Another Eye-Spy Quilt

A third college roommate/teammate recently had her first little one (a boy!). 

In case you lost track, out of a tight-knit group of 7 college friends, four of us had babies within a month of each other - we did not plan this! Out of us 7, there are now 7 future jackrabbits ;)

This baby's gender was revealed earlier in the pregnancy, but I still decided to go with an I-Spy quilt. They are just too fun to create, plus they really do "grow" with the baby even up into the toddler years. I love giving baby presents that are useable for a long time!

The mother grew up on a farm, so I just had to use this perfect panel for the backing! I found it on Instagram's #thegreatfabricdestash last spring. I still have another panel to use on a future project.

Quickest. Finish. Ever.

About two weeks ago... well, maybe 2 and a half weeks... I received an invitation to my cousin's baby shower. I had always intended on sewing her a baby quilt, but in reality, nothing was planned - I mean, she wasn't due until November; I had plenty of time!

Well, that invite was the kick start I needed! That same day, I went to my charm "scraps" and picked out a mix of charms... 48 charms of colors, texts, patterns and other i-spy items. I even dug in my stash to see if I had anything suitable for the border, backing and binding. All in the same day. That's a lot of planning, ha ;)

No need to run to the store with an over-energetic toddler when you have everything on hand! Score!

Quick quilting of diagonal lines...

... and a pieced backing of tractors and monkeys.

I still can't believe I got it finished in time. Most of it was actually sewn the week before... because 2.5 weeks just isn't exciting enough... why not wait to just have one week?! 

Yeah, I don't understand myself all the time either :)

Happy last few weeks, cousin! 

August Goals {ALYOF}

Alright, here's the deal... we recently moved into a new house, my 16 month old is busy, busy, busy, and I have a non-sewing project to-do list a mile long. Simply, I've had a lot of time for sewing during the last 7 months and not a lot of time/space/need for non-sewing projects (like painting shelves, weeding and organizing closets). I'm loving that list, too, but I look forward to taking some time this month to sew... even if it's just a little bit!

My goal is to add a border to two baby quilts.

I can't wait to sew!

Sewing At The Lake {ALYOF July Goal Complete}

Even though we were living in my parents' lake cabin all of June, I was able to still get some sewing done!

My ALYOF July goal was to complete two quilt tops using my scraps. You can read about my scraps in the goal post (number 16 in the link party). I did a simple alternating design with 4-patches and 5" charms. 

Like I said in the goal post, these will be quilted and donated as baby quilts (Mom thinks I need to keep them to remember the fabrics from special projects dating back to my 4-H days, but I keep reminding her that I have plenty of these scraps left for more projects!)

Surprisingly, I also got two more quilt tops partially done. These still need borders. The top one uses the rest of my Sasparilla charms (cut from a layer cake)... this quilt will be finished and then tucked away in case Ev ever gets a sibling ;) 

The bottom quilt has a slight plus design and uses more of my charm scraps.

Even more surprisingly, I even finished a winter dress for Ev. 

Pattern: Skater Dress by Kitschy Coo

Cream Fabric: Interlock knit remnant from JoAnns

Floral Fabric: A jersey knit from Hancock Fabrics

While I am soooo happy to finally have a home of my own, I very much enjoyed my month-long stay at the lake cabin :) This journey to home ownership has been lengthy, but we've be blessed with wonderful friends and family that have helped us out along the way. God is so good!

ALYOF ~ March Goal Finished!

My March goal was to finish a quilt made with a quilt top that my Grandma made. 

Goal Post Here. 

(Number 85 on the Goal Setting Linky Post)

In that post, I wasn't yet sure if I wanted to quilt and bind it or if I was going to burp and tie it (also known as the pillowcase method).

I decided to quilt it with my walking foot with wavy lines from side to side. 

Many of the fabrics are from clothes that my mom and aunt wore (homemade) "way back when." :)

I made a scrappy binding out of 2.5" strips in my scrap collection. 

I used a white sheet from a thrift store for the backing.

 I look forward to working with another quilt top of my Grandma's soon!

What's a goal post without showing you my trusty cheerleader helping me take pictures.. and of course, there's Mute the Cat, too!

Linking up to several parties; please see my favorites' buttons in my sidebar.

February Goal... Success!

Using my time management ideas that I outlined on my goals post, I was able to whip February's ALYOF goal out in no time! I added the border, basted it and then quilted lines diagonally both directions through the squares. Here is little Peter's quilt (born in January to one of my college friends). It has already been packed up and mailed out. I hope the little baby (and his parents) enjoys it!

The fabric is from a fat quarter bundle I purchased from Fat Quarter Shop. It's called Amusement Park by Anton & Ink for Camelot Cottons. It was on sale (less than $2 a fat quarter if I remember right), and I thought it was a great collection for baby boys - I have plenty of options for girls, but my boy fabric options were a little slim. I cut the bundle into charms and 2.5" strips. I have enough for another baby quilt, plus some got put away into my scrappy 5" baggies and into my I-Spy charm baggie. I purchased 1 yard of the red dots to border two baby quilts.

I "stole" the backing from Mom's stash. We were going through her stash and organizing and cleaning out, and we decided that this panel would be a perfect backing. I love each of the bears. The sleeping bear is dreaming about what he'll be when he grows up and each letter of the alphabet has a different career (except X, Y, Z). It's definitely not a modern motif, but I don't think Peter (or my friend) will mind! Yay for stash busting!

Check out my sidebar for all my favorite linky parties... Linking up!

January Goal Update

The binding is made...

One runner is quilted and the other one is basted...

I have almost accomplished my January goal... and there is still plenty of time left in the month! I may even get a kickstart to my February goal :)

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• The spoons are flattened... I hope to stamp them soon!
• (Evelyn really wanted to play with this new fabric...)
• I won a gift certificiate to Fashionable Fabrics from Sew Mama Sew's Handmade Holidays series. I purchased three yards of fabric that will hopefully become dresses or skirts for a certain little girl ;)

January Goals.

 Enough of this only-sewing-to-repair-cloth-diapers from December. Enough. I'm going to sew for enjoyment, and that is that. (Well, as long as Dan can take some time away from bookwork and farm work and dismantling a rundown house and watch Baby E for me!) But truly, I plan on sewing this month!

My official goal is to piece, baste, and quilt two table runners. 

You can see in the picture that I already started the piecing, so I should be able to achieve my goal. And if things get real productive around here, I might even get the binding attached! But... don't hold your breath... Evelyn rules the roost, and she's not too keen on letting Momma have a lot of free time. It's a good thing she's cute ;)

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And just for fun... a little sneak peak... 

I've got big plans for this garage sale find from several years ago! It involves hammering and stamping and bending. Can't wait to have some crafty fun!

November Goal... Squeaking By!

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! 

...but now, it's on to the next Holiday...

Merry Early Christmas 

(Advent starts tomorrow!)

 My November goal was to get this pieced - it's the beginnings of a Christmas tree skirt for a wedding gift. The wedding is July 5th!

 I keep experimenting with the old-faithful pattern that my mom has used for tree skirts since the 80s. This time I went down from a 7" block to a 6.5" and added a few 4-patches to spice it up. I also went with a planned-scrappy layout, instead of diagonal lines. I've had the Believe fabric for years, waiting for this friend to get married. The others are all leftovers from past tree skirts, both ones that I made and ones that Mom made.

 I brought it up to my parents' house on Thanksgiving, so Mom can bring it to the lady who always does Mom's long-arm machine quilting. This will also be a new change. In the past, this project would have been tied with yarn. Then we upgraded to embroidery floss. The last skirt I finished, I quilted it along the seams with my home machine. Now, it's time to have someone else do some FMQ on it! (Mom, thanks for having the nativity set up already to help set the mood for these pictures, ha!).

 I also need this tree skirt quilted. I've had this top done for over a year, just waiting for the right wedding announcement. I have another friend's wedding on May 31st! (Evelyn thought she needed to be a part of the photo shoot!)

 You can see the old-way layout of diagonal lines. Four of these fabrics were from Connecting Threads while two are from JoAnns.

While we're on the topic of Christmas projects. Mom's making one of these for all her girls (my two sister-in-laws and me). I found her the pattern in a thrift store - it matched a wreath wall-hanging also made out of log cabin blocks that she made years ago.