Trivets and Baby Blankets

 


Froggy


A super cute shoe



 I have been making things to put in the booth at Iron Horse Station in Hot Springs, NC. I haven't been blogging about these little things because I didn't consider it 'conversation worthy'. However, since I have decided to play along with Elizabeth's 2011 Finish Challenge you will be subject to seeing all my little stuff so I can add to my 'count' and not let Lizzie look too good! ;) So, here are the things I made to add to my January finishes. First are one of my new favorite things to make...Trivets, I am missing a picture of one of them  because I decided to give it to my Grandma on my trip to Vegas a few weeks ago.

When My oldest son was born I stayed with perfect strangers in Southern California for a couple of weeks until I was heathy enough to stay on my own (a VERY long story for another time). The mom of that family made him this wonderful blanket with satin on one side and flannel on the other. It was very simple, just wrapped around and stiched down. When my daughter was born a year later, she sent one for her in the mail. My kids LOVED these blankets. I started making them for new babies in my life soon after. Kids just love them. So I decided to see what they would be like quilted. I have made a few but these are the first ones that I have taken pictues of (we have already discussed my failure to document things, let it go).

My Kid's Quilts

I posted already about Aubrey's quilt but didn't do any on the other 4 monkey's quilts. The reason for this was not only to show favoritism but also to show my lack of documenting skills. I simply didn't take pictures of the other ones when I made them. Hers was the last one I finished and had then started using my camera. So, here goes, starting with the first one...Jaydin and Jordan have matching quilts, I started quilting when Squish was brand new so the boys got the exact same quilt, using this pattern.

I had started decorating their room to be very pirate/beachy like. The walls were this amazing sort of caribbean blue with sandy beaches along the bottom. Their bed looks like a sail boat and there were 'hula skirt' curtains. It was a lot of fun to decorate and it was the room I missed most when I sold that house. Anyway, I had the hardest time finding surfer type fabrics, I looked at every quilt shop in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and even online. And found very little. Then I went to the Outter Banks to visit my cousins. There was this great little LQS called Funtastic Fabrics and I tried to go there every time I would visit. (They have closed their storefront now and just have an online store). Since they are a store on the beach, I had TONS of fabrics to choose from. I had decided to make Jay a quilt but {unintentionally} got enough to make 2, that is how they ended up with matching queen size bed quilts. I put different borders and backing fabrics on them but the centers are identical.

My favorite part about making these quilts was when I was trying to pic the backing for Squish's quilt. I took him to my favorite neighborhood shop. He was about 14 months old, big enough to walk but not perfrectly. I told him I was looking for fabric for him and asked him to help me find something he liked. This would be a ridiculous conversation to have with most toddlers (that is if you don't know Squish). He walked straight past about 50 bolts and picked up the PERFECT thing. It was bright orange with fish on it. He didn't even look at anything else, just grabbed it, put it on the floor and sat on it! I was busy looking at what I thought would work and foolishly thought I would know better than him. I knew he had 'staked his claim' but didn't pay that much attention. So he finally says 'Mamma, dis one!'. That was officially it, plus there was just enough on the bolt so it truly was kismet!

Next is Isabel's quilt. I started making this before 'the man' and I were even dating. She loves anything colorful! In fact more often than not I have to edit her morning outfit so she doesn't so closely resemble Punky Brewster. So I found a pretty simple pattern and then headed off to shop. I got every bright hippie looking fabric I could find. I got just about that far and then got a 'boyfriend' and well, that sucked up all my crafty time. So I didn't actually get around to sewing on this quilt until AFTER we got married. So Isabel  helped me lay out the blocks before we sewed them together. The thing I don't like about this quilt is that I ended using it to test out the new set up on my long arm after it was moved here. So there are a few tension problems but nothing too crazy. 

Then there is Damian's quilt. I couldn't decide what to do for his. I hadn't really spent enough time with him to see what he really loved when I started it. I  did KNOW for a fact that cars would be a safe bet. I had most of this fabric in my stash because I had planned to make a lap quilt to take to the race track years ago.  So I kind of just figured out my own pattern for it and it came up with this:

And as thought this quilt was blinding enough, I put black and white harlequin diamonds on the back and quilted it with lime green thread and this great flame pattern...I think he likes it.

So that is PART of the quilts that lay around out house. I may get up the gumption to document the rest.

Noe's 'Guy's Quilt'

This is my buddy Noe, he is a great guy. One of the most honest, generous and kind people I have ever met. I 'adopted' him as family a few years ago. He hates me because I make him dance...in public! {evil laughter} He came to visit us a while back and like everyone that comes in my house was subjected to hanging out in my studio while I worked. He found a quilt in my twosey-foursey quilt book.  I think he was half joking when he said 'you could make me this one' (I don't think he thought I would actually do it).  Honestly, I haven't made any of those quilts yet but he found one in there that was as he put it 'not so girly'. The truly hard part about making it was finding the animal print fabrics that went into it. I looked for months and couldn't find any I liked. One day, I wandered into Marti's looking for something else and found ALL these great fabrics...even the 'solid' black has zebra stripes on it. It was PERFECT, of course I didn't have the pattern with me so I guessed on how much fabric I would need and ended up buying twice as much as what I needed to make it. Might have to make another one with the left overs. ;) Then I put brown short-napped fur on the back to give it the full-on 'bachelor pad' vibe. The quilting is just an all over swirled pattern but with this great touble stranded thread that has one white strand and one black strand twisted together, it lookes like the thread disappears but there are small white flecks that show up...it was a hassle to quilt with but I do have to say it looks awesome! ;)

I also found some a leopard panel and whipped up a pillow to go with...



 Another one ready to get on the plane:

He seems to be taking this 'guy thing' seriously. ;)

I will beat you TO DEATH if you get cheesy dust on it!

Holly and Jesse's Wedding Quilt

So this really weird thing happened after I moved...my best friend met my cousin at a party. Not that weird, just means that my social circle was not as wide as I thought. But then, they got married...it really weirded me out....but in a very happy kind of way. So, once I got over the shock of it, I start sewing...I had got the fabric for this quilt to make something for Holly {years ago} but had never found the right thing to make with it. But it is such a beautiful jewel toned, gold marbled fabric, a trip around the world just seemed to work. It has over 1200 two and a half inch squares in the center. Once I had that made, I didn't know what to border such a colorful quilt with. I was at my favorite LQS one day looking for fabric for another project when I walked past this amazing filigree pattern...the colors were perfect! And as usual with me, I didn't have the pattern requirements with me so I guessed. I wanted to miter the corners on this one since the fabric was screaming for it but I was short about 5 inches to make it work, and anyone who is acquainted with quilting knows, if you don't buy the fabric NOW, it will be gone when you go back and it was...oh well, it is still ok I guess. The quilting was fun too. I got this one about 75% quilted and ran out of thread. I have to order this particular thread in bulk so I don't order it very often...it sure is gorgeous thread though. I took it off the rack and it sit on a shelf waiting for some more love for about a year. Pathetic I know but the quilting was finally finished on this one last week, giving me just enough time to bind, wash and wrap it...

Tianna's Traveling Quilt

Maybe you remember my friend Tianna and her quilt. Well, when she was here last and picked it up, she requested a small lap quilt she could take with her on a plane. She is fortunate in that she is single and has a good job so she gets the opportunity to travel more than some of the rest of us...did that sound a little jealous? HeHe. Anywho, she looked through some of my patterns and picked out what she wanted. She left it up to me to pick the fabrics. I thought it appropriate to make it sort of Parisian since she is learning to speak French and had taken her first trip to Paris not long before coming to visit me. The top isn't very big so it didn't take long to make, in fact it took longer to quilt it than to piece it. lol

 Ready to go....

Frank and Sandy's Anniversary Quilt

Anyone who knows me knows that I always bite off more than I can chew. I bought this fabric soon after I moved to NC (3 years ago) with the intention of making an anniversary gift for my good buddies Frank and Sandy. I got the pattern for it before I left Vegas. I knew I would be pushing it to get it to them by their anniversary that year (2008) but tried anyway. It was amazing I got ANY sewing done when I first moved here, what with 3 kids and a full time job but I did...By the time the event came around the next year, the top was done and mostly quilted. It was one of the first (maybe even THE first) quilts I finished on my longarm. I was having tension issues on a small portion of it, I didn't even see it until after it was done and bound. I put it in a box with some other quilts that I planned to ship to Vegas. This one didn't get sent because of the problems it had. I un-stitched the yucky parts and re-quilted them. Even though it took 3 years to get it to them, they WILL have it for their next anniversary.

With our Vegas trip less than a week away, I can't wait to hand it to them.

Especially considering that when I left home, it was just the two of them, now they have made an extra person.;) And Dylan got his own quilt over a year ago. LOL

 

Nancy's Memory Quilt

Remember the quilt we made for the Greens? Well I posted a pic of it on Facebook and my friend Nancy (the one in the white dress) saw it. It just so happens that her parents were celebrating their 50th Anniversary this year. She emailed me and asked me how to go about getting a memory quilt made for them. After months of emailing back and forth, she picked a pattern and color scheme. Her dad is from New Mexico and her mom is from Colombia. She wanted to have muted colors mixed with bright colors to illustrate their different backgrounds. The blocks were simple so I tried to find some fabrics that would relate to what she wanted (I hope they do). I spent alot of time quilting this one and did different quilting patterns on each blocks. There are wedding pics of Nancy and her siblings as well as all of their children. Included are also pictures of her parents now as well as a GORGEOUS wedding picture. I quilted one theme around the wedding shots, a different one around the pics of the kids and another one around the blocks with just words in them. The border and the large lightly colored blocks have a hibiscus sort of pattern in them. Another feature in included in this quilt was a flange {or as I like to call them a 'crumb catcher'} border that I think gives it another layer of character. Once the top was done I was challenged to find a backing that fit the unusual color scheme on the front. I happened upon some great fabric {on the sale table} at my LQS and it was perfect. The pattern has interlocking hearts in blue and green. Once it was quilted, bound and washed, I packaged it up and between snow storms got it off to UPS (well, DJ took it as I couldn't get out of the driveway). I hope her parents like it as much as I enjoyed making it.