Bee There or Bee Squares Finished!

Finally I finished this long lost quilt! It was started back in 2011 when I joined an online quilting bee. Then it was set aside. Then I got it back out over a year later, put the quilt top and back together and then set it aside once more. Last summer I pulled it out of the closet and made the quilt sandwich, intending to quilt it slow and steady until it was finished. However my free motion pebble quilting was taking FOREVER and the other projects added up so it was folded up on my quilting table and buried under other projects. That is until this spring, I was determined to finish it!

Each color block is made up of 36-2" squares of a particular color. These blocks were cut by me and then sent to quilting bee members to be pieced together along with a signature block for the back. I encouraged them to swap out squares for their own scraps and was treated with a few added color blocks including a favorite on one of the red blocks...a red house. :)

The white blocks between the colored blocks sandwiched in a square of colorful circle prints. I wanted them to be square obviously to go with the other squares but since I planed to do pebble quilting I wanted to incorporate circles too. I love this addition and the variety of circle designs and sizes in the different prints. For the binding I went with a circle print as well. The colors of the circles match the colors of the square blocks almost exact!

For the back of the quilt I did a dark grey background and put the corresponding signature block behind the quilt block. I love the back for the simplicity and texture of the quilting.  

For the quilting I did the pebble design and I changed the color of thread to match the color of the block. This was very time consuming...both the dense quilting and rotating colors with each square. This was the reason it sat on my quilting table for so long. I did not enjoy the quilting process of pebbles. This spring I decided to get it into gear and finish this sucker up. As I quilted I discovered a short cut: when I finished a color block and moved on to the white block and thread I did two white blocks then two color blocks. This saved time on switching thread colors. Although the quilting was time consuming it was worth it for the texture and color definition you see on the back!

Since I had this colorful quilt finished by summer I knew I wanted to use it for the maternity pictures we had done. We took it along to our photo shoot and did a family shot on it with the columns that we were married at behind us.

We did a few shots with books too, to go in the girls' nursery. (Photos to come soon!)

I loved our photographer, Nellie Smith, and encourage anyone in the Lincoln, NE area to use her for your photography needs! Her prices are unbeatable too. :)

What I learned from this quilt: keep at it! Quilting got easier and became faster as I went, plus I learned my wonderful short cut. :)
Now this quilt lives in our basement on our comfy couch. With the heat and humidity rolling in this is becoming my favorite place as we wind down this twin pregnancy!

Babies, Babies

As my friend Cristy likes to remind me and my close friends, "There will be 4 new babies in a matter of months!" My friend Jess is first, her daughter is due one month after her first born Payton turns one: the end of July.

For her baby quilt I followed the interests of Jess on her nursery pin board on pinterest (so helpful!) to create a quilt to go with her teal and coral nursery theme. It was a pretty simple quilt to make, I cut 5 inch squares for a finished quilt of 36" x 40" (or so). I was in a hurry to finish this quilt so for the quilting I did diagonal straight line quilting. It was also practice for my bed quilt, I wanted to make sure I could stay straight before doing a queen size!
I had a lot of fun picking out fat quarters at my favorite local quilt shop to make this one, the color scheme is so fun! While there I ran into one of the owners, Rick, who was very excited to here my news about twins on the way. He then went on to tell me about someone he knows with twins...it seems EVERYONE knows someone with twins and has to share the story. :)

 Jess, Megan, Myself, Cristy, & Mandy at my baby shower this weekend, it was so fun and I am so thankful for these wonderful friends!

Next up in the line up of  4 new babies are my own girls due Sep. 3rd. When we found out we were having twins instead of a singleton we were shocked, and I quickly looked for resources at the library and via internet. One thing I have read several times is that when it comes to twins strangers have no filter (as well as well meaning friends/family/co-workers). For example a co-worker has pointed out since I was about 15 weeks, "Man, you're getting big. You're going to be huge!" ...Yes, I will be! When grocery shopping Lee and I make bets on how many  strangers are going to ask, "So, when are you due?", of course at 27 weeks I measure the same as a 37 week pregnant woman with one (singleton). I have a way to go, and I'm OK with that; the bigger I get the bigger my girls get which means they will be healthy when they're born, hopefully the end of August. However, then we will be on display when out with the girls...so I guess I'll just get used to it. As one woman said regarding her twins, "Being a mother of twins is like being a circus side show. You're big during the 3rd trimester, then people are in awe of your two sweet babies." I'm so excited for my girls to be here and I will learn to be open to strangers admiring our girls. :)

Last in the baby line up is my friend Mandy's second born. She is due one week after me! Her house in Colorado is being renovated, plus her mom stays with her family 6 months out of the year, so baby #2 won't have a nursery for his/her first few months. However she did let me know when big brother Patrick moves to his bedroom downstairs the baby will be getting a grey nursery with gender specific accents. Since we don't know what baby #2 is I went with grey fabrics and then used some colorful strips of scraps down the length of the quilt. I outlined the strips with 1/2" and 1" boarders of white so the colors would pop next to the dark grey. Again, I was in a hurry to finish this quilt so I did random straight line quilting with light and dark grey threads.

For both their quilts I used solid flannel for the backing, coral for Jess and light grey for Mandy. I have used this a few times in the past, once for Payton's baby quilt. Jess informed me that she loved using this quilt for tummy time because the flannel backing kept the quilt in place on the carpet. I was really excited to here that the flannel had enough tack to keep it in place and will be using it for the back of my own baby quilts too!

I was really excited to use my new quilt label technique on these quilts too. I ordered a silk screen from a shop on Etsy, Smudged Textiles. First I made the template then submitted it to the owner, she quickly turned it into a silk screen and sent it to me. I love how easy it is to use this and how the label doesn't distract you from the quilt backing!

For the Trees

This was possibly my favorite quilt I made last year, maybe my favorite quilt so far! It was completely improvised, which was a first for me and I had so much fun with the freedom, not to mention nerves of "what if it sucks!?"

This was a quilt for a friend's third and final baby. Her oldest boys' quilts are here and here. With baby #2 we were all sure it would be a girl...I used a charm pack of Sherbet Pips for the quilt, including the pink tones thinking just maybe we'd all be right and they would have a little girl. Although I think this is still a neutral quilt, I do feel bad for MR. Ryker that he ended up with a slightly feminine quilt. :) Although, these friends are not the type to car at all.

I wanted this quilt to be neutral, but with bits of pink and purple, because even boys can like these colors. I started making it at a time that I was organizing my scraps in my office/craft room and I discovered SO MANY scraps that needed to be used up, plus a ton of tan/beige fabric. I wanted to try out piecing together a block to make a shape after being inspired by Penny's work at Sew Take a Hike, so I got to work on creating a tree with a bicycle. I loved it. Notice the little bird in the tree too?

Next I went in search of fabric to use and add to this quilt and I found these at a local fabric store. I was really lucky to find the tree fabric from the Critter Community line. The trees were perfect to go with my pieced tree block, and the recycle fabric would go great with my theme of using scraps to make this quilt.

I cut out some trees in a wonky style, then started to piece on scraps using Aneela Hoey's tutorial. Other than looking here to see how to do this no other pattern or plan was in place for this quilt. Our office/craft room was a mess during this process as you can see below!

I started to line up my tree blocks on the design wall as I worked and when I felt they were finished I pulled out all the beige/tan fabric I could find and sorted them out into piles to create larger blocks for the quilt front. I included the recycle fabric for part of the front. The rest I have saved in my stash for a future project...not sure what (I love this fabric!).

The back of the quilt is the Critter Community fabric I used to cut trees from, and the binding was left over scraps of binding from past quilts that I pieced together. So much of my stash was used in making this quilt and it felt great to get rid of pieces of fabric that were small but I didn't want to throw out. For the quilting I again stepped out of my comfort zone and did a tree bark quilting design with several knots on the quilt like the one below.

 

 

This quilt may be one of my favorites! And I am very excited to meet the recipient (a GIRL!) in one week when her Momma, family, and my other wonderful friends and their children come to see me and throw me a BABY SHOWER!

That's right, I am expecting...not one...but TWO BABIES!! Our twin girls will be here by the end of August. So you can imagine the lack of quilting and blogging that will soon be happening. (as if I have really done that great with blogging in the first place!) Also, the amount of projects I am trying to finish up before their arrival seems to be never ending! :) Two friends are pregnant with their 2nd child, plus a friend and old co-worker is due with baby #1 in December. I have A LOT of work to do this summer, more posts to come!

Vroom, Vroom 2

Here is my commissioned quilt I finished last fall.

A co-worker friend of mine was due with baby number two and wanted to make the transition to a big boy bed an exciting one for her two year old. Like many toddlers he loves transportation vehicles so she threw the idea of a twin sized quilt with cars and trains out for me and both of us got to brainstorming.
I found many quilts and projects for inspiration, and she found a vehicle fabric line that went with the grey color scheme of her son and baby #2's room. Then I got to sketching a few layouts for the quilt and she relayed the idea to her husband. The only thing this fabric line was lacking was a train. So I decided I had to add a section with a train. I searched for more quilts for inspiration and sketched a plan with a train added in. Mom and Dad loved the idea and I was super excited to add in an improvised panel for his quilt.

The fabric she chose was so easy to piece together, all I needed to do was cut and stitch a few panels plus my train panel: a pieced together engine, 2 cars, and a caboose.

She loved this grey fabric and wanted to make the quilt reversible for versatility so the back was simple to put together as well, which was great for me because my deadline for finishing it was a month...right before Lee and I left for Hawaii.

I LOVED making this quilt (and getting paid for my hobby!) and learned how much fun it can be to collaborate with another person on creating a quilt. Although, I'm sure that can be difficult with some customers. :)

I Spy

I spy a witch's broom, monkey, owl, and train,
6 snowmen, 2 rebel scum, a saxophone, and rain.

I made these two quilts back in 2012, one for a good friend that I never see anymore and her little boy, the other for an old co-worker and her little man. I love making baby quilts, and had wanted to do an I spy quilt forever, when I finally got to it I made two!

The thing about I spy quilts for babies is that they tend to be so busy, and in my opinion (the early childhood educator in me is coming out) overstimulating! I knew I did not want to do that for any I spy quilts I made, so for these I went with small 2.5" squares on solid background, that way there was some calm space to wrap in the busy area. On one quilt I added ribbons around the binding, I think I like the ribbons best, a feature I've been adding to a lot of baby quilts lately.

For both quilts I used a Kona khaki solid fabric for the quilt top, then a khaki flannel on the back. I quilted using straight lines of different colored thread; orange, blue, green, red, and yellow.

For my good friend I added small pieces of me into the quilt, such as Princess Leia, Han Solo, coffee cups, owls, and bicycle wheels. For the other quilt I did a 4 by 4 block of green squares then branched out to more colorful blocks, I love this and may do something similar again.

I used the same Kona khaki cotton for the binding, which I love because it makes the quilt feel so organic, almost unfinished. I will definitely be making more of these, perhaps when I start up an Etsy shop these will be for sale. :)

Pinwheels in Central Park

This little quilt has been in the works for a long time....much like the recipient.

A friend from high school was diagnosed with breast cancer when we were 23 years old. We were all shocked! There we were in our early 20s: young, healthy, celebrating marriages, loving life, invincible...and one of us was struck down with the C-word! She was one of the lucky ones though. She underwent treatment, opted for a double mastectomy and met her 5 year cancer free mark this past December.

Out of all my good friends from high school, this friend and her husband shared a seat in our kid free boat, but not by choice like Lee and I. They were told by doctors to wait, finish medications, make sure the cancer was really gone, so sadly they waited. This couple is tough, they stayed strong throughout cancer treatment and during the long waiting process of being able to try and have kids. They knew there was a chance it wouldn't happen for them, and they prepared for it.
In December when Lee and I read their Christmas card we were so happy to hear that the cancer was officially gone, 5 years free of cancer! We also learned they were expecting! :)

I wanted to make sure this quilt would be perfect for them, and their little girl so I was very selective and specific with this quilt. I wanted the prints I used to be full of life, because these future parents had lived a lot of life so far, and this little girl was their miracle of life. I wanted the prints I used to be girly, and gender neutral at the same time; I settled with the rest of my charm pack of Central Park from Kate Spain. The trees, flowers and small animals in this line were perfect, plus there were shades of purple, mom-to-be LOVES purple!

Once I settled on this charm pack it didn't take long to decide I would be using pinwheels: whimsical, full of life, and energy. What I didn't want was the old fashioned all in a row grandma style pinwheel quilt though. I wanted my pinwheels to be random, floating on a solid background.

I used this tutorial from Moda Bake Shop to whip up my pinwheels quickly, then I had them up on my design wall forever, constantly in a new arrangement. It took me a while to get the right layout and size for my pinwheels but I finally did. Of course not in time for the baby shower (go figure!) so the new momma was given a soft taggie block I made with a few prints from my charm pack, and a husker taggie blanket (Dad-to-be loved it!) to open with a promise that the quilt would be done before little 'Wolverina' arrived.

I hesitantly used a white background for this quilt, I'm always afraid to use white in baby quilts because of stains. I found somewhere on a blog, or Pinterest, that you can use Scotchgaurd to stainproof white quilts, but I didn't try it. Has anyone done this?

The back of the quilt is a purple/pink flannel, with a strip of white, a pinwheel and my quilt label. I used the same shade of purple/pink for the thread and stipple quilted it throughout. I love how the thread color contrasts with the white background and then blends in on the back.

For the binding I cut and stitched together 3 yellow prints of fat quarters I had lying around that belong in the Central Park line, I love the yellow cheery border, like a frame of sunshine around these spinning pinwheels.

I delivered on my promise, finishing the quilting and binding as miss Peyton Nola came into the world. Then I quickly washed, photographed and drove it to the new little lady. She is precious! I am so happy for my friends!

What I learned from this quilt: careful planning pays off! I love everything about this quilt and unlike other quilts I didn't come out wishing I had taken my time because something wasn't perfect. I guess slow and steady planning is the key. :)

Ch-Ch-Changes

Cue the David Bowie tune...

Many changes have occurred in the last month for myself. I started a new job, which I LOVE! I chopped ALL my hair off, well like 13 inches, which I LOVE. I donated to Pantene Beautiful Lenghts, this was my second time donating hair.

I have re-decorated our office/quilting room (much needed!), and bathroom, a change my husband cringed at. "What was wrong with the old shower curtain?" he asked when he got home from his second job. That's right, he has 2 jobs right now and I never see him, another big change for us! He's working to help pay for our trip to Hawaii, we are so excited for this trip! Another change is that we have 2 new computer monitors on our desktop in our office/quilting room. They take up a bunch of space, but allow for Lee to work from home a few days a week, AND I can watch Netflix/movies easier when quilting. :) I plan to start making some baby quilts and small lap quilts to sell on Etsy.

For a friend and old co-worker she has gone through a big change as well, she's a Mommy! I have yet to meet her little man, Gabe. I want to let her settle in at home with her week old kiddo, but his pictures are adorable. Here's his quilt that I had promised to share last month and not gotten around too. Sorry. :)

I call this quilt "Gabe's Tune." Gabe's dad is in a band, so I planned to use some of the Groovy Guitars fabric by Michael Miller that I had in my stash when I first found out they were expecting. Then I got word from the new Mommy that the nursery was going to be a rock-star theme, so it worked out perfectly!

I used some scraps from my stash to go along with the color scheme in the Groovy Guitars I had, then I bought a few fat quarters to add to it: musical notation and some dots/stripes/solids in grey, blues, whites and blacks. 

 The process for making this quilt involved marking off the quilt top with painter's tape on my design wall.

Sorry, this was taken on my cell phone.

Then I laid out strips of fabric in varying lengths and widths at a diagonal within the 36" square space. I added strips of Kona Cotton Medium Grey to the ends and overlapped over the painter's tape quite a bit to account for seams and trimming.

Another cell phone pic :(

To trim and square up the top I used the painter's tape again on the kitchen floor where I baste my quilts, sorry I don't have a picture of this process. Laying the tape on the floor as I cut helped me visualize the quilt top before cutting so I didn't make any mistakes. Usually I make mistakes cutting so this process helped a lot! I guess what I learned from this quilt was how important taking your time is, and double checking before your cuts really does pay off!

For the back I used a light blue Kona Cotton, not sure of the color, which I also used for the binding. I love pieced together backs, but with baby quilts it is so much easier to use one piece of fabric, and saves so much time.For the quilting a stippled it. This quilt was really fast to put together, probably because I used so my strips from my stash.

I love the way it turned out with it's scrappy strips and off center diagonal lines. Gabe's parents loved to too which made my day since they're not the quilt type. I look forward to stopping by sometime soon and meeting the little guy. Also, to meeting another set of friends' new baby set to arrive this month. Her quilt top is being pieced together right now.

Collaborating a Special Gift

Sometime back in 2012 my wonderful friend Cristy, over at diaries of domestic bliss, asked me to make a doll quilt for her daughter Berkeley. Berkeley, like many other young toddlers, had become obsessed with dolls and caring for her babies. To support her interest in dolls, and love of nurturing things, they wanted to give her a doll bed, and of course a quilt must go with it! Well this Christmas gift became a very collaborative effort, lots of love, many talents and special people worked together to get this gift finished for little miss Berkeley.

Our friend Sean, Berkeley's uncle, made the bed. Here it is with cousin Patrick standing by, and his Cabbage Patch Doll.

After Sean got to work on the bed and I found out the dimensions (did I mention it was made in Loveland, CO) I got to work on the quilt. I had fallen in love with Kate Spain's fabric line Central Park, and happened to have a few fat quarters and a charm pack on hand so this was the color scheme I went with.

Once I had fabric selected I sent a text to Aunt Mandy so she could have an idea for painting the bed. Then I got to work on the quilt. I love Granny Squares quilts! So I quickly joined the many other quilters in cyberspace and created mini granny squares blocks for the quilt.

I cut my charm squares down to mini size and pieced the 6 tiny blocks together with a light grey Kona solid. Then I used a fat quarter to frame the granny squares and as the backing. I loved the emphasis of purple in the fabric color scheme so I choose another purple fat quarter to cut into for the binding. As for the quilting, I used my walking foot to outline the colored squares with pink thread. I really hate to use pinks and pastels for girls. There is far too much of that in our society, but I felt the bright orange, green, yellow and blue off balanced the girly shades in this fabric line.

I love how these blocks turned out! I have on my to do list a granny squares quilt with my Flea Market Fancy fat quarter set I purchased last spring. :) Of course I had to add a small pillow to go with it, no doll bed is complete without a pillow for baby's head. I used the fat quarter from the binding and strips of my charm squares I cut into for detail.

After the quilt and pillow were finished I took a few pictures with my American Girls Doll, Felicity, before Cristy picked it up in Lincoln and took it home to Omaha. 

So here is the finished Christmas gift, waiting under the tree Christmas morning. Berkeley got a new Cabbage Patch doll to go with the bed and doll quilt. I am sure she loves it too. She is a great little Mommy to her dolls because she has a wonderful Mommy to roll model for her.

*Sorry for the quality of photos in this post. Many of these pictures were via txt messages since all the people involved were in different cities.