Friday Finishes: Baby edition!

Is there anything better than making things for a new baby? If there is I don't know what.

It is actually bound now, this is just the best picture I have.

I don't know how many of you were around to remember the Sea Life Mobile I made a few years ago, but the baby boy I made that for is getting a new little brother in April. They are using the same nursery and colors so I stuck to the ocean theme. I made a wallhanging for baby Chris with the great Constellations fabrics from Lizzy House. I improv pieced the waves using the easy curves technique and the 3D flags on the boat are actually maritime signal flags that spell out the baby's name.

I think the anchor is my favorite design, but the little bowties with suspenders are pretty darn cute

Unluckily for the baby's mama, although she's getting another boy he'll be born 6 months earlier than his brother, meaning that none of the clothes from the first boy will be the right size/right season. You know what that means, we need baby clothes!

I added appliques to a bunch of onesies and even some little pants. I first used the "lite" iron on adhesive and then stitched down the edges.

I used a lot of nautical designs as well as some general boy stuff. It was a blast to get into my stash and scraps and find those favorite fabrics.

The baby shower is Sunday and I can hardly wait :)

Linking up to Finish It Friday, check it out!

Quick picture post

Blocks from my month as queen of the stash bee! Now I just have to decide on a sashing :)

Sunday Strings is finished!

Sunday Strings, my second quilt based on designs from the book Sunday Morning Quilts, is done. I was worried I wouldn't get to take pictured of it in time for Finish it Friday, but after raining for 2 days straight the sun came out on the most beautiful afternoon!  After sorting my scraps a couple weeks ago I sorted out the strings for this top. It is a lowered volume quilt, but not quite low volume.  For someone who is drawn to bold colors it's hard to scrape together enough scraps for a real low volume quilt!

This is my first top to completely free motion quilt.  I used the flower design that you can see on Cheryl's quilt "Sunday Morning" in the book.  I think it looks like Chrysanthemums.  I'm glad I chose such a small quilt to do this on because it took a surprisingly long time to do such dense quilting.  The final texture was worth it, of course.  I wish you could feel how soft and krinkly this baby is.

I had a large piece of this blue/pink/brown fabric that I'd been saving for the perfect occasion and I knew this was it.  I pieced together some pink scraps to make it large enough for the backing and attached one of my usual twill tape labels under the binding.  The binding I used was scrappy remnants of same of the same fabrics that are in the top and back.

My standard twill tape label, written with Sharpie Stained markers

Amanda Jean's pattern for this quilt is called "Candy Coated." I followed her directions loosely but made a smaller size.  The biggest change I made to her design was adding white fabric to the end of the pieced strips to make them all the same length, rather than trimming them to length.  I wound up with 10 strips, ranging in height from 3" to 10.5".  This has at least made a dent, if only a small one, in my strings containers.

Delicious texture and skinny strings

This quilt set a new record for most-densely-quilted-quilt I've ever done.  I knew that the additional quilting would mean more krinkle and therefor more shrinkage in the dryer, but I was still amazed by the extent of the shrinking.  Before it's inaugural wash/dry it measured 48.5" x 62.5".  After it was 45" x 57".

Snapped quick before it blew away! The wind was less than cooperative

I am trying to clear out some of the finished quilts that have been languishing around here in need of a home without adding any more.  This one will be winging its way to Michigan soon for Margaret's Hope Chest "A Mother's Hope" program.  They provide quilts to mother going through a treatment program for postpartum depression.  Carin asked for quilters to send a note to the mother, explaining why you chose the pattern and colors that you did.  In mine I talked about how this beautiful quilt was made from scraps that had been redeemed. Once cast-off; now treasured.  Redemption, that's one of the things I love best about scrap quilting.

A quick PSA: I just wanted to let you all know that the patterns for my quilts "Fly South" and "Little Peeks" are now available in .pdf format in my Etsy shop as well as the original twin-size Little Peeks quilt.

Parting shot, looking especially low volume

Linking up to Finish It Friday.

Quick Picture Post

A late entry to WIP Wednesday. 

Review of McCall's Modern Quilting ebook

Like most of the rest of the quilt blogging world, it seems, I was approached recently by McCall's asking if I would like to review their Log Cabin Quilts ebook.  I passed on the log cabin book but when they contacted me again asking if a book on modern quilts might be more up my alley I took them up on it.

This is a FREE ebook, so if any one would like your own copy you can click on the image above or click here.  Enter your email to subscribe to their newsletter and you'll be taken to the link to download the pdf file.  (PDF files print out great, if you prefer not to read off the screen.)  If you're as paranoid as I am about entering your email addresses into those little boxes around the internet, don't worry.  Unsubscribing from the newsletter is as easy as subscribing.

The actual "Modern Quilts" ebook is short, just 10 pages.  There's a brief letter from the editor introducing the major ideas of modern quilting and the rest of the book is devoted to three quilt patterns.  My favorite of the three is a HST pattern called "Rainbow Rhythm" by Tricia Camp. One of the patterns, a large scale string quilt, also includes instructions for a type of Quilt-as-you-go quilting.

Rainbow Rhythm

I think this book would be a good introduction for an experienced traditional quilter wanting to begin to explore the world of modern quilt. All of the quilts are based on traditional quilt patterns and traditional quilting techniques and the instructions are specific and clear.  There is no call for improvised piecing or wildly variably sized blocks.

To be honest, none of the quilts in this book seem particularly modern to me, but for a quilter looking to dip their toes into the "modern" waters but not sure they're ready to dive right in, this would be perfect.  If you're interested, click the picture at the top!

(All opinion expressed are my own, thanks to McCall's for asking me to review.)

Quick picture post

Sunday Strings in progress. 

WIP Wednesday: Another Sunday Morning Quilt

It's WIP Wednesday again and work on the Sunday Morning Strings quilt has continued.

This quilt is based on Amanda Jean's "Candy Coated" quilt from the book Sunday Morning Quilts. It was created in direct response to my overflowing string containers. This photo shows the situation post-quilt. The roasting pan on the bottom is still full but the "strings" jar on top is almost empty, there are just a few strings loosely shoved in there.

Gloriously organized scraps!

I really wanted to do a low volume quilt, like those that are all the rage lately. But, I just don't really have the stash for it, and as I was sorting the strings brighter ones kept calling out to me to be included! So instead this top has a mix of colors, mostly on the lighter, mellower side. I think I like it.

I evened out the strips of different lengths with my go-to white fabric. The top comes to 48"x62" and I'm not planning to add any borders, so this is it. Hopefully this weekend this one can get basted and quilting can begin. I'm planning to try out a new free motion design and I'm excited to get started.

WIP Wednesday

The next Sunday Morning Quilt is on the wall!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday

Scraps: Sorted

This was my accomplishment for the day.  One large rubbermaid tub full of mixed scraps turned into into neat piles of scraps sorted by color and size.  The biggest surprises of the day were my overflowing bins of strings and neutral scraps.  The neutrals are in the basket on the lower left and the string are in the roasting pan on the bottom right PLUS the right-most jar on the top.  Looks like I have some scrap quilts featuring those in my future!

I never cease to be amazed by how clean and organized my room gets when I have a test I need to be studying for.