French Country Baby Quilt

This one is for Baby Ayden, my nephew in France. What it lacks in perfection is made up for in love.

I just love all that can be done with half square triangles and am so glad to be back to cotton backs. I had a lot of fun using a free-motion quilters foot and making wavy quilt lines in alternating thread colors of grey, pink and sage. It made the french country blue back side a lot less boring!

Feather light quilt

A quilt from June of 2018 that I never posted! 

My draft text stated, "Feels good to be sewing again and loving how this baby quilt is turning out so far. Plus, I gained some great tips from a quilter that I admire and can't wait to try them out!" 

Well, here is the finished quilt:

I sure love my nephew that I made it for but I must be honest, I really don't love working with these plush materials for quilts. I am convinced they won't age well and obviously, I learned they don't make for a great binding. 

Most importantly, I spent time quilting for a child I love, so that is all that really matters!

Sea-Themed Nursery Set

The sea-themed nursery set is done - I am one step closer to being ready for Baby Allen Number 3! Baby quilt, tummy time mat, mini pillow, whale stuffies, beach ball rattle and a pennant banner... all I need now is a crib!

Each time around, I get better at this nesting thing. Campbell hardly had a nursery; I set up a portable crib and decorated the top of nearby dresser with a plant from my baby shower and a few hand me down baby books and called it done. William had a country themed nursery corner of our bedroom when we lived in a converted Hay Barn. I finished setting up his space after he was born.

If I manage to get a crib, and set the space up before the arrival of the next little one, I'll be feeling pretty proud!

Ocean Baby Quilt

A playful ocean quilt for Allen Baby number three. I hope it is gender neutral enough because we are having a surprise baby and there is some degree of a chance we could finally have a girl this time around, right? With the beautiful sea jellies, anemones, eels, and squid I fell in love...

I fell in love with this bold collection of fabrics titled Into the Deep by Patty Sloniger for Michael Miller and quickly became paralyzed after purchasing the fabric. I needed a layout that showcased the jellies but would not be overwhelmingly busy either.

While contemplating a kimono inspired obi (sash/band) design I found a great online tutorial on curved piecing on Kitchen Table Quilting. After adding in the teal fabric to brighten up the very dark blue, and combining the two concepts, I had my simple, bold, bright, baby quilt design figured out.

What a relief! As always, I made so many mistakes and learned a great deal. Thankfully, my two toddlers agree that the new baby (due in early July) will love it. Now, I just have to wrap a mini nursery theme around this quilt and I'll be ready for the new arrival!

Ps. It turns out the fabric collection is not a bold one, but that our local fabric store had sold out of the calmer color designs! For a fantastic selection of pretty ocean themed fabrics (boy, girl, and neutral) check out the full collection at Michael Miller Fabrics or the Fabric.com online store.

Tribal Inspired Baby Mat

I went tribal with this half-square triangle design and I'm loving the high contrast for a newborn! The more I use white and contrast colors, the more an imperfection glares at me. "Wabi sabi," says my amazing husband (wabi sabi: that art of imperfection, the beauty of things modest and humble). Thank you honey.

 

Toddler Blue Comforter

Deep shades of blue balance out the flowery patterns on this pretty little toddler quilt. Technically it is a comforter since I doubled the batting and simply quilted hearts to keep everything in place and add a little country charm. It passed both my Sons' train and airplane test - it has good enough "tracks" and "runways" and is getting a lot of use!

I made this quilt quite some time ago and forgot to publish the post. Now that I have improved my binding, I may redo the binding on this one.

I'm a little embarrassed to post the picture below as it was the worst binding job I've ever done, much too rushed and my sewing machine was on the fritz.

Ps. My new machine is amazing!

Pink and Gray Herringbone Quilt

This week I was head over heels for herringbone! With pink and gray half-square triangles, I sewed up a sweet baby quilt for my niece, Audrey. The quilt was machine pieced, hand quilted and the binding was by machine as well. This combo made for an efficient quilt with a touch of hand stitching.

Being self-taught, every quilt I make is a quilting lesson and often, many lessons are learned in one quilt! For this quilt I was proud of the color combo, the binding, and that I hand stitched the quilting. I was able to hide two of my mistakes and I learned that I likely will need to use an embroidery hoop or some other technique when quilting to keep the fabric flat.

The Parking Lot Quilt

The toddler quilt I made for my son Campbell turned out to be perfect for his imagination! He declared me "the best Mommy ever" for making him a quilt with race tracks and parking spots. I'll take it! In all honesty, I made this quilt earlier in the year - in February or March.

I also learned that I am not the type of quilter (at this time) to finish my quilts with a binding done by hand. Nope. Not me. Not while I have toddlers and a full time job. I'm sticking with the machine for now!

French Country Baby Quilt

I am currently in love with anything French country so when it came time to make a quilt for Sarah's baby boy (on the way) I was thrilled to use some of the scrap blue and white fabrics I had in my fabric box to piece this little quilt/play mat together. Each time I make a quilt I learn more. And, every time, afterwards, I am wishing I could sew it all over again knowing what I know now. It is one of the driving forces behind this new-found little hobby of mine.

The Thin Mint Quilt

Two unused sheets and some leftover batting became this fun quilt that cost me nothing more than the price of thread and time. It might make you think of dinner mints or mint chocolate chip ice cream but the quilting really adds great charm to this delicious new playmat for my boys. Plus, I love the larger size... I am slowly working my way up to a full size quilt :)