Thursday, July 15, 2010

More baby gifts!

Ivory gifts
It seems as though everyone we know is either pregnant or has a newborn right now! (And for the record, we are definitely NOT on the baby train, nor are we planning to jump on it. Ever. Iris is enough for us. Still, I am happy to craft for my friends who are new parents!) These gifts are for Ivory, a little girl (though we didn't know the sex at the time I crafted these) born to Rob's (our?) best man and his lovely wife.

Ivory elephant 1
This is starting to become my go-to baby gift. That's okay, right? The elephant is from the Indygo Junction pattern I've already used a few times. This time, I added a little ribbon bow. I also blanket-stitched a felt eye on; buttons on baby things still freak me out, although I did use them on the booties (but I stitched each one 20+ times with heavy quilting thread!)

Ivory booties
The booties are from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings. I am still hand-stitching the insole to the lining of the booties; there just doesn't seem to be a way around that, regardless of how carefully I fuse the insole to the inside of the sole.

Congrats to Joe and Melanie on their baby girl!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Tethered Threads: June

June blocks 1
This is a much-delayed post, but the blocks above were not late! These were made in June for Megan in the Tethered Threads block party. The prints are all from Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley line, and Megan chose them because they reminded her of starfish in tide pools. Lovely, no?

June block 1
Megan asked for blocks using the fabrics she sent and nothing more. She wasn't very specific in her desires, but did say she likes blocks with lots of pieces and with triangles. For the first block, I decided to continue in the disappearing nine-patch vein I've been in lately, but use the solid for the centers. I really like how this turned out. I typically don't use so many pieces in one block (this one finishes at 12.5") but I do like this effect.

June block 2
Once Megan mentioned starfish, I couldn't get it out of my head to make some stars, too. I wanted to design something a little different, so I came up with this block, which is just half-square triangles and straight squares. Nothing tricky to piece.

I really liked making these blocks for Megan. I think the color scheme is gorgeous, and I also really like that Megan is going to turn the blocks into a quilt for the bed she shares with her new husband (and probably that adorable new kitten! squee!). I thought about that the whole time I was piecing those blocks, so I hope some of my congratulations and good wishes carry through!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Nicey Jane HST wall quilt

Nicey Jane HST quilt 1
You may have seen a peek of this quilt in the photos from my last post, but here it is, officially. I've just been calling this my Nicey Jane HST quilt, since it's made with a Nicey Jane charm pack (plus Kona snow for the contrast) and it's all half-square triangles. Creative title, no?

Nicey Jane HST quilt 3
This quilt was started in May during a marathon sewing session with some of my favorite quilty ladies. We snacked and drank and stitched, and by 3am I had the center and skinny borders done! The larger outside border was made using yardage I had gotten a while back. The whole thing is really just a large version of these quilts, which I love so much.

Nicey Jane HST quilt detail 1
The only real difference between the minis and this larger quilt is in the quilting. Since I'm loving the way Gloria does some free-motion, I decided to continue in that vein and do some curlicues in the outer solid squares and some floral-like squiggles inside. I really like how the quilting came out. On a whim, I backed this in a solid I'd gotten on clearance from Connecting Threads, and also used that fabric as the binding. It was my first time using a solid from them but, my oh my, it won't be my last! I was continually struck by how soft it was and how easy it was to stitch. I highly recommend it! Too bad it doesn't come in very many colors... I should stock up on the white for lining skirts while I can!