New Project: Into the Blue

So I started another quilt. I have had some fabrics in my stash for like 3 years and haven't had the "perfect" project for them. So I decided to go for it. 

Aren't they pretty together? 

I decided to do another disappearing nine patch block. I want to see what it looks like in dark colours and big blocks. I chose to do 6" blocks to make a 17.5" block, which I will then cut into four 8.75" blocks. I cut 6" strips and sewed them navy-blue/green-navy and blue/green-green-blue/green. Then subcut them into 6" strips and sewed those into nine patches. 

Sorry the lighting isn't very good. I think it's funny that the top two navy blocks and bottom two have the exact same pattern. Funny! 

I'm experimenting with ironing my seams flat. I usually do towards the dark side but thought I'd switch it up this time. I figured since the blocks will be going every which way it might be a good idea. 

Best, 

Kelsie

Wedding well wishes quilt

My brother married the most wonderful girl last summer! It was a wonderful trip. I was a bridesmaid, Luke was a groomsman, and Jackson was the cutest ring bear you ever saw! He even growled when he reached the front. My grandpa got remarried when I was about 6 or 7 and my brother the groom was the ring bearer. My grandpa told him he needed to practice his bear growl, so we told Jackson the same thing. Haha! 

Anyways, I wanted to make the happy couple a wedding quilt and thought it would be cool to have the guests sign quilt squares. It worked out nicely because we had the wedding in CA where they live now, and a reception in my hometown in MT. A wide range of guests all signed well wishes. I figured since their anniversary was coming up maybe I should start working on it. In my defence, I had a baby recently. And I'm kind of particular when I quilt. I always mull everything around in my head until I have the perfect plan. Then I sketch it out, do some math, lay out fabrics, and get to it. I had trouble deciding how I wanted to design this one. I've changed my mind like a hundred times. I finally decided to just frame the squares in strips of reproduction fabrics. But my math wasn't quite right so after I got two sides done I took the second side off because I realized I didn't have enough fabric. Now the plan is to do a scrappy look. 

Here's the beginning of the blocks. I'm completely in love with this fabric! It's Moda's playtime line with 1930's reproduction prints. I bought a Chloe's Closet jelly roll. 

And here's a cute baby! 

Quick Tablerunner

So we have these friends who have become family. (Framily?) They are so good to us and watch the boys all the time and cook for us and basically are like surrogate parents/grandparents. And like our biological parents, they can afford to buy themselves what they need/want. So giving gifts is HARD. I wanted to do something for Easter because I know the boys were getting baskets so I decided to just whip up a table runner. Procrastination last-minute sewing is my specialty! I decided to try a disappearing nine-patch because I've pinned some and like the look of it. I went with yellow because it's the colour of the dining room. 

So I had yellow squares on the corners, black in the centre, and white in between. Then just cut it into quarters and voilà! The hardest part was figuring out the layout. 

I am terrible at doing the quilt sandwich effectively. I always end up with puckers. Don't judge! I just did some free hand vertical quilting. The recipient loves it. And this is the back: 

Fun, right? We always have coffee together so I thought it was appropriate. All the fabric was from my stash. :) 

Next up: the "marriage" quilt for my brother and his wife. Since, you know, their one year anniversary is coming up. But in my defence I had a baby in January. 

Happy Birthday Red!

I Jackson was invited to a special 3rd birthday party for his friend. I happened to know her mom was buying her a crib for her dolls so I decided to whip up a doll quilt for her. I picked some heart blocks they were already cut out and just needed stitching on. I used a blanket stitch on my machine. 

Jackson had decided pink was important and if you know me at all you know this wasn't a problem. I just did an easy four patch and border. I also chose to turn it inside out instead of doing a binding. I did some stitch in the ditch quilting and voila! 

He was excited to give it to her. I'm pretty sure he opened the gift himself. Pretty fun for the first birthday party he went to! 

Lounge Pants

So a very special little boy in our house loves his "fuzzy pants." Basically fleece lounge/pj pants. (Seriously, who wouldn't? He comes by it honestly.) For Christmas I thought it would be nice to make him a pair or two. I found several tutorials on Pintrest that I was really excited for but they basically said take a pair of pants that fits and make a new pattern from them. So I did! 

Freezer paper works great! I was really excited for an afternoon to myself - just me, a cup of cocoa, You've Got Mail, and my sewing machine. I found just enough gray flannel to make one pair, then since I didn't have enough "boy" fleece, I cut up an old snuggie. This was brilliant, I must say. I was able to utilize the sleeves so that I eliminated sewing a hem on the pants. Shazam! I was going to make  the hubs a matching pair but ran out of steam. Here is a pic of the original pants I made the pattern from with the gray flannel pair. I thought I took a pic of both finished pairs but apparently not. 

A little boy was very happy!! 

Finishing the top

I finally got the purple baby quilt top done! I ironed the rows in different directions (first row towards the right, second towards the left, 3rd towards the right...) so that I could nest the seams and it would lay flatter. When I first started sewing I couldn't figure out why my tension was all screwy and kept rethreading my machine until I finally saw that my "helper" had turned the tension dial way down. Duh!! I adjusted it and all was well. After I finished sewing my rows together I iron those seams and here is the finished product. I'm thinking no border and white binding. Normally I piece my binding with different fabrics from the quilt but I will stick with one color to tie it all together. Next step: quilting! 

All Boy

This is the quilt I made for my son. I used as many "boy" fabrics that I could find. I used dinosaurs, sharks, trucks, aliens, footballs, knights, dogs, animals, etc. I also used some bananas and oranges fabric that he picked out, and some shamrocks (Irish heritage), and some blue and yellow football helmets ( MSU Bobcats) and some orange polka dots. The pattern is called "Yellow Brick Road." I found it at Glacier Quilts in Kalispell, MT but I've also seen it online. 

Some of the fabrics are from my stash and of course have a story behind them. The animal fabric in the bottom two corners is from a quilt my brother Mark made at 4-H quilt camp. I was 14, so he would have been 9. The shark and shamrock fabrics were from some placemats I made him for Christmas. His nickname is Shark and he was born on St. Pats Day. The green sheep is from my stash. I used to have sheep in 4-H so I have a small collection of sheep fabric. Orange polka dots because my hubby's favorite color is orange. He also picked out the football fabric. 

Jackson loves his quilt. Even the way he says "kwiylt" is cute. I couldn't even take a picture of it without him. 

I guess I did manage one;) I used dinosaurs for the border, a pieced binding, and the back is pieced flannel. It's a mix of dark blue and a polar snow globe print. 

I'm really pleased with how this turned out. I wanted it just full of lots of boy fabric and kind of random. I hope it's one he'll use for many years to come.