Birthday Cakes

Last weekend I finished quilting and binding both Birthday Cake quilts.  Both of them (and the plus quilt) should be delivered this week to Children's Hospital through Katie's Comforters Guild.  Usually my sister drops them off when she is there for appointments, but we'll be up this time around and it will be my first time dropping them off.

     Both quilts are backed with flannel leftover from other projects.  Flannel is usually my go to backing for quilts so it almost seems strange when I choose to bind a project in plain quilting cotton.  The pattern was pretty simple and I was grateful for the opportunity to trim blocks down to size.  I wish I had reversed the stripe orientation on the pink quilt so it would seem brighter but it works reasonably well.  

Birthday Cake quilts
Fabric: Tula Pink's Acacia and Birds and the Bees
Size:  Approximately 46x46"
Quilted with loops by me

Super Kids Quilt

     The quilting co-worker group is behind on baby quilts.  Two have been born and one more is expected and we haven't managed to kick it into gear and get anything done.  Today, the plan was to at least finish two quilt tops, possibly get more done and run some errands.  Enter the reality of a really late night at work last night, knock knock jokes starting at 5:30 this morning and a power outage and the hope of completing two quilt tops went out the door.  But I sort of managed to take a nap, frequently interrupted, and chose not to run the errands.  

Using a pattern from the Cloud 9 website, Spaced Out baby quilt, I spent the morning cutting and marking squares.  I didn't want the quilt to scream novelty fabric, so I only used 4 from Super Kids.  The second quilt has very similar fabrics, just slight variations.  I think there is one less blue and one more red in it.  All the hexagons for that are sewn, it just needs to be assembled.  Co-worker 1 plans to make that into a quilt top this weekend.  

The pattern seems to have a flaw or two in it.  Well, the finished size of 44 x 51 is mathematically impossible as written.  8.5 x 5= 42.5.  And that's without the seam allowances removed.  I didn't bother doing the math for the other direction just because the 44" irritated me.  Re-read, check measurements, re-read, ask 7 year old about 8 groups of 5, check for borders, ask someone else to read it...  Silly, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious.

We chose to draw the second line across the white square so now we have about 120 HST for the next project.  I definitely could see some fancy quilting if I chose to do this pattern again, but I am guessing that I might settle for get it done quilting on this one.  3 months later than we wanted to be, get it done quilting it is...

Blue Plus QDAD

Not too long ago, I was impressed by a design made by Michelle Wilkie (Factotum of Arts) as part of the Quilt Design a Day project.  Specifically the plus quilt week on this post QDAD week 13.  I loved the simplicity of the design and the negative space.  Knowing that I had a plethora of blue 5 inch squares cut to make a HST blue quilt, I chose to sacrifice some of those squares to make this quilt. 

I am unsure what all of the solids are.  I know that there is Kona Alegria (the background blue) and the 7 year old's favorites Kona Ocean and Pacific.  The plus is probably Kona Azure.

I quilted it with the standard, negative space and row filling wishbone design.  Usually I try to quilt in only one direction as it is faster for me that way, but this time I quilted both right to left and left to right.  Although it may seem insignificant, when I've tried that previously, I usually mess up going the opposite direction.

The backing fabric was Premier Lord Daisy Turquoise by Dan Bennett.  This quilt, and the two birthday cake quilts, will go to Seattle Children's at the end of the month (as long as I get the other two quilted and bound) donated through Katie's Comforters Guild.

Blue Plus Quilt
Designed by Michelle Wilkie @ Factotum of Arts
Fabric: Kona Pacific, Alegria, Ocean and three other blue fabrics
Binding: Kona Alegria
Backing: Premier Lord Daisy Turquoise
Quilting: wishbone rows by me
Approximately 54" x 60"

Pink Plus quilt top

I kept looking at the Acacia quilt tops from yesterday and decided that perhaps I should make a nearly all pink quilt.  With Modern Meadow and Hope Valley fat quarters which were acquired at the beginning of my quilting habit, I started this top today.  I do have a bit of fabric acquisition guilt, but I'll keep working on dwindling the stockpile before resupplying.

With the crafting space being in the middle of a family room and home to two kids with active imaginations, an interlocking quilt design is not the most practical.  The squares on the floor became a hopscotch game (the three year old ran through the open spaces and called it hopscotch) or a river to jump across by the seven year old.  It also is their play space and where most of their toys live so I really shouldn't get upset.

 Somewhere in a fabric bin are a bunch of blue squares from the same lines cut to make a plus quilt using leftovers from my dad's quilt in 2012.  It didn't really take too long to piece this one, perhaps I should do that next weekend.  Nope, I should be finishing a quilt for a co-worker that's been basted for two weeks.  Or basting and quilting the three tops from the weekend.  Or making boy quilts for two other co-workers to give post delivery....oops.

If works in progress only count quilts that having some sewing done, here's my list:

Basted:  
Pam's quilt

Finished tops:
Pink Plus
Birthday Cake 1
Birthday Cake 2

Piecing:
Blue half square triangle
Purple Crazy Piecing
Blue hourglasses

Wonder if I can quilt four quilts in a two day weekend....

Two Birthday Cake quilt tops

The aunt I see most often is welcoming a granddaughter in December.  I've had little contact with my cousin just because of distance, and apparently his wife likes things that are pink.  Attempting to clear out some of the fabric that is in my house rather than acquire even more, I pulled out Acacia by Tula Pink.  I did need to supplement the pink colorway with four 1/4 yards as I primarily bought the blue/purple one.  I decided on Elizabeth Hartman's Birthday Cake pattern just because I wanted to try something quick without vast negative space.  

 I chose to make two versions because I had half yards of most of the prints and the pattern calls for fat quarters.  I plan to donate the second one.  Neither quilt really screams "baby" to me so I may change my mind and do something completely different for my cousin.

The pink one is growing on me a little bit.  Or perhaps I just make a third quilt top and see which one I like best.  I think I miss the negative space.

Corduroy and the Bee Fairy

My two decided to be Corduroy and a Bee Fairy for Halloween this year.

Corduroy's costume is made with a whole bunch of Oliver and S patterns.  The bear is hood is made with brown fleece from Little Things to Sew.  His shirt is a School Bus long sleeve t-shirt with brown Laguna Jersey and the chambray overalls use the base Sandbox pants with a basted overall part on top.  I hope that he will use the pants after I remove the overall part but we'll see.

The Bee Fairy has a Hula Hoop skirt from Oliver and S as well.  Yes, I am predictable as to my pattern company choices.  (And yes, I prefer to crop my kids' faces out of pictures I post.)

Pacific Crest for the shore

Our family back east has a new house at the shore.  Lucky for us, it significantly reduces the cost of going to visit that side of the family because we no longer have to contribute to a rental.  Not wanting to get something in exchange for nothing on our end (and because I like them and I know it would make her happy), I asked my sister in law if she would welcome the idea of a package arriving with a quilt for the new house. I do feel especially grateful that she appreciates the quilts I have made for her family and expresses her excitement and appreciation.  That makes me so much more willing to make more things for her.

And so she sent the decor for two of the rooms.  I chose the room with the above decor and went searching for fabric to coordinate.  I found a lovely clearance sale of Parson Gray fabric and bought mostly Seven Wonders with a little Curious Nature and World Tour fabrics mixed in.  

At this point, I can't remember my original plan for a pattern, but my sister in law's style is more traditional than modern.  Originally I chose a design with a lot of HST, but then Beyond Neutral by John Q. Adams (Quilt Dad) came out and I really liked the Pacific Crest quilt on the cover.  It was a nice balance of the number of HST and squares so the trimming process no longer seemed daunting.

The three year old helped me bring squares to the machine while I put together the top so one set in the upper corner is not quite the same as the normal pattern.  It did not affect the overall appearance so I chose to run with it rather than unpick.  Most likely you can't tell the difference.  

By the time I got to basting it, about a month ago, I was ready to be done so it is quilted with the normal meandering stitch in a cream thread.  

The weather did not cooperate today for outside pictures and I wanted to mail it off this weekend.  

Finished size: 72" x 84"

Pattern:  Pacific Crest by Quilt Dad in Beyond Neutral

Fabrics for top:  Seven Wonders by Parson Gray and Free Spirit Solids in Chamois

Binding:  Curious Nature Universe Academy

Quilted by me in a meandering stitch

Backing: Simple Marks by Malka Dubrawsky

Thoughts on fabric for the next color combination?  I think I might need a picture of the actual room all put together for this one.