilt Expo and listened to Weeks Ringle speak and recall her saying that if she could only have a few colors of thread she would choose grey, tan and white… and maybe a few others but those are the ones I can remember! Good call on the grey Weeks, good call!

My first go hanging a quilt with washi tape; works! Well, just long enough to take photos and then it promptly fell down… that’s ok, I work fast! 

Just for fun I did a pieced backing with fabrics from the front. I even tried to place them so the straight line quilting would line up same as the front. It was very close. Close enough!

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to crazy mom quilts Quilt Matters Richard and Tanya Quilts Whoop Whoop Friday Show Off Saturday and My Quilt Infatuation 

Rainbow Baby Quilt Top

I've been working with an etsy client on this personalized baby quilt. I do love a rainbow quilt! The top is all done and was made with Good Morning fabrics by Me and My Sister Designs from Moda. The pattern is another one from Three Times a Charm, book 2 by Me and My Sister Designs. That book has so many cute patterns for baby quilts. And these fabrics, wow, they are so bright and cheerful! This quilt top was featured at Quilt Story: Fabric Tuesday!!

The backing is going to be an adorable owl print by Timeless Treasures. The owls will be all used up after this quilt - I need more. The teal squiggle is one of my all time favorites by Tim and Beck from Bungle Jungle.

We were auditioning fabrics for the personalization and ultimately went with the pink on pink print for the baby name. I used wonder under and appliqued with my Pfaff to attach the letters. You can take a look at the finished rainbow baby quilt here.

I was also asked to join do.Good Stitches, a charity bee, this week! Umm, for sure, I am in! I joined the Promise circle, which benefits orphaned children through Threading Hope. This month we are working on Jacobs ladder blocks (mine are all done) and I've got to come up with a block as I'm going to be the quilter for February which is coming up super fast!  Eek!  I'm thinking mustard, mint, navy and hot pink fabrics - sounds yummy! But I change my mind a lot....

I also finished another dog quilt this time for a Bichon Frise! You can check out The Sophie on my instagram

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to crazy mom quilts, Richard and Tanya Quilts From Bolt to Beauty Quilt Story and Whoop Whoop Friday 

The Hildy

She’s finished! One down, two to go! I was able to send this quilt off to her new home this week, well almost home, she is a Christmas gift. She needs to make a stop for wrapping and inspection first. I hope she passes! This quilt was featured on Richard and Tanya's Link a Friday Finish!!

I did free motion quilting throughout using three different patterns, one for each section of the quilt. Tiny loopy loos for the white background, Moda Bella White.

Meandering in the sky because it sometimes reminds me of poufy clouds! Meandering is not my favorite fmq pattern, but it works here.

And swirls with great big flowers for the grass. Love!

The plaid binding fabric is by Denyse Schmidt, it was so perfect for this quilt. The oat colored backing is from Marmalade by Bonnie and Camille and was just the thing to pull it all together and was selected by her new owners along. Wouldn't you know I ended up with an adjoining piece of binding right at the corner, agh! At least it was only one corner on this quilt. I've had quilts where every corner was tricky because of the extra fabric. Maybe I should roughly lay out the binding before I start attaching to prevent that problem in the future?! I say with a chuckle, I’ll never learn!

A final head shot! The eyes are always tricky on this quilt but I think I've gotten it down. Basically 2 white jelly beans layered with 2 smaller brown jelly beans. Instead of free motion quilting them in place this time like with the Jake quilt I slowly did a straight stitch around the outside of the white and black in coordinating thread.

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the link parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to Richard and Tanya Quilt Show off Saturday Quilt Story i have to say Sew Fresh Quilts and Whoop Whoop Friday 

First Timer

I just signed up for my first mini quilt swap! Kate - @katebasti on Instagram - is hosting a Rainbow Mini Quilt swap. Hurry over registration ends on December 11. I believe the mail date is around March so plenty of time to come up with a great idea! The wall behind my sewing machine is bare, no more! Need inspiration for the swap? Here’s a rainbow pillow sham I completed this summer before starting my blog. This pillow was featured at Quilt Story: Fabric Tuesday and My Quilt Infatuation: Needle and Thread Thursday!!

It was made with scraps from my rainbow herringbone quilt and a few pieces from my scrap bins. The squares are 2 inches finished. The pillow cover fits an 18 inch pillow sham. The fabrics are Simply Color by V and Co, my most favorite rainbow collection ever. I've mentioned that before, I know! I posted this a couple of weeks ago on Instagram, you can find me at @modernpartiquilts

I kept the quilting simple with straight line quilting going on both sides of every seam. The pillow cover has a solid teal envelop style backing.

I'm super duper excited about my first mini quilt swap!!

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to crazy mom quilts Quilt Story i have to say Sew Fresh Quilts My Quilt Infatuation Quilt Matters and Sew Cute Tuesday

String Pillow

I had quite a few strips leftover when I finished Gumballs. I like scraps but I could have made another quilt all the leftovers I had, wufda! I put together this bonus pillow with a few of the leftovers. I still have plenty to round out my pink and teal stash bins. When I first started quilting I tried to keep my scraps as minimal as possible. I even threw scraps in the trash... gone but not forgotten, sigh. Now I always cut a little extra to build my scrap bins. This pillow was featured at Quilt Story!!

I cut the strips into varied widths and lengths of 3 and 5 inches and put the wider strip right in the middle. I had no plan while putting this together, just sewed together pairs and then matched them up with other pairs until I had long strips. I moved them around a few times on my design wall until I liked the layout. Using light pink thread I did some free motion quilting in a wavy pattern going the opposite direction as the strips. I saw a similar quilt top in Sunday Morning Quilts. Love.

I had a scrap piece of hot pink minky that was just the thing for the back... wow!

This is the second time I have used minky on the back of a pillow. It's a little stretchy and slippery but the backing piece is small so its a fairly manageable task.... hardly any swearing at all! Serious. This pillow ended up a good fit for an 18 inch pillow insert. It actually measures a little bit smaller than 18 inches square but I like my pillows poufy! This pillow is available in my etsy shop.

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to My Quilt Infatuation i have to say Quilt Story Pretty Bobbins Quilt Matters Richard and Tanya Quilts crazy mom quilts and Blossom Heart Quilts 

Best,
Heather

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Blogger's Quilt Festival - Herringbone Small Quilt

This is my first ever Blogger's Quilt Festival entry! I haven't shared this quilt on my blog before - it's a rainbow inspired herringbone wall hanging done in V and Co. Simply Color by Moda - one of my all time favorite lines of fabrics. I always have my eyes open for these fabrics but I rarely come across them. This is one of my all time favorite finishes and if it wasn't already promised to someone else I would have kept it all for me!

 One of my favorite things about this quilt is the teal binding. I love a teal binding!!

I also love the bright pops of color!

Because the colors and patterns had so much going on I chose to do simple straight line quilting outlining all of the vertical rows and every other horizontal row. It made a pretty cool chevron design on the back. The backing is solid cream, appropriate for a wall hanging.

When I started the quilt I was really worried about matching the seams but they came together very easily. The trickiest part was the fabric placement. I moved them in and out, up and down, and all around! I'm really proud of how it turned out!

Quilt Stats 

Quilt Size:  36 x 40

Pattern: Herringbone 

Pieced and Quilted by me
Completion: July 15, 2014

Category: Small Quilts 

Link Parti's 

Take a look at the linki parti's I get down with here or by clicking on the Linki Parti's link above. Linking up to Stitch by Stitch Twelo Quilting Sew Cute Tuesday Show and Tell Tuesday Quilt Story Sew Fresh Quilts TGIFF crazy mom quilts Vals Quilting Studio and Show Off Saturday

This quilt was featured at Quilt Story Fabric Tuesday!  It was also selected in the Viewers Choice category in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!