Party Time, Friends!

Welcome to Needle and Thread Thursday, y'all!  It has been one busy week for me.  It's testing week.  It really is an unfortunate reality that so much rides on student performance on three days of testing, but it is what it is.  After finishing up my Bubble Bath pattern, I got to work on this sweet baby quilt.  Low volume is not something I usually gravitate to, but the soft shades of pink, gray, and aqua in this quilt will match her nursery perfectly.

I used my Strip Tango tutorial.  I needed this quilt in a hurry, and this pattern is always quick and fun to put together.  I also had some time to check out all of the quilty awesomeness from last week's party.  Although I don't get as much time to do it as I would like, reading blogs is always a huge stress reliever for me, and last week's party certainly did not disappoint!

Leland Avenue Studios shared this fantastic plus quilt.  What gorgeous photos!

Pedal Sew Lightly linked up her bright and cheery granny square quilt.

and last, but not least, Curlyque Sue showed off her beautiful and colorful finished Scrappy Trip.

Okie dokie, friends!  It's time to show off your latest creations!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

Bubble Bath Pattern!

Hooray!  After many nights of staying up into the wee hours of the morning, I am so thrilled to say that my Bubble Bath quilt pattern is finished and available in my Craftsy and Etsy shops- just in time for all of the fun Friday parties!

It is written for lap and twin sizes, and has extremely detailed instructions, including full-color illustrations and cutting diagrams.  In fact, because of the nontraditional layout, I was sure to include even more illustrations than usual.

I promise that I've made the instructions easy peasy to follow, so I hope you'll hop over to my shop and check it out.  Happy almost weekend!

Come Link Up, Friends!

Welcome to Needle and Thread Thursday, y'all!  Isn't the feeling that the weekend is almost here just awesome?  I don't know what it is, but as soon as Wednesday's work day is over, I start feeling the downhill slide of the week and the weight on my shoulders lightens up a little bit.

I have been madly working on my Bubble Bath quilt pattern, and it is almost finished.  eek!  I can't wait to release it!  In the midst of that though, I sewed up this little preemie quilt to donate to the local children's hospital.  I'm sure you recognize those little bits.  They're the leftover triangle corners from my Sunny Skies quilt.  Since I ordinarily just throw these away, I'm feeling pretty good about turning these scraps into something so fun!  This little quilt is only about 32 x 36 inches.

I backed it with the same aqua dot that I used on Sunny Skies, and used the navy to bind it.

Last week's party was full of spring quilting inspiration!  Maryse Makes Things showed off her finished granny square quilt.  The quilt and the photos are just gorgeous.  Doesn't that photo make you want to curl up in that hammock with that beauty?

Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs shared several WIP's, but my favorite of them is her soothing Sea Star quilt.

and finally, Julie at Pink Doxies linked up her latest HST quilt, as well as photos of her new sewing space.  Love the colors in this one!

Seriously, you have no idea how much inspiration you give me week after week!  Time to continue the awesomeness!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

Bubble Bath

I am so excited to share my snowball quilt finish with you!  The more I worked on this quilt, the more I loved the design of it;  so much that I've actually started writing the pattern for it in lap and twin sizes.

Believe it or not, of all of the baby quilts I've done over the years, I've never made a pink and gray one.  Calling it a baby quilt is a bit deceptive, because it is actually a twin size (72" x 92"), but it is going in a nursery.

Almost all of the scraps went into the backing, plus some wide stripes of my favorite pink from the quilt.  The pink tonal orange peel print is too cute, and the photo of the label shows it really well.  I decided to use the softest gray (Kona Shadow) for the label, rather than white.

I thought that the floating pink and gray snowballs looked like bubbles, and since this was made with a baby girl in mind, I decided to name it Bubble Bath.

The design of this quilt was kind of a different process for me.  Usually I set out to design a block that looks pretty and makes a secondary pattern when they are put together.  This quilt started with an idea for the snowballs to "float" across the quilt like bubbles, so the quilt was designed all at once, versus designing a single block.  I had to play around with it for awhile before I was happy with it, but I think the illusion is successful.

My very favorite fabric in the quilt is one that I almost didn't use at all.  This Riley Blake pink and white gardening text print is just awesome, and I think it adds a perfect whimsical touch to the quilt.   It's called Flower Patch Words by Lori Holt.   I really worried that the white background would be too light, and that those snowballs wouldn't show up very well, but I'm glad I went ahead and used it.

"Earth laughs in flowers."  Isn't that just a wonderful quote?  The fabric is full of gems like this, and I think I might have to get more of it since I used every last bit.  I am delivering this quilt to its new home this evening, then I can really get down to business on the pattern.

NTT!

Okay, y'all.  State testing season is in full swing, and I have literally crashed every night this week.  I have to leave for school in a couple of minutes, but I wanted to host NTT really quickly before I head out the door.

So let's get to some super quick highlights this week!  Party on!

Modern Material Girl's Juggle quilt is so beautiful!

Tanya Quilts in CO shared her Tulip Patch finish.  Lovely, bright colors!

and this Fall Out quilt from Ida Rather Be Quilting is so neat!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

Snowballs for a Nursery

I finally finished putting my snowball quilt top together last night and I am so happy with how it turned out.  I wanted to do something a little different from a traditional snowball quilt, so I just started sketching and this is what I came up with.

I used three different sizes of snowballs- 12 inch, 8 inch, and 4 inch, and constructed the quilt in sections.  I like the way the snowballs "float" across the quilt, making it difficult to see where the sections are.  I think when it is quilted the illusion will be even cooler, that's what I'm hoping for anyway.

This quilt is destined for a twin bed that is part of a sweet nursery, all decorated in shades of pink and gray.  I can't wait to finish it!

Ticker Tape

Every April, my school has a huge carnival fundraiser, complete with food trucks, dunk tank, cake walk, games, face painting, and lots of silent auction items.  This year, the PTA asked each class to create a piece of art to be auctioned off, and we could choose to make anything we wanted.  Of course I chose to use fabric.  Was there ever really a question?

I went through my scrap jars and found all of the smallest bits, and decided to make a Ticker Tape "quilt" on canvas using this tutorial from Crazy Mom Quilts.  I LOVE it so much, I think I'm going to try to win it for my sewing room...although my assistant principal has her eye on it for her office.

The biggest change I made from the method in the tutorial is that I added two coats of glossy decoupage medium on top of the fabric as well, rather than just sticking the fabric down with it.  I didn't want to take any chances with the fabric edges fraying, and I like the texture it gives.  The kids had so much fun placing the pieces (with a little guidance from me), and I think it will do well at the auction.

The canvas is big, measuring 24 x 36 inches, so this is a real statement piece.  Even if I don't win it, I think I might have to make another one for myself!

Link Up, Friends!

Happy almost Thursday, my friends!  Spring has definitely sprung around here, and baseball season and the end of school year countdown are constant reminders (32 school days until summer vacation, in case anyone was wondering).

I have started a new project, and don't have much to show for it yet, but I'll have more progress soon. My April MQG meeting is Sunday, and I want to have the top done by then.  We are discussing alternate gridwork as an element of modern quilting, and this is going to be a great example of it for show and tell.

This one is going to be twin size, and will go on a bed in the nursery of a baby on the way.  I'm going to be working as quickly as I can to put the top together before the weekend, so be on the lookout for it.  I'm so excited about the design!

As always, last week's party provided tons and tons of quilty eye candy!  Leigh Laurel Studios showed off this Charm Box quilt.

2 Dogs Studio linked up this Ribbon Candy quilt top, and the fabrics are lots of fun!

and Lori at Crossquilt (who also happens to be a guild friend) shared this awesome quilt to donate to the hospital as part of our guild project.

Okay y'all!  During this crazy time of year, browsing through all of your fantastic projects every week really helps me stay energized, and keeps my creativity flowing.  Bring it on!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

Sunny Skies

The name of this quilt is a bit of wishful thinking.  It was finished and photographed in a mad rush, trying to beat the thunderstorms that are heading our way, which will inevitably make the ground soggy and unsuitable for photos for days.  I did get sprinkled with a few raindrops, and had to get my shots as efficiently as possible between gusts of wind, but that's just all part of the beauty of spring!

I really enjoyed working with the calm, soothing color palette of this quilt.  It feels so light and airy to me, and perfect for the season.

I used all of the scraps in the backing, and used an aqua pin dot fabric to finish it out.  You can see the fabric really well in the photo of the quilt label.  I like the way both the yellow and navy pop against it, and the way that the navy binding stands out as well.

Slowly but surely, everything is turning green again, just in time for Easter.  After such a long, icy winter, the warmer days and blooming trees are so inspiring, and everything feels light and hopeful.  Happy Easter weekend, y'all!

Needle and Thread Thursday!

Welcome to NTT, friends!  This week has been a crazy one.  If you've ever worked with kids, you will know what I mean when I say that April Fool's Day is not my favorite day.  A few pranks are fun, but with 5th graders, it can get excessive.  Ah well, at least it only comes around once a year!

I have managed to put the backing together for my latest quilt, but have progressed no further.  This is baseball season after all, and is just the time of year when I feel like my quilting happens in slow motion.  I'm thinking that the three day weekend might just afford me the time to finish it up.

So, we'll get right to last week's amazing party features!

Anne at Springleaf Studios linked up this bright, fresh beauty, and since the photo cropper cut much of the quilt out of the thumbnail last week, I wanted to be sure that everyone got to ogle it.

Maryse Makes Things showed off her gorgeous clamshell top.  Amazing!

and this scrappy masterpiece from Janet at Simply Pieced is a stunner.  Believe me.  I saw this quilt at our last guild meeting, and it is even better in person.

Edited- I just realized that I owe you a winner from the mini charm and pattern giveaway!  Out of 199 comments, the lucky winner was number 199!  Congrats and I'll be contacting you by email soon!

toplesshotdogMarch 31, 2015 at 12:41 PM

I love it! teatly at gmail dott com

ReplyDelete

Okay.  NOW it's time to party!  I can't wait to see what awesome inspiration you bring this week!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!