Bloggers Quilt Festival - Spring 2012

I know I've been away for some time now but Amy's Bloggers' Quilt Festival has inspired my post today. Recently my Mom passed away which has been absolutely devastating. Needless to say my family and I have been trying to get through these last weeks minute by minute, hour by hour. I am an only child and have now lost both parents in a span of 6 1/2 months. I say this not to sound like a victim but because I truly am amazed how life as we know it can change in an instant. I am trying to stay focused on the love that my Mom has always given to me, my husband, two stepsons and our two little girls. That is what saddens me the most....they only were able to know Grandma for a precious 4 years, and in the case of my youngest daughter, 17 months. I try to keep her memory alive every day with them so they can always know they were thoroughly adored by their Grandma. I never knew in making this quilt that it would hold such special significance now. I made this quilt, my second official quilt, back in 2008 as a Christmas present for my Mom. Looking back, it certainly isn't my best work, but it was definitely made with lots of love.

The pattern is from CarolinaPatchworks.com and is called Scrappy Circles Quilt. What I loved about the design is that it is improv circles. I have always loved circular quilts, in fact, I am obsessed with them....whether it's the design or quilting with circles. Love it! Here is a picture of it draped over my daughter's crib once I was getting ready to give it to Mom for Christmas...had to take a couple photos:)

Again, the pieced back is very simple...literally just a strip of fabric pieces from the Woodland Bloom collection (layer cake used for the pattern).

It was also my first time stippling....so you can see how densely it was quilted...oops!

I knew that when my Mom passed away I wanted to bury her with something wrapped around her signifying my love for her.

My first quilt, which I never even photographed, was given to my Dad as a Christmas present in 2007. It too was buried with my Dad as a sign of my love for him.

Thank you for letting me share the story of this little quilt. Here is one last photo of a Scrappy Circles Quilt top I made earlier this year using Bliss.

Baby in the Hood Jacket

More on this tomorrow as I need to add three more buttons....but here is my "Baby in the Hood Jacket" - pattern from Handmade Beginnings book by Anna Maria Horner. I used up some of my Farmer's Market stash. It felt good to cut into it! This is size 12-18 months for Little Miss P.

Version with Detachable Flower

So, I'm having a little fun...

I love making up these little hats and with some fun photography props I bought, my pics are looking a little bit better:) Little Miss P has too big of a head to be my model anymore:(
I've always personally loved aqua and red together so when I saw this yarn, I had to have it!

Baby Boy Hats

I've been trying to make up some baby boy hats for my little Etsy Store and just added this one today. I whipped this up last weekend and just added the button this morning. It gives me such satisfaction to knit by hand, photograph it and then seeing it on little ones:) Fun! Might I add...a great stress reliever!

Lined Drawstring Bag

Do you know how many Polly Pockets are in my house? Probably not....but take a wild guess...feels like hundreds of little teeny tiny pieces strewn about! Ahhh! So, I got to thinking...a little drawstring bag could MAYBE (and I say, maybe:) encourage my third year old to keep them together? Yeah, I know, good luck but it was fun to make anyway:)

I've had this Ikea fabric lying around for the past few years (I know, how bad is that!) and I have made a Bucket hat out of it...but still had lots so I cut into it this morning and voila! I used Jeni's tutorial which is great and in just a few minutes, a new kid's lined drawstring bag was born! I'm tempted to make some more because I'd love a little one to keep my earrings in when I travel ... ooh, the uses for these little bags are limitless.

Jelly Roll "Race" Quilt

What...a second quilt top in one week? I think I must be dreaming!!! This never happens. Let me back up....I was at my LQS about a month or two ago and while I was browsing the owner asked me if I had ever heard of the "jelly roll race quilt?" I of course hadn't and in fact had never bought a jelly roll before. She said if you like strip quilts then you could make this quilt top in about an hour (well, I took a little longer but it was only an evening)! She said you could find the technique on youtube (just type "jelly roll race quilt"). Essentially all you do is sew all of the jelly roll strip ends together to form one ginormous (nice word!) strip (make sure you cut the first 18 inches off of your first strip so that it will form a nice brick effect). Then making sure you do not twist the giant strip, match your two ends together and sew your long seam. Once you come about two inches from the end of your seam, you cut the strip and then repeat the process once again (join two ends together and sew 1/4 inch seam). In literally no time at all, you have an entire quilt top in an evening. What took a little bit of time is initially joining your strips into one long one but it was easy peasy! Talk about speed sewing once you sew that first long seam.....totally mindless! The finished product should be around 48x64 which is a nice lap sized quilt.

What I learned:
1. Make sure you don't twist your long strip because you need to match up those ends, right sides together.
2. This project is perfect for non-directional prints or solids. I used a Sherbet Pips jelly roll and I do have the prints in two different directions but since it's for my little girls, they can both enjoy the quilt at the same time and have something to look at right!! (at least that's what I tell myself:)
3. Makes a quick, satisfying quilt/gift.

Hope you're having a cozy Friday night!