Southern Quilter » Charm

Lavendar Fields Baby Quilt

Rachel — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 01:46:43 +0000

My cousin asked me to make a baby quilt for one of her friends, and since I love making baby quilts (well, all quilts really, but I especially love baby quilts), I jumped at the opportunity. It’s the same pattern I used for Life’s a Hoot, but I altered the dimensions a bit.

I was told the new mama likes light green, purple, and brown. I had a bunch of Hushabye (by Tula Pink for Moda) charm packs and I pulled out all the green and browns, and then I added some purples to the mix. I love this color combination! And because I love me a polka dot binding, the green dots on brown was just perfect!!! The purples, the green geometric backing, and the brown with green dots are all from different lines, but they coordinate perfectly with the greens and browns from Hushabye.

The post wash measurement is 37 x 45.

I hope my cousin and the new mama like it!

Welcome to the world Samantha!

Sandy Dunes

Rachel — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:32:27 +0000

The Sandy Dunes quilt has been completed for awhile, but I just haven’t had the opportunity to take any pictures of it until this weekend. I love the soft pleasing color palette, and it was fun to work with these colors.

It’s a late wedding present for my cousin and her new hubby who happen to live by the beach, so hopefully she and her hubby love it!

The post wash measurement is 56 1/2 x 65 1/2.

Back

I heart a striped binding!

Summer Soiree Baby Quilt

Rachel — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 02:32:55 +0000

Here’s Summer Soiree all finished and fresh out of the dryer. I absolutely love the bright colors, and it makes for the perfect baby quilt. The fabric is Soiree by Lila Tueller for Moda, and I used the Stacked Coins pattern from Moda Bakeshop (I changed up the backing design just a bit).

The post wash measurement is 38 x 46.

I love this fabric so much, and luckily I have extra charm packs of it, so I just may have to make a larger one for myself!

Sandy Dunes

Rachel — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 04:25:36 +0000

I’m working on a quilt for one of my cousins who recently got married. Yes, another late wedding gift, and I also have another late wedding gift that I must start asap. Anyway, she lives near the beach and likes a softer color palate.

A few years ago I bought a bunch of charm packs of Swell by Urban Chicks for Moda when they were on clearance. I went through the packs and took out all the reds and pinks, which left soft blues, soft greens, soft yellows, and a little bit of brighter green..and they “spoke” to me and I got a real beachy feel. I generally like bolder brighter colors, but, as it turns out, this is a really pleasing color palette.

It’s pieced, bound, and quilted. Now on to the binding.

Summer Soiree

Rachel — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:25:08 +0000

A friend of ours in Oregon had her second baby girl this past week. A brand new baby is such a great excuse to stop everything I’m doing and make a baby quilt! I love the coin pattern, and it’s so simple to make (I used the stacked coins pattern from Moda Bake Shop). I’ve had some charm packs of Soiree, by Lila Tueller for Moda, that I’ve been saving to use for this very quilt, and finally someone had a girl!

I involved my kiddos too. As I sat at my sewing machine I had them pair up the 2.5 X 5 rectangles and then they gave them to me to sew. They loved it, and I love how proud they are when they see their work turns into something cool.

I got the top and back all pieced together and realized I didn’t have anymore white batting. So last weekend I hunted through town, and didn’t find any on sale, so when I came home I ordered batting (read: a lot of batting), and waited until the batting arrived. I was so excited when it was delivered on Wednesday that I got straight to work basting it.

Now onto quilting this beauty. I think I’ll call this quilt Summer Soiree only because I can’t come up with anything else. If you think of a cool name, let me know! Thanks!

Life’s A Hoot

Rachel — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 23:00:04 +0000

Here is a quilt for my nephew, who’s expected to make his appearance in April. I was going to wait until closer to his birth date to make and deliver the quilt, but the family decided to throw a baby shower on Christmas Eve, so I had a lot of motivation to get this done quickly.

My daughter named him “Hoot” when the parents-to-be came to visit, and that kind of stuck, so I just had to do an owl theme…but it’s certainly not overboard on the owls.

It’s really cute, and the pattern is Pure Baby Boy. The pattern calls for using a Jelly Roll, but I opted for a charm pack and a single fabric backing. The fabric is Hooty Hoot by Riley Blake. The post wash measurement is 31.5″ x 39″.

I also had to make some coordinating burp cloths, because you can never have too many, and who doesn’t love some custom birth cloths?

Patriotic Summer Table Runner

Rachel — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:57:57 +0000

Here’s a fun table runner made with Nautical and Nice by Sandy Gervais for Moda charm squares. The quilting is simple, just a few straight lines. The more straight line quilting I do the more I realize I’m a stippling kind of girl. But I do like this runner, and it’s patriotic with the red, white, and blue.

Baby Blues Quilt

Rachel — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:40:28 +0000

A few weeks ago I finished up the Baby Blues quilt for my good friend. We went to their house for dinner and she opened here present and loved it! Yay…always a good feeling!!!

I love the colors, and I really liked how it turned out.

I marked this quilt for straight line quilting, and I have to honestly say that I’m not sold on marking my quilts prior to quilting. I also used flannel for the backing, and while it is soft and cozy I’m not sold on it either. If you use flannel, PREWASH it!!! Even if you don’t prewash your fabrics, ALWAYS prewash your flannel. Flannel shrinks so much more than regular quilting fabric, and the weave is bigger. Once you wash it and it shrinks, it shrinks the weave, which makes the quilting stitches much more secure.

Spring Flowers Recap

Rachel — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:10:59 +0000

Spring Flowers is done! And I LOVE it!!!!!! For starters I used Camille’s Baby Mine pattern. The pattern is a great deal because you get 2 patterns for the price of 1–a girl quilt and a boy quilt. I wasn’t 100% sold on the flower applique pieces that go with the girl quilt. So I hunted through my library of patterns and found one that I love…it’s called French Roses by Heather French. Some day I’m going to make an entire quilt of French Roses (I even have the fabric for it), but since that’s down the road I figured I give the French Roses a whirl by substituting these flowers for the ones that came with the Baby Mine pattern.

The French Roses pattern uses the soft edge applique technique, which I thought is perfect for a baby girl’s quilt. I’m certainly in love with soft edge applique!

I’m so glad I made this modification. I think the French Roses flowers are softer, more feminine, and just downright adorable.

The quilt measured 40 x 50 prior to washing and measures 37 1/2 x 47 1/2 after washing…perfect size for a baby.

Front

Back

Polka dot binding matches the inner border

Label: I used a piece of muslin, cut the edges with pinking shears, wrote on it, then soft edge appliqued it to the quilt

Fabric: Butterfly Fling by Me & My Sisters Design for Moda, the white is a white on white design with butterflies, the polka dots and some of the fabrics in the flowers are from my stash.

Side note: I started working on an improv project tonight. I got everything out and set up (machine, ironing board, started cutting fabric etc.), then went to sew, and my sewing machine won’t sew! Grrrrrrr! So I’m bringing it in tomorrow to get serviced, because one can’t have a non working sewing machine when one NEEDS to sew!

Date with Spring Flowers

Rachel — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 05:56:57 +0000

I haven’t posted much about the Spring Flowers quilt, but it’s now pieced, quilted, and bound. I had a date with the quilt tonight to finish the binding, and I had success! It’s such a great feeling to finish the binding! I still have to bury all the threads, then label it, then wash it, and then I can send it to its new home.

The colors in this quilt certainly remind me of spring, and I can’t wait for the new mama to open up this quilt for her baby girl!

When I finish this quilt up I’ll post about the changes I made to the pattern.