Solids & Squares Quilt is all finished!

I finished the quilt that I made for my mother. I really enjoyed putting it together. As I've mentioned before, working with different colors and so many solids was a wonderful push outside of my comfort zone.

I'm so pleased with it's combination of being modern design, but also simple and not loud.

For the back I did mostly blue with a strip of warm reds and browns - all fabrics that are in the front.

And I'm so happy with the binding on this one too!

I'm not usually drawn to batiks, but this simple one that my mother has told me is her "favorite fabric ever" works perfectly to add another small nice touch to the quilt. Can't wait to give it to her when she comes for a visit later this month!

Flora & Fauna Quilt all finished!

And now you know the name I came up with for the biggest quilt I've made!  I think that it's perfectly fitting because there's lots of both flora and fauna in the quilt.  And that's it.  Don't have to dig too much to get to the meaning! Ha!

I have to say... I'm proud of this one.  I think that it's my favorite quilt that I've made.  I put this one together block by block and, to me, it really represents the progress I've made in my quilt design. Improvisationally pieced, lots and lots of different fabrics, and a balance with solids. These are all things that I've really worked on and have all come together in this one quilt. This one is going to be hard to part with! But it will be very near by and I will visit it often.

A quick mention 'cause the photos aren't really true... the dark solid is chocolate brown, not black...

For the back I put together something that worked with the white fabric I had.

This has to be the biggest log cabin block I'll ever make! It's huge!

This quilt also reminds me how much I enjoy blogging and recording my progress. Back on November 5th of last year I posted this photo of fabric that I had pulled for my next quilt.

And here we are, three months later and (plus or minus some fabrics) it's finished. I really just find the whole process so rewarding and satisfying. From raw fabric to completed quilt!

Blue & Green + Yellow Baby Quilt

I just finished up another baby quilt. I'd mentioned before that this color scheme was requested so it forced me to leave behind the comfort of my orange or pink. I am so pleased with the results! I really find this quilt so vibrant and bright. I hope that it is well loved!

The back:

And a detail of it all cozy and folded up!

Sparks Baby Quilt

I finished a new baby quilt for some friends whose last name is Sparks.  It's such a good last name, that I'm using it for the name of the quilt! This is another gender neutral one 'cause they are waiting to find out.

I love how this quilt came out.  It's sort of a mini version of my Land & Sea Quilt.  I actually kept track of the measurements as I made this one, so I'm thinking I'll post the pattern soon.

A fussy cut center of each block will be fun for the baby as he or she grows up!

One of my usual pieced backs:

First finished quilt of 2009

I started this very simple baby quilt a while back in 2008, but I just finished it, so I'm counting it as #1 for 2009!

The little baby girl who this was made for, was born a couple of weeks ago at only 29 weeks due to risk to the mother's health.  Luckily the doctors say that all will be ok for both Mom & daughter.  The planned shower is still happening this coming weekend so I hope that the mother likes the quilt.

They are doing their nursery in a ladybug theme so I picked up this cute Flutterby fabric that has little ladybugs all over it and I'm calling it the Ladybug Baby Quilt.  I know, not so creative. I have a hard time coming up with names for my quilts...

I also did a simple pieced back with the same fabric:

And one of my usual embroidered labels.

I do so enjoy sitting and stitching these while I watch a tv show or two. My husband and I are on a binge of The Wire these days. I had never seen even one episode before and oh it is so good!

Otherwise, I'm feeling like I've been getting tons of sewing done so far this year. I'm motivated these days... it's great and I hope it lasts!

I hope you're all feeling the same way! Back to the sewing room I go...

A simple baby boy quilt!

I finished up the quilt I've been working on.  After I finish this post I'm off to pick out fabrics for my next one.  It will be the very first quilt I make with no specific recipient in mind.  I'm thinking it's time to start building an "inventory" and perhaps one day an etsy shop?  It's hard for me to make that leap. Anyhow, here is the finished baby boy quilt!  It measures 45" x 60" which has become my standard size for a baby quilt.  I know that's big, but I feel like the use it will get can last longer if it's big enough to cover a toddler, as well as a baby!

What will I do when there is no more Katie Jump Rope to be found?!?  I need to seriously stock up before it disappears from all shops...   I find it to be a staple that I return to over and over again. I am yet to find another fabric line that has so many fabrics that work perfectly for men & boys. Anyone have any suggestions?

The back:

And since everyone loves a give away, I wanted to mention this one over at See Katie Sew.  Who doesn't want a load of free fabric?!?

Land & Sea Quilt, all finished!

I've decided to call it the Land & Sea Quilt because it's got lots of things from land (flowers, birdies) and sea (mermaids and erm...giant squid!) in it. Couldn't think of a better name, so I settled on that.

It is BIG. 88" x 100". Queen sized for sure and the biggest quilt I've made.

I think that the Alexander Henry birds pop oddly in this next photo of the back, but in person, I really like the choice. Plus I was out of white fabric and determined not to go buy any!

And just a couple more photos because my sister Cate (who the quilt is for! Happy housewarming!) loaned me her killer fancy camera and now I want it. It takes photos that are so much better than the ones my camera takes.

Pink & Green quilts for some twin baby girls!

I finished up the set for my friend who is expecting twin girls.  She told me that she's doing her nursery in greens & tans, but I can't resist pink!  I figured this way, they will match but add a fun pop of pink.  To my knowledge, my friend doesn't know about my blog, so here's hopin' it's still true! I used the same fabrics in both quilts, but one is simple squares and the other is a zigzag quilt.  I had fun making them both, but it's official that I just don't like working with triangles as much as squares.  I'm just a squares kinda girl I guess!

In looking at this next photo, I'm made highly away of the fact that I could be a bit more of a perfectionist in my quilting... I need to work on that. Just a tad more diligence and this line wouldn't look so stupidly wonky.  I generally like wonky, but this was unintended wonk...

And the zigzag!

I broke a few needles quilting these triangles... how does one make the bump of layers where all of the triangles meet, thinner? Is there a trick or tip I don't know?

And a couple of close ups:

And on a completely different, yet quilt related, note this is so great!

Birds & Blooms baby quilt all finished!

Got this fun and bright baby quilt all finished up!

Settled on the name "Birds & Blooms" for it, but I'll have to make another quilt with birds & flowers so that the name "Flowers & Fowl" is used.

Along with the new sewing room, I have a design wall and a new place to take photos of a finished quilt. I need to get the lighting sorted out more, but it's already better the past situation: spread out on the bed where it was really tough for me to get a wide shot.

And a couple of individual blocks close up...

I finished the Stacked Coin Quilt!

Here it is!  All finished! There's nothing like pulling a finished quilt out of the dryer and finally getting to see it in its fully crinkled glory.

It's the biggest quilt I've free motioned.  I luckily don't seem to have that many struggles with shoving a big ol' quilt around in my sewing machine.  Maybe I just don't know better, but I seem to manage alright.  I don't roll the quilt (much) but I bunch and shove it all over the place.

This quilt was based on my Gender Neutral Baby Quilt but full sized, and the color scheme is similar, but somewhat more "adult". I'm happy with the results and I hope its owner will be too!!

And three fun log cabin blocks for the back!

What a Bunch of Squares Baby Quilt

I got this one all finished up and washed!

Meandering free motion quilting + a quick wash and dry = crinkly goodness!!

It came out much better than I had initially anticipated so I'm really happy about that.  It's the Denyse Schmidt pattern but I made fewer blocks that measured 15" square, so it now measures about 45" x 60".

What fun it is to make blocks without really worrying about perfectly measuring and cutting.  As long as they were vaguely the right size, and there was variety among them, they were "right"!  Then framed them all in white and I was done with the top!  Quick and easy and FUN!

Gender Neutral Baby Quilt

I know that I mentioned this quilt in my first post, but I thought that I'd post more specifically about it.  People seem to have reacted well to it, so here are some of my thoughts on how I came up with it. I was very influenced by all of the wonderful stacked coin, or chinese coin quilts that are on flickr.  Like this one, and this one.  So simple and modern and beautiful!

From there, the parents had requested light green, so I had that as a jumping off point.  I went with colors that I felt really are not specifically boy or girl-ish.  As much as I love to use loads of pinks, to me, the instant that there is even a little pink in a quilt, it becomes girly.  That and bold florals.  I feel like a Dad looking as a quilt with loads of flowers in it just won't think it's right for his baby boy.  Granted, there are exceptions to everything, but this is my thinking...  Add that all up, (plus lots of fussy cutting of Heather Ross' amazingly fun and whimsical fabrics) and you get this result!

Update: A few people have asked about the measurements of this quilt... it's 45" x 60". The columns are 6" wide and all of the sashing and the border are 4" wide.

Pink Squares in Squares Baby Quilt

I finished this quilt yesterday and tomorrow I'm off to the shower where it will be given as a gift.  I'm super happy with how it came out.  Pink and baby, yet with wonderful fabrics and not too cutesy...

Hopefully the parents love it as much as I do.  Do any of you struggle with giving away your quilts??  I find that the initial idea of letting it go can be tough, but then I realized that once I finish a quilt and put it away so that the cats can't roll around on it and get it dirty, I only look at the photos of it anyhow.  So I figure, I still can!  Plus nothing makes me happier than getting photos of babies layin' around on one of my quilts!