Heather's Fall Festival Quilt

Hi all, this is my post for the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amyscreativeside. Hope you like the quilt!

Megan and I had babies together (2 days apart) about 3 and a half years ago, right about the time we started quilting. Well we have since each had baby boys. She has a darling boy named Oliver, and that is who I made this quilt for. I titled this quilt:

 Oliver Fields

I went with this color combination because Megan had totally played the brown and blue with her first baby. Our Mom made a blue and green quilt for him. I ended up loving this combination, and right now it totally reminds me of the fall leaves.

 It is a mix of Modern and traditional (as many of our quilts are). I did an irish chain quilt down one side, with some giant turned under circles on the right, with some bias strips for the branches.

 Our Aunt Wendy did the quilting. She always does beautiful amazing work! I love the medallion in the center of the circles.

 And just check out how darling her little Oliver is. Way cuter than this quilt!

Starting NOW for 1 week only we are having a fall sale on all our patterns.
Click on the image to head to our shop!

After you make your purchase, just leave in the message to seller letting us know which pattern you would like for free! Easy Peasy. Two for the price of one. 

Oliver Fields is in the final stages of editing and being printed. We are selling pre-orders for this pattern currently.

Just click here to our etsy shop and do some shopping!

Hope you liked my entry, I can't wait to click through all the links of the festival and be super inspired!

PS Don't forget to check out my sister Megan's quilt finish!

FABRIC giveaway!

It's that time again!  Our fabulous sponsor Ladybug Quilt Shop has another great fabric giveaway just for our readers.  One thing I look for in online fabric shops is fat quarter bundles ready to go...easy peasy quilt top!  Here are a couple of my favorite bundles in Sara's shop right now:

Breakfast at Tiffanys

by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda

 Wild Thyme

by Carolyn Gavin

Aren't they cute??

Also Sara has just started a blog, Sew Ladybug Sew, so make sure to check her out and give her a big welcome to blogland! :)

 Here's what's up for grabs

Melodies

by Exclusively Quilters

That's right, one lucky winner gets to pick their favorite bundle of 8 fat quarters!!

How to enter:

1 entry: comment and tell us the bundle you would choose (mint, pink, blue, tan)

1 entry: follow us and comment that you did so

1 entry: become a follower of Sew Ladybug Sew and comment that you did (here)

1 entry: check out Ladybug Quilt Shop and tell us your favorite thing

There you go, 4 chances to enter and 4 chances to win.

Winner will be announced 1 week from today, Wednesday November 3rd.

Now let's shop some fabric! :)

Fabric Tuesday!

FABRIC TUESDAY
edition #10

Thanks everyone for particpating in Fabric Tuesday, we absolutely love hosting!  Please continue to comment and encourage each other :)

And check out Treasure Bay Fabrics and Fabric Shoppe two of the newest sponsors on this blog and Fresh Poppy Design.  Much more on them later, but I wanted you to go check them out first!

Here are some of the favorites from last week:

Cecily from Craftopotamus

go read where the fabric for the quilt is from

Tricia from Leafy Treetop Spot

Q from JAQs studio

Robin from All Things Heart and Home

And now FABRIC TUESDAY

Link up a recent craft project that uses fabric

Mention us in your post with either a link or make it easy and add the button to your blog sidebar and you won't have to remember each week. ***You can take either of our buttons on the sidebar.***

You don't have to do this to link up, promise. However if you want to follow us, we follow back :) But please comment telling us you did so and we will hop right on over and make sure we're following too!

And how about we each take time to comment on the link just before yours, that's easy enough right? We'd love for this to be a linky party where everyone gets comments, so if you take the time to look, take a second to leave a comment!

Can't wait to see what you've been up to!

A Princess and her quilt

Rebecca from Chasing Cottons has a truly sweet and darling quilt to share with us today.  I adore it, and one day when I get a baby girl she's gonna have one too! :)  This quilt is a darling pattern and she uses equally darling fabric to create it.  She also sells this pattern among a few others in her shop. Make sure to check out her blog, it's creative and a fun read!  Here's Rebecca:

When i first saw the Heather Ross FFA2, 20 Fat Quarter Bundle all packaged so nice I fell in LOVE!! I eagerly and very regularly stalked the quilting stores waiting for it to become available...and was so pleased when i had mine arrive in the mail. This fabric bundle was even the inspiration and boost i needed for my VERY first blog post!!

Now what to do with it??.... My little girl Indi is just like most other little 3 year old girls....Shes in LOVE with Fairy tales, Princesses and Pink! So this Far Far Away fabric range was perfect for her..Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, the Owl and the Pussycat.....

It took me a little while trying to decide what design to use..I searched online pictures, designs, patterns from stores and just couldn't find anything just right.

My Idea came to me in the shower actually...(Aren't all good ideas thought of in the shower??)...I had a little girls Princess towel hanging over the side, with an embroidered Castle on it....mmmm.....Castles it is!

 

 

I got out my graph book, freezer paper, and old material and started designing up a simple Castle block. It took a couple times to get it just right..with a little help from my Architect Hubby and his knowledge of buildings...Castles, Turrets and Battlements. This Quilt Uses 18 Fat Quarters... and consists of 12 Castle blocks....

I usually quilt all my own quilts...but this one I had professionally Quilted. It is covered in swirly Hearts and is perfect for the style and theme of this quilt. One of my lovely Stockists made this quilt up in Blues and Greys for a boys version of this Quilt...she made it more into a Knights and Castles Quilt.

For the backing fabric I chose to go ALL PINK and use the Pink Rose Fabric from this range...and with help from my mum...named my Quilt 'Sand Castles'.

I had a huge boost of encouragement from family and friends to make this quilt into a Pattern and i am so glad i did. It has been so popular and I would have to say that it is 'The Quilt' that put my blog on the Map.

My little Indi is in LOVE. This Quilt was made for her bed... and she sleeps each night dreaming of her Prince.... (her daddy).

Jamie Elaine Quilt...wedding quilt...

Jamie Blackstone has a great website,  Jamie Elaine Quilts' goal is to create one-of-a-kind quilts that will be passed down from generation to generation. She feature both original and traditional patchwork quilts in pieced and applique designs. All quilts are handmade, handcut, machine pieced or appliqued and then machine quilted. Bindings are all sewn by hand, adding another touch of love to your quilt.  Go check our her website if you are interested in her services. This is one she made for her own wedding earlier this  year...           

As soon as I got engaged I knew I wanted to do something special for my fiance, Matt. Something that would express what he meant to me and what our wedding meant for me. We had experienced so much together before the wedding and I wanted to bring that all with us on our wedding day.  I decided to make a quilted wedding canopy, or Chuppah, which hangs over your heads when you marry and represents your first home together.  I sketched and sketched away, trying to combine the hundreds of ideas I had into one quilt.

After a LOT of eliminating and swapping at the fabric store, I decided on about 20 fabrics and had no plan as to which parts of the quilt the fabrics would be used.  I also picked a few specialty fabrics that I felt represented different parts of our lives (monkeys: the town we visited in Thailand; sombreros: the summer we spent in Mexico; the alphabet: we are both teachers & my husband is an author; Manhattan subway map: the city where we fell in love).  I also used fabric from the shirts we wore on our first date and the peach Fabric is the shirt I was wearing when he proposed.  I spent the next 8 months working on this quilt.  I rearranged the quilt top’s layout just about everyday.  There were so many parts that it was like fitting together a giant puzzle.

 I knew that I wanted to incorporate the traditional wedding ring pattern into an otherwise very crazy quilt.  I was able border the quilt top with it, and also use a few squares on the back of the quilt.  My mini NYC apartment forced my to do all my sewing at the kitchen table.  Everything needed to be cleaned up after each sewing session.  The hardest part was keeping the quilt a secret from Matt, as he lived a few blocks away and would stop by unexpectedly.  All evidence had to be hidden away everyday.  

About a month before our wedding, I brought Matt to the spot where he proposed, had him sit on a bench with his eyes closed, and I spread the quilt out in front of him.  Having the quilt hanging over us at our wedding meant the world to me.  It really personalized those amazingly important moments for us.  It is so special to know we had the people we love standing below the quilt with us  The quilt will always serve as a reminder for me: the love that I felt for Matt as I labored for hours over my sewing machine; the surreal moments of our ceremony; the idea that wherever life takes us, we will always have our “first home” with us.
 

Thanks Jamie for sharing your special quilt with us!

Also for those of you that commented on Sara's Polka Dot Quilt she announced a winner on SewSara today.  You better go see if it's you if you want some cute fabric in the mail!!

 

Heather's halloween runner...

Morning all. 

Today's quiltstory post is by Me (Heather)

This is a story about a runner and a sister who threw the other sister under the bus.

And publicly called her a thief.  

This is a story of Heather and Megan.

If you read this post on Fresh Poppy last week. You will see that Megan accused me of taking more than my fair share of fabric. See my runner is smaller than she thought from my tiny text message photo.

Then she thought she saw piles of left over fabrics in the little corner of my text message photo.

She was sadly mistaken.

Our Mother was so offended by Megan's post. She wanted me to get mad at her. But I defended Megan (I have been known to be the nicer sister) And I told my Mom she must have been kidding. 

But my Mother kept saying how mean spirited it was. And I agree with my Mom.

We are not really in a fight. I have since forgiven Megan. We clearly have some issues to work on.

This is my version of the runner. While I had thoughts of appliquéd ghosts and goblins in my head.  I was afraid if I just didn't get it finished it wouldn't be done in time for this Halloween, and by the time next Halloween came around, I would be in love with a new line. 

So simple it is, but it makes my kids really happy.  That makes it worth it.

FABRIC TUESDAY #9 Come party with us!

FABRIC TUESDAY #9

My fabric project this week is finally finishing up my baby's nursery. Click over and check it out at Fresh Poppy Design... tons more photos there!

Thanks for all who have been joining us. This has been really fun for us!  Thanks for commenting on each other's projects. 

We have picked just a few cute projects from lasts week link up...

 Jennifer from That girl That quilt...a modern quilt...

 Elizabeth from Don't call me Betsy made a super cute Mug Rug...

 Cara from Me? a Mom? worked up this quilt....

Sew Many Mama's created this quilt peek-a-boo...cute idea!

Thank you everyone for linking up last week.

I apologize to those featured as I didn't have the time to let you know before hand!  If you do not have a Featured on QuiltStory button please email us and we'll get it to you! 

myquiltstory{at}gmail{dot}com

And now FABRIC TUESDAY

Link up a recent craft project that uses fabric.

New thing make sure to link to your blog post, NOT your blog.
To do this click on the title of your post and then use that url when linking up.

Mention us in your post with either a link or make it easy and add the button to your blog sidebar and you won't have to remember each week. ***You can take either of our buttons on the sidebar.***

Please make sure to link back, we don't want to delete links, so please make sure to link back!

You don't have to do this to link up, promise. However if you want to follow us, we follow back :) But please comment telling us you did so and we will hop right on over and make sure we're following too!

And how about we each take time to comment on the link just before yours, that's easy enough right? We'd love for this to be a linky party where everyone gets comments, so if you take the time to look, take a second to leave a comment!

Love to see what we've got this week!  You fabric lovers are the best!

Rockets and Robots, Oh My!!!!

Elizabeth from Don't call me Betsy made this darling quilt and room for her little guy.  These are my favorite quilts, quilts for the little people in our life.  I love her adventures of making this darling quilt and super fun little boys room. Her blog is pretty new, so go on over and give her a good welcome...

Once upon a time...there was a little boy who was unusually tall for his age. And his parents talked in passing about moving him into a twin bed, with him quickly outgrowing his toddler bed, and suddenly, lists were being made. Shopping trips planned. My husband and I are pretty project oriented, so when we decided to move our son Ryan into a big boy bed, it was full steam ahead for both of us. Ryan's really big on rockets and astronauts, so I thought outer space would make a great theme for the new room. And then, I remembered the box of clearance fabric in my closet. Oh, Fabric.com, your blowout sales are so killer sometimes! I snapped up the whole Robots collection by David Walker for $3/yd earlier this year, not really knowing what I would do with it, just that it was adorable, and I that it would make my munchkin smile. I knew it was the perfect place to start for a twin-sized quilt to go with this new big boy bed.

Rockets and Robots Oh My! quilt front At first, I wanted to make another mixtape quilt, but then, I decided for the sake of continuity for my son, I would use the same pattern I used for his baby quilt, the Zoology quilt. I adapted Elizabeth Hartman's Simple Modern Baby Quilt pattern to fit a twin size bed, causing a big headache for me, thanks to all the math, but leading to a really adorable quilt finish. The fully randomly pieced back I threw in several other fabrics, after visiting some local quilt stores, including some Moda marble dots and some Heather Bailey. I worked on the quilt slowly, while also working on all of the other facets of the room - painting, adding wallpaper decals, shopping for the furniture, and so forth. Every time Ryan would see me working with the fabrics, he'd ask what I was doing, and I would say I was working on his special treat. He was quite patient for a toddler!

An attempt at being arty... When we finally declared the room complete, he was more than excited. He was positively ecstatic. He ran around, looking from piece to piece in his room, from the artwork on the walls that his father and I painted to the wallpaper die cuts to the quilt and so on. The room has become his little sanctuary and he just loves it. I love that my living room is no longer decorated in the primary colors of his toys! He even snuggles on the couch to watch TV with the quilt sometimes. So sweet! Even now, six weeks after he's been in the "big boy room," he still shows it off to everyone who visits, and tells everyone about his "special treat" quilt. I love how much he loves this quilt, it just makes me smile to see him with it. It's the first quilt I've ever hand-sewn the binding on with, as I normally machine everything since I am completely unskilled in hand sewing. It was tedious, hard work, but it sure does look awesome.

What's YOUR story?

**Please visit our revised submissions tab for full SIMPLE details**

We've realized that our submissions page has intimidated a lot of people and maybe turned some away from submitting a quilt!  And we say boo to that :)  We are so excited and interested in featuring many many quilts on this site, and we need your help!

What to submit? A quilt!  It can be any size, theme, colors, etc.  We want modern quilts to traditional using all kinds of fabrics.  They can be simple or ornate. 

Who to submit to? Heather and Megan, sisters who run this little bloggy and Fresh Poppy Design.  E-mail us at myquiltstory{at}gmail{dot}com.  Or to be really simple, click on that monster green circle button on our sidebar that says "contact us".

How do I submit? Email us a link to a post on your blog OR send us a little write-up and pictures.  Don't have a blog?  No problem.  You can just email us the pictures and a story.

Why should I submit?  Let's just be honest, we all love recognition for things we've created with our own two hands!  Secondly, it's a great way to promote your own blog or shop and gain more followers.

What's in a story?  Of course some quilts have amazing stories.  Sad and inspirational stories, quilts made for babies and friends, quilts made to represent something.  However those aren't the only stories we feature!  We choose fabrics for a reason, we choose which pattern or design for a reason, we choose why we're making it for a reason.  Those are all things we as quilters are interested in reading!

Get great photos! The number one thing we look for is good photos.  Even if you don't have a great camera, take your quilt outside and get some great shots...avoid direct sunlight and use nature to show it off. 

How do I get featured?  We realize that there are quilters with all kinds of taste and personalities, so we love to keep this blog diverse and show all kinds inspiration.  We are not too picky, promise :)

What do we ask? All we ask in return for featuring your quilt and site is that you mention us.  We LOVE to see our buttons on your sidebar and we LOVE to see posts that you link to us.  We appreciate you taking the time to help us get our blog out there too!

Thank you!  We just want to say a thank you to all those who have submitted and will submit.  We appreciate the support you give this blog by reading, following, using our buttons and participating in Fabric Tuesday!  We've been so excited to watch it grow and shape into a blog that we think is resourceful and inspiring!  Thank you.

Boring? Wouldn't this be a really boring post if there wasn't a picture of a quilt?  I agree.

Here is a darling quilt that my mom made for my little boy Sawyer 3 years ago.  She let me choose the fabrics and she put it all together.

I really really love this backing.

We even added his sweet little hand print. I believe he was 6 months old.

I also love this blue striped border...it's perfect!  It is only 1 inch wide too, eek!

My mommy has made both of my boys quilts at their birth.  They are so sweet and I know will be treasured forever, by at least me.  After all they are boys.

To sum up, and solidify this as the longest. post. ever.

....make sure to check out Fresh Poppy Design today.  I posted my Halloween runner that I made from this stash!

Let's see some submissions :)