Christmas came early for Patrick!

This past weekend I finally got to meet my new nephew and finally got to give him his quilt! Funny, the quilt is so big it's more his daddy's size, but Patrick will grow into it for sure!

This is one of our first pictures together!

All snuggled up with mommy and his new quilt!

It was a great visit to DC with my family and a great chance to bond with our newest family member! I have finished my quilt for the Project Modern competition and will post pictures of that soon too!

Thanks for looking!

Thoughts on spray basting a quilt

I love every step in the quilting process, but I'd like to get some steps over with as quickly as possible (i.e. basting and binding). Spray basting is quick, but I find it can make the quilt feel stiff until you wash it and dry it. Maybe this isn't a big deal, but one thing I love about working with fabric is the soft, natural feel of it and for some reason having glue involved makes both the fabric and the process feel very synthetic to me. I think there's a similar debate to be had about pre-washing too in terms of how the fabric feels in your hands while working with it. Eh, we'll see. Not having to use ten thousand pins for a big quilt is also very nice...

This is the first quilt that I spray basted, and also the first large quilt that I stippled (I finished this quite awhile ago, but just recently got around to photographing it.) This is Oh Fransson's Paintbox quilt pattern which was a really fun way to mix prints and solids from my stash.

It was very flat and stiff before washing it, as you might be able to see in this picture. I also learned a good hard lesson about the importance of using good quality cotton fabric - this medium gray ain't so great and I think that adds to my mixed feelings about the look and feel of this quilt.

I think I like the backing of this quilt more than the front! I made the backing from scraps left over from the quilt top. I love the effect it creates on the back and also the fact that it uses so many narrow strips that might otherwise have been tossed!

Thanks for looking!

Speedy Delivery!

I finally bit the bullet and bought the backing fabric for the quilt for our bed. I'm so glad I did because now I can finish this baby up and put it to good use! I bought this fabric blind online, knowing that I like Amy Butler's prints, but not knowing if it would coordinate the way I wanted it to. I've definitely been burned by online fabric purchases in the past. I was very happy when the 6 yards arrived that work perfectly! In retrospect, what was was I thinking??? I had to throw a few other items in my order too - including 2 fabrics from Anna Maria Horner's new line. Love them, but have no idea what to do with them yet.

Last night I was toying around with all these ideas, really wanting to cut into some fabric. I was getting a little frustrated not knowing what to do with myself and said "I'm in a total block!" To which Buddy replied, "Maybe we should make a quilt out of you then!" - Get it? Quilt made out of blocks? Yeah, it was that bad. And that good.

Speaking of amazing quotations, my friend texted me while I was writing this post to tell me that "Parsley is the new black." LMAO. I love people who love Konas as much as me and I just really miss all my quilting buddies back in MA!

I made this stocking and a few others that are on sale on my small, but slowly growing etsy site. I need to spend some more time on my shop. This is a whole new world to me!

Thanks for looking!

Practicing some new things...

I made this wonky star block at a class taught by Katie a few weeks ago and wasn't sure what to do with it. I decided to just finish it off and make it a mini mini quilt. I tried pebble/bubble quilting on it, which I hadn't done before and I'll say it looks better from far away than up close. It was fun and quick and has a cool overall effect.


I also tried for the first time machine binding. I found a few different techniques for doing it and I don't like the one I chose or how I did it. I think next time I need to change the width of my strips or something. Anyway, I always put off doing the binding because the hand stitching is so time consuming, so I feel like practicing this technique will be a good investment over time...

This is what's on my sewing table right now. Going to turn into some Christmas stockings! I love these bright colors!

This morning I was up fairly early and caught the sunrise over the Cascade mountains as I was coming down my street (I pulled over to take the picture, don't worry). Of course it looked better in real life, but still pretty nonetheless. I also realize I'm developing a habit of putting Seattle scenery pictures in my quilting blog in every post. Not sure how I feel about that... :)

Thanks for looking!

Benefits of sunny days in Seattle!

They're happening less and less these days, but in the past week we've had some great sunny days - good for photographing quilts on my little lawn and great for seeing the amazing views that Seattle has to offer. A few new friends showed me this park in Queen Anne and I took Buddy there to check it out.

Amazing view of the space needle, otherwise unrecognizable Seattle skyline and Mt. Rainier. Every time I see Mt. Rainier I just can't even believe how beautiful it is! Most of the time it's too cloudy to see it - it's pretty far away, but so big that on a clear day it's a pretty major sight!

I made this Christmas baby quilt last week. I've been practicing my half-square triangles since my first attempt went so poorly and I learned some better techniques for doing it.

This is made from a charm pack of Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas and Kona bone - a new fave of mine! I used yardage from this line for the backing and binding, with a Kona red thrown in there too - not sure the name of the color... As unoriginal as it sometimes feels to use pre-cuts, it also feels good to actually start and finish a project in a reasonable span of time.

I quilted it with a beige thread in an all-over meandering pattern. It was sooo much easier to quilt this small quilt after doing Patrick's ginormous quilt! I love how crinkly and warm it looks after going through the washer and dryer!

I love this fa la la la print on the binding! I have posted this on etsy - my first item for sale ever!

Thanks for looking!