Baby Barrage, Part II: Baby Bloom

This is one of the most special quilts I have ever made. When I first saw the pattern, I knew I would make it for my niece one day. Problem was, at that point, I didn't have a niece. However, now I do! She was born a couple of weeks ago, and she is the cutest and sweetest baby ever. Of course. :)

The quilt pattern is "Bloom" by V & Co. The original quilt is larger, and has a white background. I didn't think so much white was a good idea for a baby quilt, so I used some Robert Kaufman Quilters Linen print in Silver or Platinum (can't remember which I ultimately chose!) I have a few notes on the pattern at the end of this post, because as written, it didn't work well for me.

(Sorry for the indoor pics. The weekend we visited her, there were 45 mph wind gusts every day. An outside photo shoot wasn't going to work well!)

I quilted the background (I did not quilt over the flowers) with a paisley design. I quilted the whole thing in about 3.5 to 4 hours, and my wrists were NOT happy with me about that decision the next day! But it looks so great, if I do say so myself... so it was worth it. :)

The backing is from Jenean Morrison's True Colors. It is such a neat, busy print! If you're new to FMQ, it's just the type of backing that will hide a multitude of sins, because you can barely see the quilting at all on the back of the quilt.

My niece, A, is not a huge fan of the quilt yet. But hopefully that will change. :)

Here's another picture of her, because she's cute. :) 

"Baby Bloom"
Pattern: "Bloom" by V & Co.
Fabric: "Simply Color" junior jelly roll, Robert Kaufman Quilters Linen print in Silver/Platinum
Backing: Diamonds in pink from True Colors
Quilting: FMQ paisley by me on my domestic machine
Finished size: 42" x 56"

A few notes on making the beautiful Bloom pattern:

Unfortunately, the method for turning petals outlined in the Bloom pattern did not work for me! Like, at all. I tried some practice petals, and the small ones in particular did not work out. The pattern calls for using a very, very thin fusible web, stitching it to the petal shape, then cutting a slit in it and turning the petal inside out. This... was a disaster! The fusible web (and I made sure to buy the one listed in the pattern) was too fragile to allow fabric to be pushed through it, and it invariably ended up shredding all the way to the edge, resulting in a sloppy, unevenly shaped petal.

What I ended up doing was tracing the petal template onto heat-proof template plastic, and then cutting out the petals with a 1/4" seam allowance. Then I "painted" starch onto the edges and used a mini iron to fold them over. After they cooled, I took the template out. As you can imagine, this was fairly time consuming. However, I did end up with petals that looked very nice and had smooth edges. I used Roxann's glue to lightly glue the petals in place before I stitched around them.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday and Fabric Tuesday!

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Baby Barrage: Part 1 - Waiting for Hedwig

I've probably mentioned it in my last few posts, but my friends, apparently in the true spirit of Easter and spring, are popping out kiddos like rabbits. Consequently, I have two more baby quilts finished! I'll show the first one today, and the second one next week.

Apologies for the phone pics. Worst quilt blogger ever, I know.

This quilt's destination was North Carolina, for a friend whose wedding I was in last fall in Nantucket! (You can see her wedding quilt here.) I guess when you're making some major life changes, you may as well do them all at once, right? She is definitely the kind of person who can handle them all without missing a beat though!

Last fall, I won a mini charm pack of Boho by Urban Chiks at the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild meeting. Very cute, if not totally my style. But it is definitely the style of this friend! Problem is, what do you do with a mini charm pack? I know I'm not the only one with this problem, which is why I recommend the quilt pattern I used so highly.

The pattern is "Waiting" by Amanda Jean Nyberg, and you can purchase it on Craftsy. It's a quick and easy pattern, and the instructions are easy to follow. But best of all, it uses one mini charm pack--for a whole quilt! It's genius. I want to hug Amanda for coming up with that pattern.

I used Robert Kaufman's Essex Linen in Natural (I am pretty sure) for the background. This was a new one for me, but it was great to work with, and I think that it was just the right look for the Boho line and for my friend, who is a bit of the outdoorsy/Natural Mama type. (I don't know why linen seems "outdoorsy" or "natural" to me--maybe it's because I used the color "natural"?)

I'm not sure who determined that babies love owls, but they're on everything these days. Some diligent Facebook stalking determined that the owl theme had carried into this baby's nursery, so I took that as my cue for the back. I used Owlery by Michael Miller for the back, and I have to add that I'm super proud of how straight I got the backing on the quilt!

Now all this quilt needs is the baby, and that should happen in a few weeks!

The recipient sent me this photo of the quilt in its new home! Nailed it.

"Waiting for Hedwig"
Pattern: "Waiting" by Amanda Jean Nyberg
Size: 36" x 36"
Quilting: Organic wavy lines by me on my domestic machine
Fabrics: Boho mini charm pack, Essex Linen in Natural, Owlery by Michael Miller, Sweet Serenade by BasicGrey (posts), and Nicey Jane Welcome Road (binding)

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday and Fabric Tuesday.



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Happy-Go-Grandma

This is a finish from last year, as I completed it in time for Christmas. It's rare that I finish gifts on deadline, so this quilt is special in more ways than one. :)

It's a simple churn dash block (did you know that this block is also called "Sherman's March to the Sea"? I think I prefer that. It's way more badass, and what is more badass than a quilt for your grandma?) made from two charm packs of "Happy Go Lucky" by Bonnie and Camille.

I love my grandma, as she's hilarious and a pretty positive person. I was lucky enough to grow up about 20 minutes from where she and my grandpa lived, so they were always a big part of my life. She loves to talk, and she was great company this summer as we helped my mom move. She's over 80, but still very active. Two and a half years ago, she came to New York with my mom to visit me for two weeks, which was great fun. She even braved New York City on that trip, though she was unimpressed with the metropolis and couldn't wait to leave and "get back to civilization." :) Once a farm girl, always a farm girl!

So I really wanted to make her a quilt, and thought that the traditional block and bright colors would be a great fit for her. It's a small-ish quilt (48" x 60" finished) but she's quite petite and it's the perfect lap quilt for her. When she saw the box for her at Christmas, she said "I hope this is what I'm hoping it is!" Luckily, what she was hoping it was was a quilt, or that would have been awkward. :)

"Happy-Go-Grandma"
48" x 60"
Fabric: Happy-Go-Lucky by Bonnie and Camille, and Kona White
Backing: Cosmos by Laura Gunn
Quilting: Dogwood pattern done by me on my domestic machine

"Did you say DOGwood?"

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Presenting: Ronquilt!

Finally, at long last, here it is: my favorite quilt I've ever made! Checking in at 1200 2.5" squares on the front and 45 hand-traced Pyramid of Greatness blocks on the back, this was definitely a labor of love. And boy do I love it. :)

Nope, not photoshopped. The state capitol has all 93 counties listed around the top, and there is a Pawnee county in Nebraska.

Last year, Happy Zombie hosted a "Ron Swanson Along" in homage to the great Ron Swanson of TV's Parks and Recreation and generously released this pattern into the internet wilds. It's been on my list ever since. I created the back based on Ron Swanson's Pyramid of Greatness and I traced every one of the pyramid blocks to create what I hope will be a long-lasting effect. 

I did a basic meander in matching thread on Ron's face, and then I tried paisley quilting on the turquoise areas. I love, love, love how it turned out.

Once Ron was finished, I took him on a photo tour of Lincoln, Nebraska (again based on a similar idea from Happy Zombie.) I took things a step further and tried to mostly pick locations that emphasized Ron's personalities and tastes or funny moments from the show, and I think I succeeded pretty well.

"Your work is appreciated. Eat some corn."

"You may have thought you heard me say I wanted a lot of bacon and eggs, but what I said was: Give me all the bacon and eggs you have."

"I have so many ideas. Some are simple like take down traffic lights and eliminate the post office. The bigger ones will be tougher, like 'bring all this crumbling to the ground.'"

"My dream is to have the parks system privatized and run entirely for profit by corporations like Chuck E. Cheese. They have an impeccable business model."

"I buy my burger ingredients at Food N Stuff, a discount food outlet equidistant from my home and my work. I came here for the same reason people go to the zoo... Nature is amazing."

You can see Ron's full photo tour here.

This is the first quilt I've made for myself, and boy is it a doozy. I might have to quit quilting--I mean, where does one go from here? :)

Linking up with Finish it Friday!

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Finish It Friday (Yes, really!)

I started this quilt last summer (see here, where my completely unwarranted optimism is hilarious in retrospect.) My problem is once I miss a deadline (like a wedding) my instinct is not to finish it as fast as possible, but to be like, "Oh well. It's already late." And so I end up finishing wedding quilts many months after the wedding. :)

The building in the background is the courthouse in my tiny hometown. I love it. A more skilled photographer could do more with that backdrop, but I was in a hurry. And my mom's arms were tired of holding up the quilt. :)

The recipient was visiting her family in Nebraska, and I got to go see her for her birthday. That spurred a hurry to finish. My best friend helped me baste it, as she is interested in learning to quilt. We accidentally pinned half of it to the carpet and had to re-baste. Rookie mistake. :) Anyway, at the recipient's birthday party, I found out she'd be in Grand Rapids the following week for business. Coincidentally, I also happened to be going to Grand Rapids the following week to visit my boyfriend. This bought me another week to work on the quilt.

And I finally finished it!!!

It's nearly Independence Day, so please enjoy how I went all 'Murica! with this photo, capturing a waving flag with my quilt.

We had lunch together and she loved her new quilt! Just in time for the hottest part of a midwestern summer, of course. ;)

 The backing is a Simon + Kabuki print (from the line "Nesting"--not bad for newlyweds, eh?) that I got for super cheap on eBay. I've never ordered fabric from eBay before, and it is a little scary since you don't have some of the assurances you have with other online retailers. And I admit that this did smell faintly of cigarette smoke (urgh) when I got it, but it wasn't overpowering and seemed to dissipate over the year (urgh) that I had it sitting around waiting to back the quilt.

 I was very nervous about quilting the stars. I thought I'd use the walking foot, but the idea of all of that turning and shoving the quilt through my machine's throat made me want to cry and throw things. So I marked it and FMQed it. SOOOO much easier. Seriously, it went very quickly and it turned out, if not perfectly, pretty darn good. I did do something very stupid, which was sew around the perimeter of the quilt way too early in the process. It meant that I had no room to ease fabric as I did some of the lengthwise quilting, and there was some bunching and puckers. Oops. Lesson learned.

 In other news that makes me feel productive and accomplished, I ground down and refinished my super-cloudy headlights myself and they look AMAZING.

One down, one to go. Or, before and after. 

I've had Sebring for 10 years, since I started college. He's 11 years, 151,000 miles young, and is still a champ!

Scary-competent. And try not to covet my socks too hard.

This is long already, but if you are a Google reader person you should switch over before July 1st but you already know this and if you want to use Bloglovin' the link is on the side of my blog etc etc. :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday, because I finally did, darn it!

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Hundred Day Hustle Wrap Up and Year-End Review

Like many of you, I found Kelsey's Hundred Day Hustle a great inspiration. I had pretty low expectations about my ability to finish things, but in the end, I think I did reasonably well! Here's a look back at my list:

1. Red and white quilt for Grandma-- Finished and given to my mom! She loved it.
2. Gray and yellow wedding quilt-- Finished and set to be delivered today!
3. Charming Stars wedding quilt-- No progress. Will be a January/February project!
4. Nebraska wall hangings-- No progress. But after tomorrow, football season will be over until next fall, so I've got plenty of time. ;)
5. Coasters for L-- No progress.
6. Placemats for other Grandma-- Well... in progress. There was a setback. :)
7. Table runner for Mom-- Finished!
8. Christmas pillow for my SIL-- I changed this to a holiday quilt, because I am crazy. The top is almost done, and I'm going to try to finish it before I go visit them next week.
9. Purse for my BFF-- No progress.
10. My hourglass quilt-- Yeah, this will be a 2013 project. :)
11. A Christmas quilt-- The squares are cut, because I split the layer cake with my SIL's quilt mentioned above. But like the football wall hangings, now I've got a lot of time on this one. :)

Ok, so not that many finishes. But the world is an imperfect place. :)

Since this is my first year of quilting, all of my projects are in this collage! I'm very happy with what I managed to learn and accomplish this year, and am very excited for the quilts I will make this year!

Have a Happy New Year!

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A Trip, A Blizzard, and A (Finally) Finish!

It's been a crazy month (ok yes, can anyone's December be described any differently?) As I mentioned recently, I was planning to move from New York to Nebraska later this week. Two weeks ago, I pitched that plan out the window! Long story short, my advisor's TA couldn't work at the last minute, and he offered the post to me for this spring. It's a great gig--no sections to teach, so basically just some grading and two classes a week, which should leave me a fair amount of time to do my own work. This means I know where my funding is coming from through May 2014 instead of just December 2013, which, as a fifth year grad student, is kind of a big deal. My first response to considering not moving was not a positive one, but as I thought about it, I realized it was very do-able. The only money I had invested was a one-way ticket for my uncle to come help me move, and my landlord extended my lease with no extra fees, which was great! I'm not very good at making major decisions, especially quickly, but this all happened within 18 hours, and I feel at peace with it.

Of course, with other recent unsettling events, it hasn't been a totally peaceful period. I was calculating final grades the day that the horrible shooting at Sandy Hook took place, and just kept watching as the news got worse and worse. I hope that this tragedy, horrific as it was, will spur some beneficial changes in the many areas of society that desperately need it. But more importantly, I pray that the families and community there are allowed to heal and that they will be well supported by friends and family in the difficult months and years ahead.

After a fun evening on Sunday decorating cookies with a few fellow grad students and watching "Love Actually," I headed back to Nebraska via a two-day drive with my cat as my (worthless, it must be said) co-pilot. It is such a long trip, and even though it's one we've made many times, I am always so relieved when I cross the Missouri River into Nebraska! It's equal parts great to be home, and to be out of the car. :) We got home a day before a massive blizzard came through. My mom and I made chili soup, drank wine, and I got her started on an addiction to Downton Abbey last night as the wind blew like crazy outside. There are probably not any better ways to ride out a blizzard!

Don't mind the crazy purple bunny on the left.

But my biggest news is that I finally finished a quilt! :) I know, miraculous. After deciding not to move, I found myself with a much more reasonable amount of free time, so I finally knocked out the gray and yellow quilt for my friend! I adore the binding I finally chose, and think it looks great! I took it outside this morning for some snowy photo goodness, and now I'll shut up and let you enjoy the photos. :)

The back is made from an Ikea duvet cover. It seemed just a shade short the long way, so I threw in a strip of blocks echoing the front. Something I need to learn to do is to line up a pieced back with the front, because as you can see from the quilting, it isn't quite square. Oh well. I still like the overall effect.

I considered outlining the dark gray squares in the same way, but I was sort of out of time and motivation after I got it bound, and I thought it would be tough to manage to not stitch on the binding if I went back and quilted post-binding. It would have looked nice though!

I really lucked out with my binding! I had saved some yellow from the beginning of the project and intended it for my binding, but when it came time for that step, I just wasn't feeling it. I wasn't happy with what I saw at the LQS, and then as I was just about to settle for something, I found this! And it is perfect. And I am a little obsessed over it.

So, the wedding quilt is finally finished, just in time for their five-month anniversary. :) I just know my friend is going to love it!

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Word of the Week: Frenetic. Oh, and Finished!

It has been a crazy week! I've not only been a bit delinquent in my posting, but also in my reading! So apologies to anyone who has posted cool stuff recently-- I'm taking a quick skim through things, but am bound to miss a lot.

Backyard Baby Boy FINALLY Finished

First, I did finish something! I actually finished this way back on the 19th, but like I said, things have been a little hectic. Anyway, I have completed pictures of my Backyard Baby quilt! (Apologies for the pics-- I had a haircut the morning of the shower for which the quilt was intended, so I left it with my mom and asked her to take a few pics, with mixed results. But it should get the idea across.) I loved how the finished quilt looked! And it was so soft and snuggly.

Look! A quilt with legs!

Front

Back

With the mama-to-be.

The recipient is a friend of mine who I have known since preschool. Her grandma would pick up her, her cousin, and me and take us to our respective babysitters' houses. Her husband went to high school with us and is a good friend of my brother. He is a high school biology teacher, which is why I loved this fabric so much for them (the nursery is "science" themed.) :) They're a really neat couple and will be terrific parents to their little boy!

A Whole Bunch of Other Stuff

Aside from the baby quilt, most of last week was occupied by one of my best friends' wedding. Wednesday night was the bachelorette party (We did a themed murder mystery, which was awesome. Even if I was the killer...) Thursday involved frosting 480 cupcakes and getting manicures. Friday brought hair appointments and the big day itself!

We were all super excited about it.

I don't know if I have any readers from the Great Plains, but it has been ungodly hot this summer. It is always hot in Nebraska in July-- I think the average high temp for the month is around 95--but this year at least half of the days I've been here have been at 100 or above. So, it's been super nasty. My dear, darling, beloved friend, for reasons unknown, decided that it would be amazing to have an outdoor wedding. In July. In Nebraska.

Well, God clearly loves her, because Friday marked the first cool morning there has been since I've been in the state, and a high temperature for the day of only 88! The ceremony was in the shade (at least for the bridesmaids-- sorry groomsmen!) and was reasonably comfortable. I don't know how she got so lucky! It was nice on Saturday too, but now it's back up to 100 again. Timing is everything, I guess.

I was especially excited for the wedding because my boyfriend flew in from Michigan to attend with me! It was fun to introduce him to all of my college friends and to have a little extra time with him.

The perfectly lovely indoor and air-conditioned space at the botanical garden. ;)

The wedding was a blast, and I loved seeing all of my college friends again. I feel strongly that my friends are among the biggest blessings of my life, and my college friends are essential to that view. Every time I spend time with them, I feel that I hit some sort of amazing jackpot. It's been quite awhile since I've laughed as much as I did this weekend. Yay friends. :)

With the beautiful bride. I met her the first week of college! Friends ever since.

Since it was a Friday wedding, I took the boy around Omaha on Saturday. We went to the Farmers Market, where I introduced him to the pastry delight of my Czech forefathers, the kolache, and then to the zoo. A lot of people are skeptical, but Omaha's zoo is one of the tops in the country. There is a huge indoor rainforest, an aquarium, a "desert dome," and all of the usual zoo stuff too. It's pretty cool, and we had a great time!

In the rainforest.

Freaky giant crabs at the aquarium.

In front of the desert dome. Why yes, I left my updo in. For $50, I always try to get a second day out of them. :)

On Sunday, we toured the Nebraska State Capitol (he's an Art Deco junkie, and the capitol is a great example of that) before he caught his plane.

So yeah, I'm a little tired. :)

Linking up with Plum and June, and catching up on blog hoppers!

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Of Pillows and Chaos

It feels like it's been forever since I've written a post or read anyone else's! The last week has been a complete whirlwind. More on that later, but I'll start with the "pillow" part of the title and then move on to the chaos.

Yesterday was the bridal shower of one of my very dearest friends. I have two best friends (even though I sound like a second grader when I put it like that) and they mean the world to me. I expect that I'll make many more friends throughout my life, but in these two, I believe I have my friend soulmates. They are amazing. I remember meeting the one who is getting married, M, my very first week of college in a Bible study. I also vividly remember that she seemed very quiet and thinking "She seems like she'll never talk. I guess we will probably not be very good friends." Ha. Wrong on both counts. :)

My dear M is an interior designer and has a very modern aesthetic quite different than mine, so I was a little worried about making her something, but I've decided to forge ahead anyway. I'm making her a quilt (she doesn't know about that yet) and I think it's going to be perfect for her. But I decided to use the scraps to make her a throw pillow:

I look super-awkward in this picture. Here's how the making of this pillow went down:

--Friday 5:00 pm: Decide I should start working on the pillow.

--Saturday 5:00 am: Leave to go run a 5k two hours away and then make food for the shower with a friend. Return home at 11:00 pm.

--Sunday 8:00 am: Begin working on the pillow again. With the assistance of my mother cutting out the back pieces and helping pin while I showered, finish at 12:45. "Wrap" the pillow in a pillowcase from Ikea (I used the other pillowcase as the backing for the pillow.) Shower is at 3:00, in a city two hours away. My mom snapped this quick picture of it as I was running out to the car to leave.

This is how I roll.

I used Oh Fransson's tutorial for the Mod Mosaic Pillow. It's a free tutorial, so download it and make one for yourself! This was my first attempt at anything improvisational, so it was nice to try that. It's not really my style, so I'm not sure how much place it has in my life, but it was fun to try. My sister-in-law stopped over on Sunday morning (add that to the timeline too!) and she loved it, so I'm sure it will be a good skill to have on hand for gifts and the like. The tutorial calls for it to be quilted, but I ran out of time to do that, so mine is simply pieced with a piece of muslin on the back. The world, alas, is an imperfect place.

Where am I looking? I have no idea.

Most importantly, the bride really liked it. She was pointing out all of the fabrics in it that she loved. I think she's going to be really surprised and delighted by the quilt!

This weekend was just the culmination of a crazy week. I spent all of Wednesday and Thursday driving from New York to Nebraska. It's about 23 total hours. I actually really don't mind the drive--it's kind of relaxing and a good chance to just zone out (haha, not a good thing to admit) and listen to music and audio books. I like to say that if grad school doesn't work out, I'll become a truck driver. My cat is also a total trooper when it comes to car or air travel, so that helps a lot too. And, my boyfriend drove down from Michigan and met me in South Bend, so it was wonderful to see him, even if just for a short time. We met for the first time in South Bend when I was driving from Nebraska to New York last summer, so it has a bit of a special place in our hearts.

On the road in western New York.

As I alluded to earlier, I ran a 5k. This is the first time I have ran anything, ever. I am not a runner. Emphatically not. But my sister-in-law isn't either, and she thought this Color Run sounded fun. So we decided to give it a shot.

Before

After!

You know how some girls look cute, no matter what sweaty, disgusting thing they're doing? That's not me. No, I'm the girl who ends up with a purple Hitler mustache at the end of the race.

I'm not sure I loved the experience, but I didn't hate it, and I would consider doing it again. However, I would not do one in July in Nebraska again.

Don't worry, my car is melodramatic. It was only 100 degrees.

 Anyway. I'm taking it easy today. :) Linking my pillow up with Plum and June, and checking out what others have been up to!

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