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!

Stay-Cation

At my new job we rent our classroom space from one of our local churches. Just like most churches this one holds a week of vacation bible school every summer. Since our school has no religious affiliation the teachers that teach during the summer get a week off  so the church can use our classrooms. :) So I must ask, what better way is there to start a week of work off than to visit local fabric stores!?

Can you tell what the theme of this future quilt is going to be?

I also visited Joann's to get a few staples and use my coupons. While I was there I couldn't pass up these yummy Denise Schmidt prints:

I'm going to use them for a scrap quilt I have in mind. You see as I was going through my scraps I came across A LOT of tiny strips and scraps of fabric that I don't have the heart to throw away. My grandma was a big hoarder and I clearly inherited some of that trait when it comes to craft materials (crafting was also passed on to me via my grandma Lil).

Unlike my grandma I have organized my hoarding. Here we have usable strips for a future scrappy spiderweb quilt, or colorful strip block quilt, or BOTH. :)

And here we have the teeny tiny, pretty much useless scraps that I don't have the heart to throw away. This is where those Denise Schmidt prints come into play, these will be made into a quilt, a ticker tape quilt, inspired my Amanda Jean's and Penny's.

I cut some 12 1/2" squares of white Kona cotton and I plan to sew these little bitty strips and scraps to the white blocks. As I work on planned and normally pieced quilts throughout the year I will toss the crumbs into this box then work on adding them to these squares in my free time, or as I need a break from working on other quilts. As I slowly move away from a beginning quilter and into a more seasoned one I am developing quilter's ADD...I have 4 quilts going at once right now, not including this new project.

It is going to take awhile but when I have enough of these ticker tape blocks the result is going to be a pretty and scrappy quilt full of my favorite prints, the pieces that I can't stand to put into the trash.

*Disclaimer, this is not all of my unusable scraps. I have a separate bag of really tiny strips that I am going to use for greeting cards. :) I may have a problem!!!

Max, Max, What Do You See?

My next two posts will be about my last two quilts of 2011. I finished this quilt early last week, but I haven't found time to post about it, despite my free time from a break in work and school.
My wonderful friend Mandy asked me to make a quilt for her nephew for his first birthday later this month. I was thrilled with this request because I love to make children's quilts, they are so quick and the fabrics are so fun and colorful! Mandy really wanted a "Where the Wild Things Are" quilt, as her nephew's name is Max, but there is no such fabric out there (someone should change this!). Her next request was Dr. Seuss, like her son's quilt, or Eric Carle. The preschool teacher in me immediately jumped at the idea of an Eric Carle quilt, an INTERACTIVE Eric Carle quilt!
I have wanted to make an interactive children's quilt ever since I came across this quilt made by Jacquie at Tallgrass Prairie Studio, I guess the early childhood educator came out in the quilting portion of my brain when I saw this and I added her quilt to my inspiration to-do list. So here is my Eric Carle quilt for the soon to be one-year old. I made this quilt using a panel of the Brown Bear fabric which has the animals from Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do See? the children's book written by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by the very talented Eric Carle.

For Max, I wanted to make a quilt that a toddler could use to snuggle up with, as well as play and learn with. Originally I wanted to do a Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt, with a number on the top of the flap and the corresponding fruit underneath (for those of you that are familiar with this story, you will know what I am talking about.) However, that quilt would have been VERY expensive! Then I found a seller on etsy that had Brown Bear fabric available and snagged it up.
I cut out the animals squares and pieced them randomly into 12 by 15 inch blocks using a Kona grey (can't remember which one, sorry). I decided not to place the quilt squares in order with the story, this way Max's interactions with the quilt could be more challenging as he grows and develops cognitive skills.
I visited my favorite LQS for corresponding prints for the flaps, and put them together with batting in the middle to make them a bit more sturdy. Then I decided to quilt them too, using different quilting techniques. It was really fun to try out new quilting designs on these flaps, and each one is different. For some I quilted along with the fabric, like the blue, green and yellow squares:

For others I tried something new to me, like the purple flap loops, brown flap squares, and white flap pebbles.

I used corresponding thread for the flaps, and stippled the quilt all over with grey thread, except for the panel squares of the animals, which I stitched around with my walking foot a 1/4" on each side of the square. I didn't want the image of the animal to be distorted from the quilting lines. The brown bear is in the middle, without a flap. The idea is that brown bear starts the quilt just like the story so you would start by saying: "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?" Then lift the brown flap.....

"I see a red bird looking at me.Red bird, red bird, what do you see?" Then move to the red flap.....

 "I see a yellow duck looking at me." And so on.

 For the back of the quilt I pieced together the fabric left from the flaps in order of the story. I also added gold fabric for the goldfish at the end of the story. My husband's comment on the finished quilt was "The back looks cool." I have to agree, I love the scrappy look of these colorful fabrics. For the binding I machine attached it using a darker Kona grey, I think the grey fabrics help to make the colors pop really well, and will hold up to a child's dirty play well.

This story has been a favorite of mine since I was a child, I still have my copy from the 80's! Every child I have ever taught has loved this story as well. My preschoolers "read" it frequently in our reading loft, and play along with our flannel board story as well. I think Eric Carle's artwork he uses in his illustrations is so appealing and inspiring for children. I have another set of animals left from the panel, I may have to make one of these quilts for my preschoolers to use in the classroom. :) Hopefully Max will love it as much as I do. Mandy should receive this quilt today or Monday, I can't wait to hear what she has to say about it.

What I learned:
I loved getting to try out different quilting techniques on the flaps. Usually I am afraid to waste batting and fabric as I try out new styles, this quilt was a great way for me to get my feet wet, without wasting materials. Plus, I think I have gotten pebble quilting figured out enough to try it on a full quilt!

Pillow Cover Inspiration

Penny has been not so quiet in expressing her wishes that we give her more attention the last few months. She is a well behaved dog (I swear)....but she is also very stubborn and smart. Our couch has seen much better days, we have had it for 6 years and it is not so comfy anymore, and she has added to it's comfort levels in the last month or so. So after the dog has ripped every cushion, we decided it was time for a new one (duck tape just doesn't look to comfy and inviting.) Last month we went and special ordered a new Laz-E Boy sectional and we were just informed today that it will be ready for pick up Tuesday. :)
I am so excited! It has reclining seats (great for when I am finally pregnant with our first baby and can't sleep in a bed), it is the perfect size for our living room, and it is chocolate brown....neutral and perfect for making quilted pillow covers to rotate at my hearts desire. :)
So I have been browsing flickr for inspiration for our new couch cushions.
Here are some pretty pillows made by some talented quilters that strike my fancy:

Above pillows from crazy mom quilts.

From a little sweetness. I have a charm pack of Little Pips that I want to use for this one.

This block is the July block for my bee there or bee squares quilting bee. I am going to try the block first with my own fabric before making Kim's block and cutting into her fabrics. I am nervous to try it but really excited. The tutorial is from twin fibers. I am so excited to make my new couch some new pillows, the old ones are so boring. Can I get 5 done by Tuesday?