Ooh Lucky Baby Log Cabin

When I received an invitation to a baby shower for my goddaughter, I kinda knew I'd need to go shopping for fabric. I definitely wanted something girly. In a perfect world, I would have ordered some mermaid-themed fabric, but time was short, so I chose from what my local brick-and-mortar had in stock. Luckily, it was some very fun stuff. Here's what I brought home:

• Alexia Abegg's Ooh Lucky Lucky Mini Dot in Lucky Pink 
• Plus Alexia's Ooh Lucky Lucky Good Luck in Lucky Pink 
• Miniatures I Heart You from Love Letter by Whistler Studios for Windham Fabrics
• Tula Pink's True Colors Tent Stripe in Poppy
• Kitty Litter in Watermelon by Pammie Jane

Once home, I added in some Kona Carnation from stash, since the pattern I was using called for six fabrics. The pattern, Quilt As You Go Log Cabin by Jera Brandvig @quiltingintherain for Pellon, is one I've made before, though this time I made a couple of changes. 1) I did not do QAYG because I knew I wanted to quilt it with a serpentine stitch; and 2) I made it just a bit larger by adding two more strips, for a final size of 38" x 42". Regarding the focus fabric, the Good Luck print with multiple 'charms?'.... I loved that it had a pig on it! My goddaughter has always loved pigs and even has a pet pig, so that was a fun connection. AND the fabric was perfect for leading the pink theme.

For the backing, I used the Tula Pink stripe, and for the binding, the mini dot.

Such a simple but satisfying pattern. Of course, I needed to make a fabric gift bag to put it in, but forgot to take a photo. Oh well, the quilt was very much appreciated, and I loved to be able to make it and gift it to welcome a sweet new baby girl.... also, my first quilt finish with my new Janome.

The Baby Hannah Quilt

When I wanted to make a baby quilt for a friend recently, Erica/@kitchentablequilting had just released her Hannah Quilt pattern, and I was pretty sure I could make good use of my original Cotton + Steel stash for just such a little quilt. 

I went for a scrappy version, with the amount of each fabric totally dictated by what I had on hand. So there's a little more of one color than another, but I think it works. The block backgrounds are also scrappy; and two, in fact, are in ivory solid, since I ran out of workable C+S prints that would work. 

For quilting, I started out with a simple grid, then went back and quilted diagonals in one direction, skipping every other row. I thought that added a little interest without quilting it too densely.

The baby size of the Hannah quilt ended up at 36" x 48", and I did wash it up before sending it off. I tried several times to get good photos of it, but the weather, light, or whatever wasn't being too cooperative. Even so, small and sweet, it was a fun little detour from the larger projects in the works.

Inside Out Patchwork Hearts

When I joined Emily Dennis' Patchwork Hearts QAL, I had in mind to sew a few blocks a week and have the baby-sized quilt done in mid-February, forcusing primarily on other projects I already had going. Well that all changed once I began piecing the scrappy blocks. The repetition of the same precision block over and over just isn't really my favorite kind of sewing right now. So at some point I just decided to get past the piecing of the blocks, and made all 22 of them in just a few sewing sessions.

By the time I got the quilt top finished, I was gung ho to just finish the quilt, and forgot to even take a photo of the quilt top before moving on to make a backing and getting the sandwich basted!

I made quick work of the quilting, using the serpentine stitch on my back-up machine before I stored it away, my JUKI having just returned home from servicing. With the quilt being so small (45" x 45") and the quilting 2" apart, I was ready to sew on binding in no time.

Emily calls this version of her Patchwork Hearts pattern an inside out heart quilt, and it called to me the first time I saw it, with the backgrounds of the heart blocks in scrappy low-volume prints. I took it a step further and made the hearts super scrappy too.

It feels good to have a small finish + a gift at the ready. AND this one obviously fit well into my 50 Days of Scraps! Makes me anxious to use more!

#aqt50DaysOfScraps2022

Patchwork Hearts

There are a couple of reasons that I'm joining in on Emily Dennis' Patchwork Hearts QAL - it accommodates scraps, and as you know, I've started in on another 50 Days of Scraps. AND I want to make a baby quilt for a friend, so double duty, right?

Over the weekend I cut everything I needed - whew! I'd like to say the worst is over, but the tops of those hearts include squares just 1.25". Yikes. So once I've sewn all those on, I'll breathe a sigh of relief.

But I'm liking the super scrappy heart blocks a lot! Don't expect me to take four weeks to sew up the 22 blocks I need. My improv is calling to me, so I'll probably get these blocks pieced and ready as quickly as I can so I can move on.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the fun mix of fabrics, and am actually looking forward to piecing a pink quilt back from stash!

Baby Geese

A new little baby quilt was just delivered to its recipient, a sweet newborn baby girl. When contemplating what to make for her, I wanted something minimal, soft and light. I found inspiration on wayfair, a home goods site. The simple focus was some large flying geese blocks, and Lee Heinrich's Perfect Geese Templates were perfect, considering the large scale (4" x 8") of the geese. For fabrics, I chose Cotton Couture in Apricot, Cream, Gold, Meadow, plus a couple of Konas in Leather and an unidentified gray.

As you can imagine, assembly was pretty quick, which made it lots of fun. I kept the backing super simple and innocent, completely in more of the CC Cream. And for quilting, a diagonal grid using Aurifil 50wt #2021 [Natural White].

Baby-sized at 37" x 43", I finished it off with matched binding, a simple yet impactful detail.

Though I don't necessarily wash every quilt at its finish, I did this time since it was a baby quilt to be gifted. I could tell immediately after I pulled it from the dryer that it had shrunk. This was my first time washing both Cotton Couture solids and Quilter's Dream Select batting in a finished quilt, so who knows which contributed most, but once washed, the quilt measured 34.5" x 40.5"! Now maybe I'd find that with my other quilts too, but just haven't paid attention. But interesting, and of course, good to know.

So this was the last quilt project on my current list, which means I don't necessarily know what's next! I'm thinking maybe there are some scraps that need played with.... Time will tell!

Geo Baby

Recently the occasion arrived where I needed to make a baby quilt, and the one I'd made my youngest grandgirl came to mind to replicate. Actually, it was originally inspired by a darling patchwork quilt by @tincatsew. Taking color cues from the new baby boy's gift registry, I pulled solids from my stash. I do know that the orange is Kona Tiger Lily, and the blue is Kona blueprint. Piecing this simple design combining basic quilt blocks with blocks of color was most enjoyable. And yes, the stripes were all pieced as well.

The backing fabrics were actually purchased on a long-ago quilting retreat in California - Big Sky by Annie Brady for Moda. I had originally planed for the animal print to be the focus fabric for the front of a baby quilt, but I'm glad I waited, as it was a perfect backing for this one.

Of course, this quilt called for a special label, hand-embroidered and incorporating a lone left-over block. The quilt finished at 37" x 40" and was just delivered to its young recipient. I trust it gives the little guy some joy and comfort as he grows up with it. That's my hope.

Triangle Baby Quilt

There's a Pinterest pinboard I go to when I need to make a baby quilt. It's full of ideas, and this time, the Triangle Baby Quilt by Allison/Cluck Cluck Sew caught my eye. And luckily, Allison had provided enough of a tutorial that it was easy to closely replicate.

Happily, I was able to pull a combo of blues and yellows from stash and just enough Kona white to fill in. Though I'd done triangles before [here, here, and here], I refreshed myself with Paula/The Sassy Quilter's piecing triangle rows, so it was smooth sailing from there.

For quilting I followed my normal trinity, following the lines of the triangles, their seam lines marked out to the edges with a Hera marker, and in between those lines, I sewed by eye, creating a diamond-like grid approximately 2" wide.

I was on a roll, I guess, feeling a little overshadowed by what else I had going on, and went ahead and bound the little quilt by machine while I was at it. Not my norm, but it felt good to do it that way on this quilt at this time. That finished the quilt at 39" x 45".

It felt good to be able to whip this one up over several days. Good for the stash, good for me, good for the little guy it'll be gifted to soon.

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   I followed the lines of the triangles, which were carried out to the edges with Hera marker, and some I did by eye. Those are my three main techniques when quilting.
  
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   I followed the lines of the triangles, which were carried out to the edges with Hera marker, and some I did by eye. Those are my three main techniques when quilting.
  
  21m
  
  

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   I followed the lines of the triangles, which were carried out to the edges with Hera marker, and some I did by eye. Those are my three main techniques when quilting.
  
  21m
  
  

For Baby

When I wanted to make a baby quilt for a family friend recently, and I heard her primary nursery color was gray, I immediately thought back to Svetlana/s.o.t.a.k. handmade's Modern Coins quilt I had saved in my Baby Quilt Ideas pin board ages ago. My version was different, but still (I think) with the same flavor, and measured 40" x 44".

For the backing, I chose Dear Stella Pine Grove in Multi. Actually, I chose the backing first, and Kristina at Fabric Bubb was kind enough to color-match for me, and helped me select Kona White and Iron for the front.

Quilting was an uneven grid, which is always fun. The little quilt was gifted to the mama-to-be over the weekend, so all the secret sewing of late has been revealed. yay!

For Baby A

Our new granddaughter was born last Friday and we are all thoroughly smitten. And it's the honest truth that I took the last stitch in her baby quilt on Wednesday, threw it in the wash and then pinned it to my design wall on Thursday to dry. What timing.



Baby's mama, my daughter Rachel/@snippetsofsweetness, had shown me an inspiration photo, a darling patchwork quilt by @tincatsew, along with colors she'd chosen for some of baby's nursery linens: Kona Petal, Creamsicle, Pond, Cornflower, Thistle, and White.

I started by making the focal points - the flying geese, half-square triangles, and stripes, and arranged them on the design wall as I went. Then I filled in with blocks of color. There were two prints I included with all the solids, Wink in Pond and Sprinkle in Anna Blue.

I kept building until it was a nice baby-size, 35 1/2" x 39", and started in on the quilting, which all along I planned to be an uneven grid. I realize now that the matched binding details aren't obvious in my photos, but everywhere blue reached the edge of the quilt, the binding is the blue Sprinkle print; everywhere else it's solid blue... a simple little accent, but just an added touch. 

So this timely finish got delivered straightaway, and is home with baby as she settles in with her family.

Geo Baby

The fabric and pattern for this baby quilt were chosen two full months ago, but let's just say I got distracted by pincushions and stuff. And wouldn't you know, new baby boy was born over the weekend as I was finally working to get his quilt finished.



Baby's mama chose the pattern - "Geo" by Samantha Green/For the Love of Fabric - one of oodles she and daughter dear and I have jointly pinned to a baby quilt ideas pin board over the last couple of years. I totally approved and was pleased when she asked for a similar look with the green and blue dots and ginghams. When all was chosen, I included 15 different fabrics.

Of course making and trimming all those half-square triangles took the most time, but at 32" x 44", it was actually fun, and I placed the trimmed squares on the design wall a handful at a time. I could have spent alot of time rearranging before final construction, but I always find that more confounding than living with the original layout. With a scrappy design such as this, no matter what you move, you'll have similar fabrics nearby etc. etc.

For backing, I pieced three different sizes of gingham together and I kinda love it! Random fact.... this gingham is soft! I used the same batting as usual, but the quilt definitely has a softer hand than normal. Perfect for baby. 

I quilted in Aurifil 50wt #2021 (Natural White) in a grid to one side of each square, horizontally and vertically, then to one side of the diagonal in one direction. With all that vivid green and blue, I didn't think I needed to accentuate anything with colored thread. Subtle suited this one.
 

Oh! The binding.... is the softest organic Window Dressing in Shamrock and Ocean by Cloud9 Fabrics. You may or may not remember I used Window Dressing in Twig and Coral to bind my recent Junish. I'm seriously tempted to plan my next quilt on which colorway I want to bind in next. It's that good.

This project was on my 2017 Q3 Finish-A-Long list!
Linking up with Finish It Up Friday!

Hi(bear)nate

There was one more baby quilt to make this fall, and as I looked for fabric that would fit a woodlands theme, I happened across the Hello, Bear collection by Bonnie Christine. Dare I say, it perfectly fit the bill, and happily, the Art Gallery Fabrics website offered a free pattern featuring the line. Hi(bear)nate was made with large 10" 60-degree triangles, and went together smoothly.

I had chosen some of my favorites from the line, including the minty "Firefly Sigh" as the background, and added just one or two from stash. I really loved the animals on the focus fabric, though one little comment - the motifs don't fill the triangles as much as the pattern implied, so there's a bit more chopped animal bits than I would have chosen, but they're all cute enough after all.



The backing was pieced from several of the fabrics used on front, and quilting was 2" diagonal lines starting from the center gray triangle with the owls. These photos are all after the quilt was washed, but if you look close in the bottom center of the photo above, you'll see the one place where the lines overlap in a grid. I love that.

Unfortunately, I forgot to measure the finished quilt, but I believe it ended up at about 48" x 60". I'm just pleased to know it's finished and on its way....

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday!

Log Cabin Petite

As often happens as I'm pulling my newsletter together, I happen upon a design I have to explore further. This time it was the Quilt As You Go Log Cabin by Jera/Quilting in the Rain, posted on the Pellon site. Luckily, there was a brand new little boy that needed a quilt, so I headed straightaway to pull some fabric.



I haven't done alot of qayg, but it was perfect for this little quilt. As Jera described, it was "one form of 'quilt as you go' where a quilt is pieced directly onto one big piece of batting." Of course since the finished quilt measured just 33" x 36", it wasn't that big, which made it very easy to handle.

After sneaking a peek at photos baby's mama had posted on facebook, I had a hint at an appropriate color scheme. And I don't expect many of you to understand, but boy I enjoyed sewing with brown! It's been on my list for a while now, and this little quilt reminded me I need to set aside time to do it again soon.



Quilting was all done with irregularly spaced straight-lines in Aurifil 50wt 2370 [sandstone], a color I hadn't used before, but it added a softness to the browns while still tying in those greens.



Once the quilted top was done, I basted it to its backing and it didn't take too many passes to secure it. Jera provides a suggested quilting diagram and it worked perfectly.

So as this little quilt and its predecessor wing their way to their new homes, there's just one more baby quilt to make, then on to that Christmas sewing!

Pixelated Heart

New arrivals in our extended family means baby quilts are definitely in order, and admittedly, I've gotten a very late start. But with this pixelated heart quilt, one can be on its way.

The pattern is from Blue Elephant Stitches, and since I had alot of 2 1/2" squares already cut, I used them rather than the suggested 3" squares. To up-size the quilt just a bit, I added two extra 'background' rows on the left and the bottom.

I used my everyday Aurifil 50wt 2021 (natural white) to quilt a grid, sewing on the right side of each column and the bottom of each row, just to add to the 'offset'.

My original idea was to grow the quilt even more with a 2" finished binding pieced of several of the low-volume fabrics. Which worked great - but as I was sewing it on, I realized it reminded me of the satin edge on a baby blanket - and I liked that alot.

The finished quilt measures 36" x 38" and is super sweet, exactly as I was hoping it should be.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday!