Category Archives: Project Linus

A Baby Quilt Update

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I currently am working on the most dope baby quilt I have ever made.  Not kidding – truly the greatest.  But because that baby quilt is secret sewing, here are some pictures of some other baby quilts I have wrapped up quickly.  They are pretty ok…

img_3434This was made based on a pattern in wanderlust quilts.  I modified and simplified it a bit so there weren’t any Y-seams.  I used V and Co. Ombre.  Something about the ombres, especially the yellow and turquoise make it look light the quilt is lit from within.  I used Kona Medium Gray… and my favorite baby boy quilt back fabric of the season, this Zoology print..

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I loved giving this quilt.  The mom recipient is one of my favorite people.  And she really loved the quilt.

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Next up is a quilt made for a friend who was going to be surprised by the gender.  When I ask what colors a nursery is going to be decorated, the trend is going to get very specific answers.  Which I would be the EXACT SAME if I was decorating a nursery.  But as a quiltmaker, I yearn for free color  and artistic control.  So when this mom said, “um, I don’t know, green?” I was thrilled.  And wowzer did I get crazy with the green.  I had a lot of fun with this quilt.

 

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How sweet is that?  Love all of those greens – and I do think it will be equally cheerful for a boy and girl.  This has become my favorite baby quilt pattern.  It is on-point 5-in squares and tied.  The tieing and no binding make the quilts lay flatter and look cleaner.

I backed this quilt with a fun all-over numbers green print.

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I have made 4 boy quilts in a row, so I was ready for a girl quilt.  So I used the same pattern and went crazy with the girly flowery prints.

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Oh my gosh, that quilt is my jam !!  I still have to tie it, but then it will go to Project Linus.  I think it will make a small girl and a family happy.  With all those beautiful blooms, how couldn’t it?

WIP Update

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Here is a change of pace… a blog entry about quilting on a quilting blog!

Sharing my looooong list of WIPs….

IMG_2462Project Linus Quilts – I have 9 more I want to make before year end.  I have one top done, and several unused quilt blocks in bright colors.  My goal was 1 quilt per month, but has been only 1 quilt per 3 months.  Lots to catch up on.  Luckily I mostly just need to quilt and bind.  I have lots of blocks to use.

The Colorado Quilt.  Despite a giant list of projects waiting for me, I lost one whole weekend to making scrappy log cabin blocks to frame the row-by-row patterns  I collected in Colorado.  The blocks are so full of color and joy.  I really want to get back to this project.

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The Living Room Wall Hanging.  Again.  One of the last projects I finished before I got my Juki (I love my Juki) was a wall hanging for the living room featuring curved blocks.  Loved the fabric.  Loved the pattern.  But my sewing was sub-par.  My skills and sewing machine weren’t suited for the project.  I then got really bummed out that a bunch of gross light black dye stains got on the quilt when I washed it.  My husband claims I am the only one who can see them.  I know he is lying.  And I am so sick of seeing them.  I am working on a replacement from  pattern in Quilt Now.  I love how the new quilt will look.  And so looking forward to not facing that stain every day.

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Poppies!  Earlier this year my mom and I collaborated on a quilt as part of a challenge from our Modern Quilt Guild.  We didn’t finish in time, but it is such a cool project that I would like to see to completion.  It is a representation of the World War 1 Museum in Kansas City.  Everything is done except for appliqueing on the poppies.

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Tessellation Quilt.  This one is for the love of fabric.  I have the fabric, I have the desire.  I hate paper piecing.  But the good stuff sometimes takes the most fortitude.  And the quilt will be amazeballs.

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Big Charming Bed Quilt.  This one is a bit anachronistic – It is a quilt for our bedroom – the one room in our house that is tres grown up.  It is a very modern pattern in very French General fabric.  I just need to piece the top.  This one I will have to send out for quilting.  I love my Juki, but not that much.

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Heather Bailey Framed Improv.  I lurvs Heather Bailey.  And I want to use every bit of my fabric from my scrap pile.  I started these controlled improv blocks to make a quilt for the chair in my studio.

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Embroidered Baby Quilt.  This one is secret sewing.  So only tiny sneak peaks.

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DaBombDiggity Baby Quilt.  I love this project so much.  Good news is the shower is on Friday.  So tick tock.

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Pretty Little San Francisco.  Love Satsuma Street.  Love this pattern.

That is a full and truthful accounting.  It does not included the other 3 baby quilts I need to get done this year.  Or the stuff I just added to my to-do list because I was stupid enough to look at the Purl Soho website – an advent calendar, scarf, gloves, overnight bag.  Or the sewing kit I want to make.  That is 26 projects.  26! I want to finish before the end of the year.  I think I may need to reset my expectations.  One day at a time.

Another Baby Quilt

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Things have been hard the last few weeks. Some of my favorite blogs let people into their world – are honest and share the struggle so we all feel a little more human, like we are in this thing together.  I want to be able to do that – but it is hard.  Hard to share, hard to open up.  So the sadness remains cryptic, but I appreciate you being out there dear reader.  It will all be ok.  It has to be.

And, so, another baby quilt.  Setting aside the weirdness of a woman who has never had a baby making baby quilts, they make me happy.  Full of bright colors and promise and joy of a baby on a homemade quilt.  I mean, really, that is amazing.  And so I make baby quilts.IMG_2855

I want to make 12 quilts for Project Linus this year.  This one is #3.  A lot of my friends are having boys.  And so making a girl quilt is pretty darn fun.  This one is from a Bonnie and Camille charm pack and a lot of French General faux linen.  The pattern was fun, and I made this one a bit easier on myself by quilting just on to the batting and then tying with the perfect shade of aqua to the backing.  I think this quilt is going to make a little girl smile.

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This is the end of the simperingly sweet waxing on baby quilts.  For now.  There will be more simpering and there will be more baby quilts.

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Kitten on a Quilt Quilt

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This is one of the Fat Quarter Shop snapshots patterns. I doubled the size to make a quilt big enough to donate to Project Linus. I love the pattern – time-consuming but straight-forward. And the Heather Bailey fabrics are just happiness.

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I did a stipple free-motion quilt pattern – still one I need to work on, but servicable.
This is one of 3 Heather Bailey quilts I hope to finish this year. One with sashed improv blocks and one that I made for a tiny new baby. And I still am far from tired of working with her fabrics.

WIP: A Sea of Aqua (and red and pink)

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So. Close.  I am so close to finishing all of my WIPs.  I have completed 44 projects this year, which includes 19 (!!) baby quilts.  I have two more to finish – just.two.more.  I am excited to be done.  This weekend I powered through another aqua, red, pink baby quilt.  And I have one more.  These blocks have been squirreled away for months.  Last night I seam-ripped them from some previous attachment folly.  Cut the sashing.  I am ready to tackle – well ready to iron a lot and then tackle.  Finish this one, and then only one more baby quilt.  Finish line?  Is that you I can see?

Blue Pixelated Baby Quilt

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This started out as a gift, and ended up as a Project Linus quilt.  The reverse of what usually happens.  This is a free pattern from the KC Project Linus group.  They have so many awesome, free, easy-to-make patterns.  I loved working in all blues, and the design is easy and fun – biq squares trailing up to small squares.  I think it would be fun to redesign this one to use precuts… I think it would be pretty easy.

To keep things slightly interesting, I used bright orange binding.

And I quilted this one in a 2.5″ grid.  Simple and effective, and I think works well with the design.

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I used a print I had a lot of for a very long time for the backing.  Not sure what the original intent was for this fabric, but I am happy, happy, happy to be able to use a lot of it up.  That is the BEST feeling!

Pirate Economy Block Baby Quilt

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imageThis quilt.  I started with a great idea, but the colors of this one really started to bug me.  Not sure where I went off the rails, but there is just too much in this quilt.  This one sat and sat and sat.  But in a weekend of getting lots done (the weekend BEFORE I got this stupid summer cold and BEFORE I forced myself to admit I needed to have my machine cleaned and oiled), I decided to power through.

At first I liked making these, because I could trim down to the right size, but somewhere along the road of making, I ended up with some blocks that were 7 3/4″ square instead of 7 1/2″ square.  Grrr.

I kept working and working and eventually found things I liked about the quilt.  Like this adorable backing.  And how cute the binding looks with the backing.

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And I quilted a lot of lines on this quilt, so it got nice and crinkly and lovely when washed.

This is a solid Project Linus finish.  I hope it finds a home with a family who will love the nautical theme and wonky colors.

Through various accidents (mostly fabrics-of-the-months clubs), I have a lot of nautical-themed fabric.  Even after making this quilt.  Once I get more ahead of my WIP list, I think I will make a simple square patchwork baby quilt to use them up.