Baby Steps Quilt

I’m so excited to share my latest finished quilt today! I’ve named this quilt baby steps, based on the teeny-tiny squares of fabric that serve as the focal point of the quilt. If you’ve been following along, you know that I was very excited when I found out I was chosen to participate in the Bloomerie scrap challenge on Rachel’s blog, Stitched in Color. I was sent a fat sixteenth pack of Summer Breeze fabrics, and I cut right into it!

I shared a sneak peek the other day, and at that point I had cut each fabric into 1.5 inch strips, and I pieced those together. Next, I turned them all horizontally and sliced them up again to create the little patchwork you can see in the finished quilt. It’s such a quick and easy way to create tiny patchwork without cutting and piecing all those little squares.

I was allowed to add an extra fabric, and I chose a light blue jewels print from Lizzy House’s recent fabric line, Hello Pilgrim. I loved how the colors blended together! I was only allowed to add one print to the mix, so I rounded out the quilt top with a white and light gray to help the colors stand out.

Since I considered the quilt top to be my completed challenge, I rounded out the back with an extra block from the front to echo the design and a number of coordinating prints from my stash. I found anything in the same color family as the Bloomerie fabrics and went for a patchwork look. I love reversible quilts, and I think I like the back as much as the front!

I decided to bind in a blue dot fabric I’ve had in my stash for a while. Since the quilt top had so many light colors, I wanted something that would frame the quilt. I ran down to a little market and cakery down the street for photos, and I was so pleasantly surprised to see how well the benches out front went with my quilt colors!

Thanks so much to Rachel for hosting this challenge and selecting me to play along! And also a big thanks to Bloomerie Fabrics for sending me such a gorgeous stack of fabric to play with! It was such a great starting point for this design, and I love how you can make a little fabric stretch a long way with a creative design and good neutrals!

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Green Squares Improv Baby Quilt

A few months ago my sister asked me to make this baby quilt for a friend. I was really happy to work on this project, because I love improvisational piecing. I made the quilt top out of 9 blocks, each a little different.

For the back, I pieced a wider strip and a narrower strip of green print fabrics. I really love fabrics that have a print on them but read as one color. I find I’m drawn to more and more of these “basics,” but I tend to use them as the main focus of the quilt instead of as an accent. Lately I’ve been starting each quilt by thinking about what color or colors I want to include and pull fabrics from my stash. There’s definitely a sorting process that happens there, and not all original choices make it into the quilt! I like to think about the range of color represented (even within a single color– for this quilt I stuck to the yellowy-green to grass green end of the spectrum of greens), and I try to pick things with different value so that there is some contrast in the quilt and your eye has a place to rest between darker prints. I love this part of the process, and I often find I pair together fabrics with light and dark values without even realizing it.

I’m so happy this quilt made its way to its new home! I love making baby quilts, they are so much more manageable than full size quilts and are so fun to play around with design!

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Bloggers Quilt Festival: Blue Squares Improv Baby Quilt

I’m so excited that it’s time for the bloggers quilt festival again, which is generously hosted by Amy of Amy’s Creative Side! I got to meet Amy briefly last year at the Sewing Summit, and she was awesome and is clearly full of good ideas– the bloggers quilt festival is a way for all of us not attending the annual International Quilt Market to share in the fun. I was sad not to be able to join my friends (Brenda, Anna, Debby, and Lynn, all of whom are in my local modern quilt guild) at market this year, but I thought this was the perfect opportunity to share a new quilt I recently finished!

For lack of a better name, I’m calling this one the blue squares improv baby quilt. This quilt was such a joy to make because I love improvisational piecing– there is something so fun and playful about it, and I love it because you can’t make a mistake or do something wrong! I also love the modern look it creates. For this quilt top, I wanted to feature 4 improv blocks, but I wanted more visual interest, so I added improvisationally pieced blue squares in the upper corner. One friend commented that it looked almost pixelated, as if I had zoomed in on the smaller pieces. I loved that idea, and I think it’s a pretty accurate description!

For the back I kept things simple, and went for connected and framed squares. I love how quickly a baby quilt can come together, and I really enjoy quilting small quilts. I machine quilted it in a meandering, organic pattern (or, “allover” quilting as my friend Emily has said).

Thanks so much, Amy, for letting me share this in the quilt festival! And, if you all have a chance, you should head over to Amy’s blog to check out some of the other quilts– there are always a lot to see, and a lot to be inspired by!

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{Another} Nicey Jane Baby Quilt

This past weekend we held a shower at my house for my good friend Karen, who is about to have her first baby! My shower co-host (who also loves to quilt, but sadly does not have a blog) and I knew right away that we wanted to collaborate on a quilt for the baby.

If you’ve been following along, I’ve made my fair share of baby quilts out of Nicey Jane fabric. It’s such a sweet fabric line, and is perfect for these quick little quilts. We went with the yellow, green, and blue prints for this quilt, and used coordinating prints for the back of the quilt.

Best of all, Karen loved it! She said she’d like to keep it for herself (and, as a shower guest pointed out, the baby would never know!). It kind of coordinates with the zig-zag quilt I made for Karen as a gift for being in our wedding! I’m glad they’ll look nice together.

I’ll be back soon with some of the photos from the shower!

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A Nicey Jane Baby Quilt

Ahh, how I love using Heather Bailey’s line of Nicey Jane fabric for baby quilts. I stocked way up on this fabric last year, when I was using it for assorted wedding quilts and gifts, and I am still not tired of it. I was looking to make a quick, satisfying project a couple of weeks ago, so I cut some 5 inch charm squares, and sewed them up along with white and grey charms.

The result was this little quilt– I love how the pattern almost looks like a large scale gingham!

I also used some of the prints on the back of the quilt– This might be one of my favorite quilt backs!

Such a fun little quilt to make and to look at!

It’s listed in the shop.

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New Quilt in the Shop!

I finally got my act together and listed this Red and Aqua Baby Quilt in my etsy shop. So far I’ve sold my fair share of quilts, though they’ve all been commissioned. I’ve been thinking a bit about putting a few quilts in my etsy shop, and it felt like it was time to take the plunge!

I made this quilt top up when I was working on my throw sized red and aqua quilt last year. I really love this color combo, and I thought it would look so sweet as a baby quilt. You can find the listing here if you’re interested!

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An evening hike along the river

This evening we took Simon for a hike in one of our favorite parks along the Huron River. This is one of my favorite things to do in the evening, especially when the weather is so perfect.

The path we took traverses a series of bridges the cross over the river.

Simon is not a fan of bridges. If we pull on his leash at all on a bridge, he freezes. This made it difficult tonight, as other people wanted to pass us on the bridge. As soon as we’d try to pull Sime to the side, he’d resist and end up in the middle of the bridge.

And, as always, I managed to sneak in a few photos of some new quilts I finished recently. I’ll be posting more info about these soon!

I hope you guys had a nice weekend too!

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Disappearing 9-Patch Baby Quilt

A little while ago my sister asked me to make a baby quilt for a friend of hers who is having a baby boy. In the nursery they have an undersea theme, so we decided to go with water inspired fabric. I got a few prints from cosmo cricket’s “snorkel” line of fabric, including the backing fabric for this quilt.

When deciding on a pattern, my sister suggested the disappearing 9-patch. I previously made her a quilt using this technique, and I’m glad she suggested it for this project– it worked well with the fabric! Good choice, Linds!

(My mom was holding the quilt up for me, and was keeping things interesting for me here!)

We met up with our family earlier this summer, and before I handed over the quilt to my sister I was able to take these photos. Rudy the goat generously let us use his fence to stage some photos, and then thought about taking a bite of the quilt. Luckily we kept it out of goat range!

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Things I’ve Learned: Lesson 2

This one is pretty simple– I recently learned HOW EASY it is to use adhesive spray to baste a quilt!! For some reason, I’ve always been a little resistant to this, and I previously used safety pins (the ones with a slight bend in them, made specially for basting). However, this took a long time, and always hurt my fingers! After reading a review of basing spray over on Rachel’s blog, I thought I’d give it a try. I used it for the last few baby quilts I’ve made, and I love how much easier it has made the basting and quilting process! I know it’s not for everyone, and also not for every quilt, but for now I’m really happy with the results.
Also, I should note, I used the Dritz spray, which washes out when the quilt is laundered. I always wash quilts before I deliver them to their recipients, so all traces of the spray are gone when the quilt is washed.
I finished up this baby quilt recently that featured prints from Joel Dewberry’s modern meadow line, as well as some hope valley, innocent crush, and a hint of Amy Butler. I really liked the combination of colors and prints. Plus, basting the quilt didn’t give me blisters. Success!

Here’s the back of the quilt, which features trees from the modern meadow line.

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As promised…

Finally, some pictures of my first finished single girl ring! 1 down, 15 more to go (I’m aiming for the queen sized quilt). Luckily, I don’t think it will be too bad– I’ve been systematically sewing together all my curved pieces for a while, so I really have more than just one ring done– just not fully assembled yet. I’m a little behind the quilt along, but I’m hoping to make up some ground this weekend.

I used a mix of fabric from modern meadow, hope valley, and a few Amy Butler prints. For the background, I’m using Essex cotton/linen blend in natural. I really like how the natural look of the linen works with the color palate I opted for. I can’t *wait* to get this quilt put together!

In other sewing news, I cut some fabrics for a new baby quilt I’m working on. I’m really liking these colors together lately– the baby quilt seems to match my single girl rings!

Last but not least, I’m working to finish putting together my sample blocks for April’s do. Good Stitches quilting bee. I’m still deciding on a final color scheme, but I’m aiming for something Springy, and I’ll be back later this weekend with a post about the blocks.

I hope everyone is excited for the weekend! I know I am!

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