Penguin Pillow Finish

My brother recently reminded me of his love for penguins. Since I'll be staying in his house for several days just before his 35th birthday I decided to whip him up this adorable penguin pillow. This is #2 on my Q3 FAL list.

Here's the first one I finished. It was LOVE! I mean seriously?! Penguins are one of my favorite animals too and this pattern is so adorable! It is Penguin Parade by Sugaridoo.

All finished complete and adorable with the pillow inserted. I super love this one and I had so much fun going through my stash picking out the perfect blacks and low volumes I know my brother will love.

This fat quarter from Cotton + Steel's latest Black and White line made the perfect backing fabric. I also poked on a little tag.

Here it is again without the pillow insert. You can see all the penguins and prints better this way. Each penguin got a different belly, black, and orange print but they all shared the same background so they stood out well. This one is going to be hard to give up but it was relatively painless so I'll just have to make another one for myself.

A closeup of the penguins. I had fun quilting this one with my favorite paisley motif again in Aurifil 50wt. I love how it blends so well but adds such awesome texture that doesn't overwhelm.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern - Penguin Parade by Sugaridoo
Fabric - Mixed designers stash with a lot fabric by Cotton + Steel and Carolyn Friedlander.
Thread - Pieced and quilted Aurifil 50wt
Quilting - paisley on my domestic Juki.
Size - Pillow 17" square
Stash Report - Project is 100% stash!

That's me for the week. Thanks for stopping by! I hope to have another project ready to share next week too. I'm working on a few fun things I'm really excited about. Until then I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Nativity Mini Quilt Finish

My Mom is turning sixty this year. To celebrate my whole family is getting together for a reunion. We haven't all been together in so long I'm really excited. My Mom collects nativities and has been asking me for a quilt nativity for a while and this seemed like a great time to whip one up for her. I super love this project! This is also my first finish from my Q3 FAL list.

Let me start by saying how this pattern was a bit out of my comfort zone. I adore paper piecing and do it often but have never attempted something so tiny! As it turns out it's not any harder than the bigger pieces. In fact it may be easier because you don't have to worry if your scrap is large enough to cover the area. Side note, I deliberately skipped piece five. It didn't really need it and I only had one good skin color on hand.

See how amazing this is!! I can't stand it I love it so much. The pattern is O Holy Night by Paper Panache. I did this all from stash and am so happy with how my pull turned out.

Here's a bit more of a zoomed in shot. While some of the pieces were small it went together really well. I started this project not knowing if I would finish in time to leave for the reunion as I only had a week. As it turns out this took me three days start to finish. My kids and house got pretty ignored but I think it was worth it.

I really love the quilting on this one. I did my favorite paisley again with Aurifil 50wt as always. I was worried that it might not blend well on the front but it totally blends and pops just like I'd hoped. This is the back and it looks so amazing!

One final shot of the tag, the binding, and a closeup of the quilting. I did my usual zigzag binding and love this tag with room for specifics.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern - O Holy Night by Paper Panache
Fabric - Mixed designers stash with fabric by Cotton + Steel for the back and binding.
Thread - Pieced and quilted Aurifil 50wt
Quilting - Free motion paisley on my domestic Juki.
Size - Wall about 16" by 17"
Stash Report - Project is 100% stash!

That's me for the week. Thanks for stopping by! I have another project ready to share next week too which I'm really excited about. Until then I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Nora Quilt Finish

Almost a month ago my good friend from college, Lindsey, contacted me and asked me to make a quilt for her littlest munchkin. Nora just turned four months old and is the fourth of her four kids. Lindsey said her baby needed a quilt, something that was made just for her. As a mom of five, and the youngest of five myself, I know how good it feels to have something special for everyone. I was excited to make this quilt for her little Nora.

Lindsey said she wanted it all in teals and purples. After we went back and forth a bit on a pull we settled with these prints all done scrappy.

Here's another angle. I really love the variety of prints in this one! This whole quilt came from my stash. I really didn't think I had that much stash but it amazed me what I came up with. It makes me want to make even more things!

I think I had the most fun with the name. I used double-sided fusible interfacing and then a tight zigzag around the edges. The quilting was fun on this quilt too! I did pebbles on the white strip around the name and then 1/8" from the seams everywhere else all in my favorite Aurifil 50wt thread.

I did my usual zigzag stitch on the binding and a tag from my yardage by Sweetwater for Moda. I am so happy with how this one turned out and so glad my friend Lindsey involved me in creating this quilt for her daughter.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern - Simple patchwork done with 3.5" squares and a strip with name applique.
Fabric - Mixed designers stash with fabric by Kate Spain for Moda for the back and binding.
Thread - Pieced and quilted Aurifil 50wt
Quilting - pebbles in the white strip and 1/8" straight lines on either side of the seams done on my domestic Juki.
Size - Baby 30" by 36"
Stash Report - Project is 100% stash!

That's me for the week. Thanks for stopping by! I have another project ready to share next week too which I'm really excited about. Until then I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Third Quarter FAL Goals

I finished 9 of 14 goal items last quarter so I'm going for a 14-item list again! I know six of these will get finished and I'm hoping for more but we'll see how it goes. We have a big 3-week vacation coming up on Sunday so that will dip into my productivity but have the awesome bonus of being super fun and totally worth it. Without further ado, the list...

#1 Nativity Mini - I'm making this for my Mom's 60th birthday coming up next month. She collects nativities and helps run the annual exhibit each year in her town. I know she'll love it and I've warned her to stay away from all my accounts as I post so it will be a surprise.

#2 Penguin Mini - My brother has recently told me of his deep love for all things penguin. We're staying with him for several days on our trip and it's also his birthday while we're there. That prompted this last-minute gift addition. I hope to get it done before we leave.

#3 Knit Socks - Driving from Iowa to the Oregon coast takes a long time so I wanted projects that I could do on the go. Thus, I will be learning to knit socks on the drive. I've been knitting for about 18 months now and tried so many challenging things I'm ready for the next one. I'm using the Vanilla Latte sock pattern.

#4 Moebius Knit Scarf - My favorite part about knitting is picking up new skills. I've been knitting for about 18 months and have tried cables, fair isle, and mittens. Moebius knitting seemed like a cool thing and the Arrowhead Moebius Cowl looked so neat I have to give it a go.

#5 Little Ruby Clambake - I adore this fabric line and I wanted to do a pattern that would show it off without being too simple. Thus enter the Clambake pattern by Thimble Blossoms. Perfection!

#6 Scripture Cases - I reverse engineered a scripture case for my oldest boy after his store-bought one literally disintegrated. My other three who read now get a turn since his worked out so well.

#7 Jumbo Crochet Blanket - I've been looking at Jumbo knit and crochet blankets for a while now. I just love them! Enter this clearance yarn from Hobby Lobby and a US 50 crochet hook. This is going to be so fun, and fast!

#8 Norway Quilt - This bunch of awesome is going to become a scrappy Norway quilt with a low volume background. I'm so excited about this and have been planning and collecting for a while.

#9 Alphabet Quilt - I've been loving all the Spell It with Moda alphabet quilts popping up on my feed. I happen to have an extra Horizon jelly roll and I think it will be perfect for this project which, in turn, will be perfect for my little people to play with and practice letters.

#10 Vintage Modern quilt - I have been collecting and sitting on this for a while now and I think I finally decided on a pattern! On a Whim from Thimble blossoms has struck my fancy which is funny because she made the original with Vintage Modern.

#11 Flower Girl Quilt - I knew I had to have a fat quarter bundle of Hello Darling when it came out. Then when I saw the Flower Girl pattern I knew they were perfect for each other! Now, to create!

#12 Plume Quilt - My oldest daughter just transferred over to a queen bed. This calls for a new quilt! I'm using this Meadow Bloom bundle I won in a giveaway. We all pretty excited about this one.

#13 Color Dive - I have been obsessed with the Color Dive pattern since I first saw it. I love so many things about it. Then one night it hit me that I could do the Color Dive with V. and Co. prints and it would be amazing. I have every line Vanessa has ever made and she has such great value and prints that I knew it would be so fun! I'm going all out and making the King Size version. It will cost an arm and a leg to get it quilted but so so worth it!

#14 Woven Quilt - This quilt has been all cut out and ready to go for years. I kid you not - YEARS! It is my second oldest wip and I want it finished. I hope it makes it this quarter but honestly I'm really not in love with it so who knows. It's not meant for me though so I really need to just do it.

That's my wishlist. I know the first six will happen and beyond that it's what I'm in the mood for at the moment. I'm excited about it and am loving all the other things I'm seeing at the linkup here.

Scrappy Norway Quilt Finish

While not my usual style I am really happy with this one! It is a gift for a special someone and it is pretty spot on her style and perfect colors. It's funny because I had a Norway quilt on my FAL list but not this fabric so I'm not counting it and am excited to do this quilt again in different fabric for me.

Here it is, my scrappy Norway quilt. I bought the jelly roll I used here maybe four years ago and knew who it would be for but not what I would make with it. I'm so excited to have it be something now! The background fabric was also stash, it didn't match what I wanted it for - boo online shopping but hooray for stash!

I bought the backing and binding special for this project and am amazed it matches so well since the top was from a line so long ago by a different designer. 3Sister for Moda takes the win! You can also see the quilting here. I just did a simple serpentine stitch in gray to match the front. Easy, quick, and fun texture.

You can even see the fun stealth fighters in the bottom corner. My husband saw me piecing this one and he complimented me by saying, "I like the stealth fighters in the corner there. You're pretty talented to combine old lady fabric with modern aviation." HA! It cracked me up and it's all I see now.

Another pretty shot just because I can. I like how the quilting makes it all crinkly even before the wash. So much fun texture!

Quilt Stats:
Pattern - Norway by Thimble Blossoms
Fabric - Meadow by Blackbird Designs for Moda - backing and binding by 3Sisters for Moda.
Thread - Pieced and quilted Aurifil 50wt
Quilting - serpentine lines on my domestic Juki
Size - Jumbo Lap 78" square.
Stash Report - Top is 100% stash!

That's me for the week. Thanks for stopping by! I hope to have another one to share next week as I have a top ready to go but we'll see how it goes. Until then I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday.