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For some reason I’ve been in the baby quilt making mode these last few months.
My original plan was for this first quilt to be the back of the second but then when it was pieced it just seemed so soft and sweet that it needed to be it’s own quilt.
I’ve been very inspired by some of the different quilts I’ve noticed on peoples blogs lately and thought this fabric would adapt well to what is being called Modern Quilts.
I know my last few posts look like all I’ve been doing is playing outside this summer, which I admit due to our very short summer I try to play outside as much as I can, I really have been quilting too…
One of the challenges that I set out to do was to use 2 Lily and Will by Bunny Hill charm packs to make 2 baby quilts. One for a girl and one for a boy.
Adding some background yardage, here are the results
I used the Baby Pinwheel pattern from the Moda Bake Shop to make the second quilt, the first is an adaptation of the Funny Farm pattern from the book Fat Quarter Fun by Karen Snyder.
I really wish I had taken pictures in progress of this Schnibble. It was fun working with the Summer House collection by Lily Ashbury for Moda and thankfully I had the Creative Grid 60 degree ruler to use.
I found the Honeycomb Schnibble to be the most challenging of the ones I’ve made so far. I started by laying out my colours on the design wall after cutting and then sewed one row at a time so that I wouldn’t get any mixed up. I also found that Mary Ellen’s Best Press was indispensible when working with so many bias pieces.
Another little Schnibble (Plan C) I’ve been working on. It’s been living on the design wall like this but today started changing it around
and right now it looks like this
I think I like the second version best but I’m still playing any suggestions or opinions?
and on to really important news
Its Graduation season and my Daughter Emma had graduated with her degree in Psychology and is continuing on working towards her Masters. Emily has always loved school and is an excellent student! I’m so proud of you Emily!!
Erik has 2 daughters graduating this year, his oldest is now an RN!! way to go Shilo and his second daughter Ashton graduated today with a diploma in Dental Hygiene but like Emily she is continuing her education and will be entering the Education Program University.
We attended Ashton’s grad this morning.
Its been extremely quiet here this last week, all of my girls have been away. Of course Sarah is always away now that she lives in Texas. Emily, Dave and Katie drove down for Jerry’s first birthday. I’m waiting for more birthday pictures…
This was one of Jerry’s first pictures as a cowboy
and a year later at his party!
Yesterday I finally re-quilted my original Summer Wind quilt. I really wish I’d taken some pictures of it to show why I decided to re-quilt it. I had used a panto that wasn’t as dense as I like and also used a wool batting, when it was washed it just did not like it. It is my summer quilt for my bed so I use it and I still love it so it was worth re doing. Thankfully I have a friend who offered to un-quilt it for me. I had been a bit concerned about the stitch holes from before but they have all but disappeared.
I used a Robyn Pandolph backing that I absolutely love and suits this quilt perfectly.
a little sneak peak of some quilting for the Circle of Friends Quilt Shoppe (opening soon)
more to come…
This week seems to have flown by, I was able to accomplish a few things in my studio as well as some very welcome walks out in the sunshine.
I finally have all 30 blocks completed for Emily’s quilt. Now I have to decide on sashing. I would probably use a muslin if I’d had enough but I don’t and I can’t find a perfect match. So my next idea is to use one of the prints beside the blocks. I’ll lay it out next week and share some pictures and hopefully get some opinions.
I’ve been quilting a custom job on my longarm that is taking longer than I like, so for a little diversion I started another project using my Beach House Layer Cake.
I’m ready to piece these 25 blocks which will be part on my next Schnibble.
While trimming my half square triangles, I was thinking that some people might not be aware of the Quilt in a Day Ruler that I use. This is a tool that makes trimming these a breeze:
in this example I used two 5” charm squares right sides together, and drew a diagonal line.
I sew a very scant 1/4 inch seam on both sides of the line and then cut along drawn line.
Using the ruler, in this case I’m making 3 1/2” squares so I line up the stitched line with the 3 1/2” line and trim
Press open and trim the dog ears if you desire.
In my opinion this ruler is worth more than its weight in gold!! I hope that it helps you too.
I’ve spent several hours in the last two days stitching down bindings. I was so close to finishing this one last night but I was just too tired. I have learnt that things go so much better when I’m well rested.
I’m also almost finished binding Opening Day the rest are finished. (From top to bottom: Sunny Trails, Aviary Quilt (pattern from Heather Heather Mulder Peterson’s book Livin’ Large), Opening Day, and Finally Elizabeth is finished.
Well actually I have some sleeves to sew on some of these quilts as well as Megan’s Gypsy Rose as they will all be displayed at our upcoming Quilt Show.
I’m still working on Emily’s quilt, it’s taking more time than I’m used to and I’m constantly fighting the urge to start something else but I’m determined to complete this quilt before summer.
Sunny Trails is quilted and bound and ready to hang in the new shop next month. (other than the label) I am so happy with this quilt, and I’m already thinking making another with scraps. I think this quilt has also been claimed once it’s finished being shown in the shop……more to follow on that.
Tonight was the second meeting of the Possibilities Club. This is a group that was started as a means to discuss different uses for pre cut fabrics as well as other ideas for using scraps that we all seem to accumulate. We meet once a month and each month one or two people will run the meeting by bringing in some ideas that they’d like to share. I’ve offered to take my turn in June.
There’s nothing like spending time with people who share your passion!
It was sunny out today, but surprisingly chilly I think I heard that it got to –17C overnight brrr considering its supposed to be spring.
Anyways I spent a good part of the day doing what I set out to do today and I’m happy to say I have all the blocks except 2 small parts completed.
The reason I say except for 2 small parts is that the grey pinstripe I chose to use is directional and I made a mistake in placement so I had to fix my problem and I’m now short 2 3.5” pieces. Thankfully I have a good quilting friend who has come to my rescue and I’ll be able to finish up the last block in the next day or so.
I know that this quilt is a copy of one that I saw, but I love the fabric and I love the pattern so I will now have one too. I highly recommend Sunny Trails and will make it again and probably with stash.
I fell in love with the Sunkissed Collection (Sweetwater for Moda) and was doing really well restraining myself. That was until I came across this pattern on the Moda Bakeshop site
I love this pattern and esp the fabric. I am always drawn to yellow in quilts so this one drew me right in. I’m already thinking of other fabrics I’d like to see this pattern done in. If only I didn’t need to sleep, then maybe I’d have more time to to make all the quilts in my mind.
The pattern is by Corey Yoder and her blog is at littlemissshabby.com (I will warn you that her blog could be very dangerous if you are not looking for a new project to start!) but what candy for the eyes!
I think I ordered the fabric that very day, then I had to wait because I’d decided to have the fabric shipped to my house instead of the border, the wait was a little more than 3 weeks!! If I’d had it shipped to the border I could have had it in 3 days. (lesson learnt)
It is snowing here today…..so I’ll go spend the afternoon with my Sunny Fabric!
