Christmas Scotties

I have had a package of scottie appliques for several years and never really had a project in mind for them, so I pulled a couple of red and green ones, fused them to a solid fabric, stitched them down and then blanket-stitched them to felt and voila...little scottie ornaments! 

WIP Wednesday - Sam!, Ham!

OK, one last children's book quilt before I move on...  For Goodnight Moon and The Hungry Caterpillar, I used only matching fabric the storybook's line. With Green Eggs and Ham I decided to make something a bit more creative and original.  I cut up a panel and added borders to the pages with non-coordinating fabrics from my stash.  I am also planning to add non-Green Eggs and Ham blocks to the design to break up the quilt top.  My sister pointed out that I seem to gravitate towards greens, oranges, yellows and blues, and she is so right.  The projects with these color combinations always seem to be my favorites.  Next week, finished shots of the story book trilogy... 

I am linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced - click over and check out the other projects.

Toy baskets

I love, love, love these little fabric toy buckets from See Kate Sew.  I was on a roll and cut out the pieces for three bags and then ran out of interfacing and only had enough to finish one.  This one has proven to be a huge success so far: it is big enough to hold my son's entire Cars collection but small enough for a three year old to carry around easily.  The elastic top keeps the toys from falling out but remains open enough for easy access. He can easily grab it and carry it from room to room.  Now, I must finish up the other two - his Planes collection needs a home too!

You can't see in this picture but the lining is the blue crab fabric above.  When the bag is sitting on a table flopping open a bit, you can really see the lining, so it's fun to have a cute fabric in there too.

Trick or Treat!

I finished the bag in time for Halloween but didn't quite manage to post it in time...  I was inspired by Monica's tutorial from The Happy Zombie for small treat totes.  Although I followed her instructions for assembly,  I made it about twice as wide, three inches (rather than two) deep and taller than wide. These little bags are so so fun and easy to make!  I also interfaced the lining to give it a little more thickness.  The smaller ones stand up just fine on their own. My son was delighted with his little bag, though still a bit too shy to actually trick or treat.  He was content to carry the few pieces of candy I gave him around in his bag. 

The Hungry Caterpillar & Goodnight Moon - WIP

In addition to Curious George, my son also loves The Hungry Caterpillar and Good Night Moon (and Green Eggs and Ham, but that's another post...).  A situation to which I am sure many of you can relate, we have read these books countless times, over and over every day.  He was so excited to see the fabrics arrive, and I plan to make two simple quilts for us to snuggle under as we read and re-read these and other favorites on the sofa.  When we settle down to read books, the first thing he says is, "Mama, quilt!"

I ordered a panel and one yard of the food border fabric. As I only had a single yard of the border, I pieced together the fabric above and below the panel, matching up the plums and pie as carefully as I could.

For Good Night Moon, I added a few solid red, yellows and greens to a fat quarter bundle an cut 4.5" squares to assemble simple 12" 4x4 blocks. The center block is a single square of "patchwork" fabric.

I am linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.  Click over and take a look...

Rainbows

These two little baby quilts were made for my cousins who had little girls just a few months apart.  The design is the same for both - simple 12" strip blocks - and they are both arranged in rainbow colors. However, except for one orange floral, no fabrics are used twice.  Cutting 89 different fabrics probably took longer than actually piecing the top!

Elizabeth's quilt has more pinks and purples than Lillian's (two blocks of each) and a single block each of red, orange, yellow, green and blue.

Both blankets are quilted with parallel vertical lines about two inches apart. 

My mom stepped in and embroidered the names on both quilts. I was all set to do a simple back stitch, which is pretty much the limit of my embroidery skills, but she argued that a stem stitch would be nicer.  She attempted to teach me, but honestly I just don't have the patience (or talent) for embroidery... 

Lillian's quilt has more red, orange and yellows.  I am not sure if I have a favorite...my preference shifts back and forth...

As usual, most of the fabrics are a mix of 30's repro and Japanese novelty characters.

I am linking up to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.  Click over and have a look at all the projects!

Lots and lots of George - WIP Wednesday

Massive progress on the Curious George quilt!  In the end, I was able to cut 32 Georges from the single Pottery Barn pillowcase.  I used 30 for the quilt top with two left over for a pair of pillows.  I used red, yellow, blue and green Kona solids to make the log cabin blocks.  I just randomly cut the fabric bands without measuring and strip-pieced them trimming each side as I went along.  When they were all assembled, I simply squared them all up with a 12.5" ruler.  Initially I regretted not making some of the first rounds of the log cabin thinner so that the outer edgers would have finished thicker, (some are very thin!)  but once all of the blocks were sewn together, I found that I actually enjoy the varied width of the strips, as they break up the monotony of all the solids. 

It took me a couple of hours to settle on a layout, as I wanted to avoid the the same colors touching each other and I didn't want repeat centers too close to one another.  Literally a giant puzzle. 

For the back I made three identical blocks, using the solids to make a four patch bordered with the other Curious George print, and I back-stitched a simple label under the center block.

All pinned and ready to quilt!

I off-set the blocks for the pillow fronts and bordered them with a white fabric dotted with tiny yellow hearts (also used on the back of the main quilt)

A little bonus pair of slippers I started, but have not quite made myself finish the binding.  I need to find a solution to the slippery bottoms (little dots of silicone?) and also the opening for the foot needs to be a bit bigger to accommodate my son's chubby feet. He does seem to enjoy trying to stuff his feet in them and shuffle around, but I need to tweak the pattern and try again...

I am linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced - click over and take a look...

Carnet de Santé

In France the carnet de santé is a very important document.  It holds all of your medical records from birth to adulthood.  You are given your child's booklet in the hospital just after delivery and are expected to bring it to every doctor's appointment throughout their childhood.  It contains birth stats, height/weight charts, vaccine records, any tests/exams/surgeries preformed on your child and a brief summary of each consultation.  Something you DO NOT want to loose! 

Anyway, it's a boring, plain, plastic government book.  At the hospital, mine came with a green cloth slipcover advertising a brand of formula.  So I used the original cover as a sort of template and made a new one much more my style! It ended up being a little more fiddly than I anticipated with all the different parts to assemble, but I am so pleased with the results - and I learned how to add snaps in the process!  I interfaced the inside flaps to add some bulk and added the inside pockets to hold notes & prescriptions. The front and back are two log cabin blocks sewn together up the spine.  I quilted on either side of the seams and then embroidered Louis' name on the front.  

Not sure how many years I have until he is embarrassed by the cover, but I will enjoy it until then...

Union Jack Pillow - number two

This is the other half of a pair of Union Jack pillows I made for my best friend in 2012.  Intimidated by the invisible zipper, I never finished the pillows.  My mom sewed the zipper in the first pillow when I was home for Christmas 2012, but then we never found the time to finish the second one.  So I gifted just the one pillow last Christmas, and my mom finished off the second pillow sometime last year after I left.  So finally, one year later, my friend now has a complete pair.

As with the first pillow, I used Busy Bee Quilt Designs Victory Garden pattern.  Both pillows share a small red border and solid red backing.  I totally love the Japanese cotton/linen London print. 

Lesson learned : speedy finishes = envelope closures and not zippers!

WIP Wednesday - Curious George

I am really excited to start cutting a Curious George quilt for Louis. I unpicked a Pottery Barn Curious George pillowcase and plan to salvage as many Georges as possible..  I also have another George print with zoo animals but only a half a yard.  I want to use only these two prints with solid red, yellow, blue, green and white. I have a few ideas but nothing too specific... Somehow I want to frame the various-sized Georges with the solids and add a splash of the zoo animal print somewhere...maybe the back?

I need to get cracking... Louis is in the middle of a total Curious George obsession, but it won't last forever...

The crocodile is a bonus addition, as Louis is also currently obsessed with Lyle the Crocodile and identifies "Lala" with all crocs!

I am linking up to  WIP Wednesday at freshly Pieced - click over and check out all of the projects!

French Pâtisseries Oven Mitt

I have been hoarding a small collection of Yuwa French pastry fabric in various colors for a couple of years with plans to make oven mitts for friends and family.  This first one was a Christmas present for my best friend in Texas - she loves to bake, so hopefully it will come in handy!  

The sugar-sweet pinkness is really neither of our styles, but after debating a more subdued color for the binding, I couldn't resist the fun pop of pink.  The main fabric with the patisserie recipes is a cotton/linen blend, and the cakes are on a lovely, smooth cotton.  Like my previous mitts, I quilted the pockets and main panel with parallel 45° lines.  This time however, I added two layers of batting and one layer of Insul-Bright rather than only one layer of batting with the Insul-Bright.  I cut all of the pieces, including the batting, a little big and then trim to size and round the corners with a plate after quilting to accommodate for any shifting between the five bulky layers. Then I zig-zag around the edges of the pockets and main panel to crimp the layers and allow for the binding to be sewn on easier and neater.

More mitts to come in other colors... 

I am linking up to Fabric Tuesday over at Quilt Story - click over and check out all the other creations