Babies, Pineapples and Swimming Bags

Babies

Roar was gifted to a sweet little owner and I think she approves. (Babies on quilts- it never gets old. This is my favourite thank you).

Baby T on her new quilt. 

 Pineapples

I am making the Pineapple Farm quilt by Elizabeth Hartman for my mother-in-law. She just built a new house and I am hoping to have this done by her birthday, December 17. I think the chances are only okay because MAN, Elizabeth Hartman patterns are complicated (but gorgeous!!)

Knowing my mother-in-law wants a mostly terracotta/dusty red colour scheme (so far outside of my personal taste) and that each body of the pineapple needs three fabrics with some variety of tone (not even accounting for the two fabrics per pineapple leaves), I made a page in my little quilting book to collect trios of fabric. This helped immensely on my latest shop hop (though my friends teased me about it- they just don't appreciate genius, I guess). 

All of the fabric has been cut to the initial size (3 10" squares per pineapple) but the sub-cutting is pretty intense so I've avoided it so far. And, like I said, this doesn't even account for the pineapple tops).

There will be more pineapple blog posts in my future, of that I am sure. Wish me luck.

Swimming Bags

My mom is amazing about watching my kids for me. She is generous with her time. I was pushing her generosity one week in August, however, when I asked her to watch my kids all day Wednesday and Thursday (getting here at 7:30 in the morning!) so I could do a writing contract for work, and then all day Friday so I could go on a shop hop. 

She told me that in payment she wanted me to make her a new swimming bag using the Chubby Charmer pattern. I made her one with fabrics she had bought on a whim about...three years ago? Four? And since she swims every single day the bag is a little worn through.

I had her jump into my stash and though she was reserved at first, as we pulled more and more fabrics and she could narrow down what was speaking to her and what wasn't, she honed in on this gorgeous combination. Like, I even love this combination and usually my mother's tastes are NOT my own.

I had very, very little yellow in my stash (my mom loves yellow) but this combination was just right. That solid is Kona Bluegrass, a personal favourite. That is a Heather Bailey print on top, and a very OOP Violet Craft on the right. Also two Elizabeth Hartman prints, some C+S sprinkle and I'm not sure about the others. That back yellow print that looks like little leaves or something will be the lining.

This will be something I putter away at over the next month or two. I am back to work in a week and it will be wild for some time, I imagine! Who knows how much sewing I will be able to sneak in!

#QBtravellingquilt and One More Shop Hop

The #QBtravellingquilt continues. I finished my addition to A's quilt by using From Blank Pages' pattern My First Alphabet (this is the 3" size). I also, as per our challenge, used a new skill which was layered applique with free motion black outlines (say what??! I did applique??).

I love the result and she seemed to like it. Her quilt is colourful while still being quite soft-looking. The other two quilts are sooooo saturated by comparison but they all look amazing. I wish I had taken a picture of what my quilt looks like after C added some EPP stars (EPP!!!).

So pretty, isn't it?

 With my QB peeps we decided to go on a Toronto shop hop since our July shop hop took us West. We went to four stores: Sew Sisters, EweKnit, The Workroom and Len's Mill Toronto. I had never been to that Len's Mill and I loved it. Great selection, better organized than the Guelph location I usually go to and I found several yummy purchases. Plus the woman cutting our fabric was chatting with us and totally our kind of person. We invited her to come to lunch with us but she thought perhaps her boss would disapprove.

I only took pictures at The Workroom because it is in the new location and I had not yet been there. But I also had to take a picture of this graffiti mural right next The Workroom because it was just so good.

There's lots you can interpret from Make Good.

One angle of the new space.

More of the new space.

The Workroom is not my favourite, mostly because of their very high prices (most fabric is $19.99/m) but the space sure is beautiful! I found some fabrics that I liked and splurged. 

The end result of the trip was a lot of fabric- mostly reds because I needed a ton more reds to make a pineapple quilt for my mother-in-law for her new house (look for a future post on how that is going). There is a healthy amount of Alison Glass (from Len Mills) and that bottom fabric is an old Valorie Wells fabric I got at Sew Sisters that was in the extreme discount bin ($4.99/m). It is not my colour BUT it is perfect for the colours my MIL wants in her quilt, the fabric works well in terms of scale and the pattern sort of looks like fronds which works for pineapples and it was CHEAP. Sold. They only had 3 3/4m and I technically need 4 3/8m but I will piece something together to fill it out!

It was a great trip with wonderful friends and the high will have to last some time because C and I are going on a fabric fast from September 1- December 31. Note that the rules are:
1) No new fabric purchases from September 1-December 31.
2) Using gift cards doesn't count.
3) You can make one preorder of a must-have fabric.
4) You can purchase one pattern during that time if desired.

I'm sure we can do it. Especially because we both preordered a TON of new fabric from Dinkydoo fabrics that should be coming every day. Like, I need a new fabric shelf ton of fabric. :)

WIP: Improv Christmas Trees

Ages ago- on Pinterest? Instagram? a blog?- I came across Diary of a Quilter's Improv Christmas Tree tutorial and I was charmed. I love the wonky trees and the clever construction. I pinned it and didn't think much of it for awhile. 

Then I bought a bundle of Violet Craft Brambleberry Ridge in Christmas colours even though a) I don't usually buy Christmas fabrics and b)I don't have traditional Christmas colours in my house at Christmas overall (Our tree has silver, white and turquoise/teal ornaments/decorations).  But I had to have it. And I knew that the combination of improv trees and Violet Craft would look awesome.

I finally got started! Christmas in August!

I made the first blocks as a test before I mass cut all my precious fabric. Good thing I did! The original tutorial makes very tiny blocks, way smaller than I was planning. I snooped on her site some more and found a tutorial for a much large block using the same technique. Now THAT is what I was looking for.

Tiny trees (4.5' x 3.5") in the middle, flanked by the big version that I ultimately went for which I ended up trimming to 8.5" x 7.5".

 This became my "pop into the sewing room and whip up a few blocks" project. My cat was very helpful, as always.

Thanks, Cyrus.

 The technique itself is so simple because there is no measuring in the traditional sense once you have the initial rectangles cut. You pair the fabrics and then slice first from the right and then from the left, as you can see below. This is a stack of four which I found the best for efficiency while also not having too many similar-shaped trees.

No measuring makes me happy!

The blocks started adding up, though I did have one "oops" when I cut on square upside down (print face down) which messed up everything for that block and resulted in that horrible tree in the bottom left of this picture. I have since removed that tree...and added many many more!

All the blocks are now made, including a few more small ones since I like how that looked up on the design board. I can't wait to finish this top up and show you the end result. And it should be done in time for Christmas!

Triangle Terrace: A Finished Quilt

While on a girls getaway weekend with a lifelong friend, my friend C picked up a bunch of fabrics from the quilt stores we visited(even though she doesn't sew or quilt). There was one fabric in particular that got her excited and then she built a bundle from there. She chose a pattern and I promised to make it for my goddaughter, my friend's daughter.

The pattern is called Corn Rows by Atkinson Designs. I used Kona White (obviously) for the solid. Corn Rows is cleverly designed. It looks complicated but the construction is actually straight forward. I was making a double quilt for a big girl bed but this pattern's idea of double is wildly out of wack and indeed the quilt fits on a queen bed with ample hang-over on each side. My friend's reaction was "then I guess I should buy her a queen bed instead." That, people, is why I agreed to make a quilt for this person. She truly appreciates the time, expense and skill that goes into a quilt and she will ensure her daughter treasures it as well.

Here is Triangle Terrace, all finished:

The quilt is so large that my husband had to hang it over our second floor deck and have me take a picture from below!

The fabrics are soft colours; the purples in particular are really soft and muted and very difficult to match.

The backing is all one fabric, the one that my friend first fell in love with. Honestly, the fabric is not something I would gravitate to, but the end result is soft and beautiful and my friend (and my goddaughter!) love the result.

I straight line quilted on either side of each diagonal seam AND I straight line quilted on either side of the vertical seams. This seemed to be just enough quilting for this quilt to keep it soft but stable with how many bits are in the piecing.

The quilt label is a black cat. My goddaughter's dad requested a black cat be incorporated into the quilt somehow to honour their late black cat, Fonz. He was a sweet, dumb kitty with lots of health issues and he was loved fiercely. It was lovely to add him to the quilt.

My friend LOVES the end result and my goddaughter, who received in on the day of her fourth birthday party, loves it so much she insisted on sleeping under it that night...despite still being in a small toddler bed! (New bed is coming).

Mixed Bag (Pun Intended)

Just a few things to note.

One is that I gifted this quilt to a lovely family and this was the picture I got with the thank you. Honestly, this is my favourite part of gifting any baby quilt- getting a picture of the sweet babe on it!

Baby S likes his quilt.

 Also, I am working on making a Sleepy Fox pillow for my "nephew" coming this November. Despite my huge stash of solids I still needed to order two colours from Mad About Patchwork to continue. Darn it!

Where are Flame and Creamsicle when you need them?

 I have had plans for a couple of years to make some Lined Drawstring Bags using the pattern from In Color Order to use as reusable Christmas wrapping. What finally got my butt in gear this year? Buying a small bundle of Ann Kelle Jingle fabric on my recent shop hop with friends. 

Four Everything Size, one Project size and one Snack size.

I pulled out some Laurie Wisbrun Brrr fabric I have had for ages too which you see in several of the linings, plus some other random fabrics from my stash.

I am so pleased that they are done!

On to the next item on the list!

Sewing Together a Sew Together Bag...For Myself!

I have made a couple of Sew Together bags before, one for a co-worker and one for A Quarter Inch from the Edge. I chose fabrics to make myself a Sew Together and then it was never the priority. I decided summer vacation was the perfect time to change this!

Here is a very photo heavy post about my new bag. I've already filled it up with toiletries for travelling and I love, love it. 

I quilted the main panel this time with a bit of batting. This was a new thing for me to try and I think I would do it again.

I chose to do ombre teal zippers and I totally love the impact.

I prepped a bunch of pieces and then stalled again. I still need to check the Quilt Barn tutorial for this bag for some of the steps!

This is one of my favourite stages of making this bag. It starts actually looking like a bag and those side panels are intimidating the first time through.

Wonderclips make all the difference on a bulky project like this when doing the binding!

 When it was finished I felt such relief and excitement!

I used an Alison Glass sunprints text print on the inside. I had to maximize the cut I had so some of the text goes one way and some the other. I know this would drive some people crazy but not me!

I used some really bold colours on the inside pockets. They are drawn from the colours in the Ex Libris that is on the outside.

This weird side shot was because I was drooling over the details. I was reluctant to use up Ex Libris on things like long strips for binding because it seemed wasteful to cut through the panels. Seeing the results?? LOVE. Look at that zipper!

As always happens when I make one of these and post it on Instagram, people are asking to place orders. There is only one order I may actually fill...my older daughter wants one for her birthday. Now that I think I can do. :)