Cabin Couture: Michael Miller Challenge

I am writing this post from a hotel room in Tennessee. This trip is for work and it is pretty standard archaeology stuff... so I am tired physically and mentally. I thought I would use this hotel room time to catch up on some of my finishes that I have not blogged about. 

Welcome to Cabin Couture. 

I made this baby quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild's Michael Miller fabric challenge. The deal is, you sign up and they send you fat eighths of fabric. Then you make a quilt and you submit it to the judges. 

I am going to be real here, I did not love the pastel colors all together. I could not get inspired. We were supposed to use only cotton couture solids on the front. I loved the hand of the cotton couture. It is so soft. But I could not picture myself spending money on more of these colors I did not love.

So I got together some colors I did love and pulled out the pastels I loved. This combination was inspired by sunrises and warm days. I was trying to think about vintage quilts faded from years of use. 

I was inspired by traditional historic quilts. Simple and eye catching with clean lines. I want to make a really big one now....

The quilting is equally simple. These fabrics are so soft! This is a dreamy baby sized quilt.

It wasn't selected as a challenge finalist so it will go to a baby who will love it very soon, which is the perfect place for a quilt to go. I am pretty excited to hand this one off to a new baby! 

Quilt Stats: 

Quilt Name: Cabin Couture

Size: 40"x 40"

Fabric: Michael Miller Cotton Couture solids

Pattern: Log cabin

Quilting: Figure eight loops with Aurifil thread

Finished: November 2014

Plus One. Green.

I know I am not supposed to apologize for absences in this space. I would like to apologize anyway. I am sorry. I feel like my lack of posts is symptomatic of my general inability to stay on top of things lately. And don't feel sorry for me... we all get in the hole sometimes. Being an adult is hard.

Enough whining.

I finished another quilt.

This one was for a very special little boy who is  expected any day now. In fact, I had dinner with his mother tonight and I am pretty sure she would love for him to make an appearance.

I really wanted to make a scrappy plus quilt. Then I did and it was adorable.

These fabrics are mostly scraps, although I had to cut into some of the "low volume" yardage to give it a little variety.

I tried to get some fun surprises in there too. Like the animals and the "G" because the baby's last name starts with the letter G (a first name has not been decided as of yet). The one green plus is significant too. I accidentally fussy cut some inappropriate fabric in there... nothing profane, just not baby appropriate. Ten points to Gryffindor if you find it.

Then I did some organic straight line quilting, but not too much (so it would still be snuggly, a huge concern for my husband). I had some problems with the feeds being unequal during quilting, even with the walking foot, maybe it has something to do with my presser foot pressure? I am not sure anyone would notice after washing. I can tell, but can't we always find our own mistakes? I am 100% the little buddy is not going to notice when he finally decides to come and meet us all.

Despite my extended absence you should all come back on Monday for an announcement.

PS - I am not pregnant

PPS - So many people in my life are pregnant I feel like I need to say that.

Quilt Stats:
Name: Plus one
Size: Approximately 36" x 42"
Fabric: Scraps! Lots of Kona Cotton for the solids
Quilting: Organic lines with Aurifil thread
Finished: June 2014

Hey Baby, You are a Star

I wanted to subtitle this blog post, "Whoa, just calm down life"

I have literally spent a week at home in the last month (and yes, I am using the term literally correctly).  I actually dreamed about my sewing machine. Cat litter commercials made me sad, because I missed my little fuzz.

I was in Georgia (twice), Florida, Tennessee, and Western North Carolina. Some for fun, some for super fun work. I am spent.

You see, when I get tired and stressed out I feel the need to make something new. This is totally counterintuitive. It actually adds to my pile of things to do, but I find zen in the creative process. The excitement of sketching, choosing fabrics, testing blocks... Just writing this is making me want to go create something new! 

Fortunately, during my trips to Georgia I visited with some very dear friends who are expecting a little girl this summer. I had alway been planning on making this little girl a quilt, but spending time around my friends inspired me. When I got home and the stress creativity kicked in, I channeled that creativity into this little baby quilt. 

This quilt is loud. 

It is for a little baby girl, but I made something that I would love as a grown-up. I think linen is timeless and ageless. 

These blocks are super traditional, they are a variation on a block called the millennium (although I am sure there are ton of other names out there) that I resized and modified. 

I just want this quilt to say, "hey baby, welcome to this world, we are happy to have you." 

Don't all babies deserve that?

Thanks for stopping by, this has been nice!

Quilt Stats:

Name: Hey Baby, You are a Star

Size: 40" x 40"

Pattern: Millenium Star Blocks

Fabric: Assorted Pink and Purple Scraps and Essex Natural Linen/Cotton Blend, backed with a Liberty Lifestyle print and Heather Ross Briar Rose Strawberries

Quilting: Swirly free motion flowers with Aurifil thread, done on my home machine

Finished: April 2014

Bacon Seen in the Wild

If you have been hanging about here for awhile you may know that there have been tons of baby quilts in my life recently.

I thought I would take a second to show you some of my quilts with their BABIES!

Here is Hunter with my Confetti Baby quilt.

Work it Hunter. Look at that smizing.

This is Samantha with the Untitled Baby Edition.

Apparently she was fascinated with the hedgehogs and the bright colored rectangles. They draw my eye in too Samantha.

Finally Baby DJ with the Ducks in a Row quilt.

DJ does not get out of bed for such minor things. Clearly. 

It is super fun to see my quilts getting play on and loved (drooled on probably too). Cue satisfied sigh. 

Hope you had a fantastic weekend.

Love and Kisses from good old North Carolina,

Sarah

PS - These photos were passed on by some of my favorite people to share with you all. Thanks Kathie, Tracey, and Lisa! Photo credit deserved, plus your babies are pretty. 

It's the Confetti Baby.

A month or so ago Elizabeth Dackson (over at Don't Call Me Betsy) put a call out for pattern testers. I practically jumped out of my chair I was so excited.

Elizabeth is a super star. Her paper piecing patterns are amazing. Have you seen the Lucky Star Block of the Month? You can still sign up here. 

I felt like I had won the lottery when Elizabeth asked me to test her Confetti Stars pattern. This quilt pattern can be made in baby through king sized and she has instructions for a "modern" quilt with lots of negative space and a "traditional" quilt with more stars. That is like getting at least two patterns!

My cousin just had a little boy, so I figured I would make her little boy a confetti quilt (for the record this is a traditional layout baby sized from the pattern). I am not going to give you any sort of pattern review here, 1.) I was testing the pattern and 2.) It is a superb pattern, you should all just make this quilt. No paper piecing experience necessary, she walks you through the whole thing.

Can I make a secret confession? 

I love my cousin; she is awesome sauce. She got married in October and we couldn't make it to the wedding... I thought I might just send her a baby quilt out of the blue (98% sure she does not read this blog). 

I want to think of it as random act of craftiness. Can you imagine getting a package one day unexpectedly and finding this quilt neatly wrapped up? 

The quilting is not perfect and I had some basting issues, but this is real life and a baby is going to be playing on this, so imperfections are part of the love. Also, Tessa at The Sewing Chick taught me her method for machine binding up in the mountains. Y'all we need to peer pressure her into writing a tutorial. This method changed my life (well, my quilt finishes). 

Are you reading this, Tessa? I love you, friend.

xoxo, 

Sarah

Quilt Stats:

Size: 36" x 36"

Pattern: Confetti Stars by Elizabeth Dackson (to be released in mid-August)

Fabric (the ones I can remember easily): Pearl Bracelets, Madrona Road Haystack, Lotta Jansdotter, Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille, some random cross weaves, and some Kona. 

Quilting: Free motion infinity, pieced and quilted with Aurifil thread.

Finished: July 2013

P.S. - For the record, I tested this pattern free of charge because I liked it. I just got a copy of the pattern from Elizabeth and gave her my notes. All opinions of awesomeness come from my heart. 

Sunburst: A Baby Quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival

Okay friends. Let me just be real for a second, I waffled about what to enter in the festival. In the end, I chose my stars align, because I didn't read the rules thought that was my number one choice.

Turns out we can enter two!

This baby quilt it one of my hands down favorite things I have ever made. Honestly, if it had not been baby sized it would have never left my house. Also, it is for my bestest friend's older brother, who is practically my older brother. He just had a baby boy, who is hopefully enjoying this quilt (well, honestly the baby probably doesn't care).

It is inspired by Denyse Schmidt's, Crazy Star Quilt (in Denyse Schmidt: Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration). I am saying based, because I did not so much follow the pattern as look at the picture in my book. Then I decided to make a quilt that looks sort of like it.

I pulled all of the strings out of my scrap bin and the solids from my stash. They were curated to be gender neutral and cheerful. 

For the quilting, I fell in love with Denyse's quilting design and decided to fill up the negative space with a free motion, sort of organic (read: messy and unplanned), loops. I just made them on my home sewing machine while watching old episodes of TV on Netflix. I think it works.



The back is made up of some Kona strips I had left over from another quilt, some of the Kona Steel (I think?) from the front, and a single strip of Madrona Road (Haystack?) to mimic the bright star on the front. The binding is scrappy. 

I suppose my special technique was foundation paper piecing. I used paper foundations to make the star, nothing special, just scratch paper. 

Quilt Stats.

Category. Baby Quilt

Name. Sunburst Baby QuiltSize. 45"x43"
Fabrics. Kona Steel for the front background, scraps for the star, the back has some Madrona Road Haystack, and assorted Kona blues from my stash.
Pattern. Based on Crazy Star (from Denyse Schmidt: Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration)
Piecing. 50wt Aurifil thread
Quilting. Free motion loops (à la Denyse Schmidt) with 50wt Aurifil thread

Check out more pretty quilts at Amy's Creative Side

Ducks in a Row.

I went to my first grown up baby shower on Saturday.

Before you make some comment about how that is odd for a grown woman, remember I am an archaeologist, I work with all men who are 10 years older than me (minimum), and I live in a college town with a whole bunch of friends who are not having babies.

Remember all of those things.

As I child, I dimly recall being escorted to baby showers by my mother. I remember cheezy games and advice that confused me.

This baby shower was for the wife of a coworker, whom I actually know on a personal level. They are having a much anticipated first baby. It was an all female thing (I guess this is normal?), so I, awkwardly, felt I needed to represent the men. Seriously, I talked about my (male) coworker (the father) and I think I ate more than anyone else there. I was also messier.

The advice still confuses me.

Because I am me and I honestly did not even know people set up registries for baby showers (was someone supposed to tell me that? is that in the handbook I forgot to read?), I made them a quilt.

I am calling it Ducks in a Row. Because that is what you do before a baby is born. I guess. Get your ducks in a row.

The nursery colors are blue, green, and orange. I played with half square triangle papers for this one and I guess it made HSTs faster, but I still had to trim them, and then they still needed to be sewn together. So maybe worth it if you get them from the free table at Sew South (where I got them)? You can buy rolls of the papers at the Fat Quarter Shop. Clearly, they are not paying for this endorsement.

Each of the finished triangles is 3.5 inches. Honestly, that is the size of the papers I had. I would have made them bigger if I was just making half square triangles normally.

I ended up quilting with a large loop. I was totally going to do straight lines on the diagonal. All my IG buddies suggested that. I made the quilt assuming that was how I would quilt it. Then I did three rows, and it looked terrible. I am happy with these somewhat random loops. Plus the finished quilt it super soft and snuggly. I bound it by machine (another first for me) for durability, using this tutorial. I need a bit more practice, but this attempt was acceptable.

I was the only homemade gift giver at the shower. But, I think they loved it.

Quilt Stats:
Ducks in a Row. Baby Quilt

Size: 45"x50"
Fabrics: Assorted Kona grays, some Summersville, the ducks are from Birch, and the foxes are Aneela Hoey, I have no idea what that robot print is called.
Binding: Another random Kona gray
Pattern: My own (if you can call it a pattern)
Finished: May 3, 2013

May. It's ON.

Hi friends!

There is still time to enter my giveaway here. I am loving reading everyone's homemade gift ideas.

I am back from Tennessee/Alabama early this week because the water levels were so high we could not get into the project area. At least I get to sew a few more evenings this week!

I did really well on my April list, I mean really well.

I decided the list really worked for me. I am putting together a May list.

May List:

1.) Voile Infinity Scarf. This is going to be a late (?) mother's day gift. I am proud to say I finished the hand quilting on my trip. Done. Sorry for the crappy phone photos from my hotel room.

2.) Embroidery Project. Done and received. I think she loved it. Nailed it.

3.) Whitewashed Quilt. No progress. To be honest, it is not a priority.

4.) Bee Blocks. Started, expected completion this weekend.

5.) Baby Quilt. Done and gifted. They loved it. I will share finished pictures in another post.  Spoiler alert... it was is a boss level good.

6.) Graduation Quilt. A friend is getting his PhD this weekend and Derek and I decided that I would make him a quilt full of inside jokes. We had so much fun picking the centers of these log cabins! He is moving to Arkansas in a couple of months and we wanted him to have a little piece of Chapel Hill to take with him. I decided to keep it simple, but he is sort of a big dude, so a lap quilt for him has to be a little larger than it would be for most people... I am happy that I used pretty much all scraps.

7.) Solids Bee Quilt. I have received all the blocks from the Gamboge group from April and now I am gunning to put this quilt together. Rainbows!

8.) Lucky Star Block. Must keep up with May's block. Must not fall behind.

9.) Drunkard's Medallion Along. I need to add a border to Chrissy's medallion when it gets to me. This is a priority, as the next person needs it by the end of May.

10.) Pillow for Guild Swap. I know what I am going to do for my partner. I just need to go for it. Maybe soon? This is also a priority as it has to be there for June's meeting, I can't let someone down. That is not my style.

That's nothing right? I only have to be in Tennessee most of the rest of the month, so right... this might trickle into June just a smidgen. Ha! Let's see how I do!

Linking up to Freshly Pieced's WiP Wednesday.

Sunburst Baby Quilt

Finished quilt!

This quilt is going to a special home. I grew up in close proximity to this baby's father. His little sister and I were born months apart, and we all spent a great deal of time together throughout childhood. I mean, how many people (other than your siblings) can you say you have run naked through the sprinkler with? Now my friend and his lovely wife are going to be parents themselves. They are the first of our tight group to join that exclusive club and I am so happy for them. We have sort of grown apart recently, but I still feel a little like my brother (or close cousin?) is having a baby! Yay!

I based this quilt design off of Denyse Schmidt's, Crazy Star Quilt (in Denyse Schmidt: Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration). I am saying based, because I did not so much follow the pattern as look at the picture in my book. Then I decided to make a quilt that looks sort of like it. 

 I ended up paper piecing my strips for the points (instead of using the cloth base that Denyse recommends). Obviously, I scaled it down a bit to be baby sized.

This baby is entering life during a cold, dark, Chicago winter, so I wanted this quilt to be bright and cheerful. I also intentionally did not make the quilt that baby-ish... It is just downsized adult quilt. We do not know the baby's gender yet (well, maybe someone knows, but they aren't telling me), so I wanted this to work for a boy or a girl. I also wanted the mom and dad to have something pretty, bright, and grown up to look at while they are facing the challenges and rewards of this little guy or gal.

I took an un-official survey at my office (sample size = 1 adult male with two daughters) and my respondent told me he enjoyed having things for his girls that were not 100% little kid looking. What do other parents out there think?

That is not to say that I do not want this quilt treated like an adult thing. I would be so happy if it got abused, played on, worn out, and washed a million times. I think I generally speak for all quilters who make baby quilts when I say, I want this sucker to get loved. It is washable. Memories made on handmade things are beautiful. 

I fell in love with Denyse's quilting design and decided to fill up the negative space with the most adorable free motion, sort of organic (read: messy and unplanned), loops. I just made them on my home sewing machine while watching old episodes of TV on Netflix. I think it works.

The back is made up of some Kona strips I had left over from another quilt, some of the Kona Steel (I think?) from the front, and a single strip of Madrona Road (Haystack?) to mimic the bright star on the front. The star is made entirely out of scraps, curated for their brightness and happiness, and sewn together at random. Goodness, I love improvising!

Quilt Stats:
Name: Sunburst Baby Quilt
Size: 45"x43"
Fabrics: Kona Steel (I think?) for the front background, assorted scraps for the star (comment if you are curious about a specific fabric and I will try to find out what it is), the back has some Madrona Road Haystack, and assorted Kona blues from my stash.
Binding: Scraps of binding from my leftover binding (I am the worst at remembering fabric names!)
Pattern: Based on Crazy Star (from Denyse Schmidt: Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration)
Quilting: Free motion loops (à la Denyse Schmidt)