Sloops

Sloop /slüp/ noun : a one-masted sailboat with a fore-and-aft mainsail and a jib.

About a year ago I started this project for my biggest little man. I designed and constructed it just for him from one of my all-time favorite fabric lines - Salt Air (by Cosmo Cricket for Moda). It fits his personality perfectly and he LOVES it. In fact, he's been loving it almost a year now. 

And it took a LOT of love for me to let him have it once it was complete. A queen-sized paper-pieced quilt in lovely fabrics... and he still occasionally has bedtime accidents. It's a good thing he's cute.

And it's about time I shared it on the blog. This seems to be the two hardest parts of quilting for me lately. Photos and journaling. Oh, and I'm sure you'll notice the fish pillow with clamshell pattern I made for him too. He jumps on it. Yes, I love him very much and he's very very cute. HA!

But back to the sloops. 

The paper-pieced little boats are offset to emphasize the equilateral triangle design and create continuous visual lines on the diagonal across the quilt.

And you can have one too if you like. Pattern here and here.

Lovey Giraffes Quilt Pattern

Whew, what a day. 

I can't wait to show you what's in my "fabric lab" right now. 

But it will have to wait until I finish it and get some energy up for pictures. 

And for those interested in getting their own lovey giraffe quilt...

Now available here and here.

Nite!

Striped Diamonds

See, I had a LOT of fun with that fabric.

Strip heaven.

I made paper pieced diamond strip blocks out of them.

And I used the same fabric for the backing as the giraffe applique quilt. 

Look at all those happy strips. :)

It is also in the shop.

Giraffe Love

My brain is stuck in baby mode. 

It doesn't matter if it's a boy quilt or a girl quilt... it just ends up being a baby quilt in my head. 

I'll have to force myself out of this streak sooner or later... 

My mom has an obsession with giraffes and buys all sorts of giraffe baby stuff for my kiddos so I can't wait to show her this one!

Cute little modern stylized giraffes.

Love.

The fabric is from a fat quarter bundle sent to me by Joyce at Jellen's house of fabric for some sewing fun. 

And believe me, I've had fun with it!

Applique up close.

Hanging out.

Ready for snuggling!

For the backing and borders I went with an "In the Beginning" dots print. 

They remind me of googly eyes. 

In the shop.

Scrap Baby Lovey Quilt

Someone (other than me) is having a baby boy... so before I end up "out of commission" I thought it would be a good idea to get a baby gift ready... 

Now I'm debating mailing it or snuggling it for a few months until they are done "incubating" out of my typical selfish tendencies.

I'm not entire sure how it happened, but "baby gift" to me now implies something with fabric - preferably designer quilting fabric, of course. ;)

Long gone are the days of quick and easy purchases at the store. 

I almost feel guilty buying something cute at Gymboree...

like I short changed them... 

It's a funny little predicament because a couple of outfits are a lot cheaper and easier but not near as special, personal, loving, heirloom-y, etc. as a baby quilt. 

So a simple scrappy (not pink, purple, or floral) patchwork quilt was in order.

And for babies minkee (minky) makes one heavenly substitute for batting and backing.

I would dare say easy to quilt even. 

Hopefully the person this is intended for doesn't ever check this blog and this stays a surprise as I have a few pictures for your viewing today... 

Arcadia... Is this my 5th?

Let's see...

There was this one.

And this one.

Oh, and that one too.

Yes, and another over there.

Even some coasters.

I've loved this fabric line for a LONG time. 

Fabric line is Arcadia by Sanae for Moda.

I've been hoarding some quarter yard cuts and additional yardage. 

LOVE the backing print.

And especially those nested circles.

This one ended up being a large baby or small lap quilt size at 42.5" x 47".

In the shop. 

Geared up.

I know what you're going to say...

a BOY baby quilt?

What happened?

Ha, just kidding.

It seems like most fabric lines just tend toward to the girl quilt...

This was a little fabric line by Benartex that I just couldn't quite pass up.

The checkerboard border.

Gears and dots. 

Very adorably boy fabrics.

Gears on the back in a different colorway.

Quilts + Flowers = Perfection.

:) 

And of course, the plaid binding.

It's in the shop.

Happy weekend stitching!!! 

Kid's Clothes

This week was "clothes week." 

Not that anyone needed any clothes per se, but once the serger is running it's hard to stop it.

Both of my machines have a mind and a will power all their own!

A onsie and skirt for my niece, Claire. She doesn't know it's coming and neither does her mom. :)

This is an older and favorite fabric line of her mother's - Sorbet by Sentimental Studios for Moda. 

Plus, she likes blue for girls. 

Perfection.

A skirt for my little girl from Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille. 

The loveliest aquas and reds in their lines.

Some pants for my little man in the bike print of Lucy's Crab Shack by Sweetwater and in the cars and buildings print of Summersville by Lu Summers.

I can't even begin to explain how much he LOVES seeing these fabrics. 

I'm not sure if he's fully settled with the idea that he gets to wear them and touch them. 

Usually mommy's fabric is such a big no-no. :)

Overall, total success this week in the sewing department. 

Now the quilting department... 

I have a MILLION works in progress. 

Something needs to get finished to save my sanity.

Hope everyone has a good week. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Googly Eyes

Rifling through the old pictures on my hard drive I realized I never even posted this HUGE finish. 

It was right before Christmas last year so I suppose it was just forgotten in the chaos?

A very nice and wonderful person, I mean REALLY nice, contacted me to make this as a custom order right after I saw this amazing circle piecing method.

It eliminated the raw edge applique problem with heavily used quilts. 

She provided all of the print fabrics and pattern and it looked sooo cute that I really wanted to make this for her.

400+ hours later (these are EXTREMELY time intensive and I'm not entirely sure that I'm exaggerating here, HAHA!) there was a twin sized quilt to show for it!

Lots of Moda, Timeless Treasures, and Michael Miller cuteness in there.

This is probably my favorite boy quilt that I've ever made. 

Seriously, she picked AWESOME fabrics.

Striped binding. :)

63 blocks later... I do love this quilt and I still think it was worth it to have made it.

She also requested pillowcases. 

I can't imagine how cute her little man's bed must be with all of these adorable fabrics.

Looking at these makes me want to make another one for my ball-obsessed little guy. 

It'll be a while before he gets out of the crib.

Maybe I should rephrase that... I'm sure he'll be able to climb out very soon, but I plan on putting a "lid" on the crib when he does and waiting to get him a real bed.

hehehe!

Reunion

This quilt has been waiting awhile for completion. 

I kept debating. 

Borders? No borders? Borders? No borders? 

Well, obviously I went sans borders. 

This is my own pattern though I haven't tried to write one up for it. Yet. 

It follows nicely in my recent obsession with plus sign, cross, "x's" quilt designs. 

I went for a scrappy binding. 

So, I settled on a gingham Michael Miller print for the back. 

It's in the shop.

Quilt Therapy

I think people sew for a variety of reasons. 

Mostly because it's awesome!

It also makes for some really good therapy.

Really, really good therapy.

For some reason, unknown to us, we really stink at making babies.

Of course, the ones we have are perfect ;)

Just sayin'.

But the "getting them" just hasn't been easy.

I actually REALLY started quilting like a crazy person after we realized we were going to have to deal with fertility problems back in 2009. 

I needed a lot of quilt therapy to get me through it.

After rounds of crazy hormone injections for months and months and months we finally had a baby boy to show for it. 

This last week I had another miscarriage (#4) and D&C. :(

So there was more quilt therapy to the rescue.

Bricks baby quilt in Sophie by Chez Moi for Moda.

Half Square Triangle Quilt in Make Life by Sweetwater for Moda.

Strips baby quilt in Sophie by Chez Moi for Moda.

Another strip baby quilt in Sophie by Chez Moi for Moda.

And the cute little man that reminds me it's all worth it and everything is going to be okay. :)

All better.