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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WIP Wednesday: Ron's Glorious Back and the Resurrected BOM

I started the Skill Builder BOM at Pile O' Fabric back in January. I completed those blocks right on time and then... didn't do any more. Not sure BOMs are a great fit for me. ;)

However, this week, I decided that I'm going to try to catch up a little bit. I didn't really have a place for this finished quilt (it's almost a queen size), but I've decided to put it in the room where I stay at my mom's newly purchased house (this is relevant, I promise!) That room has orange carpet. Yes. Orange. In fact, that orange carpet is all over the basement, so replacing it isn't really an option due to cost. So, I thought maybe I could tie in some orange to this quilt so it would look like it belonged there.

But I don't know that I'm loving it. It's not quite as neon as it looks in this photo, but it definitely stands out (it's a rich red-orange, really). So I haven't put the borders on that block, because I think there is a chance I rip it apart and put in something less jarring. I know that a quilt in all blues and greens will look nice--it's a safe choice. And it will look much better in the orange bedroom than whatever is there now (a light blue and yellow comforter--gorgeous!) ;) The full layout looks like this, and theoretically, I could put the dark orange wherever there is white in Alyssa's mockup:

Thoughts?

I've also fully discovered the danger of late-night piecing:

Haha, oops. How is it that those things go totally unnoticed until the whole block is together?

Ron quilt is also proceeding rather nicely. Both the front and back are fully pieced, and I'm hoping to get it basted today (it's fellowship application season, however, which is both extremely sucky and extremely time-consuming... so things aren't going as quickly in the sewing realm as I'd like.) However, here is a preview of the back. I'm pretty dang proud of it. :)

Hope the rest of your Wednesday is grand!

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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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WIP Wednesday: Earth Mother Quilt and an Apartment

Happy summer! It's actually been unseasonably cool here, but I'm really ok with that, because I know we'll get weeks and weeks of 95+ degree weather at some point, and frankly, I hate sweating and like saving money on air conditioning, so summer can just take its sweet time as far as I'm concerned!

Here's what I've been busy with:

Drove it all by myself for 1200+ miles. Good training for my future truck driving career.

Biggest takeaway? I have way, way, way too much stuff.

This is my real WIP lately.

 

Sigh.

My great mother came out a day after she finished teaching for the semester and helped me move back. So I owe her big time! Don't worry though, she's going to cash in on it. She's moving this summer too. From a house she and my dad bought in 1979. So that should be fun. :)

We had time for one quick sightseeing stop on the way. 

Incredibly, I also managed to finish a quilt top before I left New York. I wanted to get it done so I could photograph it with some lush greenery and pretty waterfalls, but true to form, I finished it, then failed to get any photos of it in gorgeous natural surroundings. So instead, it is photographed in my living room. Quality lives here, folks.

You may remember this quilt is for a friend who got married. Last September.

Sadly, the new place seems to be infested with a vug under the rug:

via

Linking up with WIP Wednesday!

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Two Finishes, a Minor Disaster, and the Curse of the Reindeer Cat

If that title didn't draw you in, I don't know what will. :)

I spent the few days before Christmas in a flurry of sewing activity and was able to finish two gifts for my mother. Since my mom bought me a beautiful machine this year (see Tobias' debut here), I felt it only right that she get the first fruits of my sewing efforts.

So I made her this table runner:

This project is also significant to me because it is the first time I have EVER tried FMQ on an actual project. It is actually pretty fun, as I'm sure most of you already know. :) Some of it turned out quite pretty:

And some did not:

But that's ok. It's a busy enough quilt design that the quilting doesn't show up much anyway. The fabric I used is a "Christmas Spirit" charm pack by Holly Taylor, which isn't really my taste, but it is definitely my mom's. The pattern is from Keepsake Quilting and can be found here.

My second finish is in some ways my first quilt! Several of these red and white blocks were made during the beginning quilting class I took almost a year ago (love that 9-patch, eh?) This was the quilt I referenced last month as being intended for my grandmother. Events happened, and my mother ended up being the recipient instead.

I finished this quilt quickly. I'm back at my mom's place for Christmas break, so it was tough to sew with her around (she's a teacher, so she wasn't at work either!) She went to a wedding last Saturday night, and I finished the top, basted it, and quilted the sashing. Sunday morning, I got up and didn't even shower or get dressed, and finished the quilting on all of the blocks. I bound it, trimmed threads, and tossed it in the wash (with several color catchers, as you might imagine with this color scheme) five minutes before she arrived home. I think she was very happy to unwrap that on Christmas Eve!

Cat nap approved.

But as we know, the course of sewing does not always run smooth, and I also botched some placemats I was making for my grandmother. I was binding them on Christmas Eve, hours before we were due at her house, so I suppose it served me right for my procrastination (I've had that fabric since July.) The binding on the one I got done was not a thing of beauty, and then this happened. Sigh. So Grandma got one placemat and an IOU for the rest.

Also, I did this to my cat. Rest assured, I do not normally dress my cat up, I'm not that crazy. But my brother and sister-in-law got this outfit in the $1 section of Target a couple of years ago for my mom's cat as a joke, and I decided my cat needed to try it on. His opinion differed.

Christmas Spirit, by Bingley

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts!

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WIP: Just a peek!

Well, I abandoned hope for finishing the wedding quilt in time for the wedding. It would have been nice, but it just didn't happen. I spent too much time watching football this weekend, and not enough quilting. :) (My team won and looked great, so yay!) While I enjoy sewing, I often find I have a pretty limited attention span for it. I know there are lots of quilters out there who can spend days at the machine, but I just can't. I like to dabble for an hour or two here and there. I accept that that is just my style!

I also went to The Great State Fair of New York (the grandiosity of that title cracks me up every time) on Sunday. In between the appalling displays of fried foods of every kind and a whole lot of low culture, I did get some photos from two separate quilt exhibitions. I'll post those in a separate post sometime soon.

I did sew a little bit though. Here's a look at what it will look like!

I really like this pattern. I love traditional blocks with modern fabrics, so I could see myself using this one again. It's designed for charm packs which would of course save you some cutting! I love patterns that allow you to still see the fabrics.

This isn't the greatest picture, because I just took it so I remembered the layout I had planned. Because once again math thwarted my efforts, I miscalculated how much fabric I needed. Instead of buying more, I decided to see if I had anything in my stash (novel idea, I know!) This isn't really my color scheme, so it was a bit difficult. But in the end I salvaged a bit of brown I had bought to make my friend a purse (hope there's still enough left!), some of the plain green from the MSU beach blanket, and some green stripes and polka dots from an American Jane mini fat quarter bundle I got on sale. As a result, the overall effect is more green than I intended, but there isn't anything wrong with that! The bride is the most frugal person I know, so she'd be totally proud that I made do if she knew. :)

Also, my cat is apparently too lazy to even sit like a normal animal while drinking. He'll take his beverage service in the reclining position, thank you very much. Proud moment for Bingley.

Yes, he's a boy and he has pink dishes. He doesn't seem to mind. :)

I'm headed to Chicago tomorrow and Indy on Friday night, so I'll be flitting around the Midwest and cursing the Newark airport this weekend (because it is terrible). Have a great week everyone!

Linked to Freshly Pieced!


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WIP Wednesday: Weddings

It's been fun to read about everyone having time to sew again now that their kids are back in school. Unfortunately, it's just the opposite for me! There are papers to grade, lessons to plan, dissertation chapters to write, and committee members to avoid. :) The semester has started off well, though I am amazed by a couple of things in the course that I'm teaching. The first is how much time it takes to plan it all--I've been responsible for sections before, but managing all of the minutiae is overwhelming me a bit right now! I don't know how high school teachers do it with so many classes per day, every day of the week. The second amazing thing is how very different freshmen are than juniors and seniors. I think the jury is still out on whether it is a difference I enjoy or not.

In the midst of that, however, I decided to start another quilt. Because that makes sense, right?

My hands are really tied, because yet another one of my friends is getting married. Very few are on the wedding quilt list, but this is another one who is on it. Fortunately, after her, pretty much everyone I know is married, so then it will just be baby quilts.

Pretty excited about the back. Got a bunch of this "Nesting" by Simon + Kabuki off of eBay for $5 a yard. It will be perfect!

I'm hoping to make a good chunk of progress on it this weekend while watching the first weekend of college football!!! (So excited!)

The color scheme was new for me, and not something I would ever pick. I had no browns at all in my collection! Initially I was going to leave out the green, but I like having that third color in there and think it brings it all together. I like it a lot more than I thought I would!

I've also continued to make slow progress on my other wedding quilt for the friend who got married in July (oops). I've got most of the rows together. In a perfect world, I'd finish that top this weekend, but we will see--honestly, for right now, the blue/brown/green quilt is of a bit higher priority. Because that wedding is September 8th.

A beautiful day, but weird shadows everywhere! Ah well.

I am awesome at time management. :) Linking up at Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday to take a look at others who are a little better at it than I am. ;)


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Go Green! Go White! Go to the Beach!

Hey! I finished something!

I'll get it out of the way: these photos are horrible. It was storming Thursday morning and super dark, and to make matters worse, my boyfriend lives in a cave. Not really, but a man apartment has pretty much the same amount of light as a cave.

My boyfriend is going on vacation to South Carolina this next week with his family. I was invited to go too, but Cornell is ruining my life* by starting classes on the 22nd. Life is full of these little disappointments, I suppose. Anyway, last week I was struck by the brilliant(?) idea to make him a beach blanket. I knew it needed to include Michigan State fabric, because that is his alma mater, and I saw this blanket's future life as a tailgate companion. The problem, of course, is that they do not sell Michigan State fabric in Nebraska, which is where I was until last Friday night. So I bought the other fabrics and cut the squares and binding strips before I left Nebraska.

*I know, cool it, Drama Llama. Cornell is only ruining my chance to lay on a lovely beach with my boyfriend reading non-challenging literature. Not my entire life. I guess.

On Monday afternoon, I bought the MSU fabric and cut those squares (with a really crappy pair of scissors, I might add). I wanted to surprise him with the quilt, so that meant my sewing time was limited to while he was at work. I took down my work station every day so he wouldn't suspect anything. Luckily, he's not that observant, and I just shoved my sewing machine behind a chair and he never noticed. :)

Fortunately, I had a lot of help during this sewing marathon.

On Tuesday afternoon, I sewed together the top. (There is something satisfying about sewing together those big squares! It took practically no time at all.) On Wednesday afternoon, I basted and tied the quilt. Thursday morning, before I left to drive from Michigan to New York (hahaha, I'm crazy) I sewed on the binding. I think the whole thing (less cutting) took me 8-9 hours--less time than it took me to drive from Michigan to New York.

There were some challenges with this quilt, in spite of its simplicity. One, of course, was keeping it a secret. But the other, biggest challenge was basting. Has anyone else tried to baste on carpet? It's a huge quilt and I had literally nowhere else to go. So I tried to safety pin the bottom layer to the carpet and work from there. It was not ideal, but since I tied it instead of quilting it, it worked well enough. I don't think it would make a tight enough baste for quilting though. I'm curious if anyone else has had experience with this.

This is also the first quilt I tied. I used perle cotton thread (size 3, I think.) I had no idea what kind of needles to use. I couldn't get the thread through the first tapestry needles I got, so those were out. I had also bought a package of "doll needles," which are about five inches long and look pretty dang creepy. The package said "ideal for tying quilts." I think "ideal" is overstating things, but they did get the job done. It took almost exactly two hours to tie the whole quilt, so it was relatively quick. (Thanks to Lyn for suggesting Connecting Threads' tutorial on tying!) I've decided I don't love the look of tying, but I think it probably has its time and place (such as a last minute beach blanket, for example.)

Unexpected downside of a tied quilt--boyfriend's cat thinks I crafted her a special toy of fun, dangling threads. Oops.

This was my first scrappy binding too. I love how it looks! I forgot to get a picture of it finished (and boy, was it a crappy binding--but I was in a hurry! Rebecca will be happy to know that my time constraints emboldened me to try binding without pins, and I actually think I'd do that again) but here it is laid out pre-binding.

It's a big quilt (80" x 80")! Maybe too big. :)

Anyone recognize the backing? It's an Ikea duvet cover. I didn't even undo the middle seam, I'm so lazy. I just cut three sides open, pressed the remaining seam, and pinned the whole thing to the carpet for basting. Voila! Instant backing.

 I left it on his bed for him as a surprise when he got home from work. He was very surprised and very happy with it! It turns out that guys don't really care if the binding is on exactly straight or not. Now I just hope it holds up on the beach! Also, a big thanks to everyone who weighed in on my last post with opinions/advice about tying!

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Questions About Life, Where Life = Tying a Quilt

In my first mass appeal for help, I'm wondering about tying a quilt. I've never done it before, because as we all know, quilting adds a lot to a quilt top, and I think that there is also a perception that tying is a bit "elementary." I think on some quilts it could look ok though.

However, due to a number of circumstances, I am considering tying the quilt I'm trying to throw together this week. Here are the quick facts:

--It's a giant beach blanket. After its trip to the beach, it will probably go to tailgates during football season. Point being, this is not an heirloom quilt by any stretch of the imagination.

--It's just giant squares pieced together. Nothing special piecing-wise.

--I don't have access to a walking foot right now. I also don't have access to a very good place to baste. Still not sure what I'm going to do about that.

So, here are my questions:

1) Have you ever tied a quilt?

2) How did it go?

3) Is it more or less time-consuming than quilting?

4) Given some of the restrictions I'm up against (listed above), do you think this sounds like a good solution for this quilt?

Thanks everyone! I hope you had wonderful weekends! I sure did. I came to Michigan and my boyfriend and I went up north, and let me tell you, it is gorgeous up there! If you're within driving distance, it would be a lovely little short trip.

We went to Sleeping Bear Dunes and walked to the top. A long walk, but so worth it!

A gorgeous sunset on Lake Michigan.

We went kayaking on the Crystal River which was little, but so gorgeous and clear!

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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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