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.

WIP Wednesday

Another Wednesday, another week closer to Christmas...



Finished:
Yeah...nada. I did order my Christmas cards, and I'm feeling a little impressed with myself.

In progress
Christmas Quilt

I got this one sashed. I just need to add some borders. Maybe this weekend!

Superhero Quilt

Just need to stitch down the binding, and this one will be dunzo! Covert pictures to come.
(Yes, ladies, that is Thor fabric.)


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

To do:
superhero quilt
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!

Christmas quilt in progress

I'm hoping to get my Christmas quilt top put together today. I've received all of the blocks from my Sew Beautiful friends (thanks, ladies!) and I made a few extras of my own.


I found this Virginia Wreath block in the Encyclopedia of Classic Quilt Patterns.


It's made like a dresden, but I thought the shape gave it a poinsettia look.


I also made this stack of presents block, based on this block by Little Miss Shabby.


I showed you this star block last week. After I pulled out all of the finished blocks, I realized I made one extra, so one of the blocks that I made will probably become a mini quilt or a pillow.


Here are all of the blocks. So awesome. I'm going to add white sashing and then probably a scrappy border. What do you think?

WIP Wednesday

Today is Lee's 1-year anniversary of hosting WIP Wednesday. Be sure to visit her blog for some pomp and perhaps some circumstance.



Finished:

Pouch for Pretty Little Pouch Swap

Ella received her pouch, and she likes it! I'm glad to have this swap wrapped up.

November Sew Beautiful Block for Lee

Lee asked for trees, and this is what I made for her.

Color Wheel Charm Swap

Cut up and sent to Kati!

In progress
Christmas Quilt

I received all of the blocks from my Sew Beautiful friends. Wait until you see them! I'm adding a few blocks of my own, like this star. Tutorial from Clover & Violet. I really want to finish this one by December 1 so we can enjoy it this Christmas. I think I can...

Superhero Quilt

I got started on Luke's Superhero quilt. I spelled his name in some billboard-style letters. I really want this to be a surprise, so it's going to take some clandestine quilting, and I'm going to have to clean up after myself. Tricky.


Drunkard's Path Quilt-Along

I'm thinking this one might have to wait until after Christmas. Bummer.

November quilt for do. Good Stitches

I'm the quilter this month, and I've asked the Peace circle to make scrappy triangle blocks using this tutorial from Film in the Fridge.


Here's my color palette (from Design Seeds). I need to make a few more of these scrappy triangles and then put the quilt together once the blocks arrive.

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

To do:
superhero quilt
Ruffle totes
Journal cover
Pouch for PLP swap


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

Feeling like fall

November is Lee's month in the Sew Beautiful Bee, and she requested tree blocks. She sent us some beautiful fallish fabrics and Essex Linen.

Here's my block. I ripped off borrowed the idea from this block by Eleven Stitches.



The half-square triangles finished at 1.5 inches. Have I mentioned I love using a coin to show scale? Happy fall!

Pretty Little Pouch Swap--complete!

Rather, it will be complete once I drop this off at the post office tomorrow.


My partner is a fan of Loulouthi and darker colors, so I put together this pouch for her. The base is Essex linen. I used the Strap Clutch pattern from Keyka Lou. I'd been hearing great things about Keyka Lou patterns, and I'm happy to report this one didn't disappoint! I do wish I'd used a heavier interfacing, but I'm pleased with the way it turned out.


I used some perle cotton to embellish the negative space on the Loulouthi print.


I put a few goodies inside, but I'm going to leave those as a surprise.

All packed up and ready to ship! I hope it's happy in its new home.

I'm linking up to Celebrate Color!

WIP Wednesday

First WIP Wednesday of November! Let's do it.



Finished:
Deer Quilt

Hi, friend! (More here.)

October Bee Blocks!
Just under the wire...


Cracker Scraps for Angela. Love the color combo. Tutorial here.


For do. Good Stitches, Paula asked us to create word blocks that complete the phrase "Today I will..." We used the book Word Play Quilts for instructions. This quilt is going to be so awesome! My block turned out okay...I definitely rocked the A. Both my husband and son read the U as a T, and I can see the point. Oh well.


Ongoing projects:

Pouch for Pretty Little Pouch Swap

Since taking this picture, I've turned this fabric into a pouch-shaped object. It just needs some embellishing. I'll be done soon! Must mail by Monday.

Color Wheel Charm Swap

I need to get these lovelies chopped up and in the mail.

Drunkard's Path Quilt-Along

Time to get cranking on the Drunkard's Path Quilt-Along! I'm behind.

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

To do:
superhero quilt
Ruffle totes
Journal cover
Pouch for PLP swap
do. Good Stitches word block
VIBees block for Angela

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