2011: A very quilty year

Here they are: My quilts of 2011. I'm sure we can all agree that 26 is a perfectly reasonable number of quilts to make in a year. Moving on.

I don't think I could pick a favorite, but the Houndstooth quilt is definitely toward the top.

So, what does 2012 have in store? First on my list is finishing my do. Good Stitches quilt, and then I have some bee blocks to tackle. After that, I really want to finish up my Fabricland and Postage Stamp quilts. A few quilt-alongs have caught my eye (Megan and Jeni's Sparkle quilt-along is definitely a go).


I'd like to try some more hand-stitching. I embroidered this little bird for my mom (whose name is Robin), and really enjoyed it. (Pattern by Aneela.)

More generally, I'd like to slow down a little bit and be a little more adventurous with my sewing.

I've been away from my sewing machine for a while (my son asked me several times why I didn't pack it), so it's time to get reacquainted!

Merry Christmas!

From my family to yours.

Wrapping it up.

I had a few too many "fall asleep on the couch at 9 p.m. while watching Storage Wars" nights this week, so it was time to kick in to productivity mode.


I unrolled a Rouenneries honey bun to make this composition book cover (tutorial by V and Co).


Made PJ pants for Luke using leftover Batman flannel and Dana's tutorial.


Last year, I made a voile and velveteen Figure 8 scarf using Anna Maria Horner's tutorial. She used 18-inch-wide fabric, and it looks really cute in her pictures. It made me look like a velveteen turtle. After seeing skinnier versions popping up online (most recently by Krista and Angela), I decided to cut it in half and make two 9-inch scarves. Better. (Photo courtesy of the 4-year-old)


Finished up this little owl. (Pattern from the Holiday 2010 issue of Knit Simple.)


More of these.


And more of these.


And some Santa hat brownies for the preschool Christmas party.

*This post is bought to you by Diet Coke.

In print.

Those are my quilts*, all cozied up next to a cute pup. They were photographed for a little article on "The New Quilting Craze." For more, you'll have to pick up the January issue of Southern Living magazine.


*Except for the one on the bottom--that one isn't mine.

Spiky

I'm trying to add a few handmade gifts for Luke's Advent calendar. He loves dinosaurs, so I made him this little guy using the Dilbert pattern by Melly and Me. I used some leftover corduroy and scraps I had on hand. Turning the spikes right side out proved tricky, and my blanket stitching needs practice, but I think he's pretty cute anyway.


Luke says "spikysaurus" instead of "stegosaurus," and I love it. I think Spiky will be well-loved.

Run, run, as fast as you can!

My friend Stephanie has a raucous ornament swap party each year. This year, the theme was gingerbread men. I found this tutorial from Elsie Marley and couldn't resist.


My husband thinks I'm "disturbed."


I think it's pretty funny (perhaps that makes me disturbed?).


Reminds me of this...

Happy little bags

I didn't finish most of the items on my weekend to-do list, but I did make these little bags!


These are the Ruched Happy Bags. The pattern is by Amy of During Quiet Time (available here). It's a great pattern with clear, easy-to-follow instructions.


Shoot...kind of want to keep this one for myself.


Kind of want to keep this one too. Must. Buy. Zippers.


I think these zipper ends are my career-best!

Two more gifts marked off the list.

1 yard of ruffle fabric.

Vanessa of V and Co has posted some really cute tutorials using ruffle fabric, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it! Here's what I made out of one yard (it's 54 inches wide).

First, I wanted to try the ruffle tote. So I made two.


This one is for me.


The lining is my favorite Heirloom print.


The second one is for [name redacted]. The lining is actually purple in real life.


I made the flowers using Vanessa's Flower Corsage tutorial.

After making those, I had just enough fabric left to make a ruffle scarf.

Kindly excuse the weird self-portrait.
I had to fudge it a bit and cut my strips at 12 inches instead of 14, but it works just as well! Not bad for 1 yard of fabric!

The ruffle fabric is definitely a little different to work with. It's very stretchy, so cutting it accurately is hard. But that stretchiness also makes it very forgiving. If you can keep your ruffles out of your seams, you're in good shape. I'm interested to see how it holds up with use, but I'm happy for now, and I marked someone off my Christmas list!

Happy December!

I accidentally made an extra block for my Christmas quilt, so I turned it into this mini. I did a little loopy quilting in the white space. I had just enough candy cane binding left over from my Christmas quilt to bind this one too.

Are you in the Christmas spirit yet? I think I am! It's hard not to be when you're around a 4-year-old. The Advent calendar comes out today, and the Elf on the shelf wil make his first appearance We are officially in countdown mode!

WIP Wednesday

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! I had a week off of work and actually marked some projects off my list. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't cooperated for any picture-taking, so I'll be back soon with those.



Finished:
Christmas Quilt

Holly Jolly. Details here.

Christmas PJs for Luke



I had some extra flannel from the back of my Christmas quilt to make Luke a pair of PJ pants.(He would only pose for pictures if he could do some Ninja moves. Diva.) I used Dana's instructions for making your own pattern. Not perfect, but they're wearable, and he proclaimed them "cozy." I have some leftover Batman flannel from the back of his superhero quilt, and I wanted to try out the pattern before I made those.

Ruffle totes
Done! Details soon.

Christmas mini

Done! I had one extra block from my Christmas quilt, and I turned it into a mini. Pictures if/when the sun comes out.


In progress
Stegosaurus
Done...just need to finish it off with some blanket stitches. First, need to learn how to blanket stitch.

Superhero Alphabet Sampler

I got this awesome Superhero Alphabet Cross-Stitch Sampler from Wee Little Stitches. I started in the middle with M for Martian Manhunter (as if you didn't know). This is going to be a long-term project, much to Luke's dismay.

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Postage Stamp quilt
Kaleidoscope baby quilt #2
Fabricland

To do:
Ruffle totes
Journal cover
Drunkard's Path Quilt-Along
Zippy pouches
Stegosaurus
November do. Good Stitches quilt

Head over to Lee's to see what everyone is working on!

Joy.

Those three little letters pretty much sum up my feelings about this quilt. I loved working on it. I love the way it turned out. It puts me in the Christmas spirit!


After making my advent calendar and Christmas tree skirt, I had a collection of holiday fabrics. I sent them to my Sew Beautiful Bee friends, who rocked it (as I knew they would). Special thanks to Lee, Cherie, Elizabeth, Emily, Brooke, Megan, Angela, AnneMarie, Kati, and Cara for these awesome blocks.


I sashed their blocks with white, then added a 3-inch scrappy border, and then another 2-inch border.


Happy and festive.


It's hard to tell, but I quilted with white thread in an all-over meandering stipple.


For the backing I used this Christmas tree flannel by Doodlebug Design for Riley Blake. Cute and soft (and on sale).


I can't imagine this quilt without the candy cane binding (tutorial from Kati). It took a bit more time, but I'm really happy with the result.


It finished at about 50x62. Only problem: Am I really going to be able to put this up in a month? I guess we'll see!

What about you? In the holiday spirit yet??

I'm linking up to Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts!

WIP Wednesday

Happy WIP Wednesday, Thanksgiving edition!



Finished:
Superhero Quilt

Yay.

Fabric Christmas ornaments

More of these to come.

In progress
Christmas Quilt

Just need to finish stitching down this fun binding! Done very soon. (Binding tutorial from Kati.)

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Postage Stamp quilt
Kaleidoscope baby quilt #2
Fabricland

To do:
Ruffle totes
Journal cover
Drunkard's Path Quilt-Along
Zippy pouches
Stegasaurus
November do. Good Stitches quilt

Head over to Lee's to see what everyone is working on!

Tuesday at the Table

Debbie (A Quilter's Table) is hosting a special Thanksgiving edition of Tuesday at the Table, and I'm happy to link up. (There's still time to link up, and there are prizes involved!)

We're having a low-key Thanksgiving this year, with just me, my husband, and our son. The good thing is that we only have to make things we really want to eat. I know these Perfect Mashed Potatoes will be on the menu. I've made these before, and they really are great. The Yukon Gold potatoes can be hard to find, but Whole Foods carries them.


And the centerpiece will definitely be Luke's Tur-pumpkin. He was unhappy this week to find one of our pumpkins had gone uncarved, so this was our compromise.


One more thing: Margaret's Hope Chest has posted their Wrapped in Hope List for 2012. You can sign up to make a birthday quilt for a child whose parent is in prison. The dirtbike quilt I made for them this year is one of my favorite projects. Sign up if you can! The kids have really fun (and maybe challenging!) requests.

Warning: Contents may be habit-forming.

I'm hooked on these ornaments.


Pattern from Simple Beans.


These little guys are helping me bust through some of my leftover Christmas fabric.


They're surprisingly simple to make. Only downside: Each one takes 180 pins. Not a typo.
Two down, many more to come, I'm sure! But first, I'm going to bind my Christmas quilt. Yippee!

Super.

I have to admit, I felt a little...I don't know, sheepish?...about my superhero quilt after reading this post. But then I remembered that this is a "know your audience" type of quilt, and I'm pretty sure my audience is going to lose his 4-year-old mind when he opens this on Christmas morning.


Besides, this quilt has Optimus Flippin Prime! Most of these crazy fabrics have large-scale prints, so I let that dictate my design. I framed the prints in a skinny white sashing in hopes of giving it a comic book look.



I used Elizabeth's Billboard Quilt-Along instructions to make the letters for Luke's name.


I backed it in this Batman flannel from JoAnn's. I'm not sure what the official end-of-bolt policy is at JoAnn's, but I had to buy the end of two bolts (nearly 2 yards each) and the cashier gave me 50% off both. I'm not sure if she was supposed to, but I didn't complain! This is my first flannel-backed quilt, and I'm happy with the results. I did use batting, so it's going to be nice and cozy.


For quilting, I outlined the letters and then quilted double lines in the white sashing. I wanted to keep the flannel as soft as possible. I'm not normally a prewasher, but I did prewash all of these fabrics because I was concerned about the quality. (I bought most of them from Fabric.com. The Marvel prints sell out quickly!)

Okay, I need to hide this before Luke wakes up from his nap! I cannot wait to give this to him in a month.