Spring Chicks Baby Quilt

It's done! I've been working on it ever since Emily and Isaac announced that they were going to have a baby. The little guy is a month old now... Better late than never! (In my defense, I've had baby showers, bridal showers, weddings, adrenal fatigue, baby goats, meat chickens... The creative energy just isn't as abundant as I would like)

I got the last of the binding sewn on last night; now it's ready to go! :D

A blend of vintage feed-sack and modern boldness. 

It features 'shoo-fly' quilt blocks off set by hand-embroidered squares. I only had to buy coordinating fat quarters (courtesy the local Joann's store) to make the shoo-fly since I had all the white muslin already in my stash. The chicken designs are from 'Rise & Shine' by Yesterday's Charm. The border fabric is also from Joann's. Just don't look too closely to the actual quilting of it though... getting the quilt top, batting, and backing to all line up perfectly is not my forte... As for the binding, well... I cheat. I buy wide bias tape (single fold) to do the last step. I use the machine to sew one side down and then hand sew the other to made a clean finish.  

I must admit... I'll miss working on it. Maybe I'll have to make one for myself and stick it in my collection.

Baby Quilt Top - 'Spring Chicks'

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Back-to-back weekends: a bridal shower and a baby shower. Mix in daily life, and you have a good idea of what I've been up to. ;) I'll post pictures once I get them pulled together. 

One of my goals was to have this quilt project done by the baby shower for the mamma-to-be... but I didn't get it finished. (Big surprise there) I got the quilt top finished though! I'd say that's a step in the right direction. 

I've been working on the embroidered blocks all winter (when you have ADD and there's a TV or Shakespeare class going on in the background, well... let's just say that I'm not a very fast worker. ;) ), and the quilt blocks are simple 'shoo fly' which were easily finished in an afternoon. The original pattern that I was working from called for teeny-tiny 1.5" blocks all put together for the sashing, but that became really tedious really fast and they didn't line up. :face palm: Needless to say, I got to spend some very good one-on-one time with my seam ripper. I think that tool needs a name, actually; I use it so much. Since I took these pictures, I've been able to get this all quilted up, so now it just needs some binding then it's done! :) 

4-Patch Baby Quilt: Part 2

I started a quilt several weeks ago, and brought you along for the ride. Then I didn't finish it. Well, today we shall finish the quilt top. I'll create a separate tutorial for the layering since that is a universal quilt technique. 

So pull out your quilt top and iron it. If it's been sitting around, it probably has some wrinkles in it like mine did. Finish that? Good, now we add on the narrow border. Using a 1/4" seam, take one of your 1.5" strips and sew it along the longer side of your quilt (the side with 6 blocks). Do the same thing on the opposite side. You're quilt will look something like this:

Head over to your cutting board and trim those renegade tails. You don't want those. Just cut it straight with the edge of your blocks. 

Now take your other narrow strips and sew them on the opposing sides. You'll end up with something like this after you trim the tails. 

Here's a close-up of on of the corners so you know what it's supposed to look like. We're not making mitered corners here. ;)

Now do the same thing with your fat border. When I say 'fat,' I just mean the 3.5" strips. You'll want to really make sure that you sew the longer sides first so that you have enough fabric to go all the way around. This tidbit of wisdom comes from experience. ;)

Here's what your corners will look like:

And that's it for the quilt top! Like I said, I'll make a separate tutorial showing you how to layer and tie the quilt. 

Until next time!

Raiding the Fabric Stash

 A lot of love went into that gift. Many hours. Plenty of brain power. Stumbled upon inspiration. And a well stocked fabric stash. Yeah. It was a labor of love. And a near miracle that I was able to finish it on time (my sisters can attest to that - I still haven't finished their projects)

My dear friend is getting married, and I had no clue what to get her. Yes, her registry was very diverse and varied, but I wanted to give her something a little more personal and from the heart. But what could I give her? I've known her for years... you would think that it would be an easy choice, but no. The date for her shower as coming up and I still had no idea.

Then I came across this tutorial: granny square quilt. Ooh.... Hmm... That looks simple enough to try. How would I manage to fit that into the kitchen shower theme? I really don't know what path my brain took, but somehow a table runner came to mind. Her kitchen colors are blue, white and yellow? I think I have a bunch of those colors! Boy howdy, I did! Actually, confession time - I didn't have to purchase any fabric for the entire set. That's how much fabric I've collected over the years.

After I finished the main table runner, I had quite a few 2.5" squares left over. I could do something with those too! :makes hot pad: Wow. Still have a lot of pieces left. I think I was a little over-zealous with the rotary cutter. I was starting to be done with granny squares. Yeah, they're simple and go together fast, but you can only make so many before you need a change of pace. What else does a table setting need? Place mats! Do I have enough for two perhaps? Oh, and the math worked out perfectly? I think I might have actually had my brain turned on while I was doing that... o_O 


In the process of making all these quilted items, I realized how much I despise making binding. How can I cheat my way through that one? After some thought and sleeping on it, aha! Extra wide, double fold bias tape. Now, I love sewing on the binding. Just do the hand sewing while 'watching' tv, and you have yourself a gorgeous, almost flawless binding! I almost did the happy dance when I looked at the finished product. Okay, I lied. I did do that happy dance. 


But I couldn't stop there... If I do something, I tend to go all out. I dive in head first and fearless. The assembly is not complete until I say it is. And it was missing something. Then I went through my Sugar n' Cream stash. Lo-and-behold, there was blue and yellow yarn. I can hardly knit, let alone show you how to do it, but I can make dishcloths without paying attention to what I'm doing, therefore, I like making dishcloths. Just don't knit while watching an intense movie; you will break your yarn and kick yourself for it. So, I continued my evening projects, curled up in my fleece blanket and knitting away. 


As I was going through the craft closet, I came across a set of coasters that I had made years ago. Conveniently, they were in the same fabrics that I had been working with. So into the gift bag it went! 


That is the story of my creative adventures as of late. I couldn't watch my friend open the gift  because I knew that I would start crying (I kept myself busy. It's easy to look busy if you really want to). I even played with the idea of having her mom give it to her after the shower, but that idea was eventually thrown into the mental trash can. 


I kept asking myself, 'Why are you putting so much into a gift? You have a basket full of unfinished projects yet you focus on this one?' The only answer that I could come up with was that this was my therapy. With every stitch, I was closer to accepting the fact that my friend was getting married. She's not going to be living 5 minutes down the road... (/selfish rant) She's entering a new chapter of life. My time will come, but for now I'm still single. I have the time to put into a gift like this. And I'm happy to do it.


I'll have to post pictures of the shower later - it was a lot of fun and I loved how everything turned out!

So long for now!

4-patch Baby Quilt: Pt. 1

First tutorial... here I go. 

Pick out your fabrics. You'll need:

- 1/2 yd Fabric A (four patch)

- 1/2 yd Fabric B (four patch)

- 3/4 alternate focus print

- 1/2 yd inner border and binding

- 1/2 yd outer border

- 1 1/2 yd backing

You can mix and match whatever fabrics you want. Have fun with it! 

I raided my stash for this one. ;)

Time to cut. 

Of Fabrics A and B, cut out thirty 3.5" squares

Of the alternate focus print, cut fifteen 6.5" squares

Of the inner border, cut 4 strips that are 1.5" by the width of the fabric

For the outer border, cut 4 strips 3.5" by the width of the fabric

You'll end up with this:

Take the little squares and sew the opposing colors together at 1/4" seam using a 'chain' method. All you've got to do is put one set through just as you're about to finish the previous one. 

Cut the extra thread in between the squares. 

Ironing time. You don't want to iron the seam open. That would get really tedious really fast. Instead, you'll iron it flat to one side. You generally want to iron it towards the darker fabric so that it won't show through. 

You're going to end up with 30 - 3.5" x 6.5" units. You're going to sew these together now via same method you used to put the two pieces together. 

One thing I must urge is lining up your seams. All quilting really is is cutting fabric as precisely as you can and lining up the seams as best you can. Good luck. I have trouble with that sometimes. Below you can see my efforts to keep things lined up. Pins are you best friends on this step. Iron the seam to one side. 

Congratulations! You have now completed 15 four-patch squares for your baby blanket. 

Back to work.

Taking one four-patch and one alternate print, sew them together using the same chain method that we've been using. Iron the seams

You now have 15 units that are made up of the four patch and the alternate print.

Sew the pieces together to make 10 units that are four big squares across. Then sew the left over units to make your strip 6 squares long. You're still using the chain method, right? ;)  

You have 5 strips that are 6 squares long. Sew the strips together, lining up the seams, to create the main part of your quilt top. 

And that is all for tonight! I'll make up part 2 as soon as I have the pictures. :)

Goodnight!