Tag Team Quilt

I'M FINISHED!!! One year later, and I finally finished this quilt for Ulrike!!! And I hope she doesn't mind, but I went ahead and named it the Tag Team quilt since she made the top, and then "tagged" me to go in and finish the rest :)

For those of you not familiar with the story behind this quilt, about this time last year my friend Ulrike contacted me about finishing a baby quilt for her. It was for a mutual friend who lives in the States, but it would cost a royal fortune for her to ship a finished baby quilt from Germany to the U.S., so she mailed me just the top, and I created the backing and put it together for her :)

The top was so fabulous that it took me MONTHS to decide on how I wanted to style the back, because I really wanted it to complement the front (and do her gorgeous work justice!). By the time I got the back done, the holiday season was upon me, and I was in full-on handmade Christmas present mode from then until the end of the year. I emailed Ulrike at the first of January to let her know finishing this quilt was priority #1, but a week later all my neck craziness started, so that pushed this quilt back another two months.
 

But I'm happy to say I finally finished binding it this weekend, and this beautiful quilt will be on it's way to a new mom tomorrow morning :) The thought of a chubby, happy baby rolling around on this quilt makes me incredibly happy. I can just picture him staring at all the bright colors and shapes, and finding little pieces in the quilt that will be his secret "favorites" as he grows up - Ulrike did such a fabulous job :)



I free motion quilted this using a cyan Sulky thread. I normally use Gutterman, but Sulky thread quilts like a dream when you're doing FMQ!

And below you can see my favorite bit of the entire quilt! I love that wonky little Owl & the Pussycat block...so sweet and whimsical :)

And here ladies and gentleman, is the back I made for the quilt! Again, the thought of pudgy little baby legs rolling around and pointing at the numbers and letters makes me wanna squeal! (I have a serious case of baby fever right now, in case you hadn't noticed, lol!)
 

I paper pieced the numbers & letters using templates from Kumiko Fujita's 318 Patchwork book, and I meticulously fussy cut those rainbow strips from an Ann Kelle stripe print. Her fabric is so perfect for kids projects and I have an obscene amount of it hoarded for future babies (not to mention serious yardage of her red & black Scottie print for Sir Whiskers projects!)

 For the binding I went with the new gray dot print from Denyse Schmidt's Aunt Edna line for Joann's. LOVE how it turned out - I seriously couldn't be happier that everything finally fell into place with this quilt! I think this is the first time I've ever made a quilt, and in the end felt like there's nothing I would go back and change. And it's the best feeling ever - I feel so creatively satisfied when I look at these pictures :)

And since the letters are a little hard to see from the shots above, here's a closeup of all the paper pieced text. Mmmmm....scrappy goodness!!!

Hope you all had a lovely Easter! I had a beautiful day full of worship, family, photographing quilts in the beautiful sunshine, peanut butter cookies, napping on the sofa with Ray and Sir Whiskers, and Indiana Jones/Jurassic Park movie marathons...all in all, the perfect Sunday :)

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Cherry Blossom Mini

 

I finally feel like I'm getting back into a groove with my sewing. I'm able to sew for short periods without having to wear my neck brace, and I'm not sore afterward - yay! I still have to limit myself to hour or so sessions, because I don’t want to over-do it and land right back where I was at the start of this whole mess...but I’m fine with that little compromise as long as it means I can sew again!

I started this project because I wanted something small and manageable that I could finish fairly quickly, and because I wanted to feel like I actually accomplished something for the first time in months! Binding this quilt has been slow going because it requires me to look down the whole time, which is the hardest thing for my neck (and it makes some of the fingers on my left hand go numb pretty quickly). So I wanted to start this small, second project so I could work on it when binding the other wasn’t in the cards :)

 

The finished mini quilt top measures 18" x 18", so each blossom is 6" square, and each "petal" is 3" square (pattern found here). I raided my pink scrap bin for the blossom fabrics, and for the center of the blossoms I used a leftover scrap of a Sweetwater "Sunkissed" print in Gray. The background fabric is Annie’s Seed Catalogue in black. I normally hate pinks and blacks (especially together, because it makes me think of Debbie Gibson and the 80’s), but in photography, art, and other mediums I always see those sweet little pink Cherry Blossoms paired with blacks and grays, and IMHO they just don’t look as pretty paired with anything else!

I have to laugh at myself over my color choices though, because I can’t help but think of what my friend Angela would say about it! I’m picturing her chuckling to herself at her computer as she reads this, since it contains so many colors I have repeatedly professed to hate, lol! I remember telling her on multiple occasions that I hate both pink and black, so she always enjoyed pointing out how much pink was in my stash whenever she came over ;) I told her it was a necessary evil, because a quilter needs a little bit of every color (especially if you sew mostly for other people!).

Well, despite all my protests to the contrary, it seems Angela knows me better than I know myself! Because I truly love this quilt :)

The next hurdle will be deciding on the backing...I have about 10 different ideas swirling around in my head, so I need to sit down and make some executive decisions this week. It's times like this I miss having Angela just down the road from my work - I really need another lunch-break brainstorming session with you Ang!!!

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Plugging Along

I managed to finish 2 more Tallahassee / Cherry Blossom blocks yesterday, which I should be happy about, but I can't help but be annoyed by my slow progress. I long for the days when I could marathon sew and finish this mini within a week! (*forlorn sigh*)

One thing I AM happy about is that pink Flea Market Fancy block. Even though that print wasn't included in the recent reprint, finally having my hands on a ton of new FMF has made me feel more free to use what's in my hoard.  It felt good to finally use my scrap of Pink Tiles for this project, because it looks so darn cute as a wee cherry blossom....much better than it did sitting folded on my shelf for years! Plus I like knowing that a good friend will eventually have this treasured fabric hanging on her wall :)

And I guess I can't be too crabby about my tortoise-like sewing, when I receive giant packages full of Orla Kiely goodness from dear college friends (you know, the one I have annual craft swaps with...here and here)! My friend Dana lives in NYC, and as she was strolling through town the other day, she stumbled across a shop with an ungodly amount of cheap Orla Kiely goods!!! Knowing I'm as obsessed with Orla as she is, she offered to be my personal shopper and pick up an extensive list of goodies for me :) 



I have to admit, a few hours after I clicked "send money" on Paypal, a little bit of buyer's remorse kicked in, because I went slightly crazy. But as soon as I felt the scarves for the first time yesterday, I knew I'd been right to get 5 of them! They have an amazing hand and feel like wrapping a cloud around your neck. And I mean, c'mon, they were only $12 each! Yes, you heard right - only TWELVE DOLLARS for Orla scarves that feel like heavenly clouds of fluff.  Ahhh.....





And the tank tops are pretty darn cute too. Can't beat $20 for a designer tank with a stick! I bought an extra of the bottom one so I can turn it into a pillow for my sewing room :)

And being the wise and all-knowing friend that she is, a tiny trio of chocolate bunnies from a fancy NYC chocolaterie was slipped into my package. Unfortunately, Mr. Dark Chocolate Bunny met an untimely demise before this photo was taken. RIP - you were delicious Mr. Bunny and a credit to your kind.

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Tardy for the Party

Ulrike's Quilt Top

About this time last year, my friend Ulrike contacted me about finishing a baby quilt for her. She lives in Germany, and the recipient is here in the States, so as you can imagine, mailing a finished 60" x 60" quilt overseas would be quite expensive. Therefore she mailed me the top, and I promised to make the back and finish things up. Only, this simple project took quite a bit longer than I anticipated...

Ulrike's Quilt Top

You see....*insert sheepish grin*...I'm just now binding it (these pictures were taken quite a while ago and I never got around to posting them), and I feel really terrible about taking a full year to complete the project for Ulrike :(

Part of the problem is that it took me forever to decide on the backing. I got the quilt in late Spring/early Summer and the top was so completely fabulous that I couldn't just do any old quilt back, and it took me a full 3 months (!!!) to figure out what I wanted to do. I'd decide on one thing - and then the next time I'd walk in my sewing room and see it - I'd hate it! And that's pretty much how things went for a couple of months, until I finally found a combination I loved - some Kona Cyan, Ann Kelle rainbow stripes, and scrappy Suzuko Koseki paper piecing!

Problem was, it was early Fall by the time I got the backing together, and once the holiday season hit, I just didn't have time to do anything else with it. I emailed her at the start of the year and swore up and down I'd have it finished and mailed within the next few weeks, but then the ol' neck started acting up...and here I am...Mid-March and just now in the final stages of binding. Sorry Ulrike :( ...I'll try and track down that nun from Blues Brothers and have her rap my knuckles a few times for it...lol!

My Quilt Back

But for now, I like to pretend to myself it's a good thing I'm super late, because the recipient will be extra surprised about receiving a present this late in the game (it's been a few months since the baby was born and Presentpalooza ended). Ludicrous, I know...but it helps me sleep a little better at night ;)

Front & Back of our joint quilt :)

I wish I'd taken some close up shots of the pieced letters and numbers at the time, but alas, I didn't...I think my camera died on me or something and I didn't feel like fooling with it any more. I'm almost finished though, so once I have it bound and washed, I'll snap a bunch of detail shots.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I got the patterns for the text from Suzuko Koseki's 318 Patchwork book. That book is a treasure trove of awesomness.

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Back in the Saddle

Well I'm back in the saddle again (Aerosmith style, not Gene Autry style) and just completed my first post-neck-injury project! It took me about a week to finish, because I never allowed myself to sew for more than an hour at a time, and I promised my physical therapist I'd stop sewing any time I started to feel pain...so while I had to cut a few sessions short, overall my progress was pretty good!

I had my outpatient procedure last week and they gave me a steroid shot in my neck, so I've been feeling better since then (although the procedure itself was slightly traumatic...bad news is that I wasn't knocked unconscious with glorious drugs as promised, but was wide awake as a giant needle was plunged into my spine; good news is that since I wasn't drugged, I had my wits about me when I got home and was able to eat the last brownie before Ray walked in the door. You win some, you lose some.)

Anywho, I'm no longer wearing my neck brace except when I sew or sleep, which is awesome. But since I think the cone of shame was too hilarious not to share, here's a before and after photo for your viewing pleasure.

Sad Kaelin vs. World Domination Kaelin

But back to the block...

I stumbled across a Stained Glass Whirling Star block on equiltpatterns.com, and once I looked past the hideous marbled fabric, realized it had pretty good bones. It was a really easy paper piecing pattern and I highly recommend it for beginners who are looking to dip their toe in paper piecing - I think it would make for a nice first paper piecing project for those of you who haven't tried it before. My only suggestion is that when you trim your eighths, leave 1/4" overhang on the outside edge. For some crazy reason the designer made the block 12" square, so the final block measures 11.5" instead of 12". Weird, I know. So if you add a 1/4" on the outside edge only (but not the inner ones), your unfinished block will be 12.5".

Unfortunately, I didn't realize this was an issue until I was half-way done, hence the sashing on the outside of my block. Boo.

For my block I used some light blue Monaluna Mingle, Allison Smith's Peacock Dot, and yellow Denyse Schmidt prints (from Hope Valley and Aunt Edna, respectively). Although the solid looks black in this photo, it's actually Kona Navy. It was dark outside by the time I finished, so unfortunately I had to take an indoor shot and the colors didn't turn out that great. I would have waited until tomorrow, but I have to mail this in the morning because it's going to a friend :)

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Martini Block Pattern

I designed this block specifically for the back of Amanda's Swanky Squares quilt (because what's a Mad Men themed quilt without a martini?), but I decided to go ahead and make a test block for another project I'm working on right now. The recipient of this mystery gift will probably take one look at this and know it's for her - but maybe not - so I'm still gonna attempt to keep it a secret for now :)

The finished block is 8.5" x 12.5", and I put together a little paper piecing template for you guys! There are three sections in the template (A, B & C) that you'll need to cut out. When piecing & cutting, make sure you leave room for 0.25" seam allowances on each side because the paper templates don't include seam allowances. Also, in addition to the three sections in the pdf, you'll need to cut two 3.5" x 8.5" pieces to sew to the top and bottom of the block. If you're new to paper piecing and need more detailed instructions, Christina at The Sometime's Crafter has a great tutorial with detailed photos.

And if you wanna make it extra fancy, you can quickly free motion applique a little olive & toothpick in the center with some fusible web!

Martini Block

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The sweet, sweet taste of victory

Me and my redheaded self are doing a merry little Irish jig in the living room right now. I finally found a copy of 318 Patchwork Patterns by Kumiko Fujita yesterday, and Ayumi was kind enough to have it shipped to her house. She's going to forward it to me in the States, and I'm beyond ecstatic.

I love Ayumi's blog and have read it for a few years now, but she doesn't know me from Adam. How incredibly nice is she to help a stranger get a book from half-way around the globe? I love quilters :)

I can't wait to get my claws on this book and get sewing! Tell you what, Ray's gonna have a time dragging me out of my quilting lair once it arrives.

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Completed SavVy {Seasons} Bunting (2nd Set)

Why am I blogging at 12:40 am? I came home this afternoon from church and pretty much blacked out on my sofa. I slept for 4 solid hours and my husband practically had to blow an airhorn in my face to wake me up. We had a late dinner planned with the fam, so I didn't get to work on the last few touches on my 2nd bunting set until 10:30 tonight. I finished the two Santas yesterday, but I hadn't so much as cut out the fabric for the trees yet. Since the SavVy {Seasons} mailing deadline is the 18th (which is technically today....even though it's an ungodly hour right now), I had to shake a tailfeather in order to finish in time! Below are all the photos. My husband is already in bed and even uber-hyper Whiskers is dragging right now, so that's why I'm making this short and sweet. You can read more about my interchangable bunting and see the first set here.

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