"Hooty Hoot" Car Seat Quilt

I posted the other day about a car seat quilt that I am making for my friend, Meg.  I needed to get it finished asap, since she is due in the very near future!   It was a pretty easy and pretty small quilt, so it came together quickly!  I think the colors are AWESOME.  So bright and cheerful!  Perfect for an adorable little boy!  I hope Meg and Sebastian love the blanket!

I'm so in love with these colors!!

Close up of the owl fabric.  The trees are awesome!

This back fabric rocks.  I usually avoid directional prints, but this one was so bright and vibrant, I just couldn't resist!

Close up of the quilting!  I added straps so the quilt could be tied to the car seat so baby won't kick it off or to tie toys or a paci to the blanket!

Marathon fabric shopping trip and a surprise in the mail!!

Last Thursday was, what felt like, a marathon fabric shopping trip!  After dropping the boys off at preschool, my husband and I ran to JoAnns - well, he dropped me off, and he ran to Lowes.  He saw my list and was not about to stand in JoAnns for this trip!   I needed to buy fabric for three baby quilts that I am making. 

The first quilt is a small car seat blanket that I am making for my friend Meg.  She really left the fabric choices up to me!  I found some ADORABLE owl fabric with some awesome matching fabric.  This one was by far the easiest to shop for!
 

Next, I needed to get a few fabrics for a baby quilt, taggie quilt, burp cloth, and baby bootie set that I am making for a different friend.  I had some of these fabrics, but I needed to buy a few more fabrics to have enough.  I am thrilled with what I found.  I'm not quite sure which fabrics I will use, but I just love these and the bright colors.

My first mission on the marathon trip was to find all the fabrics for the two quilts mentioned above.  I quickly found those, and headed up to the cutting counter.  Some poor, unlucky twenty something guy in training got called to the counter to help the line of us there.  And he got stuck with me!  You could just tell, that in his head he was thinking, "This is not what I signed up for.  The cutting counter at the fabric store???? I just wanted a job and some beer money!!! Ugh!"  He tried to make small talk, but he was so far out of his element that is was just painful for him!  After he finished cutting all of my fabric, and another lady helped him print out the fabric receipt, they joked that I should be busy for awhile.  They laughed and I said that I'd be back in a little bit.  They laughed again, and thought I was joking!  Nope, I was off on my second mission: to buy all the fabrics I needed for Laura's quilt: 17ish fabrics for the front to match the yarn her mom is using for the baby's afghan, something for the borders, something for the backing, white for the sashing, and the binding.  Whew!  I wanted some rich colors that weren't too babyish or cutesy!  Here is what I found!

On the bottom is brown minky for the back.  My minky options were limited.  Laura and her husband do not find out the sex of the baby til the baby is born (crazy, I tell ya!! Lol!) so I couldn't go with pink. The other colors were green, yellow, or white.  I though white for a baby quilt, was probably  not the best idea and the yellow and green were just a bit off and didn't match.  I actually love the dark chocolate minky with all the rich colors of the fabric.  The light blue/teal at the top/left of the picture is going to be the border.  Looking at the fabrics after I got home and laying the yarn samples with the fabrics, I am thinking that I might need a bit more red or corral fabric and maybe another light purple.  What do you think?  By the way, I am in love with all of these rich, warm fabrics! 

So finally, right as it was time to leave to go pick up the boys from preschool, we headed to the checkout.   My initial total was nearly $2000 - Yep, I typed two THOUSAND dollars.  Um, something is not right!  When the lady was entering the fabric amount, on one of the fabric receipts, instead of 0.25 yards of fabric, she typed in 250 yards of fabric.  Um, yeah, just a bit off!  Thankfully, that was quickly fixed and I used two 40% off coupons, one 50% off coupon and my 15% off the total teachers discount.  My total savings for the shopping trip was $102.14!  I was thoroughly happy with that! 

And then when I got home, I checked the mail and found another surprise.  A few weeks ago, I was reading one of my quilting/sewing blogs and came upon this post from Make It and Love It about the Downy Touch of Comfort - Quilts for Kids. I immediately signed up and yesterday I received my package of fabrics.  I think it is a really awesome program.  They send you all the cut fabric you need and the instructions on how to make a quilt.  They send it to you free of charge.  The simply ask that you finish the quilt and send it back within 4 - 6 weeks.  If possible, they ask that you also send and additional quilt.  I love that they are also mindful about waste.  The fabric comes in a ziplock bag.  They ask that when you return the quilts, that you return the bag and the sheet of instructions so that both can be re-used.  Love it!  Environmental and budget friendly.  I just think this is a great program and I am happy to help out!

A few new quilts going on!

I have had a lot of time lately to get some sewing done.  Summers off are one of the main perks of being a teacher.  I love having the summer to get caught up on everything I don't have time to do during the school year.  It seems that hobbies always get pushed to the side in order to make time for cooking dinner, cleaning the house, doing laundry, exercising - you know, all the fun stuff!

Anyhow, recently, I sold a few baby quilts and also had a few people request some custom baby quilts.  I am BEYOND excited to start these baby quilts! I have been itching to go to JoAnns and buy some fabric and now I have an actual reason to do that!  I can't wait! I can't wait to post pictures as I get the quilts started!

In my attempt to finish the few unfinished projects that I have laying around, I have also been working on finishing up the Rainbow quilt for me! I wanted to do something really neat for the back.  I already have some bright yellow fabric for the back that I bought when I started the quilt.  So I dug out all the different fabrics that I used on the front - or at least all the the ones I could easily find and separated them by color. I decided to cut 2 inch by 2 inch squares of each fabric, then sew 36 of the squares of each color into a big 9 x 9 square.  I haven't quite decided how they will be arranged on the back - vertical, horizontal, centered or off center - but I am loving the way it is looking!  I will get some pics tonight and post them!  I will use the leftover 2 x 2 squares to make a Companion Quilt! I think that one will turn out great too!  I have a couple cute ideas!

"Out on a Limb!"

Henry's preschool teacher, Ms. Christine, approached me one day while I was picking up the boys and asked me if I would be interested in making a quilt for her class.  The answer was a definite "Yes!"  We talked about a few different ways to make the quilt.  She new she wanted the children involved in making the quilt but wasn't sure how.  At first, she tried using fabric crayons.  Basically, the kids used the fabric crayons to draw a picture on paper, then it gets ironed and transferred onto fabric.  That was a giant flop.  The crayon did not show up on the fabric at all.  That actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because I think her next idea was even better!  Her next idea was to have the children draw owls on the fabric.  We came up with using permanent markers.  She did a short lesson with the kids on how to draw an owl and then gave each student a piece of white fabric and some markers.  Each child drew their version of an owl.  Ms. Christine and Ms. Erin also drew a few owls.  I used the font on my sewing machine to stitch each child's name on their square.  Ms. Christine found some awesome owl fabricto use as sashing.  The back is a FABULOUS leaf pattern that is from the owl line used on the front.  I LOVE the leaf fabric.  The colors are so beautiful.  For the quilting, I quilted inside and outside each child's square.   I am so happy and blessed to be a part of this project! 

The front with each child's drawing!

A close up of Henry's owl drawing and the awesome owl fabric.

The center square.

Ms. Christine's square.

More squares.

The back!

A close up of the back fabric (love it!!), the binding, and my label!

First set of NICU/Companion Quilts sent out!!

One of my friends from the LLL forums, Colleen, posted that her friend had gone in to labor very early.  The baby was born very small and would need to spend many months in the NICU.  I wanted to help in some way, but I didn't know how.  Then it dawned on me - I had these seven Companion Quilts that were just waiting to be loved.  I spoke with Colleen and asked her if she would be interested in taking these Companion Quilts and gifting one to her friend and then sharing the rest with other families who had babies in the NICU.  She immediately said "Yes"!   So I packaged them up and sent them out to Colleen.  I can't wait til some babies and families get to cuddle up with these!!

From left to right, here are the quilts that these Companion Quilts came from:

Top Row:  

"Autumn Rainbow's" , "Cool Waters" , "Melon Moe Jo" , "Lucy Jane"

Bottom Row:

"Watermelon Summer" , "Tweet Tweet" , 1st NICU

"Watermelon Summer" Baby Quilt

I have two sons.  I LOVE that I have two sons, but I hate shopping for boys.  If you go into the kids clothing section of most clothing stores, whether it is Target, Walmart, or Kohls, you usually find about 3 racks of boys clothing and 18,324 racks of girls clothing!  It is so frustrating!!!  I have found that because of this, when I am making quilts without an intended recipient, I tend to gravitate towards boy fabrics - blues, greens, browns etc.  However....when I saw this line of fabrics on Etsy, I fell in love.  I bought this line a long time ago, without knowing what I would make it into (and sadly, don't know the designer *ducks my head in shame*).  When I buy fabric, without an intended purpose that I love, I tend to just let it sit.  I don't immediately get it out and start cutting.  I leave it be and wait for the project that that it is just perfect for.  That is what I did with this fabric.  I looked at it often and debated on what to do with it.  After consulting my trusty PPT inspirational file, I finally picked this pattern and started cutting.  I LOVE how it turned out.  It is so summery!  The colors just remind me of a delicious, juicy, yummy watermelon!

The front of this quilt is all cotton.  The quilt is finished with a white cotton binding.  The back of the quilt is a pale pink minky.  I quilted diagonally in both directions through the center of the printed fabric. The quilt measures approximately 39 in x 46 in.

The finished quilt!

I LOVE the different prints.  The owl's eyes are AWESOME!

The back.  I love the texture that the minky combined with the quilting creates. 

My label!!

"Lincoln Log II" Baby Quilt on Brown Polka Dotted Flannel

This is the second quilt made from the same package that I used to make "Lincoln Log".  The two quilts are very similar with the exception of the binding and the back.   

I don't normally buy pre-packaged fabrics to make quilts.  I prefer to pick my own fabrics.  But when I saw this fabric package at a quilt show, I could.not resist.  I just LOVE the colors and the prints.  I started this quilt, right around the time that sweet, little Lincoln passed.  I thought about he and his family quite a bit as I sewed this quilt, therefore the name "Lincoln Log".  

The front of this quilt is all flannel.  The quilt is finished with a white with brown polka dot flannel binding.  The back of the quilt is brown flannel with green, teal, blue and white polka dots.  The quilt is quilted around each block.  The quilt measures approximately 30 in x 46 in.

The front.

I love these prints and colors.

The back!

Close up of the back, the binding, and the quilting.

"Lincoln Log" Baby Quilt on White Minky

I don't normally buy pre-packaged fabrics to make quilts.  I prefer to pick my own fabrics.  But when I saw this fabric package at a quilt show, I could.not resist.  I just LOVE the colors and the prints.  I started this quilt, right around the time that sweet, little Lincoln passed.  I thought about he and his family quite a bit as I sewed this quilt, therefore the name "Lincoln Log".  

This is the first quilt made from the pre-packaged fabric.  The second quilt is "Lincoln Log II"  The two quilts are very similar with the exception of the binding and the back. 

The front of this quilt is all flannel.  The quilt is finished with a white satin binding.  The back of the quilt is white minky.  The quilt measures approximately 31 in x 48 in.

The front!

Love the colors!

The back is white minky.

Here, you can see the quilting, a simple grid!

JoEllen's Quilt

JoEllen, another mama that I have gotten to know on the LLL forums lost her sweet son, Lincoln,  last September.  He was born with a heart defect and blessed their family with just three short months.  Those of us on the forums that sew wanted to do something for her family.  We decided on to make a quilt.  Each person made a square using whatever pattern and fabrics they liked.  We all sent our squares to Kelly, another awesome mama and quilter that is on the forums.  Kelly sewed all the squares together  with sashing and backing.  She hand sewed the binding (craaaazzzzyyyy, I tell ya!  Lol!!) then sent it out to be quilted with bees and hearts.  In addition to the quilt, Buff, another mama on the forums, put together a Shutterfly book showing the squares of the quilt with a message from the person the square is from.  Buff, and Becca, another mama from the forums, were lucky enough to deliver the quilt to JoEllen and her family.  I am so jealous that they got to go, deliver it and meet her family!  It turned out AMAZING and JoEllen and her family loved the quilt.  I am so blessed and so proud to have been a part of this quilt.

Below are the squares that I sewed for my family and for two other families.  On each square, everyone signed or sewed their name if they wished and a small heart! I sewed a square from Autumn and her family, using the leftover fabric from her quilt, "Autumn Rainbows".  I also sewed a square from my family using my all time favorite line of fabrics.  Lastly, I sewed a square for Maya's family using fabrics from the "Cool Waters" quilt - also some of my very favorite fabrics.  Maya was the daughter of another mama on the LLL forums.  She was stillborn and missed dearly by her family!

The square from Autumn's family.

The square from my family.

The square from Maya's family.

The finished quilt!

Close up of the quilting on the front.

Close up of the quilting on the back.

The label that was sewn onto the back!

"Autumn Rainbow's"

For a long time, I have hung out on the La Leche League Mother to Mother forums.  This group of women have become great friends to me, although I have never met most of them in real life.  I know quite a bit about these women and really consider them friends.  They have helped me through many parenting situation, and really have help me evolve into the parent that I am proud to be.  Any topic is up for discussion and every interest is covered by that awesome group of women.  One topic that some of us often discuss is sewing.  There were a few of us that sew different things and we post our projects when we have questions or when we finish.  I had posted pictures of a few of my quilts and my friend, Autumn, from Tennessee, asked me if I would make a quilt for her.  The answer was a definite YES!!!  I was thrilled!  I started by sending her my PPT file with all my inspirational quilts that I love.  She also looked all over the internet till she found what she wanted.  I plugged her ideas into a computer program that I have to draw up quilts and get fabric yardage.  I sent the picture to her and we started a discussing the next step.  She went online to Etsy and ordered the fabrics (prints and solids) that she liked and had them sent to me.  When I got the fabrics, I laid them out and told her which prints and solids didn't quite work together -  for judging colors off the internet alone, she really did and awesome job, there were only a few that didn't match!  To fix that situation, I ran to JoAnn's to replace the solids that didn't match.  And then I got started cutting and sewing.  Each square was about seven inches - a three inch center square on printed fabric with a two inch border of the coordinating solid fabric.  That was followed by a three inch white sashing.  For the back, I drew up about six or seven different options and sent it to Autumn.  She chose a beautiful very pale blue with a section pieced together from the scraps of the solids and prints.  It is a toss up for me whether I love the back or the front more.  Both are sooooo beautiful and sooooo colorful.  I finished the quilt with a black binding then quilted around each square.  I think this is my favorite quilt that I have made so far.  Autumn did an amazing job picking out the fabrics. 

This is a pic of the computer program that I used to draw up the quilt.  I sent these pictures to Autumn to make sure she liked the look. 

A full screen shot of my computer program.  Only colored in a few of the squares to give Autumn an idea of what it would look like. 

A picture of the squares laid out on my bed.  This is before I sewed the white sashing.  Again, I sent Autumn a picture of this to make sure this is what she wanted.

The final product.  Ahhh!  It is so breathtaking with the sunlight shining on it!

More views of the front of it!  I just can't get enough of it!

The back, oh, the back.  So simple, yet sooooo beautiful and colorful!

Each solid is followed by its coordinating print from the front.

I really wished I could have gotten a shot of this in the sunlight!  But it is still so gorgeous!

My label and a close up of the awesome black binding!

With Autumns permission to play with the leftover fabrics, I threw together a few pillow cases.  To make shipping easier, I left them unstuffed!

A close up of my favorite pillow!  LOVE the colors and the prints!