Cuties

I love to make things for other people. I feel like in this day and age, when life is so full and busy, spending time says "love" much more than spending money. Not everyone views "homemade" that way, and fair enough- I don't love every gift given to me, either. But it does warm my heart when a gift I have made is received with excitement.

My first set of twin quilts went to a very dear friend's boys. When she was pregnant, I asked if I could make quilts for them, and she was so excited! She was involved in the fabric selection, design and redesign (x3). She even modelled the entire nursery around the quilts, and hung them on the wall when they were complete.

They recently had professional photos done and decided to use the boys' quilts as a backdrop for the photo shoot. I was so touched! The photos are in-CRED-ible! They were taken by the extremely talented May Arason-Li. I will definitely be calling on her to photograph my children, so that I can pull out sweet pictures like this when they are driving me nuts in real life :-)





Aren't these boys the most precious things ever?? Or at least in close competition with their crazy-cute Big Sister!

The twins are here....and so are their quilts!

After 39 weeks, followed by 2 days of labour, one natural birth and one c-section (S., you are my hero!), two cute little bundles of love have finally made their way into the world!

And, at long last, so have their quilts! So, without further ado, here they are:

Evan's quilt...... ......and Sam's quilt! I loved working with the Riley Blake Wheels line. The fabric had a great retro feel to it and strong colors, which made them feel so rich. Evan's quilt was made as a strip quilt, with a vertical strip intersecting the horizontal, like crossroads! I used a chocolate brown color as sashing and binding to add to the "man factor." For Sam's quilt, I modified this quilt design to allow for rectangular blocks, to best suit the fabric for fussy cutting these cars.I opted to use the Wheels blue dot fabric as a base, and paired it with the same chocolate brown sashing for continuity with his big bro's quilt. I was striving for 2 complimentary quilts, but with individuality, just like these boys. The backs- I will abandon all modesty here and just say....I rocked it!! :-) I couldn't take a picture that did these justice. These turned out even better than expected. At some point in the process I came up with the idea of the stop light, using each of the lights as a way to record the birth information- name in the red light, date and time of birth in the yellow, and weight and height in the green. I love how these are now embedded in the quilts as a keepsake. I hand stitched these in brown embroidery thread (though I wish I had used a slightly darker brown), using the same method as I did for the Mckinley quilt. I used a circle cutter, then attached the embroidered circles using Heat and Bond, with some stitching around the sides with Perle 8 thread. The edges are raw, and I love how they frayed up a bit after washing. Quilting- my FIRST go at free motion. I was so scared! But I knew the design of the quilt called for it, so I sucked it up and went for it. This is where I was glad I had a "third" twin quilt.....remember how I didn't like one of the originals, so I made another? Anyways, the third quilt became my guinea pig. During the course of it there were many s-sharps uttered, tons of spikes and loops in the stippling, and let's not forget that basting/puckering fiasco.....Up close it kind of looks like crap (to a quilter's eye), but when you look on it as a whole, the imperfections kind of fade....that is what I love about quilting. So, not bad for a reject. For the second/third go round at free motion on the "keeper" quilts, I tried out 505 spray adhesive for basting, and it was a dream. I know it adds cost, but in the end I will pay a premium for my sanity! Not a pucker on any quilt since (I have used it on 4). My free motion vastly improved as I went, and I can honestly say I enjoyed it by the end. I love how the stippling adds that puckered feel, and the brown thread looks great highlighted against the blue solids on the back. Some people have asked me what I intend to do with the third quilt. Well, when I started quilting back in the springtime, it was in response the the amazing Quilting for Babes program started by my friend Kathy at Magnolia Designs. Baby quilts were made and donated to the NICU at the Children's Hospital from all around the world. I had planned to make 3 to donate, in gratitude for the health of my 3 gorgeous kids. I donated 2 "girl" quilts (my first quilt, plus another), but had yet to contribute a "boy" quilt.....so, here it is. Hopefully it will give some joy to a family who is in need of comforting.

In other twin news....2 more twins have just arrived to another good friend of mine. Yes, it is true. Something in the water up here?? And boys again. So that means...."Twin Quilts 2" will be coming to a blog near you (er, right here, actually). New designs, but (hopefully) equal Awesome Factor. I'll give you a hint: I will be using the stack of blues and greens.....

Linking up at Sew and Tell and the Crafty Soiree and Quilt Story Fabric Tuesday :-)

The Twin Quilt Saga, continued

Are you sick of hearing about these yet? Have I mentioned I have OCD?

Well, it was bugging me that the 2 quilt tops were not exactly to my liking. So to spare you the details, I decided to make one more. And here she is:

As you may recall, my original plan was to do a Chain Reaction style one, but the shapes of the cars would not work in the square shape to the measurements I needed. But my brain was kind of stubbornly stuck on this concept. So I decided to modify it to make it more rectangular, and run vertically instead of horizontally.
In the end, I think I am satisfied, and I think these two will hang nicely together on the wall.

But just in case it is actually TRIPLETS, I am ready, right? :-)I promise, this is that last you will hear of these until the babes are born and the quilts are bound and finished!

Don't drink and sew

I have been chilling at the cottage, and enjoying my fair share of this:

Late one such night, I had the brilliant idea to piece together one of the twin quilt tops, the interrupted strip quilt (design here). All large pieces, should come together quickly and easily, right? So off I went. And sure enough, it was a quick job. I went to square up the ends and noticed one side was higher by a good inch of more- no troubles, just went to it with my rotary blade and was already toasting my Awesomeness as I lay it on the ground to admire. Well, even in my current state I could see the problem- one side of the strips was way off compared to the other...thus explaining the excess. But I had already sheared it off- sh@*! Anyways, it had finished up large so I trimmed the entire periphery back and inch, but still have this:

I am sure I will come up with a solution with the binding! Overall, it looks nice.

I also pieced together the corresponding quilt top (revised design here)- this time, completely unimpaired, thank you very much!

And here are the set of them:

Not bad, but I am not as sure of the one on the right...... What do you think? It may be a bit too busy in relation to the first, and as they are meant to be hung on the wall side by side, I may want to change it up a bit. Maybe I will make a third and then decide the best 2 together?

Back on the road, after a roadblock

Ready to roll on my Twin Wheels quilts for Suzy's babes! I had posted my plans here, then went to cut up quilt #1 and realized that it wasn't going to fly. I had calculated the fussy cut center squares to measure 3X3, but the cars on the fabric were mostly too large for that. Since the two quilts are going to be hung on the wall, side by side, I need them to finish up the same size, so I haven't much wiggle room (and had already cut quilt #2)..... Anyways, I tried to make the original design work a couple ways, but still felt unsatisfied, when my husband reminded me, "this is an opportunity to get creative." So, back to the drawing board I went, and came up with a couple new designs to show Suzy. Here is what we decided on:

This is an "original design," so we will see how it works out! I decided to do a brick pattern running vertically, but will vary the widths of the bricks to give it an asymmetrical and modern feel. I am also going to repeat fabrics in adjacent strips (can you tell from my scribbles?) to give it some "movement." I added a horizontal strip, which I think compliments Twin Quilt #2 design, which has a similar strip running vertically. I think these are going to be great. Now the fun begins as it all comes together!

Getting there is half the fun...

....especially when you are planning a quilt with Riley Blake Wheels!

One of my closest friends is expecting twin boys this summer, and asked me if I would make a quilt for each of them. The idea was to make 2 quilts that were coordinating, but not identical (twins get stuck with enough matching things, right?). She is not a "traditional" quilt type, so we spent some time on the Internet checking out modern quilt designs and examples until she found a few that caught her eye. We found so many great designs, it was hard to pick! We ended up with a design modified from the Chain Reaction quilt (Cluck Cluck Sew), and another I will call an "interrupted strip quilt." We will tie the two quilts together by using chocolate brown as the trim for both, and of course the Riley Blake Wheels fabric as the focus.

These are my next project on the go, and while I am not really much of a detailed planner, I wanted to make sure that I would get it right, especially since they are a "set." So I calculated all the sizes, and then got out my kids' colored pencils and sketched them out...and this is what I came up with:

Some strips, some fussy cutting...this is going to be fun! What do you think?

In the meantime, my labour over the red, white and black quilt, which I now (mostly) lovingly refer to as "The Ugly Quilt" (yes, there is a story behind that name), is finally. almost. over. This is one where I should have really shared more of "the process", because it has been a marathon, but I actually forgot my camera at the lake and have been without photos for a while (have you noticed- lots of scanned and archived images??). Anyways, I promise to blog the Big Finale soon!

Two more quilts

I thought I would add a couple more quilts I have completed recently, both in baby size. The first is the "Cruzing" quilt, made with the wonderful boyish Wheels fabric by Riley Blake. My girlfriend and coworker, Trish, recently had a baby boy named Cruz, and I figured with a name like that, he needed a car quilt! Cruz's nursery is quite modern so a traditional style wouldn't do, so I went with a very random strip quilt, lots of color, and I love how it turned out! On the back, I made a little "road" of cars zooming by, and framed it on wither side with some lovely blue solids from our local fabric store, dark enough so that it can be rolled out on the grass for Cruz to snooze on this summer in the sunshine. I quilted it with straight horizontal lines following 1/4 inch from the ditch on either side of each strip- very simple, but manly :-)

The second quilt is again for Quilting for Babes, the charity run by Kathy at Magnolia Designs to donate quilts for babies and their families in the NICU at the Children's Hospital here in Winnipeg (see her blog at http://magnoliadesigns.blogspot.com/search/label/Quilting%20for%20Babes to learn more). As it is my goal to try out a variety of techniques, for this quilt I did a disappearing 9 patch pattern using a charm pack of Moda Frolic fabric, and then framed in a border of solid green. I quilted it with a diagonal grid pattern, and backed it with a bright turquoise floral local fabric. The binding for both of the above quilts were finished by hand in a chocolate colored solid. While this was not my favorite fabric in all honesty but I like in the end how it came together, and it is cheerful and bright- I hope it will bring some cheer to its recipients.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Kristie