Fresh Lemons Stepping Stones Quilt

Today we've got a darling and happy quilt by Faith from Fresh Lemons.  It is called Stepping Stones Quilt.  She has so many darling finished quilts, so fun to gaze into.  She even sells these in her cute Etsy shop, so make sure to check it out.  Here's her finished quilt:

Believe it or not, I finished the Stepping Stones quilt ahead of my weekend goal. I stitched on the binding last night while we were in the basement under tornado warnings. Not a horrible way to spend an evening of threatening storms.

This quilt was inspired by the “Just Sweet Enough” quilt in the book Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. The version in the book uses soft almost-solids and wider white sashing between columns. But when I saw it I was struck by it’s beauty in simplicity. It is similar to a coin quilt.

I had a pretty good variety of Anna Maria Horner’s Little Folks fabrics and thought something similar would be a great way to showcase those tiny prints. I’m not sure anyone can resist the softness of these voile fabrics. They have such a luxurious feel to them….almost like silk as I move them from the washer to the dryer. The rectangles are cut in random lengths, with a width of 2.5″. The white rectangles between them are 2″ x 2.5″. The white columns are 2.25″ wide.

The patterned strips I made ended up being too long for the width of the quilt, so I cut off the bottom and incorporated it into the back of the quilt. I added large sections of voile on either side. It is beyond soft, the perfect cuddle blanket.

It is quilted free motion with Dream Cotton Request Loft batting, leaving it completely lightweight and crinkly. It measures 36″ x 54″ and is available in my Etsy shop.

Thanks Faith!!

Daydreams, Teeny tiny quilts...

If you are at all emotional right come back and read later. This one is really hard for me to post. I have never lost a child. I don't know anything close to that pain. But I do know the love I have for each of my children and just the thought of losing one of them is too much. This is such a sweet and special quilt from Liz of teeny tiny quilts. Liz, I don't know you at all, but the fact that you would take the time to make up this quilt for a little 2 year old you never knew, I just know you are a wonderful person. Thank goodness for people like you!

DAYDREAMS

This quilt is for a little girl named Willa, a girl not much younger than my own nearly-three-year-olds. I don’t actually know her. She lives in Pennsylvania, and her mother is a friend of a friend. This friend of mine pointed me to Willa’s mom’s blog. I read it and I cried and cried and cried. Willa is dying.

In addition to being born with a rare and serious medical condition, they then discovered a tumor. Cancer. Inoperable. I’m not sure she was even two years old at the time.

My heart broke into a million tiny pieces. I wanted so badly to do something to help, but what can I do? Aside from not being a doctor or a creator of miracles, I don’t even live anywhere close to them. I can’t make a batch of cookies or bring over a few nights’ worth of dinner.

But I can sew. I could make Willa a quilt. Is it a particularly practical gift? No, I suppose not. But I have a little girl. She likes to get surprises in the mail, she likes pretty things. All I can hope to do is to send a little smile via Express Mail.

Oh, and the latest blog entry says that the tumor is growing. They’ve stopped treatment and met with hospice. Willa is at home. That’s why I rushed to finish it as fast as I could. I thought there might be more time, but I was so very sadly wrong. So I finished it and sent it Express. Tracking says it arrived last week. I haven’t heard from Willa’s mom, yet. I have no idea if it made it there in time.

As for the practical details of the quilt:

It is my second time doing the Stacked Coins tutorial, which I cannot recommend highly enough. If you have a couple of charm packs lying around and want to make something beautiful and super fast, this is the ticket. It’s the perfect size for a baby/toddler quilt, about 40×50. The charm packs in this case were Moda Daydreams, which is a few years old but I found them last fall in Colorado and was waiting for just the right use.

Backing is Amy Butler Full Moon Dots in Camel and a blue tone-on-tone butterfly print from my stash, which the selvedge said was by Anna Griffin. Binding is Full Moon Dots in Lime. I quilted it in my favorite (and fast, though my machine was acting up and breaking thread a lot) loopy stipple, and the white pretty much disappears into the quilt.

Like I said, I have no idea if it made it there in time for Willa to see it or snuggle with it. I can only hope that it gave her, and her mom, a smile.

UPDATE, JULY 8

I got a beautiful thank you card in the mail from Willa’s mom. Not only did Willa get it and like it, “she hugs it and won’t let anyone take it away.”

UPDATE, JULY 9

Unfortunately, the post-script of the story is that, the day after I got the thank you note from Heather, Willa passed away on July 9, 2010. She was not quite 2 1/2. So sad. But I'm glad the quilt arrived and gave her a smile.

On a happier note, go check out Liz's site.  This woman has some serious quilting inspiration! She is definitely one of those girls that makes you feel like you don't know how to manage time at all if she can crank out all she does. She has her own personal quilting factory with one employee! Seriously! Just looking all she completes makes me tired! Thanks Liz.

Kate Conklin Designs...Sea views quilt...and a GIVEAWAY!

If you haven't checked out Kate Conklin Designs, you absolutely must! I am convinced we would be fast friends if she didn't live a around the globe in Australia. Seriously, she is uber talented, beautiful, and has some awesome quilt patterns that she sells too...plus, she is hosting a giveaway of this pattern and the fabrics used so make sure to go and enter...

"Sea Views"

When I first saw Michelle Engel Bencsko's gorgeous "Beyond the Sea" organic fabric I had two thoughts. The first was that it would be perfect for my mother in law. Their house directly overlooks the beach and she'd been hinting that she'd love a quilt designed by me.Its hard to find beachy fabrics that are fresh and modern, but this range ticks all the boxes. Cloud9's organic fabric is so soft and silky and the the colours and designs are just gorgeous (my favourites are Sandpiper and Coral).

My second thought was that it would be perfect to try curved piecing on, evoking a sense of waves at the beach. It was a little scary trying something new on such beautiful fabric, especially since I only had a fat quarter of each, but after a couple of practice blocks I saw that it was quite easy. I found an excellent video here on piecing curves without pins, and it opened up new, exciting possibilities for quilt designs!

I'm really bad at making decisions, so I shared a number of design sketches on my blog, as well as asking for advice on how to quilt it. I really appreciated all of the ideas - there's so many amazingly creative people out there who are willing to share. I'm keen to make another quilt with curved piecing so I can try out a slightly different design, maybe a baby quilt next time.

Fortunately my mother in law loves her "Sea Veiws" quilt, and I must admit I do too. I think it works because the simple design lets the fabric shine and the combination of the fabric and the wavy blocks give it a calming, peaceful feel. The wavy quilting was easy and didn't take long, and I like the way the "Earth" binding frames the front and the back of the quilt

I'm currently hosting a giveaway in conjunction with Cloud9 Fabrics. So if you'd like to make your own "Sea Views" quilt head over to my blog - www.kateconklindesigns.com - for a chance to win my pattern as well as a fat quarter bundle of the "Beyond the Sea" fabric!

If you want to check out in more detail the posts that helped create this quilt,  click here, and here.

Thanks Kate. I am all entered and ready to win. LOVE your mother in law's view...no fair! Love your blog and all your patterns. Keep them coming!

Mr Roboto quilt from My Little Gems

Meet Sharla the mind behind My Little Gems...if you haven't already.  This is one of those blogs that has it all, recipes to fun kid activities, craft ideas and more!  I think my boy's and I are going to make this tomorrow, so cute!  And who doesn't love a ruffle pillow...especially when there is a tutorial for it!  Sharla made this darling Mr. Roboto quilt for her third son:

A few years ago, while in Utah, my home state, I visited American Quilting. I loved just about everything in the store! The fabrics for this quilt were on the wall, and they sold a little quilt kit to make this quilt. I was pregnant at the time, and planned to make this quilt for my baby, and use it as an inspiration to decorate the nursery. I bought the kit and backing fabric for this quilt- along with several others. :) Well things did not go as planned. Shortly after that trip, I found out the baby I was carrying had some complications. He had some unknown kidney problems, which would probably mean an early delivery so that the specialists could figure out what was going on.

Sure enough, after many tests and ultrasounds, we had our baby at 37 1/2 weeks, early for me.  Obviously the quilt never got finished. After our little boy was born (my 3rd boy), we immediately had to see specialists, get tests done, etc. He ended up having surgery at 2 months old, and was hospitalized from an infection at 3 months old.

Finally, months later things calmed down. Mr. Robot was calling me to finish him, but because I waited so long, I decided to add more to the quilt. After seeing this same quilt done with a striped border instead of just striped binding, I went on a search for more of the striped fabric. It was hard to find. The fabric was out of print and basically sold out everywhere. When I finally found some, I was able to complete the quilt. yay! Thanks to the cute ladies at American Quilting, and Amy from Diary of a Quilter, for the inspiration! It was actually a good thing that I wasn't able to finish this quilt any sooner, because I love it even more- with the extra striped border. This quilt is one of our favorites. My children play on this just about everyday. It was my first attempt at off-set squares. I have made several quilts from this same design since then. I have really grown to love quilting, although it isn't my forte, there is something wonderful about completing a quilt, and seeing your children love it to pieces.

As for our baby, well he is just fine. He has managed to maintain his health, and will be having another surgery at the age of two. Hopefully his last surgery. And in the meantime, I have several other "boy" quilts to finish. ☺

Thanks so much Sharla for sharing this darling quilt.  Glad to hear that adorable baby is doing well, and we will pray that the next surgery will be his last.  God bless!

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