Quilts for sisters

I finished this first quilt ("Nora's Purple Garden") at the beginning of last fall. It's for a dear friend's youngest daughter. It's a barn raising pattern. Boy, it was a tough one because I wanted all the fabrics to be just right. So, I had to cut the squares into HST's first and then sew. It was NOT a random project at all. But, it turned out beautiful.

Corner detail with heart sewn in.

The back fabric is below. The top is on top!

Top of the quilt

Back of the quilt

The next quilt ("A Little Birdie Told Me")  is for the same friend's oldest daughter. It was for her third birthday. This one is so precious...well, the quilt and the daughter! I found this pattern in a little shop during my trip to Utah with my sister-in-law. We went to the sewing summit together and had a blast!

The birdies were fun to make. Each was sewn on with my machine. The insets in the border are made up of 4 triangles. I thought it would be nice to mimic something from the sister's quilt.

Birdie detail. 

This is the only photo I have of the back. The back is made of "Ruby" and "Bliss" flannel. It's to die for!

There you have it! Two more quilts hand made by me. I'm almost done with another one. Hopefully it won't be so long to post it. Happy sewing!

All done Mommy?

I finally finished Evan's Funky Monkey quilt. I always seem to get distracted when it comes to projects for myself or my immediate family. I finished this one last night, yes, New Years Eve! I was very very sick so we stayed home. What else is there to do but hand stitching when one's butt is parked on the couch for 12 hours? I took a 3 hour nap in the late afternoon, so it put my finish time right at midnight. I was literally sweating at one point. I've been working on this project for, well, I don't want to think of how long. My original post is here.

Here it goes...

Sewing the last line. It feels so good!

Ironing the binding

This is my official binding sewing chair. I can prop my feet up and have the quilt at the right level. My eyes are getting bad! (this was before I got sick. Notice there are no more pictures after this one of me.)

Front

Back...I wanted to piece it. I love the yearbook fabric at the bottom. It's so cute with all the monkey portraits.

"Funky Monkey, My Little Monkey"
Made with all my <3
for
Evan William Maddison
by
Rebecca Marie Maddison
Greenwood Village, CO
December 2011
(the number 2 signifies that he was 2 years old when I made the quilt)

Evan loves his monkeys!

Finally where it belongs...on his bed!

I made this curtain valance a while ago. I used the actual curtains from his nursery decor. I'm hoping to reuse them for a long time! They have the insulated lining on them. My mom made them when she was here after Evan was born.

I made this a bit ago as well. I had a bunch of left over scraps. My next project is to maybe cover the lamp shades in monkeys. 

I think this turned out really nice. I'm glad I decided to do monochromatic and mixed blocks. It makes it interesting and fun. I learned a lot about making a pattern. I definitely have to measure, measure, measure and measure again.It's fun to measure and plan, but usually it just comes out how it's going to come out.

I already know my next projects. A bed runner for my mother-in-law, a king sized quilt for Marc & I and a play size quilt for my friend's daughter. I have a whole list of other smaller items. We'll see how they get finished!

Happy 2012. May it be the best yet!

Project Mania

My sewing machine has been on overtime for the last two weeks. I have made a slew of projects for the holidays... Don't mind the orientation on some of the photos. I changed it several times and they won't import correctly. If you have a tip for me, let me know!

Apron, pot holder and kitchen towel set

Little Girl Purses

Towel and pot holder set

Trivet set

Placemat Set 

Both sides of a butterfly lovey. It matches the quilt I made for the

little girl earlier this year just after her birth.

Bib

6 of these bad boys...super hero capes!

Half apron (It's double sided!)

It's been a lot of fun. I haven't really followed any patterns. Just looked at pictures for the shapes and dimensions and went for it. I love figuring things out!

First order of business is to potty train my little guy this week while simutaneously machine quilting the last lines on his Funky Monkey quilt. Geesh, this project is going on for ever! I will finish it in the first two weeks of January.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

This past weekend at the Sewing Summit in Salt Lake City was amazing! I was surrounded with women who love to create and it was breath taking. The classes were informative and everyone had a smile and project to share.

I got a lot of loot...some free, some paid. I took part in the shop hop on Friday morning. Feast your eyes...

6 samples of batting, 2 yards of bliss flannel, 2 yards of green and pink, 3 Sophia charm packs, fat eighth bundle, layer cake, pastel bundle, two pouches, charity block, 2.5 inch square pack, pastel charm pack, another fat eighth bundle, 6 Dr. Suess fat quarters, 3 fat quarters I liked, 3 dinosaur fat quarters, a pack of aurifil thread, 7 patterns (some single, some had more), a luggage tag, two rulers, one measuring tape, swag bag and a cool lanyard. Wow...that was a lot of stuff. Glad I took an extra suitcase to bring it all home!

I arrived back in Denver late on Sunday evening. My son was still awake and he was so happy to see me. I bought him a Grover at the gift shop and he can't put it down. When he woke up Monday morning he asked, "Where is Brober?"

He steals my heart!

Now it's back to diapers, dishes and projects. Last night I cut out the sashing for Evan's Funky Monkey. I will finish this thing by the end of the month!

My kitchen is almost never clean. And, on the rare occasion it is, this happens in about 10 minutes!

Till next year all you web sewers!

Busy Packing

I am feverishly packing for the Sewing Summit. I leave tomorrow morning. I have packed 6 tooth fairy pillowcases and 2 panel projects for baby girls arriving this winter. I'm sure that is too many projects, but I tend to be ambitious!

I'll keep you updated with posts from the summit!

The Last Yard

Over labor day my little guy and I traveled North to South Dakota. We went for a visit to see my sister-in-law and her monster, my nephew. We had such a good time. We, the moms, stayed up disturbingly late chatting and sewing. It was great fun. Here is a picture of us at the Presidential Alpine Slide. It's a blast and I highly recommend it if you ever visit Rapid City.

While in South Dakota I finished the top and back of Nora's Purple Park. It was quite a feat considering all the talking and laughing we did. My SIL helped pick out white for the boarder that surrounds the pinwheels. What a great idea. 

This is the thread that I chose to quilt Nora's Purple Park. It's a variegated yellow thread from Gutterman. It's looks really nice so far. 

Here is a close up of the quilting in progress. I have all the vertical and half of the horizontal lines done. It's a very simple pattern but I think it will look nice since the prints are very colorful.

This is my pet peeve. All the thread that is excess from starting the quilting line. Argh. I wish I could do something with it. 

Thanks for looking in on my progress. Hopefully it won't be another month before another entry is posted. Well, I should be done with this beauty in a few days if all goes well. 

Raising a barn-HST

My SIL is leading my mom and I through this quilt. I'm making mine much smaller to cross another project off my list. This beauty will belong to my friend's second daughter.

I have enjoyed keeping this quilt straight. I color coded the graph, numbered all the fabrics, assigned them a spot in the quilt and am now laying out the quilt one quadrant at a time.

Color coding the graph

Numbering all the HST

my order system

don't mind the flannel behind. It's the only flannel I had on hand. 

My SIL apologized for this being so difficult for me. Well, it's my own dang fault! I decided to make all the fabrics in each color category order from 1-4. Yes, I have a problem with being random. It never looks right to me.

I secretly covet this quilt. Is that wrong?