Seaside

Just working a little with some Seaside fabric this afternoon.

 

I cut everything into 6” squares and then decided to see what they would look like on point.  I suppose if I was thinking ahead (who does THAT?) then I would have cut the print with the children on it on the bias so they would be “facing” the right direction. 

Here is everything not-so-neatly placed up on the design wall:

I’m using Kona Eggshell for the sashing – it’s a beautiful match to the off-white tones in the Seaside prints. 
As I was cutting I noticed these sweet little flowers in the selvedges:  Love it!

Summertime Squares

I’m really enjoying Summer.  I felt like we had a long, miserable winter so I’m really liking the hot weather we’ve been having.  The kids and I are crossing a lot of things off of our Summer Bingo card.  What is Summer Bingo you ask?  I first saw it here.  I downloaded her free printable and customized the activities for our family.  The kids like to look at it during breakfast and decide what fun thing we’ll do that day.

A few days ago I pulled a stack of green fabrics from my closet and started putting them together.  I built this quilt around the little tree print - I really, really love those little trees. 
That stack of fabrics became this:





I am calling it “Summertime Squares.” (40” x 40”)  It’s just so summery with the shades of greens and the light yellows.  It reminds me of the trees in early Summer when the leaves are filled out, but not yet deepened in color. 

For the quilting I did straight line quilting on the diagonal.  I was going to go across the quilt in the other direction as well, but as I spread out the quilt to mark the first row I decided that it looked perfect the way it was.



Just as a note – painters tape works great as a guide for straight line quilting.  I can line it up using my long ruler, press it down well, and then I just follow the tape edge with my presser foot. 

Summertime Squares is in the shop!

Today & Tomorrow

Today I did some basting…

 

…some quilting… (the green tape marks my next stitching line)

…and some binding.

Tomorrow I'm going to start cutting this:

Seaside (by October Afternoon for Riley Blake) made it’s debut today at my LQS.  I had to buy some.  Just a little.

Does it not just SCREAM “summer” ??

Charming Lucy: free quilt pattern

This quick little quilt needs just one charm pack and 5/6 yard of Kona Snow.  It finishes at 35” x 35” (before quilting and washing.)  I love this size of quilt for babies and it also happens to be the perfect table-topper-size for my current dining room table. 

For the binding I chose the blue dots…



..and for the backing I went with the blue/green plaid from the same Lucy’s Crab Shack line.

 
 If you make one too, I’d love to see it! 

[You can download or print the free quilt pattern here]

linking up:

Undo and Redo

Well I had a few starts and re-starts but I finally have a completed quilt top made from that Lucy’s Crab Shack charm pack.  A little unpicking never hurt anyone, right? 

This pile of charm squares and kona snow…

…became these blocks…

which then became this top!

I’ll show you the details on Friday.  You know, It’s nice to be back working at my sewing machine just a little.  I’ve been doing so much hand sewing of bindings lately – I missed being able to actually create something.

Playing Around

Saturday afternoon I made a quick stop at my LQS and spotted this charm pack.  Twelve minutes later I was home and had it open.  I love when I get my hands on a new line and love at least 80% of it.  You know, sometimes there’s a line of fabric and I like maybe three or four prints.  Not this one.  Have you seen it?  How ‘bout this color combo:




Or maybe the raspberry pinks with the navy?




Well, it didn’t take me long to cut into it and start……something.  I don’t know what yet.  I have some blocks up on the wall that include Kona Snow.  So far I like it.  I might need one more charm pack and some yardage.  Looks like I’ll be making another “quick” trip to my LQS tomorrow.

 

Two Blocks From May

These are my two blocks from May for our IMAGINE at Do. Good Stitches group. 
We were asked to make a Rolling Stone block using orange, yellow, green, aqua and white. 



For my blocks I used this tutorial from Elizabeth at Don’t Call Me Betsy.  She has you make the corner blocks using paper piecing and the rest of the block is traditional piecing.  The blocks come together quickly and were fun to make.

I wish I would have chosen a little bit brighter yellow for this second block.  It is more “yellow” in person, but just not as vibrant as the first block.
 


After seeing all of the other blocks for the month I am looking forward to seeing how the quilt comes together!

Have you joined a virtual bee yet?  If not, you should!  There are many to choose from and there are always new ones starting.  Some go for a full year and some are shorter.  It’s a great chance to get to know other quilters, learn some new techniques and even get outside of your comfort zone a bit. 

I think this is my fourth or fifth bee and my favorite one so far!

One More Crib Set

Back in April I wrote a brief post about how I had received a custom order for a set of crib bumpers and a pillow to match this quilt:

These were sent long ago to their new home, but I never posted photos of the finished project!

The customer wanted solid white bumpers with yellow ties and the same blue checkered binding that was used on the quilt.

For the pillow I repeated the same half square triangle pattern from the quilt and added a thin border around the HSTs. 



I quilted the front of the pillow, but not the back panel.  There is a flap with a 2-button closure so the pillow can be washed if needed.



I have to say that I really enjoyed working on a couple of smaller projects for a change!  All of the pillows I’ve made for myself have been on the simpler side.  I think I need to do a few more like this one!

Patriotic Sewing

Summer has begun here.  Kids have been out of school for over a week now.  The first community parade of the season is this weekend.  It was 96 degrees today.  And I did a bit of patriotic sewing.  This will end up being a tutorial/pattern which you’ll see more of next week. 

Meanwhile, I have some hand sewing to do.  Two and a half quilts are waiting for their bindings.

Little Butterflies

A couple of months ago I received a custom order request that I was delighted to fill.  The customer wanted a pillow sham and a set of crib bumpers to match this quilt:



Because the quilt had been made about 6 months before, I had some hunting to do in order to find more of the same fabrics.  Thank goodness for etsy and other online fabric shops!  I found some of the fabric here and some of it here. 

The customer also wanted me to incorporate some of the butterflies from the orange print.  I did some raw-edge applique butterflies on the sham:





with just a bit of embroidery for the body and antenna of each butterfly.  I first showed you my “test” butterfly here.

I used just enough straight-line quilting on the sham to give it the quilted look without it being distracting. 



The straight-line stitching also ties in with the crib bumpers:



One side of the bumpers is solid gray with a few butterflies here and there.

 

The other side is made of strips of varying widths using all of the fun prints from the quilt.  The binding has to be my favorite:

I’ve always loved this stripe.  It’s from the Happier line by Deena Rutter (Riley Blake). 

The little one who gets to enjoy all of these butterflies is due to arrive in just a few weeks.  I’m impressed that mama has the nursery all set up and ready!  I think that with both my boys I was sewing bumpers, sheets, curtains, etc well after they were born.  Good thing babies sleep a lot for the first few months!

linking up