A pillow for my little guys room...

Heather here. Just wanted to share a quick finish with you all. I did another quilt as you go pillow for my little mans room. I started with a hexagon goldfish and did the quilt-as-you-go method around and around. Adding bits and pieces of my favorite fabrics...

After I trimmed it, I ended up with this. The back is just a simple envelope closure, and a blue binding all around...

My little guy had a fun time finding all sorts of fun things in each print. I am suprised how much he loves these pillows. He sleeps on them, not his real pillow each night. But that is fine by me. It is nice that he actually cares. 

WIP's Heather Ross flying geese stars...and a dilemma...

Hi friends! Spring is here and it sure has helped my mood!

I found these in my UFO closet. It is getting a bit embarrassing in there. I need to spend a few months just finishing up all my unfinished projects. You? 

Several months ago I was lucky enough to come upon some Heather Ross charm squares on Instagram. I got such a great variety. Then I added in my stash, and I started creating stars. 

I love each and every one of these blocks.




Problem is, I used a tutorial online, and I tweaked the numbers a bit. Enough that I don't think I can figure it out again. It was for creating some flying geese but I liked the extra space it gave on the points. I am not good enough at math and triangles to try to figure out what I did, and I can't find the tutorial with my new numbers again.


What would you do? How can I solve this dilemma? Any ideas?


This is one of my favorites. Because I had two Dalmations growing up. Penny and Trixie. And I have 2 beagles now, Scamp and Duchess.



Another dilemma, if I do figure out the measurements, do you think I can have any duplicate middle prints? I am obviously trying to make this colorful and scrappy, so do you think I can have any matching centers (even if the rest doesn't match?)


Thanks for always coming and supporting our blog and posts. Megan and I LOVE what we do, and we couldn't keep doing it without you guys!  Thank you!

Linking up to Kim's Fun Sewjo Saturday Party!!

Manly Unicorn In a Bed of Flowers Quilt finish...

Today is my (Heather) day for a Quilt Story. This is the story of the Manly Unicorn Quilt. It all started about a month ago. I was browsing my Instagram feed and came across @thesewingchick. She was at a fabric store and found a secret stash of the very sold out Heather Ross Far Far Away line. I put aside all social etiquette and graces, and begged her on Instagram to buy me some. And not just a little, a lot! (I think that pile in the back is mine!) Bless her heart, without even knowing me at all, Tessa (The Sewing Chick)  risked buying all this fabric, crossing her fingers that I pay her back $300! My husband was all nervous, "you are paypal-ing a stranger $300, hoping she will actually send you this fabric?" I said, "yes, of course! what could go wrong?"  I wasn't nervous a bit! A week later a lovely package showed up at my door!

THANK YOU TESSA YOU ARE A WONDERFUL AND SUPER TALENTED FRIEND!

image borrowed from The Sewing Chick

Once I opened the package, Weston, my four year old son, went nuts! He was saying "ahhh" and "I like it!" and looked through it all with me with sincere excitement. (why is he my favorite you ask?) He grabbed onto the blue unicorn and took it straight to the sewing machind (not lying) and said "make me a quilt!"

The next day out of the blue in the carpool line he said "I love your new fabric Mommy." Melted my heart. He asked me a few more times to make him a quilt. What was I to do? I started immediately. 

But there was a bit of a problem, his favorite print was a Unicorn laying on a bed of flowers! (I think all he saw was a horse, his favorite animal)  So I went through my stash and used mostly Sarah Jane's Children at Play boy line. Perfect!

He pushed the petal for the majority of the quilt top construction! I would just tell him to start and stop.  He kept thinking it was finished several times along the way. I had to explain to him basting, backing, quilting, binding. It required a lot of patience on his part! But he was good. 

I decided to practice my free motion quilting skills along the way. I did a different stitch in each border segment. 

Do you think he is pleased?

I had a lot of fun making it, knowing if was going to this darling boy who begged for it!

When I wrapped him up in it he told me it was "snug and toasty" Should I rent him out? He is the best! Love my little Moose Man. 

I finally have something to share! Heather Ross star quilt blocks....

Winner of 1 Choice 4 Quilting layer cake:

 Jenny Larking said...

In from the cold is my first favourite and basic grey is second. 

August 29, 2013 at 12:03 PM

I feel like my posts (Heather) have been slacking a bit around here. Summer was a bit nuts and I didn't get to sew much, therefore I didn't offer that much in way of posts. If you follow me on Instagram (Quiltstory) Megan is (Quiltstorymeg) you can see more of the day to day of my creations. But I do have a few blocks to show off...

 I like this block. Megan and I had Dalmatians growing up. Cookie, Penny and Trixie. And I have 2 beagles. So I like the beagle butt in the corner :)

I have more than I remembered done, but have a few I want to get to. I am using all Heather Ross charms. I was able to buy a Heather Ross charm pack from a friend on Instagram. It was a nice sampling of a lot of her fabrics. 

Who doesn't love the gnomes. Right?

Hope you like!

A Princess Quilt from OCD

Our feature today is from one of our favorite quilters in blogland, Kristie from ocd: obsessive crafting disorder.  She's awesome.  And we love her projects.  Today's is no exception, a princess quilt for her princess.  It's hard to go wrong with Heather Ross fabrics too!  Kristie has a great design for design, layout, colors, ya know.  For some eye candy check out her finishes and tutorials/patterns.

It's been 2 years since I bought my Far Far Away 2 fabrics.

And one year since I promised a birthday quilt for The Middle Child.

And 6 months since I started the quilt.

Anyways, it came one year plus a couple weeks after the birthday deadline, but all was forgiven when I presented her with her own very Mama-made special quilt :) My girl is now SEVEN, and full of fairy tales and fashion and make believe and creativity and helpfulness and caring and so many wonderful attributes. I lucked out getting this kid, I tell you, she is so much more than the sum of the best bits of her dad and me. Love her to pieces.
I finished the quilt while away at the cabin, and spread it out on the grass and had her sister lead her over with closed eyes for the unveiling. Big grins from ear to ear!

She spent time studying all the blocks and declared the owl running away with the underwear as a favorite, along with Rapunzel.
For the top, I used Kate's Fussy Cut Fairytales pattern, which I modified to make twin size. It is a great compliment to these fabrics, and I adore the distinctive floating border! On the back I used some leftover pieces and pieced them together with blocks of pink and green solid.

I quilted with an overall stipple. Man, it was a heavy quilt to move around given all that linen content in the Heather Ross prints! The quilt was hand bound in a Kona solid. Don't ask me to remember which one. It made a nice and cheery frame!

She loves it. I love it. I really do think it is my favorite quilt to date. And it looks fantastic on her bed. Just need to make a matching sham or two! And the sweetest part was, that night as she tucked her in snugly under her new quilt, she said, "The thing I like best about my quilt is that you made it for me, Mom!". A true princess.

2 Quilts for 2 Girls from a quilt is nice

Super sweet quilts and sweet stories from Nettie of a quilt is nice.  Nettie is a stay at home mommy of three cuties and has been quilting for 10 years.  She has a finished quilts list that most quilters (especially me!) would be covetous of!! :)  Hard to pick a favorite but this crazy geese quilt is definitely at the top!  Also see Nettie's tutorials for some great quilting tips too!  Thanks Nette!

 

My oldest daughter is 7 years old, and just before she was born I made her this baby quilt.  She LOVED that thing (still does).  It went everywhere with us, church, grocery store, airplanes, bed.  It was her number one comfort item.  Over the years it has suffered from wear, and eventually she didn't "need" it as much.  But it was still always in bed with her. 

Fast forward 5 or so years and my 2 year old discovered how soft and cuddly it is, and pretty much stole it from her big sister.  Luckily she just likes it for sleeping, but it has always bugged her older sister.  I haven't been super fond of it either.  It's pretty ragged, and I don't want to see it completely wear out.

One day, my 7 year old suggested I make a new one for my 2 year old.  I thought that sounded like a fair plan, so we went to work making a new one for Christmas.  At first I wanted to make it as close to exact as I could, but decided I didn't want to buy any fabric for this project, so really only the pattern is the same.

I kept warning my 7 year old that this might not work.  Her sister might not care for a new, crispy quilt.  She might just want her older sisters quilt that is broken in and soft.

But you know what, it worked.  My 2 year old loves her new quilt and was even willing to give back the old one!  Yay!

I love both of these quilts, they seem so sentimental to me.  I keep wondering if I'll have to make another version for our next baby.

Far Far Away from Izzy Inspired

Happy Monday!  I had a lovely weekend sewing, editing a pattern (BOO!) and working on an upcoming tutorial!  Phew.  We've got a feature today from Izzy Inspired, a sweet little girls quilt for her daughter's birthday.  Really cute blog, I love this sewing machine cover tutorial, I need to make myself a cute one too!!!  Check our her sweet quilt:

My baby girl is turning three next week and outside of wanting to cry all the time over this fact, I have been trying to prepare for the big day. I had been planning on replacing her  first far far away quilt that I ended up donating to quilts for kids last year (she hadn't used it yet, and I really wanted to send as many quilts as possible) but just haven't gotten around to it. 

Her birthday was the extra encouragement I needed to get it done. This time around I did something completely different and I am loving the outcome. Now, although I resisted the temptation of putting a dresden plate on the front.....I could not resist the back!!

I think this may very well  be my favorite dresden thus far!

I completely blame my dresden addiction on Aneela...her blog was one of my first to read and where I first saw a dresden plate done in modern fabrics, I have been hooked ever since.

I have to confess something to you now (my head hung in shame) I don't label any of my quilts! I know, I know, I have been lectured more times than I can remember on this fact and I agree with all the reasons to label. Sadly for me, I have a bit of an eye distraction problem. I have tried several times to label a quilt, but end up pulling it off because it distracts my eye from the pattern of the quilt....which then drives me crazy. Outside of that, I am not good at making them. I CANNOT handle seeing my own handwriting on the label (even though I know this enhances the sentiment) and I am not a very skilled embroiderer. So I just skip it and I am fine with it. Until this quilt, I think because it is a birthday gift for Izzy I felt more pressure to label it......so I finally buckled down and made my first label! I hate it.....I think it totally takes away from the simplistic beauty of the quilt back and is a total distraction from the dresden plate. As much as I wanted to rip it off (i quilted over it on purpose to make it too hard to do) I like the fact that it tells her that I love her and when it was made. When she is my age and has a daughter of her own, she will be able to tell the story of this quilt and know exactly which birthday I made it for her. So even though I cringe every time I look at it, it stays.

I quilted it with a variegated thread and just adore the way it looks on the white sashing...I couldn't resist showing a picture of it

Happy Birthday Megan!! Fabric Tuesday...

Happy Birthday to Megan!!!

Megan is turning 28 today. Baby. She is the baby in our family. The accident, no blessing surprise at the end of 7 children. She is five years off.  She is still looked at as the little girl that we must all love and protect.  I think she went to Europe 3 times with my parents, guess how many times I went with them? NONE. She got all her car/insurance/housing paid for even after she was married. Guess when I got cut off? The night I got engaged. Seriously! The next day at Christmas at least 7 times I opened a gift of some cute clothing item, and my Mother would gasp apologetically and say "oh, that is actually for Megan" I nearly cried, but my new fiancée was there and I didn't want him to think I was petty. She was and is SPOILED!

But it is not her fault, and we all love and adore her.  Okay, enough of my rant. I made this little journal for Megan's birthday. I used Steam a Seam interfacing, and did free motion quilting. I know I need practice, but check out how good the stitching is around the dog?

Anyhow, since it is Megan's birthday, I thought I would give you all a gift. I did a rough drawing here of the girl. Sorry she is a bit nerdy and the file is just a sketch, but you just need the outline for her shapes. I sent Megan the file of the nerdy girl and she busted a gut! She said I would be ruining my street cred if I let you all see her...oh well, she is good for a laugh at the very least.  The journal cover tutorial is here on bloom.

And if you wish Megan Happy Birthday in the comments and let me know which dog you want me to fussy cut for you and why; I will cut 3 dogs for 3 of you. Whoever makes me laugh or cry the most about the dog of their choice will win. I did a dalmatian for Megan because we had 3 dalmatians growing up. Cookie, Penny and Trixie. We loved them!

On to fabric Tuesday...
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