WIP Wednesday: Greys and Rainbows

As my baby daughter gets older I seem to be getting less time to sew. I am hoping that when my eldest daughter is in summer camp on various weeks this summer I might get some more sewing time in because I need it!

I have been working away on the two grey quilts I am making for a friend who has two little boys, 1 and 3. I don't like doing quilt math if I can avoid it, so I went with this cheat:

Plus blocks made up of 3.5" squares and then into nine-patch blocks

I took one of my daughter's sheets from her double bed, laid it out on my queen-sized bed and then put the blocks loosely on top to see what size I needed. It turned out I needed six more to get to the size I want. And I avoided some math!

The plus blocks all done. I need to do the sashing but I'm running low on Kona White, which I did have a bolt of but have already used most of to do other quilts.

On the more colourful side (which is good because all grey all the time isn't the most cheerful, even though I love the fabrics I chose) I have been cutting out the pieces for my Aviatrix Medallion quilt. IT IS TAKING FOREVER. It takes at least 30 minutes per colour to cut out all the tiny pieces and carefully place them in the appropriately marked bag. I FINALLY finished the Violet group (five colours) and have three more colour groups to go. I have my greys cut out but still need to cut out my background greys and my whites. Holy cow. I could take three months just cutting this thing out!

The Violet group. This is the set with Template 1.

I assure you, this quilt is not for the faint of heart. And quilty friend C is ahead of me in cutting and warned me about the 288 tiny Template 3 pieces that still need to be cut. What am I thinking??

Linking up with Freshly Pieced's Work in Progress Wednesdays (She's also working on the Aviatrix Medallion!)

Lynn

Blueberry Orange Parfait: A Finished Quilt

I am a huge fan of many of the quilt patterns designed by Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms, and when I saw her Puddle Jumping pattern I was drawn to it instantly. I didn't think I would be making one anytime soon as her quilts tend to be huge, but I bought the pattern on sale and filed it away in my "Make One Day" file in my head. Then I saw a pin on Pinterest of a four block Puddle Jumping quilt that someone had made as a baby quilt. That got my mind turning. And so when our neighbours let us know that they are expecting a little boy this August I knew just which pattern to pull out!

I got all of the fabric from my stash. I have really been in a navy mood lately and I'm not sure how but this orange and navy combination was screaming out at me. Ever have that happen to you?

There is some Violet Craft Flight in Navy, some Riley Blake Navy Chevrons, some Basketweave in Tangerine, a little Lizzy House Jewels in orange, Orange Pez and some Art Gallery Squared Elements in Blueberry (which I also used for the binding). There is also lots and lots of Kona White.

I seriously overdid it on Instagram with this one but I LOVE this quilt. I love the pattern, the colours, the non-traditional "baby"look. I am going to be sad to see this one go!

Here is Blueberry Orange Parfait, made with six blocks instead of 12. Can't you see a sweet new summer baby boy on this lovely modern quilt?

Front

Loose meandering stipple with some extra loops. I need to expand my FMQ repertoire!

Back

I used one stripe of 3.5" squares and lots of white for the back. I like how striking it is (and I hope the white washes well for baby!)

Lynn

Linking up with Amanda of Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday!

WIP Wednesday: Not Enough Hours in the Day

I have lots of projects on the go this Wednesday. Having lots of projects is what allows me to get things done since sometimes I can't always work on just one thing because of little people restrictions. Pressing when you have a fussy baby is a no go, for example.

I managed to quilt the orange and navy Puddle Jumping quilt that I'm making for our neighbours. I meant to do something different- figure eights, for example- but muscle memory took over and it ended up being free motion big meandering loops. I still like it!

This is a shot of the back of the quilt where I have a strip of 3.5" squares down one side.

I made the binding for the Puddle Jumping quilt and went through all my scraps from my Sugar Block Club blocks and made a very scrappy binding for that quilt as well.

Scrappy on top, Art Gallery Squared Elements in Blueberry on the bottom

I washed, pressed and laid out the fabric for the Lua Sleepsack I'm going to make using a pattern I bought from Straight Grain. I decided not to get actually started until I have the buttons and zipper purchased.

The raindrop pattern is the outside and that blue pattern in the background will be the inside lining.

I got the binding sewn on the Puddle Jumping quilt (I really need a name for that quilt!) but haven't started hand sewing it on back yet.

Squared Elements works so well as binding

I've been working on finishing up this story pillow for my daughter's kindergarten teacher as part of her year-end gift. The last day isn't until the end of June but I wanted to be finished.

I added a border of Kona Artichoke to make the pillow larger  to fit the pillow form I have. I straight line quilted it between the colour changes.

I have pulled out the fabric stack I've been gathering together to make two double-sized quilts for two small brothers. My friend commissioned me to make these quilts and told me "dark grey." Other than that I have free reign. I can't wait to see how these will look!

Look for more posts about these quilts!

One of the quilts will be a plus pattern. I'm making them using 3.5" squares. I'll need a lot of them!

This is one of my favourite Denyse Schmidt prints. I don't always love her stuff but this eyelet is so yummy!

And I have pulled fabric and chosen a pattern for my friend's mother (whom I call my aunt) to make a quilt for my youngest daughter. She hand pieces everything! Ack! She made a quilt for my older daughter before I started quilting. I really want my youngest to have one from her as well!

The pattern is by Kate Henderson. THe fabrics are all from stash. I need to add some more navy but I am loving how this looks. The colour scheme is partially inspired by the Art Gallery fabric you see on the far right and partially by a dress my friend's daughter was wearing a month ago that I loved as quilty inspiration.

That's what I've been up to on this WIP Wednesday!

Lynn

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for Work in Progress Wednesday!

Aviatrix Medallion: A Tale of Peer Pressure

There are tons of medallion quilts that pop up across the quilting blogosphere and on Instagram. I admire the detail and then scroll on by. I have never been tempted to make a medallion quilt before- not ever.

Then Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson! posted her Aviatrix Medallion quilt and my mouth dropped open.

Here is a picture I took from her site:

This quilt speaks to me. It is all solids- Kona solids, actually. It has a mostly grey background. It is absolutely stunning and I knew I had to make it. The pattern was on sale when she first released it so I bought it knowing that some day I would get to it (probably not this year or even the next!).

Then that peer pressure came my way thanks to my friend C who posted on Instagram that she had pulled the fabrics for her Aviatrix Medallion. She challenged me to go next. And so, on Mother's Day when I had the house to myself for a few hours (thanks to my awesome hubby), I hauled out my Kona solids, my Kona colour card and the pattern and got to work pulling.

Heaven.

Part way through I realized I had a whole bin of Kona solids that were 1/2 yard cuts and weren't with my fat quarters so I started all over again. 

All these Kona solids in the bin had to be considered!

And when I was through I was happy. I chose many of the solids that she used in her quilt but not exactly (mostly because I didn't have several of them). I went with ones that I thought worked well. My only gap was the peachy range of fabrics. She uses Peach and Mango. I had neither (until I got my Kona Solids for May from Sew Sisters!). 

This stack of solids is now sitting next to my sewing table dining room table and calling to me.

I know this quilt will be very hard. My friend A has already made suggestions for paper piecing the centre rather than using the template because of all the bias edges. I want to love it when I'm through and so I don't want to settle on that darn Mango colour. I will find it before I start!

Lynn

May Kona Solids

My Sew Sisters Kona Fat Quarter club arrived! 

Inspiration photo

From left to right: Peach, Punch, Kale, Willow

I love the greens...very emerald in flavour. The deeper Willow is pretty delicious. The Punch looks great with the greens, I have to admit. 

To be clear, I really don't like peach. In this case, however, I really actually needed peach for a quilt I'm starting soon, so I was thrilled this was included. Now I need just one fat quarter of Kona Mango and I'll be set. That darn Mango is totally elusive. The only place I've been able to find it is Fat Quarter Shop and their shipping costs are crazy expensive. My go-to Sew Sisters doesn't have it. Neither does Fabric Spot which has zillions of solids. Grrrrrrr. I must find some! Thoughts?

Lynn

Well I Don't Want to Run Out of Fabric...

Sometimes even when you're not supposed to be buying fabric, and even when you totally don't need anymore fabric something comes up and you need to buy fabric. You get me, right? 

Case in point: I was talking to my quilty friend C about how much I liked Tula Pink's new line Foxfield. She is a Tula nut. We quickly crafted the brilliant plan to buy a 1/2 yard bundle and then split it. I am madly in love with the bundle, let me tell you. I plan to use it for a Swoon quilt along with friends C, A and K this summer. I am going to use a grey background. This will be awesome.

How could you say no to this beautiful bundle?

And then the same quilty friend (wait, I'm now seeing a pattern) posted some pictures on Instagram of the Lizzy House Tone on Tone Pearl Bracelets she had ordered from Pink Castle Fabrics. I LOVE Pearl Bracelets and already had a fat quarter bundle from her original release. I saw the tone on tones and knew I needed them.

I keep petting these pretties. I can't wait to use them.

And since I was ordering from Pink Castle anyway, I threw in a bundle of these dots from Bonnie and Camille because if I was paying for shipping anyway...

These dots are so amazing.

So, keeping in mind that I had ordered all these fabrics, I also couldn't pass up the spring sale going on at my sort-of-local quilt shop The Hobby Horse. I mean, 30% off all fabrics in the store? I'm in.

This quilt was on display. It is in flannel. SO CUTE. So, of course, I bought the kit.

Flannel sock monkeys? I needed a metre of this. Obviously.

And since fabric was on sale I also bought some other basics. The Hobby Horse has much more old fashioned fabric than I would normally go for, but some classic dots in olive and these Michael Miller rainbow dots were speaking to me. I also got some of this white-on-white as the last bit of white for the white and red quilt I'm making my step-grandmother-in-law for Christmas.

Nice basics.

Quilt kit with backing fabric on the bottom. Super cute.

Of course now Pink Castle fabrics has a HUGE sale on and a bunch more fabric is coming my way, plus I may have preordered the Cotton + Steel basic blenders fat quarter bundle.

My name is Lynn. I have not bought fabric in twenty-four hours. I have a problem.

Lynn

Puddle Jumping

I'm making a smaller version (six blocks) of the Puddle Jumping quilt from Camille Roskelley for our neighbours who are expecting a little boy in August. The day I found out they are expecting a boy I went shopping in my stash and pulled out this absolutely delicious combination of navy and orange. I LOVE it. I've been overgramming it on Instagram because I can't get enough of it!

Lizzy House, Squared Elements, Riley Blake, Lotta...a whole yummy combination

I quickly cut out all the pieces and, now that I had narrowed down the choices, was in love with my choices:

I love the modern and bright combination.

I then prepared each of the pieces for each block. Each block contains nine pieces, a centre four-patch, four on-point squares and four half and half white/print squares. I can't wait to share the result with you! Once you have the pieces made the quilt blocks come together so quickly!

I might have trouble letting this one go!

This baby quilt may end up being one of my favourites ever. Stay tuned!

Lynn