CatVent quilt: success!

A handmade gift success: my sister loves the Cat quilt.

She recently emailed me to say:

"I am love love loving my cat lap blanket.  I have already had one jealous friend (disclosure, it was ____, who's probably my most stylish friend) be like, where did you GET that? She did not like my reply."

With that vote of confidence, I can't help wanting to make *more* things for her to impress her stylish friends with.  I'm thinking maybe one of Elizabeth Hartman's other awesome animal patterns.   

Because she's cool, my sister already has a bunch of fox-motif stuff (and even sent a handmade "What does the fox say?"-themed birthday card to my 2-year-old son), but I'm starting to feel like foxes are a little bit over-done.  It's possible to be too trendy, right?  So I'm thinking maybe a hedgehog pillow.  

That way, my sister can move on from trendy foxes to not-yet-trendy hedgehogs before they are cool.

Science-y Baby Quilt

One of my friends from graduate school had a baby boy this summer.  Like me, she recently transitioned out of academic astrophysics into being a data scientist.  I feel a lot of parallels with her, but she lives in Switzerland so I don't see her often.

I wanted to make a quilt for her new baby, as a small part of celebrating her new life.

I used the "Jelly Roll Jam" pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop, except that I didn't use a jelly roll.  I started with a few strips from a jelly roll and then cut a lot of strips from stash.  I made sure to include some fun science- and astronomy-themed fabric.

This quilt came together incredibly fast!  I wanted something a little larger than 36"x36", so I added another row of blocks to make it 36"x48".  That's a size that will last a little longer, which is good because the baby is already 7 months old.  

Backed with this awesome planetary print and bound in Squared Elements.

I made the quilt top in a weekend.  It took me several weeks to get around to binding it.  And now it's been sitting in my house for two months, waiting to be mailed.  I'm really, really bad at that part!

This is my fourth and final finish for the 2014 Q4 FAL.

CatVent #1

It hasn't been a good fall for meeting deadlines, at least not quilty ones.

My Q4 FAL list included a pair of quilts commemorating my parents' cat, Clea, who died about a year ago.  That event tidily coincided with the CatVent quilt-a-long hosted by Elizabeth Hartman over at Oh, Fransson!  Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I decided to make not one, but two CatVent quilts, one for my mother, and one for my sister Lucia.  Lucia is the one who picked Clea out from the shelter 20 years ago.

I was hoping to finish them both for Christmas.  When it became clear that would not happen, I opted to finish Lucia's in time to gift.  My mom has a birthday in March, so her CatVent quilt will roll over onto the FAL 2015 Q1 list.

Here's the finished quilt:

Rather than going with the rainbow scheme, I decided to make cats that actually look like cats: black cats, Siamese cats, ginger cats, and my favorite: calico cats.

I backed the quilt in minky, so that it would be soft and cuddly on a lap.

And then I made a fateful decision.  I decided to quilt in a heavy-duty top-stitching thread around each cat face to add a decorative touch (and help distract from the complicated sashing).

This was a mistake.  My machine *hated* the top-stitching thread.  It was a total nightmare, particularly in combination with the slippery minky.  I managed to finish, and I like the way it looks, but NO WAY am I going through that again.  My mom's quilt will have to be quilted some other way. 

This was a very fun project---I had a great time (a year ago) making all the cats.  However, the project eventually started to drag.  The lesson: make ONE.  Don't make TWO of the same thing.  Yes, it's efficient and faster than making two completely different quilts, but you lose interest a lot faster. 

Fortunately, my sister loved it.  She was snuggling under it as soon as it got unwrapped.

Christmas Stocking

December was a crazy month, work wise.  And then we spent a weekend away Dec 20-21.  That meant coming into Christmas week totally unprepared for the holiday, and feeling like my head was screwed on backward.  We had the tree up and decorated, but that was about it.

Fortunately, my CEO wanted a nice long holiday, so he closed the office for the week of Christmas and the week of New Year.  I've got work to do over the break, but it did mean that I could take some time to prepare for the holiday.

First up: my 2-year-old son needed a stocking.  As a quilter, I couldn't just buy one. So, to procrastinate the house cleaning, I made him one.

I love this 50's style Christmas fabric!

I used a tutorial I found here at Diary of a Quilter: http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/2012/11/christmas-stocking-tutorial.html?m=1

I made a few modifications, lengthening the stocking and adding a wide cuff at the top.  I love how it came out, as does my son (he particularly likes the picture of the train on the front).  And it held plenty of presents.  So a win all around!  

It was a fun, fast, easy project.

I guess wanting to make more stockings is not a good reason to have more kids, is it?  ;)

Best Friend Baby Quilt

My best friend has a baby boy due next month.  Some of her friends threw her a baby shower a few weeks ago, so I was of course racing to get her gift finished in time.  The gift?  A baby quilt, of course!

This quilt was very much inspired by happenings at Stitched In Color.  Readers of Rachel's blog will notice that this pattern is essentially her Penny Patch quilt.  I didn't actually use the pattern posted in her QAL.  It was a little bit too regular.  I preferred the more freestyle look of her original Vintage Tangerine quilt.  The difference is subtle, but it mattered to me.  It meant adding some simple four-patch blocks to the layout, along with the solid blocks and the penny-patch blocks.

This quilt was also inspired by the Purge-A-Long she hosted this summer.  I had these two fabrics from "In The Forest" by Steffie Brocoli of Cloud 9 fabrics:

 

I bought them at a time when I was trying to acquire more fussy-cut-friendly fabrics.  I really liked the fabric, but I don't like primary color schemes, so they were languishing in my stash.  When it came to actually using the fabric, everything I could think of was way too red-yellow-blue or even red-yellow-green-blue for my taste.  It just didn't work.

The purge-a-long inspired me to try.  And it occurred to me that the penny patch sampler would be a great way to use these fabrics.  The last inspiration was to realize that if I made all the large squares low-volume, and only used darker red or blue as small accents, that it would soften the primary-color effect into something I could really get behind---something bright and soft at the same time---something that would be perfect for a baby boy!  Almost all the accent fabrics are blue or red (in a range of shades that also help soften the primary-ness of the quilt).  I just threw in a few yellow squares as a fun little highlight.  

And I love the result!  Enough that the quilt feels entirely worthy of my best friend's baby.  I backed it in another print from "In The Forest"---available at clearance prices by now---and bound it in a hand-me-down fabric from my mother's stash.  

I love everything about this quilt, especially the fact that something so beautiful and so "me" was designed around fabrics that I felt were so "not me".  

It also contains lots of scraps: scraps from the wedding-gift quilt for the same friend, scraps from the quilt currently on my bed, scraps from the backing I used on my sister's wedding quilt, and binding from a big scrap in my mom's stash leftover from a dress she made for me when I was a kid!  

The quilt has now been gifted and is installed in the nursery, waiting for its new owner to arrive in the world.  

This quilt was the first item on my Finish-A-Long list, so at least I've started on it!

And because much of the quilt was cut from scraps, I'm linking up with Leanne and Nicky's Scraptastic Tuesday.

Scrappy Baby Bibs

One of my favorite ways to use scraps is to make baby bibs.  I adored seeing these on my toddler and they make perfect baby gifts.  They're gorgeous, useful, and they're quick to make!  Also, the more you wash them, the more 'vintage' they look.

I use the "Best Baby Bib" pattern by Jennifer Casa.  All you need for the front is a 9"x10" (height x width) slab, so you can piece it out of fun little scraps.

I've started keeping small scraps together in ziploc bags, organized by color combinations I like.  When I want a bib, I just dump out a bag and start piecing!

Bonus: these little bibs are a *perfect* place to practice free-motion quilting because they are so small and easy to maneuver.

Here's a pair that I am making from scraps of my son's baby blanket---these will be a gift for a friend who just had a little boy:

These bibs are the perfect size for a baby under the age of 1.  As my son got older, I found I needed something a little bigger.  I just elongated the bib pattern by 2" and made a slightly longer bib, using an 11"x10" slab.  These bigger bibs were perfect for a toddler.

Happy scrapping!

2014 FAL - Q4

My original ground rules for quilting were that I do this for fun, so:

(1) I can start a new project whenever I want, without having to finish old projects first.
(2) I don't have to blog about things if I'd rather spend the time sewing.

I have limited time to sew, so I hardly blog, and my starting of new projects has gotten completely out of control.  To get control of both of these things, I'm going to participate in the last quarter of the Finish-A-Long hosted by Katy over at The Littlest Thistle.

Here's my list (and you'll see why I need the accountability!):

1.  Baby quilt for my best friend's little boy, due in December.  The baby shower is next weekend.  It's quilted and trimmed, just needs the binding attached.  This one *has* to get done.

2.  Baby quilt for a good friend in England, who just had a little girl.  I've had this top for, oh, about a year.  Backing has been picked out.  Needs to be sandwiched, quilted and bound.  We're headed to England on October 22, so there's a deadline on this one too!

3.  Baby quilt for a friend from grad school, whose little boy was born in July.  Notice the awesome science and astronomy fabric---fitting for an astronomer's little boy!  They live in Switzerland, so I'd like to mail this from England when we are there to save on postage.  Therefore, see previous Oct 22 deadline.

4.  Patchwork baby bibs for *yet another* set of friends from grad school who just had a baby boy.  These also have been nearly-done for months.  They just need the binding / neckties attached.  As of yesterday, I own both binding tape and matching thread, so another easy finish.

5.  Twin-size quilt for my nephew.  He's also in England, but there's no way this will be done in time to take in person.  I'd like to finish in time for it to be a Christmas gift.  He's moving out on his own around that time, so a bed-quilt will be an appropriate gift for his new digs.  I've got 10 blocks made by myself and my partner from the Supernova Friendship Swap.  I'm considering a different layout (alternating supernova blocks with empty or mostly-empty blocks) but haven't quite decided yet.  

6.  Plus quilt with the red and blue color ways of Tula Pink's Salt Water line.  This is a quilt for my husband, who loves anything with tentacles.  The top has been made for months (are you sensing a theme here?) and just need to be turned into a quilt.  I'd like to (finally!) give it to him for Christmas.  I may send this out to be quilted on a long arm.  I love piecing, but quilting not so much.  This puppy is big, I have a lot on this list, and if professionals like Jeni Baker can have things long-armed sometimes, so can I!  I just want it done.  

7.  Pow Wow quilt.  This one is for me.  Again, top finished ages ago, needs to be quilted.  Another that I might send out.  For some reason, I feel like quilts I gift away should be quilted by me (I can't really say "I made it" unless I actually made all of it!) but ones staying in my household I feel less strongly about.  I'd like to have this on my bed come spring-time, rather than on the closet shelf.

8.  Cat quilts for my mom and my little sister, from Oh Fransson's Catvent quilt along last December. This QAL started a few days before my parents ancient cat (our only family pet) finally died at age 20, so I naturally had to make little lap quilts for my mom and my little sister as a memento (my other sister has a real cat of her own, so she doesn't have the same level of cat-snuggle-need).  Tops finished months ago, but need to be turned into quilts.  I'd like to give these as Christmas gifts.  

9.  This was originally the baby quilt that I was going to give my grad school friend in Switzerland, but (a) it was so incredibly awesome I was having trouble with the idea of parting with it, and (b) my 2-year-old saw it and said "That's mine's."  So I'm keeping it.  That removes the October deadline, but I'm oh-so-close to having the top finished.  I'd like to at least finish the top before the end of the year.  I know quilt tops don't count for the FAL, but it's here on the list to help me remember and to keep me honest.  :-)

10.  Another quilt for me.  This will be an X-plus quilt using Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee line.  I've decided I don't really want to make anymore quilts using a single fabric line, but (a) I had already started this one, (b) I *love* Chicopee and feel like it looks less "same-y" than a lot of lines, and (c) rules are meant to be broken.  This fabric screams "fall" to me, so it's the thing I *want* to be working on this quarter.  It will also help break up the monotony of the quilting projects I have---yay piecing!  Just gunning for a quilt-top finish on this one.  I'd love to finish it and be able to use it on my bed next fall.  I have this idea of having a quilt for each season for my bed, and rotate through them.  The one we currently have is the winter quilt (in my head, at least).  The Pow Wow listed above will be spring, this one will be fall, and as for summer...

11.  I think I started this quilt before I started anything else on this list.  I've made 10 of these pinwheels.  I need 25 in total.  I cut the fabric back in the day, and all the HST are cut such that the finished squares have bias edges.  It makes them miserable to work with.  I hate it.  I would never make HSTs this way now.  But I do love this quilt, and I want it finished.  I don't expect a finish this quarter, but I want to make at least 10 more blocks.  I'd love to have this on my bed come summer 2015...

12.  And finally, a Christmas medallion I started last Christmas.  I'm making this pattern up as I go.  I love what I have so far---maybe too much, because I got stuck at this point when the next border I'd planned just wasn't good enough.  I know we're supposed to do our Christmas sewing in July, but I just don't work that way.  I like to inhabit the season that I'm in.  I'm guessing I will want to pull this project out after Thanksgiving and work on it to help set the Christmas vibe.  That means I won't have it on my couch for this Christmas season, but I will get to inhabit its holiday goodness during the holiday.  I'd love to finish the top this Christmas so that I can then put it on the shelf, and get it quilted in time to have out for Christmas 2015.  

Okay, so that's an insanely long list.  Some of these things are really, really close so I think I can get a bunch of them done.  And some of them have nearby deadlines, so I *have* to get them done.  There are also some projects that aren't on this list, but I have to save *something* for the next FAL because I can't only have roll-over projects, right?

Wish me luck!