The moment when..

you know that the super simple baby quilt you're making just isn't going to cut it..

I pieced these big HSTs and was just going to be done with it, but no.  Not for this baby.  She's too cute, I love her family too much (and her mom's a quilter).  So she got her name on the back too.

Of course, when you decide to piece the kid's name into a quilt, it's probably a good idea to check how the parents spell it first (I learned this the hard way)..

This quilt has been on my to-do list for over a year.. thankfully the baby is still small (though her birthday is coming up soon) and her mom is one of my most patient and laid back friends so she didn't make me feel bad for not getting it to them sooner.  If the weather is too warm for a quilt now, I really hope it can become her toddler picnic blanket this summer.

I enjoyed working on this quilt a lot.  The top is made from almost all of the colors of Timeless Treasures' Rain collection.  They are so pretty, I can't pick a favorite.  I stretched my FMQ creativity by stitching leaves over the diagonal seams and I came up with a loopy flower pattern that filled the space in between pretty well.  Taking a tip from Shannon, I stitched my miters closed on the front and back of the binding-- before now I had only been doing the back miters.   Do you do this too?  Just curious.

Linking up this week with Finish it up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts and TGIFF!  Be sure to pop over and see everyone else's finishes.

Strings with Lime

I have been making a quilt this fall for a 4 year old I have never met.  Her mom asked me to make it and I couldn't say no.  This is my first commissioned quilt.   I posted a bit about it at the beginning, but this quilt has really dominated my sewing time over the past 3 months and I'm happy to finally  have time to share some more of it.

I have loved working on this quilt.  It measures 80" x 87" and it is the first full sized bed quilt I have made and quilted myself.  I've done kings and twins, and plenty of throws, but never a full.  It's a shame I'm not keeping it, I really need a quilt on that full sized guest bed...

 

 The back is Sketch flannel in Royal and it is amazing!  I may just be a flannel back convert after this one.  I pieced Madelyn's name into the back-- the letters are about 4" high.  I hope she likes it.

 I cut and attached the binding to the front today, and plan to spend blissful hours tomorrow hand stitching it down.  That sounds like the perfect way to spend my birthday~

The quilt has taken me longer than I expected.  Is it that the foundation string piecing was more involved than I remembered, or my free time more scarce?  Either way, I made it as fast as I could.  Like every quilt, I learned a lot with this one.  It's the largest piece I've ever quilted on my Janome, and it fit just fine (for the record, I could probably do a queen..).  I underestimated how much thread I'd need to quilt it and ended up waiting in line at JoAnn's on Black Friday.  Never want to do that again (though buy one. get one free is a hard deal to pass up).  I also underestimated how tired I'd be at the end of each day, and how short Jack's naps would be.
When George was a baby, I remember getting a lot of sewing done while he napped.  Somehow I thought things would be the same this time around, but I'll tell you, the biggest shock I had this fall was how much I wanted to be with George when Jack was asleep.  If I'd turn on the tv and sneak off to sew, I felt guilty leaving him alone.  I missed him. 
Other moms of 2 or more can probably relate.  I spent so much time this year focused on the baby, feeding, changing, pureeing, packing and repacking the diaper bag, pushing the stroller.  I miss the feeling of George's hand in mine as we walk to school.  It's like I blinked and he went from being 2 1/2 to being 5.  I can barely pick him up and he doesn't fit in my lap anymore. 
Something has changed (is changing?).  I used to be me first.  A person, a woman, a Smithie, a quilter.  But now, no.  Now I'm Mom first. 
So this quilt took me a long time, but it helped me discover this change, see who I am now.  And I'm glad I can write that here, because I'm not sure non-quilters would quite understand.  I love this quilt, and I'm happy the end is near.  I hope to have it in the mail this weekend and let it become part of someone else's story.

Happiness

warm cuddly quilts on the couch = happiness.
a quilt done in the first week of the new year = happiness.

I love having this quilt on the couch.  The seed of inspiration came a looong time ago on a photo on Luckybeans' blog (which I can't find now) of a basket weave quilt with red center strips.  Thanks Katurah.  Never knew I'd actually make it, but now that I did, I'm glad I remembered where the idea came from.

Inspiration for the flowers came from a bunch of places, this one from the Material Obsession book, and this one by Nifty mainly.  Renewed love of applique thanks to Shelly, as I mentioned before.

the quilting, oh the quilting.. at first I thought I'd try clam shells..but a test piece didn't work out so well, so I opted to play around with flowers and swirls.  It was fun.  Some worked out the way I wanted, but I need more practice with meanders because I didn't always know how to get out of the area I had just quilted.. move up?  move right?  the pattern lended itself to going in a L--> R direction, but then I had issues rolling the whole quilt back up and shoving it under the machine again.  Thank goodness it was a small quilt.

I backed it in a soft vintage (1980s?) purple that I got out of the Atlanta guild's ugly box in 2003.  I had 4 yards of it, taking up space in the stash for years.. It just worked so perfectly with this quilt, I'm happy it found a home.   What is it with me and purple these days?  I think I just have so much of it and I was tired of feeling like I couldn't use it because I live with two guys.  Yeah, whatever.  A quilt is a quilt.  If I buy floral fabric or girly colors, I need to use it!  Enough of my self-imposed rules-- I commit to make what I feel like making~

On my label I used both nengajo stamps-- the bunny from 2011 and the sea horse from 2012.  God it feels good to have a finish in 2012 already...

Welcome 2012!

I have more than a few New Year's resolutions this year, most stemming from the important realization that I do have the power to live the life I want.  So this is my first-- when possible, choose to be happy.  If it means appreciating the things I have or learning to let go and try something new, I am going to make a conscious effort to be happy more often than not.  And in case I forget, I put it on a quilt to remind myself.

My other goals for 2012:

• BUST STASH
• find homes for those orphan blocks
• revisit awesome projects that got shelved for one reason or another
• BUST MORE STASH
• crumb quilt?

Here's hoping that 2012 brings happiness to everybody, at least most of the time..

thank god it's FRIDAY!

Not having been a 9-5er in a few years, I've kind of forgotten the sense of relief that comes from hopping in your car after work on a Friday afternoon.  But now we've got a new reason to celebrate Fridays-- Laura and M-R had the great idea to have a moving show and tell of sorts, TGIFF, where we all link up at somebody's blog each friday and show off our recent finishes.  Different than other linky finish parties, this one travels, and you have the opportunity to host one week, should you want to.


This week I'm happy to show off the Simple Squares quilt I made for my friend's son.  Started in July, all this needed was binding for months, and I finally got it sewed down just in time for the cooler weather. 

I quilted in my default wavy line pattern.  So simple, so easy.  I wonder if I'll ever try to freemotion any other patterns...

On the back I put a large scale Alexander Henry print of Chinese toys.  It'll give Logan something to look at from underneath as well.

And here's the whole thing.  It has been packaged up and sent on its way.  Hopefully the recipient can snap a photo of the baby and quilt for me when it gets there. 

***Argh!! I was supposed to be hosting TGIFF today, but didn't plan ahead and auto-post in time for the early-rising Aussies!  Sorry guys!  The linky party for today started on the main TGIFF page because I was late!  Pop over there to link up, ok!

improv-- a 6 minute circle story.

I'm working on my submission for the NYC Metro Mod Guild show (read more about the traveling show here, you may be able to see our quilts in a town near you!), and I hit a snag when I realized that I couldn't get as many words on it as I had originally planned..
Wait, let me explain-- the theme of the show is "What does Modern Quilting mean to you?" and along with the quilt, we all must submit artist statements detailing our personal beliefs on Modern Quilting and how that ties into our show quilts.  I, of course, wanted to write all over mine, in pieced letters.  Like, all over it, but I realized that my design space is much much smaller than what I wanted to say.
My quilt is split into two parts, with writing on both but using different background fabrics.
The bottom letters are 3" tall, and the quilt must be 15" x 20" to be included in the show.. I knew I could make smaller letters, but didn't want to try to piece itsy bitsy fabrics to make my "b" "g" and "a" look curved.  So, I got creative and tried something new.
Ages ago I saw the 6 minute circles technique on a blog somewhere (I think it was this one), but just filed it in the back of my mind, not needing it until last week..
I drew up some tiny circles, followed the directions, and gave it a try.

On my first attempt, I removed the freezer paper before stitching as the directions suggest, but my "circle" wasn't really round. 

For all subsequent attempts, I left the freezer paper on as a sewing guide and my results improved.

Yay!  I had little circles, which I then pieced into letters measuring just under 2" tall.

Now for a bit more applique and hand work, and my tiny quilt top will be ready for basting.

Couldn't help adding in some EPP..

What I learned:
This is a great method, and I think it will experiment more with this type of freezer paper piecing for letters.  Of course, with the success of my first 4 circles, I got a little over zealous, and ambitiously tried to use the technique to piece other shapes..

The hearts worked great! until I got to the accute point at the center of the top.. um, no.  physically impossible.  But, I improvised and just needleturned the points by hand.  I still got an awesome heart, just half pieced, half appliqued. 

It looks better than a raw-edged machine applique, and faster than hand appliqueing the whole thing.  I'm pretty sure I'd do it again.
(Btw, heart blocks are for the 15 minutes play Scrap bee.)

SAND

Letters complete!

We went to the beach on Sunday and George had a great time searching for shells.  He wouldn't hold still for a photo, so I took one of us instead.

When I tried to get C to pose and make a good shadow, this is what he did to me.. the Greeks give horns instead of bunny ears.  how romantic. (I have a photo of C doing this to his mom, I can only guess it's an affectionate gesture..)

The bulge is my purse, btw.  My butt is big, but not that big.

I'm experimenting with the gorilla pod I got for my birthday.  I was able to get a photo of both hands by attaching the camera to the buttons of my sweater.  Neat, huh?

I made this block for Tanya, for her month in the Rosey Little Bee.  I tried string piecing onto tissue paper and it worked pretty well, tearing off with ease.  Putting the 4 blocks together though was tricky, the bias edges (especially of the toile), stretched more than I was used to.  I have always left the paper on until after I pieced the whole top when paper/string piecing and it has always been a challenge to get the paper out of the seams, so I tried something new and .. i need to keep trying.  Shannon said something about piecing onto plain newsprint, has anyone tried it?

K, I & R

Chugging along at these.. 8 down, 4 to go.  The R was traumatic.. it took a looong time to get it to look like a recognizable R.  I'm still not 100% happy with it, but it's a learning experience and hopefully I'll grow from it.  The R I put on George's quilt was boxier, but I wanted a more angular look this time, to imitate the K.

XL

You know, I thought "X" would be easier..

AAA

These are:

• the grades I hope to get on my papers this semester (school's going fine, btw)
• the first letter of the alphabet that George can recognize by sight
• what happens when you try to spell out your long Greek last name for the back of your quilt (only 9 more letters to go!)

I got in a little quilting today.  I'm going to take these letters nice and slow and then piece them into the backing even though it means I might not get it basted or quilted til the spring.  So long as I'm at the binding stage by June, I'll be happy.

I spent some time updating the layout of my blog and adding "pages"-- I want to have photos of all my quilts in one place, but blogger is not making it easy for me to edit the page and put them in chronological order.  I think I have to go back and upload them in the order I want them to appear.  Pain in the ***