Rainbow Wave Quilt from Busy Hands Quilts

I love color, bright colors, and thus I do love rainbow! Our feature today of Mrs. Hearts from Busy Hands Quilts is so happy and bright!! A darling quilt for her daughters joyful room! :)  I think I even have enough solids to make my own...hmmm.  Make sure to check out Busy Hands Quilts...she truly is busy!! Almost every post is a finish! My daughter's newly decorated room.  Don't you love the walls?!?  The other two walls are blue, which I may show you on another day.  That half of the room is ... not ... clean!!!  I had originally planned to make a Rainbow Plus Quilt on the top bunk {remember the 60 solids I purchased?}, but when Millie and I found this set at Kohl's for uber cheap, we couldn't pass it up.  It matches perfectly! The bottom quilt is a full-size Wave quilt with 18 different solids, made by yours truly.
It is LOVE ... or what!?!
It turned out truly AMAZING! The backing is a Riley Blake chevron in apple green and white, and oh, my, this fabric was a charm to work with!  WAY nicer than lesser quality flannels from other sources.  I washed and dried it once before assembling the quilt since flannel shrinks more than regular cotton fabrics and will shrink again when washed a second time.  The quilt top and binding were not preshrunk.
Here is a close-up of the candy binding.  YUM!  I quilted across the quilt twice in the colored areas, varying the height of the "swoops" as the wave progressed; and the white has tiny up/down swoops in it which you can't see.
Can you see where the two chevron fabric pieces were joined?  It's pretty hard to find it!  This high-quality flannel from Riley Blake was printed so perfectly on excellent fabric that the points met amazingly well.  I pinned the two pieces together at every zig zag and had no problems whatsoever.
Quilt Stats:

• Pattern:  New Wave by Oh, Fransson!, free
• Size:  75" x 85", full bed size
• Quilt Top Fabric:  18 Kona solids with white
• Batting:  100% cotton, thin
• Backing:  Riley Blake Chevron in flannel
• Binding:  Sweet Treats, double fold with 45-degree mitered corners, attached by machine
• Quilting:  Varying sized "swoops" within the colored waves and small swoops in the white
• Value:  Truly uplifting!

I am taking custom orders for Rainbow Wave Quilts in any size in my Etsy shop! Busy Hands Quilts

Sampler Chain Quilt Finish and Fab Tues!

I did it!!  My Block of the Month quilt is entirely finished.  And it makes me really really happy :)  It all started with this lovely stack of Backyard Baby fabrics:

And here it is, quilted, bound and ready to be snuggled with.

Our series was for a year, a block each month with a theme right?  Ie star, hst, pinwheel, etc..  I decided that I wanted to make my quilt a twin, so in the end I doubled the amount of squares and did 12 nine patches to make it a Chain Sampler quilt.  Each square is 15" finished.  It is 68" x 90". 

 

My aunt did the quilting, this was too big for me and not even the time to consider it on my limited machine!  She did wavy lines to show the chains better, stippling throughout the blocks and then each sampler block she did some great custom quilting.  On all of the blocks with trees she'd follow the shape of the tree.  I love how she did it!

I backed it with gray minky and the orange print seemed perfect for the binding.  I actually almost wish I'd used orange in each block, or used it more.

There you have it!  Soon one of my boys will have this on their new extra big boy beds.  Now I'm going to lay under it and watch New Girl. I'm done for the night :)

Heather will be sharing her Block of the Month quilt finish tomorrow so check back!!

Fabric Tuesday!

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25-patch and More Quilt from Julie's Quilts

Every quilt has a story...thus why we created Quilt Story! :)  But some have more than others, this quilt is the perfect combination for me!  Sweet simple story entirely incorporated into the quilt.  Sorry you'll have to read to find out.  This quilt was made by Julie from Julie's Quilts...stop by and see some great quilt and block inspiration, and check out this sweet story of another quilt she made for another child in need.  Go Julie!!

Back in 2010 while I was pregnant with N, my cousin was also pregnant with her first child.  Our babies were supposed to be about 5 months apart.  Little did we know that her daughter would be born just 2 months after N weighing in just over 2 pounds and 14 inches long.  K spent almost 3 months in the NICU before she was able to come home.  

During her stay in the NICU, her parents decorated her incubator with receiving blankets.  Just after her first birthday, her mom asked me to make a quilt out of the receiving blankets.  The large squares in the quilt are K's receiving blankets and the 25-patch blocks are made with Twirl by Me and My Sister Designs.  I quilted with white thread in a meandering pattern.  The quilt is all washed up and snuggly and will be delivered to K next week.  I can't wait to see photos of this happy, healthy, almost 2-year old with her new quilt!!

The quilt is twin sized or a double coverlet.

Quilt for a princess from Stitched in Color

Did anyone watch the much anticipated wedding??  I recorded it.  Heather is probably dragging her feet somewhere right now...silly girl spent the night at my parents, ate Shepherd's Pie (what "commoners" would eat to celebrate) and got up early to watch the wedding with my dad.  Really I'm jealous and wished I lived near them so I could join too!!  Our daddy is from England so it's fun to get to do these things from time to time.


Rachel from Stitched in Color needs no introduction to must of us!  Her blog is inspiring and a really fun read.  Just check out this latest post where I spent probably AN HOUR reading others comments!!! I can hardly see my computer screen my eyes are fried.  I can't wait to feel free again (ie when Market is over) and can try out her Bottled Rainbow quilt-a-long.  In keeping with a royal theme, here is a quilt she made for her princess:


This picture (finally) brought to you by the inspiration of Quiltstory!

I can't believe I never got my act together and took a finished picture of this quilt!  When Heather and Megan of Quiltstory asked to feature Fairytale Patchwork, it was the push I needed to get it done.  So, welcome to Aria's room!

Do any of you remember this quilt?  I made it last summer for my daughter, inspired by my wildflower curtains (there in the background) and Heather Ross' simply stunning Far Far Away collection (FFA1 on double cotton gauze).  The Far Far Away unicorns had my heart on first glance, and Aria was starry eyed over the Princess and the Pea!



Combined with Anna Maria Horner Little Folks Voile and a few Good Folks, this stack of fabrics was sooo invitingly plush and silky.  Fabric heaven!  Still, I was a little nervous to cut into them, being so pricey and all, which is why I did a mock up of my quilt layout like this: 



The quilt design was inspired by Lauren's quilt for her daughter, Mira.  I added the occasional pieced block, to accommodate the tall pattern repeat of those picky princesses.  



And sashed the whole thing in natural linen (rather than white or pink), in hopes that the linen would temper the uber-girlishness of these fabrics.  Because, ya know, I'm hoping Aria will love this look for years to come!

Piecing this quilt top was a breeze, even with a near-shocking interruption, thanks to the large cuts and simple design.  And, I'm still such a fan of that approach!  Large cuts really allow my eyes to appreciate the fabrics. Simple is beautiful.  Simple is fast. Simple is fun.  Yeah for simple!!!

Fairytale Snapshots from atop my Dogwood Tree!

And then this new quilter was faced with the problem of quilting and binding this pretty young thing.  Gulp.  First off, I decided to skip binding.  This quilt already had a linen edge border and I wasn't keen on hand-sewing so much binding.  I did right sides together, sew, turn right side out and close up edge.  Quick and painless.  I'd do it again!

For quilting, I tried machine quilting straight diagonal lines.  Marked them with ruler-drawn lines, marked them with masking tape - nothing worked!  It may have been my lack of experience or it may have been the slippery fabrics, but I couldn't stitch straight lines on this for the life of me.  Frustrating and sad.

Though in retrospect, it was just not meant to be. Hand-quilting was the absolutely delicious alternative!

I started work with needle and pearl cotton thread. And, oh my, how I enjoyed hand quilting Aria's Fairytale Patchwork quilt!  The entire process was so relaxing and satisfying, especially experimenting with different quilting patterns.  Here are a few more.

This pattern, quilted diamonds, ended up being my favorite style for quilting on the Princess and the Pea blocks.  It looks especially nice on this Diamond Mine (from Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks collection) block, which actually inspired the quilting pattern.

Here's another fun one.  I only used this star pattern on a few unicorn blocks, as I came to the idea a bit late in the game.  I like how it works with the layout of the print!

And, a simple pattern.  It creates a clean-lined, understated effect that works on almost any block.

I've been asked how long the hand quilting takes.  Let me start by saying that 95% of the time, I was stitching while watching a show with my husband.  So, given frequent breaks to watch the screen and an overall level of comfortable distraction, each block took me about 45 minutes to complete.  I would begin a block by marking my stitch lines with a chaco pen, and then carefully centering the block in my quilting frame.   On the few occasions that I stitched sans TV, the work came along much faster.

All too soon, I had completed all 26 blocks.   The overall effect is fairly random, since I varied the quilting patterns enough so that no 2 touching blocks share the same pattern.  I reasoned that this sparse quilting pattern was "enough" since I had used a repurposed blanket for batting, which wasn't going to fall apart or bunch up within the quilt.  



But I'm not perfect, and it wasn't enough.  If you were reading Stitched in Color in December, you may remember my confession post, Sew Imperfect.   Here's what happened...



Weak Seams.  I had to wash Aria's Fairytale Patchwork Quilt recently for the 3rd or so time.  One of the children found a hole in the quilt top along the seam soon thereafter.  When I went to repair it, I noticed that several (and one was too many) of the seams were coming open.  Only the Far Far Away gauze and Little Folks voile were effected.  The sturdier quilting cotton seams showed no wear.  It's not as if the stitches actually came undone.  Instead the fabric frayed away.  What did I do wrong?  I wonder if a 1/4" seam allowance was not generous enough or if the fact that I only sparingly hand-quilted it just didn't give it enough strength to withstand normal pulling.  Ugh.  So, my solution was to zigzag quilt around most of the gauze and voile squares to close up opening seams and reinforce the others.  I'll confess, that was not a happy sewing morning.

Your kind comments on that post included so many suggestions for working with delicate fabrics like voile, including using interfacing and a wider seam allowance.  If I were to do it again, I might go that route, but I'm more likely to just avoid quilting with voile in the future.  Not that I think it's unwise or impossible, just that I'd rather save voile for projects that capitalize on it's lovely, drapey, silky properties such as clothes-making or a simple flannel-backed baby blanket a la Anna Maria Horner.  

Since the December incident, Fairytale Patchwork has held up beautifully and it's been enjoyed everyday.  I made Aria a matching pillowcase too!  It's such a privilege to be able to make these beautiful things for my daughter and so rewarding to express my love and creativity in this kind of tangible, practical way. 

I bet you know exactly what I mean!



Thank-you, Quiltstory, for prompting me to share my journey with this project! 

Absolutely a little girls quilt

We've got a really sweet and gorgeous quilt to share today from Kerry of verykerryberry.  She made this oh so darling quilt for her sweet little girl, and although she and the quilt have had some ups and downs I've only had a love love LOVE relationship with it!  Make sure to see her at verykerryberry for inspirational projects, as well as some great tutorials!

Love hate love hate love love love ♥ ♥ ♥

 - is how my relationship with this quilt has been-finally finished, hurrah!  And I admit to being very pleased with it, although not as pleased as Lula is which the best thing as it is for her.  She refused to let me drape it artfully over a snowy fence, that can wait for another time, so bedroom pics for the moment.  

The germ of this quilt started last year when Manda McGregory included a little Urban Chiks Swell Moda charm pack baby quilt in an early edition of Sewhip, and I bought the charm packs and a jelly roll from USA after searching for them feverishly online.  I mixed with a little Cath Kidston, Katie Jump Rope, Old Laura Ashley fabrics (the Cath Kidston figure of  1970s and 1980s), vintage prints and the placement of large applique motifs inspired by this quilt (Material Obsession)

Lula chose her favourite themes- ice cream, cup cake etc and I made these the feature blocks.  She helped me layout the charm squares to avoid repetition.  The quilt was made in six sections, each is quilted and then joined to the next section with narrow strips- quilt-as-you-go style.  This Happy Zombie tutorial shows the technique but I machined instead of hand sewing when finishing the back strips.  The binding- attaching this was driving me nuts this morning, it took forever- is pieced red and pink strips from the jelly roll.  I useRita- Red Pepper Quilts machine binding method but I start attaching on the back and so my final line of stitching on the front.

You can see her pillow case and a bit of wall paper- both Cath Kidston, that the same print is repeated in the quilt here and there.

Each time I embark on a quilt I forget how long it takes me to finish one, I refilled the bobbin four times this morning.

Quick view of the back- not too exciting, all old Laura Ashley prints, the largest part form an enormous circular table cloth I picked up at the boot sale.  

A little stamped label.  I asked if she would prefer 'Mum' or 'Mummy'- you can see her choice x

 I made 4 quilts this year, it seems paltry compared to some amazing mosaics I've seen recently but I made a whole load of smaller stuff and each quilt is a labour of love and a labour of plain old hard work.

1. D quilt, 2. Quilt for Lula, 3. I have heard the mermaids... baby quilt, 4. Moda Nest Quilt

I love making clothes and small stuff but the quilting is intensely rewarding, especially when finished!   My next biggish project- a baby quilt for a friend- baby due Feb.

Raggedy Owl's quilt for Weston

First let me just say THANK YOU!  You all have been so sweet to me with your birthday wishes and honestly I appreciate each and every one.  It is so touching to see all those comments from people who I've never met in real life.  And I did have a great birthday and topped it off with a weekend craft getaway!!

Remember that Megan's give away of part of her stash to one of our followers runs through this Friday.  Check out this post for more details and to see the fabric!

Okay and now today's feature is Angela from Raggedy Owl.  She's got a really cute site, so fun to browse through.  I especially love these Christmas pillows she just finished.  Well I found this quilt being featured today through her flickr  account and asked her to please share!  I especially {heart} the backing!

This is Weston's quilt. He really wanted bright colors and triangles, so this is what we came up with.

This quilt is full of American Jane (Happy Campers, Wee Play, Recess) and Katie Jump Rope, with a little bit of Amy Butler and Lush thrown in. The backing is from an Ikea duvet cover, and the binding is Lush woodgrain.

It is slightly narrower than a typical twin sized quilt. I made it that way so that it would comfortably fit the boys' bunkbeds without hanging over the edges too much.

And Weston really loves it. :)

And look, she made matching ones for the brothers!!!  How cute is that photo?



Thanks Angela!  Psst Megan posted some of her Christmas decor on Fresh Poppy Design, check it out! :)