Wedding Memories Quilt

Well, I finally finished Quilt #7 of the year! This is the "Wedding Memories" quilt that I made for my sister and her new husband. You can see other posts of this project here, here and here. She chose the fabric, Moda's Eden by Lila Tueller. Her wedding colors were pink and green, so the collection was pretty much perfect for her. I decided to omit the purples that were in the collection of fat quarters that I got, and used only the pinks, greens and yellows. The white rectangles are the signature blocks from people who attended her wedding. I used Kona Snow for these. My other sister helped me hold the twin size quilt up. She's standing on a chair saying, "Oww... my arms are sore!" ;) This is the largest quilt I've made so far!

Detail of a signature block. Man, that AZ sun is bright! I quilted around the writing, since I wanted these blocks to stand out more. I did an all-over meandering quilt with some occasional "sloppy hearts" mixed in. :)

And on the back, I used more Kona Snow with some leftover Eden blocks pieced in for extra color. Not sure why this appears wrinkly... It really doesn't look like this in person.

Detail of the back.

I presented the quilt to my sister and new brother-in-law all rolled up. I loved how it looked! My sister had mentioned she wanted a little bit of brown in the quilt, if possible, so I decided to make the binding a light brown that matches some of the outlines of the birds in the fabric. I also quilted using a tan colored thread.

I wrapped the "quilt roll" using this cute twill tape I found on Etsy. It says, "Happily Ever After" all over. So perfect! :)

On to quilt #8... I am actually finishing up the binding on it right now, so I should be posting pics soon! Yay! I'm ahead of schedule! :)

Wedding Memories Quilt

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I thought I would enter this quilt into the Blogger's Quilt Festival this week. :)

If you have a quilt to enter, click on the button above and join in! Or, just head over there to check out some beautiful quilts!

This quilt was very special for many reasons. It was my sixth quilt finished this year (ahead of my personal deadline), and my 9th quilt in all! If you are a new visitor to my blog, my personal goal this year is to make a quilt a month. So, by December I will have made 12 quilts this year! This was my first time doing free-motion quilting over the entire quilt. I was very happy with the way it turned out! I made this quilt for my mom for Mother's Day. I used Moda's Make Life fabric using a layer cake and a jelly roll, along with some simple white jellyroll strips. My mom loved it! She really enjoys the happy primary colors, and was impressed with my all-over quilting. :)

I did a fairly simple back using the cream floral yardage from the Make Life collection, along with leftover blocks from the layer cake. I also added a little fabric picture of my mom and I and a little Mother's Day message.

I did a simple meandering quilt design all over, and on various blocks throughout the quilt, I quilted "handprints" of people in our family. It was a fun way to add a little bit of everyone to the quilt project, and my mom loved it! :)

I loved the simple design of this quilt, and the pure joy of quilting it, then giving it away to someone I love!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, to all the Mamas out there!

I am so excited to share with you my sixth quilt of the year! I made this for my mom using Moda's Make Life fabric. I love the bright colors of it, and my mom had also shown an interest in the fabric as well, so I thought, I might as well keep it in the family! ;) My mom says she loves primary colors, probably stemming from her many years as a kindergarten teacher. :)

I did a simple design using the Make Life layer cake, jelly roll, and a basic white jelly roll. I used leftover scraps of the Make Life jelly roll for the top and bottom borders.

I also used leftover scraps of the layer cake to add to the back. I added a picture of me and my mom and a personal message on the back as well, using printable fabric sheets. Sorry, I'm not zooming in to that pic. ;)

This was my second time doing free-motion quilting, and my first time doing it over the entire quilt. I did family handprints in some of the blocks, as well as a meandering pattern all over. I have to say, it does get easier, and I'm very glad for that!

I also made some dresses for my nieces to wear to church today, so they're dressed nice for their Mama. :) Actually, I was supposed to have these for them on Easter, but I came down with a really bad cold. I used pattern M6020 from McCall's... my first time using a pattern. I was so confused! But, I made them in about a day and a half and I'm pretty happy with them. :)

I did change things up from the pattern a little bit. I used a lace trim instead of a fabric ruffle on the bottom (the lace is actually sewn onto the lining). Also, instead of hemming the top skirt, I added a white trim. I felt if I were to hem the skirt, it would be too short and show too much of the lining.

Anyways, that's what I was up to this past week! I hope you all have a lovely Mother's Day! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Quilt Number 5 Completed!

My 5th quilt of the year is finished! I plan on taking this with us on our trip to the beach. Something about this fabric made me think it belonged on a beach somewhere. I fell in love with the beautiful blues and greens, then when I added the white sashing, I loved it even more! :)

Here's the back. I like adding a little bit of the front design on the back, so I added some leftover blocks I had. Then I found this idea for rock pockets! Since I knew I was going to take this quilt to the beach, or on a picnic, I figured the rock pockets would be a great addition to help keep the quilt down in case it is windy!

This was my first time trying my hand(s) at free-motion quilting (man, were my arms sore after this!). I recently purchased a darning foot for my machine and tested it on mini quilt sandwiches before I started on the big quilt. Since this is going to be our family quilt, I wasn't worried about messing up too much. I also used the blocks as "practice blocks" so I could try different things as I was getting used to free-motion designs. Here is my version of "meandering" or stipple quilting.

I also saw this idea, and thought it would be so fun to quilt our "handprints" on our beach quilt. Again, I tried it out on another small quilt sandwich before I did it on the big quilt. It was a little more difficult, but not too bad. I cut out our traced hands on parchment paper, then pinned them to the quilt where I wanted them. I then quilted around the paper. If you accidentally sew through the paper (as I did), don't worry. It easily pulls away from the stitching since the needle perforates the paper. :) The above handprints are mine and my son's.

I tried a few different designs on different blocks. Here is a big spiral/coil. I didn't feel like using a bunch of patterns, or drawing on my quilt beforehand, since I really just wanted to get used to the feel of free-motion quilting and see what works best for me. I also did some "outline" quilting of some of the blocks with bigger prints on them.

Here's a close-up of a rock pocket. I can't wait to use this quilt at the beach! :)

Oh, and in case you're wondering why I said "quilt number 5"... It's not because I forgot how to count...

I made another doll-sized quilt in April, available in my Etsy shop.

I currently have 5 quilts in progress right now. Three quilt tops are done, one quilt is sandwiched and in the process of being quilted, and two other quilt tops are started.

I am also participating in Craft Hope Project #7, beanbags!

I'm making alphabet and number beanbags using a panel of letters and numbers, and some leftover fabric from my son's quilt. I thought these little bears were cute, and they teach words as well as letters. The beanbags will be helping to teach orphaned kids in Liberia. If you want to help out, the deadline is May 15th (fast approaching). You can find all the info needed here, or at www.crafthope.com. I also have a beanbag tutorial here.

Have a great week, everyone! :)

Quilt Number 5 Completed!