Into the Woods Hourglass Baby Quilt

I must say that these past several months have truly been an adjustment for me.  Trying to find my new work / home / kids / quilting balance has been rather difficult.  Over the past month, I have finally gotten back into my quilting mojo again and it really felt great.  I have so missed this part of my life, and my New Year's resolution for 2015 is to make more time for it.  It definitely makes me a happier person!

Last Summer, I found out that the girl I used to babysit for was having a baby girl.  Talk about making me feel old!  During the summer, I had also purchased this fabric collection "Into the Woods" by Vanessa from Lella Boutique.  I had been eyeing this collection for quite some time because I was going to use it to make something for myself.  It has all the colors that I love in it.  I knew that it would be perfect for this new little baby girl as well.  Her mom shares my same favorite color red and everything about this collection just screams "Baby Girl".

The quilt pattern I chose was the Hourglass Quilt by Allison of Cluck Cluck Sew.  You can find the tutorial here.  It is one of my favorite quilt blocks to make.  I quilted it up using some wavy quilting to "soften" it up a little bit since it is a baby quilt. I must say it turned out awesome and I absolutely love it!

I chose the white floral pattern from the fabric collection for the back of the quilt.

The binding is a Moda Bells solid called Tomato Soup.  I like that I put a solid binding on it, so it didn't distract from the busyness of the quilt.

Now for the pics of my "adorable" little model.  Isn't she just precious.  I think she likes it and it will be a great quilt for her to have "playtime" on!  Happy 1 month old Birthday Sweetie!  You are definitely a keeper!

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday hosted by Heather and Megan from the Quilt Story.

Happy Quilting!

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2013 - A Lovely Year of Finishes - May Goal

I am excited because this month I am actually getting caught up and can start my adorable little nephew's quilt.  Now granted, he will be 6 months old this month, but better late than never right?  For this baby quilt, I will be mixing it up with some embroidery that my sister in law picked out.  She picked out this adorable collection from Bunnycup Embroidery called "Daring Dragons", which can be purchased here.

Aren't they just adorable.  I can't wait to use these cute little guys in the quilt.

The fabric collection that I will be using is Urban Down Under for Northcott Fabrics, which can be purchased here.

So back to my May goal, my goal is to complete the quilt top, so it is ready to quilt and bind for next month!  

Linking up to 2013 - A Lovely Year of Finishes hosted by Fiber of All Sorts.

Happy Quilting!

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January Goal - A Finish!

I am so excited because I actually finished my first goal for January!  It was a close finish, but a finish none the less.  My long arm quilting machine broke down on me and had to go to the shop, so it was out for a week.  I got it back last week and after a couple of "quilting headaches" I was able to actually get the quilt quilted and bound over the weekend.  Man was that spa trip over the weekend well deserved!  So let's get to the pictures shall we!

I quilted a spiral pantograph on it, which was a little bit difficult at times with all the seams.  Some of my seams were pretty heavy so that was actually an excellent learning experience for me.  For the most part it turned out pretty good.  I was happy with it.  It was my first time doing this pantograph on an actual quilt top and not on a plain piece of fabric.  I must say that I agree with Abby from Latimer Lane and you do get better with the pantograph the further you get to the bottom.  I will try to practice this more though, so my top will look like my bottom in the future!  I forgot to show you a picture of the finished quilt before quilting, so that is shown here below:

Here is a picture of the entire quilt all quilted up.  I must say I just love how much texture quilting gives a quilt.  I just love that crinkle bumpy feeling.  

I also did a different binding treatment on it.  I added a brown ric rac which I have never done before.  You can see a better pic of that below, but if you would like a good tutorial on this that I used, I got it from here on Bee in My bonnet's blog.  She does an excellent job on explaining how to do it, so I highly recommend you check it out.  I think it looks so adorable on a "girly" quilt.  

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: Hourglass Quilt you can find the tutorial here on Cluck Cluck Sew's blog

Fabric: Calm Curiosities by Nancy Halvorsen and Moda Bella Solid in Brown

Thread: Superior So Fine and Bottom Line in White

Pantograph: Denise's Spirals

Well there you have it, my January goal finished!  Even before the baby is here!  Double yay!

Linking up to 2013 - A Lovely Year of Finishes hosted by Fiber of All Sorts.

Happy Quilting!

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2013 - A Lovely Year of Finishes - January Goal - Teal and Purple Hourglass Quilt

I have a real problem of starting a bunch of projects with great intentions in mind but never finishing them.  I know that I am not the only one with this problem, but sometimes it really helps when other people hold you accountable.  Shanna from Fiber of All Sorts and Melissa from Sew Bitter Sweet Designs are hosting a group called "2013 - A Lovely Year of Finishes".  I just had to join.  It will be so exciting for me to accomplish something each month especially when working almost full time and raising two little ones.

So for my January goal, I want to finish working on this purple and teal hourglass quilt that I started last year.  I am making it for a family friend who is having a baby in February 2013, so finishing it in January would definitely be ideal.  I am using a free tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew, which you can find here.  It is her Pink Hourglass Quilt, which I think is absolutely adorable.  The new mom has chosen to use the Brooklyn nursery bedding by the Pottery Barn, so I will be making my Pink Hourglass Quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew in teals, purples, and white.  Here are the 8 different blocks that I will be using throughout the quilt.

Here is my finished stack of 63 blocks, which are ready to sew into a quilt top.  I better get moving.  Unfortunately, they do not sew themselves together.  

Linking up to 2013 - A Lovely Year of Finishes hosted by Fiber of All Sorts.

Happy Quilting!

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Bret's Quilt

Yesterday, I went and visited one of my very good friends who just had her 3rd baby at the beginning of August.  Well new baby, always means another baby quilt to make.  My friend was doing a "western" theme in the room which will eventually house both of her boys once Bret is big enough to sleep in the crib.  She already had the bedding for her oldest son, so I wanted to make something that would compliment what she already had.  I purchased "Lil Cowpokes" by Michael Miller from the The Fat Quarter Shop.  When I got it, I couldn't believe how perfect it was going to match her current son's bedspread.  I couldn't have gotten more perfect if I had made both quilts myself!

This time, I also wanted to try something different pattern wise, so I purchased the book, Little Quilts 4 Little Kids by Anka's Treasures.  The quilt pattern I used was "Oh Baby" because I like to be able to embroider the child's name onto the quilt and add a few "embroidery touches" if I can.  I must say the pattern was a very easy pattern to do and really showcases' the fabric and quilting nicely.  I highly recommend the book because Heather's directions were great and I had no trouble at all piecing the top together.  The pattern is also really nice if you have a child with a really long name.  I wish that I had purchased the book when I was making a quilt for one of my nieces.  Here is a picture of the quilt top before being quilted.

I decided to quilt it with a double loop quilting pattern which I thought would resemnble a little cowboy trying to lasso something.  I am very happy with how it turned out.  The only unfortunate part is that I haven't been able to master taking good pictures of a quilt on my quilting machine.  I can't seem to get the lighting right in my studio, which just so happens to be in the basement, so very little natural light.  

 

The finished quilt all quilted up.

 

Close up pictures of the double loop quilting.

 

I also included a couple of pictures of Bret "enjoying" the quilt.  Isn't he cute! 

I also made Bret a couple of personalized burp clothes using the cowboy hat and boot that I used in the quilt. 

The only bad part is that I had this quilt finished before I had started up my "Hustle" list, so nothing is coming off my list just yet, but I am slowly working on that and will show you my progress as I complete.  Goodbye September, hello October.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

 Melissa  

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Kaelan's Quilt

I am proud to say that I am catching up and another baby quilt is completed.  At the time that I got pregnant with Mae over a year ago now, two of my sister in law's were pregnant as well.  All 3 girls are no more than 5 months apart.  My daughter Mae was first, 2.5 months later my neice Cate was born, and another 2.5 months later, Kaelan was born.  I finished up Cate's quilt a couple of months ago, which was my very first blog post.  Now I have Kaelan's quilt completed and it happens to be a very special quilt to me as well.  It is my very first completed quilt on my new long arm.  After a month of practice on muslin pieces, I finally got the courage to quilt on an actual quilt.  I must say that quilting on a quilt is very different.  It is harder navigating the seams at times, but it still was a lot of fun.  I free motion quilted an allover Loopy D Loo pattern. 

 

I did machine applique on the 4 corners of a monkey, giraffe, elephant, and a lion.  I personalized the quilt with Kaelan's name in the middle square.  It definitely was a fun quilt to make. 

Here are some pics of baby Kaelan testing out her quilt. 

 

 

I think she likes it.  My daughter, Mae had to even test it out with her.  Aren't they just so cute together? 

 

 

Well I am definitely very happy with how it turned out.  I know that I still have a lot more to learn, but seeing people enjoy the final product makes it all worth while.  Especially when they are under 2 feet tall!

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