Mini Finishes!

I am always in the middle of several things at once! Here are a few finishes from the past few months.

A little mug rug using some scraps and a verse from a sweet song/scripture.

Another mug rug featuring part of my favorite Bible verse, 1 Peter 1:6 (&7)

I made this for my sister-in-law. She cried when she opened it. She gets the award for consistently best reaction.

This was made for my niece. 

A crinkly, lovey Steggy for Eli.

My completed mini for the FWMQG wonky paint chip challenge.

A couple more mug rugs. Practicing some free motion quilting. Click to enlarge.

I regret not getting better pictures of this before sending it off. It's a pillow I made for a friend's soon expected baby!

Finish: Merry Christmas!

This quilt was actually completed last fall, but posting about it had taken the backseat for too long! 

I love using embroidery for the labels. I printed off what I wanted to embroider in a fun font, then traced over it on the fabric with pencil. 100x better than using my own handwriting!

I made this as a door prize for my church's ladies retreat. Each woman had two slips of paper with her name and she got to place them a box out front of any two door prizes she was interested in. We drew one name from the box and awarded the winner. I was so flattered at how many women put their names in the box for this quilt, I wish I could have given each one their own!

I did a simple meander with a few little loops, always a classic.

I received this fabric courtesy of the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day almost two years ago at Diary of a Quilter. 

For the back I used some larger scraps leftover from my own Christmas quilt.

I now realize that I am behind on blogging about Daniel and Eli's quilts too! Daniel has been enjoying his for a few months now, and Eli's is finished except for sewing the label on the back!

Yolanda's Quilt

This is my second finish of 2013, as well as the second completed quilt made from the blocks received from my grandmom. It's hard to see from these pictures, but several of the prints in the quilt have an oriental motif. This is now at home with my Uncle David and Aunt Yolanda.

This was my first time putting blocks on point.  I adore how it came out, and think the cornerstones are absolutely perfect.

For quilting I did concentric circles which was surprisingly easy, a technique I'm sure to repeat in the future. 

(top) original layout (second) revised layout balancing colors and weight (third) finished top (bottom) quilting (large) the quilt made a sort of birds nest as I twisted it through the machine

Patriotic Sampler

You may remember over 18 months ago when my grandmom passed along a bundle of quilt blocks to me. This patriotic sampler is the first set of blocks to become a finished quilt, and my first finish of 2013!

I had the opportunity to photograph it while visiting my grandmom and my Aunt Beth whom I gave it to.

I set these 12 blocks in a traditional setting with a fun polka dot sashing. I still have another 12 blocks that may one day become a quilt for my house!

I so enjoyed photographing these in such a special place. It's nice to see something other than the clothesline in my backyard! I may have to continue exploring new locations in the future.

WIP Wednesday

There are quite a few things I'd like to make as well as finish up before the baby comes in about 11 weeks, so I was happy to finally cross one thing off my list.

I used this tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew and knocked this cover, and another for my niece out in no time. I knew Tommy would like the orange, since that's what he was vying for when we registered for the car seat over 4 years ago.

Also from Cluck Cluck Sew is the pattern I used for this baby quilt. It doesn't get any easier than this! I cut and assembled the blocks in less than a week, only working a little here and there. I hope to have the blocks sewn up and the top finished by the guild meeting on Thursday. I am so loving these colors together!

I have also been thinking ahead to Christmas; how could I not when I came across this super cute fabric in JoAnns? I hope to make this into a pillow.

This is another embroidery that's only about half finished. I am not entirely sure what I'll do with it when it's done.

And here is the baby's Christmas stocking, less than half finished. I don't think he'll be here in time for Christmas this year, but figured I'd be much more likely to get it done before he's here than after!

And here is the top of Daniel's big boy quilt. I have the back finished, and the batting ready, just need to baste, quilt and bind! Hopefully soon since we moved him into a twin size bed this weekend! I debated for a while what kind of quilting to do, and settled on straight lines. Since the pattern is so busy, I didn't feel the need to mess with complicated quilting.

On my list still to make is: a nursing cover, a changing pad cover, an embroidery of Psalm 133:1, and some pillow cases. And some Christmas goodies! 

What are you making?

Isabel Grace's Quilt

My niece was born this past July and of course she needed a quilt. Due to lack of funding, I challenged myself to make it entirely from my stash. I even sketched up a pattern to use them in. 

I added some mitered corners, which look especially fun when you use stripes.

In this picture and the one below you can see the quilting I did. It was sort of wavy lines with little loops. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it went. Granted, baby quilts go fast in general, but this seemed to blow by. I will definitely try this, and other variations again.

I wasn't able to finish it until after she was born, but to my credit, she did come 8 weeks early! Tommy brought it down to her earlier this month along with some other goodies. Girls are so fun to shop for! I had hoped to make some other things for her, but my own pregnancy exhaustion was in full swing.

Here is Isabel in the NICU with my mother in law. Isabel has been at home for quite a while now, and is doing great! We are so thankful to the Lord for his care over her and his kindness toward her mama's family.

Isabel with her mama.

Anna Rae's Quilt

My sweet friend Rachel recently had her first little girl, Anna Rae. I made this quilt for Anna and actually had it delivered before she was born!

I used this Charming Stars Quilt pattern and left the sashing off. I was able to make it all from my stash, always nice! My grandmom gave me a stack of charm squares, though very few (if any) were actually squares. I don't know where they were from, they don't seem to be from one line, even the textures and types of fabrics are different. The backing fabric was also from my grandmom, and I still have a good bit of it left. Unfortunately I neglected to get a picture of it, but it was not pieced, which was super nice.

I've been brushing up on some embroidery, and really enjoyed stitching each of these blocks. Here are some up close:

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,

    and its people are like grasshoppers. 

He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, 

    and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

Big Brother's hand!

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

I am so excited for Rachel, and look forward to watching Anna grow!

Kait's Quilt: Finished

I was able to finish Kaitlin's quilt in time for her graduation party. This quilt was my first time using a long arm machine and I've gotta say the jury is still out. It was faster than my home machine, but I had some serious thread breaking issues that were really discouraging. I do plan on giving it another go sometime as it did turn out really well.

That little star might be my favorite

A pieced back because I never plan for enough fabric.

I love how the embroidered label turned out, it might become a regular method.

Finish Up Friday

These quilts have been done for a while now, but as photography and documentation are part of the process, things weren't quite complete.

This quilt was inspired by one from Cluck Cluck Sew. 

It was so windy I could hardly keep it on the line!

I used many of the same prints as were in my Kaleidoscope quilt. The back was a fun print I picked up on clearance at JoAnns a while back.

This baby was started in 2010 I think. I got stuck at the back. I wanted to use flannel and make more presents, but I just didn't have the right amounts of the right fabric. I finally got over it and finished it up in January. Because of the wind, I didn't get more pictures, but I did tons (for me) of free motion quilting within each block. I was pretty sick of it by the end. I think I'm more of a meander girl. But every now and then it's good to try something new.

I could just squeeze this little cutie!