Puttin' on the Ritz...Baby Quilt Style

If you're blue and you don't know where to go, 

Why don't you go where fashion sits,

Puttin' on the ritz.

This adorable little baby quilt was made with a charm pack of "Puttin' on the Ritz" by Bunny Hill Designs. And every time I heard the name of the fabric line, this song was going through my head...over and over and over again :)

Look at that gorgeous texture!

The pattern for this quilt uses a charm pack and a yard of fabric for the borders - my kind of quilt! This charm pack has been in my stash from when I first started quilting - a baby quilter :) - and when I picked it up, I had no idea what I was going to use it for...

Cue the random purchase of some solid gray...

And voila! A baby quilt fit for a princess! This quilt has already been wrapped up and given away to someone who is celebrating a new girl grandchild.

I tried a new quilting technique seen here in this video: Lava Paisley. Mine is a little different then hers, but you get the idea :) It was the first time I have tried this and it went better than I thought it would, but used up a ton of thread! I must have refilled my bobbin four times on for this baby quilt! I want to do a bed quilt with this texture, but all that bobbin-filling...

The backing is a cute flannel I got on sale at JoAnn's. For some reason I thought I needed 5 yards of it, so you will probably be seeing this fabric again...and again...and again... :)

Here is a sneak peak of what I have been working on...

Linking up with , , and

Until next time,
Michelle

What I've been working on...

You know how when you have a huge, ginormous list of things you want to do and then life gets in the way and prevents you from accomplishing anything on said list? Yeah, that never happens to me, either :)

Somehow, someway, I ended up with a Christmas gift to-do list as tall as I am and the amount of time to finish them is getting smaller and smaller...cue the panicky breathing and the paper bag.

Not only am I making a quilt for the hubster, but I'm also quilting one for someone in my family.

This is the one I made for my hubster:

It has been sewn together, basted, and now is partially quilted since this photo was taken, so that's progress, I guess!

I hope to have more pictures of works in progress on here soon. Hope you are having a good week!

Pinwheels aplenty!

It certainly has been a long while since I have been on this space, but don't think it is because I haven't been doing anything! No sir, not me! Always working away on something, I am :)

What I've been working on: I made another set of 5 burp cloths, in the same fabric as before (remember, you can get 10 burp cloths from 5 fat quarters); I laid out the In From the Cold fabric for the Christmas quilt I wanted to get done this year, but I'm not sure I like the layout how it is; and I started (and finished!) a new quilt top!

In From the Cold layout...

I saw this tutorial on Moda Bakeshop and thought it was one of the cutest quilts I have ever seen! Plus, I haven't tried my hand at pinwheels yet (I know! Can you believe it?). And, I just happened to have been stockpiling gathering 30's fabrics here and there. I mean, how could I not make this quilt?

All the pretty fabric...

 

Lovely trimmings from the half-square triangles...

Laying it all out on the line...

 
I made it bigger than the tutorial; instead of a baby blanket, I wanted this to be throw-size, so I made extra pinwheels, doing a 5x6 layout instead of the 3x4 layout in the tutorial. I used around three charm packs, instead of the single one that was called for in the pattern, so I had plenty left over for the prairie points (something else that I hadn't tried before), and what was left over from that is perfect for making some EPP hexies (2 1/2 squares), which was fine by me! I also made the second border 5 1/2" instead of what was called for in the pattern.

Prairie points mixed in a bag for ultimate scrappiness!

It is so happy and adorable that sometimes, I just lay the top out on the bed and look at it and smile. I already know how I'm going to quilt it; I just need to find just the right backing for it!

One more tidbit...I found the neatest little thing at a recent quilt show...an ironing cover for a little folding TV tray! Isn't the fabric adorable? It sits right next to me while I'm sewing, so I can press (really, I iron instead of pressing, but that's between you and me) and then start sewing again without having to get up! Genius!

I will post better pictures of the pinwheel top soon! Until then, hope you're having a good day!

Slice of fun

Hello there! How are things going in your world today? Hopefully all good things are happening to you...

I've embarked on a new project and this is one is just for fun! I haven't had a just for fun project in a while, so this is very exciting! I might have been smiling and giggling like a silly ninny the whole time I was sewing...maybe :)

Like a squirrel with its nuts, I've been hoarding charm packs and fat eighths of 30s and 40s reproduction fabrics and stashing them about the house. Then I forget and find them some time later :)

 

I found this pattern on Moda Bakeshop and ever since I saw it, I've been wanting to make it! I'm making it a little bigger, a throw size rather than a baby blanket...

Can't wait to share progress updates with you and hope you have a good week!

Sunny Day Progress

Progress: the process of improving or developing something over a period of time. Pretty fitting description for anything quilting related, huh?

This project, using a kit found at a quilt show with Avalon fabrics, has been placed on the back burner several times since I started it, but I'm happy to report that the top is finished! Progress has been made!

It's now basted and partially quilted. I'm not real happy with how the quilting is going, though, so I've started unpicking what has already been quilted, which sucks a big, fat one. I was going to do an allover floral design with some swirly loops between the flowers, but the flowers look more like a child's scribbles than a flower and that was ticking me off, so I stopped quilting and started unpicking. I think I'll go with this pattern: Crybaby Meander; it looks easy enough and it is something that I haven't tried before.

I just really want to get this done, so I can snuggle on the couch with it, even though it's going to be like, a hundred degrees here shortly... :)

So much to do, so little time! That's always the case, isn't it?

I just wanted to do a quick update on what I'm working on...

The Fandango stars quilt is about 1/3 to 1/2 quilted. I dedicated several one-hour time slots over the past few weeks toward it and am frustrated with how long it is taking and how little progress is being made, so it has been folded up (again) and will sit for another time when I feel the urge to work on it. It also doesn't help that I am always changing how I want it to be quilted :) I honestly feel that perhaps this project would have been better sent off to a professional longarm quilter...

I have the backing for my Dear Stella quilt, but have set aside that project...for now.

My kitchen curtains still have not been made...

But...I have started on three different baby quilts! I am really good at starting lots of different projects, but not so good at the finishing part of it :) One of them is from fabric leftover from the Dear Stella quilt, and the other two are made from a fat quarter set I bought at a local craft store.

Hopefully, progress will be made on these this weekend because I am starting to run short on time...

WIPs

Today, I thought I'd share a couple of my current WIP (work in progress) projects that I've managed to start but don't have any time to work on.

Alas, I can look at the pictures and say "someday, I will work on you"... :)

The first project is one that I started last year when I was pregnant with Boy #2. I was technically on bed rest, but anyone who has had that sentence knows there is no way in heck you can just lay in a bed all day long. So I sat sometimes, instead. I saw this pattern on Moda Bakeshop a while back and loved it, fabric and all and put it on my to-do list with the stipulation that I would make it, but only with the fabric it was originally made with because I loved it so much. So, I waited and searched and hunted in vain, until one day, a local quilt store had a layer cake and by that time, I was ready to pay the price they had listed for it.

The fabric line was Fandango by Kate Spain, and she is one of my most favorite fabric designers. The pattern is made from 3 charm packs and some yardage and I just love it! Mostly because it has stars in it :)

The top is all finished and basted. I have 3 of the 16 stars quilted and with the way I am quilting it, each star takes about 45 minutes to quilt...so, needless to say, it is hard for me to commit the time to quilt one star versus getting 45 minutes further on another project, since I pretty much only sew after bedtimes for normal people. I really want to get this done soon though...

My next WIP is a quilt kit that I picked up at a local quilt show. I fell in love with the display quilt, but decided not to get the kit. Then I walked around the show and thought about that darn quilt the whole rest of the time I was there. Somehow my feet wandered back there and I grabbed it before I could think twice about it (again).

The colors aren't something I normally lean to, but the more that I look at them, the more I love them! The fabrics are Paloma by Dear Stella. I just got the backing for it and it is a flower-embossed minky in white that I am so excited about. This will be my cuddle-on-the-couch quilt for myself, since I still seem to be borrowing Boy #1's quilt to snuggle with...

The third thing on my WIP list is to make curtains for my kitchen out of these super cute fabrics! I picked up a couple of half-yard cuts at my local quilt store because they were so cute, but I didn't have any plans for them. A few weeks ago, I hung up the fabric to see what they would look like as curtains and voila! new plan for the fabric. The fabrics are from the KITSCHenette line by Claudine Hellmuth for Andover Fabrics.

Also on my list is finding a pattern using fat quarters for Boy #2's quilt.

I just have a couple of things to keep me busy :) Hope you have a great first day of Spring!

 

Round and round update

Hi all! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season! I sure did and I even got some time to make some progress on a couple of projects that are in the works - yay me!

The first one is based off of this tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew. I wanted to make boy #1 a quilt and went crazy getting fabric from the Meadow Friends line from Moda. Then I sat and stared at the fabric, trying to decide what pattern would be just the right pattern for my dear boy. In the end, I thought this pattern looked as busy and energetic as he is, so I hacked and whacked my way through my stack of fabric. And let it sit. For months. I think I still wasn't in love with the fabric and the pattern combo yet.

 

Then one day, I was inspired and sewed everything all together. And then I sat back, and thought, what is missing? The quilt wasn't as big as I was thinking it would be, but I didn't want to add any more circle-in-a-square blocks (mostly because I didn't want to make anymore), so I talked with a friend about adding a border and still couldn't decide what to do with it!

In the end, I decided, what the heck, and added a border. And so, here it is, in all its pieced and bordered glory :)

The fabric is mostly Meadow Friends, with a few other prints thrown in to add visual interest. The backing will be a lime-green minkee fabric from Joann's and I plan on basting the heck out of it this weekend to get it ready for quilting. I only started it a year and a half ago, so what's the hurry, right? :)