Sweetie Baby Quilt

First winners announced for First Friday Giveaway here so check it out and see if you won anything! :)

I have had some finishes lately!!! I can hear the applause around the world, so thank you, thank you :)  It feels so good to FINISH some things and not just START!!  I'm really really good at starting! :)

I have finished 4 baby quilts that were all started at different times and a few weeks ago were baby quilt tops in my cupboard.  I basted 5 quilts in 1 1/2 days, that's a miracle for me as I hate hate basting.  Quilted them all that week and binding the next.  I feel quite accomplished if you can't tell :)

I'll share one quilt everyday this week!  Hope you'll join me!  First up;

Sweetie

36" x 45"

Hello Luscious

I made this sweet little quilt with a vintage look from a Hello Luscious charm pack (5" squares).  I love love the palette of this collection, I think it is so pretty and sweet.

I decided to make some traditional quilt blocks to throw in with the squares.  I wanted to give it a little more personality.

I stitched-in-the-ditch for quilting, meaning in the seams of the quilt.  I always use a thin cotton batting, this quilt will be so sweet and crinkly when it gets washed up!  I used a soft pink print for the backing.  And raspberry herringbone for binding.  I'm adding this to my mental list of prints I like on bindings!

I love this sweet little quilt!! It is very much "me" from the prints to colors.  When it comes to babies I'm traditional in wanting super sweet and simple things.

I've decided to sell all of my quilts I'll share this week in our shop.  They're all currently listed.

Quilt Story's Shop

And I've decided to offer blog readers and instagram friends a special deal

save 10% with the code MEGSFRIEND

Thanks for stopping by!! Come tomorrow, Wed and Thurs to see the rest!!!

Beach Cabins Quilt from Chezzetcook

Such a fresh happy feature today from Adrienne of Chezzetcook Modern Quilts. I love it! Modern and oh so pretty.  Great colors, design and pretty photos!!  Chezzetcook Modern Quilts is a sewing/quilting fun blog, she has a great tutorial here on quilting as you go...a method I MUST try, it's been on the list for a while. And for some lovely quilty-eye candy see her finishes. To find our more about Adrienne and her blog name see here.  Thanks for sharing!

The eagle has landed. Beach Cabins reached it's new home in Ottawa and I have heard that her new family loves her :) So now I can share!

This quilt started with a couple of pieces of blue and red gingham that my client gave me. She wanted something "beachy" and then left me to my own devices. After adding some more reds, blues and grays to the Tilted Cabins Pattern (from From The Blue Chair), Beach Cabins was born, and if I do say so myself, I think this quilt fits the "Beachy" bill. So of course I took it to the beach for it's photo shoot. 

This project marked the first time that I used the Quilt As You Go method of quilting, so I talked about it a lot! You can read the previous posts here and here. When this baby came out of the dryer all crinkly and soft I was so happy!  

I am not going to say how long it has been since I had a finish (so embarrassing), but it is all worth it to have one like this!
Adrienne

Previous Posts related to this quilt:
Post 1
Post 2
Post 3

Modern Batman Quilt from Simply Pieced

As a momma of two boys (who are obsessed with super heroes) I absolutely LOVE this quilt.  Really, seriously.  I may be making one of these very soon.  I'm not just saying that.  Anyway, I love this quilt!!  Made by Janet of Simply Pieced I was so excited to see it linked up to Fabric Tuesday two weeks ago.  Like so many of you she does a great job documenting her quilt finishes, from 2011, 2012 and 2013.  I wish I had mine documented so well!  Make sure to stop by Simply Pieced after checking out her feature!

I hate to play favorites, but this next quilt is probably my favorite quilt that I've made so far.  Don't get me wrong, I love the other quilts.  I don't usually make something that I don't like, but this one took a piece of my heart with it when I gave it to the mom-to-be at her baby shower.  I should have asked for visitation rights, or to quilt-sit when they go out of town...I'm being ridiculous...sort of.

When I found out the mom was pregnant and having a little boy, I contacted the dad through a mutual friend on what they were doing in the nursery.  You see, the dad does all the decorating...ALL the decorating.  He's a very talented graphic designer that has an eye for fashion and color, but he's also a big kid at heart.  When it came to this baby boy's nursery, the dad knew exactly what he wanted to do and was very specific when it came to colors (robin's egg blue, stop sign red and charcoal grey) and theme (classic Batman).  I received these two attachments:



The first is one of the prints used in the room and the second is a diagram of the different batman symbols used since the character's creation.  The dad ended up using this diagram to create an art piece above the crib, which looks awesome.  The diagram was also my inspiration for the quilt.  When I think of Batman, one of the first things that comes to mind is the bat signal.  I liked the cityscape at the bottom of the diagram and wanted to use that design somehow in the quilt.  I ended up drawing up a sketch on graph paper of a simple cityscape with the bat signal in the air.  The idea of recreating the drawing as a quilt was a bit daunting, but I was determined.  

When it came to piecing the front, I decided to machine-piece the buildings separately and then applique them onto the background fabric by hand.  Before the buildings could be attached, I had to put the spotlight and bat signal in the sky.  I ended up picking the bat-signal I associated with Batman as the call-sign.  This took a lot of trial and error to get everything exactly where I wanted it.  Once the bat signal and the buildings were in place, I put windows on the buildings to help bring the buildings to life.  Mixing the red and blue for the windows helps bring in the nursery colors on top of the charcoal grey.  I machine-quilted the quilt with horizontal lines.  I knew I needed to keep the lines fairly close together to help secure the large appliqued pieces of fabric.  I hand appliqued the initial onto the back of the quilt as a finishing touch.

This quilt was so much fun to design and make.  I sincerely hope the baby boy will love his quilt as much as I do.

Sampler Quilt from Gone Stitchin'....

Hip hip hooray! We're featuring a reader who FINISHED OUR BOM SERIES!! Go Cheryll!!!  It was such a fun way to do a BOM (in my opinion, lol!).  Having just a theme each month gives so much creative liberty, every quilt is different.  Cheryll went with her husbands team colors, genius!  Be sure to check out Gone Stitchin'...in my cubbyhole for some fun and creative inspiration!  PS If you missed our BOM finishes, check out Meg's Finish and Heather's Finish.  Thanks Cheryll!! Yours look awesome!!

Thanks for being patient all these long months while I participated in  a BOM with Megan & Heather at Quilt Story blog. We all started in March last year... and finally it's time to reveal our finished quilt. My quilt was made for my hubby so he could wrap himself up this winter watching his favourite football team. Both he and I are very happy with the end result.
The lap quilt measure 68in x 46in.

A BIG THanK YoU goes out to both lovely girls at Quilt Story Blog... for their organisation and encouragement all year long!
Lets hear a HuGe...WooHoo!
Thanks GirLS...

Our Sister's Quilt Story

Most of you have heard us talk about our brother-in-law who passed away suddenly last September.  He was married to our oldest sister and they have ten children.  It has been a really really sad and hard thing.  Sadly as many of you know there are no words to describe the grief.  BUT I don't want this to be a sad post! We love this family soooo much!!  These kids are so amazing and impress me constantly.

 Here they are recently in all their gorgeousness!

Yep, count em! TEN!  Eight girls and two boys.

I had Lucy two weeks after he passed away so my mom came down to be with me.  We all coordinated and created a quilt for Amy in those couple weeks.  Heather sent some fabric she knew Amy loved, I looked through Amy's pinterest boards for pattern ideas and it just came together!

Amy loves bunnies so the border print was our jumping off point.  We also knew she loved the pink and aqua combo...thank you pinterest.

It looks square in the photo but it is longer than wide.  A good size for getting cozy. 

This is gorgeous Britty, Amy's 6th.  This girls coloring is unreal, the prettiest red hair, blue eyes and creamy skin.  But she is seriously such a sweet heart.  She has been staying with Heather for the time being while a new home is being built for Amy's family so all the extended family can be closer together.

A quilt is absolutely nothing compared to the mountain this family is going through.  But it feels nice to have something tangible to do.  It was nice to do as sisters with our mom.  This is what quilts are for right?  To comfort the people that you love...to show them that you care for them and want so much to help and make everything better.  And you can't, no one can. I hope when Amy uses this quilt she's reminded how much we care about her.  We love you sister.

Whirlygig Quilt from My Quilt Diet

Heather met Marion of My Quilt Diet at her recent quilting retreat (of which I was very jealous!!).  I know Heather had tons of fun and really liked Marion :)  They both made these darling Giant Star Quilts while there.  Today's feature is another quilt Marion finished while at the retreat.  Anyway check out My Quilt Diet, read her ABOUT ME, I love her rules of what she has to do before she can quilt, I think I need to do those too!  And check out her amazing finishes, 2012 and 2013...unreal for quilting just over a year!!  

We've been up at a BEAUTIFUL lodge in Hobble Creek Canyon all weekend at Emily Herrick's Cabin Fever Retreat.

It has been SO much fun :)

I was able to quilt and bind the Whirlygig quilt for my sister.

Whirlygigs is one of Becky Morganson's $29 Mystery Quilts over at Stitches and Sew Forth.  They have a new $29 mystery quilt kit each month ;D  Oooh la la!

....and started a receiving blanket for my new niece Hadley who has just come home from the hospital :)

Kitchen Windows Quilt from Let's Begin Sewing...

Beautiful quilt feature today of Rachel from Let's Begin Sewing... It is called Kitchen Windows a pattern from Elizabeth Hartman. She made this beauty for her mum!  Love the bright colors, so pretty!  Stop by Let's Begin Sewing... to see lots of fun quilt finishes, clothing and other fun projects!  Thanks Rachel for sharing :)

Completed one more quilt. This one is special as I made it for my mum. I really do hope she likes it. This is the biggest quilt I have made so far, completed it measures 85" x 85". I quilted it diagonally and it was difficult to maintain straight lines on a small sewing machine but somehow it worked out. This quilt has definitely made me a fan of linen fabric and I think you will see me use it a lot more often in my quilts. I used stripped binding for my quilt. This is the first time I have used stripes and it does frame the quilt quite nicely. The backing is Folksy Flannel from Anna Maria Horner. It's very good quality and gives a real snug feel to the quilt. I prewashed all my fabric for this quilt so it's got a nice fresh smell about it. Any way without further adieu..

Had to add a little hand stitched note!