It’s been far too long since I sat behind my sewing machine and created., far too long since I’ve started a quilt, and far too long since I’ve finished a quilt.

Sewing and quilting is cathartic and peaceful.  I love the creative process and the accomplishment.

And so we start a new year and 2012 promises to be filled with lots of quilts! Yipee!

2012 musts:

• Make quilt for a bff who moved recently
• Finish quilt for a cousin’s wedding (ahem…she got married a long time ago…gack!)
• Make quilt for another cousin’s upcoming wedding present
• Make baby quilt for a cousin’s first baby
• Finish Ellie’s quilt
• Make a quilt for myself

First up is called Urban Blooms (unless I come up with a more creative title ).  I’m loosely using the Lemon Squares pattern by Fresh Lemons.  More than a year ago I bought a quilt kit that was on sale.  It didn’t have the pattern with it, but that was fine, because I bought the kit for the fabric anyway.  I loved the colors and I loved how the colors were out of my normal repertoire/comfort zone.  I’ve been waiting for the perfect occasion and perfect recipient, and I found it.  This one’s for you B:

City Blooms by Benartex

Block “A”

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!

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!

Two years ago I was very much a newby at quilting.  I had been quilting for all of 2 months, and we had a terrible ice storm.  We were in the house for an eternity and my hubby who was out of town on business could not get home because of all the ice.  So what’s a quilter to do?  I ended up making 54 blocks.  My seam allowance consistency was awful, but hey I was new and I was having fun.  When I finished the blocks I had all the intentions of making a nice quilt with them, but away they were stashed in one of my drawers for the last 2 years.

I took the blocks out recently and studied them.  I love the cheerful colors and the mix of of small and large squares framed.  Each block was *supposed* to be a 12.5 inch square.  Ha!!!  I don’t think any of them (ok, maybe a few) actually turned out that size.  So I decided to trim the blocks down to a 12 inch square.  Now the one thing I absolutely loathe about quilting is squaring my blocks.  These days I generally don’t have to since my seam allowances are quite consistent, but these blocks needed it or else the quilt would have been a disaster!  Squaring the blocks actually took less time than I thought, and now I wish I had done this long ago and not waited 2 years!!!!

Fabric Trimmings

Anyway, the squaring is done, and I now have a nice new quilt top, which will be a later wedding gift.  Hmmmm, late wedding gifts seem to be a recurring theme….  I will also be creating another wedding gift quilt, which is, you guessed it, late.

Variety of fabrics, but lots of Summer in the City by Urban Chicks for Moda

Oh it’s so good to be home.  I missed my sewing machine!   I missed being creative.  This afternoon I was able to retreat to the playroom/sewing room and I continued to work on the blocks for my next quilt.  I started the blocks before we left for vacation, and it was nice to get back into the swing of things.

This is going to be a fun quilt.  How could it not with this very fun, happy fabric called Giddy by Sandy Gervais?!?!  It makes me happy just looking at it.  Best of all, this quilt is for me, and it’s been quite awhile since I made something for myself.  I have a (long) list of quilts to finish or make for other people, but I really want to make this one for me first.

The blocks are done, and now I just need to arrange them and sew the top together.

I just love how this quilt turned out!  And I’m excited to deliver it in person!  Woohoo!!   China Blue is done!  It has a post wash measurement of 56 x 67.

I also really like the back, and I’ll admit that it was a mistake…the rectangle block of the 5 x 5 squares was supposed to be a square, and it wasn’t until after I finished the quilting that I realized it was a rectangle.  Oops…but that’s fine, because I like it lots!

I’ve been collecting blue and white fabric for a while with the intentions of making something with it…someday.  But I decided the other night, that I just needed to start something new and different.

This is what I’ve come up with so far:

I think I’ll call it China Blue because it reminds me of fine china…probably because my fine china pattern is blue and white.

I feel like the layout is a constant work in progress, but then again isn’t it always?  Every time I go upstairs I rearrange it just a bit.

I am so in love with this quilt!!!  The pattern is so easy, I and am loving it.  It simply uses a layer cake plus yardage, and since I’m always looking for patterns to use with layer cakes, this one is definitely a keeper.

The post wash measurement is 52 x 63.

For the label I incorporated it into the backing design.  I used a Sharpie and wrote on the white fabric.

I don’t often get pictures of my finished quilts with their recipients, but I am hand delivering this quilt to the recipients tomorrow, so hopefully when I get back from vacation I’ll post some pictures of the hopefully delighted recipients with their quilt.

I started a new project (I really shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t resist).  I’m using a layer cake of A Breath of Avignon by American Jane for Moda.  I so love the colors of this line, and this fabric line definitely brings me back to France…love it!

I’m using the Sweet Garden pattern by Carolina Patchworks.  This pattern requires a good bit of organization and planning, so I organized my layer cake and then cut all the pieces.  I then laid out the pieces to my liking.  Now I just need to find the time to piece the top, but something tells me that this project is going to have to wait until July when I get back from vacation.  Before vacation I have so much work to do (you know for my part time job that actually pays me to do work), and I have to finish the binding on the 30’s Squared quilt.  Oh, and I also have to finish the binding for the Black, White, & Red Allover quilt.  I think a baby quilt for a friend may also sneek in the to do list.  Sheesh I have a lot to do!

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.