Wedding Flower Quilt FInish

 I finished my Wedding Flower quilt and I'm totally in love with it!! It was crazy fast too. I started cutting it out on Nov. 11th and finished the binding on Nov. 26th. I'm entering this quilt in the modern category of the DWR Challenge arranged by the NYC Metro Mod Quilters.

Here's the finished quilt. I'm in love! It is almost exactly how I pictured it. Originally I wanted five petals per flower but it wasn't working out the way I imagined so I switched to four petals. The inspiration for this one came out of no where. I had just put the kids down to bed and was thinking about trying something with the EZ double wedding ring templates that I've never seen before and I thought... flowers! It took a while longer to figure out the logistics of how I would make it happen and it sure was a fun journey.

Here you can see a closeup of the quilting and the piecing. The quilting was done with Sulky variegated thread with a meander in the center of the flowers and echo quilting on the outside. It took me nearly 16 bobbins and about 1,000 meters of thread. The piecing was so easy! I used the EZ Double Wedding Ring templates and I just adore them!! They made the whole process so fun, quick, and easy!! I have previously made a traditional double wedding ring quilt and I had to hand trace and hand cut each of the over 1,400 pieces. The templates were a dream and I can't wait to use them again!!

I love how the binding is a pop of contrasting color. The teal here perfectly blends with those I used in the quilt. It's so fun and cheery!

The quilt finished up at twin size... roughly 68" x 82"

I had so much fun with this one! Each of my girls has laid a claim on it and it will be hard to decide who gets to use it first! I'm linking up with TGIFF! Thanks for stopping by!

WiP Wednesday: Nearly There

I had a very productive and quite busy week but I don't have a lot to show for it. Some things just don't lend well to pictures. I finished quilting on my DWR variation quilt. It's currently nine degrees outside so you'll just get a preview. I also attempted a penguin hat... more about that later. I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced.

Here's a preview of my quilting. Holy cow!! I used 16 bobbins just for the quilting and it took me all of my free-time, and a lot of borrowed time, to finish it. In the inside of the flowers I did a meander but on the outside I did echo quilting every 1/4" or so. It was SO worth it! I just have to clip threads and bind then I'll do a big reveal post. It is due on Saturday night so expect a post no later than then.

I hate trying new crochet hat patterns. The uncertainty of whether or not it is tested and if it is going to be true to size is quite frustrating. I usually work with one or two bases that I love then build the hat, if it is a character, off of those. Well, I didn't this time and the hat is HUGE! It's too big for my head and meant for my sweet seven year-old girl. I'm also not a fan of the double crochet with how loose it is. Now I must unravel the whole thing and start over with a base I typically use. Grrr. Good thing it's just a hat and they are quick!

 Well, that's it for this week. The quilt was a beast and took up all my time. I can't wait to get it finished and have a big reveal. As an added bonus it's going to warm up (relative here) and my hubby might actually hold it up for me if it is at least in the double digits outside. Thanks for stopping by!

WiP Wednesday: Success and Not Quite

I was having a bit of a panic moment last week when I realized all I still needed to do before the holidays and how quickly they are approaching. However, after a few days of hard work I THINK I may be able to get it all done, maybe. Several of the things that I'm working on fall into the success category and one is firmly in the not quite a success. I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.

This is definitely a success!! I am so so happy with how it turned out and it came out almost exactly how I pictured! The New York Modern Quilt Guild is doing a double wedding ring challenge. There is a modern category where you can enter any variation that suits your fancy. I had the idea where I could take the little wedge pieces and use them to make flower petals. I just adore it!! 

Here's a closeup of my quilting in progress. I used variegated thread in the same-ish colors as the flowers. All I need to do on this is finish the quilting and then get it bound. It is due by Dec. 1st. I bet I can get it done!

This one falls into the not quite a success. I was thinking about working up some football hats and I found this team colors yarn. I thought it would be perfect. Well, I've become a yarn snob I guess because it feels kind of yucky and it's really hard to work with. I had to make this one twice because it worked up much bigger than it was supposed to.

Attempt number two was more of a success and my little man adores it! However, I won't be able to put it in my shop because of the size variation problems and because it just doesn't feel up to my standard.

I am in love with this hat. Especially the colorway that my customer chose. I think they are just perfect!! You can buy one of your own here.

I also got an order for my most loved hat! This foxy is sure getting a lot of attention. It comes in all sizes from baby to adult. The customer asked me to add ear flaps this time and I really like it!

 Also today is the last day for my coupon code in my shop! At checkout enter the code 111313 for 13% off your order! To be in the know of any future sales or new releases as they come along hop on over and like my facebook page. Thanks for stopping by!

I-Spy Bag and Other News

I love having at least one finish to share each week. That's a bit of pressure I'm putting on myself but it sure is fun to see what I can do! I am also having a sale this week at my Etsy shop where I sell custom crochet hats and quilts!!! To celebrate my birthday that was on the 13th I'm offering 13% off with the coupon code 111313.

Here's a sample of what I make in my shop. The sizes of each hat range from Preemie or Newborn all the way up to adult!

Now on to my finish...

I made this fun I-Spy bag for the baby for Christmas.  I have seen these around for years and have wanted one for a while and finally made it happen. The Nancy Drew fabric magnifying glasses totally sealed the deal for me on how cute it is. I filled it with plastic pellets and various buttons found at my local craft stores. There are also alphabet letter beads, enough to spell each of my kids' names, thrown in the mix. I had them each take a peek and they love it!

My hubby excels in spoiling me. He always says he is a crafty stuff collector and I am the crafter. It works out nicely! This is what I ended up with after my birthday shopping spree. So many fun things!! The fabric in the back corner is the background and binding for my wedding ring project. There are a bunch of fat quarters and a bit of yardage for my I-spy quilt I have begun collecting for. I got a crochet book I've been wanting for years and the rest of the bamboo hooks to complete my set. I also tried knitting this week and I think I might give that a serious go. I got super chunky yarn and large needles to try to make a cowl. The last thing is a set of stuff and instructions on how to Knook (knitting with a crochet hook). It could be easier and it doesn't hurt to try right?

 Well, that's it. It's been a great week. I hope to have something larger to show next week. Like a quilt. Remember to hop on over to my shop for the sale. I'll be linking up with Finish it up Friday and Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday!

WiP Wednesday: Birthday Edition

It's my birthday! I just adore birthdays, they don't even have to be mine. To celebrate I'm giving a 13% off discount to my shop. Why 13% you ask? Well, my birthday is the 13th, it's 2013, and I'm now 31 which is 13 backwards. It seemed fitting. So hop on over, pick out anything you want and enter the code 111313 in the coupon box and 13% will be taken off your order. It's that simple. The coupon is good until the 20th.

Anyway, I have been having a lot of fun but not a lot of focus this week so I'm sort of all over the place with this work-in-progress post. I'm linking up over at Freshly Pieced.

 I'll start off with my little man...

I bought my little guy this fireman fabric back in June although it feels like much longer ago than that. Anyway, he just adored it. You have no idea. He would carry it around the house, put it in a bag and take it with us everywhere, he even slept with it, all folded up on his bed. I kept asking him if I could cut it and make him a quilt and he would freak out. With tears he would always reject the idea with force, "NO! No cut my favric!"

He is now 3 1/2 years-old. He's just getting too big to sleep with his baby quilt any more. I'm amazed he's lasted this long. I was tucking him in and his tiny feet were hanging out the bottom. So I said, you know, if you let me have that fabric I can make you a big quilt like your brothers and it will actually cover your feet. "OKAY!!" he said, "here you go!" At which point he gathered up all eight from on his bed and handed them to me one by one. He then said, "you go make my quilt. I sleep now." If only it was that fast and I didn't need sleep myself. I'm pretty proud of myself for getting it all cut out though. It's going to be randomly assembled 8" equilateral triangles.

Also in the works this week is a variation on the double wedding ring. I am so super excited about this one! I hope to get it done in time for the challenge that is due on the 1st of December. I know it's a tight deadline but like I said, it's a variation.

This is more or less what I have thus far. The blues are done. The reds I actually have pieced a bunch more than this but the lighting was horrible at night. They are all cut and ready to go. I'm going to applique them on so that'll be faster. Then all I have to do is quilt and bind.

I have this crazy goal of having a finish done every week. Well, nothing I was currently working on was going to be done by Friday so I started something new. It kind of defeats the purpose but this was on my list anyway. It's going to be an I-spy bag. What you do is make a bean bag with a vinyl window in it. Fill the bean bag with whatever (I'll be using little plastic pellets) but also throw in things to find. I found all these fun buttons I'll be throwing in. I have enough stuff to make two. It'll be so fun!!

Now on to crochet...

I made this awesome Gingerbread Man hat this week. Isn't it adorable?! I found the pattern here. It is now listed in my shop. Notice also the fabulous studio-esque photo! I was pretty impressed with myself. I switched where I took them and added a solid white background with these crazy good results!

I also made this adorable Gingerbread girl hat. It is listed in my shop as well. I love the bow!! I may just have to make a bunch of these just to poke in my little girls hair.

Here's my cute muchkin sporting her hat with style!!

I also added gold to the mix of crowns. It's such a fun bright color! It's great for a crown but would be crazy in the shawl that they have the pattern for on the yarn.

 So that's my progress this week. Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to hop over to my Etsy shop and celebrate my birthday with me by getting 13% off anything with the code 111313!

Finish: Pillows

Some months ago I found this pillow on Pinterest and knew I had to recreate it. So I added it to my board already several hundred strong. Enter my first guild exchange project. I wanted a pillow, something fun and different. I rediscovered this pin and hopped on down to my LQS.

When you last saw this on Wednesday I had just begun trimming. I finished that up yesterday morning. It created 216 HST units and quite a lot of trimmings.

I finished up the blocks this morning. I love how they look!

They look even more interesting all sewn together. There are nine blocks per pillow.

Putting them together was a breeze after that. I even quilted them in variegated thread and added a zipper.

I hope they go over well in the exchange and I can't wait to see what everyone else has come up with. I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

WiP Wednesday: Distracted

So I have my huge Q4 FAL list (29 items) and this week I'm not working on any of them. Instead I had three other projects. Heaven knows I already had enough going but I snuck these in anyway and I'm glad I did. I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.

I started off with an adult-sized sheep hat. This was an order from my shop for someone's sheep-loving college student. I think it's so cute!

Next I got to trimming on a huge batch of HST for two pillows. One is for my local guild's exchange later this month and the other identical one is for me. My giant mat is going to be covered with these 2" HST four times in order to trim them all up. Next time I might have to really consider whether or not this pattern is really worth it.

So my kids have been sporting a gallon ziplock bag to hold their crayons. I thought it was a little ghetto and difficult for four kids to share one bag as they all sat in a row at church. So I grabbed this fat quarter of adorable crayon fabric, some zippers, and followed the Open Wide Zipper pouch to make them some crayon bags.

I love how they turned out!!! I had a little problem sewing on the tabs at the end of the zipper but I couldn't begin to tell you why because I've made these pouches two other times and I did fine then. Oh well. You can see how easy it is to see the crayons inside and get them out and they look so cute on the outside! It's going to be great!

I also had my first ever craft fair on Saturday. I did better than I expected but didn't make any sales. How is that better you ask? Well, I've never even been to one of these before so I didn't know what to expect. Also I didn't have any hats to sell on the spot I could only take orders and pass out my business cards. I had fun talking and checking out what other people had at the fair. A few booths down someone had hats for sell on the spot and they did much better than I did so now I know for next year to make a stash over the Spring/Summer to sell.

I made up a catalog that you can see on the little desk. People really loved looking through that. I also brought my quilts that were for sale in my Etsy shop. They got a lot of looks from fellow quilters but only one or two from anyone else. Some woman said, "I wish I had a grandma that quilted." At nearly 31 I think that's funny because I'm not even close to grandma age and I made these. Also, you don't need a grandma, buy one from me!! I'm excited about the prospects and learned so much for next year.

I hope to get back on task with my list this week but we'll see what comes up. I'm not too worried about it and I'm having so much fun crafting lately! Here's to another great week!

Finishes: Quilts, Pillows, and a Hat

Phew! I got everything done just in time! I have a craft fair tomorrow where I needed two more quilts and the hat for a sample. Both baby quilts and the pillows are on my Q4 FAL list. I am so glad to get these things off my list and out of my craft room! I'm linking up with Finish it up Friday! I'm also linking up with Fabric Tuesday.

I made these two quilts with the Celebration line for Moda. They are half girl prints and half boy prints. I just bought two charm packs and put the girl prints into one quilt and the boy prints into the other. I bound and backed them in matching yellow. They were on my Q4 FAL list and these are both up for sale and if they don't sell this weekend I'll list them in my shop.

Here's a closeup of the boy quilt. I quilted on either side of each seam. I love the bright primary colors of this!

Here's the girl version. I love these prints! The aqua is a fun add in and those little flowers are so fun.

Here's what the back and binding of both quilt is made of. It's a fun yellow with a linen texture.

These two blocks have languished in my craft room for quite some time. They were part of the Mario Brothers Quilt along which I tried and did so bad at I just stopped after these two. They have one inch blocks and it was just way too hard to get everything lined up. I didn't have a great ruler either and it kept slipping as I was trying to cut. UGG! Don't look to close. My boys, however, just adore them and really don't care if the seams don't line up and they aren't square. So, I made them into throw pillows for their beds. Everyone wins!

I also finished up my spiral hat. The texture is really hard to capture in any lighting so I did the best I could. I wore it last night trick-or-treating with the kids and it worked a little too well. I had to take it off after only three houses. It should be great when the real Iowa Winter strikes.

I have no idea what I'm going to work on next other than I got another order for a Fluffy Sheep hat. Here's to surprises for next week!