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. :)

Rearranging

A VERY long time ago I made this quilt top. In fact this was the first thing I ever sewed...and I was overwhelmed by the task of quilting it so I set it aside.

My intention for this quilt was to make a queen sized bed quilt for our master bedroom. I fell in love with Wonderland by MoMo and snagged a jelly roll and charm pack and got to work. I saw this log cabin configuration on the internet and thought, 'I could do that.' I set to work with a rotary cuter I bought....and a small cutting board....and no straight edge or ruler. I pieced my jaggedly cut fabric together on a very old sewing machine, one with HORRIBLE tension, and then I arranged the blocks into this configuration.

Being new to sewing I thought my jelly roll and charm pack would be enough for a queen size quilt...oh how naive I was! So another trip to my local quilt shop and I purchased additional yardage of MoMo's Pepper Chai to make a boarder around the log cabin, as well as some yardage for the back of the quilt. I was smart enough at that time to ask for help in getting the yardage I would need, and asked for a layout of how to cut it. :) I'm sure Roxanne got a good laugh when I left. Especially when she saw the stitching and piecing!

Well once I finally got the whole quilt top finished I laid it on our bed and HATED it! So it got folded and put in a closet for a later day. That day has come and I have been busy cutting apart (the stitches were way too tight to get a seam ripper in there!) the blocks.

With our basement finished and our bedroom downstairs now I had this quilt top in mind for our new room. Of course the piecing is horrible, and it is WAY too busy, so I have been dissecting and rearranging my pieces. The new quilt is going to be perfect. I found another charm pack awhile back and snagged it up before it was too late.

Now I'm in the process of making 462 five inch squares for this new quilt. I'm excited to have some blocks up on my design wall, but I know it is going to take some a LONG time. Unfortunately my husband isn't a fan of the fabric line...but once I finish the new quilt top and tone down the 'busy'ness (or as he calls it the 'Grandma' fabrics) I think he will learn to love it too.

A Busy 2013

Let's just say it; I'm a horrible blogger! I have been sporadic in my posts for 2013 and 2012 wasn't much better. I'm not the type of person to make new year's resolutions, and when I do I don't keep them (like most other people!). For instance last year my resolution was to be able to do real pull ups by the end of the year. Well that didn't happen, but I did become a runner!

2013 may not have been the year for pull ups, but it was the year for exciting changes for my family.

• 2 half marathons and many personal bests in shorter races
• Both Lee and I became the healthiest we've been in a long time (for me in my life)
• I started a job that I LOVE
• Our basement is finished!
• We went to Hawaii (first time in an ocean, and taking a BIG trip!)
• I finished many quilts (just didn't get to blogging about them) 
• Lee turned 30
• I completed my first commissioned quilt!

I'm excited to see what 2014 has in store for us, including my 30th birthday and starting an Etsy shop for my quilts and crafts. And although it isn't a resolution, I do plan to blog more. ;)

 

Here's to 2013, the downs, the ups, and the greats.
Let's hope 2014 has even more exciting things in store!

Vroom, Vroom

Beep, beep...heading to the kitchen floor to be basted. Nearly ready for quilting!

Running Circles

That's how I feel lately, like I'm running circles all over the place! I haven't had much time for quilting, which involves many circles as I pebble quilt my quilting bee quilt, however I am excited to announce a new quilt in the works! 

My coworker is expecting a new baby at the end of the year (which means an upcoming baby quilt) and she has asked me to make her son the quilt for his new twin sized bed! We've had many brainstorming sessions and I've spent many evenings sketching plans for the fabric she wanted to use. Finally a quilt layout was chosen, calculations were made and she ordered the fabric, which arrived today! Tomorrow I get to go pick out some coordinating prints to go with it for a special paper pieced train panel, there is a transportation theme because this 21 month old loves "Cho-CHOOOOs!" I am so excited, this is my first BIG TIME quilt project. :)

I promised to get it done before Lee and I head to Hawaii next month, which is when they plan to re-decorate his bedroom/the baby's room. All this will be done while we work on mudding and painting our new basement bathroom, plus I am organizing Lincoln's second annual Bark For Life which is next weekend. All these things on my to-do list are making me want to go for a run to handle the stress of it all. At least my half marathon I've been training for all summer is over, I did not do so well! Needless to say blogging may not get done for a while, sorry friends.

It's About Time

...this quilt is getting quilted!