You Are My Sunshine Baby Quilt

My niece is expecting her fifth child.

If it was up to her, she would have ten!

Her husband is not in agreement, however.

I just finished the baby quilt for this new little one

and will deliver it when I am in Pennsylvania next week.

This started as two jelly roll sets.

I sewed them in sets of three strips,

one set was color, white, color

and the other was white, color, white.

The white as little yellow/orange pin dots in it.

I cut the strips into wedges and sewed them into squares.

 

It isn't your typical baby quilt palette,

but my niece likes different things.

 

Plus, I like to make the baby quilts out of fabrics

that will grow with the child.

 

She is having a girl,

which will make two girls and three boys....

all under the age of six!

 

The backing isn't quite as dark as the photo is showing,

but I love the stripes with the florals on the front.

I quilted it using straight lines and squiggly lines.

This quilt is so soft and cuddly already.

Another baby quilt checked off of my list!

Happy Quilting!

Patriotic Pillows

In my last post I wrote about making a

Patriotic table runner or table topper

for my mom and siblings each year for the past

8 years.

This year's table topper is a flag I made

altering this pattern just a bit.

After making the table topper flags,

I decided to make some pillows for 2 friends and myself.

I liked the pillows made at Cluck Cluck Sew

and pretty much followed her idea.

The pillows are quilted, bound and stuffed.

There's something about red, white and blue that just makes me smile.

 

I needed the light blue border to make the pillows fit a standard size form.

It brings a little more light into the pillow, too.

 

I love this swirly fabric I used for the back.

There is a hidden zipper so the form can be removed

and it can be used as a topper instead of a pillow.

 

The 2019 Patriotic items are done!

Happy Quilting!

2019 Patriotic Table Topper

For the past 7 years I have been making a 

Patriotic table runner or table topper

for my mom and my siblings.

My dad was one of the most patriotic people I know

and he died in July.

It started as something by which to remember

our father and I had no intentions of making one each year.

Well, 8 years later, I am still making something

patriotic to give to my family around July 4th.

The first runner is in the upper left hand corner of this photo.

Last years are at the bottom.

I had a plan for this years table topper and started creating the 2019 version.

Very quickly I realized what I had in my head was not going to work in fabric.

Plan B was found and here is this years table topper.

My original plan was to use buttons for the stars with a blue background,

but my buttons were too small.

I would have needed a lot more than 50 to fill the space

and I couldn't do that.

 

I had the red and white stripes cut and sewn already

and needed to find a star that would work.

Finally I found this star idea and altered it to fit my needs.

While the buttons would have been fun,

this is much more functional for a table topper.

I'm not sure the little quilt could have been hung

if it had a lot of buttons sewn to one corner,

so this ended up being the better way to make this years quilt.

 

The quilting is very simple

and I love the wavy lines on the flag.

 

The date needs to be added and then these will be ready to give

to my family.

I've already started thinking about next years quilt!

Today I'm linking to Design Wall Monday.

Happy Quilting!

Pot Holders

A few years ago I made some pot holders

for a church bazaar and a friend bought a few to give as gifts.

Recently, she asked if I could make her some more for 

her and her cousin.

These go together so quickly and are a fun project to make.

The only request she had for fabrics was that she wanted

a couple out of Christmas fabrics.

The finished size is about 8" square.

I used two pieces of batting and one piece of the insul-bright inside the pot holders. 

Both my friend and her cousin have campers,

so I thought this fabric would be a hit with both of them.

It's the only piece that wasn't in my stash.

My friend's kitchen is yellow and blues.

This is perfect!

They will be delivered in the next day or so.

Another project checked from my list!


****Edit****

Libby asked what the contrasting stripe was for about 1/4 of the way
down on the pot holder.
I made the pot holders with a pocket for your hand.
I saw one like this somewhere and thought it was a great idea.

It protects the front and back of your hand.

Or it's doubly thick if you don't put your hand in the pocket.

 

 

The pocket is a 6"x8" piece made the same way as the 8" square part.

Happy Quilting!

Sea Life Baby Quilt

Happy Monday morning!

I have another finish to share today.

My piles are slowly disappearing and so far

I haven't been making new piles!

We will see how long this lasts.

I finished another baby quilt and

absolutely love the fabrics used in this one.

I had a layer cake of these beautiful fabrics called

"Calypso" by In the Beginnings

and then found this pattern that calls for a layer cake.

I had the blue polka dot grunge for the background

and started cutting the pieces.

 

It didn't take me long before I had the quilt top finished.

There is an outer border that I didn't add because I didn't

want the quilt to be that big.

 

 

This fabric is digitally printed

and is so vibrant and beautiful.

 

I had to really think about how to quilt it and am pleased with

what I came  up with for this one.

It's nothing fancy and was fast and pretty easy.

While making this baby quilt,

the directions called for 52 HST's for the border.

I read that as needing to cut 52 4" squares to use

for the HST's.

Yep... you guessed it... I had 52 HST's left!

When life gives you extra quilt parts,

make another quilt!

Pinwheels were made from the HST's and I had enough

layer cake pieces to fill in with those.

 

My photo is slightly blurry, but I love the fish in this print.

 

This one will be sewn together and borders will be added

to make another baby quilt.

Woohoo!! for mistakes!

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

Graduation Quilt Finished

The last week has brought a lot of rain to my neck of the woods.

Rain means I can't be outside working.

Rain means I get to play more in my Hidey Hole!

I have four quilts that need to be quilted and finished,

so one day I had a basting party.

The first quilt is finished and ready to give to the graduate.

This quilt was made from a kit I purchased

last year on sale from Craftsy.

A friend had made it and I loved her finish.

When I started cutting the pieces,

I couldn't quite figure out why I liked it so much.

Maybe some of the fabrics in my quilt were different,

but I'm not sure.

 

I am much happier with it now that it's finished,

but I don't think I would purchase this kit today.

 

 

It was quilted with swirls and loops 

and bound in the same fabric as the backing.

The backing looks like a beautiful garden at night!

Gorgeous colors and flowers.

The label will be sewn onto this finish

and given to the special graduate.

Happy Quilting!

Baby Quilt #4706 (not really!)

It seems like lately that I am making one baby quilt

after another.

This summer we know of a number of babies being born,

which means there are a number of quilts that need to be made.

The other day I found this pattern for a baby quilt

using a layer cake and some yardage.

I just happened to have this fun layer cake

just waiting for a quilt idea to pop into my head.

It went together so quickly

and is so much fun to look at!

I just love the sea designs in this line of fabric.

The colors are so rich and vibrant, too.

If I was using yardage, the waves would have been matched

but I couldn't do it with a layer cake. :(

 

Look at the whale and the fish!

It's like we are snorkling and seeing all of this wonderful sea life.

 

I'm not adding the last border because I don't want it that big.

This is about 40" square now.

I've added it to my

"to be quilted" pile.

UGH!

I REALLY need to get some of these quilted

and soon!

Happy Quilting!

It's a Pillow Kind of Week

The past few days found me finishing up some

pillows for a raffle at my church.

For the past 5 years or so, a group of us at church has 

been making quilts to be raffled.  

The proceeds of the raffle go to one of the missions

we support through the church.

This year we decided to change things up a bit.

Instead of making one large quilt,

we decided to make a small lap quilt,

a table topper, a table runner and 2 pillows,

all from Christmas fabric.

This way more people have a chance to win.

The group gathers and makes the tops

and then several of us quilt and finish them.

I offered to finish the pillows since I enjoy making pillows so much!

I had so much fun quilting each of these, using

feathers, arcs and meander.

 

 We thought this fabric would appeal to most people.

It's traditional, but has a little spark of something  new to it.

All of the quilted items use these same blocks.

 

I had just enough to make the backing with the hidden zipper.

I do have a question....

When did pillow forms become so expensive??

Even with a coupon, they cost a lot more than they used to,

but, then, what doesn't??

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!