a pile of finished quilts for the cottage

Of course getting a new cottage last summer meant that I "needed" new quilts for every bed (and any other possible surface).  And it just so happens my girls have a pair of bunk beds in the "girls' room".  Four twin quilts were in order!

I decided to do coordinating but not matching quilts.  They will all be in one room so I wanted a bit of a colour theme but not looking too....orderly ;)  Keeping it carefree! So, I planned two quilts using Briar Rose for The Middle Child's bunks, and then two quilts in a variety of yellows, oranges, pinks and greys for the bunk beds for Last But Not Least.  I got 3 of the 4 pieced by last November's Loon Lake retreat....but then they sat...and sat...

Well,  while enjoying a lot of this over the past few weeks...

....I have managed to baste, quilt and finish these three!

Only one of the Briar Rose ones done, but here it is:

Did a bit of a lattice, and quilted it with an all over daisy and loop pattern.  Bound it in some Flea Market Fancy green seed print and made a simple but cute cottage label, just using a Sharpie.

Then it was on to LBNL's quilts.  I kind of favour these, I admit.  First, a granny square quilt with some stippled quilting:

Loved how the orange binding on this quilt matched the front and AMH back so perfectly.  Again with a label.

And finally, a fun equilateral triangle quilt!  Straight line quilting along either side of the seams for this one.

A happy yellow Kate & Birdie binding and one of my favourite backings...love those big pink flowers! And another label!  Go, Me! ;)

And here are the two coordinating ones together.  Love how they compliment each other.

Phew!  Now it's time to sit back and drink some wine and have a rest, wouldn't you say??  Back to the lake I go!

A quilt for Ryker

A friend approached me to commission a quilt for her friend, who I haven't met.  She is pregnant with their second child, a boy they have already named Ryker.   However, they were recently given the devastating news that the fetus has a condition making it incompatible with life.  Instead of terminating the pregnancy, the couple has decided to carry the baby to term, hoping to maybe have a few hours to hold their son before he passes.

They call Ryker their little sunshine, so I decided to base the quilt top on sun and sunbeams.  The top is one big paper pieced block.  I had never paper pieced before, but I did a few practice blocks, then sketched this out on freezer paper, roughly using this free tutorial on Craftsy as a guide.  I gotta say, I see more paper piecing in my future!

The top piecing is really quilte simple, and my plan was to do some fancy free motion quilting along the beams to make it meaningful.  I used a nylon "invisible thread" for the first time, this one by Connecting Threads, and was really pleased with the result.  It blended well with all the bold colors here, letting the texture steal the show.

In the sunshine, I tried my hand at some curve-on-curve quilting.

In the orange, I did some "ribbon candy."

In the lighter blue beams, I quilted radiating waves, and put words in them.  I stitched in "Ryker", "you are my sunshine,"  "love lasts forever," and a simple heart.  The alternate navy beams are each a different pattern: a quilted plaid, a stipple, pebbles,  radiating circles and clamshells.  The result is a quilt filled with lots of lovely texture.

I used a DS plaid for the back and Joel Dewberry herringbone in navy for the binding, which was machine stitched in place (getting better at that).

I am hoping this quilt provides some comfort to Ryker's parents; something to hold when he is gone.

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

Ghastlies quilt is finished!

It's done!  Muahahahahaaaaaa!  (Did that sound evil?)

This quilt has to be the most "unnecessary" quilt I have ever made.  And the most fun!  It all just fell into place so instinctively, and I enjoyed every minute of the process.  Let's face it, normally I utter more than a few curse words in the quilt-making process,  but this one was smooth sailing!

Truth be told, I don't even really like Halloween.  But when I was introduced to Alexander Henry's The Ghastlies while at Sewing Summit last fall, I loved it, and bought a half hard with no particular plans.  I started making some wonky blocks with it last fall, inspired by Thumbelina's quilt.  I thought I would just make a wall hanging, but as the blocks accumulated, I ended up with more than enough for a quilt, especially once adding the wonky border- this thing finished at 65 by 75 inches!

Once the top was made, I instantly had visions of quilting it with a large, sprawling spiderweb. The epicentre is to the top left of the quilt (you can click on the photo to enlarge and see the quilting better).  I used a thick Aurafil thread in a yellow-orange shade so that the quilting is quite pronounced.

 I used the same thread to topstitch the binding for continuity.

I even love the back- found this perfect spiderweb fabric at Fabricland on clearance for $3.50/meter.  Score!

It was Canadian Thanksgiving yesterday, and we headed out to rural Manitoba to have dinner with The Hubs' family.  This "Haunted House" is just down the road from their farm....all perfectly rusted and falling down!  Even the day was grey and rainy and desolate...perfect for photographing a Ghastly quilt.  I have to give a shout-out to The Hubs for climbing over barbed-wire fences, avoiding the multiple cow patties, and patiently holding this up in the rain while I gleefully took photos!

Wishing you a SPOOKTACULAR day!

Shared at Quilt Story and linked up to A Ghastly Gathering at alidiza, which runs until October 28!

Hmmmmm.....

I am thinking of using this:



for this:

Eventually.

What do you think? Anything I should remove/add?

Pretty little purses

Once again, in my journeys on the Purl Soho site, I spotted an absolutely gorgeous Japanese handbag. But there was no way in tarnation that I was spending $36 for the frame in their shop. So I moseyed on over to etsy, and along with the bobble frames I used for my coin purses, I found iDENTical frames for...drum roll.....$5.80. See? I am a freakin' economic genius. You gotta spend money to save money, as my BFF Samantha says ;)

Did I NEED another purse? Well, that is an entirely different question in the economics department....

Anyways, back to the crafty stuff. The frames I bought came with no instructions, so I popped back to the Purl Soho tutorial and just eyeballed a pattern, based on what they showed there. It's a wrinkly bag, so I figured exact dimensions were not critical, and that turned out to be true. Sew sew sew, and here you have it:

Aren't they cute? I used some home deco weight Joel Dewberry from his Ginseng collection that I la-la-love, happened to find on clearance at a local fabric shop, and have been waiting for the right project to put to use. I think they are perfect here.

Now, I want you all to remain impressed with my crafty prowess and all, but I have to say- these were quite easy. And super elegant. So cute dangling over the wrist just so. I highly recommend giving these a try!

For lining, I used some sweet soft Rowan shot cotton. Made use of my labels once again.



What's that inside the bags? Well, I thought it would be nice to have a coordinating wallet that fit nicely in the bags, so I whipped up a couple of those as well, incorporating a third fabric from the same line.



This was just a pattern I made up, inspired by this clutch at Keyka Lou (though not nearly as cute), smaller in size and with a full fold over.

I used a magnet snap closure for the flap (also bought on etsy here), which was an interesting experience as when I was doing my top stitching, the magnet would stick to the metal base plate by my bobbin at the most unexpected times and make my lines all wonky. Doh! How very Me of me.


As you can see, I made 2 sets- one for me and one for Samantha, who lives in Toronto :-) I am super stoked as I am heading out to T.O. for the weekend with my hubby. He has a conference and it is our anniversary so I am tagging along (maybe some romance??? nudge wink) and while he is occupied by day, I get to hang out with Sam, who I never get to see often enough!! You can bet she and I will find equal doses of shopping, chocolate and trouble! I promise a full report when I get back!

"Feminist Boy" baby quilt

Note: Don't forget to enter my "New Blog Design Giveaway" here.

Yes, there is a story behind the quilt name!

A good friend of ours, who incidentally introduced my hubby and I 17+ years ago, had finally settled down with a lovely wife a few years ago. Both busy professionals, they started trying to have a baby, and as sometimes happens....well, it wasn't so easy. They had suffered several miscarriages, when finally, B. changed jobs, and things came together for them. She is certain that it has to do with leaving the stress of her prior job. They are due with a little boy this fall! Both from families with mostly females, when asked how they would deal with a boy, B. replied, "No matter, he will be a feminist regardless." Knowing them, this is certain to be true :-) Thus, the name of the quilt!

I used mostly Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow fabrics for this quilt- I absolutely love this line! The colors are fantastic, and a great go-to for a masculine quilt. I added a few solids, as well tried something new by adding some fabrics of texture.
I am terrible with the names of fabrics....the white is velour-like, and the corduroy is extra soft- I used this for the binding as well.

I also added just a single square of red (non-cotton, kind of suiting-type?) material to both the back and front, just to draw the eye.
As another first, I tried out some hand quilting using my Perle 8 thread in conjunction with some machine quilting at 1/4 inch from the seams. I loved hand quilting! I found it very therapeutic to sit and stitch. I just did some random lines, using colors coordinating with the quilt, and again just a touch of red. These added a bit of something to the front, but where they really shine is on the back:
I used a dark navy solid for the back, which really highlights the hand quilting, and pieced it with with some squares. I love a pieced back, it is like a bonus, a happy surprise. Of course, this quilt has lots of "character" (i.e. crooked and uneven stitches!)......best admired from afar :-)
In another quilting update, the twin quilts (plus 1) are complete! Just waiting on those babies....at 38 weeks already! Their Momma is a trouper! Here is a preview....the full reveal when these little guys finally make their debut, so I can do the finishing touches!

p.s It is Sew and Tell Friday at amylouwho again today....go check out the great accomplishment of the week :-)

Urges

Look what arrived....

I feel a baby boy strip quilt coming on!