Daydreams, and Awesome News!

Fall Break has been kind and has afforded me lots of great, relaxing sewing time, and I was almost able to finish this little (45 x 45in.) baby quilt yesterday.  This morning, I just had to stitch the binding on and take advantage of the gorgeous morning light with a few photos.

This is a baby quilt for a friend at work.  She brought me a few focus fabrics for the quilt and let me have creative license with the rest.  I just love this color combination.  The red is really more of a pinkish red than is showing in the pictures, and it's just the right pop of color against the dreamy aquas and grays.

Another request from my friend is that the baby's name and birthdate be monogrammed and put into the quilt on the front.  This was certainly a first for me, and although I didn't do the monogramming myself, it did dictate the design of the quilt.  I wanted it to look like it belonged in the quilt, rather than a random patch stuck in the middle of the pattern.  I chose a Double Slice pattern, since the blocks created were the perfect size for including this.  I have covered the name/date in the picture, but you can still get an idea of how it fits into the quilt (where the arrow is pointing).  Now that it's finished, I think it's a neat little addition that makes the quilt special.

I went with an all over simple meander for the quilting, although I didn't quilt through the monogramming (that's the patch on the bottom left side that's unquilted).  I just love this aqua fabric, and it keeps the backing looking soft.

The binding is a great fabric that I found in the quilter's aisle at Joann's.  It's a sketchy print, and the perfect shade of pinkish red.  It was really difficult to find fabrics that were the right shade to match the fabric she gave me (the fabric she gave me is the one with the red and pink blossoms you can see really well here).  So when I saw that binding fabric, I snatched it right up!

And now, my awesome news!  I met with the owner of my local sewing shop yesterday.  They aren't a quilt shop, but they have a great fabrics, gifts, and clothes and offer sewing classes.  Although they have a lot of gifty things with fabric, they didn't sell quilts...until yesterday!  They are going to start selling my quilts in the shop, and will also refer customers to me for custom quilts.  YAY!  I am so excited!  They have a couple of quilts right now, and I'm hoping to get a few more made before their big holiday open house coming up in November.  Somebody pinch me!

Sand and Sea Glass Finished!

Wild thing had a baseball tournament this weekend in a town over an hour away (I really would like to know who schedules these things).  In these tournaments, it's best to just plan to hang around the ball field all day long since the schedule is determined by whether you win or lose.  That poses a problem for us because of our (seriously cute, but extremely neurotic) dog (see his picture HERE).  He can't be left alone all day long (possibly longer than a full work day), and pets aren't allowed at these tournaments.

Unfortunately, that means that I miss wild thing's baseball games in these circumstances, which I really hate.  I never miss his games if I can help it.  As much as I wish I could have been at his baseball games, it meant I had the day at home...all by myself... to spend however I wished.  hmmmm...

I stared at my house in disarray and thought of all the things I should do, and then made the decision to quilt and bind my latest quilt.  Was there ever really a question?

I opted to quilt with stippling for a few reasons.  I love the soft, crinkly texture it gives the quilt and it doesn't look too harsh.  Also, since the Double Slice pattern is random-ish, I thought the stippling fit nicely.  It is my favorite kind of quilting, and since I've done straight line quilting in my last two quilts, I've really missed it!  I still don't consider my stippling to be perfect, but I'm getting a lot better at keeping my spacing even- and no crossovers or puckers either.  Yay!

I did do a solid backing instead of a pieced backing though, because I found the darkest taupe fabric in a 90 inch width.  That happens so infrequently, so I figured I might as well use it!

I think the scrappy binding works with the feel of the quilt and keeps it looking like sea glass scattered out on the beach, without "framing" it too much.  The blog post HERE has more details about my inspiration for this quilt.

The finished quilt measures 72 x 72 and I've named it Sand and Sea Glass.  I think it fits perfectly.  I just love this aqua fabric in the label, and I think it really fits with the sea glass theme of the quilt.

All in all, the more I worked on this quilt, the more it grew on me.  Although it really isn't a quilt I would have thought to make without the specific request of a friend, I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  I'll give it to him when we head to Baton Rouge at the end of July, and I hope he likes it as well!

Beach Inspiration

I'm working on a quilt for a friend, who is pretty special to both my husband and to me.  He was my husband's youth choir director throughout high school, and then moved (across the state) to my church and was my youth choir director in the following years.  During that time, he encouraged each of us to pursue music in college, and as it happened, my husband and I ended up attending the same college (a tiny, private school in Shreveport, LA- I later transferred to LSU).  It happened to be Sidney's alma mater.  Of course, this is where we met.  Fast forward almost three years, and Sidney ended up marrying us.  

So, when he asked for a specific kind of quilt, I certainly wanted to accommodate his request.  He asked for a quilt in shades of taupe, cream and white, with sort of a spa feeling- very soft and clean.  After some looking around, here is the picture that I used for inspiration (picture from aboutseaglass.com)-

Now, let's be clear about something.  There is a huge difference between selling your quilts and taking orders for quilts- and it has nothing to do with your quilting skills.  It has everything to do with second guessing your choices, and hoping that the person who has placed the order will like it.

My biggest concern was that all of the shades of beige and cream would just blend together and be really boring, or that I would put in too much aqua for his taste.  Here's the finished top (I just love looking at quilt tops in the sunshine!)-

Although this is a huge departure from the kinds of quilts I usually make, I think that I captured the essence of the pictures and the soothing feel he wanted in the colors.  I still worry that the creams and taupes blend together too much, but it does look a bit like sea glass scattered out on the beach.  What do you think?