tensley's 4th birthday quilt (& fabric scrap giveaway)

As promised, I’m back to (finally) share the quilt I made for my daughter’s 4^th birthday (which was last April).  So without further delay, here is Tensley’s 4^th Birthday Quilt ::

 

Tensley requested a “purple quilt” for her birthday.  I decided to add in some darker shades of pink and a few aqua fabrics.  Below is a picture of my original fabric pull.  I ended up culling the navy blues, yellows, and greens and I added in more dark purples.

My inspiration came from a picture I saw on Instagram.  (One of the drawbacks of Instagram is there is no good way to link to pictures you find there, especially if the person you follow has a private account.)  You can find a tutorial for the quilt block on Cluck Cluck Sew’s website.  I churned out 56 blocks in no time.

 

(Full disclosure :: I had a clumsy moment one afternoon and spilled Dr. Pepper on 28 of the blocks!  After a few choice words, and many hours of attempting to remove the stains using every method & concoction under the sun, I finally gave up on trying to save those blocks and had to make 28 more! Lesson learned there.)

 

I found the backing fabric at my LQS.  The colors match the fabrics in the quilt top perfectly, and there was just enough on the bolt.  I used Cut to Pieces’ tutorial to make the quilt back out of regular width (44”) yardage.  It is so fast & so easy!

 

Kim at my LQS did the long-arm quilting.  She used a pink-purple variegated thread that was perfect for the quilt.  

The quilt measured 84” x 96” before washing.  I worried that it wasn’t going to be wide enough or long enough for her full size bed, but it is actually wider & longer than it needs to be, even after washing.  I guess if she ever gets a queen size bed, and this quilt is still around, it will still fit on her bed.  

 

For binding, I used a dark purple fabric with a slightly lighter purple polka dot.  Perfect for hiding dirt. ;)  And polka dots, what’s not to love?

 

I have quite a bit of leftover fabric from making this quilt, so if anyone wants it, just leave me a comment & I will enter you into the giveaway.  (US only please since I am paying shipping.) I will randomly pick a winner on 1/21 at 5 pm CST.   Giveaway is now closed & the winner has been emailed.

Quilt Stats:
Fabric:
          Quilt top - lots of various purple, pink, and a few aqua fabrics
          Backing - purple / pink tile pattern fabric
          Binding - dark purple with lighter purple polka dots
Pattern: tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew
Dimensions: 84" x 96"
Started: January 2015
Finished: March 2015
Quilted by: Kim Barrett @ Quilt-N-Kaboodle
Made for: Tensley for her 4th Birthday

Thanks for reading!
-V

Linking to:
NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation
TGIFF @ Faith & Fabric 
Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts
Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

christmas is coming... advent calendar

I'm back today to share an advent calendar that I made last year.  I didn't get it finished until about December 5th last year & then of course, with the busy holiday season, I never got around to taking pictures of it or blogging about it.

I knew I wanted an advent calendar of some sort to hang in our home, mostly just to cut down on the "When is it going to be Christmas" whining.  After looking around on ones to buy, I decided to make one instead.  I used a charm pack of Basic Grey's Blitzen and 2/3 yd of background fabric, which is a Basic Grey grunge.  I didn't take many pictures along the way & the ones I took were all blurry, so here is a brief synopsis of what I did....

1. Cut (24) 5" squares for the pockets (I used charm squares)
2. Iron the edges under on all sides (I didn't want raw edges, but you could leave them raw to save time, especially since the charm square edges are pinked)
3. Cut 24 squares of interfacing at 4.25"
4. Iron interfacing to the wrong side of the charm square (to give the pocket some structure)
5. "Stamp" the number on the charm square using fabric paint and a stencil (I used Martha Stewart paint, stencil, and "stampers" from Michael's)
6. Mark where you want to place the charm squares on the background fabric (I did a 4x6 configuration, with 1" between each charm.)
7.  Layer the backing fabric, batting, and background fabric
8. Pin the charm square onto the "quilt sandwich", making sure the square will not twist
9. Sew the charm square 1/4" from the edge on 3 sides (not the top, or you won't be able to open the pocket)
10. Remove pins, square up the quilt
11. Bind quilt

To hang my advent calendar, I sewed loops into the binding on the back.  I just used white ribbon to make my loops.  They are visible when I hang the calendar, but I think it looks cute that way.  I'm sure there are a ton of different options for hanging, so use whatever way you prefer!

That's all there was to it! Hope you enjoyed this short tutorial!

Thanks for reading!
Valerie

honeysweet fabric scrap winner!

I used Random.Org to decide my winner for the Honeysweet scrap giveaway.....

 and number 8 is Stephanie, who said :

8. AnonymousNovember 14, 2015 at 9:50 AM

   This is beautiful! I am currently working on a coin quilt for my Nana with a Fig Tree & Co. jelly roll in Mirabelle. They really have beautiful, vintage-y looking fabrics, don't they? I'm pretty sure I just invented a word there...vintage-y! :) Anyway, very nice job on your quilt and have a great Thanksgiving!
   
   Stephanie
   barefootcontessajunkie@hotmail.com

   
   

   
   

   
   

   Thank you all for reading & commenting!  Stephanie, I will be emailing you soon to get your mailing address!

   Valerie

clovers & jam

Oh man, I did not intend to take such a long hiatus!  I don’t have a good excuse other than that my last post was last November (a full year ago!) and I think I probably got busy with the holiday season & after that I jumped right into making a full size bed quilt for my daughter’s 4^th birthday.  And I’ll show you that quilt soon(ish), but first before Fall is completely over, I want to share this quilt I made LAST FALL!

I pre-ordered this quilt as a kit directly from Fig Tree & Co in the spring of 2013! I loved the fabrics (Honeysweet by Fig Tree & Co for Moda) & the pattern (Clovers & Jam, also by Fig Tree & Co) and I was really looking forward to making this quilt in the fall of 2013.  Easton was born September 23^rd, 2013 and for some reason I had thought I would be able to find the time to work on the quilt after he was born. Not so much. So I pushed it off and finally got around to working on it in September of 2014.  I finally got it pieced & sent out to be long arm quilted in November of 2014.  And then it sat for another 6+ months before I finally put the binding on!  

But anyway, it is finally finished & we are putting it to good use now that we are starting to have some cooler fall weather.  (This fall has just been unreal with 60-70 degree temps up until this week, which is very unseasonably warm for Northwest Iowa.)

As much as I like this quilt, I learned that making a quilt from a kit is maybe just not for me.  For me, a huge part of the enjoyment of making a quilt is not knowing quite how it is going to turn out.  I love the surprise of seeing the final product and how it came together in real life versus how I thought it would look “in my head”.  

As a thank you for reading this blog post after my long hiatus, I'd like to giveaway the leftover fabric from making this quilt.  To enter, please leave a comment on this post about ANYTHING!  Your favorite Thanksgiving dish, favorite thing about Fall, favorite color, favorite quilting tool or technique, literally anything you want!  Please make sure you are not a No-Reply commenter, or if you are, please leave your email address so I can contact you.  (Open to US only please since I am paying shipping.) I will leave the giveaway open until next Friday morning at 8 am CST.  Giveaway now closed.

Quilt Stats:
Fabric: Honeysweet by Fig Tree & Co for Moda

Pattern: Clovers & Jam by Fig Tree & Co
Dimensions: 71” x 71”
Started: September 2014  
Finished: November 2014
Quilted by: Abby Latimer of Latimer Lane Quilting 

Thanks for reading!
-V

Linking to:
NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation
TGIFF @ Quilt Matters 
Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts
Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Link a Finish Friday @ Richard & Tanya Quilts   
  

"bricks" baby quilt

I have a lot of friends & family having babies in the near future!  My sister-in-law, Leah, is due with a baby girl at the beginning of December.  She asked me to make a quilt for her baby, which was a no-brainer since I was already planning on it!  She said to shoot for a pink / aqua color scheme & I had another jelly roll of Hello Luscious by Basic Grey, so I made 2 quilts out of that fabric line back to back.  I worried I might get sick of the fabrics, but I definitely did not!  It's too bad I don't have a 3rd jelly roll of it to make a quilt for me!  (haha) 

I decided to go with a "brick" layout for this version.  I thought the larger pieces of fabric would really show off this line.  Again, this was such a easy and fun quilt to make.  And again, the "hardest" part was just making sure the fabrics were dispersed evenly.    

I had seen a number of quilts on Pinterest and Instagram with the "brick" pattern and they were all straight line quilted.  So I decided to try it on this quilt.  I thought the straight lines would really accentuate the brick pattern.  I think it turned out fairly good for only my 3rd time quilting anything!

The quilt measured 54" x 56" before washing and shrunk to 50" x 52" after washing & drying.  In hindsight, I wish I had made this quilt a little less wide and a little bit longer because I don't particularly care for square quilts.  I'm not sure how I miscalculated the size of the quilt because I had thought it would come out closer to 48" x 56".  Oh well. 

For the backing fabric, I had this beige fabric in my stash and I thought it complemented the cream and beige colors in the quilt top.  It wasn't quite enough fabric though, so I pulled 3 fat quarters from my stash and pieced them together, along with the beige fabric, to make the back.  I like that it is a pieced back without being too fussy / busy.  

For the binding, I used the beige fabric left over from the backing.  I wanted something neutral and calm and I really like it.  I forgot to get a decent picture of the binding.  I ended up being just about 3 inches short on the binding, so I pieced in a little scrap of pink fabric.  You barely notice it from the front of the quilt.  From the back, it is kind of a fun, unexpected pop of color.  I really like it. 

Quilt Stats:
Fabric: 
          Quilt top - Hello Luscious by Basic Grey
          Backing & binding - beige solid (Moda) and 3 miscellaneous fat quarters pulled from stash

Pattern: brick pattern
Dimensions: 50" x 52"
Started: August 7th, 2014
Finished: September 4th, 2014
Quilted by: myself! 
Made for: Leah's baby girl, Sophia

Thanks for reading!
-V

Linking to:
NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation
TGIFF @ Quilt Matters 
Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts
Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Link a Finish Friday @ Richard & Tanya Quilts   

Around the World Blog Hop

You have probably seen the "Around the World" blog hop going on around the blogosphere.  I was invited to participate by Shelley Folkerts of The Carpenter's Daughter Who Quilts.  Shelley is a fellow Iowan.  She has been quilting for over 20 years, but just recently started blogging.  Go check out her blog (after you look over my post, of course).

Painted Ladies WIP

1. What am I working on?

Currently, I am working on a Painted Ladies quilt using a quilt kit from Fig Tree & Co.  The fabric line is Honeysweet.  I absolutely fell in love with this pattern and fabric line in May of 2013 and ordered the quilt kit directly from Fig Tree & Co.  I had unrealistically high hopes that I would get a chance to work on it LAST fall.  I don't know what I was thinking since I had Easton on September 23rd (2013) and we were trying to get our house finished before winter.  I really want to get this quilt finished before fall is over so I can enjoy it before winter sets in!

Sidewalk by October Afternoon & Miss Kate by Bonnie & Camille recently purchased from Latimer Lane Quilting

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I don't really know how to answer this question.  I have made 2 quilts using patterns (Swoon & Painted Ladies).  The rest of my quilts haven't required patterns or I designed them myself.  I am hoping to continue to design my own patterns.  I don't think anything I do is particularly different or unique.  I just like making quilts with pretty fabric.

Little House pins & some mini-charms from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co

3. Why do I create what I do?

Mostly for relaxation and for a "hobby".  I find it really relaxing to cut & piece fabric.  Pressing - not so much, but I guess it is a necessary evil.  And of course, there is the satisfaction of knowing you made something with your 2 hands that is both beautiful & functional.  I think we all hope that the quilts we make will remind our loved ones of us after we are gone.

Just a little crafty organization for my daughter's art supplies. Acrylic jars, chalkboard labels, and chalkboard marker were all from Amazon.

If you want to participate in this blog hop, just write a blog post and let me know!  I will link it up here. 

Thanks for reading!
-Valerie

Linked to:
Freshly Pieced

"postage stamp" baby quilt

My good friend, Heidi, is due with a baby girl at the end of this month.  She asked me to make a quilt for the baby, which was a no-brainer since I was already planning on it!  She said she wanted simple patchwork.  One afternoon when she was over, she went through my stash, and decided on Hello Luscious by Basic Grey.  I had 2 jelly rolls of it, so it worked out good to use my stash - plus I had been wanting to use that fabric line for a long time!  

This was such a easy and fun quilt to make.  The "hardest" part was just making sure the fabrics were dispersed evenly.    

Because it was such a classic and simple pattern, I had it long-arm quilted at my LQS.  I really love the swirl pattern!  

For the backing fabric, I used one of the fabrics from Wee Wander by Sarah Jane.  I didn't have enough, so Kim (who owns my LQS) suggested using the blue fabric to make a "cross".  I really love the way it turned out! 

The quilt measured 48" x 56" before washing and shrunk to 44" x 52" after washing & drying.

I debated on what to do for the binding.  I initially thought I would go with a pink fabric, but after auditioning a number of fabrics, I couldn't find one that was just the right shade.  The blue fabric that I used on the back was a near perfect match to the blues on the front, so I went with it. 

I can't wait to meet the little peanut!

Quilt Stats:
Fabric: 

Quilt top - Hello Luscious by Basic Grey
               Backing & binding - Wee Wander by Sarah Jane

Pattern: simple patchwork
Dimensions: 44" x 52"
Started quilt top: June 27th, 2014
Finished quilt top: August 2nd, 2014
Quilted: by Kim Barrett, owner of Quilt-N-Kaboodle
Made for: Charlie Joan

Linking to:
NTT @ My Quilt Infatuation  
TGIFF @ Quilt Matters 
Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts
Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict 
Link a Finish Friday @ Richard & Tanya Quilts