Sherbet Quilt

Now that I had completed the two cute bundles for the double baby shower, I could get started, I mean restarted on Alex’s quilt. Right?

Wrong.

But why?

Because there is another baby shower. My dear friend Manveen’s cousin Tresa is pregnant with a little girl. When Manveen invited me to Tresa’s baby shower, I immediately recalled that I had so much fun going to Sukhveen’s baby shower last year. Sukhveen is Manveen’s sister and is now the proud mother of twins – Malcolm and Melanie.

I had made my first quilt for Sukhveen’s shower. I had not seen Sukhveen since the shower last year. I had not seen her twins either. And for all these reasons I just had to go to the shower. I so wanted to see the twins.

And therefore, once again, I placed Alex’s quilt away and started working (furiously) on a baby quilt for a girl. It is a good thing I had an orange/pink  jelly roll on hand. Trust me, when you need a quilt in a heartbeat, a jelly roll is the way to go.

So I just started playing with the colorful strips and lo and behold – a pieced top. I am going to call it Sherbet Quilt.

Yes, it still needs to be quilted and I need better pictures showing the border and the back. But you know me - I get excited! I had to share. The shower is on 2/15/14. Some mad scrambling now to find time between work days.

I completed the Sherbet Strips quilt on Feb 15, 2014, early morning on the day of the baby shower. But bad weather prevented the journey :-)  Tresa, I have your quilt. Hope to have it you soon.

Here is the completed quilt. It is 45" by 45" and was machine quilted on my Janome.

And here is the label. I named it Sherbet Strips, based on the recommendations received from the quilting forum.

Too beautiful for a placemat...

Two things just go together - scraps and improv blocks. In fact, when you have scraps and are not sure of how to put them together , you just start with one and watch the design evolve as you add each scrap. That is exactly what I started doing after I finished Bear Hugs.

I had scraps leftover from strip tube blocks - the triangles left over at the edges, some left over binding and scraps of batting.

Step 1 - I joined batting scraps together, using a zigzag stitch. There is a tutorial here

Step 2 - Cut the pieced batting to a size of a placemat - 18 by 22 inches.

Step 3 - Add a backing and spray basted in place. This is the fabric I used. Love the rich dark colors.


Step 4 - Pull out the scraps and start playing. See the pictures below. I started with two leftover triangles and placed them in the center, RST. Stitched, flipped and ironed.

Triangles placed RST

Stitched with a scant 1/4" seam

Flipped and Ironed. Looking good, already!

Now, I had the center established. I kept adding strips and flipping and ironing - quilting as I went adding fabric strips. See pictures below.

Once I got to the corners, I added triangles to finish the placemat. Added a black binding - one that would go with both the front and back. After I finished one, I was so hooked, I made three more. It is that addictive. Here are the finished placemats.

And now I have to share with you the biggest problem of this exercise. These placemats are too pretty to be covered by a plate of food. And if I was a world-renowned chef, I would not want these pretty placemats to distract from the gourmet food on the plate.

In my opinion (biased, as it may be) they are stand-alone pieces of art. What do you think? Should I just frame them and use as wall art? Please help.

Completed Bundles of Joy

Just finished the receiving blankets, burp cloths and bibs for the double baby shower on February 1st, a whole week in adavance. Yippee!!!

Thanks to Jenny of Missouri Star Quilt Company. The tutorial for making receiving blankets is super easy, and always creates an impression. Here they are:

The fun part is using the left over scraps from the receiving blankets to make the burp cloths and the bibs. I particularly like the chevron fabric.

The completed bundles, tied with a golden ribbon, are ready to go.

Every end is a new beginning, but...

As soon as I completed "Bear Hugs", I wanted to get started on my next quilt. Are you kidding?
I bought and cut the fabric for the next quilt even before I completed Bear Hugs quilt. Here are the fabrics for the next quilt.

Blue Batik and a matching solid, Steel Grey Batik and a somewhat matching solid.  I have a rail fence pattern in mind. Yes, it is for a boy's quilt and I am hoping it will finish at twin size. I am so excited to start this one. I am going to call it Alex's Quilt. I am so loving these colors already.

So, what is the problem?
Get started already. You can blog later.

Wait. There is a double baby shower on February 1st. And I want to go to this double baby shower. That means, I need to keep Alex's quilt aside and make some receiving blankets, burp cloths and bibs. The good thing is this - I like making receiving blankets, they come together really quickly, and I have these cute flannel fabrics to work with. The bibs are so cute. I need another word for cute, seriously.

Blue fabrics - both are expecting boys!!!

So pause on Alex's Quilt. Full steam ahead on Baby Shower items. Life is good!!! I will post pictures of completed blankets, bibs etc. I do love comments!!! Hint, hint hint.

Bear Hugs (2014-1)

"Bear Hugs" is my first completed quilt of 2014. It is about 43" square and it is the cutest quilt I have made so far. So many times, parents will pick light/pastel shades for the baby. And I have always wondered - why pastel? I am sure that babies like bright colors. And pastels just get dirty soon.

Don't know about you but I LOVE bright colors - the brighter the better.

I also added a label.

Who is it for?

I don't know. But I am sure it will make someone very happy.

I so loved the - Noah's jungle panel from Northcott that I went on an online hunt to find it. I just had a feeling that this quilt will be requested again and I want to make sure that I had the panel(s) handy.
Most places it was sold out. Ericas' store had it in stock and I placed the order for five. Next day, I received a call from them telling me that they had only one. Did I still want it? Yes, please.

My search continued. I found another online fabric store Stitch and Frame and fortunately they had some of these panels in stock at an unbelievably reasonable price. I placed the order and now I wait to receive the jungle babies.

It amazes me that two years ago I had no knowledge of online fabric retailers and quilters, quilt shows, quilting bees etc. And now, although I still have very limited knowledge, I know that there is a whole quilting universe out there. 

Cuteness Overload

Q: What inspires you to create something?
A: Cute Fabric.

And this is the cutest fabric I have ever laid eyes on!!! It is Noah's Jungle from Northcott Fabrics.


I knew I had to make it into a baby quilt - someday. But, when I saw this fabric at Jo-Ann, I knew I had to make this the first quilt of 2014. The panels above would be part of the pieced top and this cute fabric (below) would be the backing.

 

 



The quilt is almost complete. But I could not wait to share the fabric inspirations in blogland! Update coming soon. What is the cutest fabric you have seen? Let me know.

Hello 2014 - Starting small

A very happy new year to you!!!

Now that I have finished documenting last year's journey, I am all caught up and now this blog can be current. Well, more or less. I decided to start the new year small - by making place mats using the quilt as you go technique. Thanks to Jenny of Missouri Star Quilt Company. Click here for the tutorial.

I had a jelly roll, fabrics in red and black and bits of batting that are too small to be used in a quilt but too large to throw away. Here is the outcome

I know it is eye-popping!

It is like making very small quilts - piecing, backing, binding - the whole deal. Although QAYG makes it a breeze. And I love the bright colors.

When I was making these, I showed one to my friend Iris and she squealed with delight.
Oh, you like it, I said. Can I make you one?
One? I need four.
Of course, you do. Well, I'll happily make them for you. But, first you must visit my blog and leave me a comment.

She has not been to the blog and I am still keeping these babies. I will update when she gets her act together. Oh Iris!

And they are reversible.